What is the vacation fragrance – Yes, Summer is here

When I was a child, I always used to love summer vacations just like any other kid.  With exams getting over around end of March or the first week of April, we as kids used to be so thrilled.

I still recollect the times when I used to ask my amma – the air is appearing so fresh and I can smell the fragrance of the vacation.  My mom used to be amused at this statement and gave a surprised look at me.  I was all of 10 or 12 years, but the fragrance of the summer vacations still mesmerises my soul. Summers are not any longer so fragrant? You may ask why?  May be we have grown up and we no longer get to smell the summer and remain carefree the way we used to.

Those were the days when the drink “Rasna” had become so popular. I used to literally trouble my amma so much to buy all the flavours. It was just the feeling and happiness of opening the fridge and seeing all the different coloured syrups. That was fun for me. It was the thought of my amma laying the rice vadams and karuvadamas (papads).  The perfect place for laying these was the building terrace.  We literally used to book the places for these

I was the first to get up early in the morning and used to run to the terrace to broom that particular area where my mom used to get the big pot with the batter. It was fun.  That was all the help I could give her.  But I used to be with her for the entire time she laid those papads and vadams/vathals.  I used to count every little papad/vadam that she laid and smiled.  Hahahah, come to think of it, it brings a smile. There was this excitement. We used to have neighbours who would come to terrace to dry their mango pickles and chundaas. I can never forget those days of papads and drying mangoes.

We as kids used to literally ravage the terrace and steal away those goodies that were neatly covered with the white muslin cloth.

Yes, that’s the fragrance of vacation. Come April and May the fragrance always stayed for many many years.  It was happiness for no reason and there was every reason to be happy.

Luv Always

Rekha

Get a Life – GET YOUR LIFE

Aww!! I look awful and feel terrible, said Reema to her cousin Nandini on the phone.  What am I doing of life? I am just working day in and day out, managing home, kids, cooking, swabbing, cleaning and that’s it!!!!

It was Monday morning and Nandini had just reached office.  She saw 3 missed calls from Reema and she thought that maybe she should call back.  The first thing she did was to call Reema and this is what fell on her ears. Reema sounded really low and she did not know what to do.  She had been working before marriage - marriage, two kids was becoming too much to handle for her. 

Nandini had somehow managed to strike a balance between family and in laws and her kid and was satisfied more or less.  We always feel that the other side of the pasture is always green till we actually get to it.  Reema had help, her husband was well known in the corporate world.  She had all the luxuries that a corporate guy’s wife could ask for. A chauffeur driven car, the best restaurants, the best travel, luxury salons – what else was missing.  Yes, Nandini was just trying to figure out what is that vaccum that Reema was engulfed in and what is it that she was missing out.

It is just that small change in hormones which can suddenly make you feel as if you are at receiving end.  Yes, it could be the 40 plus syndrome.  Nandini immediately gathered her wits. They met on a weekend.  Reema spoke her mind out.  Yes, she was missing the corporate life and she was missing it terribly. She felt she had nothing to look forward to and it was the dreary routine day in and day out.  Nandini asked her to enroll for a yoga class nearby or may be something that she wanted to do(but never got the opportunity to do), probably try out a new hair style, consciously get dressed up and go for a morning walk and to give time to herself and think of something that she could manage from home. Yes, all this was possible, but at times, we just ignore these small things which may make up for the big things in life which we may regret years later.

Nandini asked Reema to meet her after a month. Yes, Reema was definitely a changed woman. She had a brimming smile and was looking much younger than what she looked probably four weeks back.  It’s just about making this small change in our life.  At times, simple words and gestures from someone can change the way you look at your life.  It could be a really big turning point for many of us.

At times, we switch off from the world, switch off from our life itself.  But for how long will we love to sit in this darkness?  A little of conscious shift in our routine, just a little change will help us to bounce back and believe me, it works wonders.

We need to get a life – GET OUR LIFE!!!

Love always

Rekha

Love knows no relations – It just happens!

He (Ram) had just graduated from his engineering college at Trichy and he arrived in Mumbai, totally unaware of what was in store for him.  He had received  a call for a written test and interview at one of the top Engineering MNC companies.  It was his first trip to Mumbai and life had just started for him at a corporate level.

He landed straight in (her) Reva’s home and was welcomed by Reva’s amma who was his first cousin.  Reva was Ram’s niece who was all of sweet sixteen.  Bubbly, chirpy and chattering all the way and they were complete opposite poles. The smile on her face was captivating and little did he know that he had fallen for that innocent smile (just like the ones you read in Mills and Boon novels) – Love at first sight.

Reva was not even aware that Ram had secretly begun to love her.  A little extrovert and someone who would call a spade a spade had many a times not responded or was rather curt when he approached her for some help, be it for shopping or when it came to guiding him, considering he was new to Mumbai. But still he was mesmerized by her.  All Reva knew was studies and just wanted to top in her tenth exams.  Ram had just completed a month in Mumbai and he got his first salary. That evening he got cakes for the entire family, knowing very well that Reva loved cakes especially the chocolate filled ones. She dug her nails into the cake and ate it like a child.

The joy of getting the cakes was much more than the first salary.  But Ram could never express his love verbally to Reva for fear that it might not be accepted. After all she was his niece and knowing well that marriage within the family may result in complications.

Years later, they met again at some common relative’s marriage.  Both of them happily married, but first love is something so beautiful and only he knew it.  He had loved her first and last!!!!

Rekha Mahadevan