Mama's Mia Princess!

My Princess!

"I am a princess"...she sings in her husky, tiny voice to the little Barbie perched on her lap. I watch my little girl, transfixed, as she keeps on crooning and changing hairstyles and hairclips. My cheeky little one is someone who I look upon at adverse times, trying times and whenever I feel low. She has an 'attitude' and carries herself with style and beauty. Everything she does, is a poem. Her every word of wisdom is a joke. Imagine this- the other day we were driving to the doctor on my two-wheeler when I asked the little one to tell her math tables. It all came wrong. Coming back home, she recited them exactly right! When asked why it all came wrong on the ride, here goes my little one- " Mom...the numbers got all jumbled when your bike hit the speed breaker". I was left speechless!

 

She knows the right moment to keep us ticking, to make us reel in laughter. And oh, at school, she is always surrounded by friends. It was fun watching bigger kids calling out her name when I go to school for meetings. The school van arrives with the chant "Leina, Leina". She chooses her wardrobe, her jewellery and her makeup...and I feel she is every bit a DIVA! And all I can wish is many more laurels in her life. If I had the luck of choosing her jewellery, it would definitely be Mia! I wish I could accessorize my angel's 'aura' with these pieces of simple, yet exquisite jewellery. Just check out the trendy jewellery designed for the divas of tomorrow by Tanishq. Check out the video below-

 

 

Written for Mia Blogger Contest by Mia, tanishq.

Bhagyalakshmi!!!

The very name brings wonderful memories...Memories of a distant past, buried away under the ugh..laundry, office, piles of homework and bills. I met her first the day after my wedding. She was standing under the neem tree and i looked at her from the balcony. She was a beauty- all milky white and shining. But i took instant dislike to her, as husband dear was neck deep in love with her!  A trait every man develops right from his diaper days, i learnt that later. They hold their wives only second to their first loves...In this case, i was burning with envy as i saw husband dear wiping her sweat(!), caressing her as if she were some delicate piece of jewelry. Grrrrrr! Men and their maniacal pursuits...

The first time we went with Bhagyalakshmi was for our return marriage from my husband's hometown to my own. It was a scenic six hours drive and i was happy to have Bhagyalakshmi as our company. L and her, they both were in perfect sync as we traversed mile after mile after mile. Tired, i closed my eyes for a nap. The dull voice of Bhagyalakshmi reverberated throughout the journey. I woke with a start when there was a loud thud and a boom. Hoping nothing serious had happened, i looked at L who was on the driver's seat. In a swift action that could put Jamed Bond to shame, he jumped off the car and opened the bonnet. I waited with bated breath as minutes ticked by slowly and night crept in. Still no news from L. He was busy inspecting the car's belly in the middle of nowhere on a deserted road. A nice start for honeymooners! 

Bhagyalakshmi was finished or so i thought. The impending danger of a newly married couple stranded on an alien terrain started daunting me. A cat moved aside and i trembled, still no sign of L who was studying the mechanics of the car. Good that he is a mechanical engineer, i chuckled to myself. When L finally rolled over from under the car and climbed in his seat, i could breathe in peace. Thank God, we are now going to start and keep moving, i thought. My subconscious mind kept inhaling meat cutlets, chicken curry and yummy kheer. Heady with the hallucinated aroma of hen and goat waiting for me on a platter in Mother's place, i looked longingly at L. His long fingers were clutching Bhagyalakshmi's hands as he kept whistling a latest song. Only later did i notice that L always whistled when he was tense. He was still holding on to Bhagyalakshmi... I was seething in anger, looking at his relaxed profile.

A car that was broken down, husband holding hands of Bhagyalakshmi and his wife me, seated beside him, fully tense. Mr Cool aka L, let out a small laugh and said in a baritone fit of a college lecturer- " There is a problem, i don't think the car would move an inch, i need to bring mechanic from nearby town". Town? Now where the hell we were? Somewhere near Kovilpatti, i could guess. Despite my pleas not to be left alone with Bhagyalakshmi in the moon less night, L assured me of coming back with help as soon as possible. He had left me locked with Bhagyalakshmi and left in a passing vehicle towards the town. There i was, married one day earlier, stuck with Bhagyalakshmi in the dark night. That was when i dared to look at her closer. Flicking on the light, i inspected her. She seemed quite battered, old, but in good shape. I switched off the light and started watching out in the dark.

Glow worms in the dark:)

Mesmerised by the army of glow worms swarming all around and the tail lights of vehicles plying on the potholed highway, i kept my sanity by talking to Bhagyalakshmi. She was a patient listener, kept silent throughout my angry blabbering on how irresponsible L was, leaving his new wife on the road in the dark. She seemed to understand every word i said, in silence. It was two hours later that L turned up with a mechanic on tow, his distant relative who lived nearby, a standby vehicle to move on and FOOD! Good God! Food was here! Gobbling the food without a word, i watched Bhagyalakshmi leaving with the relative and the mechanic, as we continued our journey in the cab. The look i threw at Bhagyalakshmi then was of longing and mutual understanding as we had grown fond of each other in the couple of hours together, alone. 

