Why I Write

I write because
                    I see...
I write because
                    I feel...
I write because
                    thoughts wander in my mind,
                    and tend to slip away
                    far into the oblivion
                    and I want them to stay..
I write to play with the stray thoughts
                     and string them together..
                     and weave a quilt,
                     warm and comforting,
                      a fabric,unique and so -me .
Or, perhaps I write merely because,
                      when my name and I , cease to exist..
                      my words will still remain,
                      for someone on this earth
                      to remember me and cherish,
                      even as they read..
                   
This is my response to this week's prompt on Write Tribe- Why I write
                           

                                                    

Sanjha- Chulha by and for the Blogeshwaris.

Indiblogeshwari forum -A significant part of me, turns a year old and it is celebration time!
This is a Sanjha - Chulha for women from all walks of life. Sanjha chulha for the uninitiated , has been an old tradition in rural Punjab where women gather to cook in a huge tandoor which they share with their neighbours .Women shared much more than food around these community stoves.They shared their grief and their joys . IB is pretty much the same for us, albeit virtual.What is cooked here is unbelievably interesting.The basic ingredient ( read- a random post) is provided by one woman from somewhere across the world and the flurry of activity has to be seen to be believed ! Food for thought is always more in supply  than the demand so there are simple and exotic  ingredients thrown in for good measure from all over the world by hyper excited bunch of women and the final dish turns out to be beyond anybody's imagination ! We can start a discussion from a book review and end it with dadi ma ka nuskha for acne !  The tandoor of this sanjha chulha is hot 24x7 and apart from fresh bread and what not being baked here ,what radiates in abundance from the chulha  is warmth...and it is never in short supply.If you think the ladies do not indulge in leg pulling and the vessels are not flying around all over the place,you are hugely mistaken .You just do not hear the sound! Suddenly, during a tu-tu-main-main, someone mentions something interesting about a handsome hunk and the delicate  fingers begin a mavali dance on the keyboards. Talk about one liberated group and you don't need to look any further.
The young and the old mingle here freely to exchange thoughts-kabhi gossip kabhi wisdom ! I have spent few of my most memorable afternoons with Vinita,Corinne and Janaki ,three key members of the IB gang.Thanks to them, I got  my ROFLMAO days back after I last experienced those while  in college.
'The Elusive One ' was the prompt given at the beginning of the month by the principal of IB college .I do not wish to be introduced to the vikral-avatar of lady Vinita Bahl ,so here I am back on my laptop after a month to blog about my elusive one.
Come April and my house helps, all three of them vanished for a long vacation. My daily grind and housework woes is not the subject matter of this post ,so you can relax and continue to read further :)
-I explored hidden corners in my own house and found stuff which I had forgotten completely about. Some things were found tied neatly inside a polythene bag  and placed beneath the old printer .To think that the said object was on my priority 'to buy' list.
 -I found so many wires and cables that if I lay them end to end ,I can connect it to a laptop as far as  inside the airport lounge.
- I opened another polythene bag and the next few minutes were spent saving my head from crazy balls flying and bouncing crazily all around.I also realized that it was that simple to make my family laugh!!
-I found ALL my butterfly clips ! I do not need to mention here that they were part of another treasure in yet another plastic bag.
(The list is still under construction ...)
I realized that my  full day house help had been stuffing things inside plastic bags all over the house, behind ,under and over the cupboards and lofts.All this, in the name of dusting and cleaning !What she thought was unimportant,promptly got stuffed and kept out of our sight and beyond  our reach.
What I did next was to take leave from work ,make sure that Hobbs and son were lost  in an interesting gadget exhibition for the whole day and then perform the most difficult task of throwing the unwanted stuff out of the house. The stuff was sorted and the objects that were out of sight for more than three months and were not missed ,were discarded. The Raddiwala was called on the sly and was instructed to take it all away as fast as he could. My home had lost a lot of weight and pleased as a punch on a great mission being successfully accomplished,I sat down with a cup of kadak chai .That is when Hobbs and son rang the doorbell.
The wires ,the non functional old printer and the broken Gameboy had found their way back home with the duo. Sigh!!
What I decided after this whole episode is that I ought to reduce my dependency on the house helps .Every now and then, from now on,I do this one job and many other odd ones around the house ,myself. I can not function without helps but I will definitely not lean on them completely. Your best wishes will be more than welcome :)

100 words On Saturday - Your Call

Endless wait stretched for days .Her life back home was waiting for her.She had been informed about three weeks back and she flew down as soon as she could, to fulfil her duty .Did she have to?No ! Did he deserve it? Not at all!

A decade ago,she had left it all behind,his maddening rage,abuse and the marriage.

 He met his match in a disgruntled servant who smashed his master's skull in a fit of rage.He lay in the hospital bed on life-supports.

A shrill ring and a voice -"Your call madam.....the hospital". 

                                             

                             

Quiet Communication--100 Words on Saturday.

