Nine years after marriage....one day i was waiting with my young wife.......for our turn to get in to the ...telephone booth.....there was a young lady......of 20 ..may be busy on the phone ...for a uncomforting length of time .....it was an almost agonising wait .....me and my better half exchanging glances....after few more patient minutes she breezed out of the booth....looking at me....in to the eyes she asked coolly " uncle what is the time" and gave questioning look to my wife....................my wife couldn't help laughing ...she was all giggling .....like a school girl..it was first time some one called me an uncle.....
That night i had a deep look at my self......in the mirror.....what was i ....eyes looked tired a bit....but i seemed to be same....me ..an uncle...hmm the gal must have been wanting to tease me or did she catch my wide eyed glance as she was busy on phone i don't know.....
A decade later i am too pained to see the distinct toll time had taken on me.....addition of spects for sure made me age more.....the wrinkles under the eyes are far more pronounced........ the little tyre around the belly doesn't seem to go ... no matter what i do.......as i look at myself as i walk past long mirrors in shopping malls....how i wish i was born 10 years late........
All good things of life ..seemed to have sprouted up ..much later in life........... where were all these....in my time i would wonder....fast bikes...gals in low waist jeans....fast chat rooms on net......malls.....and pubs...........one could only wish ...life was a cycle one could put back by a few revolutions.......
Now i know there is no fooling around.....AGE HAS CAUGHT UP WITH ME.......my son is almost four inches taller than me....my niece who was a baby when i was a honey mooner is a woman of substance now....what was once a thick black hair is now peeper and salt...my pretty wife still puzzles me though.... she doesn't seem to AGE AT ALL.......
Perhaps time has come for me to reconcile...that life will not be the same again.....may be i must take a leaf..out of her book and learn to age beautifully............
The secret of aging beautifully i realise is not to look at bygone years and worry about the fading skin and folding wrinkles.....but think of the golden moments of the past.....and live beautifully in the present in the correct perspective.....accept things o f life ....without too much strife....to surrender beautifully....to nature....from a young man..to an aging father ..to realise we have different roles now.....it will always be that ..the teasing mind would once in a while lure you in to unreal ...thoughts......desires and lust....just enough to mock at you......in a cynical way to remind you that u are aging......the art of living ....is to age beautifully.....with a beautiful mind............
Friday, September 5, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
what is for break fast...........
Even before i eat my dinner completely...i have this habit of asking my wife whats up for breakfast tomorrow....almost inevitably invoking her wrath.............i couldn't agree more with her....just when the lady has had enough for the day ( at least she think so) ..here is this gentlemen reminding her of the arduous task of getting ready for the next meal.......
Old habits die hard........from my child hood i was a foodie.........food and kitchen...were (are ) my favorite places......even now my wife tries to hide cashew nuts..and peanuts in the house..i am not lying ask her....why not...after all i believe we live to eat............
one day as a young man...i walked in to a married man's house (quite elder ) at break fast time.....he was getting ready and i had to give him a lift.. in my car...for a hungry bachelor i was sneakingly looking towards the kitchen...for some decent invite....for a delicious break fast....there was no sign....so i couldn't help asking..."ma'am what have you given sir in break fast"..... bread jam.....came the unfriendly answer.......i told him..sir ..if you have to eat bread as a married man...i pity you....it was a spontaneous outburst from me....poor him ..i felt
Many years later when i got married....i got a wedding card from that couple...down below...was scribbled ...."My wife wants to know what your wife cooks in break fast"....... that lady has still not pardoned me decades later...........fortunately for me.. i was lucky to get a wife who never repeats the same menu....for break fast......(except when she gets occasionally wedded to idly)....so i continue to ask her whats for break fast...
south Indians have a lot of choice for break fast.....some times i wonder if north Indians can ever think of anything other than...paratha....or double roti..... or oily poories with aloo...
when i was a small kid before i went to a boarding school there wasn't any concept of breakfast....i learnt this word in school...surely i had the privilege of studying in rural primary schools in some of the remotest villages....studying in lantern....and ..eating before sunset.....in those days there was no word called break fast
while we all children had .....chaddennam(left over rice of previous day)...occasionally my dad was served tiffin......we were six siblings ...(.i left the house for a boarding school when the seventh was born....so the figure continued to be same)....my youngest uncle and youngest aunt added to be eight ...kids to be fed in the morning...Since there was no concept of domestic helps in those days all the work shared by my mom..and some cooperative aunt....who wasn't too busy with her studies....the whole house hold wasn't any time less than 15 any time....there was much work to do for my mommy....so the break fast was made quite simple....
We had left over rice....what was called Chaddennamu...it had a unique taste of its own..first mom would inspect it if it was in order..by a simple aroma test...then ..the choice of what to eat was asked...it was the choice of pickle....we had wide range....from the traditional avakaya.magayaa....gongoora,..chinta kaya ,nimmakaya,etc....even kandi podi.(sorry for those who cant get what these are..these are tarditional andhra pickles)...with so many kids around almost....8 ...it was a difficult task to short list what to eat...somehow more often than not my choice would prevail...which was invariably..avakaya....obviously i used to make a claim for the mukka(the mango piece)....occasionally one of the younger aunts would volunteer to handle us in break fast while mom was busy dish washing the hard way....first pull water from a well..and handle those ...seemingly huge sized..brass vessels...on which were inscribed names of my maternal grand father....( i used to Wonder why..i was told much later they came with mom in marriage)...
Eight kids...eight plates to mess up and to be cleaned ....so when one of the younger aunts was handling this little entertaining break fast session...she would mix the Rice in one huge plate....and make laddoos...of the rice...each tender palm extended...and one huge ball o f rice eaten..bit by bit.....(many decades laterstill i yearn for that atmosphere).......i was the smart hog always..eating fast and out of turn..at the expense of others...This word BREAKFAST..i learnt only when i went to a boarding school.....something eaten in all solemnity...in uniforms...knives an forks clattering silently like a funeral music..it was quite a cultural shock for this...rustic boy..who was used to his CHADDENNAM.....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
THE MONSOONS............
Dark cumulo nimbus clouds....continuous lightening..that seemed to tear apart the horizon...followed by rattling thunder....the build up to heavy rains.......always drew me to the comfortable lap of my mother.....she would answer all my eager questions....how god of wind varun and indra driving his chariot with white horses from indra lok...were bringing rain from there on she would take me in to the world of mythology...Ramayana ,Mahabharat and invariably my favorite Hanuman..
For a nation whose Sensex shoots up or down like a thermometer depending on the intensity of monsoons....the rains are a welcome relief....Rains to me a s a toddler...also meant bunking the upper primary school of the village..forget about rain capes...there were no umbrellas even ...the priority was quite low...with only the huge black umbrella reserved for dad to go to his office.....
The country side which I invariably explored like a Tom Sawyer...would begin to swell with streams and rivulets (vagulu..as they would call it in my native tongue)....the country side would change over night from a brown parched arid land to dotting green....like the gods from above laid a newly made green carpet......rains had only one negative point....my dad stopped buying mangoes once the first rains were received...he would say that it wasn't good to buy mangoes once rains set in.....
Who doesn't want to get wet in rain...show me one earthling...forget about homosapiens....every bit of Flora and fauna..seems to enjoy it...The rains occasionally brought VADA GALLU....little hail storm.....ice cubicles thrown from the sky... i remember this terrifying experience..as a little kid....deafening noise on the mangalore tiled roof....me and my sister pushing a bucket and collecting all the hails...of course they were taste less..pure water...with so many of us living in the house it was always interesting...my colourful aunts...giggling...and we all siblings finding a nice lap to sit on..and watch the chita pata...chinukulu....of the first rain..nice warm smell of hot earth being drenched in rain....
Me and my accomplice uncle used to practice angling in rain....don't ask how...he taught me this little pretend game...as it would pour heavily i would go in to the kitchen and steal(that was my job..)and he would fix...to a stick a twine...one end of which had a safety pin borrowed from the lovely neck of an aunt or my mom(she always had half a dozen of them in her chain on her lovely swan like neck)...pin a pea nut or a chana dal ..drop this in to the heavy rain..sitting across a window grill and waiting for it to soak..in rain...and there after about an hour later we used to eat the soaked grain....perhaps we picked it up from the fishermen in the neighbourhood....
