“Munch that bite! There won’t be any ice-cream, any
television ever: If you don’t finish this meal!!”
This is ME- three times a day, every
day, day after day….– If not any life threatening pandemic, but just forcing
healthy food at regular intervals down these wretched mouths- Will see the end
of me, I’m sure!
Just a few days into the kids’ Summer
Vacation – they’ve begun early this year- and I’m losing my sanity. Repeated
errors while typing this too.
2 kids at home- awake for 12 or more
hours at a stretch. They need to be fed, bathed, and fed again!
Entertained, occupied, kept out of
mischief, kept indoors (the corona virus effect) and most important of all- healthy
and happy! It’s a piece of cake! I tell myself every morning- rising by 6 a.m. sharp-
earlier than school days!!! Just so I can get some time to myself before the
monsters awaken.
11”o” clock at night and I’m still a
dictionary- “Mamma, what does m-a-n-s-i-o-n mean?”
“It’s a place I want to run to…. So big
I can hide from you, At least for a day or two! “
Don’t make up rhymes Ma, please, tell
me the meaning…. Ha! Piece of cake!
As the afternoon laziness sets in- I
remember I used to love summer afternoons, lying next to my mom, under the
breeze of the fan, I can still smell her skin... My arms curled around her bare
midriff from the sari she wore. HOW WONDERFUL those days of growing up were. SUDDENLY
my midriff is attacked as she playfully jumps on it –“Let’s play rock a bye
baby!”
“OUCH!! You’re not a baby anymore!” I wince in
agony…. But the girl won’t budge till we play rock a bye baby... 20 kilograms
rocking up and down my legs- 50 reps. It’s a fabulous workout for the abs, but
not post lunch!!
Another invention by this creature to
entertain herself is “Catch Me If You Can! She runs around in circles around
the dining table and I must catch her while she giggles and squeals at the top
of her lungs! The neighbours downstairs came up one day worried whether some wild
dogs had been let loose!!!. We apologized, stopped the game for a day all
shamefaced and bashful but were back at it soon! J
Today is puzzle solving day. Down
come the old puzzle boxes neatly stacked up 3 years ago waiting for the younger
one to play with them. As obvious, there are a few pieces missing. “This is what you both did when I was not
there, right? You just lost all the puzzle pieces. “Boy to girl- “No, we kept
all the puzzles carefully for you.”
Girl to mom – “That’s why you prayed
for me no, and I came”...
Mom to girl- “I didn’t pray for you,
I prayed for bhaiya”
“Then How Did I Come?”
I burst into helpless laughter –Isn’t
this question coming too early? The kids however, ignore their mom rolling on
the floor with laughter and continue to piece the puzzle together. They’re used
to their mother suddenly bursting into laughter at some innocent remark they
make: Into a song at the drop of a familiar word or phrase and definitely used
to her breaking into a jig on hearing a song she loves. I am, losing my sanity
as confessed before.
This summer has taken such a different
turn. I had it all planned. 8.30a.m. - 9.30 a.m. swimming classes: Come back home
for breakfast and shower, send the kids down to the club house for activity
classes till 1. Gives me time to cook lunch and clean the house. After lunch we
relax. At 5.30 p.m. tennis classes for an hour. Within that 1 hour I get to
plan the packing and shopping for our annual summer holiday. Well sorted, or so
I thought……
The classes stand cancelled, the
holiday plan is definitely off and here we are together all summer, stuck at
HOME!!
As the long summer days pan out I
can’t stop getting nostalgic. My mind
wanders back to my childhood summer vacations which were all about lounging at
home just like this. I recall the afternoons spent playing carrom board with
cousins. My eldest bro and I, the youngest were a team invincible! The expert paired
with me- butterfingers still learning the game. Indoor Ping Pong tournaments at
home. With the dining table moved to the verandah and hardbound books placed at
the center to form the net. Glasses of refreshing Rasna would be served to all at
the end. “I LOVE YOU RASNA”. Don’t forget to sing as you gulp the last of the
orange tangy drink. The taste still lingering on my tongue even as I write. No
matter how strictly we were forbidden we’d still naughtily creep up to the refrigerator
repeatedly to check if the homemade ice-cream had set. Fight to get that extra
scoop!
Monopoly was the favourite pastime
activity with the each game continuing for days- As kids we’d have dreams of
one day owning those hotels at Bond Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly etc. How
ambitious!
Amongst all the toys my most loved
possession was a beautiful Barbie doll. I’d sew skirts, tops and dresses for
her from fabric borrowed from Mom. The passion for fashion, was born then.
Thank you Barbie, I miss you…
As kids we used to read books by the
dozen: A competition would be held among friends as to who would read the
maximum number of books before school reopened in June. St. Clare’s and Malory
Towers by Enid Blyton sparked my imagination taking me to their English country
homes and boarding schools full of learning, mischief and adventure. I guess
that’s why we didn’t miss holidays to foreign locations unlike our kids today
who plan among each other at school the next exotic destination where they
would be headed for the summer, long before their parents plan.
Remember dancing to audio and video
tapes of Madonna’s- La Isla Bonita and Stevie Wonder’s- Part Time Lover? “It’s
My Life”- sang Bon Jovi and I from morning to night, giving us the rebel my
parents struggled with!!
Those walks down Marine Drive on beautiful
summer evenings, those nights of sleepovers at friends’ and cousins’ with tall
glasses of mango milkshake and naturals ice-cream, fun at Juhu beach and
shopping at Bandra, Fashion street and much, much, more…
Memories of childhood so beautifully
curated by parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. I wish we
could recreate that magic for our kids today.
Come on kids- “Carrom once more.” Let
the Memories, bring back memories…!