One of her best quality was, when she was off mood, she refused to budge!!! And she always chose midnights. Once, three of my maternal uncles who came to attend our house warming ceremony had went to the railway station with Bhagyalakshmi to pick up another uncle. Three a.m. and Bhagyalakshmi decided enough was enough. She refused to move and stood still. No amount of prodding, gentle pushing and talking to would help. She stood as a rock. Finally, it was four uncles pushing her along the road in the wee hours singing "Yelelo...ailasa..."!!! The entire household broke into laughter welcoming the gang back...From then on, she was to us, trouble with a capital T. She failed us at the most inopportune moments and places and L had to coax her to move by ahem...drinking petrol, all the time from tubes.

That was when i went crazy mad with anger and yelled at L to leave her in her place- his sister's house. We left her after a long trip at her sister's place. One last look at her, i was filled with pain. I would be missing her, but she was proving much difficult to keep. Wrought with sadness and heart ache, we left her and took a bus back home. It has been nine years since we left her and now she is no more with my sister-in-law. Bhagyalakshmi has moved to a new household now and may be torturing some poor male, who would be drinking petrol for her to move on! Whatever, she taught me how gentle and cool headed L was! Miss you Bhagyalakshmi!!! And love you!!!

Here is our Bhagyalakshmi!!!

p.s.: This post is my entry to the contest Incredible Stories by Mahindra XUV500 and Indiblogger.

p.p.s.: L named the Maruti Omni Bhagyalakshmi, because he loved the taxi Rajinikanth had named Lakshmi in the movie Padikaathavan!

p.p.s.: Though we own a much bigger sedan these days, i still crave for a journey in Bhagyalakshmi!!!

Break the Walls!

Time to change! Yes, it is. It is now or never. Winds of change are sweeping everywhere- starting from the hitherto demure lands like Tunisia to Syria, Bahrain to Egypt. For us, in India, it is routine as always. We defecate in public, kiss in private...we jump queues, yet never put our foot forward when needed to. We pamper our children, leave our elders to rot in old age homes. The word change means so much to us, something that we love to hear, never follow.

Boy would i love to change our " why would i care" attitude to public property. A neta dies, we go beserk. Like elephants on masth we go on a  rampage,we set fire to buses, break window panes, hurl crude bombs and what not, in damaging public property. Whose property is it anyway? The property of US, every tax paying, law abiding citizen of this country. We should be ashamed of spitting and defecating on public road. They are roads, not our own large sized public lavatories! You may pay the tax Mr Aam Admi, but that doesn't give you the right to spit and shit. 

And what is with the respect we give to women? We call our country Motherland and where do aged mothers end up here? Old age homes? Sadly, women are their enemies themselves. Unimaginable is the hatred and vice they have against each other. So much that they could arrange to kill the other and make entries of that in their personal diary! Is it not time to change the grudges women have against women? High time...Not to forget the physical and emotional domestic violence unleashed on simple women at home. Do they not deserve better?

Road rules...ah, who follows them anyway? Waiting for the bus and boarding it in a queue, never come to us, easy. We love to jostle, freak out, pant and sweat- all for a window seat in a bus! A bus where it rains directly on your head through the roof and winds that sweep away dirt on the road straight on your face...We are never organised and orderly when it comes to standing in queues. Jumping the queue is the favorite hobby for many, these days. We love to overtake anything with wheels on the road, be it a car or a bus or a bike. Pheromones push younger lads to whiz, zip, wheel and what not? When the rule says wear a helmet- we conveniently forget it at home or better still, hang it on the handle bar, ending up cracking the skull and wasting whatever little of grey matter left inside it;)

We call our country Motherland and where do aged mothers end up here? Old age homes? Sadly, women are their enemies themselves. Unimaginable is the hatred and vice they have against each other. So much that they could arrange to kill the other and make entries of that in their personal diary! Is it not time to change the grudges women have against women? High time...Not to forget the physical and emotional domestic violence unleashed on simple women at home. Do they not deserve better?

Where is the safety of women? It is Muthalik's orange brigade that kicks and beats women on Valentines' Day or women partying in the evenings. On the other side we have rapists and psychopaths on a rampage. Instances of eve teasing are constantly on the rise, mind you, age or marital status is not a deterrent here. So far as the woman is sporting a salwar, she is eligible! 

Change is what we women in this country are hoping for...change that has been eluding us for a long time now. We need an attitude change which only education and understanding can give us. Unless we decide to change for the better, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Stringent laws that are enacted against domestic violence on women and elders need wide publicity in  remote areas. Cleansing the administration of bribery will ensure adherence to rules everywhere. Fear of punishment always works wonder with human attitude. Hope change sweeps us off our feet, for the betterment of our lives.

p.s.: This is my entry for Stayfree Time to Change contest powered by indiblogger

p.p.s.: Happy Women's Day to all.