Rains to me also meant learning to make a boat....which i can still do..tho i forgot how to make a katti boat (boat with a knife)..my uncle could do it..effortlessly...this was also the time when we siblings learnt to make so many things from plain paper form boats to ink bottles...
Monsoons.....then and now always beckon me..for a thrilling experience....heavy rain slashing....wet clothes...drpping..almost dripping us bare....the umbrella that threatens to take of like a hot air balloon...i still take a walk....in the rain....of course i would love to have the company of m y better half...who is equally fond of rain.....and the MONSOONS
Thursday, July 17, 2008
THE MYSTERY FEVER.......
I woke up one day.....very sick..... limbs very weak......sweating profusely.....my as such frail body....simmering hot...uninterrupted...vomitings...it was the earliest.....time i could recollect when i was sick....perhaps i was six years then...the tongue was parched....my mind gone hazy....in delirium....it was not like the usual...mornings....certainly i was very sick...
An instrument white in color and sleek looking was thrust under my tongue..with strict instructions not to bite it...that was my first introduction to thermometer........after a few minutes my father sighed..."Very high fever...." i was rushed in a tricycle rickshaw..to a doctor...i was mercilessly told to remove my long shorts and an injection pierced on my left buttock...i don't know why...but i dint cry......of course it was quite painful.....the doctor seemed quite happy and complimented me for being a brave boy....
In those days if you fell sick....they never gave you any food...not that i was hungry...the appetite was gone....but the very thought that everyone was eating..merrily ..and you were not part of it...brought some juvenile depression....i was just given ..ginger decoction in the morning....and buttermilk...whole day...and handful of bitter medicines...
The fever would not recede ...after few days my father rushed me to the doctor again...the doc seemed equally puzzled...so apparently it wasn't normal fever.....i heard the doctor tell my dad...lets do a check for Typhoid....few days more...the fever would still not come down..by now i had been reduced..to a skeleton...no solid food...i was barely able to walk..and had to be carried to the doctor....
The smile on the doctors face vanished....i was administered injections...for 25 days...but the strange fever ...wouldn't recede....i lost all..hopes...more than anything else ..i yearned for some good food...my diet was upgraded to orange juice..apart form the buttermilk...one day...i woke up in the morning...and the temperature was gone....the thermometer showed normal temperature...i was too feeble ...so i still had to go the doctor...for some prescription to get me back to shape...i was just a bag of bones then....i heard the doctor tell my dad..."I dint know what the fever was..its a mystery..it certainly wasn't typhoid...."..any way he seemed quite happy that finally it receded...my mystery fever seemed to have dented his confidence...
A few days ...passed....i began to grow strong again.....back to my mischievous self...world at last seemed normal again....
............yet the mystery of ...my fever was not solved.....until one day my father opened a black box.....it was a small....pouch like box....he went wild shaking it...asking my mom...what happened to the contents....seeing him rant so much....she asked him what that box was about...he told her that box had small bottles of homoe pills ...but now they were all empty bottles..not one or two ..but ..they were a dozen bottles...with nice wooden corks...
It did not take long...for them to zero in on me....i was pulled up by my ears...literally by my father who was quite livid....quite innocently...i owned up that i had all those pills....not all at once but each day one bottle....i told him..they were not bitter but quite sweet....
THE MYSTERY OF MY FEVER WAS SOLVED......to this day...each time i take a homoe pill...i am reminded of that mystery fever....
Thursday, July 3, 2008
MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN
appudappude tellavarutondi...kitikee lonchi chuste chaala bagundi scenery......antha adavulu....challani gaali...appude udayinchina kiranalu....erra baduthunna ...aakasam.
ooty ...ekkuva dooram lenatlundi ....pakkane koorchunna prayanikudu..deerghanga nidra...chinna music laga rythmatic snoring....chinnappatininchi ooty choodalani korika....collegelo unnappudu vachhindi oka chance...kani ade time lo ..typhoid....
Rathri enimidintiki ekkadu bassu..benguluru lo...antha benguluru ...thega baguntundi antaru..tanaki antha goppaga emi anipinchala..may be ....thana present mind set ala undemo....city lo okka cinema halls nachhayi thanaki...........
Pakkanne unaa prayanikudu lechadu..(thankfully).....chuste andhra vadilaga leka south vadi laga ledu....hindi lo adigadu...aur kitna door hai...ooty?......Mujhe bhi nahin malom magar jaldi aane vale hai...konchem chiraaku ga annadu thanu...hyderabad lo perigadu kabatti..hindi bane vachhu...aarintiki cherindi bassu..ooty....scenery chala bagundi....no wonder people flock to see ooty ..anni cinema shootingulu ......anukunnadu thanu...
Bus digi atu itu chusadu....rathri sariga thinale..chachhe akali....first hotel....auto vesukuni...DAS PRAKASH HOTEL....room....vedi neellu....pesarattu...athma ramudu santhinchadu...hotel bayata paddadu....tamil radu kabatti ..hindi ye gathi....auto vadini adigadu choodataniki enti ani.......BOTANICAL GARDENS.....
carpet laga...green lawns..antha kante striking.....ada..maga jantalu...almost cinemalo choopinche scenes...photographers... 15 RS ki photo..tega godavapeduthunnadu vachhinappitininchi.....okkadine unna naku..chiraku photo enta ani...oka janta....andamyna ammayi....oka abbayi ...kottaga pelli ayinatludi....ammaye abbayi kante forward ga undi...dhyryanga meeda cheya veyamani antundi...telugu valla laga unnaru....
vachhe july ki 27 years...chala sambhandalu vachhayi poyayi.....oka unsuccessful ....pellichoopulu....nachhaledu...pathi kellu vachhinappatininchi...parents ...venaka..pelli chesukora ani....jathakalu...caste...subcaste...vydeeki...velnatlu....ento asalu...ippati daka asalu.. subsect unnayani kooda teleedu...valla ..ki raaji padi...doriki poyadu....desam lo telugu brahmins pillalu etu poyaro...andamyna ammyalantha...kama vallu leda..niyogi brahmins...ento ...whole situation antha..chiraku ga undi....oka ti decided..edi emyna....brahmachari la undataniki settle avuthanu gani..no compromise..on requirements...basic good looks,.. well educated...konchem social..girl...tithulu laga sambandhalu vastunnayi pothunnayi.....naannaki ...jatha kala ...pichhi...comparative ga amma modern...ekkuva chaduvu koka poyina..
Vallani badha pettakunda oka manchi ammayi dorakada ani...valla ki initiative ichhadu...ippati ki rondellu...ayi poyayi..no pilla in sight...py pechhu meeku nachhi tene chesukunta ani mata kooda ichhi ..doriki poyadu...evarido ball...unlce ball....oka chinna pilla aduguthondi......doooranga oka sardarji....erra ga , najoogga poduga pellamu.....kaki ki donda pandu laga unnaru..lopala ekkado kullu..thana ki....correct ga one year back....radha mavayya vachhadu (madhya varti )....manchi sambhandam ani...pilla photo tho...attractive ga..cotton sari....height...color...anni bane unnayi ...first look lo ne almost decide ayyipoyadu....edo last bus miss avuthe dorakadannatlu....nanna photo chusadu....orey ..jathakam kudarali kada..ani...ventane....birth date ...nakshtram patuuku ra radha..ammma pakka ninchi....mee tatayya ki baga telisina vallu... nayanamma.. vantitloninchi...edo asa...ganta tharavatha ..radha mavayya..pilla ippude chesukodu ta...details kooda ivvala...disappoint avuthu cheppadu...one more gone from the list anukunna...
konchem drizzle.....daggiralo ..hotel....tiffin...ekkada chusina ammayilu....mana ke ...karuvu ....anukunnadu..kachhe ga...kana ..badi na ammayalanu quick ga assessment...kotha alavatu.......
girruna.....oka samvatsaram thirigindi..thana married status still single..edo ..excuse....pilla kudaratle..orey...rahu is watching from 12 th house...to mars...time paduthundi...final judgement la ..naanna ..decree pass chesadu..last month....velladu ...initi ki malla.....malla tagiladu..radha mavayya...malla .. pilla pinni adigindi ani annadu...e pilla ..konchem irritate avuthu annadu thanu....photo...chupinchadu...ade pilla green cotton saree...etc....next day....sunday..lazy ga oka patha T shirt vesu kuni gaddam cheyakunda koorchunnadu thanu...evaro oka lady vachhhindi ok abbayi tho...edo amma tho husk....kasepu koorchuni poyaru..thanu patti pattanatttu ....look vesi velladu...evarey ..amma ni adigadu...pilla pinni ra andi..sare cheppa chugga nenu na avatharam ....pilla jathakam vallu ichharu.....one week ayyindi ..naku thappa evariki ..thondara lenatlundi...
saab bill..hindi lo waiter...katti bayata paddadu...edo mechanical ga thiruguthunnadu..lake...park...hotel lunch...race course....honeymoon chesukunte ikkade.....chaalle...alu ledu chulu ledu koduku peru somalingam..lopalinchi ..oka voice..teasing ga....
