Remnants of a Life Travelled through Time

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013.
 Day 5 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words prompt--TRAVEL

When it comes to travelling I have a number of stories to tell. Stories which have shaped my life, experiences and my outlook towards people, culture and especially food.

My love for travelling started some 3 decades ago when my husband got transferred to Mumbai from Goa. I was going out of my sweet Goa to the wild world of Mumbai for the first time. Just 18 and a long journey to a unknown place without my family around! I was so scared of this large technological giant that is going to take me to another destination. I was literally crying all the way and my husband had a hard time to calm me down.

From that day onward I have travelled to different parts of the country tagging along with my husband from coast to coast! Travelling has thought me compassion, a love for nature, sharpened my language skills and most of all has introduced me to the unifying fabric of this great country.

My best memory had been to a trip to Waynand along with my daughter a few years back ago when she was participating in a Taekwondo championship in Calicut. I fell in love with that serene place with its vast tea gardens and unending winding roads.

 

I know it is difficult to stop writing when it comes to an inspiring topic like travelling. So here i condense my experience in a verse. This summarize my passion for travelling and how it impacted my life.

Travelogue of my Destiny

Ist stage!


Before marriage---(GOA)

Life was full of fun,
A born bohemian
Where the heart sang
And danced to the
Song of waves
Wake up to the sun rays.
Played with the palms
Stretching my arms.


2nd STAGE

Married life in defence----(GOA, MUMBAI, COCHIN)

A merry go round
Traversing on limitless chimes
Touching new horizons
On the wing of unknown times.
Caught life between palms
Tasted the essence of togetherness
Cruised on the high seas
With joy, pain, sorrows in sync.

3rd STAGE

Life of a civilian...(Kakinada)

Took a toss with times
Life a shifting piece of rhyme
Swayed across the tide
Of the rough waters
Bringing in new phases
Of a life lived without fears.

In Future....(GOA)

Through a piece of fresh air
With an ounce of sunshine
See me fly in the sky
With a will of my own
In the arms of palms
And the willy salty waves.

Heart Strings

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013.
 Day 4 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words prompt--MUSIC

’Music is an elixir to recuperate the soul from the doses of life’s miseries”

I am so grateful to Write Tribe for including this topic in the word challenge. Music for me is equal to breathing. Without music life has no meaning in my dictionary. 

In the 70s the only source of music was a radio. We had a National Panasonic radio and we (my sister and I) protected it more than our life. Everyday after school we would finish our lunch listening to the famous program” Manchahe geet” on Vividh Bharati. Come Wednesday and the whole family were ears waiting eagerly for Amin Sayani to start “ Binaca Geetmala” on Ceylon Radio.


The best part of growing up in Goa is the wedding season. I mean the Christian weddings where music and dance are double damaka. We were hooked on western music. I remember grooving to the music of Elvis Priestley, Beegees, ABBA, Boney-M and of course Bangles and Pointer Sisters.


I had a crush on John Denver: P. His country songs always mesmerized me and still do. His song “Country roads take me home” was my anthem. 

Another musician whose songs were a must at these weddings was Neil Sedaka. His song ” Oh Carol, darling I love you so”. This song still brings a smile on my face. 

 


Most of my memories of western music are related to these weddings. ‘Love me as I love you”, “Brown girl in the rain”” I have a dream a song to sing” “ Staying Alive “ “ Hotel California” there are so many of them which still revokes happy memories. Oh! How can I forget WHAM and “Last Christmas”!!!!

 
Studying in a missionary school also had its benefits. I remember how we were introduced to Jim Reeves during the Friday Mass and especially during Christmas.


My journey with hindi songs started from home. Baba, Maa and almost everybody in the house were music aficionados. Come summer and all the cousins would sit in the balcony and participate in Antakshari. Now also whenever I visit Goa, my nieces make it a must to gather us all and start an Antakshari round.


Here I would like to narrate a funny anecdote. One summer I was spending with my aunt (mom’s cousin sister) and her husband in a place called Colvale in Mapusa taluka. This was the early 80s, the advent of disco and Nazia Hasan, Zoheb and Biddu taking the youth with a storm with their music. After Mithun’s “Disco Dancer” the next movie which left a huge impact was “ Star” starring Kumar Gaurav and Rati Agnihotri.


My uncle had a huge collection of cassettes showcasing ghazals, disco music and the melodies of Lata, Mukesh, Kishore and Rafi. During that time he was working in Saudi. So, I rummaged through all his cassettes and pulled out the disco cassette. I put on the music and increased the volume and started dancing imitating Mithun’s steps :P .I was a good dancer then not now :P . My aunt’s mother (that is my mom’s paternal aunt) was also staying with my aunt. She was somewhere in her 60s . She hated loud music. You can imagine my surprise that day, when I noticed that she too was tapping her feet to the disco music: P and joined me in mastering a few steps: P
Music has the power to revive anybody, age, sex, caste and creed no bar!


