Week 27, Monday to Sunday, June 30th to July 6th
Did I miss writing last week? I
feel so. This week has been long.
Happy Birthday to me. On July 1st.
We never celebrate (Except few years, at college, between friends). But I get
gifts. Sujay, Appa, Amma, Kaka, Samartha, Ajji, all my chikkammas and their
kids wished me, also few closest dear friends. I am blessed to have all of them
who wish me not because of Facebook reminders (I don’t have a FB account either).
We are determined not to celebrate Dhruva’s birthday, and not to take him to
any birthday celebrations. But blessings, wishes, hugs and kisses, YES.
Last week our home was buzzing with women labourers, who had come for dehusking areca. They took a leave for two days – to celebrate ‘Ardra habba’. Ardra is basically a nakshatra, which falls during the rainy season according to Hindu astronomy. It runs for around 15 days in mid June (This year was from June 21st to July 4th), marked by heavyyyy rainfall. Locals celebrate this as a festival, so labourers took a leave. I missed talking to them, answering their vague questions. I had learnt one of them knows basket weaving. So, when they came back, I pestered them to teach me how to weave. We tried making a square basket from areca leaf sheath. It turned out cute!
It rained plenty this year too, like last year. I like rains. Going to school in this heavy rain, on scooter, wearing raincoat and helmet has become an adventure. A risky adventure. I keep humming some good songs while riding, Keeping myself busy for half an hour of ride to the school. I will be totally exhausted and drenched as I come back home. But teaching is satisfying.
Eating seasonal is on the peak. Boiled
peanuts, barbequed corn, Jack seeds spicy sambar, Colocasia Patrode, jackfruit
kadabu, Spinegourd Podi, of course Mango rasayani. I wrote a short blog on that,
read here.
This week I had prepared Pao
Bhaji and Baby corn Manchurian. Ending with only ME eating; Concluding street
foods can’t be made at home And all YouTube tutorials don’t work (BTW I can
make good food now, blame is not on me).
This weekend we had been to our
‘Kula Devaru’, ‘Shri Shantika Parameshwari’ of ‘Hegde’. My late ajji had a ‘harake’ of Dhruva’s
‘Tula-Bhara’ with coconut (Kula Devaru is a family god, each family is assigned
a devata which the ancestors had been worshipping from decades; Harake is a
favour that one has asked from God, On the fulfilment of which you owe back something;
Tulabhara, is a practice where a person is weighed against a commodity,
and an equivalent weight of that commodity is donated to temple - I don’t know
the English word for all this).
This place is in the coastal
Karnataka, where lies my paternal home. All my paternal and maternal relatives
are residing here. And of course, my ‘Ishta devata’ Shri Shantikambe (my chosen
deity, with whom I feel the strongest personal connection and devotion). I
often go to the place, every time I go my heart overfills with joy. Though I didn’t
go to the beach this time.
I wrote an article on arecanut carving. This artform I had seen when I visited ‘Kalabhoomi Crafts Museum’ in Bhubaneshwar. I was excited to learn such an art exists. The article got accepted at ‘Adike Patrike’ a monthly magazine on agriculture. Also find the blog article here.
I took a ‘Cultfit home’ pass. It
was not necessary to get one. As they are many Zumba videos freely available on
YouTube. Yet I took it for the reason that I would workout for the money I
spent, on a serious note. I have started attending the dance classes. They are
good. But I needed more bolly songs.
No plans for the next week.
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