19.9.12

The sound of running water

In my building, the apartments are such that the kitchens share a wall. So, when my neighbor cooks, I'd know, with all the clanging and banging and the whistles from the pressure cooker. It was reassuring, somehow. Or at least that's what I expected her to feel, when she heard my vessels clang and bang and the mixie whizz at, umm.....unconventional cooking hours (K & I are both midnight snack lovers!)

But my neighbors moved out about a month ago. So, I don't hear any anymore Bengali through the brick walls. There's no constant, rhythmic thud, from a pre-teen practicing basket ball at home. And of course, there's no clang and bang and no smell of food cooking in the Bengali favorite mustard oil.

A couple of days after they'd left, one afternoon, I heard the tap from something I imagined to be a bubble top water storage open and close. I thought, 'Hmm..there are new people here already? How come I never heard them move in?' I soon forgot about it.

The next day, I heard the same sound, again. It was like someone opened the bubble top and were filling a bottle with water. I was in the kitchen, so I came out to see if K was using our bubble top. Nope. So immediately I opened my door to check if my neighbor's door was locked. It was. From outside. A small shiver of fright ran criss cross inside me. Asking God to help me control my high flying imagination, I went about my day.

But this sound of water wouldn't leave me alone. Seriously, whenever I was by myself, I'd hear this sound. What is supposed to be calming (the sound of running water) suddenly started scaring me. I thought, gulp, I was hearing things. And things were making themselves heard only to me.

One afternoon however, while K and I were having lunch, I heard my ghost sound. This time, K reacted and was looking around for the source of it. Can I tell you, I was so relieved that I wasn't the only one hearing these sounds. We tried to figure out the source, and before he left for work, he managed to whisper "maybe there's a ghost here" and bid goodbye, chuckling naughtily.

By now, I was pretty distraught at hearing these mysterious sounds. Why running water? Why at only certain times? Why not at night? Why does the source of sound seem to come from different directions everyday? Are there invisible people living next door? Or are there invisible people living in-door? Maybe there's a time dimension oddity and there are two families living in the same house and I can hear them, but they can't hear me. Maybe the audio will turn visual one day and I'll be able to live in my dimension, but also witness a different dimension.

It was confusing and scary and weird. So, I did what any normal person would do. Watched T.V. In HD. So good.

It was while I was watching T.V, that I heard the sound again. This time it was very soft. And 'EEEEEEE' very close. I investigated around the sofa like a hound. Only I used my ears instead of my muzzle.

And I found it. The source of my distress and mystery and fear and palpitation for the past week.

Drumroll.

 It.....was........my.......phone.

Sheesh.

It was then that I remembered that a week ago, I had downloaded an app to remind me to drink water every few hours. And it had been dutifully doing so. At regular intervals, with the sound of running water.

To say that I was relieved would be an understatement.

Imagination....thou art an fickle friend. 

8.6.12

Quite fishy this

I wanted to be adventurous today. So instead of seer fish, I bought pomfret. I came home and 'dabbled' in fish curry and fish fry making and immediately thought, 'I should have bought the seer fish'. Even in a screwed up curry, it tastes good!

Growing up, fish curry was my absolute favourite. My brother hated the fish, in the fish curry, so I automatically inherited his share. The curry that mom used to make was this tangy, dark one, which had whole garlic pods, that had been cooked in the stew floating around. Aah, thank God for my brother's pet peeves, for I inherited those garlic pods too!

Over time, now that I have a more mature palate, when I taste mom's fish curry, it seems so much tastier than what I used to have as a child. However, I cannot seem to master it no matter how many times she repeats the recipe to me, or how many times I google 'traditional tamil fish curry'!

What I made today was Ooook, but that didn't stop my lovely hubby from telling me that 'it's good'! I think I'm going to practice a lot lot lot more to get it as right as mom's. It's going to take a while though, I can feel it in my taste buds.

Maybe I'll even post some pictures and spice things up a bit ;) 

6.6.12

Midnight crisis

This summer when the Government announced that there'll be power cuts, it was no surprise. Happened last year, so this year was no shocker. Their business plan (or whatever it can be called) was surprisingly convenient. We were told in advance about how many hours and at what times power would be disconnected. That was relief because, I could plan lunches ahead (use the blender at the right time and not become panicky when I switched it on and there was no whirr.) More than anything, I could go out and come back at the right time, to use the elevator!

Today however, there had been an unscheduled power cut, at night. Midnight. Can I tell you, unashamedly, that I couldn't sleep without the hum of the AC. I tossed, turned, sighed, heavily sighed - no use. After what seemed like many years, the power came back and believe me, for a few minutes, I surprised myself at how deliriously happy it made me.  And like the cake that came so close to the mouth and then was snatched away, the power got disconnected, again. 

I almost cried. 

The power's back now (came back about half hour later), but like a 'once bitten twice shy' person, I'm unable to go back to bed, because I'm afraid it'll go again and this time, I'll be mad! 

1.6.12

When I first started this blog, in 2006, I was quite confident that it would last as long as a goldfish's memory. I had begun and abandoned so many blogs by then, that this my blog had a very slim chance of surviving my lack of attention! 

All true, until one fortunate day, I found out that my then boyfriend was reading my blogs! Delighted, and very pheromones-ically, I subliminally thought that, looking after my blog would be akin to looking after a pet, or a plant and show to him in some subconscious way that I was 'responsible' or maybe even 'nurturing'! Haha! 

Recently I was going through some old diaries of mine and was quite bewildered that some of the incidents I've written about (some codes were involved! Teenage was tough with curious and snoopy family members!) don't exist in my memory anymore! I mean, it's as if some of my diary entries were pieces of fiction! 

However, when I go back to posts written so many years ago and read about incidents that are merely fading pictures in my memory, it gives me a certain joy! It also reminds of many other related things that had found their happy corners in my mind. 

So, growing older I've come to realize two things. One, changing your blog's name all of a sudden will ensure that no one, apart from the 'Next Blog' visitor will ever read it (hello you!) And two, it's not as easy to rattle away about one's day as it used to be before! 

Therefore friend, whoever you are, who's reading this - welcome, and thanks! 

And to my aforementioned 'then boyfriend', if you're reading this, I'd like to say - "Hi hubbykins!" 





Agendas and winning

When my children were toddlers, I had a quote stuck on my shelf which read, “When we lose our agendas, everybody wins.” At that time I was j...