Missing You, Unnimama...

 

They say that ,"Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear."

To his siblings, he is Unni (baby in Malayalam) being the youngest among the 6, Unniettan to my Ammayi and all those near to him, Praveen or Praveen bhai to all his  friends and and for us, our  Unnimama....

It's been 3 months since we lost Unnimama  and all of us are still struggling in our own ways to handle the loss.  That tells us a lot of his personality. He was always the baby in the family but ironically also the most mature and caring amongst all the siblings. "Unniyodu parayaam" meaning  "We will tell Unni" was the common phrase, he was the one stop solution for everything. He would always have a solution for everything. Sheejammayi's every statement, every action would be incomplete without a minimum of 3-4 Unniettan in it.

For me, he was always more than an Uncle. We were also good friends from my childhood because he was one of  my companions while growing  up in Angadipuram. Some of the other cousins used to be scared of him because he was also strict when it came to certain matters. But to me, he shared his college stories which I used to listen to in awe. He was in his mid 20s during that time. I used to join in with his friends when they teased him about his girl friends while in college. 😀We used to go to the temple especially on Mangalya Puja days just to look at potential candidates 😀. Until he got married, we used to curl up on a mattress in my Mom's room while he entertained us non stop with his stories.. His continuous lament was that to get a bedroom in my grandma's house, one had to marry 😀 and no one was getting him married, because they thought he was Unni 😀.(baby).

Sheejammayi came into our lives soon to add more colour and happiness. Her life always revolved around Unnimama and they were  always hailed as the ideal couple everywhere. People say there is nothing perfect... But they are the perfect couple... In Fact we say even the Gods would have been jealous of them. I am sure Vichu and Achu wouldn't agree less that they were lucky to have him as their Pappa.

To me , he was always an inevitable part of my good times and struggles too. I always knew I could confide in him anything and he always was a good confidante and guide. 

Unnimama to me was one of the best examples of an Ideal Man. As a brother, son, husband, Uncle, father.. Whatever roles he adorned, he made sure he excelled in it 😀.I have always admired how he made sure he was always there for everyone in the family. He was a man of his word and would go all out to help anyone whether they deserved it or not. 

He could never say No to anybody, be it for a small matter or a bigger matter 😀😀 and if we made fun of this , all that he would do is Laugh it away in his classic manner. He had a very contagious and innocent laugh that we would quickly join into ....We used to look forward to our weekends in Fujairah just so that we could join in with his fervour. I miss his voice when he wakes us up in his loving way, "  Entha appe eneekande? ( meaning, "Don't  you want to wake up, dear? ") 

Bob Marley said ,"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively."  And that was exactly Unnimama -  he was a great human being and will always be for all of us ... Not a day passes by without remembering you, your words, your laugh, your kindness.... You will always live in our hearts forever.

“When we lose someone we love we must learn not to live without them, but to live with the love they left behind.”

Thank you, My Friend...

 “Friendship isn’t about who you’ve known the longest. It’s about who walked into your life, said, “I’m here for you”, and proved it.”

    That is what Amrith is for me. He walks into my life 17 years ago and never once did he not live up to that promise. 

    The first time he called me was in reply to a matrimonial advert I had put up for Sapna on some matrimonial site. He was softspoken, polite and also has this extra humbleness about him that would sweep anyone of their feet. He took the details required, horoscope etc and said he would get back. Very diligently after a day or 2, he called back and expressed regret that the horoscopes didn’t match and hence we couldn’t proceed further. He wished her luck and all the best in her search etc. I appreciated his call because many people don’t bother to reply or get back often. And that was the beginning of our calls and a beautiful friendship.

    He would call casually and check whether I reached after office. We would talk about Calicut (which was always his favourite place), people in Calicut, his folks, friends, bike riding time stories etc. I was going through a difficult marriage at that time and he to me was the right example of how a real man should be with a woman. He barged into my small world once for my Bday (Sapna jus hated it 😊) and ever since has always been a part of my birthdays 😊 . A year later, when both of them asked me what my opinion was on whether they should get married, since now all of a sudden the horoscopes matched 😊 , I was the happiest person 😊. I told both the same thing, you are poles apart, but you won’t find a better person than each other for yourselves. I knew he would the best husband or father or friend that anyone could ever wish for and again Sapna I knew her well and was sure that this guy would go all out for her any day. 

    The first time I met him, he came in a ragged jeans and a worn out white T shirt , half shaven and slightly grey haired. I told him Sapna would have a culture shock if she saw you like this since she is always so prim and proper when it comes to dressing. He told me, it will be easier to change Sapna than him 😊 and that’s exactly what he did. He was always comfortable in his worn-out T shirts and jeans. Any T-shirt which you gave him as a gift would be worn out till Sapna whisked it away to be used as ragged cloth😊

    I always like people who write well and its very rare I come across men who wrote so well – both literally over emails etc and on paper. He used to write in that neat Caps letters always. I always told him his Ooty school teachers would be proud of his English 😊 His English used to range from Victorian to Oxford styles.

