Krishna ni begane baaro...

‘Krisha ni begane baaro...’ by Vyasatirtha is a very famous kannada classical song. It means ‘dear (Lord) Krishna I wait for you, please bring yourself to light.'

My mother used to sing the original kannada version of ‘Krishna ni begane baaro’. One of her favourites. She had taken it upon herself to teach me how to dance on this one. She was passing onto me what she had learnt as a young girl.

The lines ‘kaalandige gejje’ (anklets on your feet) would be my bane. She would thump her foot flat on the ground making a loud noise and ask me to do the same. I would invariably apply only the toes and never the heel at the same time.

“Flat, flat, like a chapatti (flat breat) your foot should fall” she would say. I consistently twinkle toed my way around, much to her annoyance. I imagined myself to be some ballerina (1980s had a lot of Russian influence on Indian children). Ballet dancers never went phatak phatak like a chapatti. They were elegant, beautiful people who danced nimbly, I wanted to be like them.

Tempers would soar and sweetness of the song would be lost.

“I don’t like this dance and I don’t want to learn it” is what I told her one day. I must have been 8. I expected fireworks. There were none. She just sighed and stopped teaching me. Strangely, this incident was never spoken about after that. I never thought about it again. Never...until tonight.

I wish I had played along and learnt the dance from her. Maybe if I had performed it in front of her relatives, she would have been so proud. Why was I such a fool and she so giving?

Today, Krishna is here but ma is not!

(Call it karma or coincidence but my husband’s name is Parthasarathi which means Krishna. Mother was very happy to have met him on Oct 8^th 2008. She passed away one month later on Nov 7^th 2008. As if she were just waiting for him.)

‘Krishna ni begane baaro’....

She sang for him to come soon, for her little daughter. To make sure that her princess was in good hands. And the daughter thought a song was being forced upon her. Such is the irony of fate.

आ के लगा होता सीधा निशाने पर,

तो अच्छा होता I

क्यों नस नस को चीर कर,

पूछता है मेरे दिल का पता, ये खंजर ??

Good thing, bad thing

The good thing is - We learn bad things as well when we are young

The bad thing is - We are made to believe that only the good things have happy endings

Fairy tales and the archetype of a utopian world do more harm than good. Expectations arising through the rose tinted glasses take away from the little joys and focus more on the miseries caused by the dysfunctional perfect world.

'Good' and 'bad' have a reputation that needs serious rehabilitation.

Always speak the truth...

I have been in advertising for past 14 years and would have been filthy rich by now if someone gave me a rupee every time this romantic notion of 'truth' was busted.

Always help others....
It is always you first and then others. You have to be alive and healthy to be able to help others. Else why would the airline companies insist on you wearing the oxygen mask first, even before assisting your own child?

Always be courteous....

Sometimes people need a kick...so be it...give them one!

Looks mean nothing...

They mean a lot! The multi billion dollar cosmetics, clothing and fitness industries live on this. Sooner we learn to keep ourselves in shape and radiant, lesser we will fret in middle age.

Always follow your heart....

For every one person that is following their heart, there are at least 3 people in his/her house who are not doing so....just to keep the home fires burning.

Money is evil...

It might be so.....but this evil is a necessary evil!

Love, faith and respect can conquer everything....

Not hunger

One time my father did right by exposing me to the truth was when I told him about a crush as a teenager. I was so impressed by Amir (the hero) in 'qayamat se qayamat tak' (a movie) chopping wood, making a fine and then some tea... taking such good care of Juhi (the heroine) in a godforsaken place.

My father said 'ah these things happen only in films. In real life you need a job and only then two people can be happy with each other'. Thank you Dad.

Do good and no harm shall come to you...

Rapes, murders, theft, robbery, arson, burn victims, terminal diseases, fatal accidents, infanticide, sodomy, racial attacks, betrayal, broken hearts, unrequited love....they all happen to innocent people who did nothing to deserve it!

You love only once.......

...and twice and thrice....and as many times as you want to, if you aren't lucky enough to find somebody when you are younger. The case in point being my very own marriage!

This is how we spend our lives-

0-20 Learn only the good things, dreams, fairy tales, Santa

20-30 Realize that those are not the only things that work for us

30-40 Figure out what really works for us, might not always be the good thing

40 onwards Actually start living the way we want, doing what works for us and imparting only the 'good things' knowledge to the 0-20 age group

Dragonfruit - The Tajmahal of fruitdom

I had been to the vet today. Jojo's (my cat) vaccines were due. Roads looked pretty empty as there was a nationwide bandh (strike) against rising prices of commodities.

'Nature's Basket' (paradise gastronomique) was on my way. I decided to do some grocery shopping. Spending over 3000 rupees on fruits, vegetable and cold cuts, when everybody is fretting over basic amenities, was a bit too much even by my standards. Felt guilty as hell. I know, I know...the fervent idealists would want to hunt me down and mince me into some kind of a cautionary tale. But whatever I did on impulse, one thing I am very happy about -

I bought a dragon fruit today!
Just one.
Rupees 100 it cost.

I had never seen a dragon fruit. Come to think of it, I hadn't even heard about it! Wasn't sure if it was actually a fruit or just a vegetable which looked so exotic that people started calling it a fruit out of reverence (eg. jack fruit). Nice rani pink in colour. Soft as a ripe avocado.

Reached home all happy but riding high on guilt trip. My mothers prophecy "she spends so much, she will drive her in-laws into bankruptcy when she marries" seemed not such a distant reality.

I had only one way out.

I showed my husband the dragon fruit.

'Wow' he said.

I cut it into nice tiny cubes. All set to eat. The bill of rupees 3000 was mentioned as a postscript.

Amidst ooohs & aaahs of the beauty and taste of this delicious produce, the princely tab was a lost story. In fact when I cut it into half, it was as if my own remorse had split itself into many inconsequential bits and vanished. Oh what a beauty!!!!

God is the greatest art director of all. It was over an hour ago and we are still talking about the dragon fruit. The surreal rich pink colour. Crispy seeds. Absolutely no wastage. And how it is totally worth the 100 rupees it cost. Maybe we should look at growing it in our farm. So on 'n' so forth....

Here is how to enjoy this lovely creation of nature -
(Photographs by Vandana & Partha)

Step 1 Just look at it's beauty :)

Step 2 Cut it into half

Step 3 Scoop out the white portion,

keeping the cover intact

Step 4 Cut the flesh into cubes

Step 5 Serve them in the cover and enjoy the cool crunchy cubes!

Step 6 Go refill your plate :)