Dhyryam chesi adi gadu naanna ni..nanna ... pilla ni chuddama...jathakam match avvali kadara...ventane vellandi....amma pakkaninchi....seetha phal mandi....astrologist....chusadu...serious face....nenu athram ga..edo lottery result kosam wait chestunnatlu....baleda..naanne adigadu...paravale....kaani ...pilla vrischikam..pilladu karkatakam....office ninchi rangane...tension ga untundi.....RETREAT....like a defeated sodier...intiki vachhaka....emyndi ..ani amma....inka manhci vi rakunda pothaya ..naanna...
ika labham ledani cheppadu ...I WANT TO SEE THE GIRL DAD...tone konchem penche cheppadu...ala matla datam first time....YOU DECIDE FOR YOURSELF...YOU TAK E RESPONSIBILTY..kopangane ..naanna...abba ..telugu lo matladithe ..naku ardham avuthundi ga..venakala ninchi amma....
Night bus ekkadu malla.....pakka ne oka kurradu...TB pateint laga daggu...eppudu bus ekkina...cigarettlu thage vado...dagge vado ...cinema hall ayithe paan thine vado..mundara kallu pette vado..mana adristam anthe anukunnadu....challati gaali....niddara etlagu pattatle e mdhya...
Next day pelli chupulu.....pilla photo kante bagundi....ekkuva matladakunda kalla tho pariksha ga..confident ga chusindi thana ni....ide last chance annatlu matladadu..thanu...pilla oka chinna smile end lo...edo confirmatory ..asa...pelli chupulu ayyi...varam....naanna ki phone chesadu....pilla vallu ki cheppava naku pilla nachhindi ani......OREY...PILLA VALLU CHEPPALI kADURA...FIRST..PROTOCOL gurthu chesadu naanna......two days back daddy phone....nee kosam ani phone chesara..pilla thandri ki....adigithe 60% nachhavuta ani cheppadu...konchem hurt ga feel avuthu cheppadu....thanu devastated....pelli chupullo kooda maths vastundi ani thanu eppudu anu kola...gone for ever..anukunna....edo manasulo tensin..change ga untundi ani ooty bus ekkadu bangalore ninchi......ayina no compromise....with basic requirement anukunnadu..
Next day office....one more dull day...enti ra..ala depressed ga unnavu freinds adagatam...vekili ga....
.........................................after noon naanna phone............congrats ra.......ani
enti nanna...varey sambandham memo anukuntu...feeble ga annadu thanu... phon elo...
.............orey........04 dec engagement....pilla ki nuvvu nachhavuta..pilla grandfather intervene ayyi...settle chesadu............
WELL REST IS HISTORY....................THEY SAY MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN..........KADAA..............
ooty ...ekkuva dooram lenatlundi ....pakkane koorchunna prayanikudu..deerghanga nidra...chinna music laga rythmatic snoring....chinnappatininchi ooty choodalani korika....collegelo unnappudu vachhindi oka chance...kani ade time lo ..typhoid....
Rathri enimidintiki ekkadu bassu..benguluru lo...antha benguluru ...thega baguntundi antaru..tanaki antha goppaga emi anipinchala..may be ....thana present mind set ala undemo....city lo okka cinema halls nachhayi thanaki...........
Pakkanne unaa prayanikudu lechadu..(thankfully).....chuste andhra vadilaga leka south vadi laga ledu....hindi lo adigadu...aur kitna door hai...ooty?......Mujhe bhi nahin malom magar jaldi aane vale hai...konchem chiraaku ga annadu thanu...hyderabad lo perigadu kabatti..hindi bane vachhu...aarintiki cherindi bassu..ooty....scenery chala bagundi....no wonder people flock to see ooty ..anni cinema shootingulu ......anukunnadu thanu...
Bus digi atu itu chusadu....rathri sariga thinale..chachhe akali....first hotel....auto vesukuni...DAS PRAKASH HOTEL....room....vedi neellu....pesarattu...athma ramudu santhinchadu...hotel bayata paddadu....tamil radu kabatti ..hindi ye gathi....auto vadini adigadu choodataniki enti ani.......BOTANICAL GARDENS.....
carpet laga...green lawns..antha kante striking.....ada..maga jantalu...almost cinemalo choopinche scenes...photographers... 15 RS ki photo..tega godavapeduthunnadu vachhinappitininchi.....okkadine unna naku..chiraku photo enta ani...oka janta....andamyna ammayi....oka abbayi ...kottaga pelli ayinatludi....ammaye abbayi kante forward ga undi...dhyryanga meeda cheya veyamani antundi...telugu valla laga unnaru....
vachhe july ki 27 years...chala sambhandalu vachhayi poyayi.....oka unsuccessful ....pellichoopulu....nachhaledu...pathi kellu vachhinappatininchi...parents ...venaka..pelli chesukora ani....jathakalu...caste...subcaste...vydeeki...velnatlu....ento asalu...ippati daka asalu.. subsect unnayani kooda teleedu...valla ..ki raaji padi...doriki poyadu....desam lo telugu brahmins pillalu etu poyaro...andamyna ammyalantha...kama vallu leda..niyogi brahmins...ento ...whole situation antha..chiraku ga undi....oka ti decided..edi emyna....brahmachari la undataniki settle avuthanu gani..no compromise..on requirements...basic good looks,.. well educated...konchem social..girl...tithulu laga sambandhalu vastunnayi pothunnayi.....naannaki ...jatha kala ...pichhi...comparative ga amma modern...ekkuva chaduvu koka poyina..
Vallani badha pettakunda oka manchi ammayi dorakada ani...valla ki initiative ichhadu...ippati ki rondellu...ayi poyayi..no pilla in sight...py pechhu meeku nachhi tene chesukunta ani mata kooda ichhi ..doriki poyadu...evarido ball...unlce ball....oka chinna pilla aduguthondi......doooranga oka sardarji....erra ga , najoogga poduga pellamu.....kaki ki donda pandu laga unnaru..lopala ekkado kullu..thana ki....correct ga one year back....radha mavayya vachhadu (madhya varti )....manchi sambhandam ani...pilla photo tho...attractive ga..cotton sari....height...color...anni bane unnayi ...first look lo ne almost decide ayyipoyadu....edo last bus miss avuthe dorakadannatlu....nanna photo chusadu....orey ..jathakam kudarali kada..ani...ventane....birth date ...nakshtram patuuku ra radha..ammma pakka ninchi....mee tatayya ki baga telisina vallu... nayanamma.. vantitloninchi...edo asa...ganta tharavatha ..radha mavayya..pilla ippude chesukodu ta...details kooda ivvala...disappoint avuthu cheppadu...one more gone from the list anukunna...
konchem drizzle.....daggiralo ..hotel....tiffin...ekkada chusina ammayilu....mana ke ...karuvu ....anukunnadu..kachhe ga...kana ..badi na ammayalanu quick ga assessment...kotha alavatu.......
