the weekend that was....

i am a ‘mashi’ once again - S gave birth to a baby boy this morning! Her husband called me up some time back to pass on the good news. i talked to S but she sounded groggy so i told her to get some rest and i will get back to her later. She told me the baby has my colouring. i am so happy for her! Like i said before, she will make a very good mother. She asked me to come over to Bangalore and have a look at the kid. S is like a sister to me. She is so different from me – very feminine, god-fearing, can never say ‘no’ to anyone and ‘bhodro’ down to her toes! She is the one who helped me master Bengali and appreciate Rabindra sangeet. My sister says i have very few friends but the ones i have are the kind who are willing to die for me – we are that close! S is one of them. And i love her.

The long weekend – i didn’t even have a chance to take an afternoon nap which is one thing i look forward to on a holiday. Friday was hectic – we did some cleaning around the house, went shopping for diyas, sweets and flowers. i made the first alpana of my life – we made it together. Then we lit the diyas (we ran out of ghee so we used mustard oil!!) and candles on the balcony – rushed down to take pictures! Then we went to the neighbour’s place with sweets – his idea, rather his mother’s idea. We went up on the terrace and watched the fireworks. i was planning on making jalebis for him but i didn’t . We made do with the stuff we bought and the sweets i got from my office. i don’t have much of a sweet tooth – i cannot or rather would not have more than one sweet at a time. But he loves sweets esp. soan papdi.

We went to visit the new place under construction – it would be complete by March next. It is about 20 minutes away from my office but would be about an hour or so from my place. We have booked two 2-bedroom flats and now we are wondering whether we should just merge the two and have a big 3-bedroom place with a bigger kitchen and bathrooms. The brickwork is not done yet so we have the option of making the modifications we want.

We went car-seeing on Saturday. Since our earlier plan was to fly the coop, he had dispatched his santro to Imphal. Now we are searching for a suitable car. He wants a Honda CRV but it is so expensive. Since we are not too sure about our plans i thought it would be better to buy a cheaper car so we would not have any qualms if we had to leave it here in case our plans take us overseas. i didn’t like the i10 – it does not do anything for me. But the new version of Getz looked OK to me so i was telling him maybe we should go for that. We also explored the option of buying a certified pre-owned (a better term for second hand!) car though i am not too keen about it. i mean, unless we are careful, we might end up with a car that would cost us quite a fortune in maintenance Maybe we will end up buying a Maruti 800! That would be fun. Or a rickshaw or maybe a tractor. Or a bicycle. Or maybe just stick to the ol’ faithful legs!

Yesterday, we were invited to bachou’s place for ‘ningol chakouba’. Emaibem is one of the best cooks i have known and we were looking forward to a great feast. And we were not disappointed. We were quite late – he took time getting ready, changing umpteenth shirts, asking me if he should wear this or that –the peacock! We had ilish (esp. for me!), baul mach (sareng), cauliflower, dal and singju. i, being a glutton, stuffed myself till i could hardly move. We decided to skip dinner and had tea and leftover kelichana. And i felt so hungry today that i called up the canteen at 12 and asked them when they were planning to serve lunch – much to S’ amusement! He said i must have overstuffed myself at lunch yesterday just so to save the money for dinner!

Bachou’s place is like a second home to me. i love spending time with them. Bachou is one of the most erudite persons i have known. He is the one who has inculcated in me the love of the written words, genetics, logical thinking and crosswords. i remember him teaching me chemistry and maths when he used to come to Imphal. Of course, we always argue – he thinks i am like a 5 year old because i watch cartoons with such glee! Emaibem is an elegantly soft-spoken person and she is like a mother figure to me. In a way, i am lucky. i am surrounded by such nice people. You would think some of their niceties would rub off on me but hard luck! i remain as refreshingly evil as ever!