Time, please!

I used to be a huge fan of wrist watches when I was in school. So much so that every year my Dad used to bribe me saying he would buy me a watch if I stood first in the class. Of course I never managed it as a kid but in high school when I finally did start being top of the class, I insisted on getting an "Allwyn Trendy" watch. My Dad wanted to buy me something else, but I put my foot down. Trendy or nothing.

So I finally got a Trendy and I was out of this world. Thank God for simple pleasures. I loved the Trendy because of its interchangeable straps mainly. And I kept it for a long time. I think my mom might still have that Trendy watch around somewhere because I don't remember carrying it to the US along with my other "precious" possessions (read a pencil carrying case full of new pencils and erasers and sharpeners, can you believe I actually got it back with me when I moved back in the exact same state that I took it in?!? Weird? You bet, weird!)

Then I lost the thing I had for watches somewhere along the way in Madison, WI. Other, more important and pressing struggles you see. I actually look back and realize I lost the thing I had for a lot of stuff, footwear, watches, bracelets. Damn that is the only three things I can think of ;) Never mind. So I lost it. I stopped wearing a watch for the longest time I think till Subhash got me a Titan the year we got married. But the taste I developed changed completely. I had gone from strappy watches to elegant jewelery like watches. Gosh! When did I become a lady?

Well, anyways, after we moved back, the itch seems to have come back again ;) I bought two watches in the last 2 months. I got a couple of Timexes. And guess what, they are totally the strappy types. Not only that, they are bold straps like really wide and all that :D And what's more, one of them is BLACK! I love black watches and I realized it all over again when I got this Timex. Loving it!

Of convents and experiences

When we were coming back from Hyd we took an auto back home from where the bus dropped us off. It happened to be school time and I saw some smart green uniforms on St. Marks Road. I was wondering which school this was and very soon I saw it, Bishop Cotton's. Ohh, that famous Bishop Cottons. Hmm..

I have a thing for convents I think. Needless to say because I went to one. We were going through the Cottons website yesterday to check if it was the same school that those kids were walking to. Yeah, they do have green uniforms. I was looking at the different sections in the school, the school houses, what competitions they have etc and it took me back to my own school memory lanes. Although its been about 13 years since I left school, its still one of those places I sorely miss. Apparently when I was a kid, I used to ask my mom why I should stay home on Sunday and why she wasn't sending me to school that day. Yeah well, I was weird like that.

I very often think how nice it would be to go back to school. Although, I never think of going back to school and sitting in a class. That was the most boring part of course. Everything else around it, the friends, the interval gossips, the games, those sports, the debates, the dramatics, the singing, the Christmas time merriment, the excitement leading up to the Sports Day, cheering for your house, the list is endless.

I am a very staunch supporter for convent education, I feel there is more discipline in there (although its broken more often than not by rebellious kids) than other schools. Subhash is a staunch supporter of the KVs (Kendriya Vidyalayas). I don't really mind the KVs so much but since neither of us works for the Central Government, I guess the KVs are sort of ruled out for our nextgen ;) So convents, it has to be! And I would love it if the kids go to Bishop Cottons (if we are still hanging around in Bangalore by then) or some such place although I am not sure its as easy to get in. I remember the stories on how difficult it was to get into Ann's when we were kids. Parents waiting in long lines through the night to get admission forms and all that kind of horror. Well, let me cross that bridge when we come to it ;)

A long week

So Subhash's mom had to be taken to the hospital finally after her long and painful ordeal with the teeth. These dental procedures are always more pain that they look like. She had some complications (I don't know which doctor to blame, her dentist or her nephrologist) because of the painkillers she was prescribed for her teeth and she had to undergo that much dreaded dialysis which she has been putting off and neatly dodging for more than a year now :(

For Subhash and me that meant a forced break for a week in Hyderabad. I realize with every passing day how much I love routine. I am a boring person yes, but I need to know exactly what I will do today. I need to go to the same work place every day, I need to go to the gym at exactly the same time every day, I need to just be routine and predictable and boring to be happy. And dropping everything and leaving town is not exactly in my list of favourite things to do, least of all when someone close to me is suffering and is at the hospital.

I am not sure if I recollected this earlier on my blog, but this is exactly how it was when my Dad had his first massive heart stroke. We in Hyd. He in Bangalore. We leaving everything and rushing to Bangalore when we heard the news. This time around the places were reversed but nothing much else. I hated the bus drive to Hyd as much as I hated that bus drive to Bangalore 13 years ago. I was heart-broken on seeing his mom as much as I was heart-broken when I saw my Dad. But I knew how it would turn out somehow this time. I knew she would recover and all would be well again. But with my Dad those long years ago, there was uncertainty. They gave us 24 hours. And said anything could happen in that. And we didn't know to what news we would be arriving. Whenever I think of that night I shiver and wonder how we survived that suspense.

So today we are back, two very tired, sleep-deprived people but extremely happy because his mom is back home and much much better than when we saw her on Monday. I went with a cold which, thanks to all the hospital air and ambience worsened to fever (as if to justify the sick leave I was going to have to take) and went back to being really bad cold. And I picked up an experience or two along the way.

One, I thought I should never manage to cook in someone else's domain. I cooked successfully at his place for a week!

Two, I learnt that its very important to hold your emotions when you are visiting someone who is sick. I knew this all along, but I realized how important it is with this visit. What with overly anxious relatives gasping and displaying all their nervousness openly in front of his mom, like that was something she needed. She was already feeling upset that she was here and that we were all attending to her, she hates to be a "patient" in short. So not everyone wants "Ayyo papam". Not everyone likes attention. If its a grim enough situation, just go, say hi, stay silent and come back. If that someone is recovering and getting better, then crack jokes, laugh and try and get the person in question to also laugh along. It definitely helps them much better than giving them descriptions of how sick they are looking like you were a mirror!

Now that I am back, and I have a mountain-load of work waiting for me plus a haunting cough and cold, I am thinking of when I can take my next break ;)

Please do pass along your wishes for us. We seem to be reeling under some unhealthy times off late!