7 January 2017

First run in the snow this year

5K run in the snow. Usually, the first such run every year lands up in a disaster since I forget that running shoes have breathing holes and invariably cold water seeps in during the run and freezes inside making my toes numb and blue.

This time however, I remembered to put two plastic grocery bags over my socks before I put the shoes on. It was a good run but had to slow down considerably after slipping a couple of times.

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6 January 2017

Nikispeak – New Year’s Eve

Reached home a little late at around 10:30 PM or so after the India trip. Nikita was at the kitchen table doing her studies. After some time we started having dinner together and were exchanging notes about our Holidays.

As a reference, I was in India and she was in Dallas with Natasha and Sharmila. Also, as a further reference, “masi”, in our language Bengali roughly means “aunt”. Actually it is used to address your mom’s sister. But it is common practice to call an lady who would be roughly your parents’ age as “masi”.

Finally we came to New Year’s Eve.

“What did you do, for New Year’s?”, she asked.
“I was fast asleep. How about you?”
“Oh! I spent most of it being surrounded by a lot of drunk “masis” “.

🙂

Seems like nothing has changed in Dallas in ten years 🙂

Category: Humor | 7 Comments on Nikispeak – New Year’s Eve
6 January 2017

Three easy steps…

The legal way of entering the country is fairly well documented…
1. Clear immigrations
2. Go thru customs
3. Pick up a Starbucks 🙂

A shout out for Sharmila is in order here. Noticing that the Starbucks at the airport was going to close at 9 and I was still about 15 minutes away from clearing immigration and customs, she had bought the last coffee of the day from the store and kept it wrapped in her beanie cap to keep it warm!! Ah! It is good to be back…

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5 January 2017

I might have created a Frankenstein

A hilarious moment from this trip.
Remember, how I won my bet with Sharmila that I will drink in front of my mom? What is even better, we got mom to drink with us. Admittedly, it was a non-alcoholic mint mojito but you have to understand that for my mom to sit down with us around a bottle of wine and then order anything other than tea or coffee is as good as she drinking some stiff scotch in front of her inlaws!

Here is the funny part. Every single day, she would join us when the five of us – the siblings and their spouses would gather in the evening for a pre-dinner drink. While the whole trip was for my dad, I am convinced that it was my mom who got the most out of it. She never gets a chance to leave home – because of her condition and of course, because of dad. But unlike dad, she actually wants to come out with us. However, she can’t because she won’t leave my dad’s side.

Even on the last day in Kalyani, when we all got together in my sister’s house for the wine, she came down from upstairs and sat with us. She made it a point to join us every time but would not speak up. She would quietly follow our discussions and ask a quick question here or there. Reflecting back, I think I need to structure some of my trips around her more.

In any case, on the third day at Ibiza, my brother and myself ordered some wine. My brother in law, sister, and sister in law said they wanted coffee. So, my brother told the guy – 2 glasses of wine and 4 cups of coffee. My mom immediately started protesting – “Na, Ami oi sobuj-ta khabo”. (No, I am going to have that green thingy!!).

We were decent enough to hold back our laughter in front of her.

About fifteen minutes later, while we were discussing the recent demonetization in India, we heard suddenly my mom saying loudly – “Ei – amaarta niye choley gelo. Ekhono sesh hoyni.” She was complaining that somebody took something away from her and she had not finished it. We were all a little startled. (As a background, my mom suffers from complications of psychiatric issues – and without medications, is prone to “seeing” and “hearing” things).

My brother was the first one to cut thru the mystery. He saw the same waiter walking past us with the same green color mint mojito in his tray – purportedly for some other customer. He quietly took another sip of his wine and told mom – “Relax. Your drink is right in front of you!”. My mom, turned around and thoroughly satisfied that her drink was still there in front of her, quietly put the straw in her mouth.

This time we threw all decency to the air and laughed out heartily. And my mom joined in too!!

Category: Vacations | 3 Comments on I might have created a Frankenstein
5 January 2017

One last intersection point for this trip…

I was a few hours away from catching my flight to the US of A. Figured there was time enough to squeeze one last intersection point. I had to have dinner somewhere anyways. What better way to have dinner than with a guy that I had not seen for about three decades?

In fact, one of the last times I saw him – if not the last time – is the picture in the inset. Avijit’s mom had called Supriyo and myself over for lunch. Supriyo is the one with the trousers with the fullest flair, as it were, and that thin stick on the other end – yeah! – that is yours truly!!!

Even after the last meeting, I had made a few contacts with Supriyo over the next few years. He was one of the few guys who had an email id at work. Even in the mid nineties, it was a novelty in my friend circle. But once he quit that job, I lost touch with him.

The trail had gotten completely cold, till Facebook came around. Without Facebook, I would not have been able to sit with Supriyo and catch up on his mom (who I remember from a trip I had made to their house in Burdwan in 1985) last evening. Unfortunately for me, uncle is no more. I was able to fill Supriyo in about the whereabouts of some of our friends from those days. And we had some laughs about a particular incident where he got into deep trouble for committing a gross transgression of our dorm rules. We agreed it did not seem that funny at that point of time.

In a rare moment for me, I had completely forgotten about his sisters. Not sure how I forgot about them. Turns out one of them is in Durgapur – not too far away from my in laws. In fact about a stone’s throw and a half. Seems like more intersections points for the future!

That was a great way for me to finish up my trip to India – catching up with yet another friend from high school that I had not seen for way too long a time!!

Category: Intersection Points, Vacations | LEAVE A COMMENT