Before we get into the memories part...a character introduction
Everything has quieted down today as usual. Just put my
toddler of a year and a half to sleep and I have a couple of hours in hand.
Usually I just spend that time thinking about what I should be doing during the
‘free-time’. I ‘Ideate’ a lot. But today when I sat on the pot I decided- today
is the day. I wanted to scribble down stuff as and when. My idea of
scrap booking and creating a baby book and quite a few bright ideas of that sort
didn't quite take off. So I thought this too never will, if I didn't take a
step towards it. So here I am.
Till May of last year, I hadn't even known what free time was.
I was a part of the corporate rate race and I was quite a competitive rat, which
left me with hardly any time left to enjoy life. Today I have time to do almost
everything that I had thought I will. When I sip a cup of coffee in my balcony
and look at all the view around me for a good half hour- my busy neighbors folding
clothes that were neatly hung in a line earlier by them, a parrot trying to
take a bite of the ripening mango-soon to be followed by other parrots to make
the tree look like a riot in green, I realize what luxury of time is. I have
the time to follow the street dogs till they get out of my eyesight and create story
about who is seeing who( I mean the dogs). Whoever said a new mother doesn't have
time to do anything!!
See! I get into these musings which is why I seriously doubt
if I could ever make a career out of being a writer.
Born to pious parents in a Tam Brahm(abbr for Tamizh Brahmin) community, has molded
me into a disciplined person. I mean otherwise, I would have probably never
seen sunrise in my lifetime( yep..maybe the coffee powder too). I have been
brought up in different parts of south India, but Amma decided that we will settle
down in Palakkad- Kerala. Appa really didn't have time to think about anything
apart from meeting targets during his career. So Amma ruled! You guessed it
right- yes, am Tamilian in Kerala, like most Palghat Iyers.
Being a Palghat
Iyer is no easy thing. There is an entire community watching every step you
take- even literally! You couldn't possibly walk back home from college with some
friends without being talked about. Your marks in math decided how intelligent
you were. You had to ( yes, had to) learn classical music or some instrument(
classical like Veena( string instrument), violin etc.) Nope, not the guitar or drums- then you are
a ‘thandhoni’- more or less an outcast. Plus going to tuition was a sin! That would
confirm the fact that you were in the ‘dull student’ category. I still remember
when I was to go for math tuition during my pre-degree( as the name suggests,
those are the couple of years you would spend in college deciding what you want
to major in for your Bachelor’s) everyone would say- She is good with English, ‘appave
nenachen’( I knew it right then) that she wouldn't be good with math. Then Amma
had to explain that it wasn't so and that I was doing extra math apart from
pure science ( bio, chemistry and physics) so I could write both Engineering
and medical entrance exams. Another big thing in the community- becoming an Engineer
or a doctor. Needless to say, I became neither.
As I was typing this up, I suddenly remembered a friend of
mine who became a doctor, so I moved to her Facebook profile and got lost in Facebook. I was brought back to reality by Vedant’s cry saying “paan”…”Milk” .
OK quickly before I go for the day, the word for milk in Tamizh isn't ‘paan’ but ‘paal’. He is still not
getting the nasals right, so he substitutes it with the laterals. OK..that’s a
little bit technical. From that you must have guessed what I must have pursued
my education in!
