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Always looking ahead

We were at a friend's house when a tiff broke between the two siblings. I offered the younger one, my daughter's friend, to hop in the car with us for a sleepover. She did that delighted to get away from the bigger sister. My friend gulped hard. She asked her over and over again if she was sure she wanted to go away for the night. She cajoled her then threatened her then tried bit bribing and lastly entreated her to change her mind. But she wouldn't be cajoled, threatened, bribed or entreated. Her mind was made up and she came with us. I don't think my friend slept a wink that night. Whereas the child played to her heart's content and fell soundly asleep having tired all her faculties nicely. And this is what brought home a fact that life looks ahead. It knows only to move in forward gear. The woman might have worried about x number if things concerning her daughter but the child wasn't about one.

Humara Bajaj

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If you are the child of the 80s and if you can hum Doordarshan’s signature tune and recall the colours of the montage; if you remember the Ek chidiya song and sing it too ( to probably your kids now!); if you can recall the yellow sari of the Maggi mummy and Lalita ji of Surf fame then you most definitely remember the Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasveer. Yes! Hamara Bajaj. Bajaj Chetak- the two-wheeler that was a defining characteristic of our childhood and an imminent part of our teen years. Many of us have fond memories of riding the scooter to markets and may be to tuitions. Unfortunately, out of production for a while and not a frequent sight on the Inidan road yet the sight of the beloved two-wheeler on the set of Comedy Nights with Kapil Sharma brought back the nostalgia. I have very clear memories of roaming about the town on the grey Bajaj Chetak that my father owned. The grey scooter was recently sold off but I can still recall the ‘vrooooommmmm’ sound of the scooter a

Tram, The Heritage Wheels

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February 1873 was a monumental year for Kolkata, then known as Kalikatta. Commerce had compelled the British rulers to look for cost effective and efficient ways to carry merchandise from Sealdah railway station to the Armenian Ghats of the river Hooghly. Unfortunately the horse trams did not find many takers and had to shut down the same year. But in the mean time something of an affair had been heralded that would go on to add to the uniqueness of the city Kalikatta. Think of trams and you can imagine life slowing down a pace or two. When I first set eyes on a tram in the middle of a main road in the South of the city, all the other noises seemed to recede away and a Mantovani melody started to play in the background instead. I was so mesmerised by the way it snaked on the road, leisurely at its own pace, not bothered by the honking cars, autos and taxis that I forgot to board the bus my palm had brought to halt. Kolkata is a metropolis like none other. It is large. It

A gratitude list

The new year is already 6 days old. I haven't made a list of resolutions or I haven't done anything else yet that would have set these other 5 gone by days from the rest of the years since maybe 2007 or 08. The year that has gone by was spent waiting for the baby. In the meantime I came across gratitude as something of a magical force that could change lives. I was tagged in posts on FB to express gratitude, I got my sister to write a column in place and guess what was the chosen subject- gratitude and so on and so forth. So because gratitude has been making an appearance over and over again I decided to make a list of things I am grateful for. Mind you, I am not an ungrateful person, but this is taking things a plane higher. So without much ado, here are a few things for which I am immensely grateful. 1. I am grateful that little kids have a short memory span. In the last seven years that she has been around I too have had many a rough patches. I have often taken out

Difficult

Gathering your thoughts is so difficult. I mean I have all these wonderful thoughts, world-improving thoughts, thoughts that when turned into a book will make me a multi-millionaire-ss, thoughts that I have in my most generous state of mind (and don't ask me what that is because while I grappled with my thoughts about this blog entry and the concept of generous thoughts I forgot it). So you see what I am talking about. And it is so difficult to make my right hand work because of the stupid nerve-wrecking herpes on the right side of my back. Yeah well where did that come from!! I was writing about thoughts, how it is difficult to gather all that you think or thought about a certain topic.