Today was a good day. I think, that maybe, I have gotten into the rythmn of doing things that I like – it is not forced. it is now in a sort of flow. However, at this stage – from having got here in the past – all i can say is this, it takes just one day to lapse back into inertia.

Inertia – according to newton – was the state of rest or uniform motion of a body – and its reluctance to change, unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. I am sure he didn’t mean for it to apply to humans. But, the way I have been going about my life – in the last year – maybe 18 months or so – has made Newton’s definition of Inertia apt for me.

The men in my life are fairly balanced forces. They like their privacy and leave me to mine …

But, the women in my life …baap re baap…

The first is the Dog(ess) -she who rules the family with an iron paw. There is no concept of space or privacy for her. She demands nay commands attention. Often it means disrupting my routine. And the more i cling to my routine – the more she considers it her right to disrupt it…

She has got communication down to a fine art – the mother jokes, in a family full of communicators, what do you expect your dog to be? .a sharp bark means water. A slow thumping of the tail means she wants to be brushed. Coming and sitting next to me means she wants undivided attention ….

She also knows when the camera is out, and she poses – gives her best profile. today she jumped on the bed and posed

the second unbalanced force is the mother. A very long time ago – must have been 9 or 10 – she got an abridged version of the “Tale of Two Cities” for me. Every day for 3 days she read a chapter. On the fourth day she said – if you want to know what happened read the book. I did. And it gave me a life long love of reading. She hasn’t changed too much. Her tactics have become gentler but that is a cover for steel. She reads out chunks from newspapers – that she devours. She gives me synopsis of the TV news – with her own interjections. And, she has become a guide when it comes to bouncing off ideas when i write about the public space.

 

And the third woman is my maternal grandmother. Every year she comes all the way from Chennai – and when you are 88 it is all the way – to spend a few months in Mumbai. She and the dog(ess) have a curious relationship. My grandmother actually teases the dog, the dog ocassionaly barks the house down in response.

Vimla Patti – my maternal Grandmother. 88 years old. Full of energy vitality and a joy for life. if i had half her enthusiasm now, i would not have to do a thirty day project. She finished her advanced Sanksrit Diploma a couple of years ago – and cribbed because she got 92%. She joined yoga classes. She composes songs. She prays. Currently, she is spending her time drawing & paining – fabric painting. I have a whole bunch of pillow covers with beautiful designs hand painted by her.

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Today, i don’t quite know how, I got conned into making MSC – Milk, Sugar and Coconut – sweet. It is my brother & sister-in-law’s 11th wedding anniversary and the folks broke a coconut. (nariyal toda sounds better) .. There was a big debate on whether to make coconut chutney or some sweet. They agreed on the sweet and then argued on who will make it. Both wanted to My grandmother and mother argued about who was going to make the sweet. So finally I butted in and said I will do it.

Intellectually, i know how to make MSC or any other sweet. But, unfortunately cooking isn’t just about the mind. It is about physically putting ingredients together and producing something edible. And, in this particular case – it was an hour in front of the stove, stirring the ingredients together on a full flame – and waiting for the the milk to give up as much water as it can …

I have developed a great appreciation for the women and men who do this sort of thing on a daily basis – my shoulders ache from the effort of constantly stirring the pot. But, the effort was worth it. It turned out well. Jayadev took it to a party that he was attending, and Rani Houndess licked my hand in appreciation ..

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Finished the next chapter in Amitava Ghosh’s book The Evidence of Suspicion – this was on the Art of Surveillance. It looks at various artists in the United States and their artistic response to the war on terror.  There is a line that he quotes from Graham Greene’s novel “The Power and Glory” at the beginning of the chapter – “hate was just a failure of imagination”.

The one thing that struck me was when an artist says something about stopping identifying with the victims, and starting to identify with the perpetrators – because that is who they were.

there is an almost flat commentary in the entire book so far- the author is not judging. merely recording. And that is something that is far more effective than bludgeoning you with opinion.

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And i heard the entire Baiju Bawra sound track and the entire Phir Subah Aayegi Soundrack ….fabulous…

and, yes all those pictures were shot today …

i wonder if i can take a day off on sunday 😀