17/04/2010, Sat: Before you guys start making some wild assumptions, it's not a baby, in fact it's not human at all. But she acts every bit as human as possible, starting from understanding to what we tell her to scolding us. She is our pet kitten, kitty. Thank my bro for the name; he came up with something that was very easy to remember about a kitten.
He found her when she was trying to be a heroine trying to cross a busy street, and he tells me that she was very calm and quite the whole day. In fact, she was sleeping on his lap the whole journey from the captured spot to home. Mom, like usually downright refused to her in. But after a small amount of pleading from bro's side and with the promise to get rid of her in the morning, she consented to let the kitten stay for the night. The next day onwards, she was so playful and cheerful, that my mom just didn't have to heart to give her away (typical, this isn't the first time too). And so now she stayed. [Based on account from my bro and mom, unfortunately I couldn't witness it]
Anyways, when I went home on the beginning of April, there she was sleeping like a baby (which she is). I had the misfortune of wake her up due to the noise I was making walking around, and the reaction I got, is the same I would get from any human in her place, was a nice long scolding. The only difference being that hers was more cat like, will a lot of loud meowing. After that she just turned around and slept off again. J
One this that I have to hand it to her is her punctuality (which me n my bro are successfully making her loose). She has very specific timings for going on a walk and waste removal. I believe she should have been a dog, but got the body of a cat instead. I have never seen any other cat chase her tail around so much like kitty does. And that quite a lot in fact! But for all her mischievous acts, she had truly captured the hearts of all the people in the colony, especially with the way she runs. She is the only cat that I know which runs in a 45o angle. She keeps her body at 45o then run forwards, its looks more like a very weird hoping, but she manages to reach her destination.
Just hope we are able to see more of her in the years to come.
15/April/2010, Thu: I guess that enough reason for anyone to be home. Same here! Thankfully unlike all her other activities, my manager never rejects the applied leaves of any of her team mates. Reached home on the morning of the 14th, this was the Tamil New Year. Now, another importance of this Vishu is that the entire family was together after 6 months. The last time all of us got together was in during October, 2009 in the previous house. Moreover, it's the first time everyone is together in the new house for the first time (house-warming ceremony not considered). On the 14th, all the preparation was for the main event of Vishu, the Vishu Kanni, which literally "the first to be seen on the Vishu day". It consist of a ritual arrangement of articles like raw rice, lemon (fresh), golden cucumber, Areca Nut, betel leaves, the yellow flowers konna, metal mirror, and holy text and coins, in an uruli (bell metal vessel) in the puja room of the House, with a lighted nilavilakku (bell metal lamp) is placed alongside. Now all this arrangement has to be made on the previous night. It was my main job to climb up and get the kindi, uruli, and nilavilakku and dad was helping with the fruits to be kept. Mom did all the major arrangements. As for my bro, he was not feeling well having got food poisoned, after eating a green apple. ("An apple a day; keeps the doc away", definitely wrong in his case. He had to always visit the doc when there is an apple involved). On the day of Vishu, we got up before dawn (occasionally it's not an issue at all) and went to the puja room with our eyes closed so that the Vishu Kkani is the first sight of the new season. And it was a beautiful sight, really pretty with the lit lamp and all the decoration. Then comes the Vishu Kaineetam, which is mainly giving coins (notes these days), to the younger ones of the family. Well, i got around Rs 500/- from my dad, but it was my bro who hit the jackpot, that guy got 500 from dad, 1000 from me, another 500 from mom... HA HA HA... It was really fun. Both, myself, and my dad were helping mom in the cooking, with me chopping the veggies and the dad with frying and cooking a bit. We left bro for the supervision since that was the only thing he was strong enough to do at that time. Anyways, the preparation part was really fun. I didn't lose my touch of cutting things up. The rest of the things was prepared by mom. And then the Sadhya, with a total of around 10 items (istew [made with coconut milk and potato], chakka thoran [made from jackfruit], aviyal [mixed veggies with coconut], kootukarri [made of channa, cheenna, coconut] to name a few) together with the two main dish (sambar and mango kaalan), mango pickles, and semiya payasam all on the banana leaf. Wow... now that was a feast. I was stuffed to the core. J The only thing missing was the Vishu Padakkam, bursting of firecrackers. Apart from that an amazing and wonderful Vishu.Vishu, one of the most important festivals for keralites. Being celebrates in the new for the first time.All the family has a chance to be together after quite a long time.
12/04/2010, Mon: It was towards the evening at ECC [Employee Care Centre] (one of the only good spots in the Mysore campus), since both myself and Dot forgot to bring the swimming trunks, ruling out swimming, we decided to go for a steam bath. Eventually, it was just a bath.
Coming out near the swimming it was a sight to behold, with the sky having darkened to a hellish degree. In fact, it gave an impression of an extremely angry bull, approaching. That was when I first heard the thunderous roar of the storm to come. As if on auto drive, I gave all my belongings to Dot for safe keeping and ran out into the open. I made it on time, with the rain striking at the exact moment.
Guess what was the next move? Walked towards the dolphin juice centre and order a mango milk shake. In fact, the guy over there thought I was crazy making an order rite in the middle of a down pour. Having cold mango milk shake rite in the middle on a rain is amazing, especially a hailstorm, which automatically provides the ice needed. It was Mango Milkshake on the Rocks. Although nothing beats having hot pakoda with hot black tea, during the rain. Mouth-wateringJ.
It went on for almost 2 hours. And what a rain it was. Absolutely satisfying! Soon after the rain, was followed by a continuous display of lightning flashes and bolts. That was the first time I have had the opportunity to see something like that, it was just so terrifying yet at the same time so beautiful and mesmerising. Just wish that I get to see that again.
10/04/2010, Sat: Actually it was not like we had a choice. Our maid had not shown up for over 2 weeks. Which means the state of the house was pretty messed up, especially with three bachelors living together. Like my mom usually says, such places lack a feminine touch. So true!
Any ways, thankfully, that morning the electrician showed up. The ceiling fans in both mine as well as Dot's room had completed their tenure and needed a good tune up. With him being there, we had to move the beds around. And I don't know what happened, but it inspired both of us to finish with the cleaning of least the bedrooms and the bathroom. Being armatures, I can say that we did a pretty good job, especially with the bathroom. The bathtub is sparkling clean now. The only thing that is stopping us now from having a bath in that is the amount of water it would consume.
We were feeling pretty satisfied with the result, when enters our absentee maid. I and Dot had to leave for the campus, and so we couldn't make her do any work, leaving that job to our third room-mate. By the time we had returned, the entire ground floor was sparkling clean. And talk about her luck, since the first floor was all taken care of she was spared that headache. Talk about lending an unintentional helping hand.
About Me
- Sathya
- Chennai / Mysore, India
- Am just a calm guy who has just started getting a taste for travelling and enjoying. Not to mention have a very good set of friends. So I am sharing my experiences with you, hoping that you will have a great time reading them as I had enjoying them.