    Talking about language skills, his Malayalam is just terrible , it will bring tears to any one’s eyes who love the language. Colloquially, he has the typical Calicut accent which kind of runs across in their family back home. His language is the most unpolished and brash when it came to Malayalam. I have never heard someone so lovingly use Malayalam swear words that the person listening would even take it as a compliment. I always used to say it’s the Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde when it came to him using the English & Malayalam 😊 I once did the mistake of installing the Manglish font on his mobile and all our friends never forgave me for the act. Such atrocious Malayalam he would write on Whatsapp msgs to us. MT would commit suicide if he saw Amrith’s attempt on Valluvanad Malayalam typing. Even now, while Im typing and if I posted this , I can hear him saying ,”Thaangal katha ezhuthukayaano? Ningal Madhavikutty kalikkaano ?”( Are you writing a story? Are you trying to be Madhavikutty?) 

    Have never seen someone who loves to drive so much, be it morn, afternoon or night, you call him for a drive, there he would be below your building in his car, ready to take off. There are times he has taken us to Jebel Jais on a hot summer afternoon, or the desert campfires at night  or the long drives to Hatta / UAQ  and not to forget his favourite place , the beach. The man is all about the sand and the water always. 

    His love for Calicut is incredible. I called him the address book of Calicut. He literally knew everyone we would talk about. He knew all my friends from college through either their brothers or dads or family. He would have a story for everyone. Anyone we mentioned, he would say, aren’t they from XYZ family, they used to live there… they had a brother ABC etc etc. and the story continues… Once when a Calicut friend of mine came visiting and I mentioned his name, she said everyone in Kuttichira knows Ampu 😊 Sapna and me always used to pull his leg saying this. 

    Though jokingly, I always used to say that I am the freebie that came along with his dowry 😊, and he never liked it. I was like that pattikutty ( puppy) in Boban & Molly comics, was there in every frame of the story. He made sure of that always. There was never any questions asked , he  and Sapna would just come below my building and say, “come, let’s go, we are not going without you”. Many a time I used to tell Sapna, if it weren’t for him and how he made sure that I was part of the family always, I may have never stuck on in Dubai for this long. 

    His favourite pastime otherwise was bugging me, irritating me and picking up fights with me 😊 He had this amazing tendency to refute and disagree with anything I said😊 He was extremely possessive about his friendship and didn’t like it much if I gave more time to any other friends… So, he would make sure that he keeps you occupied across the day with his calls and messages so that you wouldn’t find the need to contact anyone else or have the time too😊. He would dig out old stories from Amma about me and use that to irritate me. Just like he had names for everyone , he had names for me too. He would address me as Ms. Menon because he knew I hated the tail. Teddy Bunn & Bunny Boon always seemed to be from some cartoon for me …. However anyone in round shape is always a Bunny for him. Everyone was Molev ( little gal) and Mone ( little boy) for him. 

    He calls me minimum 5-6 times a day, checking if I reached office, whether I had lunch, whether I fought with my boss, whether I reached home etc. Though secretly I always used to enjoy the affection he showered on me, many a time I would brush it away just to irritate him. He was always a Mr. Know All and a Mr. I am Always right ; though I refused to admit it , it was quite true as well. There are so many times he would warn me against people and I paid a deaf ear, but in the end he would always be right 😊 He would be bugged if we ignore calls or msgs and sometimes I used to do it just to irritate him 😊 There are times when he has told me , “Nhan illaande aavumbol nee padikkum “ ( meaning you will learn when I am not there). And that exactly what I am going through for the last 14 days. 

    Everyday morning on my way to work, the last 3 days ,  I pick up my phone to dial him, since that’s a routine for the last 16 years wherever we are . I look out for a message asking did you eat , did you reach back, and if its late night, Don’t forget to message once you are back. And yes I surely miss that and I think I will for the rest of my life. He loved the rains and to splash water driving through it and today it was raining here while I was driving to work and I picked my phone again to call him and show him the rains… I miss his voice when he answers the phone , “Aaa Maa, para..” (meaning Yes dear, tell me ..) But then, I can always hear and feel him around us , more like signs that he is always around us , taunting us, guiding us  and of course always warning us to be careful .  But Yes, I miss you …more than I can convey in words…

    His friendships were always special – Ajay, Madan, Sanjay, Sameer, Sandeep and many more names I can think off…. So many old funny stories we got to hear every time he speaks about them with his eyes twinkling. For the others he was the Big Bro, always there around.  They say friends are the family we choose. Being chosen by him was one of my biggest privileges. Certain relationships cannot be defined in words or by blood relationships. He played so many roles in my life across the different years but every role had the same foundation of love, care and kindness. The Doctor told us He has a big heart (literally) and we told him “Absolutely, no doubts on that. We have always known that ! "

    As Sapna says, he is always around us taking care of us . That’s why even today, many a time I cannot even write about him in past tense. He will always be in our present. My friend lived a wonderfully joyful life, lighting up everyone around him, so rather than lament his absence, we will celebrate his life . As they say “Warmth is found through fond memories, so curl up with them whenever you need to."

    Thank you my friend for being there for me always & Thank you for being a wonderful part of our lives….. We miss you a lot, but I believe you are in a better place now 😊 I am sure you would be cracking jokes with new friends there… 

“Saying farewell isn’t something we do. Instead, I’ll remark that I’m looking forward to seeing my friend again every time I hear a phrase, hear a joke, or see an article of clothing that reminds me of them. These are the things that will bind us together even after we die.” - Anonymous

“He Said He Was Sorry … “

“She stays because the Fear of Leaving is greater than the fear of Staying. 
She will leave when the Fear of Staying is greater than Fear of Leaving.”

