Bit of This and Bit of That

My school friends and the experiences involving them have always been more memorable to me than my college friends. Over a period, I kept in touch with few, lost contact with some and forgot many. I assumed most of them must have married, had kids and might be busy with their own life.   Few weeks ago, I received a wedding invitation of the last bachelor of our school gang. He is one of those who always took the effort to be in touch with most of our friends so, missing his wedding was inexcusable as I knew I would meet many of my classmates there. The day arrived! I reached the venue for the wedding reception before the bride and groom's entry and kept looking around for a familiar face whose memories went back two decades. Yes, two decades is a very long time. Long enough to accumulate belly fat, lose some hair, become very mannered and may be reserved. I met many classmates. Some had arrived with their wives and children. I wouldn’t say that I could recognise each o...

There was a phase in my life when I watched every A and B grade movie in theatre with whoever was available at that time for company. This whoever list included my dad, sister or my school friend L. Any other interested person was always welcome to join. Those were the days when BookMyShow did not exist and I looked forward to waiting in long queues to get the first day-first show ticket in advance or sometimes (in fact only once) buying tickets in Black. Once I missed the beginning of a movie as one of our friend turned up late and I spent my hard earned pocket money to watch that movie again, in theatre. This phase has now come to an end with multiplex visits reduced to once or twice in a year. These rare occasions are spent watching Salman Khan or animated movies. T is so fond of both. Once we went to watch a thriller with my 5 year old T. As soon as she realized that this movie didn't feature Salman or any animated character (that is 5 minutes precisely), she started aski...

I am an avid reader since early childhood. I would read all school books before the school actually re-opened for the new academic year. I learned reading Gujarati by trying to read the Gujarati newspaper that was delivered at my home for my parents. I later learnt that my mother too learnt reading Gujarati after marriage in similar fashion. While I was still in school, my mother subscribed for monthly Tinkle comics. I would also read old Reader’s Digest bought from the raddiwala or borrowed from a school friend. My mother made me join a local library during my vacations after Class X. As per the plan, I could take 3 books at a time and keep them for a maximum of 7 days. I was so overwhelmed by the number of books available that I would read 2 and sometimes 3 books in a day and plan a daily visit to the library. I started with Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and moved on to reading a variety of books like science fictions, autobiographies, biographies, humor, history, mysteries, fantasies, ma...

During my pregnancy, my sister-in-law from Kolkata asked me how much donation is required for school admissions in your city? I honestly informed her about my ignorance on this subject matter and just few days thereafter read an advertisement of a school that highlighted the fact that they don't take donations. I was assured that I will not have to dig a hole in our pockets for the admission of our yet to be born child. When T was 2 years old, we inquired in half a dozen schools and came to know that donation is an old fashioned term and the new terms used in the market were Admission fee (huge and non refundable), Security deposit (meagre and hence partly refundable) and Tuition Fee (astronomical and of course non refundable). All this did not include cost of uniform, books and transport which had to be forcibly bought from fixed vendors allowing them to grow richer every year. One year tuition fee in most of the schools was equivalent to four years of Engineering fee f...

My dad owned a not so smart phone till Diwali. He used it to make calls, send messages and check time. He always wondered why the smart phones of the younger generation are always drained out of battery life. He blamed it on the Gen X, Y, Z for not being responsible, for ignoring the elders and chatting long hours with GFs/ BFs. He also blamed the new brands like Samsung, MicroMax, Google, etc. that caused the shut-down of the good old Nokia market. My brother, who too belonged to this category of irresponsible generation, gifted him a smart phone, loaded with a cool data pack and installed WhatsApp. He patiently taught him the smarter ways of communication over the next few days. Now my smart dad is part of so many groups on WhattsApp, invites/ encourages others to join too, religiously reads every post and forwards it to the entire group. All this, while the smart phone is plugged for charging.

I have always stood (in my flat footwear) against wearing high heels for one major reason that I could not walk in it. I bought my first fancy footwear with slight heels for my school farewell because all other girls were buying it. I wore it just for the farewell party and stored it safely to wear it in college after few months. The actual reason being that my legs ached when I tried to walk in my normal speed which is pretty fast. College life began with high expectations and no restrictions and I chose to walk tall in my heels. 2 days with the heels and I realized that they were not meant to be worn when one has to run after Mumbai locals and BEST buses in an overcrowded city. I resorted back to flat footwear and have slight memory of my Mom giving away those less worn sandals to my cousin. I swore to wear flats for the rest of my life untill I was engaged to a guy who was a good 6-7 inches taller than me. Under family pressure, I bought one cheap pair of golden heeled sandals to...