girruna.....oka samvatsaram thirigindi..thana married status still single..edo ..excuse....pilla kudaratle..orey...rahu is watching from 12 th house...to mars...time paduthundi...final judgement la ..naanna ..decree pass chesadu..last month....velladu ...initi ki malla.....malla tagiladu..radha mavayya...malla .. pilla pinni adigindi ani annadu...e pilla ..konchem irritate avuthu annadu thanu....photo...chupinchadu...ade pilla green cotton saree...etc....next day....sunday..lazy ga oka patha T shirt vesu kuni gaddam cheyakunda koorchunnadu thanu...evaro oka lady vachhhindi ok abbayi tho...edo amma tho husk....kasepu koorchuni poyaru..thanu patti pattanatttu ....look vesi velladu...evarey ..amma ni adigadu...pilla pinni ra andi..sare cheppa chugga nenu na avatharam ....pilla jathakam vallu ichharu.....one week ayyindi ..naku thappa evariki ..thondara lenatlundi...
saab bill..hindi lo waiter...katti bayata paddadu...edo mechanical ga thiruguthunnadu..lake...park...hotel lunch...race course....honeymoon chesukunte ikkade.....chaalle...alu ledu chulu ledu koduku peru somalingam..lopalinchi ..oka voice..teasing ga....
Dhyryam chesi adi gadu naanna ni..nanna ... pilla ni chuddama...jathakam match avvali kadara...ventane vellandi....amma pakkaninchi....seetha phal mandi....astrologist....chusadu...serious face....nenu athram ga..edo lottery result kosam wait chestunnatlu....baleda..naanne adigadu...paravale....kaani ...pilla vrischikam..pilladu karkatakam....office ninchi rangane...tension ga untundi.....RETREAT....like a defeated sodier...intiki vachhaka....emyndi ..ani amma....inka manhci vi rakunda pothaya ..naanna...
ika labham ledani cheppadu ...I WANT TO SEE THE GIRL DAD...tone konchem penche cheppadu...ala matla datam first time....YOU DECIDE FOR YOURSELF...YOU TAK E RESPONSIBILTY..kopangane ..naanna...abba ..telugu lo matladithe ..naku ardham avuthundi ga..venakala ninchi amma....
Night bus ekkadu malla.....pakka ne oka kurradu...TB pateint laga daggu...eppudu bus ekkina...cigarettlu thage vado...dagge vado ...cinema hall ayithe paan thine vado..mundara kallu pette vado..mana adristam anthe anukunnadu....challati gaali....niddara etlagu pattatle e mdhya...
Next day pelli chupulu.....pilla photo kante bagundi....ekkuva matladakunda kalla tho pariksha ga..confident ga chusindi thana ni....ide last chance annatlu matladadu..thanu...pilla oka chinna smile end lo...edo confirmatory ..asa...pelli chupulu ayyi...varam....naanna ki phone chesadu....pilla vallu ki cheppava naku pilla nachhindi ani......OREY...PILLA VALLU CHEPPALI kADURA...FIRST..PROTOCOL gurthu chesadu naanna......two days back daddy phone....nee kosam ani phone chesara..pilla thandri ki....adigithe 60% nachhavuta ani cheppadu...konchem hurt ga feel avuthu cheppadu....thanu devastated....pelli chupullo kooda maths vastundi ani thanu eppudu anu kola...gone for ever..anukunna....edo manasulo tensin..change ga untundi ani ooty bus ekkadu bangalore ninchi......ayina no compromise....with basic requirement anukunnadu..
Next day office....one more dull day...enti ra..ala depressed ga unnavu freinds adagatam...vekili ga....
.........................................after noon naanna phone............congrats ra.......ani
enti nanna...varey sambandham memo anukuntu...feeble ga annadu thanu... phon elo...
.............orey........04 dec engagement....pilla ki nuvvu nachhavuta..pilla grandfather intervene ayyi...settle chesadu............
WELL REST IS HISTORY....................THEY SAY MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN..........KADAA..............
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
TELESCOPE AND PERISCOPE
I was always drawn to science.....(please don't mistake me i am no scientist)....perhaps the only reason i was drawn to it as a child was it allowed me to ask questions. The house hold i was brought up in we were not encouraged to ask questions....possibly it was more by default than by design...the whole house hold was busy from dawn to dusk ..cooking eating washing and all that...so nobody encouraged questions that too from an intelligent youngster going to first standard lower primary school . The questions ranged from why i had to take bath at midnight on a lunar eclipse day to why on earth i couldn't sleep a little longer or what use it was to cram those seemingly boring tables.
I was singularly lucky to have the august company of my youngest uncle elder to me by a few single digits....he was as i see it now more scientifically bent than i .....answering all my queries...leaving me to wonder about this intellect and the faculties of science.
It was in such moments when perhaps i was no more than 8 years of age or so and he was thirteen ....he used to embark upon some scientific experiments...i was his faithful assistant , to whom he dished out small errands as he seriously poured over his scientific design s and plans....one dull boring afternoon he pulled me aside by my sleeve literally....and the tone in which he spoke to me ...in small whispers i knew he was enlisting me for some dangerous mission; twitching his black eyebrows on an otherwise resplendent fair face he tasked me ...please get me six empty match boxes .....it was almost as if he knew i wouldn't fail him...i knew instinctively that hook or crook he expected me to get those serious equipment required for an impending scientific mission.....by then i was his captive fan ..having learnt many a thing from making a kite to making a gum from stolen atta (wheat flour)...he had some magical hands...what ever he embarked on he could make it with precision ...(as i would realise many years later trying to replicate the same things with my growing son ..i was an utter flop..i could never make a kite that could fly...)
So on that dull afternoon with an oppressive coastal humid wind blowing i asked him what he
intended to do with the match boxes even if i managed to get them....he just commandeered ..JUST GET THEM.....he knew that if some thing had to be brought from kitchen on the tip toe there was no better bet than I..
i was an expert at groceries from my child hood ....eagerly listening to the list of items that was made ..on a monthly basis ..quite vocally...and it always included match boxes in the end..at least one dozen pack...those were days of cooking on fire wood and charcoal and so they were required in abundance.
so the little thief in me waited for all the prying elders to sleep and lay hands on the match box carton that had a distinct smell ..which i would get used to later on in life.....THE SMELL OF PHOSPHORUS..... So quickly i off loaded all the matches in the large open drain and carried the empty ones in my bulging pockets....my biggest threat was my granny...she was a perfect detective....who could trace many a juvenile crimes in the house to me with precision many days after they were committed.
My learned companion in no time manged to arrange the match boxes and glue them with home made gum from atta..(don't ask where he got that from).....when ever he wanted that gum he would ask my granny that he had to bind his books ..and promptly she would make an atta paste and give him. So with these match boxes he made a contraption that resembled like a a big Z.. only the diagonal arm of the Z was very vertical ...two mirrors salvaged from a broken toy of Taj Mahal were inserted deftly in this contraption.
When finished smoothly ..there was no trace of match boxes..it was a marvellous device...that caught my attention for a life time...i was the first user of that intriguing device that looked like a Z or a 2 symbol... from this device one could observe things without being observed....the light reflected by mirrors transferring the objective image to the eye.....
It was a perfect device that fired my imagination ..from then on we would put it to good use for surveillance from unwanted agents who pried frequently on what we were doing. It was mounted on a window grill , window partly closed...enabling me to watch the persons entering the house.....Some years later my companion would also make another interesting device the telescope that would enable me to watch things far away ....magnified......these two devices caught my imagination....and little did i know then that i would b using them in life ahead quite frequently .....of course i did use them even then mostly to some sinister designs...of watching forbidden things big..and watch people without being watched...no more questions please we cancerian kids do have secrets......
I was singularly lucky to have the august company of my youngest uncle elder to me by a few single digits....he was as i see it now more scientifically bent than i .....answering all my queries...leaving me to wonder about this intellect and the faculties of science.
