Thursday 2 May 2013

Visitors. Change

Had visitors in Mumbai over the weekend.

Things have changed. For me too.

I tried to take some days off from work and was told that I couldn't because it was a busy period. I get that, results season and all.

On Friday I visited my friend S (who flew in from Chennai). and had a good day. I was able to get that day off and spent almost all of it talking.

The friend she was staying with cooked a fantastic lunch and in the evening we spent three hours more chatting in the garden. It had a wonderful breeze, which N said was cool all year.

I was seeing my friend after more than a year. She's always in great shape and conscious of the importance of treating your body like a shrine. does yoga and eats carefully. Though that day we demolished nearly two tubs of icecream, without regret. Everytime she, another friend and I travel together, S is at the peak first and SA and I are crawling uphill and gasping for breath.

I've seen this at Pune's Sheniwarwadi. Try walking up the steps to the top of the fort. S was at the top in minutes. I felt my lungs were on fire and my heart ready to jump out of my mouth. As the steps were steep, towards the top, I was sitting on each step, waiting a bit and then crawling on to the higher step. SA was more dignified. She struggled on upright!

This time S & I talked about feeling and looking older. I'm often thinking about ageing and old age. My body is older, but I think my spirit now feels it is in its 30s. A couple of years ago I'd have said it was that of a giddy teen.

I attribute the downhill to stress and stress. And not doing enough for myself.

The next day I picked up my nephew from the airport. Welcoming him with a cold, courtesy 'Mumbai's changing climate'. I've started using that excuse, how else do you explain it? How else do you explain an irrational virus or a random one?

The first day I fed him porridge for breakfast (because he told me he liked it) and the second morning i managed to burn his omlette. I wonder if he will return.

After packing him off at the airport yesterday, I realised I hadn't taken a single picture of him. We were meeting after five years. BAD!

I told my husband about it and he said it was an indicator of how much my interests had taken a major backseat. We have three cameras at home... and until a few years ago I would always pull out a camera to take pictures of people, angles, things, shadows, visitors, thugs at railway stations, a sunrise. My husband has often scolded me for taking pictures of people on the road, saying I might be a victim of road rage. I remember visiting my nephew and his brother for holidays and taking endless photos of them. They were my sweethearts - always will be.

With the digital age, there are times I'm scratching my head and wondering why things can't be simpler. I know it is, but when you have a computer crash and all the pictures go down a digital drain, a certain lethargy creeps in.

Maybe you could give me some interesting advice.

3 comments:

  1. Keep reading and keep writing, Patros! And dust those cameras off... was speaking with an ex army man in the hills, and asked him what he read. Well,I ordered 50 shades, he said, and beamed - he wanted to shock us, I think, but didn't quite work that way. Of course, I mean, I didn't know what it was when I bought it, he added in a rush - possibly because we didn't exclaim or blush or fling our tea at his poppies in horror.

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  2. Oh my, oh my, oh my! You've got so many posts up, and me in this! Whee!

    The blog is looking nice, sandal and simple!

    I don't feel older than my 20s, mentally, but physically, it's another story. Our Bombay photos - I'm looking so oily and tired in them! I did enjoy the ice-cream, truth be told - and I have this theory that if you truly enjoy eating something, it won't hurt you. The happiness and the gentleness of the day added to it - we were relaxed, not at work, didn't have to think of work and someone else fed us.

    And yes, dust off those cameras. You have a shiny new platform now!

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  3. You have these photos? I have a vague memory of them now

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