Two siblings, making their way to school on their own – the elder brother carefully holding his li’l sister’s hand and keeping her safely to the side of the road – isn’t that the cutest thing ever?

I happened to be walking right behind this beautiful duo, and couldn’t resist taking a picture. It quite made my day.

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For the week’s Thursday Challenge. The theme is ‘TWO, including People, Animals, Flowers, Pillows, Candles, Buildings, etc.

Last week, I picked up one more book in the realm of magical realism – Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate, and finished it over a couple of days. I had read several wonderful reviews for this book, and wanted to give it a shot, though it is not the kind of book that I do not usually read. Sadly, the book left me feeling disappointed and deflated.

Like Water For Chocolate is written in the form of a cookbook-cum-handy-hints-guidebook, with one chapter dedicated to each month of the year. Interspersed with recipes and home remedies, the author tells the story of Tita, a pretty young Mexican girl, a wonderful cook, who does the mistake of falling in love with a handsome man called Pedro. Tita’s falling in love is a mistake in the eyes of her mother, Mama Elena, who runs – rather controls – her household single-handedly. Mama Elena believes in giving strict instructions, and does not like it when they are disobeyed. As per family customs, Tita – being the youngest daughter in the family – is ordered to stay unwed and take care of Mama Elena till death. Much to Tita’s grief, Pedro gets married to her elder sister, Rosaura, as a last resort to stay close to Tita.

Tita loves cooking, and with time, is able to perform magic with the food that she prepares. Whatever food Tita prepares gets automatically infused with the emotions that she is going through, and these emotions, in turn, get transferred to the people who eat the food. Tita soon finds a way to communicate with Pedro secretly through the food that she cooks – magically. As a consequence of one such encounter, one of Tita’s sisters Gertrudis runs away from home, freeing herself from the tyranny of Mama Elena. This part of the story is full of drama and is thrilling; I found it fun to read. The descriptions of the food that Tita cooks are mouth-wateringly awesome.

The story progresses further when Mama Elena starts disapproving of the proximity between Pedro and Tita. And I think it is from this point onwards that I started losing interest in the story. Pedro starts being portrayed as a jealous, insecure man, so unworthy of Tita that I kept wondering why she was even in love with him in the first place. Tita is portrayed as a spineless girl, unable to decide what she wants for herself, unable to say no to Mama Elena or Pedro in spite of what they do to her. Mama Elena seems to be a perfect female version of Hitler, and I don’t think any mother would go to the extents that she did to hurt her own children. At some points, the story becomes too bizarre and weird. There is a bit of sexually explicit content in the book too, but that kind of goes with the flow of the story and does not look redundant.

I would say I didn’t enjoy Like Water For Chocolate as much as I had expected to. It was too bizarre, too weird, and too full of spineless characters for me to like it.

Have you read this book? How did you like it?

I am lucky in the sense that the OH loves dogs just as much as I do. He adores them the way I do. The funny thing is, when we were considering marrying each other, I asked the OH casually ‘Do you like dogs?’. I was thrilled when he said, ‘I LOVE them.’ If his answer had been in the negative, maybe I would have still married him, but it would have rankled a bit in my heart. I have always looked forward to selecting a puppy together with my husband, and raising him together, with our kids.

The OH and I love watching doggie movies together. I cried my heart out, and he became extremely touched watching Hachiko and Marley‘s tales on television. I think it was while reading up about Marley that I realised how friendly labradors are, and how cute lab puppies are. Since then, I have always wanted our first dog to be a labrador. I even know I want a light brown-coloured one – a bundle of energy and naughty to the core. In my heart, I have already named him: Amber. And, yes, I want a he.

I go into spasms of deliriousness thinking of the days when I will be a stay-at-home mother, a proud dog owner, walking her darling dog in the mornings and evenings. I am looking forward to the days when I will be welcomed home after a hot and flustering day with a friendly woof, big-time jumping and demanding for a ball game, and enthusiastic wagging of a long, brown tail. I believe the unconditional love that animals can give you – especially dogs – is the best kind of therapy that can keep you sane in the face of the stresses of everyday life. I look forward to feeding our dog in his own special bowl, and taking him for happy trips around the city. The husband plays along, smiling away at my madness. And, oh, I am so sure my parents and in-laws will fall in love with Amber, too.

