Rashmi's Space

The schools would’ve given the timetable for the term-end examination and studies would’ve started in earnest. Monsoon would be well into its second full month, and there would be frequent showers, accompanied with strong winds. Afternoons would pass doing homework in the muggy weather, with tube lights on in the living room to battle the darkness and gloom brought on by the rainy days. I can still smell the petrichor mingled with the fresh Camel Ink I would fill in my pen to write with… And in the middle of all this, would come one festival, that made all this bearable and more – the Gauri Ganapati festival! Celebrated with aplomb in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai. Weeks before the actual arrival of Ganapati Bappa, preparations would begin at home. It would all start with visiting a shop (the same shop for ages!) to pick out the Ganesha idol we would eventually bring home. And then would start the cleaning of the house from top to bottom. Sweets would be prepared, fruit...

I am on vacation this week. Okay, strictly speaking, my little one has school holidays and I am at Mum's; having a wonderful time despite working from home! Travelling over the weekend, I was totally stressed about the work week and how I was going to manage work and meet my deadlines. The only blessing was that I knew I wouldn't have to worry about my little one during this time. But I also knew I would be working through the week, much to my parents' dismay. But then again, what choice do we worker bees have! And so it was that the Monday morning dawned after Christmas. After my brother left for his work, me and my little one had breakfast with Mum and Dad; and then, even as they were still chatting, updating me on the status of my various cousins and aunts and uncles, trading latest wedding gossip and generally bringing me up-to-date on the family trivia, my little one got busy sketching and I fired up my laptop. I could see the sadness on Mum's fa...

It was raining heavily. What had begun as a little drizzle yesterday had turned into a steady rainfall by night. Today had dawned bleak and grey, and there were reports of flooding in most low lying areas of the city. This was precisely why Nysa was forced to stay at home today. Might as well , she thought; as the water droplets rolled down her bay window. I better make the most of this forced shut-down she thought. I’ll check out the box today, she decided. She was supposed to clean out a box of memorabilia sent to her by her cousin last week. Her grandmother had passed away last month and this box contained the items she had left Nysa. She went into the spare bedroom to retrieve the box her cousin had sent her. The first thing that caught her eye, was the name “Auwa” written in bright red marker by her cousin. The word meant ‘mother’ in Kannada, and Nysa remembered her grandmother had always been called Auwa – by her children and by her grandchildren too. Looking at...