I happened to see the Telugu movie “Ammu” yesterday. The moviemakers have done a good attempt at creating an awareness of the concept. The actors have done a commendable job since many scenes leaves us in chills. Though I feel, that the director could have dealt with the topic with more perspective and maturity, especially when it came to how they dealt the situation or the climax, overall, I feel the movie did a decent job in conveying the concept. It leaves you behind with a haunting premise.

This post is not intended as a movie review. However, the movie left me behind a lot of thoughts and feelings, which I felt the need to pen. How many of us understand domestic abuse, how many of us acknowledge it, how many of us work to get out of it and how many of us accept it? Why is it still taboo to talk of domestic abuse and do we recognize it?

To understand the same, Google helped me find one of the most apt definitions for the same: Domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence, occurs between people in an intimate relationship. Domestic violence can take many forms, including emotional, sexual, psychological and verbal— intended to intimidate, humiliate, denigrate and control. This definition kind of sums it up. It can be sexual, when people take their partners without consent; frequently emotional where it involves isolating the partner from his/her family, friends and colleagues, monitoring his/her activities and threatening to harm family and friends or take custody of the children etc. Yes, it happens between intimate partners, not necessarily husband and wife alone. I would also add 2 distinct sides to the abuse:

• the Evident – where its clearly known to yourself that you are being subject to abuse and your partner is open about it; and
• the Invisible- where you don’t have a clue what you are being subject to because your partner masks it beautifully.

          The topic is something I feel strongly about and that’s what made me write this because luckily / unluckily, I have had the chance to experience both these sides and with a decent share of the emotional, sexual, physiological and verbal shades of it; and again, more than once. Nope, this is not a history on my story, but rather a take on how we react to it, how our loved ones react to it and of course the Society. We still base everything on what’s acceptable and not acceptable to the society, isn’t it?

          The first time my ex slapped me across the face, I went into shock. A reaction from a silent / submissive guy during a casual conversation left my head spinning. I just couldn’t hear the million apologies he was giving me for the action, because inside my head the only noise was “How dare he do that”? As the shock set in, it transformed into anger within me, asking me 100 times why I should put up with it, why I can’t just walk away? After a day, this changed into shame: “How can I tell anyone? What will they think of him?” I called up my uncle and told him in 1 line that my hubby had slapped me and I was not going home. His immediate reaction was that “Don’t worry, we will sort it out. I will come and speak to him. You please go home.” And then he asked me, “Did you say anything for him to react like this?” I said No, I didn’t, it was just a normal conversation where we didn’t agree on some small general topic. But then as an aftermath, I thought, what if I had something, does that give him a right to slap me?  With the same feeling of shame, I told my best friend the next day what happened and her reaction was totally different. She was so angry that she called my hubby over to meet and between themselves I still don’t know what they talked, because all that he told me later was that she had given him a warning that if it happened one more time, she would complain to the Police etc. It did leave him in fear for a few months. My Uncle did manage to come over to speak to us after a couple of days since he thought we will manage between ourselves to sort the ISSUE. He too gave him some advice and said this should never happen again and that both our families are looking forward that we have a good life etc. He told me to FORGET the incident and consider it as a MISTAKE. That moment I knew Life was never going to be the same again.

          The slap never happened again, but it graduated to a broken arm once, post graduated to sexual abuse etc. But I never told anyone anything. By then I had resigned myself to fate and convinced myself that this was what my family wanted. A couple of times, I did try to raise the issue at our homes.  The common statements that always comes up: “I’m sure you must have said/ did something to irritate him/her. All families go through all this. Look at your parents, you think we didn’t have tough times, we also went through some turbulence. Look at his dad, he was also the same once upon a time, but he has changed now, right? Spend more time with each other. Just try to understand more of what he likes and doesn’t like. All will be well once you have a kid!”

I read somewhere an account of a person where she said “We become ghosts of who we are “. That’s so true. I couldn’t recognize myself; I had become a Ghost 😊

Your partner apologizes and says the hurtful behaviour won't happen again — but you fear it will. At times you wonder whether you're imagining the abuse, yet the emotional or physical pain you feel is real. One day it got too far, that I asked myself Is this what I want? And the answer was so startlingly evident right in my face and heart, that I don’t want to live with it. I walked out of it, it was my life, I needed to live it without fear!  WALK OUT from Domestic Abuse! It’s not worth it! If you cannot live with self-respect, what good is that life to you?

While the first experience left me with scars, it didn’t pain me anymore since ours had been more of a marriage of convenience than of love. Then comes along someone who is just the opposite of all your experiences. The man who sweeps you off the floor with his love and care. His sensitivity and love are so over encompassing that you forget the world. 😊 When you are so madly in love, you forget to notice the small signs that life throws at you. You fail to notice that he wants your life to revolve around him only. You need to keep assuring everyday that I will do my best to keep the relationship going. The lovingly forced confession to my undying love many times a day. You fail to notice that you are the only person in his world and other relationships don’t matter (be it good friends / family etc.) You don’t heed to the occasional emotional outbursts for small matters because when weighed against the happiness, this is minimal.

People often hide their true natures maybe not knowingly but it cannot be suppressed for long. The first time I was accused of something in a fleeting convesration, I brushed it away thinking it was a joke. I never realized that it was serious until the same was repeated verbatim again. Ouch! That hurt, are you serious, I asked? And then it began – a long string of questions, accusations on infidelity, friendships / relationships, family relationships everything including my morality was questioned. The words used was way beyond my accepted vocabulary.

