Shukran

As the clock struck twelve, MS posted a few lines in FB, dabbling in Urdu shayari, you might say.

Aye saal tu bhi ajeeb tha
Dooriyon mein bhi dastoor tha
Khamoshiyon mein bhi aahat tha
Lambe na the lamhe par
Lamhon mein bhi alam tha
Guzrey huey kal se na koi gila
Jo mila who naseeb tha
Aye saal tub hi ajeeb tha

Don’t know where she gets these thoughts from, after gruelling hours at work, but then it certainly made me think about the year gone by. Here are some random thankful thoughts.

Gratitude

They came from all corners of the globe…America, Africa, Australia, Middle East. They came from all over the country…Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Vizag, Bangalore and more. They came from school days, college times, work places and much more. They belonged to different generations. There were youngsters, middle aged , old and very old including nonagenarians. They were doctors, teachers, engineers and, of course, there were people from insurance.  They had all assembled for our ‘Chameli’ ki Shaadi. We could not have asked for more when almost all family and friends who were invited turned up to celebrate the wedding of the year. People came, people enjoyed, people returned safe and sound and then hell broke loose. Thank you, dear God, for giving us such happiness. What if we had decided on 16^th March instead of 16^th of February…masked bride and groom, an empty hall with a handful of guests to see, bless and celebrate? Muchas gracias, 2020.

Cheers to the Good Times!

Fear

Having seen many a death of near ones and having performed all rites from lighting of the pyre to carrying the ashes and, finally, bringing home the death certificates, I always considered myself brave till she came into my life wearing a black mask. Was she a Dementor whose breath would suck the happiness out of me? She would scare me all through the day and at night the ambulances going past with their unstoppable sirens would freeze my heart. For once I was really afraid. Where could I hide? I remember in the winter of 71, when I was no more than 7, some of us friends got together to dig in the playground near our houses with small tools. A passerby asked, “Bacchon, kya kar rahe ho?”“Uncle hum surang bana rahe hain. Pakistani jab bumb daalega, hum wahan chhup jayengey.”(We are digging a tunnel and will use it to hide and save ourselves when the Pakistani planes dropped bomb) Yes, it was the time of Indo-Pak War and often sirens would go off telling us of black-outs and warning us of imminent Pak air strikes on the capital. No tunnel to make this time so hid quietly within the precincts of the house. Yes, this time the danger was real and fear of life certain, so no taking any chances. Finally, when the year closed, thankfully all of us in the family and most among friends had survived, some scratched and hurt albeit, but generally safe. As they say, jaan hai toh jahaan hai…if there is life, the world exists…What more could we ask of 2020. Danke 2020, for reminding us that we are all cowards in the end, afraid of the ultimate truth of life, that is death, and making us want to live and love life.

Marie

DS and I always envied a couple who would sit in the balcony of their house in Chittaranjan Park in Delhi and enjoy their morning tea while reading the newspaper together while we were in a state of perpetual rush to do our chores at home and then make a dash for office. This time, after more than thirty years of marriage, we now found ourselves doing the same…no office to go to and just the digital newspaper to read, we started enjoying the morning tea together. Fortunately, there was this Darjeeling variety in those initial days that made the mornings so much better. And, of course, there were biscuits to dip and  savour. We have never been the hoarders so while many had stocked their kitchens with loads of food, we had limited things when the lock down was announced. As the lock down started getting prolonged, our stocks got depleted including biscuits. One morning, there was just one biscuit in the box. She asked me to take it as I am fond of them but I refused and asked her to take it instead. Truce was declared when she broke the single Marie biscuit into two and we enjoyed our tea time with half a biscuit a piece. That reminded me of an old Hindi song….thoda hai, thodey ki zaroorat hai….Grazie 2020 for telling us the value of those little things in life that we have often overlooked in the madness called career, prosperity and duty.

 Love

The morning tea went on to having the afternoon lunch and then the dinner together with some extra cups of coffee and tea in between. I do not remember when I had spent so much time with her. We have had our differences, we have had our fights but suddenly those seemed a thing of the past. WFH was a non-stop activity but still we found time to talk and spend together all alone. Doing the morning yoga with SD’s and RD’s music playing on Saregama and, then in later months, waking up early for those morning walks round the society and spending quiet evenings watching the Netflix and Amazon prime shows on our iPad while munching chaklis and bhakarwadis would mean the Beatles’ song had come true…

When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a Valentine
Birthday greeting, bottle of wine
If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty four.

Merci 2020 for getting us closer together than ever before.

Vision

When we bought our flat in 2005, we could see the Malad Creek from the two bedrooms and I said we have rooms with sea view. After all, a creek is part of the sea which has found its way deeper into the city. So,to guests who would, in the early years, come to our house, I would proudly show them the view from the seventeenth floor window overlooking S.V. Road (though never ask a Mumbaikar what SV stands for because he will give you a blank look) and then take them to the two bedrooms to see the sea in the distance. Then, one day, during the lock down, the pollution levels came down drastically and we actually could see the real sea….with the sun shining bright on the waters, it truly was a majestic sight. Now I can proudly say that I have a sea view flat and not just a creek view, although it is another thing that many tall structures are mushrooming daily and,possibly, in the next couple of years, even the creek may vanish not just from sight but be filled with concrete. For now, though, let me feel happy about the sea view. Arigatou 2020, for this would never have been possible had the air not been so clean and sky so clear.

A Sliver of the Sea

Aye saal tu bhi ajeeb tha
Guzrey huey kal se na koi gila
Jo mila who kya kum tha
Jo nahin mila, woh bhi naseeb tha
Aye saal tu gazab ka tha
Tera Shukriya Do Hazaar Bees

 SS