Sumeetha Manikandan's Blog, page 18

A catch, a hook and a blackmail

Monday mornings always has a different feel to it. For one thing, sleep descends very heavily on all of us. Raks buries her head under the pillows pretty much like a groundhog while my husband sleeps on.. with zen like peaceful expression. Lucky guy, he never has monday blues. Raks and I are the only victims.

"Why should I get up now? No it's not monday, it's still sunday..."

Hoping against hope that my daughter is not delusional, I pull her out of the pillows with sweet words and cheery good m...

I finally found someone...

15 years ago...

I was watching Star Trek - Next Generation and my mother would sit down waiting for it to get over so that she can watch 'metti olli'.

"How can you watch this nonsense? Don't you get scared looking at their green monstery faces?"

I didn't bother to reply because this was the normal conversation that anybody in the house would have with me especially when it came to TV watching.

While my mother watched serials, my sister loved pseudo intellectual movies, I watched Star Trek, Star W...

Cobra! Cobra!

Things were silent today at home until we got the 'Cobra'. It all began with a phone call. When I answered the call, someone started talking immediately without even a
'hello'.

 "Hello! Who is this?" I asked

"Its me. I am in royapuramforadevasam........paampu.....paampu"

It was my husband's oldest aunt from the village. A busy bee if there was any, you would swoon if you were to hear her schedule every day and she is 80+ years old by the way.

Most old people have their quirks, so hers was tha...

No Two Just One

These days raks and I have been having weird conversations that apparently do not make sense to anybody.


For instance, today morning she told her father, "I know amma is going to put two but I like only one"

"What two and one, I will give you three?" he said

"Ayyoo!" said raks and flounced out of the room

He was intrigued with the weird one and two negotiation that raks and I have been having for some time now. But I was busy getting her snacks and lunch organized so couldn't actually explain to...

Weekend agenda

Come weekend, things slow down here in Mylapore. I don't hyperventilate looking at the clock. But nonetheless I do have an agenda even for the weekend. And mine reads like this - milk time for raks, thinking about what to give her for breakfast, coaxing her out of her hiding places to make her eat the bowl of cereals, refreshing bath, dressing her up in "girl" t-shirt, playtime until cooking gets done, lunch with tempting side dishes (favourite curry or appalam), making her eat the lunch, pla...

The Perfect Road Trip

Well I haven’t had one of these in years now. My recipe for a perfect road trip would be a great car (my husband’s Verna would do), lovely location and interesting companions. My idea of a perfect location would be somewhere cold. Not bone chilling cold but pleasantly cold like Kerala in monsoon, Ooty or Kodai would also do.
The first thing that I would ask anybody who would want to come along would be, “Do you get sick on the road?” I do get a lot of funny looks over this one but I would stil...

Where do my parents work?

I somehow managed to send raks to school the whole week, but had to sacrifice her music and dance class. Needless to say, she was bored and had taken to rummaging her cupboard for old books, papers to cut. And we came upon an old scrapbook from her pre-kg. We went through it and found an old exercise with the theme, "Where do my parents work?". And I was reminded of a funny incident that happened during the project.

I had gone to Raks school to pick her up as usual. Her teacher, hurried out th...

What's the secret that this bride is hiding?

Diana is a 40-year-old woman with gray eyes, blonde hair and a lovely dimple. She was writing something in her notebook when I entered. She looked up and smiled at me. I sat beside her and waited until she finished and gave her the paneer pakoras to taste.

“Hmmm. Very nice, Nithya. I am thinking of adding a couple of Indian snacks to the menu. There has been a noticeable increase in Indian customers here,” she said, eating the pakoras with relish.

“How about it Nithya? You can make this stuff from home and send it around to the restaurant. I’ll pay cash. What do you say?” she asked.

Diana’s suggestion seemed God-sent but I also wanted it to be my ticket out of the house.

“My mother-in-law is coming from India today. So most likely she will take over the kitchen. I can come here and make the snacks, if you don’t mind. How about that?” I asked.

She seemed pleased to hear that. “Sounds better. We can serve them hot! Great. So how long is your mother-in-law here?”
“For about three months I think. She might leave earlier if my sister-in- law’s marriage gets fixed,” I said.

“I still can’t understand why you won’t leave him? Divorces are also common in India. My Indian friend Malathi is divorced and happy.”

I bit my lip while I pondered her question. She never really understood why a younger sister would have trouble getting married if the older sister got divorced.

The Perfect Groom

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Hundred meaningless names that we call...

I have often wondered off late whether I would have been happy with any other name other than my own. Hindu religion allows you to keep three names for a child after the birth though one is selected to be the official one.

I have always been happy with my name and had never complained to my parents about it. My husband was however not happy with his, but there is nothing to be done about it either ways. And thankfully raks seems to be happy with her name. She in fact complimented my husband an...

Mylapore without Raks

I know many of us (at least mothers) are forever on lookout for that break where, we get to rest our vocal cords, not get stressed looking at the time and get a well-deserved break from hunting for that matching rubber band and hair band with just five minutes to spare.

I got an unexpected break (though having a surgery is not a part of my 'having a break daydream') this week and have been advised rest for a few days. With result Raks was packed off to my mother's house. (She was ecstatic to l...