It was in such moments when perhaps i was no more than 8 years of age or so and he was thirteen ....he used to embark upon some scientific experiments...i was his faithful assistant , to whom he dished out small errands as he seriously poured over his scientific design s and plans....one dull boring afternoon he pulled me aside by my sleeve literally....and the tone in which he spoke to me ...in small whispers i knew he was enlisting me for some dangerous mission; twitching his black eyebrows on an otherwise resplendent fair face he tasked me ...please get me six empty match boxes .....it was almost as if he knew i wouldn't fail him...i knew instinctively that hook or crook he expected me to get those serious equipment required for an impending scientific mission.....by then i was his captive fan ..having learnt many a thing from making a kite to making a gum from stolen atta (wheat flour)...he had some magical hands...what ever he embarked on he could make it with precision ...(as i would realise many years later trying to replicate the same things with my growing son ..i was an utter flop..i could never make a kite that could fly...)
So on that dull afternoon with an oppressive coastal humid wind blowing i asked him what he
intended to do with the match boxes even if i managed to get them....he just commandeered ..JUST GET THEM.....he knew that if some thing had to be brought from kitchen on the tip toe there was no better bet than I..
i was an expert at groceries from my child hood ....eagerly listening to the list of items that was made ..on a monthly basis ..quite vocally...and it always included match boxes in the end..at least one dozen pack...those were days of cooking on fire wood and charcoal and so they were required in abundance.
so the little thief in me waited for all the prying elders to sleep and lay hands on the match box carton that had a distinct smell ..which i would get used to later on in life.....THE SMELL OF PHOSPHORUS..... So quickly i off loaded all the matches in the large open drain and carried the empty ones in my bulging pockets....my biggest threat was my granny...she was a perfect detective....who could trace many a juvenile crimes in the house to me with precision many days after they were committed.
My learned companion in no time manged to arrange the match boxes and glue them with home made gum from atta..(don't ask where he got that from).....when ever he wanted that gum he would ask my granny that he had to bind his books ..and promptly she would make an atta paste and give him. So with these match boxes he made a contraption that resembled like a a big Z.. only the diagonal arm of the Z was very vertical ...two mirrors salvaged from a broken toy of Taj Mahal were inserted deftly in this contraption.
When finished smoothly ..there was no trace of match boxes..it was a marvellous device...that caught my attention for a life time...i was the first user of that intriguing device that looked like a Z or a 2 symbol... from this device one could observe things without being observed....the light reflected by mirrors transferring the objective image to the eye.....
It was a perfect device that fired my imagination ..from then on we would put it to good use for surveillance from unwanted agents who pried frequently on what we were doing. It was mounted on a window grill , window partly closed...enabling me to watch the persons entering the house.....Some years later my companion would also make another interesting device the telescope that would enable me to watch things far away ....magnified......these two devices caught my imagination....and little did i know then that i would b using them in life ahead quite frequently .....of course i did use them even then mostly to some sinister designs...of watching forbidden things big..and watch people without being watched...no more questions please we cancerian kids do have secrets......
Monday, June 16, 2008
మడి నన్ను తాకకు : నన్ను తాకాడు బట్టలు విప్పమను
There are many intriguing aspects of childhood which take many years to be resolved.....some basic doubts which never ever get cleared....some may sound very elementary...but needed serious ..Newtonian type of investigations...I was as such an intriguing character(in the eyes of my elders)..who was always intrigued by simple things of life.....
Growing up in a huge house hold as part of a joint family was fun....at least as it seems to me now..many decades later....but in those days it was intriguing.....i wondered why ..many a times....but i never got a satisfactory answer.....one reason perhaps could be that in a nuclear family , one could have at the best a sister or a brother and then a yawning gap ...between the kids and the parents....not a gap exactly a chasm ....or an abyss .
In a joint family in which i had the fortune of growing up with my two less than dozen uncles and aunts....the range was quite wide....the youngest uncle himself being barely five years elder to me........ for one who is my father's youngest brother i often found him to be a friend most times ....a competitor some times and once a while when things were hot ..he would turn a 'Brutus' and give me up to the elders ...when accusing fingers of blame were pointed at him for pranks played by me.....we had aunts and uncles each quite methodically sequenced ranging from an year to two....all in all a nice bunch......
If living in a joint family was itself interesting in many ways .....being raised in an orthodox Brahmin's family was yet another aspect which made the whole experience wholesome and subject to frequent Newtonian investigations.....
I am blessed (or otherwise) with a sharp memory .... something that amazes me...some snaps of childhood memories when I narrate to my mother she would say "no way you could remember that ..you were just two years old".....either i must have have had good memory or must be figments of my imagination...but i do have bits and pieces of what happened from my earliest days.......
there was this intriguing thing about my mom and grand ma......in the morning we would all wake up to my moms ...melodious voice singing ...(a fantastic experience that i cherish to this day) ...there after our customary breakfast of left overs of previous day....generally rice mixed with gongoora ....aavakaya pickle...followed by a good bath for me....and then she would disappear in to the bath room ....as i would be playing with my aunts....I preferred them to my uncles....for the simple reason.. each time i bumped in to an uncle...he would ask me to recite the multiplication tables ....aunts were that way better....nice to look at in their colorful half Sarees... and long black plaited hairs......also I realised they were easier prey for my antics.
So my mom when she came out from the bath...would always appear in wet Saree..water dripping all over and lock her self up to change in to dry clothes...something i used to wonder why...for one who always insisted that i was wiped dry with a towel after a bath... she would always emerge completely dripping....there after ...there was this inexplicable CURFEW on me....something that i never understood for many years........I wasn't allowed to touch my mom..... since I was used to playing hide and seek , and touch me if you can type of games with my aunts...i took it for granted that my mom was playing this game too. As i tried to touch her she would squirm and run away from me.....and me trying to catch her whenever she came out of kitchen....this game i used to play..often....initially as a toddler ....i could never succeed to catch up with my mom...but as my muscles got stronger...i was becoming a real threat...so just about when i was about to touch my mom....i would be whisked away by soft hands of an aunt or lifted by the scruff of my neck literally by gruff hands of an uncle.....but that enigma remained why i couldn't touch her.....after few hours when my grandma was served food ...my mom would have done here Pooja...which was highlighted by the sequential distribution of prasadam.....I seemed to have again gained my libertyof touching her.....for then when i chased her she wouldn't run..but instead take me into her arms..and kiss me...she seemed to have been some how been "switched off" from something...this thing continued.
Soon enough a few more years were added to me....అండ్ from a bubbly young kissable baby boy I turned out being labeled as a brat...a veritable villain troubling my mom....during the hours of curfew which i explained before ..one day i caught up with my mom ..and touched her....my vigilant granny ..who was always there to watch the proceedings..shouted ...he touched you .. he touched ...for the first time the smile was gone from my moms face....she went in to the bath room again to reemerge fully dripping in a wet Saree and changed her clothes...this time around I was quite sternly told not to touch my mom ..else i would be beaten black and blue...a fearful warning from my unfriendly Granny...she shouted at me మీఅమ్మ ..మడి కట్టు కుంది ముట్టు కోకు . I was told in plain English that i was forbidden to touch my ..mom as she was in madi...some thing that i never ever understood for many years...that whatever the reasons assigned ..why she must bathe again if i touched her once....of course the brat i was I never gave up..i troubled my mom any number of times ..by touching her.....most times i got away as i scooted but some times i got the beating of my life from my grandmother or an angry uncle who felt i was troubling her....
