Journeys

Bullet Practice

Blogging is trying hard to nudge itself into a permanent slot on my busy schedule. 10 weeks of thinking hard,clicking pictures in that amazing camera or writing word pictures, drafting sentences in my head, reading responses and remarks–blogging has so much going for it! I can easily carve some time out of Facebook surfing/ Spider Solitaire playing/ aimless online drifting and put it to blog use.

Whats stopping me? Bullets….that’s what stopping me these days. Knitting, grooming doggies, re-arranging home, chasing my fast receding commitment levels–they are also coming in the way. But its these bullets and their completely unpredictable behavior online which have taken the cake. Btw, nothing succeeds like cake recipes..more on that later!

My brilliant friend and web-designer has been the brain behind this blog. We have been friends for ever, and in spite of long gaps in our bonding, we have excellent telepathy, affection and other positive stuff between us. I have been howling about the bullets over every avenue of communication, and she has finally sent me “the bullet instructions for Dummies”.

Today,I am focusing on random bullet practice. Random thoughts and orderly bullets..the yin and yang of blogging..so here goes!!Lets begin with the day…. a few showers of rain, some more showers of horse-chestnut flowers, lots of thunder and noise and three soaked morning walkers.
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Early morning rain caught us unawares in the forest. Thunder clouds were being nudged into formation, lightning was cleaving the dawn sky and the wind was whipping up the pine carpet, but I was so sure that it was all noise and no substance! Ah well, getting soaked in the rain has its special charm too.

  • …Yippee!! I did it! this bullet seems to have aligned itself the right way…the final proof of course, in on publishing this, but I am hopeful now..keeping fingers crossed.
  • My little Biskit is growing old this year.
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  • Till last year, she would follow Hema all over the house and supervise her dusting and sweeping, check the forest for monkeys in a decidedly compulsive way, sniff the kitchen shelves when no one was looking, and follow me for some tummy and ear scratching. These days, I find her curled up quietly beside me, breathing gently and just watching the world go past. Food is loosing it’s charm for her, and as long as the monkeys refrain from our balcony, she wishes them well. It feels good to have her peaceful rhythm touching me and to know that her gentle eyes are watching me. But then, ever so often, I have to focus on the joy of having her today with me, instead of thinking about the time when she will become a memory.
  • Food is the mainstay of life. and nothing brings on readers like food. How else can I explain the huge numbers of blog viewers for the cake recipe? Musings on knitting and living bring in less than a quarter of the foodie readers who dropped in on this website! ah well… we can do without hand-knits, we can do without home-grown wisdom, we can do without hamlet stories, but there is no life without chocolate cake.
  • I have re-arranged the living room.
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    This is the work of my usually-recessive-but-totally-dominant-service kid-genes, which emerge regularly alternate years. Growing up in an Army family meant shifting every two or three years.  One shifts schools, friends, homes, books, food and everything else in-between. Its tough on childhood, but over the years, one learns to keep moving, to keep making new friends and to keep finding one’s feet. Service kids are smart and adept at adapting. Success stories by the million. For me, its about this need to shift things around and rearrange my living space..every two years.

  • The dining table has its back to the TV and I know my daughters are going to kill me for this!
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    Savoring a meal cooked with care and love, under the benign eye of Lord Jaganath ( a foodie God to the core), TV turned off or muted to allow some conversation– I think its been a good move!

  • The Army has taken the onus of providing dramatic entertainment today, complete with background music, staccato commands and blood-curdling yells.
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    The band practices its songs, the national anthem, marching tunes and the bugle call. Men march smartly, shout loudly and parade goes on. I have to tear myself away from all this and work at my laptop.

  • Pepper is not impressed with the Army show. she would rather wait for some one to play with water. Every day, at 9 am, Pepper trots out into the world and settles down near the garden tap.
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    She waits for her playmates–drivers cleaning cars, gardener Kundan watering plants, singing Saawali mopping floors–the common factor is water from the tap. There is no point in yelling at her, or dragging her home by her collar. She will return at noon, when her hungry tummy makes louder  noises than the splish-splash-sploosh of water.

  • I have written an entire blog post with lots of bullets and with very little knitting!! Cheers!! there is hope in the air!!

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