To add to it, technology nowadays is so advanced and free that it can be used for the good or the bad. How do you react when you realize that all your electronic devices like phones/ laptop etc. has been cloned? How would you react that your house was bugged without your knowledge so that your partner could keep an eye on you?

The first reaction once again was Shock!  How could someone you love so much or someone who loved you so much say all this or do all this? The feeling of the earth below you ripping into 2 pieces is beyond shock. Then comes the Anger stage, where you feel angry at being violated, where you know and accept that you haven’t knowingly wronged anyone. How dare you do this to me, was the question?  The answer was always the same , everything was just because the person loved me and couldn’t bear the thought of losing me to anyone.

The next stage this time was submission/ self-doubt. When you love someone so blindly, you wish to give them a second chance. You question yourself, maybe there was something lacking in you, can you make changes so that your partner will be happy? The million apologies, tears and promises make us believe that things will change. But trust me it never changes. The person does it again. The verbal abuse continues every day. Words we never would dare to repeat would be used. They have no qualms about what they did. They become the VICTIM because you were WRONG. You try to seek professional help, which again is expensive for common people. We don’t have an issue is what we convince ourselves. Lastly comes the acceptance where we mutually accept that this is not going to work out any more.

The point is not my story, but the patterns to it. The different shades to it. Be it physical or verbal or sexual, abuse is abuse. That’s what we and the society have to realize and accept.  And again, its not only about women, I know couple of men too who are subject to the same shades of domestic violence. Unfortunately, the ratio of domestic violence against women are more compared to men, so often it is generalized.

Family and Society need to be more compassionate as well. The movie beautifully talks about how women are conditioned to domestic abuse across generations and most have even accepted it as a way of life. The mother quotes the examples of her father and defends it by saying men have no other means to take out their anger and stress. The conditioning we often go through in the Indian society that we bear the brunt of shaming a family's name and legacy, where we are hung up on the idea that marriage is the ultimate destination. Also, where women coming from the poorer section of the society are compelled to believe that getting thrashed by the husband is the norm. These are all norms and conditions we have built around. Movies like Ammu or Thappad are all complying to the same conditioning.

I don’t advocate that everyone woman or man should walk out of their relationship at the first instance, that’s not what I meant. But what can we do when we realise or see that there is domestic abuse be it within the family or outside in your society.

·      Reach out to someone, don’t hide it.

·      Raise an alert so that the person knows that a third party knows.

·      Do not judge the person. There is so much of self-doubt already going on.

·      Advise to go for professional help rather than family advise.

·      Make professional help economical for people to avail.

·      Don’t sympathise with the Victim, be their strength.

Sometimes, all that it requires is for someone to be there for you, to reach out to. I am happy that the Society is slowly changing for the better. Exposure through movies, social media etc is quite rampant these days that people are finding alternate sources to create the awareness. At least for the future generation, I am sure that we can leave them better aware of how to deal with it.

I don’t know what triggered me to write about this, it must be the movies, but more than that the fear, the despair, the shame, the anger was all so relatable. All the characters in my story now are happily settled in various parts of the world and we have found our peace with each other and have moved on with our lives. We have accepted our learnings and moved on our journey for better tomorrows.

“You are not the Darkness you endured. You are the Light that refused to surrender.” John M Green

To Love or Not to Love

 

To Love or Not to Love

 

This post today is not because it’s a Valentine’s Day Special, however, it is the upshot of 3 casual conversations I happened to have yesterday and today. Ironically it happened to be Valentine’s Day - the Day of Love, to discuss on what love meant to these people.

I have this close friend of mine, R.R and the camaraderie we share is our mutual love for Rumi poetry and the zest for life. Her WhatsApp Status messages often exalt on Lost Love or the Other side of Love, Heartbreaks and even Higher order Love, which often makes me nudge the die-hard Romantic soul she is. Last night while wasting my time on trying to understand the Philosophy or Life and Love (never the twain shall meet, as Rudyard Kipling says), I notice her status message on how to be careful in love, not to get your heart broken etc. I know that she has her own share of troubles in her marriage, a drinking husband, lovely children, struggling to find a job etc., so we always ensure to be a sounding board whenever the other needs. The transcript below with a few changes:

Me: Hey Babes, be it the heart or the soul, that gets hurt, ultimately kills the LOVE in you.

S.R: I suppose it’s the ones around you that does the due

Me: To love or to not love... That is the question... Courtesy Shakespeare 😂 to be or not to be.

S.R: To Love, love and only love💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻...one of the best things you could probably do in life and to yourself.

Me: As someone said... It’s better to have loved and lost than not to have loved forever.

S.R: Couldn't agree more 😊

Me: guess Rumi love is only in books, it’s that eternal Utopian place where u will never reach.

S.R: That's true, I think that's how all or most of us are conditioned... either of the genders blame each other for not sticking onto each other in love. The thing is most of us confuse infatuation for love and end up hating the whole idea of love once the "partner" moves on.

Me: Guess ignorance is bliss!

S.R: Indeed...the more these surreal things start haunting us, the more we are inclined to feel a sense of loss.