What is stopping us from getting Amber home now, you ask? Our schedules. We both work long hours, and I can’t imagine leaving a poor dog alone, to his own resources, longing for company till we come back home, too tired to even play with him. And, no, I don’t want to leave him in a kennel while we are away. That kind of beats the whole purpose of getting a dog, no? So, here we are, dreaming away of a time when, someday, I will be at home, putting us in a position to get a dog. I eagerly look forward to that day.

I have been told that pets are difficult to handle, that they are expensive. They come in the way of your routine life. They require too much of your time and attention. I have been warned that the death of a pet could be difficult to deal with. But then, aren’t our human relationships too like that? When we don’t shy away from maintaining relationships with humans, some of whom don’t even bother to love you back, why not maintain a beautiful relationship of love with a dog?

This picture that I found on the Dog Lovers India FB page says it all:

Why this post now? I really don’t know why. I have been thinking a lot about my own dog  of late, for no reason.

I am already in love with you, Amber, and I know my husband loves you too. Come home soon. We’re waiting for you.

I would not be showing you the complete picture if I didn’t tell you about the stain on the white tablecloth. A tea stain, that refuses to go away, even after several washes, hesitant scrubbing, and attempts at dry cleaning. What?! The tablecloth is ages old, and it even has a stain? And you talk about it like it is oh-so-precious? Yuck, I can hear you saying. But wait. I am not done yet. There’s more.

I still remember the day my new husband spilt his tea on the tablecloth, a few months into our marriage. There was some cricket match on on television that day, and he was engrossed in it. ‘There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip,’ they say, and that’s just what happened on that day. Eyes transfixed on the television, the husband knocked over the morning cup of tea that I had set on the table for him. He and I looked at each other with a look of horror: he looked up from his cricket match and I from the breakfast that I was getting ready. He knows how I love that tablecloth, and he was praying (he told me later) for it to be unspoiled.

I wish I could say I had the good sense to grab the tablecloth from the table and shove it under a running tap, but that is just what I didn’t. Instead, we entered into a duel. A verbal duel. A fighting match. I hollered at him for not understanding my sentiments, for not being more careful. He tried to defend himself, apologizing profusely, stung by my bitter tears.

When I had cooled down, a half-hour later, and shut up, we realized we should have at least tried to salvage the precious tablecloth we both were fighting over. I took it to the kitchen sink and placed it under running water, but the damage was already done. A long tea stain now across one side of it, a big, stubborn stain. I was in tears again by then.

So, as I said, after several unsuccessful attempts at trying to remove the stain, I just let it be. I loved the tablecloth too much to want to relegate it to the back of the cupboard. And, God bless his heart, the husband understood. Since then, there have been many more stains on that tablecloth. I have looked at the stains many times over, and have fallen in love with them, crazy as it sounds.

The stains are familiar. They are comforting. The very sight of them makes me relax instantly. They remind me of love, of fights and making up. They remind me of the countless lunches and dinners we have had around the kitchen table – the husband and I and our children. They remind me of the countless stories that we have shared across the table, of shared secrets and pep talks and good ol’ sage advice.  The stains speak to me of a place called ‘home’.

As I look around, I realize that the tablecloth is not the only thing that is old.. and worn out. The sofa – the one we got from husband’s first big bonus – is sagging. The television has lost its clarity. The cupboard and the kitchen shelf need a fresh coat of paint. Just as the bed needs a new mattress. Or maybe we don’t need anything. Our home might not look like a page out of Good Housekeeping, but it is home all right. And isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?

And the husband and I are now old too. Worn out. Fading. But like stains, we have stories to tell, between us. We have a shared life behind us. We are comfortable together, as we are with the stains and the sagging sofa. We can’t stay apart for more than a day and not start acting cranky, though we try to deny it all the time.

