The Drama Queen

Holi.... the Festival Of Colours. Probably the only festival where we specifically hunt for old clothes, bad enough to be discarded, to wear! And probably the one with the most fun and colour and life. This was our first Holi after our marriage. We were in the US. Coming from a city like Nagpur, where Holi is infamously played in a not-so-decent manner, the complete lack of it suddenly made me realise how much I was missing ‘Mera Desh, Meri Mitti, Meri Hawaa’. It was a weekday, on top of that. So, hubby went to his office, as usual. I was literally devastated. To top it all, I had been getting Holi updates from family, back in India. It was making me feel worse. He came home very late from work. The ‘Desi Girl’ in me was dying to play dirty. As soon as he kept his laptop bag away, (can’t mess with that, Holi or not), I put turmeric powder all over his head. It was not at all effective. I poured water on him. And then realised that we can’t mess the carpet. We are in the US, n...

The whole nation is in a state of shock. Sunday came with not-so-good-a-morning. The news of the sudden demise of the female superstar of Bollywood. The first instinct of most of us was: this is definitely a hoax. And we started searching the Internet frantically for some respite. I turned to the most trusted site, the Wikipedia, which read... Sridevi Kapoor WAS an Indian actress...! It felt like someone close to me had departed. This is the power of the film and entertainment industry. The film stars and their lives influence us in many ways, big and small. They are in the eyes of public 24X7. Their on and off screen presence is under continuous scrutiny.  But, nothing prepares us for this. Sridevi’s huge fanbase, around the world,  is mourning. My heart goes out to her two daughters, most of all. The most crucial time in life, when one needs a mother the most. What hopes and dreams! All left hanging. I got more emotional when I saw the Filmfare Awards that was being ai...

Birthdays. They are just as special as the people who have them. The image that comes in front of our eyes when we think of birthday is that of a cake, greeting cards, gifts, streamers, balloons, party and of course, the birthday bumps. You would agree, right? Hmmm! Not when you are a Mum. Every single year. Year after year. I dread this day! Two months out of my twelve months go into the planning. And pre-planning. And post-planning. And more planning. And as the children are growing older, they are, obviously, using their own brains. Earlier, the guests were our friends, with or without children. Now it is only their friends. All children. Yes, as if two of mine were not enough; I am quite brave to fill up my house with children and more children. Without their parents to ‘handle’ them! So, it all begins with making the invite list. One would imagine it to be an easy job, second year onwards. Just edit the previous year’s list and probably add more names. No. Since the kids...

Kids(enquiringly): Mamma, was Papa your friend in school? Me: No. Kids: College friend? Me: No. Kids(a little apprehensive, now): Did you guys meet at work? Me: No. Kids(close to shock, now): Were you even from the same city? Me: Noooo, dearies. Kids(completely scandalised, now): How the hell did you end up getting married to a stranger, Mamma? Well, here it goes... Unlike the classic fairy tale where the Prince Charming comes riding on a horse, or a more modern day DDLJ high of Raj on a motorcycle, my idea of marriage was quite grounded. Barely manage finishing your graduation and even before the results are out, your bio-data is out and the groom-hunt is already on. But thankfully, our parents gave us siblings the gift of education and an enriched awareness in our childhood. I gloriously finished my post graduation, which was looked down upon by some of the community members as being over-qualified for marriage. Following my dad’s footsteps, I took up teachi...

Our country saw a major furore over the last few weeks. It was not Cricket. It was not the NaMo crazed rallies. It was not some celebrity destination wedding. It was not the sequel to another political scam. It was neither the budget nor the elections. It was... the protest against a movie.  A movie which may have been based on a fictional character. A movie which is merely showing what has happened in our past. A movie which, by all means, is grandeur personified. A movie which might have taken poetic liberty to add dance and song sequences. A movie which nobody has forced anybody to watch. The Kuch-Nahi-Karni Sena went on a rampage around the country. Saving the dignity of ‘their’ Queen was their excuse. The silliest thing that they came up with was that they got close to 2000 women to register for a modern day Jauhar. Yeah, of course, this does sound progressive for the Rajputs. Some said that the movie glorifies Jauhar, whereas Sanjay Leela Bhansali just depicted on s...