Me: Why do we get our hearts broken when we are the ones who believe in that love. And the one who breaks it still flaunts about love.

S.R: Must be the game plan of that emotion itself... it plays with you in ways you don't understand and you sheepishly fall for all those subtle nuances, that you fail to acknowledge the fact that no what the other person has for you is not necessarily love, but just plain humane consideration or let's say attachment. But somehow, we turn deaf ears and blind eyes to it all... We no longer want to believe that what we "share" is anything short of love. I still strongly believe that what I tasted earlier on was love and nothing else. I still cherish every memory I have of him. And those are probably the only thoughts that keep me going besides my children. At the end of the day, he is a “paawam” ( In Malayalam , while the literal word translation means “someone who is poor “, its often used as an adjective for a simpleton or someone who doesn’t understand the impact of his actions etc. )

Me: I guess 90% of people follow the same thoughts... They enjoy an initial period of love or whatever emotions we call it.... Carry it on till the end of our lives on the memories of those good times unless something drastic happens to change those good memories.

S.R: Hmm true... it's just that the sands of time wait for no one to finally be able to understand what went wrong and why or where... you have just got to move on in life in the dark, not knowing why you are, where you are.

Me: Rumi, I reiterate “Ignorance is bliss “. I rest my case.  Goodnight for now.

S.R: Yes, My Rumi, I agree. Ignorance is bliss, but that bliss is my comfort in my belief of love! Wishing you a better day in love tomorrow.

I went to sleep with these thoughts.

Today began with social media and WhatsApp messages with Valentine’s Day messages, Valentine’s Day Dinner options and of course the memes. I have a college group on Whatsapp wherein today, 99% of us feel good that we are all in the same boat and that none of us can look forward to the legendary Valentine’s Day ceremonies as exalted in movies or advertisements.  And honestly, none of us actually care for the Valentine’s Day – we are much above that 😊 (the fox say the grapes are sour).  We have one or two friends in this group, who actually do get the privilege of celebrating this day with their husbands and initially they used to post nice pictures of their gifts over which we all congratulate her and honestly feel happy for her as well.  But soon, she realized that she is the odd one out in the group and all eyes were on her on this day. Call it the peer pressure or the fear of the evil eye; she soon stopped posting these pics for her. I hope today is a good day for her though with all my heart. It sometimes feels good to see people actually in love.

Coming to my second episode, our domestic help M.K came in today rushing as always to finish her marathon in 1 hour. Hadn’t seen her for over a week since she had some visa issues, so today when she came I was eagerly waiting for her like Jaya Bachchan with the Aarti waiting for her son’s homecoming. She is quite a talkative person and while cutting onions , she said she had to go to another house to help additionally today since it was their wedding anniversary and they had a party to arrange, so needed her help. And then all of a sudden the statement:

M.K: Wonder why people get married! And people like me never learn, I did the mistake twice. And it hurts when people knowingly hurt you.

Now I do know that she had got married at the age of 18 and since the husband was an alcoholic and wife beater, she had left him after 3 years and had 2 kids. She had got married again sometime back and always used to talk about how caring her husband was, how he used to care for her kids as his own etc., however never stuck on to a proper job. So I discounted her statement for maybe a weekend domestic tiff and said:

Me: That’s what we all say. Sometimes, when we are angry, we just say things we don’t mean.

M.K: No Chechi (which means elder sister in Malayalam), I got married to him after I told him everything about me, my life etc. I had told him that I won’t be able to have kids again (due to some medical issue). And now daily, we are fighting over that.

Me: It’s just that maybe he is trying to irritate you over something or maybe he is just upset over his job etc. that he is finding these silly reasons to pick a fight with you. I am not saying it’s correct, but then maybe that’s all there is to it.

M.K: No chechi, he is serious, he calls me all these names, that I am really hurt.

Me: Do one thing, if it hurts you that bad, tell him it hurts you. If he doesn’t understand, then do one thing, you also speak to him in a manner that hurts him (tit for tat), and that time he will know.

Then she surprised me.

M.K: If I talk back or say anything he doesn’t like, he will beat me black and blue.

Me: What??!! How dare he do that? Next time, he raises his hands tell him that you will complain to the police.

M.K: Chechi, if I were to have complained to the police on this, by now they would have issued a permanent residence inside the jail for him. But he is a nice guy Chechi. He takes care of my kids well.

I was appalled. Does taking care of her kids give him this right?

Me: M.K, listen to me, next time he raises his hand on you, say you will call the police.

M.K: Chechi, see this mark on my face; this was done last week because I told him the same. I told him I shouldn’t have got married at all and that he doesn’t love me. He hit me saying you don’t care for the love I show you. (How ironic)

Me: (now I am raging) M.K, no one has the right to hit you, whether be it with love, without love, whatever. You need to draw the line if you don’t wish to get hurt.

M.K: Chechi, he is a paawam (again the same kind of paawam as mentioned earlier), I know he doesn’t mean harm. He does care for me, I know, maybe he doesn’t know how to show it. He loves my kids and takes care of them. I actually love him a lot, he is a paawam.

Once again, I rest my case.

As I am still reeling in the effect of the LOVE on this day, I get a call from my cousin S.M. Now she is on the verge of divorce since she found out that her husband has an obsessive disorder and is constantly stalking her, doubting her etc.

Me: How are you doing? What’s happening there?

