Enjoying attention

During this season,there is always a 'variety' of  'bugs' which attack human beings. Yes you must have often heard during this changing season, plethora of diseases invade many houses. Only some lucky ones are are spared.  You too must have experienced the talks outside a Doctor's cabin or a queue in a Hospital.Talks such as "my son has not gone to school for the last three days.My husband is home with viral fever, or My headache is persisting for the last several days". Every body outside the Doctor's room  speaks of sufferings in the family, but nobody listens to any one else.Everybody is concerned about him/her self.
                                                 Last week I too had an attack of mild fever. I  preferred not to talk to the Doctor (even though my daughter and son-in-law are doctors). I took a tablet for headache and forgot about the fever. This continued for two days. On the third day the fever rose high. The expression on the face and the body language gave away  the secret. I was strictly directed to lie down.  My Daughter came in the evening and gave me a big lecture" When young people get fever, they have more stamina to tolerate it. As you grow old your body does not have any reserve of  energy You must never try to conceal any trouble,lest it turns into something serious." The real problem started now. I failed to understand how do neighbours, neighbours of neighbours, relatives and friends got to know that I was unwell.. Someone suggested more fruits, the next person said give juice,another suggestion was for soup.  The list was unending.

 This is the advantage of  falling sick with mild fever, when there is no complication.Everyone treats you like a VIP and you enjoy the attention. Have you, at at any time enjoyed this  sort of attention !!.



 Written for Write Tribe Pro Blogger week 4  Day 25

A Land mark

Today is a landmark for Kuch Khatta Kuch Meetha. It has  crossed the 500 mark today. Slowly and steadily it has reached the figure, which I did not expect even in my dreams.  How did I start writing  blogs !! Who was the person,who inspired me to start a blog !!!
                 After my retirement from hectic  days of hard work, I had nothing to do. I had grand children with whom life was interesting. There were maids  to look after their needs. I had only to supervise. Spending  time in reading books gave me great comfort. I felt the need for something more. What was that 'more', I could not think of. A friend of mine suggested that I should  learn using a computer. This advice made an impact on my mind. My daughter's black and white computer, which was discarded after she bought a coloured  one, was lying with me. I got it install.ed and started tick, tick ticking on it. One day my son, out of concern for me taught me some basics.I bought a book and learnt a lot from it. One day I called my cousin, Mr. B.K.Chowla. He was the one who inspired me to start blogging. He is a veteran in blogsphere and a prolific  writer. I raised several doubts but  he would not listen to any thing. I asked my grand daughter how to get going. She sat with me and tick tick tick, she told me that she had witten"eccentricgrandmum.blogspot.com' as my website and Kuch Khatta Kuch Meetha as the name of the blog. A blog was born!!
                     The first five or six  blogs  did not get any response. Then I got a comment from some unknown name. I did not even know that we are supposed to reply. 
                                                       Now reentered BK.He asked me about the progress of my blogs. He advised that I should register with Blogadda. He again helped me to complete the registration process. The first blog that I wrote was in August 2012.
  I have written a NONET about  my 500th  post. Here it goes

                                                               
                                                                  500

                                                               Oh yes,

                                                    Really the number,

                                          Unbelievable it  seems now.

                       How this wonderful landmark came.

                  Stories, jokes quotes, pictures and poems,

                 from my pen, one  after another  appeared.

             It seemed a distant task impossible and unreal

      Kuch khatta kuch meetha, now has  a place of prestige

Written for write tribe pro blogger  week 4  day24

haiku sense

                                                              Papa wants music
                                                     louder  and louder each time,
                                                            sense of hearing?



                                                           He can touch,.
                                                   see a movie on my laptop
                                                          but hears nothing.


                                                         The teacher shouts,
                                                  children  laugh it off   merrily,
                                                      no sense  of discipline

.
                                                           Blind man sees  not,
                                                   hears,  feels  and knows  all
                                                          God's will  strong.





Written in response to Haiku Horizons  Week 28 Prompt 'Sense'.                                           

Pitiable condition of a young girl..

I was reading yesterday in a periodical that the condition  of young girls has considerably improved in the last few years in our country. My experience is otherwise. Since ages the same old pattern is  being  followed. A birth of a girl is still condemned. Some States  still murder the new born girls. Young girls, even 10 or 12 year old are married away. If you have seen Balika Vadhu, a Hindi serial on TV, you will realise that  the practice  of marrying off  girls at a tender age is quite a norm in our own country. They are still not sent to school and remain illiterate.
                      This is a true story of  a girl, who is very fair and good looking. Only because of her sharp features and fair  complexion, a fairly rich family proposed their son's marriage with this girl. The girl's mother lived in utter poverty. She told them frankly that she was very poor and a marriage between a rich and poor will not  be sucsessful.  The boy's parents, as well as the boy  took several rounds of the poor woman's shanty. The girl was straight forward. She said frankly that they will have to look after her mother also, which they agreed.  The marriage took place. Within two months they started pestering her that she did not even bring any dowry.Daily she was beaten by her father/mother in law and they  taunted her that  her mother  did not want to give anything to her. Her husband  did not speak any thing in her favour. He also started hitting her every day. She was expecting, so she bore all insults for the sake of the baby. She thought that if she gave birth to  a boy, they may feel consoled. But as fate would have it, she gave birth to a girl. This was the limit. She was mercilessly beaten. One day in fit of anger, they left her at her mother's home.  She is in a dilemma. If she asks for divorce, she will not get any alimony. Her husband will neither agree for mutual application for divorce nor he he will file a petition on his own.  What is the recourse that she should adopt?  How can she change her miserable life? Do you have any suggestions/way out to help this poor girl. This is a true story of a miserable girl.