As if this wasn't enough....each of my aunts would peculiarly play out at least as it seemed to me then, a once in a month game..with us all.... once a while they would indicate to my mom that something happened to them and they would for next three days seem to be in a quarantine of sorts...they could neither touch anyone nor allowed to be touched.....this they did for three precise days a count of which they kept qute vocally..(ocassionally my dad would ask how many dasy passed ..first ..or second or third day)....then again..the little naughty fellow I was again....would come out with all questions..mostly...uncomfortable to them...again no satisfactory answer was ever given for this quarantine....in all my endeavours to play this game of touching them......i realised the end result was different....this time I would be at the receiving end. Each time i touched my aunt or mom when they were in this enigmatic quarantine...I was hunted like never before by that person....put under a running tap of cold bath...deprived of my clothes...and sent walking back in my birthday suit.......a quite an unpleasant experience from the touching game when i played with my mom when she was in...madi.....this was pay back time it seemed....if by any chance if i was i touched somebody else before i was caught they seemed to suffer from the same fate....it was some kind of a relay..if they were kids of my age they were chased down ...if they were elders they quietly volunteered to go take a bath and changed clothes...when all this drama took place ...the chief conductor of who was touched and who took a bath was my granny....i realised at times when i touched and they were not observed by the granny ...our actions were connived..as if nothing happened.....at timeswhen my aunts or mom were quarantined ..my aunts would shout at me...నన్ను తాకకు రా నేను బయట ఉన్నా ....I for one never realised what this whole intriguing thing was all about ..of ..madi and this strange quarantine that these young ladies were put to.....OCCASIONALLY THE NEWTON IN ME WOULD ASK THOUGH WHY MY GRAND MA WAS NOT SUBJECTED TO THIS MONTHLY QUARANTINE... which i prayed for vainly....
Growing up in a huge house hold as part of a joint family was fun....at least as it seems to me now..many decades later....but in those days it was intriguing.....i wondered why ..many a times....but i never got a satisfactory answer.....one reason perhaps could be that in a nuclear family , one could have at the best a sister or a brother and then a yawning gap ...between the kids and the parents....not a gap exactly a chasm ....or an abyss .
In a joint family in which i had the fortune of growing up with my two less than dozen uncles and aunts....the range was quite wide....the youngest uncle himself being barely five years elder to me........ for one who is my father's youngest brother i often found him to be a friend most times ....a competitor some times and once a while when things were hot ..he would turn a 'Brutus' and give me up to the elders ...when accusing fingers of blame were pointed at him for pranks played by me.....we had aunts and uncles each quite methodically sequenced ranging from an year to two....all in all a nice bunch......
If living in a joint family was itself interesting in many ways .....being raised in an orthodox Brahmin's family was yet another aspect which made the whole experience wholesome and subject to frequent Newtonian investigations.....
I am blessed (or otherwise) with a sharp memory .... something that amazes me...some snaps of childhood memories when I narrate to my mother she would say "no way you could remember that ..you were just two years old".....either i must have have had good memory or must be figments of my imagination...but i do have bits and pieces of what happened from my earliest days.......
there was this intriguing thing about my mom and grand ma......in the morning we would all wake up to my moms ...melodious voice singing ...(a fantastic experience that i cherish to this day) ...there after our customary breakfast of left overs of previous day....generally rice mixed with gongoora ....aavakaya pickle...followed by a good bath for me....and then she would disappear in to the bath room ....as i would be playing with my aunts....I preferred them to my uncles....for the simple reason.. each time i bumped in to an uncle...he would ask me to recite the multiplication tables ....aunts were that way better....nice to look at in their colorful half Sarees... and long black plaited hairs......also I realised they were easier prey for my antics.
So my mom when she came out from the bath...would always appear in wet Saree..water dripping all over and lock her self up to change in to dry clothes...something i used to wonder why...for one who always insisted that i was wiped dry with a towel after a bath... she would always emerge completely dripping....there after ...there was this inexplicable CURFEW on me....something that i never understood for many years........I wasn't allowed to touch my mom..... since I was used to playing hide and seek , and touch me if you can type of games with my aunts...i took it for granted that my mom was playing this game too. As i tried to touch her she would squirm and run away from me.....and me trying to catch her whenever she came out of kitchen....this game i used to play..often....initially as a toddler ....i could never succeed to catch up with my mom...but as my muscles got stronger...i was becoming a real threat...so just about when i was about to touch my mom....i would be whisked away by soft hands of an aunt or lifted by the scruff of my neck literally by gruff hands of an uncle.....but that enigma remained why i couldn't touch her.....after few hours when my grandma was served food ...my mom would have done here Pooja...which was highlighted by the sequential distribution of prasadam.....I seemed to have again gained my libertyof touching her.....for then when i chased her she wouldn't run..but instead take me into her arms..and kiss me...she seemed to have been some how been "switched off" from something...this thing continued.
Soon enough a few more years were added to me....అండ్ from a bubbly young kissable baby boy I turned out being labeled as a brat...a veritable villain troubling my mom....during the hours of curfew which i explained before ..one day i caught up with my mom ..and touched her....my vigilant granny ..who was always there to watch the proceedings..shouted ...he touched you .. he touched ...for the first time the smile was gone from my moms face....she went in to the bath room again to reemerge fully dripping in a wet Saree and changed her clothes...this time around I was quite sternly told not to touch my mom ..else i would be beaten black and blue...a fearful warning from my unfriendly Granny...she shouted at me మీఅమ్మ ..మడి కట్టు కుంది ముట్టు కోకు . I was told in plain English that i was forbidden to touch my ..mom as she was in madi...some thing that i never ever understood for many years...that whatever the reasons assigned ..why she must bathe again if i touched her once....of course the brat i was I never gave up..i troubled my mom any number of times ..by touching her.....most times i got away as i scooted but some times i got the beating of my life from my grandmother or an angry uncle who felt i was troubling her....
As if this wasn't enough....each of my aunts would peculiarly play out at least as it seemed to me then, a once in a month game..with us all.... once a while they would indicate to my mom that something happened to them and they would for next three days seem to be in a quarantine of sorts...they could neither touch anyone nor allowed to be touched.....this they did for three precise days a count of which they kept qute vocally..(ocassionally my dad would ask how many dasy passed ..first ..or second or third day)....then again..the little naughty fellow I was again....would come out with all questions..mostly...uncomfortable to them...again no satisfactory answer was ever given for this quarantine....in all my endeavours to play this game of touching them......i realised the end result was different....this time I would be at the receiving end. Each time i touched my aunt or mom when they were in this enigmatic quarantine...I was hunted like never before by that person....put under a running tap of cold bath...deprived of my clothes...and sent walking back in my birthday suit.......a quite an unpleasant experience from the touching game when i played with my mom when she was in...madi.....this was pay back time it seemed....if by any chance if i was i touched somebody else before i was caught they seemed to suffer from the same fate....it was some kind of a relay..if they were kids of my age they were chased down ...if they were elders they quietly volunteered to go take a bath and changed clothes...when all this drama took place ...the chief conductor of who was touched and who took a bath was my granny....i realised at times when i touched and they were not observed by the granny ...our actions were connived..as if nothing happened.....at timeswhen my aunts or mom were quarantined ..my aunts would shout at me...నన్ను తాకకు రా నేను బయట ఉన్నా ....I for one never realised what this whole intriguing thing was all about ..of ..madi and this strange quarantine that these young ladies were put to.....OCCASIONALLY THE NEWTON IN ME WOULD ASK THOUGH WHY MY GRAND MA WAS NOT SUBJECTED TO THIS MONTHLY QUARANTINE... which i prayed for vainly....
Friday, June 13, 2008
HEAD BATH.....
some memories of childhood are poignant....some pleasant and some unpleasant.......one such unpleasant memory was a monthly head bath.....it was an activity that my grand mom ensured in the house....it was as if she maintained a roster in her head..she exactly knew whose turn it was for the monthly head bath....
I had the privilege of growing up in a huge joint family ...my father having taken on the responsibility after the sudden and untimely death of my grandfather...I was told he died when i was few months old...it was a real big family....me a little toddler ....among those growing uncles and aunts...they were many....almost two less than a dozen of them...and including me and my sister we made up for a dozen....
The chief director of the house was my granny....keeping a vigilant eye on everybody....especially the chief brat of the house that was me...she considered me as a big nuisance as i was always breaching the code of conduct and challenging her authority ....my poor mommy was very busy..coping up with all the chores of the house from cleaning up the house , cooking and in the end the end the laundry ..I never got to see her much except when she came at night to put us Little children to bed....
each one had to take a head bath once a month at least....that was what I was told at least....whenever my granny was getting a feeling that some one wasn't making up with her well she would declare that that subject (of course kids) was to be subjected to a head bath....You may wonder what was so painful about this head bath...well those ere not times of smooth silky shampoos like head and shoulders....or clinic plus....those were to a four year old terrifying times.