S.M: Nothing much. Just so bugged with everything that’s happening. Just now received a message from my hubby saying with which one of your Valentine’s will you be celebrating today? Should I still be in queue etc.?  

Me: What the hell! Just ignore him! Why do you need to even reply to him?

S.M: I know, but I can’t help it. I loved him so much. I really feel sorry for him. He is alone and depressed, can’t seem to handle this alone.

Me: Oh! Well, can you handle it alone?  Does that give him the right to call you names or insult you? Can’t you see it? He is just emotionally blackmailing you.

S.M: I know, but then he used to care so much for me, I was his world! His life revolved around me alone. The few months I have been with him, was bliss!

Me: (with a sigh!) Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it? You have to get out that world of yours babe… He may have loved you, but his actions are not normal. Can you live with it your entire life? This is more what I would call Fatal Attraction!

S.M: You are right, I won’t be able to live with it, and hence we are parting ways. But I don’t know, the love I had for him, I never had for anyone else. It will never go off from me. Inspite of all that he has done, I am still thankful for that LOVE. I felt happy and I want to remember that as LOVE itself. He is after all a paawam yaar. ( paawam once again ….)

Though, I was at peace that she had decided to break free from that, I didn’t want to disillusion her from what she called Love and take away whatever little joy she earned from that Love. I let it be .

         That’s enough of love for me for today. Love at the end of the day, is what we define it to be.  For some love is comfort, for some its sacrifice, some its Trust and respect, for some its companionship.... I am not taking any stands here, neither wish to do lest I become disillusioned and  I would love to believe that what I have is Love and live in that bliss !  The romantic I am at heart, would still have a tear for an unrequited love story or an ear for the romantic melody. Yes, it’s a Utopian world out there, but aren’t we all in our own worlds? Is it better to have a broken heart than not to realise whether you had one or not!

Their credo is, “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

GO GO GOAAA!!!

Early this year, it all started with the customary discussion on our Buddies Whatsapp group of a get together that’s long overdue. Every 3 months, we come up with the discussion and it soon fizzles out J . This time however the response rate was higher and the enthusiasm was full on.  After a lot of brainstorming, we decided the venue as Goa and accordingly all the bookings were done well in advance.

                                             

We started with a number of 15 people and after constant confirmations, ended up with 11 people. Vinaya and Bibu couldn’t join in last moment due to unexpected contingencies.

The rest of the gang were coming in from different parts of India – Lady Salem ( Vaishali), Ms.Pune ( Saritha) , Roop ki Rani ( Roopa from Chennai ), Gaanakokilam Nisha Ammal (Chennai), Calicut Model Sheethal , Ravishing Rajeesha ( Calicut) , Humour girl Hema,  Bubbly Bournvita gal Binija ,Rainy Girl Rhena , Scintillating Shri & yours Faithfully Me.

The trip started with the Calicut gals boarding the train from Calicut station, where our admin Sajna reached the station even before the station master arrived to see off our gals. The big bag that Admin carried raised loads of expectations (goodies J) in the mind of Rajeesha but much to her dismay, Admin bid her adieu with empty hands. If Rajeesha insisted, I’m sure that Sajna would have handed over her laundry bag to her to carry all the way to Goa.

   

Vaishali landed in Bangalore the night before from Salem so that she could accompany us – Shri and myself from Bangalore early morning at 6am. Roopa & Nisha were the first ones to reach Goa and waited patiently at the airport for us. The 5 of us were met by Mr.Saulo, our charioteer for the next 2 days. A friendly person, he gave us basics on what to see, where to go etc and dropped us to our Villa in South Goa.

Our fears of the rains and monsoon were put to rest looking at the lovely weather. The sky was clear and had a beautiful breeze blowing. The roads of Goa were so green and tidy. The smell of fresh wet mud was so nostalgic that it took me back to the fields where I used to laze about during holidays back in Kerala. The nearly 1 hour drive to South Goa was totally chitter chatter and refreshing.  

On the way, we stopped for a quick breakfast at a local Dhaba. The tea / coffee / dosas and parathas tasted just the same to us since we were so busy chatting with each other .

Once we reached the Villa , we could see Rajeesha awaiting us in the balcony and smiling away to glory , as we neared the villa realized that she hadn’t seen us and mistook us for LOCALS as per her.

As soon as we reached, the non-stop chattering started. Some of us were seeing each other after 20 years but it felt just like yesterday that we left from college. The Villa was actually booming with our noises and I was scared the neighbours may actually come and complain on the noise. Thankfully, we realized later that we didn’t have neigbours nearby which was a solace to them and us J

Thanks to Airbnb , we had booked a 5BR villa in Betalbatim, a silent and laid back village in South Goa . The Villa was in painted in the bright Portuguese colors of yellow . The furniture was  quite a mix of  the Victorian style with the poster beds and cupboards and the painted  tiles were the ancient Portuguese style. Beautiful balconies , spiraling wooden paneled staircase added to our galore. 

After sometime of chit chats , we walked up to the Lover’s Beach ( the name raised hopes though much to our despair we didn’t see a single person there other than us ) . Non-stop chit chats , unending photos and selfies , we managed to send the first lot of exciting pictures of Goa and the beach to all our dear and near.

 

After spending sometime at the beach , we walked back to the other end of the village to buy some knick knacks and supplies. 

