23 March 2022

That was a flashback from mid 1970s

We had not cleared 10,000 feet yet as we climbed up from Orlando airport runway. I could see from my vantage point of a window seat some large sprayers spraying something on the fields way below. It was not the long water distributors. I figured it must be fertilizers. But the mist of spray from the nozzle on top stirred some really old memory cells deep in my neocortex.

I was in third grade then. Dad had brought home a weird looking contraption. And then he proceeded to set it to work. My sister and I sat around him to see what magic was going to take place. My brother was too young.

Exasperated by the onslaught of all the bugs, pests and mosquitoes that monsoon season, dad had taken it upon himself to institute some proactive measures. There is only so much of slapping and missing mosquitoes that he could take.

He carefully opened the small, circular tin can and poured a fluid from another bigger tin can. The smell of the fluid oddly was very attractive to me and my sister. We were not too sure why the mosquitoes would flee from such a nice aroma.

Then dad went on to the screw the top of the cylindrical can with the long handle and then proceeded to show us how the contraption worked. He would pull the piston and push it. The whole thing would make a sucking noise during the pull and spit out a whole mist of the insecticide during the push.

He then took us around the house spraying all the corners of the house and everywhere he suspected bugs might be lurking. (Incidentally, in our house, that would mean pretty much the whole house).

That suction and spraying function caught the curiosity and imagination of two young kids that day. Whenever dad was not around, we would go around massacring the bugs with what that time we would have considered a weapon of mass destruction!

I am not sure whatever happened to that bug sprayer.

But after a lot of search on the internet, I found some vintage pictures of the exact Flit Bug Sprayer we had back in early 1970s.

Did any one of you grow up with this too?

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15 March 2022

Relaxing by the poolside

Sister’s family and brother will join later. I am by myself with no “todo”s for a couple of hours. I am doing one of those activities that relaxes me a lot. Sitting in the shade by the pool on a hot, sultry day in Kolkata and writing down the stories of intersection points. (Of course, the other activity I like is chatting up total strangers looking for intersection points!! )

Category: Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT
14 March 2022

Meeting Mrs. Roy!!

This was back in 2017. In fact, April 11th to be precise. I had caught up with Debasis and his wife Joyoti in Kalyani. Got an opportunity to meet Debasis’s parents too. Joyoti had mentioned about how she spent every weekend with her mom in Kolkata – who was ailing. I had promised to visit her mom sometime.

Five years later, I was finally able to meet the lovely lady. Parkinson’s is slowly consuming her. Her speech has become so soft that it was difficult to hear her clearly. But her spirits were very high. And that smile!! That beatific smile never left her face. To the extent we could have a conversation, it was such an enjoyable time for me. As I sat down next to her in her bed, I had flashbacks of the patients in the hospices I go to. It has to be soul crushing to not be able to express oneself completely. Against that background, the upbeat nature of Mrs. Roy gave me such a heart warming feeling.

I let her know after some time that I was going to join the rest of the gang in the living area.

“Jaabar aagey ekbaar dekha korey jeo”. She asked me to see her one more time before I left. That at least assured me that she enjoyed our conversation too.

You can also see the rest of the gang in the picture. For some reason, Rabindranath Tagore, unlike others, could not focus on the camera!!

Category: Intersection Points, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT