Confessions of a Writing Freak

While mulling over and identifying my worst fears of life: Bang! Without any forethought,fear of Mathematics seems to be indelibly etched in my mind. I have vivid memories of the scare and disdain, I harboured for the subject.I get shudders when I recall those nightmarish math problems and books.I get a feel akin to draconic creatures stinging and spewing their venom on me!  Those eerie tear jerking nights prior to maths exam,whole household would share my panic and helplessness.Father giving reassurance and mother trying to instill confidence on my flustered and jittery self,but to no avail. Though my dad tried his level best to inculcate creativity and passion   in me,but my mathematical thinking had taken a back seat.I used to rote the solution and vomit back on the answer sheet.Though attained success by rote in my class tenth, with an honourable seventy five percent,it was a good riddance to maths for ever,I shoved it away from my life. I am thankful for picking up b...

In mornings, I enjoy my half an hour of bantering conversation with my maid, Sarla! 7 am sharp,she barges  into my kitchen,starts with the dishes,and i slurp on my morning tea as well rolling the rotis. At times, she croons by herself  an old hindi sing and waits for an imperative praise for her singing or else she talks about some happening incidents in her locality,ranging from theft, marriage,death,birth,or someone s wife eloping with her paramour. But today on Dhanteras, she looked gloomy ,on digging out the reason she told me",Auntie, I had a squabble with my mother in law." As was apparent from her demeanor,this small tiff must have ended up in a long verbal sledgehammering. Digressing a bit ,older a woman gets,more she takes umbrage at unflattering mode of address,but I m used to being addressed as auntie by  patients as old as my grandparents. I don't think there is any particular age of attaining aunthood, so no resentment on being addressed as auntie by not s...

Today,as usual seemed to be conventional,dull n humdrum Monday morning.Hastily winding up my daily chores to leave by 8.30 am,so as to reach our work place on time , where thumb identifying box awaits us and pines to capture its imprint,lest we are marked truant.Being wary of Delhi traffic snarls which are nightmarish ,our commutation is perfectly timed.So while better half belts up and ignites his precious possession,I prefer to walk down up to the main road. Woah! here I see the plant seller with his bicycle loaded with verdant ,lush ornamentals. Crazy plant woman that I am, though not a plant connoisseur ,I start selecting as well as haggling. I have a fine eye for this skill of bargaining n negotiating.We may spend a bomb in malls and restaurant s,but we have this nasty habit of bargaining with poor n flea marketeers.  I select the sensevaria or the mother in law tongue plant.I love this luscious green perennial but detest the name mother in law 👅 given to it because of the ...

Hitting the wrong side of fifties is quite surreal n scary as well.Here I have rushed into rendezvous with my 50th b-day.Clock striking at midnight and voila!! my family all awake to wish me on my special day. Man of the house gifts me a swanky Fossil watch,which reminds me of my presbyopic eyes demanding one with bold digits.My forever shy n reticent boy knows my passion for vintage hits ,and coyly hands me over me a SaReGaMa Caravan. Along with it, numerous pen drives loaded with Jagjit Singh's ghazals n retro songs. He has witnessed moments ,when my temper rises to boiling point,Think ,he finds this ideal to handle my mood swings and temper tantrums.Then comes my 16 yr old twin soul. She is sometimes devastatingly candid about my dowdy looks,so here she is with a Baggit hand bag. I rummage into it and find lipsticks,primer, concealer,foundation and lot of brushes.All the stuff makes me conscious of my blotchy n dull skin,age spots n pigmentation.Poor thing has splurged her pock...