A small and simple café Anjuna Bakery had real fresh puff pastries ( lovingly called as patties)  and cold coffee which we gorged on . We walked back to our villa , now waiting for the remaining 3 of our friends to join us.

By 3pm , Rhena  , Binija and Sarita landed and once again the otherwise non stop talks became more noisy and reminded me of the noises during our lunch breaks in college.

 All the buddies had brought a lot of eatables from their side starting from the Cochin bakery ghee cake, banana chips ,homemade chattipathiri ( courtesy Bibu), Mysore pak, Puranpoli, Butter murukku , Athirasam( does full justice to the name), Dry fruits halwa, yummy Methi Theplas and the amazing tamarind chutney ( homemade by Vaishali), Mumbai wala Aflatoon, walnut chocolates and loads and loads of stuff. The king of the jungle however was the Hyderbadi Biriyani which Rhena carried all the way for us. There are rumours she was stopped by the Airport police on doubts whether this was for personal use or for unauthorised sale on the airplane .  We had a sumptuous lunch with all of this and these food items continued to last us ( except for the Biriyani ) for the next 2 days .

Evening , we got out for a small stroll in the nearby areas. We had a new rockstar Mr.Mario as our driver with our own TEMPO TRAVELLER which carried us around for 2 days. Mario , again a local was sweet and softspoken, the maximum response would be a small smile . He took us first to the Colva Beach – the beach was beautiful , however due to the taxi strike and also the red alert due to rains, there were very little people on the beach.  Due to monsoon time, shacks were closed and water sport activities were also not available. We soon moved to Sunset beach, which was again a smaller beach and hardly any people.

We all put our beauty and gadgets to maximum utility by taking maximum pictures and selfies etc.

    

We ended the laid back tour by a visit to Martins Corner, the most reputed restaurant in the area. The ambience and hospitality was outstanding. They had live music playing and they played so many songs which would take us back to our yesteryears.  The food was amazingly yummy- we tried out the local cuisine namely the buttered prawns garlic , Pork sausages chilly fry, Chicken Xacuti, King Fish masala fry etc, Vegetable Xacuti , Paneer etc. along with assorted Mocktails.  As someone said, what is Goa without having Feni ? Though none of our gals drink , a couple of us were curious as to what this was and why the hype on this which encouraged us to buy  2 small shots , which some of us smelled, some licked, some tasted and some gulped J I'm sure the waiter at the restaurant was amused to see our crowd. The ambience, the music , the food and of course the wonderful company of friends made our dinner a memorable experience.

We all got back home by 10pm and got ready… Nope , not to sleep, but to chat. Chat chat chat !! That’s what we did all the 3 days- day in and out.. it was like there was so much to say. .. All of us holed up into 1 room and started with the stories in college / home etc. Everyone would take turns to add into the stories. As always Rajeesha would start with “ Do you girls remember ? “ ( Ningakku ormayundo?”) Trust me , she should be made the brand ambassador for Brahmi /Chyavanprash– such a sharp memory of the school / college days . She comes up with all the stories we would roll up laughing. Shri who was renowned in the group for her constant amnesia , this time got a partner- our own rank holder girl Rhena. She equally had the blank look that Shri carries with loads of self respect J . Vaishali too had the blank look but since she is silent , it didn’t become that evident. Sarita & Roopa have a decent memory , so they added ghee to Rajeesha’s stories…

In between all this, Rhena proclaimed that she hadn’t had pazhampori in years. What a shame for a Malayali… we self-respecting Malayalees didn’t want that happening – so Binija and me, tried out our culinary skills immediately (we had bought some Maida & oil etc earlier) and Shri &Hema had carried all the nenthrapazham available in their town to Goa. At around 12 am midnight , we had a second round of stories over piping hot pazhamporis – the happiness in Rhena’s eyes was enough for our satisfaction, I feared she may be the first person to cry in joy seeing pazhampori. J The day ended slowly with a few falling asleep and the rest continued to chat till 5.30am .

Day2 started again around 8am with coffee and snacks . We soon got ready and started our day to North Goa . The whole journey again was refreshing with loads of stories .

Our first stop was Fort Aguada . Fort Aguada is a well-preserved seventeenth-century Portuguese fort, along with a lighthouse, overlooking the Arabian Sea in North Goa. When we reached atop the fort, we did our customary photo shoots and all of a sudden it started raining. All of us got totally drenched in the rain . Rhena’s enthusaisam can be seen the maximum in the rains with the number of videos she shoots while it was pouring cats and dogs. The only person who managed to stay dry was Rajeesha since she had not climbed up to the top.  

We left from there by 12.30 and then started towards Panaji. On the way stopped for lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf at Panaji, the rains had got us hungry again J. Once again we had some lovely Goan cuisine with Fish curry rice / Prawns curry rice etc.

 

Our next stop was St.Alex  Church in Calangute itself. It was a really peaceful and serene place, the church was closed while we reached there. The surroundings and the architecture of the church was lovely.

  

We didn’t stay long here since we had to do a cruise in the evening and had to reach Panaji by 5pm. We purchased the River Cruise tickets for 5.30 and then went to the famous church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church in Panjim. The beautiful structure is in the colonial Portugese Baroque style.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the Church since there was a funeral going on. Was it destiny or was it coincidence that the 11 of us from different parts of the world happened to be there and pray for a soul who none of us knew ? I still don’t understand … but then it left a mark on many of us then.

