December Fever

Addendum: This post was featured on Bangalore Mirror dated 28-Dec-07 under the blog talk section. This was the 3rd time this blog got featured under the same section and the 5th time my name appeared in Bangalore Mirror.

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December fever as dad calls it, occurs during the last 5 days of the month of December to the Government officials. They are entitled to 8 casual leaves and 2 restricted holidays during a year, they avail around 30 CLs and still they are always left with around 5-6 CLs (Because they never submitted the leave applications) which they avail during the last days of the year.

I grew up not working ever during these last few days untill I started doing a job. These last few days, dad, a central govt employee, would always be on leave and we would all sit together soaking up the Delhi winter sun, laze around on the cot and chatai having oranges and mungfali (Ground nut). We…me, sis, mom, dad and Jango…Am having that December fever, hate to come to work these days. More because mom is alone at home, poor thing gets so bored.

I miss home. Miss that sunshine. Miss that laze. Those long nights cozying under the quilt, me sis and Jango, dad scolding us coz we are not waking up, then Jango wakes up and a ruckus follows…

Tomorrow is dad’s birthday. If I would have been around I’d have cooked for him. Last year I was in Hyderabad at this time. I was considering joining a friends IT outsourcing firm as a consultant, but it wasn’t very appealing to me. By 25th my present Bangalore job was confirmed, so on 26th I flew back to Delhi, cause I knew, that probably was the last time in some years, that I would be home on his birthday. I cooked his favorites, aaloo bhaja, kopi bhaja, begun bhaja, mutton pulao

Year 2004, 26th December we were in Port Blair witnessing Tsunami. Yes you heard me right that devastating sea wave, Tsunami. We didn’t get to see the sea waves though, were inside our guest house, what we experienced were an earthquake of 8.5 magnitude followed by gushes of water all around and then 2 full days and nights stranded literally on the street w/o food and water and continuous tremors in every 20-30 mins.

Our Port Blair visit was like seeing heaven and hell together. ‘Andaman Islands’ is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I don’t know why I never blogged about it.

I have gone crazy over Taare Zameen Par btw. All I can do is think about its success and its nuances. Nitpicked at another critic. My GK about critics of the country is so pathetic that I had just no idea I was picking up a “national award winning critic”. Some body referred me to the post by Mr. Bardwaj, I went I saw and I commented (Comment No. 31) and a debate followed. Review Rip off – II coming soon.

Fire crackers, the speed at which they shoot in the sky and then the way they shatter spreading light all around, I find an uncanny similarity between the incidents in my life and these fire crackers.

Current Mood: I looked up at the sky, sun was smiling at me, I blinked and it turned into a flickering bulb.