Sweet October, November... and there after

moms,


   October started off with a bang! and a bang! it is. There i was sitting in my house trying to study for this impending test ... and bam! some one told me something that made me sigh so heavily. Happy, missing, sad, laughter, relief, clarity, loneliness ... all these emotions came out at once. I just wanted to jump up and scream and shout. It took me a while to sink in. It still has not completely sunk in. At this moment, I know only this ... you will be very happy hearing it.


   That's one part. The other is that I had another big ass test some time ago. I was studying for it and couldn't for one second not think about how we used to study. Not one semester have I studied for examinations alone. I come to your house in the afternoon... 
me and your mother will try hard to wake you up...
then aunty will give up saying "nodappa yeLode illa avnu"...
and i'll quietly sit in the room reading newspaper...
and then you'll wake up...
sit and talk for a while...
have breakfast in the afternoon... i regret how many yummy joLad rotti i have said no to!!
finally its time for study
study until lunch time ....
bat for one whole hour at the dining table...
discussing politics, college gossip, this generation's music vs old hindi songs...
back to the room to study...
and at precisely at 4.00 pm i'll sneeze...
this will indicate that we need to pull the curtains... 
and then aunty will get khara with super filter coffee...
u pick up the mandolin, i pick up a pencil...
u start playing crazy tunes while i give you the beats... (using coffee glass, table, book and pretty much anything that makes a thud or a ding noise)...
after our brief orchestra ... its time to study again...
evening sessions used to be so productive...
and at the end... we call-up ppl to see their status...
some new strategies, some new realisations...
plan for the next day... 
and u drop me off at the bus stop... 
on the way to the bus stop, we go on discussing the spoils of the semester, others mindsets, and why some people only call during examinations, why doesn't pavan want to join in on our study, why is preetham like he is... 
on on and on we go until the conductor of the last 15C to leave Kumarswamy layout bus stop blows a whistle.


 I used to leave everyday knowing that I'll come back. Come back to still find you sleeping at 12:30 in the afternoon, and I have to pull push the blanket ... just to see your sleepy face and hear u say "moms 1 more hour moms... and i'll be fresh."


 Funny how all these are only memories. But sometimes I feel you are still sleeping somewhere with a blanket covered until your head ... waiting for me to come and wake you up. Each day I curse myself for not ditching that company and come to see you a month earlier. Each day I curse myself for not applying to a university somewhere closer to Raleigh. Each day I sleep thinking how the times would be had you been there to receive me at the airport. There is still so much to learn from you... I just only barely scraped the surface. Moms ... where are you ??


Chetu.