 

We moved onto a lighter spirit with some time for slight shopping on the streets and then we rushed to the River cruise.

The River cruise was the highlight for the evening. The cruise wasn’t anything extraordinary or exemplary, but what made it outstanding and enjoyable was the dance performance by our ace dancers J Roopa , Vaishali, Sheethal, Sarita – the enthusiasm was so infectious that everyone was on their toes. Man, they can dance…hats off to the full team.I have never seen them dance so beautifully and that too to their hearts content J It was like they were lost to the world.

J Sarita’s die hard insistence was that we should wear identical Goa Tshirts  and pose for pics however ultimately this got compromised to the colorful blue and yellow  tiaras that stole the eyes and hearts of many on the cruise J

 

The journey back was tiring and by then the Calicut gals had to leave the same night from the Railway station. We had a good Italian dinner at the Black Sheep Bistro , once again a beautiful joint with a lovely and hospitable host. The journey to the Railway station was filled with songs and vote of thanks since Rajeesha wanted to make sure that she could listen to all of us. With solemn vows to meet again when time permits for all of us, we filled the night with our favourite songs of the college days – Mustafa Mustafa / Yeh Dosthi / Tujhe Dekha tho ye. We bid Goodbye to Rajeesha and Hema at the Railway station with Rajeesha wanting us to sing Chalthe Chalthe while they departed .

 

Reaching back home around 12 in the midnight all of us were dead tired because of lack of sleep and excitement for the past days. We still sat up till around 2am and then fell asleep.

Vaishali had to leave by 4am and she left for the airport early morning. Bidding It was wonderful touching base after so many years. I guess with certain friends , years just don’t matter, you can start off anywhere , anytime and trust them to be there for you whatever ! Goodbyes has never been my forte, and especially if someone is so dear to you. but then I guess it’s inevitable…

 

The last activity was the beach visit near our villa that Rhena had been craving for . So some of the gals left to the beach early morning by 7am while the rest of us started packing up. It started heavily raining by then and the wind was really scary. The girls came back totally drenched in the rains .  After that we cleared up all the remaining eatables for breakfast and by 10am , the house was ready to be vacated.

All of us were parting ways from here – Sheethal to a friend’s place , Binija / Rhena / Sarita to the airport and Nisha / Roopa/ Shri and me still had time till evening for our flight.

Once again bidding goodbyes and with promises to meet again, Sarita and team proceeded to the Airport. Once again it was us and our very own Saulo. We planned to roam around in Madgoan market, unfortunately being a Sunday , all shops were closed. Once again we got totally drenched in the rains, since it was raining non-stop. We visited the Basilicia of Bom Jesus and roamed around outside the Se Cathedral , Church of St Francis Assissi etc and took some snaps. We had some Goan lunch from a family run restaurant which was not too impressive and then got to the Airport by 3am. Roopa & Nisha had their flight only by 7pm. The last goodbyes once again and we went to our respective gates of departure.

 

 

Thus ended our Goa trip.

After coming back, we heard so many stories of people who got stuck in Goa due to the taxi strike and the rains etc. The day we landed we came to know about the private taxi strike against GoaMIles (the Govt cab ) However , not once did we find it really difficult in all parts of our journey. Would recommend Mr. Arif , the transport guy for ensuring that we were on the road and had no delays anywhere. And special thanks to God above , who definitely helped us  breeze through our trip very smoothly.  At our end, hats off to Shri to take up the task of all the logistics and communication with the different parties. Her Ultimatums during the planning phase definitely made many of us book our tickets well in advance J

Each of the girls were integral to this trip- Shri with her excellent planning , Rajeesha with her lil madness and  her never ending memoirs, Sarita with her bubbly jokes  and Goa Tshirt frezy, Hema and her oneliners that she gives without batting an eyelid, the ever emotional Vaishali who never failed to assure us that she was a Marwadi in every instance she got, Monokini Roopa with her funfilled enthusiasm and lively nature ( and Wow she dances ! ) , Binija with her ever caring nature , Rhena – the carefree bird who found happiness in everything – be it rains or the pazhampori or just us…..Sheethal  -self-reliant and supportive and not to forget her constant model pics, Shri –the always Don’t care attitude but highly dependable (though she doesn’t like to show it much- HOW RUDE eh ?)   &  Nisha  - always sportive and  thanks to her advanced yoga classes which she gave a free session on and not to forget that poor Saulo managed to break her suitcase which she never forgave the poor chap for . We were a bunch of extremely mad friends but put together the trip was lovely and leaves so many fun filled  and beautiful memories .

I am sure all the girls would agree that no amount of words can fully convey our spirit and joy that we actually went through each of the days. The long nights full of stories and funny gossip, how we never missed a chance to pull each other’s leg at every instance, as usual how I got cornered by Sarita & Shri for my group-ism comment ( long back- these days I dread to say itJ), the mono-kini & bikini expectations; the same old excursion stories, Rhena and her assistant Ms.Rosa avatar which scared poor Rajeesha, the never ending selfie demands , Rajeesha and her exciting stories, morning coffee times with all – all these experiences are beyond words… I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the feelings and excitement we had. Goa was definitely a beautiful place, but I think the friendship we had was even more beautiful that wherever we are put together, the place & experience would turn more beautiful in our hearts always.

Until next time, it’s Go Go GOA  all the way !