Did you say something ? I felt it in silence and we shared that silence .

Your unspoken words  have that  power to reach out .

They find ways to convey  they have messengers ,able and eager, to help them in this endeavour. 

Little gestures ;  tilt of the head ,narrowed  eyes, hands folded  or lips forming a smile....they all speak.

It may take a while for my eyes to linger longer, to meet your eyes but I will learn.

In this cacophony of sounds and words ,there is space for the unspoken. To hear the sound of  'quiet ' will take some time.

                                  

                                           

Z---Zooming in

     
                                     


         Zooming in at this nook
where soft drizzle of words pooled in
         this is my Zen moment

                                                   

                                                        

                                                                           
                                                                     
The above attempted lines are dedicated to our own nook ..our nukkad or adda where jab bhi we met, it rained words.. This is my Zen moment as I successfully complete the challenge with your support and appreciation. Thank you all for dropping by,reading me and supporting me :)




                                                                           

       
     
                                                         

Y---Yeralti Sehri

Yeralti Sehri is an amazing underground city in Derinkuyu province ,Cappadocia ,Turkey. The inhabitants of the region took shelter in this city from the raids of Arab armies. In Byzantine times it contained a full complex of food stores,kitchen,stables,schools,churches ,wells, wine and oil presses and much more. The underground city had a total of 13 level subdivisions spread over eight main levels. The total depth is 85meters under the ground with many shafts opening at the ground level.It had the capacity of accommodating around 20,000 people at a time.
The city aptly translated as 'dark well' ,is the largest known example of troglodyte living in Cappadocia. Eight of the levels are open to public ,with the lowest level at the depth of 54m ( 177ft).

                                    Planning of the underground city...
                     
                       
Vents doubled up as entrances as well as ventilators for the city. There are numerous vents that open up to the ground above .
                                       This is how the vents look like ...
                                             
                               

                       Various tunnels open up into numerous interconnected chambers.

We were told that this was the school in the olden times ,where scholars  conducted their classes .

The young tour guide played a prank on us.. He dared us to enter the small narrow tunnel (in pic below),and warned us that it was extremely dark and claustrophobic inside.Unable to resist the dare, I entered through one of the openings and within seconds came out of the other  :D

 This tunnel felt like it would never end. Thankfully, it was one of those few which had lights to guide us. One constant thought that stayed with me was that if I were a few more inches than my present frame,I would probably have stayed on top and not have ventured below. It was thrilling to go deeper and deeper down,exploring the underground levels but by the time we reached about 54m it was scary .It was amazing that we did not experience lack of oxygen even at the lowest permissible floor.Various vents maintained ventilation at the levels. I have to admit that the climb while on our way back ,required will power..a lot of it !

   
                   

Those rare moments when I am glad that I am vertically challenged !! The tunnels were much less than five feet in height and even I had to bend ! This gentleman had to double up..
                                             

 There was light at the end of this tunnel ....

Saddened to see that miscreants and love birds did not think twice before damaging this heritage !
                                             
                                       

W--Witch,Wicked Woman

Ever since I saw the film Ek Thi daayan, I have been thinking a lot about witches .Loosely used ,The word witch would mean a wicked woman or so I thought until I read that all witches are not wicked and all wicked women are not witches. Now since this fact is almost sorted,I feel a little relieved because I have been hiding a wicked woman inside me for a long time. Under normal circumstances,this lady is in a  comatose state sleeping in the deepest strata of my subconscious. Very rarely though,some mortals succeed in shaking her up from her deep slumber.One of the many occasions ...

 I was waiting for the lift with my sister in law .The lift was coming up and we saw a man inside who in turn ,saw us waiting .He went up while we girls got busy chatting.We could hear the lift singing the irritating tune "Kripaya darwaza bund karein....kripaya daar bunda karaa...please close the door " in the loop.We could also hear a man laughing and chatting with someone on the top floor,obviously keeping the lift door open. Good  eight minutes later ( we did count !!) the lift came down , but the guy had his back towards us.Ready- to- punch- his- face- but- controlling- our- anger ,-that was our state. Can you believe that he did not stop at our floor ? Now THIS was an insult !We pressed and held on to the lift button with our dear lives....

Within minutes,the lift brought him up to our floor.

He- ???

We-????????

We entered the lift, I excused myself , made an exit, kept the lift door open, gave a shout out to someone imaginary on the floor, asked myself  aloud  if I had forgotten something ,checked the door of my house by hanging on to it and then re entered the lift.

He-!!!

We-!!!!!!!!

By the way we both were in perfect sync ,there was no scripting required and it was all impromptu.

Wicked ? Oh yeah !

It is beyond the scope of this post to illustrate all the wicked / witch moments experienced in this lifetime so I would like to throw this question to you instead. If you have no answers to  this question,you belong to the Himalayas.

What /who brings out the wicked person  in you ?