Experiences..
Rashmi Shenoy
|
Click
here if you would like to Contribute or send a feedback.
Click here
to read more columns.
Rashmi Shenoy writes
for OKC in her spare time from Auckland, New Zealand. Rashmi
was born in Malleshwaram, Bangalore and lived there for the
first quarter of her life. Currently, she works as a
Marketing Communications Analyst with Marshal Software and
lives in Auckland, NZ with her husband Shiv. She writes
during her free time, generally weekends and she also also
freelances.
Who can you call as
your own?
Meera
had been widowed when she was 56. Govind, her husband had
died of a car crash a few years ago. The only solace for her
was that her four sons and a daughter were all married and
he did not really have any unfinished business left as such.
Of course he would have loved to live longer and see all
Mango trees give out some fruits… the rose garden to bloom
and what have you. Read
On
Lighting
the lamp
We’ve
always had a practice at home of lighting the oil lamp
before the Lord twice everyday. Although my father would
light it, he would demand our presence when he lit the lamp
and we would all pray together. My dad is known to be a
jovial person, a creative one at that as he used to come up
with modified sayings. He would say, “Those who pray
together stay together”. However, that was a joke… I
think. Because, a month or so after dad said that, he got
transferred to Belgaum. Then mum, my brother and me would do
the daily ritual. Read
On
Looks
are Deceptive..
I always catch a glimpse of this old man in the mornings and
afternoons. He sits out on his deck with a newspaper in his
hand on the easy chair. He used to look at me too when ever
I looked at him. After three days, I smiled at him. I
don’t know if he was shocked or embarrassed…. he was
just expressionless. I was a bit perturbed but drove away to
work. The next afternoon I smiled at him again and this time
he smiled back and waved his hand – gesturing me to go
towards him. Read
On
Namaskara
To
me "Namaskar ree" meant that some news is going to
be broadcast about some friend in the neighbourhood within
the next 8-10 mins. "Kelidra, Jagannath avr maga fail
aagbitnanthe?" "Kamalamman magalge inna
maduvene agilvanthe?" or "Subayyan sose manele
iralvanthe?" I was told it is bad manners to
listen to elders speak and would generally be shooed away
from the hall, but how could I not listen especially when
she would give us such hot gossip news. I would apparently
here my mum saying "Howda??" "Paapa alva"
or "En madodu - eegin kaalad hudgeere haage" over
the hot cup of coffee that she would brew for our rather
frequent guest. Read
On
Malleshwaram
8th cross
For
people living in Malleshwaram, it is more of a need to go to
the 8th cross than anything else. But those of you who have
never been there, I don’t know if I can say you have
missed much. Not that this is an invitation or an
encouragement either. During festivals, it can get as bad as
ever but otherwise, Malleshwaram 8th cross is a very
eye-catching place, which plays host to a lot of activities
happening there. Malleshwaram 8th cross depicts how
overpopulated India is, with more than a sizeable share of
the humans race. Read
On
Pakkadmane
avru (Folks from Neighboring Home)
With
a Bank Manager for a dad, we were traveling to a lot of
places and people as and when big boss (Dad) got
transferred. However, Bangalore was our official “base”
as we were being educated there. Moreover mum could not get
a transfer outside Bangalore. Malleshwaram was my complete
world till I was 5 years old and that is when I had
extensive experience with my neighbors. The building where
we lived had four houses out of which one was the
landlord’s house. From the four houses there were 13
children. Read
On
Click
here if you would like to Contribute or send a feedback.
Click
here to read more columns.
|