Written for Write Tribe Pro Blogger week 4  day 23.

Twelve of my favourite things

Every body has a liking for somethings and dislike for some . I am now in the twilight of my life and am not able to do much. Still the love and craze  for doing all those things still persists.
1. My first love was reading.There was always  a book in my hands;..I must have read innumerable books. Till last year  book reading was my craze, whether  it was a book in English or a Hindi  I read every thing . Now  due to my failing eye sight, it is difficult to pursue this hobby.
2.I love cooking. Yes cooking, but not this every day routine daal and roti.I enjoy making  cakes, puddings, salads, chocolates etc. I keep looking for recipes and try different things.I modulate the recipe according to the taste and requirement of my family. Last week I had written a recipe of a salad. In the original  full cream was used. I substituted it with cottage cheese.
3. I love my laptop. Sometimes I think, if I did not have a laptop, how I would I spent my time. I am now nearing eighty years old. I play games like Scrabble and mind jolt games. I write blogs. With this post, I will touch 500 blogs. I write whatever comes to my mind. Sometimes, when I am stuck and don't know how to proceed, I trouble some of my friends and they guide me, for which I am grateful to them.
4. I love to talk on the phone. I can talk for hours with  close friends.My smart phone is my permanent companion.
5. Till some years back, I used to look forward to going out to different places. Now, the very thought of going out  brings goosebumps in my stomach.  I like to sit in my corner,with every thing under the sun,that I need, is available  in my desk.
6.I love listening to old Hindi Movie  songs. Kishore Kumar, Hemant kumar, Talat Mahmood and Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar  being my favorites,
7. I like to see old Movies on You Tube. There is hardly an old movie which I did not see in my younger days, I enjoy seeing them now once again.
8. I used to love knitting. I developed this liking after my retirement. I have made numberless  scarves, shawls and even blankets.I still like to knit and teach knitting to my maid.She was excited that she could knit a pullover for herself.
9.I am fond of  colorful bangles. I used to like wearing these bangles, but now I am happy to see my collection.. A few of my bangles are shown below
                                                    

My bangles

10. I love greenery and flowers. In our house we have got at least  five hundred potted plants. In Feb/March the whole house looks so beautiful with different color flowers blooming.
11. I love to eat junk food. Even though I advise my children and grand children to avoid junk food, but I love Maggi noodles.I can eat them  any time of the day.
12. Last but not the lest I love my house, my lovely family and the love, affection and a spirit of oneness  which  binds us together.
I end this post with a quotation from Lord Bernard Shaw,"A happy family is an earlier Heaven"


Written for Write Tribe Wednesday Prompt  12 things I like
Date23rd March 2014.

Love turned sour !

My life has always been a struggle, a struggle for saving the bad name brought to my family for the misdoings of my mother. A women is always considered to be  Pati Vrata or devoted to her husband. As far as children are concerned, they are the blood of her blood and flesh of her own flesh. I fail to understand why my mother did this to us,,,,her own  family, every one of us was devoted to her.  Her character and actions were a facade. My father was in the Navy and often had to go on long tours. He was a gem of a person.   We were two brothers and two sisters. My father's best friend ,Shakti  was a big business man. Whenever he came, and that was every alternate day, he brought toys for us. I hated him. I don't know why, but I never liked him. I also sensed that he used to look at mother in a very obnoxious manner and my mother seemed to be interested and enjoying the attention. I had  a feeling that my father also felt the way I felt for that man, but remained quiet .
                                               I remember that it was the the month of October.My father never liked to go on tour,   but he could not disobey his seniors. He was sent to Cochin for fifteen days. After father  left,  his friend came to our house every day. He came every evening, had dinner with us. Mother put us to sleep. We never knew when he went back. Papa finished his assignment and came back unexpectedly after ten days.It was past midnight, when he arrived. He heard the youngest child crying,so he went straight to the children's bedroom. I was coaxing my little brother to sleep,but he did not listen and went on crying,"mamma,mamma". Papa asked me where was mamma, and I told him she was with Shakti uncle  down stairs. Papa's face became red with fury. He took out a revolver from the almirah, and straight went downstairs. With a flash he opened the door, and what he saw was so shameful that no husband could tolerate. The two were shameless, with not even an inch of cloth to cover them. My father , in a fit of fury, pulled Shakti to the toilet and fired him recklessly. He called the naval police and surrendered  himself. My mother went to the prison to tender her apology, but my father did not even look at her,   A case of murder was filed against him. He was given life imprisonment.My mother left Mumbai and went to Goa to live with her Brother. None of my siblings got married.  I am now 62 years old, and running a Nari Ashram for destitute women. My father  was released from jail, after his term was completed, but he collapsed inside the boundary of the prison.

Note: this fictional story is based on a true incident.  A naval officer  actually killed his wife's lover. This case has been one of the most gruesome murders in the history of law. This happened sometime in 1950 -51. It may still be found in some book of law.


Written in response of Write Tribe Pro Blogger week 4 Day 22

Quotes on life

                                                        

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” 
― Robert Frost

                            “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” Dr.Seuss

  If you love life don't waste  time;  for time is what life is made of.   Bruce Lee

Life is a song--sing it. Life is a game--play it. Life is a challeng...beat it. Sai Baba

 

 A man who dares one hour of his life not discovered the value of life'

Charles Darwin.

Reproduced  for Write Tribe Pro Blogger Week 4 Day 21
Brainy quotes courtesy Google