Like tea stains, we spell out ‘home’ for each other.

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For ‘Tea for two (and a piece of cake) Tuesdays – 4‘, hosted by Preeti Shenoy. The prompt for this week is:  Can a relationship be like a tea-stain? Why or why not?

Source: Here

The same has been the case with Eat, Pray, Love. Long back, I borrowed the book from a friend. The story sounded very, very interesting to me, and I was extremely excited about reading the book. Strangely, I never read it!! I kept it with me for a few months, but was never able to get past the first few pages. The story was just not me. Or maybe it was so much me that I got scared. Anyhow, I gave the book back to the friend, unread. Then, last year, I bought my own copy of Eat, Pray, Love – I really don’t know why, when I had already tried to read the book and hadn’t been successful at it. It lay in my bookshelf, untouched, for over a year. Till the last weekend. I began reading the book last Sunday, on a whim, and haven’t been able to put it down since. I am hooked, completely.

I have had similar experiences with some other books as well. Even in case of so-called chick-lit books, which do not require heavy-duty reading at all!! I bought Sophie Kinsella’s Undomestic Goddess years ago, and never touched it!! Suddenly, last year, I decided to read it, and I loved it.

In a fit of enthusiasm, a couple of years back, I bought Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, and some Jane Austens. I have been gifted classics like A Tale Of Two Cities and Gitanjali, and wonderful books like Shantaram and Wings Of Fire. Sadly, all these books are still lying in my bookshelf, unread. A big, heartfelt sorry to everyone who has gifted me books that I have not yet read! In my defense, I have tried to read these books, but haven’t been able to get past the first few chapters or, in some cases, the first few pages! I really don’t know why.

Then, there have been books that I was almost desperate to read – like Lisa See’s Snowflower And The Secret Fan and Peony In Love, Kunal Basu’s The Japanese Wife And Other Stories, and Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls and Mercy. I couldn’t wait to pick up a copy of my own as soon as I came to know of these books – and this was over a year ago! I was talking non-stop to the OH about these books, and he was so happy (maybe relieved?!) when I managed to find wonderful bargains on all these books at an old books’ store. To the OH’s surprise and my own too, these books are still unread.

Then, there has been the epic Love Story by Eric Segal. I didn’t like it at all the first time I read it; I guess I was in college at that time. I re-read it last year, and LOVED it. It is so poignant, so beautiful a book that I didn’t understand why I didn’t fall in love with it the first time itself.

OK, before I bore you people to death, let me get to the point. I am unable to understand why such stuff happens. Or if it happens to you too. When I am so enthusiastic about certain books, why don’t I read them immediately? Why do some books not hold my attention at all, only to have me falling in love with them a year or so later? Does it depend on the stage of life we are passing through? Or is there just a right time to read every book?

Joanne Harris’ Chocolat was a new kind of book for me. I hadn’t read any magic realism before this, and this book being full of the sinful goodness of chocolate, felt like a good place to start. I am happy to say I wasn’t disappointed.

Chocolat is the story of Vianne Rocher – young and pretty Vianne Rocher, who dares to dream and dares to follow her dreams. She and her mother have led the life of nomads, and she doesn’t want to any more. She and her daughter Anouk (and Anouk’s imaginary rabbit friend Pantoufle) come to the tiny French village of Lansquenet on the day of the annual carnival. Vianne wants to give Anouk what she never had in her own life – a bed that she could sleep in every night and wake up every morning in – and sensing Lansquenet’s dire need for some ‘magic’, Vianne decides to settle in the village for the time being.

Vianne is an expert chocolate-maker, and opens a chocolaterie right opposite the only church in Lansquenet. This puts her at loggerheads with Francis Reynaud, Father of the church, and his allies. More and more villagers fall for Vianne’s charm and kind nature, and succumb to the infinite temptations of Vianne’s chocolate-y goodies. Francis is a religious fanatic, a strong believer in Christianity, and is someone who would not hesitate to do anything for the sake of what he believes is the ‘religious good of the society’. Vianne’s growing popularity pricks in Francis’ eyes like particles of sand, and is frustrated when all his plans to oust her from the village fail. When Vianne decides to hold a Chocolate Festival in her shop for Easter, a war begins – the war of ‘Church vs. Chocolate’. Who wins? What comes of this war? I leave that to you to find out!