Since I hated head bath the way it was administered....my granny knew that it was the best way to get even with me...so she would declare that i should be given a head bath....it wasn't so easy to lay hands on a slippery character like me....I would run around the house ...as my mother would cajole to come for this unpleasant ritual...
It would start with first administering castrol in the ears nose and mouth....such bitter feeling it was....and there after applying sunipindi a type o flour ...and then dried up for an hour or so there on invariably mom or some one else would rub that flour off the body and off with it all the dust and muck.....reeta phal or kunkudukaya rasam will be then applied....on the head ....we were to keep our eyes closed..lest that acidic concoction would burn our eyes....it would all be darkness...our breaths held tight for the inevitable torture....my granny would be there always to supervise that i had a real good bath...to see that all things were administerd properly...i suspected that was her way of getting even with all the pranks I played in the house ..especially in the kitchen which was her exclusive domain.....
I for one wouldn't give in so easily so would run around the house eventually to be pinned down with all the uncles and aunts..dragged to my moms feet an administerd the castrol first and then sunipindi.....it was an awful feeling applying that sunnipindi...inevitably....the acidic juice of reeta phal would burn my eyes.....and as I shouted and howled through out the process..hot water would be poured over my head.... as if to add insult to injury....as I would get noisier and aggressive one of the younger aunts would be pressed into service to take charge of my arms and keep my head still....it was a real acidic experience...
This process continued for few years till one day my uncle who is a doctor told quite firmly that it wasn't scientifically correct to administer castrol.....in the mouth and nose..this he had to tell quite firmly to my granny who was having her say so far in the house....i was grateful to that uncle...for it was such a relief......i might have been then four or five
It took many years for me to really enjoy a head bath...much later in a boarding school with head and shoulders shampoo...working out smooth lather...wondering why our lives were made miserable......
I had the privilege of growing up in a huge joint family ...my father having taken on the responsibility after the sudden and untimely death of my grandfather...I was told he died when i was few months old...it was a real big family....me a little toddler ....among those growing uncles and aunts...they were many....almost two less than a dozen of them...and including me and my sister we made up for a dozen....
The chief director of the house was my granny....keeping a vigilant eye on everybody....especially the chief brat of the house that was me...she considered me as a big nuisance as i was always breaching the code of conduct and challenging her authority ....my poor mommy was very busy..coping up with all the chores of the house from cleaning up the house , cooking and in the end the end the laundry ..I never got to see her much except when she came at night to put us Little children to bed....
each one had to take a head bath once a month at least....that was what I was told at least....whenever my granny was getting a feeling that some one wasn't making up with her well she would declare that that subject (of course kids) was to be subjected to a head bath....You may wonder what was so painful about this head bath...well those ere not times of smooth silky shampoos like head and shoulders....or clinic plus....those were to a four year old terrifying times.
Since I hated head bath the way it was administered....my granny knew that it was the best way to get even with me...so she would declare that i should be given a head bath....it wasn't so easy to lay hands on a slippery character like me....I would run around the house ...as my mother would cajole to come for this unpleasant ritual...
It would start with first administering castrol in the ears nose and mouth....such bitter feeling it was....and there after applying sunipindi a type o flour ...and then dried up for an hour or so there on invariably mom or some one else would rub that flour off the body and off with it all the dust and muck.....reeta phal or kunkudukaya rasam will be then applied....on the head ....we were to keep our eyes closed..lest that acidic concoction would burn our eyes....it would all be darkness...our breaths held tight for the inevitable torture....my granny would be there always to supervise that i had a real good bath...to see that all things were administerd properly...i suspected that was her way of getting even with all the pranks I played in the house ..especially in the kitchen which was her exclusive domain.....
I for one wouldn't give in so easily so would run around the house eventually to be pinned down with all the uncles and aunts..dragged to my moms feet an administerd the castrol first and then sunipindi.....it was an awful feeling applying that sunnipindi...inevitably....the acidic juice of reeta phal would burn my eyes.....and as I shouted and howled through out the process..hot water would be poured over my head.... as if to add insult to injury....as I would get noisier and aggressive one of the younger aunts would be pressed into service to take charge of my arms and keep my head still....it was a real acidic experience...
This process continued for few years till one day my uncle who is a doctor told quite firmly that it wasn't scientifically correct to administer castrol.....in the mouth and nose..this he had to tell quite firmly to my granny who was having her say so far in the house....i was grateful to that uncle...for it was such a relief......i might have been then four or five
It took many years for me to really enjoy a head bath...much later in a boarding school with head and shoulders shampoo...working out smooth lather...wondering why our lives were made miserable......
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
పెళ్లి చూ పు లు
అసలు పెళ్లి ఎందుకో ....సెలవలకు ఇంటికి రాక ముందే మెంటల్ గా తాయారు చేసే వాడు మా నాన్న ...ఉరేయ్ పెళ్లి కరక్టు ఎజే లో చేసు కోవాలి రా ...పిల్ల జాతకం కుదరాలని ..లైఫ్ లో హ్యాపీ గా ఉండాలంటే ...అనే వాడు ....
అసలే నాస్తికుడిని ...చిన్నపిటించి హ్యాపీ గా బోర్డింగ్ స్కూల్ లో చదివిన వాడిని...గోత్రం అండ్ స్టార్ ల దిఫ్ఫెరెంస్ తెలియని వాడిని ...నా కు ఇవన్నీ వద్దు నాన్న...ఏదో ఒక మంచి అమ్మాయిని నా కు కవలసిన్ట్లు గా చేసుకుంట అని గట్టి గా ఒక సరి చెప్పి ఉపేయాలని పించేది...కాని పెద్ద వాడు బాధ పడతారని ఊఁ కొట్టే వాడిని ....
జాతకాలు నక్షత్రాలు తిథిల కంటే పిల్ల చదువు కొంచెం, సోషల్ అవారేనేస్స్ , మినిమము కొంచెం ఇంగ్లీష్ రావడం, మరీ
చాదస్తం లేని పిల్ల హస్బెండ్ తో ఒక సినిమా కి లెదా పిజ్జా తినడానికి .....ఎప్పుడు చీరె కాకుండా జీన్స్ మే బి చూడి దార్ వేసే పిల్ల కావాలని కోరిక...అందాని కి ఎక్కువ ప్రాముఖ్యత ఇవ్వక పోయిన choo da ta ni ki బాగా ఉండాలని నా బేసిక్ రెక్విరేమెంటు ...పెళ్లి చూపులు ముందు పిల్ల ఫోటో అన్నా చూసి నచ్చా లన్న నా సెంటిమెంట్ మ నాన్న కి నచ్చేదికాదు.....పిల్ల ఫోటో లో బాగున్నా బయట baagunda ka povachhu అని ఒక అరిగి పోయిన రికార్డు లాగా నా బ్రెయిన్ వాష్ చేసే వాడు....అసలే వాళ్ళ....సుత్తి కి అడ్జుస్ట్ ఆవుదా మని రాజి పడ్డ నాకుతెగ చికాకు....
అతి కష్టం గా ఫోటోలు చూడటం .ఫోటో చూసే రేజేచ్ట్ చేయడం ఒక రొటీన్ అయ్యింది...పెళ్లి చుఉపులకు వెళ్లి పిల్లల ని ఏదో ఒక మెగా స్టోర్ లో ని ఐటెం లాగా chuudatam అనేది ఎలా అని తిక మక...హాయి గా love affair cheste పోయేది ...మన మొహని ..లవ్ కూడానా...ఖర్మ అను కునే వాడిని...
oko saari ..మంచి అందమైన పిల్ల ఫోటో వచ్చేది...అమ్మ బాగుంది ..పిల్ల ....నాన్న చూ ద్దామ అంటే...అను కున్నట్లు గానే .. ఫోటో బాగుంటే పిల్ల బాగుండదు...పిల్ల బాగుంటే జాతకం బాగుండదు ..ఎమిటో ఈ సమస్య....
