24 July
2013
24 July
2013
Gone fishing
24 July
2013
Indian mynah’s ablutions
24 July
2013
Dad’s sense of humor!
After fighting back some large health issues – with a new stent, new knee and new hearing aids, I was hoping to see dad in his best spirits. Unfortunately, he has been down with viral fever and drained of energy for the last few days. In between his bouts of fever, during those Paracetamol-induced lulls, he is certainly displaying some of his old spirits and coming up with memorable lines. An example:
We came from our trip to the river bank and the adjoining crematorium grounds to find him up on his bed in great spirits. This is how the next couple of minutes of conversation went…
(Bengali version)
Dad: Kothay gechhili sob?
Me: Shmasan ghat dekhe elam.
Dad: Maaney? Shmasan ghat keno?
Me: Ei je kobey theke bhoy dekhachho – morey jaabey naaki ebar. Taai hiseb potro gulo dekhe elam. 🙂
Dad (ektu chinta korey): Dekhbi na ebar – protidin phone-e jaalabe – ‘Koi apnader party elo na to ekhono’ 🙂
(English translation – best attempt)
Dad: Where were you guys?
Me: We went to check out the crematorium grounds.
Dad (somewhat surprised): What? Why crematorium grounds of all places?
Me (teasing): Oh! You have been threatening to die for quite some time. So we went to check out how the system works.. 🙂
Dad (not to be outdone): Good. Now they are going to pain the hell out of you everday over the phone – ‘What happened? Your candidate never showed up!’ 🙂
24 July
2013
The long view of the road…
Went to Tribeni ghat (by the river Ganges). Next to it is a “shmasan ghat” – this is a place where you cremate (burn) dead bodies of the Hindu persuasion. Talked to a family who had brought a dead family member there. Out of respect for them I am not posting any pictures here.
But watching a dead body surrounded by family members always sets a perspective of life for me.
Also it took me back to that day in 1981 when I lost my grandmom to cancer and my dad encouraged me to accompany him to the “shmasan ghat”. My first trip to a cremation ground…
24 July
2013
Sights from this morning’s run -2
24 July
2013
Sights from this morning’s run – 1
24 July
2013
One yellow Tshirt short of a traffic light
23 July
2013
Drinking wine in Kalyani – Problem 3 of 3
So, now we have a bottle of red wine in her hands – more importantly it was open (with rather generous definition of “open”). Next challenge was where were we going to drink it? My parents (who live right above my sister are dead against drinking any alcohol).
So, we did what most self-respecting people would have done at a far younger age. Under the cover of darkness, we snuck up three plastic chairs and our wine to the roof terrace of the building and to be doubly sure, we scaled the sides of the water tank on the roof and got on its top. Completely safe now from any prying parental eyes and with an outstanding view of Kalyani and the numerous trees and cute houses under the moonlit sky, we partook of our preciously secured wine!! 🙂
23 July
2013
Drinking wine in Kalyani – Problem 2 of 3
Okay, so we got ourselves a bottle of Chianti after much jostling. We come home to my sister’s place and realize the obvious. Nobody drinks wine here. So, nobody has the need for a wine opener. My sister, of course, proudly fished out the most rusted-out beer bottle opener I have ever seen from a long forgotten corner of her kitchen. Again, to my sister, there is very little difference between beer and wine. They are just bad things.
Risking the ire of every oenophile of this world, I had to resort to a screwdriver, a tea strainer and some basic physics of pressure management. Again, where there is a will, there has to be a way – regardless of how inelegant it is 🙂