Ghazals are my passion and Mehdi Hasan saab, Farida Khanum, Jagjit Singh ji and Ghulam Ali saab brings solace to the soul. Lata, Kishore, Mukesh and Rafi runs through the blood. Among the present generation I adore A.R. RAHMAN. I was elated when he won the Oscar. Here is something I wrote as a tribute to this great musician.

The sirens arouse from their slumber
Shaken, lilting resonance of distant bells
Awaken along a billion hearts
By the peals of the musical lyre.

The swaying trees joined in the chorus
Showing their elation along with the nation
The universe merged into one motion
Leaving its footprints on the human conscience.

The lord of music conquered all
Admired and swooned, hearts won
In all humility bowed the humanity
Embracing a brother in mutual felicity

The echoes trumpeted in distant lands
Gathering crescendo in lyrical charms
Heart and soul meandered in sync
Following the Indian Mozart's resonance.

My Silent Companions

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013.

 Day 3 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words prompt--BOOKS

Start of the Journey

Books have been my constant companions from the time I was just a seven years old little imp. I remember it very clearly when the fragrance of those woody pages took me in their shade and weaved magic on my senses.I was in class 1 when I received a set of books for standing 2nd in class. My joy knew no bound as I held  those two books in my small hands.From then onward these friends of mine never left my side.The passion to learn,unlearn and learn again has its own benefits. I have felt it many times whenever I browsed through those sepia pages of some of my oldest assets.

The Influence

The credit for this passion goes to my baba, who instilled this hobby in me. He was not a very educated person.He dropped out of school when he was in class 9 due to some unavoidable circumstances.But the amount of knowledge he had always left me spellbound.He read everything from Mahadevi Varma to Autobiography of Balraj Sahani, from Glimpses of world history to Discovery of India and all these were in Hindi .I was always inquisitive to know, what was in the pages of those books which made him read them so voraciously that too in the wee hours of the morning or late in the night. Those days we didn't have electricity in most of the houses in Goa and we lived in a small quaint village called Cortalim.So, whatever task was undertaken after dusk, was in the shadows of the lamps which we prepared at home with an old torn cotton saree wicks and an old empty syrup bottle.

The wordy Giants

I was only eleven when I started my journey through real literature.Imagine me reading Jane Austen, Agatha Christie,Dickens,R.L. Stevenson,Enid Blyton, The Famous Five, Nancy Drew and god knows how many more while eating lunch, dinner or late night when everybody were snoring and I lit the lamp under the dining table to read a book :P

An Anecdote

I remember one funny incident. This was in the early 80s during the chill month of February.I started reading Austen's "Emma" which i started once all went to sleep around 10pm.The same old method of lighting the lamp when everybody went to sleep :P. It was TIATR( Konkani Drama) season. The Tiatr used to start around 9pm and end in the wee hours of the morning, maybe around 5am. I was so engrossed in reading the novel that i forgot that it was morning as I could hear the sound of the people going back home from the Tiatr.You can imagine my situation when I landed in school at 8 am with red eyes :P

There are many moments where books have built bridges for me in the guise of making some good friends in school among teachers and fellow classmates. My favourite person was my English teacher Ezilda with whom i shared a wonderful bond. She always encouraged me and advised not to give up this passion of finding oneself in the pages of a book.

My Musings

I am going to share a verse here, which I wrote years back ago as a dedication to the wizards whose words left its footprint on my soul.

                                                    

                                                                Image courtesy...Google
Wizards of Yore

Being a voracious reader,
Found a friend, mentor, guide and philosopher
Through long hours of loneliness;
In the mystical world of literature.

The world of books is an ocean;
Churning, mesmerizing, stormy;
Difficult to swim across the horizons
Without whirling turmoil and emotions.

We live in a sheath of nothingness
When there is much to gain
Bounded in the pulpy cushion
Imaginative world within the pages.

A world of literary revolutions
Brought enlightenment to many nations.
Where man of letters,
Changed the course of history and passions.

A novice among an array of erudite,
Mere mortal browsed through their greatest works;
Enchanted in the alluring words
My heart soared
With amazement and awe.

I bow down to the literary giants
For their creativity and abilities
To conjure up images of rare;
Obscurities and absurdities.

Marlowe, Bacon, Donne, Shakespeare;
All the great giants of yore
Full of life and inevitable galore,
Paved a path for a spirited sustenance;
Through pain and pleasure.

Their simplicity and dexterity,
Converged with my mental ability;
Caught me in the maze of wisdom
Drowning myself in the abyss of their,
Gigantic, transcendental,ebullient kingdom.

Gratitude muses for been there for me,
Through the pangs of need.
A beacon of ray, my solace,
In the hours of timeless solitude.

Gosh! what a lengthy write :P forgive me people this journey down memory lane is leaving me breatheless ;)

P.S...Now-a-days I am more into Indian writers. Its Amis Tripathi or Ashwin Sanghi and lately Tarun Tejpal's " Alchemy of Desire" has exorcised me ;)

Sweet Tooth

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013.