అర్జంటు గా raa ..ఒక మంచి సంబంధం వచ్చింది అని ఫోను ...మనసులో ఏదో అశ ..... సే ల వ ...ట్రైన్ జర్నీ .....ఇంటి కి చేరంగానే పిల్ల ఫోటో ఏది అని అడగడం...chudangene పెద్ద నిస్పృహ .....పాపం పిల్ల నాన్న్న మూడు సార్లూ వచ్చాడు రా ....అదీ కాకుండా...జాతకం చాల బాగానచ్చిందరా...రేపు తొమ్మిదింటికి పెళ్లి చూపులు దగ్గిర లోనే .. ఇల్లు..రాత్రంతా తిక మక ఎలా బయట పడాలా అని.... సరే
చిక్కడ పల్లి ...గుడి పక్క సందు ...ఒక చిన్న టిపికల్ ఇల్లు..ఆటో ..అమ్మ నాన్న్న నేను ...ఏదో బలి కెళ్ళే మేక లాగా.......టీ ....బూంది....కారప్పూస...చాదస్తం బాపతు లాగానే అను కొన్న
ఇంతకి పిల్ల raa de....అసలే ఫోటో లో చూసి న taravaatha నిద్దర పట్టలే ..కాసేపు ఆగి వచ్చింది...నేను బక్క పీనిగా...54 kg పిల్ల eeji ga 74kg i ఉంటుందేమో బిరిసు జాకెట్ .. చేతులు naa కాళ్ళ మాదిరి లో ...నల్ల గా...మంచి కళ్లు...నన్ను చూస్తూ కూర్చుంది పిల్ల... నాకు చమటలు ....ఎలా బయట పడాలా అని....ఊరికే కూర్చో క నాన్న సంభాషణ...నీకు సంగీతం వచ్చా అని...adagatame వంతు పిల్ల take ఆఫ్ ....ఒక పాట పీకేసింది ...అమ్మ పిల్ల
అనుకున్నా. ...ఇంతలో పిల్ల తండ్రి మనం బయటికి vellthe....they will talk to each other....thank god....he gave chance
....పిల్ల ki asalu spoken english radu....నాకు kaavalisina okkka basic point లేదు...కాసేపు decent గా ne పిల్ల tho matladi బయట paddaaa ...బయటి ki ragaane అమ్మ firstu అంది ...nakante laavu గా ఉంది అని ...నాన్న matalu లేవు....నేను urgentu గా ఆఫీసు ki velllali మీరు ఇంటికి velllandi అని...my heart went to that girl...the girl just dint suit me....nakka ki ఏనుగు పిల్ల ... ee marriage avadu ee life lo అను kunna ....emito ఈ పెళ్లి చూపులు.....
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అసలే నాస్తికుడిని ...చిన్నపిటించి హ్యాపీ గా బోర్డింగ్ స్కూల్ లో చదివిన వాడిని...గోత్రం అండ్ స్టార్ ల దిఫ్ఫెరెంస్ తెలియని వాడిని ...నా కు ఇవన్నీ వద్దు నాన్న...ఏదో ఒక మంచి అమ్మాయిని నా కు కవలసిన్ట్లు గా చేసుకుంట అని గట్టి గా ఒక సరి చెప్పి ఉపేయాలని పించేది...కాని పెద్ద వాడు బాధ పడతారని ఊఁ కొట్టే వాడిని ....
జాతకాలు నక్షత్రాలు తిథిల కంటే పిల్ల చదువు కొంచెం, సోషల్ అవారేనేస్స్ , మినిమము కొంచెం ఇంగ్లీష్ రావడం, మరీ
చాదస్తం లేని పిల్ల హస్బెండ్ తో ఒక సినిమా కి లెదా పిజ్జా తినడానికి .....ఎప్పుడు చీరె కాకుండా జీన్స్ మే బి చూడి దార్ వేసే పిల్ల కావాలని కోరిక...అందాని కి ఎక్కువ ప్రాముఖ్యత ఇవ్వక పోయిన choo da ta ni ki బాగా ఉండాలని నా బేసిక్ రెక్విరేమెంటు ...పెళ్లి చూపులు ముందు పిల్ల ఫోటో అన్నా చూసి నచ్చా లన్న నా సెంటిమెంట్ మ నాన్న కి నచ్చేదికాదు.....పిల్ల ఫోటో లో బాగున్నా బయట baagunda ka povachhu అని ఒక అరిగి పోయిన రికార్డు లాగా నా బ్రెయిన్ వాష్ చేసే వాడు....అసలే వాళ్ళ....సుత్తి కి అడ్జుస్ట్ ఆవుదా మని రాజి పడ్డ నాకుతెగ చికాకు....
అతి కష్టం గా ఫోటోలు చూడటం .ఫోటో చూసే రేజేచ్ట్ చేయడం ఒక రొటీన్ అయ్యింది...పెళ్లి చుఉపులకు వెళ్లి పిల్లల ని ఏదో ఒక మెగా స్టోర్ లో ని ఐటెం లాగా chuudatam అనేది ఎలా అని తిక మక...హాయి గా love affair cheste పోయేది ...మన మొహని ..లవ్ కూడానా...ఖర్మ అను కునే వాడిని...
oko saari ..మంచి అందమైన పిల్ల ఫోటో వచ్చేది...అమ్మ బాగుంది ..పిల్ల ....నాన్న చూ ద్దామ అంటే...అను కున్నట్లు గానే .. ఫోటో బాగుంటే పిల్ల బాగుండదు...పిల్ల బాగుంటే జాతకం బాగుండదు ..ఎమిటో ఈ సమస్య....
అర్జంటు గా raa ..ఒక మంచి సంబంధం వచ్చింది అని ఫోను ...మనసులో ఏదో అశ ..... సే ల వ ...ట్రైన్ జర్నీ .....ఇంటి కి చేరంగానే పిల్ల ఫోటో ఏది అని అడగడం...chudangene పెద్ద నిస్పృహ .....పాపం పిల్ల నాన్న్న మూడు సార్లూ వచ్చాడు రా ....అదీ కాకుండా...జాతకం చాల బాగానచ్చిందరా...రేపు తొమ్మిదింటికి పెళ్లి చూపులు దగ్గిర లోనే .. ఇల్లు..రాత్రంతా తిక మక ఎలా బయట పడాలా అని.... సరే
చిక్కడ పల్లి ...గుడి పక్క సందు ...ఒక చిన్న టిపికల్ ఇల్లు..ఆటో ..అమ్మ నాన్న్న నేను ...ఏదో బలి కెళ్ళే మేక లాగా.......టీ ....బూంది....కారప్పూస...చాదస్తం బాపతు లాగానే అను కొన్న
ఇంతకి పిల్ల raa de....అసలే ఫోటో లో చూసి న taravaatha నిద్దర పట్టలే ..కాసేపు ఆగి వచ్చింది...నేను బక్క పీనిగా...54 kg పిల్ల eeji ga 74kg i ఉంటుందేమో బిరిసు జాకెట్ .. చేతులు naa కాళ్ళ మాదిరి లో ...నల్ల గా...మంచి కళ్లు...నన్ను చూస్తూ కూర్చుంది పిల్ల... నాకు చమటలు ....ఎలా బయట పడాలా అని....ఊరికే కూర్చో క నాన్న సంభాషణ...నీకు సంగీతం వచ్చా అని...adagatame వంతు పిల్ల take ఆఫ్ ....ఒక పాట పీకేసింది ...అమ్మ పిల్ల
అనుకున్నా. ...ఇంతలో పిల్ల తండ్రి మనం బయటికి vellthe....they will talk to each other....thank god....he gave chance
....పిల్ల ki asalu spoken english radu....నాకు kaavalisina okkka basic point లేదు...కాసేపు decent గా ne పిల్ల tho matladi బయట paddaaa ...బయటి ki ragaane అమ్మ firstu అంది ...nakante laavu గా ఉంది అని ...నాన్న matalu లేవు....నేను urgentu గా ఆఫీసు ki velllali మీరు ఇంటికి velllandi అని...my heart went to that girl...the girl just dint suit me....nakka ki ఏనుగు పిల్ల ... ee marriage avadu ee life lo అను kunna ....emito ఈ పెళ్లి చూపులు.....
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