Khatte Mithe Pal Jeevan ke, nostalgia, experiences, family, humour

              Anushka was sitting with the ring in her hands. She had become so upset that she had almost forgotten her achievement which was once her greatest dream. The celebrations going on in the family for her passing the Civil Services exam seemed to be insipid to her. The centre of her thoughts today was Ishan, whom she was missing badly.  They both had always maintained that although they were engaged, there was no love between them. She started thinking about the strange way in which she had agreed to marry Ishan.              Anushka had developed a liking to her classmate Parikshit while doing graduation. Her family had also agreed for her marriage to him, who was a rich man. But few days before the engagement, Parikshit refused to marry Anushka on the pretext of huge disparity in the status of their families. Anushka was devastated. Her family was also cursing her for being in a relationship ...

The title of the contest left me immersed in my thoughts for some time, “Do we really need to go further to get closer?” At first I dismissed the idea of writing on the subject as I thought closeness is not dependent on the location. But as I lay on my bed in my nocturnal dialogue with myself amidst the background music of snoring of my husband, I started pondering over as to how the family vacations away from home affected the relationship of family members. Even if you think holidays can bring you closer, why you need to go further? After all, a holiday is a holiday. I understood soon as I recalled family holidays to our parental home or attending a family function like wedding. Visits to hometown means socializing with the relatives and friends who your children would find as extinct as dinosaurs. Your mother/mother- in- law (tick whichever is applicable) would chalk out your plan for visiting chachii, mausiji, mausaji ki bahan ke devrani etc.etc. Though you are not at all k...

In my previous blog, I talked about my cooking disaster of baigan ki sabzi. The next incidence in the series happened when I was newly married, and used to stay with my in-laws at Shimla. The cooking was done by my mother-in-law with the help of servant. Being a responsible Gr A Govt Officer, I was exempted from cooking, asI was left with very little time, after office hours, which I spent in roaming around in Mall Road at Shimla, accompanying my husband. Before marriage, I had learnt enough cooking to cook a decent full course meal, but had never dared to cook anything in the presence of my mother-in-law for the fear of spoiling it. I soon got a chance to cook when both my in-laws were out of station, and on a Sunday, the servant proceeded on leave. Apart from cooking a conventional dinner, I decided to surprise my husband and two brothers-in-law with my excellent culinary skills. I decided to make “ Atte Ka Halwa” , as I had successfully cooked it once or twice before marriage u...