The Drama Queen

End of the year. Motivational messages floating all around. In your face. Can’t ignore. Year 2018.... happiness, good health, prosperity, abundance, blah blah blah! Wait a minute. Didn’t we say all these too-good-to-be-true cliches about our beloved friend 2017, too? And 2016, before that? And beyond?  Did you see how quickly we move on? But that is the spirit. We thrive on change, even though it is inconvenient at times. Clearly, change is the only constant in the world. And then comes the baggage. The old promises were hardly fulfilled and now we are under the societal pressure to make new ones. Promises to our own self. Towards a better self. It amuses me, however, as to how we suddenly become answerable to the whole world.  People become outright nosy by asking, ‘So, what’s your new year’s resolution?’ These are the same people who try to belittle us just because they know that we won’t be able to commit to our resolutions for long. Huh!  If you ask me, ...

While growing up, Christmas used to be just a fancy festive holiday, for no particular reason for me. I didn’t have any Christian friends till I reached college. So, whatever little knowledge I had about Christmas was only through the EVS textbooks. Carols, Christmas tree, Cake, Candles, Clan, Cards, Cookery, Church. But, we did try our luck by keeping our school socks hanging near our beds in the hope that this particular guy, Mr. Santa Claus might visit our home, too. No gift ever showed up the next morning. Never ever. May be it is only for the Christian children, was my justification always. Never mind, we get to burst crackers every year. A child’s innocent mind! Wonder which movie stars will perform at this New Year’s programme on the Doordarshan TV show. And then there was the annual top-20 mega show of ‘Cibaca (formerly Binaca) Sangeet Mala’ on the radio. The amazing voice of Ameen Sayani with his trademark ‘Behno aur Bhaiyo’, was something to look forward to. This was al...

To err is human, to forgive divine. And that’s why pencils come with erasers! I am sure we all have some regrets when we look back at our lives. Like, just last week, I did not finish my choco-lava cake. Regretting it today. Or rather, missing that leftover bit.  Well, Life does not come with a manual. So, like you all, even I have made mistakes in life. Several. But I would like to limit my embarrassment to just the top three.  The first one being: Believing in the romance king of Bollywood, the Don, the Fauji, the Baazigar, the Deewana, Shahrukh Khan.  Well, he is definitely a culprit to have misled so many ‘girls’ to an outrageously false level of ‘true love’. And the movie that I am referring to is ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’. No prizes for guessing. My first Karwachauth after my marriage was a rather eventful one. We were staying alone in Bangalore. I was obviously expected to fast. But being a huge DDLJ fan, I demanded from my husband that he al...

Just celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary. Well, almost celebrated; given that dear hubby was in another city for his work. That way we have been very consistent. Hubby always has sudden office crises to take care of. He apologises profusely before, during and after his travel. Then we compensate by buying some little glittery stuff, you know... here and there. The size of the glitter depends on the severity of the occasion missed by him. Well, but how do you put a price tag on anniversaries or children’s sports days or birthdays or PTMs(which I suspect he purposely skips) or long school holidays? This one was a milestone, of sorts, being our 15th year together. I couldn’t find a more appropriate day to tell my husband that when I count my blessings, I count him twice, sometimes thrice. Enough of cliches for the whole of next year, I guess. Our children were sorry for us yesterday that we all couldn’t celebrate the major event together. But I have a strong feeling that they w...

The slight nip in the air, the urge to stay inside the warm blanket for a little while longer, the eternal bliss of the warm tea... ummm... the winter’s here! The big mouthfuls of the steamy soup, the piping hot parathas laden with butter, the yummilicious trademark Mommy-special laddoos.... ummm... the winter’s here! The early darkness in the evening, the sun refusing to shine brightly, the warmth and coziness of the house... ummm... the winter’s here! Winter season is my favourite season, minus the cold and cough. Give me my Allegra and allergen-free woollen wear and stoles, and voila.... I am good to go! It is also the time when women dodge their waxing schedules, under the pretext of being covered most of the time, as if they are going into hibernation themselves. No complaints here. The cold creams and moisturisers can be found overstocked in any household this time of the year. One will be amazed to see the variety of Vaseline lip balms available in the market and wonder wh...