 Day 2 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words prompt-- FOOD

What a scrumptious prompt! Imagine having a mouthwatering post and not able to concentrate on the given topic. A real diabolical situation I must say. When we were kids food was just something we grabbed to fuel the lost energy indulged in innumerable activities like prancing around, studying and doing sports. I remember how I used to gorge whatever came my way without bothering how it tasted as long as it satiated my hunger.

As we grow, the focus on food becomes an important part of our life, especially in teens. What we eat, and what quantity, everything matters.

My journey with food had been like a merry-go-round. I was born a pure non-vegetarian with the staple diet of seafood and rice. My humble Goan fare of xitt kodi!

                                                        Images courtesy-Google

                                      
Destiny took a U-turn when I married a pure vegan who couldn't consume even a piece of cake nor could his family tolerate garlic or onion. Here comes my journey with food. I was a free spirit and a born tomboy who even hated to set  foot in the kitchen at my mom’s place who had to become a docile south Indian daughter-in-law! :D

In the earlier days of our marriage my masterchef was my husband. He taught me how to prepare most of the south Indian dishes like sambhar, rasam, pulihora(lemon rice),babutlu(stuffed chapattis with chickpea filling) and the regular Telugu Brahmin dishes. It was very tough as I never liked cooking.

But marriage is a great teacher I must say. So, one by one I mastered all the dishes and now the situation is such that my elder brother-in-law (hubby’s elder brother) praises the food that I prepare, in-front of his wife who has been cooking for him for the last 37 years :D  He loves to rouse her goatee :P


Inspite of all the changes in my food habits, I still cannot resist my humble Goan food. Every year I make a trip to Goa and my mom is kept busy in the kitchen cooking up all my favorite dishes :D

I have a sweet tooth and cannot resist sweets at any cost. You can imagine what my luggage will consists of when I come down from Goa.:D These are a few of my favourite Goan sweets.

                     Dosh..prepared with chickpea, sugar and lots and lots of fresh coconut milk.
                                         

                                  Bol..prepared with ripe bananas and coconut jaggery.
                                           

                                Bebinca..layers and layers of coconut, plain flour,sugar, egg yokes and ghee.
                                               

                                 Dodol...raw Goa rice,coconuts, coconut jaggery, sugar, salt and cashew nuts


But nothing can beat my all time favourite dish which is specially prepared during Nagpanchami in Goa.A simple dish made with rice flour, coconut and jaggery and steamed in a turmeric leaf.
                                                      

                                                                Patoleo

It has been an awesome journey shuttling across different states in India. Coming from defence background has its own advantages especially when it comes to food. I enjoy most of the Punjabi dishes too from chole batura to sarson ka saag. Bengali mishi dhoi, rassogulla and sandesh on the favourite list.

There is no stopping me when I discuss sweets..so here I stop ending my journey on Food! :D

                                               

A Born Bohemian

 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013. http://writetribe.com

Whatever I write might kick the senses just like my sol kadi :D. The same outburst of erratic thoughts without any control of time and destination.
There are so many things i want to pour on these blank pages….But how do i start? From childhood? The meandering youth? The restless growing age? Or shall i hit down the accelerator from the present and go back to the past?

Let me see…hmm..here i go knocking on my memories with a slight twist in the time machine. I was born and brought up in the bosom of the sandy beaches of Goa. A carefree soul, who spoke her own language of passionate prose. I weaved dreams on the sand. Build palaces on the palms and dived deep in the sea to rejuvenate  my soul.
I trekked the lands of the ancestors searching for treasures in the fossilized holes. There were days when time stood still and the childhood bliss continued till the old man on a wintry night reminded that a new dawn is born.

I would like to carry on and on with my whimsical ramblings…god knows how long

As this is my first post for the " Write Tribe Festival of Words 2 ", let me take a breather and think about what i want to write and how i go about it…Cherrioooooooooooooo : D

he prompt is "Recalling memories" for Festival of words - Day1! - See more at: http://aasinabsurd.blogspot.in/2013/12/scrambling-memory.html#sthash.qdNe5J1G.dpuf

he prompt is "Recalling memories" for Festival of words - Day1! - See more at: http://aasinabsurd.blogspot.in/2013/12/scrambling-memory.html#sthash.qdNe5J1G.dpuf

Childhood Pranks

Whenever I visit home, I mean Goa, the best part of the trip is my Maa's story telling sessions to her grandchildren. Not the make believe stories, but real ones. The ones related to her six children. Their childhood pranks, tantrums and how each one of us were different. Hundred percent attention from my daughter when mom starts narrating how I’d do things differently when I was a teen: P

 

She enjoys telling them, how coconut trees, chikoo trees and guava trees in our garden were left bare by my monkey disposition and the activity sometimes exceeded neighbors garden too! 

 

 

 100 Words on Saturday - I’d do things differently

Today’s prompt is from the lovely Aditi of Life Is A Journey….Make It BeaYOUtiful.