-
When you are leaving?

“When you are leaving?” This question is often asked by cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends especially when you visit your ancestral place. They meet you after a long gap and this informative question becomes a part of their polite conversation. Or even better, they wish to spend a quality time with you so they are keen to know your plans. The thought that you are important for them often pumps an extra ounce of excitement in you. You enjoy the sudden stardom and you host a party for them. Holidays get over and the day of departure culminates with warm hugs and handshakes, tearful goodbyes and a promise to visit your loved ones again.
Seasons change and so are situations.  There are times when you come back to your home town on prolong holidays. And suddenly, the same question cajoles and cudgels you like never before. You start dodging your friends, relatives and even the neighbour’s kids or their pets too. Markets, malls, streets and even your balcony become the most vulnerable spots for you to encounter the same topic which you wish to avoid most.

 When you stay more than your usual days of holidays, the question seems to be the talk of the town. The maid, liftman, milkman, and neighborhood shopkeeper have only question on their minds. There is no respite even if you stay inside your home. Now the same old favourite cousins seem to be intruders and invaders in your life. You decide to sting them with spiteful words but your good old memories neutralize the venom inside you. While you welcome them in your living room with a mask of “just chilling”, you keep looking for the most convincing reply for the perennial question. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Followers

Popular posts from this blog

French Onion Soup

-
  East or West. Where lies the acquired taste?   Soups are always exotic, and their fumes emit a nostalgic colonial English aura for people living in small towns in India. Even though, in recent years, ready-to-slurp soup sachets have flooded the markets, middle-class homemakers have placed them along with their spice boxes without any hesitation. Yet, a hot cup of soup still transports Indians to the cloudy, hilly terrains of the far-off European countryside.    In traditional English cuisine, carrots, peas, mushrooms, leeks, chicken, or beef broths seasoned with condiments are cooked in low flames for hours under the strict supervision of the chef. The broth gets cooked till it thickens to get the perfect consistency of soup and served with dollops of heavy cream. It is an ideal appetizer and cosy delicacy to make the chilly evenings comfortable. Soups have always been part and parcel of English supper, and people instinctively like the dish. When elderly...
Read more

Aix-En-Provence Diary

-
Image
  Where Impressionism exits, Cubism enters. Blue Mediterranean Sea, sandstone Buildings, hilly terrains, and Pinewood forests complete the description of the Provence region of South France. The city Aix-En-Provence offers a lot to artists and painting enthusiasts. Paul Cezanne, the world-renowned impressionist painter, belongs to Aix-En-Provence. He was born and matured as a painter here, worked extensively till his last breath. The landscape and the particular light of province guided his creative journey to the threshold of abstraction. His paintings paved the path for Cubism. The life-size bronze statue of Cezanne facing the well-known La Rotonde fountain at the city centre welcomes every visitor. A quick bus ride takes you to his sunny and quaint studio. Atlelier de Cezanne is on the hill Les Lauves, north of Aix-en Provance. The studio building is in good condition. The first floor has Cezanne's still life objects, furniture, and other personal belongings have been the palace...
Read more

Ordinary Museum. Extraordinary Experience.

-
Image
Croydon then Museums are one of the entertaining ways to know a new city or a neighbourhood and especially for those who are a newcomer. Well-known museums have varied and rare attractions to put their visitors in awe. But at times, even tiny ones instore surprises for their viewers. Croydon, one of the boroughs of outer London has its museum, conspicuously located in the arts facilities of the clocktower building in Central Croydon. Even though it is small, its collections date back to the Roman era. As you enter its display room, it is hard to miss out on two illustrations made by the first Noble Laureate from India. For a moment, I felt those paintings were surreal; Rabindranath Tagore would not have visited Croydon, of all places, in his visits to England. Soon, the note on the wall from the museum authority settled the whirlwind of queries in my head. The message says a gentleman, Ronald Newson, of Norbury, worked with Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan, a university he founded....
Read more