I quite liked the experience of reading Chocolat. I would say it is a dark and deep story, very unusual, that goes beyond the common emotions that are covered in a story. It portrays a lot of conflicts, and is very real. Most of the characters have been painted by the author in shades of grey – even Vianne, and are not completely black or white.

I loved the author’s simple narration, and would definitely like to pick up more books by her. The plot of Chocolat is actually quite thin, in the sense that there is not much happening in terms of proper events. That said, there is a lot of portrayal of what is going on inside the minds of the characters. The story, however, does not become drab or boring at one single point. It kept me hooked till the very end.

Chocolat made me think a lot, about things I probably would not have  thought about otherwise. How much self-denial is good? How much of giving in to temptation is good? Where should one draw the middle line? Is there a solution to the crises that arise because your ‘good’ is not ‘good’ for someone else? Is it your personal happiness that is more important, or sticking to certain norms that have been formed for you? It made me think a lot about religious fanaticism, and how ruthless it can become. Sigh! This is not a book that is going to leave me soon, I can say that!

Would I recommend it? Definitely. Be prepared for some deep thinking, though, for this is no easy read. Maybe you can read it with a cup of hot chocolate by your side; it will make you crave for some chocolate for sure!

So, here goes. Some pics from our visit to the Celebrity Wax Museum at Lonavala. I LOVED the place – the statues looked SO natural!

Why visit London? Visit Lonavala instead!

Anna Hazare – coming soon!

Shivaji Maharaj

Gandhiji

Saddam Hussein

Hitler

Swami Vivekananda

Mother Teresa

MJ

Angelina Jolie

We had fun posing with each of the statues in typical Indian tourist style!

Good work, no?

Here’s what I would do:

1. The Duplicate Me (DMe) would go to work on my behalf, while the Original Me (OMe) would be busy with… well, other things. DMe would break her head over never-ending work, deadlines and KRAs, struggle with inflexible bosses and uptight colleagues. OMe would spruce up her home, decorate it till it looked like a page out of a lifestyle magazine, go for long photo walks, take off on trips whenever she wants to, adopt all the healthy life changes that she always wanted to but could never make, cook, sleep all that she wants to, and just generally be relaxed.
2. The OMe would travel the world, go to all those exotic places she always dreamt of going but could not make it due to work. The DMe would be working, so OMe wouldn’t need to worry about the expenses or leaves.
3. The OMe and DMe would do a lot of shuttling between Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Whenever OMe’s heart is in Bangalore, she would be in Bangalore. Whenever she craves for Ahmedabad, she can be there. Isn’t that super cool?!
4. The DMe can stand in queues, fill up bills, and do all that boring stuff. The OMe would do what she wants to!
5. Both the DMe and OMe would read books. So, hopefully, the problem of ‘So many books, so little time’ would get sorted to a small extent.
6. OMe would try out new food and restaurants all over the world, while DMe would diet and exercise and, basically, sweat it out!
7. Sometimes, I want to go to a certain place, but I have to be at some other place. After the DMe enters my life, she could go to all the boring places, while the OMe goes where she wants to!
8. The DMe can be at home while the OMe goes out, so that no deliveries are missed. That way, the hubby and I do not have to worry about calling a babysitter in, in future, when we go out for a date!
9. The OMe and DMe can scare people by appearing in two places at the same time. *Evil laughter*
10. I always have a problem with surprising the hubby on our anniversary and his birthday. I am usually unable to buy anything for him without his knowledge. With the DMe’s appearance, that problem would be solved!

It is quite an interesting concept, isn’t it – having an alternate ‘me’ who can act on behalf of me?

What would you do if you got a duplicate you?