Christmas Memories

It’s been a long time since the full family was home for Christmas. And I don’t mean the extended Indian family-even the four of us, the nuclear unit, haven’t been together for Christmas since the elder one went to boarding school seven years ago.

Then the younger one followed her, then came college for one and changing jobs for us. We are now a visiting family. I feel like the one at the railway station waving good-bye to one train and waiting on the platform for the next one to arrive.

All the work that I keep cribbing about-office, home, writing, studying-that is just something to do while I am waiting. This is what I really live for. The precious moments of togetherness-and those are getting so few and far.

Instead of getting all maudlin over the way things of change, let me recall the best memories of Christmas:

•      Jingle Bells! Yes, it wasn't Christmas without the whole school singing Jingle Bells while the plumpest nun came as Santa Clause and gave the whole class the same gift. There was a TV shaped Tin Coin Box I had got one year, which I used forever, one of the plastic legs gave in long ago, but I think that box is still there in my parents’ home.
  
•    Life took a 180 degree turn: Inter-House Music competition at FAPS. The kids used to prepare with the intensity of preparing for the Cricket World Cup. Our house would be ringing with carols all month.
  
•     Playing Santa for years, till the girls caught on and also made their father join. The planning and gift wrapping and the joy of watching people open their presents.
  
•       Christmas celebrations in the apartment. The earnestness of the play practice, dressing up the kids and watching them enact the same story.

I guess that part of life has come full circle.

We haven’t even put up the tree this year. Now we don’t have the enthusiasm and the energy, and they don’t have the time.

But then what will we look back to after a few years?
We’ve got to create some memories to stay with us.

Let me take out the fairy lights.

This time of the year…

..when the drumbeats announce the arrival of Goddess Durga and the Bong in me gets homesick-again.

Yeah I miss the fun and those friends.

And since some moments do not come back we go forward and create new memories. This is a glimpse of the Dusshera  procession from the southern-most tip of India-Kanyakumari.

So different, and yet the enthusiasm is the same. Isn’t it?

Wishing you a great time this festival season!

Cheers

I vanished from my blog as I had left too many things for the last moment before leaving for my vacation and it was a choice between writing goodbye and leaving in time to catch my flight.

I went home.

Crammed in as much of being at home, eating mom-cooked food, soaking in the sun, shopping and meeting old friends as possible…and well let me keep adding more details as I get time

For now I wish you all A Very Happy New Year and a wonderful time ahead.

To Another Year!

Children's Day: After the storm

Yes the day went great.

We were only a little late for school, but since most kids were a little behind schedule, and the teachers had built in that buffer, both the girls enjoyed.

This is Aurora's class getting ready for a Cinderella at the Ball dance:

And this is Elena's class of Zebras and Lions;

And this is my troupe of dancers for the event at home:

Until next time!

Children's Day

As if we didn’t have enough festivals on the Indian calendar!

It was ok till it was a fancy dress party in play school. Yes the costumes and teaching them two lines took time, but they enjoyed so much that it was worth the time.

And now….

Same time last year, one day before the Children’s day celebrations in school, I am in office and get an urgent call from the day care:

Mamma, Ma’am has given us the dresses for tomorrow. We have to get ready, put on MAKEUP from home....

Wow. What fun! Ok so I get up 15 mins earlier fine..

And she said we have to shampoo and blow dry our hair…

Ok. 30 minutes*2

And we need to wear bangles

I hope that's all. …oops..I’ll have to arrange them before going to bed today

And…

and what?

She said we can’t wear sandals or shoes because it is a Punjabi dance, so we have to wear jobhris

…what on earth was that??

Ok, the teacher must have meant Mojris but how on earth was I going to manage buying them before tomorrow morning?

My husband was in a conference. He could not go out Mojri shopping, neither could he baby sit in the evening if I went out..

And then if I went shopping after office, with these two in tow, how do I manage making dinner, tomorrow’s lunch and breakfast?

Where in Bangalore would I find Mojris?

Should I ask Mom to send them by courier? 

Half a dozen calls later, the Grand referee to the rescue.  He found someone whom he could send to Commercial Street. The only catch-wasn't sure the guy understood what Mojris are….

I did an image search on Google, sent an email, and kept my fingers crossed….

Two hours later, I got a call saying the Mojris were with him, I had to wait till night to see if they were Ok.

….there was nothing else I could do

Thankfully they worked.

I still made a big fuss about the teachers dropping it on us at the last moment so this time both girls got their costumes and shopping lists two days in advance.

So all I need to do this time is: 

• Stitch Zebra ears on Elena’s costume for the Animal dance
  
  
• Fold and hem half a mile of Aurora’s ball gown which is way too long for her.
  
  
• Buy matching ear-rings and sandals and ruffled socks and gloves….
  (….and Mamma can you PLEASE buy some eyeliner and blusher also, everyone else will be wearing them)

 Oh….

• I need to teach them and two of their friends a dance too........ for the Children’s day celebrations in the apartment complex.
  
  
• Yep. And then I’ll have to organize the costumes for that too… 

As there isn’t any time left over for blogging, I am just posting this list…..just in time to rush out and buy the matching thread for stitching her gown.

Another Diwali

I always loved everything about Diwali-the razzle and dazzle, the lights, the clothes, the puja and the noise.

I have always loved crackers too.

Yet when my kid came back from play-school all those years ago and said she doesn’t want to burst crackers because they are made by little children who are forced to work and not go to school, the perspective began to shift.

It was just one of the truths we brush aside because we’d rather not face it.

Over the years, as the skies grow darker with every festival of lights, the smoke has become even more difficult to ignore. We drastically cut down the amount of crackers and just burnt a few to keep the tradition alive.

This Diwali, I saw a Dad coaxing his “stubborn” fourteen-year-old to stop being a spoilsport while she refused to join in the Diwali tradition, and realized that our generation just does not get it.

It is time for us to move on, to learn a few lessons from our kids…They do know better. (Sometimes!)

Till we meet again

Depending on where we are, it is all so varied-Navratri, Dandia nights (or rather evenings now), Ramlila, Dushera and the Dolls and Ayudha Puja-----but it is also so similar too in the way we blend traditions with having fun and scripting memories. Maybe it’s just one more excuse to come together and celebrate and spread the wishes.

I have missed the drumbeats at Durga Puja this time but am celebrating by taking off for a week with my “Fairytopia”.

Will be back soon to share more moments as we journey to the southernmost shores of India.

Best wishes for the festival time!