sweet november...

winter in November is a bliss... watching out from the window pane on a cold night, listening to some old melody, will always bring back those romantic memories... especially, I like those childhood days, where we were awaken early in the morning, and were taken to the well in our old house, for a head bath with that cold water... huh, that was really chilling and painful for the first dip... once that first was over, even that cold water feels like a little warmer than the air... I remember "kaartheeka pournami" on which, we used to fast for the whole day, occasionally pestering mom for some eatables, and do pooja in the night, watching the moon in the mirror... Of course, I didn't see anything meaningful in that whole process... but, something surreal was there in that ritual... a whole bunch of sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, grandmas, grandpas, uncles and aunts of three generations were together... people were not that selfish or adamant about privacy and stuff... their boundaries were a little broader... now, the scenario has changed... we rarely attend any function... we hardly know our relatives... we hardly dare to step out of this concrete jungle to visit those wonderful, good-old places... everything has changed in the name of well-being... in the name of corporate race... here we are, with lonely hearts yearning for a hand to solace and a soul to rely on... so sweet is this November... bringing back those memories!!!

mummy, i need your love!!!

yesterday morning, when i was drinking tea along with my colleague, in front of my office building, i have seen a lady coming towards the office building... she was carrying her son in her hands... from her looks, i realized that she was looking for somebody... and my guess was right... another lady has come out from the first floor of the building and started chatting this and that with the first one...

the baby boy was so cute with his chubby cheeks, curly black hair, shining baby fat and those charming glistening eyes... the second lady was trying to make friends with this boy... he has hesitated for a while and took his time to make sure that she is not an evil creature... finally, he said his name in his own discrete syllables and shifted to the second lady's hands...

two minutes passed... i took no notice of them, chatting with my colleague... i heard the baby boy crying for her mom, from the car he was sitting in, "mommeeee... mummeee.... come with me to home... i don't want to go alone"... incidentally, it was clear to me that the first lady was not a visitor but a working woman in the same office building... this reminded me of those hell like residential school days, way back when i was ten years old, and how badly we used to wait for our parents on every weekend... though this boy is not in a residential school, i guess his situation is worse than ours... the hell with this corporate race, making these children miss the tender touch of their mothers, and hence making them emotionally lagging...

i wish i had some time to go and spend with this boy!!!