May, the month which brings every aspect of summer into life…from early dawn grey skies, to pine needles showering down on brown hill slopes, to busloads of tourists with selfie inclinations, and long car processions winding down the roads to bring a bride home.
Its the month when I am found sitting in this balcony on many a summer day, watching bright birds and hungry goats trying to attack the new shoots on the walnut sapling which defies winter to grow a few inches every summer.
But this May, when I have been totally silent,here’s what has been happening behind this quiet space…
- Two trips to Delhi…undertaken with trepidation and a bit of dread ( the heat, the crowds and the rest), but what a good time was had! A few hours with my daughter, before she would vanish into her world of friends and chats and life. Some conversations with Baba, interrupted by me insisting that his hearing aid should be in place before I launch into a long monologue. Good times with my beloved sisters, who ply me with my favourite food, listen carefully to my ideas and make me feel blessed.
- Ah-ha moments with purple Jacaranda and golden Silver Oak trees on the hill roads, hello-again moments with glowing yellow Amaltas and orange GulMohar trees lining the familiar roads of Delhi and keeping me company while I moved through traffic and waited for space to savour the drive.
- Sheepish smiles and feeling-like-a-complete-ass after rushing down to Delhi with the beloved Mac which refused to get charged in Ranikhet. One fine day, there was no charging happening, and, after trying out the chargers of all my friends using Mac Laptops, I had to zip down to the Apple store in Delhi. The suave young man at the counter takes the Mac, pokes the socket with a thin finger and fished out…..a stapler pin. That was it! The charger began working perfectly again, and I am thinking how I can never go back to that store again after being a noisy, nervous, worried customer who hadn’t seen a stapler pin in its wrongful place!
- Our shawls, cowls and mufflers are now on display and sale at the Kumaon Regimental Centre shop! Situated inside a beautiful old church building, with weavers clacketing and clicketing their trade, this shop features on every tourist itinerary. We spent a week tagging and listing our items, and it was a happy day when Deepa and me hauled our large packets to the shop, and watched the staff exclaiming over the quality of the knitting and the names given to each product. The best part?…when a smart shop man looked at our list, took out his pen, said ” you people don’t know simple spellings!”, struck off the word “Autumn ” from this item and scrawled “OTUM” as the right spelling!
- Dog day afternoons and evenings, every day, keep me happy and covered with dog hair. Four dogs are spending May with me and I wouldn’t like to have it any other way. Its their presence, their vivacity and those adoring eyes which lift up spirits to a good high. From the rose skies of dawn to the orange and pink clouds around the setting sun, the dogs are taking it all in with me.
- And what about knitting?! that’s for another post!
Today, I have sat myself down and kept the evening fix of TV out of reach.
Today, I have spent time reading Chapter 10 of my personal bible, “Women Who Run With Wolves”..its the book which has the magical intuition of knowing which chapter to fall open to, when I take it out of the shelf and reach inside for the wisdom which my day needs.
Today, I have watched old friends signing the sale deed for a cottage in the mountains and I have wondered when and if the mountain magic will come to them.
Today, it has been a good day.