Last weekend with Mom

On Saturday, mom’s train was supposed to come to cantonment at 5:15 am…I was up at 4:45 am…it was 1.8 km walk to station…I put on the jerkins… held an umbrella …as if it was my AK 47 and started walking past the guttahalli bridge… there was one guy with white helmet who made two rounds and then vanished …much to my relief…I could not get an auto to rly station at that time… it was so lonely and scary at 5 am in the morning…I never used to be afraid of darkness…now blore has conditioned me… I wear jerkins…no matter how hot it is…carry an umbrella as my weapon every where…

Train was 20 minutes late and we took an auto back home…mom wanted coffee…and I didn’t want to make her do pranayam after a tiring train journey… I made her coffee… she didn’t want paranthas…she said S to coriander chutney and godhuma rava dosa… so I prepared the chutney and let her sleep till 7:45 …meanwhile I mopped the floor as silently as possible and woke her up at 7:45… we gave the adyar ananda bhavan mysore pak to the house owner and knocked his door again to tell that I inadvertently pulled out the wire of the ceiling fan… he agreed to repair the fan himself…he is a retired doctor…and I was scared that he was going to climb up to do this repair…never the less he agreed with his usual gusto…

At 8:45, was the bus from majestic for 1 day blore sightseeing…now I have decided…I am not going to do this again… man, the timings are too less…I could spend the whole day in ISKON…or gavi gangadhar shiva temple… 45 -55 minutes is hardly any time… then bull temple and then some stupid lunch at some stupid place near lalbagh…then I bought a sari for mom…and then lalbagh and then vishweshwaraiyya museum and cubbon park… the only thing nice was to hear about blore’s history and see the various mps and important persons' houses on the way…venkatappa art gallery was closed on Saturday and we got in the science museum…it was ok…and took mom to the 3D show… boring except for the snakes and rats part… and then we walked to the aquarium…mom was in a hurry there…while i indulged… ISKON in 55 minutes had taken a toll on my left ankle and right knee… however the swings in balbhavan next to the aquarium brought life back to me…the happiest time I had spent on the swing was in mukkombu….in 5th standard… after that in blue lagoon during a college get together…and after that only now… I could not swing while sitting… so I stood up on the swing and played like a ghost - a payee…for I had not put any band for my hair…for what mom said as little more than half an hour… it felt too good…I enjoyed like a child… going up and down the air…after that mom made me got down…and I felt so light… all my leg pains had vanished… before this swing thing I also climbed up a horse for a small round… in chennai beach it used to be 50 bucks…and I paid 70 near mysore sri rangapatna for a horse ride…rather horse walk under the hot sun…here is was only 20…I would have insisted on one more trip…however the mare’s shoulder (if I can say so) was a bit skinned - a square inch patch as if it had fallen down or scratched itself against some tree…

After that we took an auto to IG musical fountain… there again…I sat on the swing and only then I could analyze why I could not sit and swing…I could not flex my right leg… however once mom pushed me I tried flexing my leg…think…this would be a good exercise for my right leg… after that the musical fountain was really good… fabulous…but my disastrous moment came when I turned and saw that mom had closed her eyes when the fountain was dancing for dhoom machale song…I felt so bad… mom said dhoom song was like thaalattu for her… I felt that I was so insensible for torturing her like this in her old age with my idiosyncrasies… after that she was awake… later yesterday she said, the best time she spent was, at the musical fountain and second at the gangadhar shiva temple… whatever…I feel bad that I didn’t let her rest….the whole time… we walked from musical fountain and got an auto near the golf course and went home… we had fruits for dinner…she says…she feels like puking… if she has proper dinner…

Back home, thanks to my swing extravaganza…I found, even to splash water on my face required efforts and I was not able to unhook my dress… even now to straighten my left hand is painful….

The next day, I found mom was awake at 5 and she was sleeping on the hall room sofa cum bed….which was not good for her back…I didn’t give her coffee this time…instead I made her a hot amla churna drink… after that I took her for a walk near the peaceful road parallel to the railway track and the golf course around 7 am… ppl were all walking at that time… the whole road was so beautiful and the climate was awesome… I got her a health drink where Shub and I used to have whenever we went to the golf course… mom didn’t want the carrot juice after she had wheat grass and gourd juice… back home…I prepared methi parantha and paneer mutter curry…she had 4 and I had 3 and at 11 ….i made her a large coffee and I prepared radish sambar, carrot poriyal, rasam for lunch…I wanted to prepare okra poriyal as well… but mom said…okie leave it…and we didn’t have time as well… for I had to take a print of her return ticket…mom said…it was year end…and that she was in her probationary period after her promotion and so she could not take much leave… we went to the net café…initially only I was supposed to go…but mom said …she will come with me…and we walked to the café near Joops beauty parlour to take a print of her ticket and I wanted to buy plantain leaves for lunch…I love eating full meals on the green leaf… but the veggi guy mistook the leaf for raw plantain…then one gal said, that we could get the leaves near Swastik after Subramanya swami temple… we started walking… we would have walked for almost 50 minutes…mom wanted to return for we had booked Race at 2:30 matinee show and we were yet to take bath and have lunch…but I was adamant saying, that I had walked so much…so I can not return home without the banana leaf… i thought what blore is this that I have to walk from one area to another for a mere plantain leaf… we took an auto back home after buying tender fresh banana leaves…

We bathed in nice hot water and the long walk had digested the heavy paneer wala breakfast and we could eat the 3 course meal over the banana leaf with a good hunger to go with… I had mysore pak for the desserts while mom resorted to the chocolate icecream that we had bought after our morning walk…

Mom didn't finish her ice cream and we walked to Cauvery theatre to watch Race… I didn’t try auto… at 2:35… we sat on the seat… just as they had finished Saif’s intro… I don’t know what I had missed… I felt the movie was too carnal…i opted for a A movie...i am not complaining...I had warned mom that it was an A movie…but the story twists were good… and the movie one liners were amazing …some how reminded me of 36 Chinatown’s Upen’s dialogues…on the whole it was too good…for watching once… Jodha Akbar is one movie I can watch even now… the attention to detail is amazing there… and it is an exquisitely made visual treat…. It was funny as to how I got Race movie tickets…on Thursday night, I was returning home, walking down from Mekhri circle along with this chiseled damsel Preethi… who is my bus mate, who lives in sadashivnagar…we parted after Talisma and I was curious to see what movie was running in Cauvery theatre…I just wanted to enquire about the show and booking timings… and luckily the guy with whom I made the enquiry turned out to be the theatre owner and he got me 2 tickets at 8:30 pm and so that was the whole story of my bagging the movie tickets…

Back home…we finished our choco bars...I pressed the clothes for the next week while mom made coffee with ¾ litres of milk…man…she could drink a whole anda of coffee…at 6:15… we again rushed out to board her train at 7:20 pm cantonment… we got the auto at the second try and we were there in hardly 5 minutes and we waited… train came at 7:20 and the guy in Side Lower agreed to go to Side Upper and I returned back teary eyed for a minute or two before I convinced myself that this was silly in public… and walked back home… on the way back home… near the train bridge…where it was written only gold and whatNot visitors... I saw 2 good looking red lady’s sandals… for a moment I felt bad thinking… what if a gal had been abducted here… for that road is pretty lonely and scary… who would ever leave such good footwear here… but the fact that both foot wear were near by… okie whatever… world is not all that bad…why to let my imagination run wild… back home I just collapsed on the bed...

With out alarm i woke up at 5:48 and found that mom had already reached home... and asked mom to call me at 7... at 7, i asked her to call at 7:15... she called at 7:24 and i am here.... crazy day....