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Merey hissey ka aasma

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  The swimming pool in our society is nestled between two residential towers. Thus while you are in the swimming pool, only a small piece of the sky is visible …Merey hissey ka aasma, as I call it. This little piece of sky is the most fascinating palette of my swimming regime and backstrokes gradually became my favorite. The view of this little piece of sky has an amazing calming effect. Birds, butterflies and insects of various hues and sizes busily busy with their morning chores, crisscrossing that little piece of my sky, gives meaning to every lap that I take. The most fascinating part are the contrails and the aircrafts that fly by at different heights and of different make. At times they even appear as white dots floating by. Mostly, I loose count of them. Gradually I have realized that I come to the pool more for this little piece of sky... rather than for any other health benefits or whatever. But one fine day, although the birds and the butterflies continued to b...
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PURRRR...Ple

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  In 2019, when my husband got posted to Shillong, my happiness knew no bounds.... not because that we both would again fall into the category of being happily married for the fourth time, but because of the exotic location to which he was going...Assam Rifles Headquarters, Laitkor. The campus was out of the postcard place and my husband's NEST as he would call it was stationed at the highest point of the camp overlooking a lake, a 18 hole golf range and cherry blossom trees. Covid hit in 2020, but I still managed to visit North East quite a number of times, and out of the innumerable things that we got to experience there, one dish that caught rather gripped my attention was the PURPLE PUDDING . It not only looked heavenly, it tasted heavenly too. Inevitably the very first time I tasted this at a dinner party, I literally could not stop but wonder about this dish till the time I got to meet the cook and hear about it all from him. So here it goes. The purple kheer is made from Bla...
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The TWITTER Stitch

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We the girls, till the sixties and seventies, grew up learning and mastering embroidery. It was actually the need of the hour, I guess.  During those times, it was indeed the best hobby to nurture.  It gave vent to creativity.  It greatly helped young girls to complete their Home Science and other subject projects and in many a case it became a requirement for good marriage alliances and for a matter of pride trousseau thereafter (Thankfully was saved from this at least)..  Many a long time friendships blossomed under the pretext  of sharing and learning during these embroidery sessions.  These sessions became the source of happy get togethers specifically for housewives, when with all their household chores taken care of and with plenty of leisure time available till evening, when their spouses would be back home, this was indeed gratifying.  In an age of no social media, human media was the best media available then.  Many young girls during tho...
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THE JOURNEY BACK HOME.

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  Circa: 2002 Place: Bareilly My daughter then eight and my son then three were going to a good school in Bareilly. Me as a mother of two was self-contended. One fine day, my husband who was at that time posted at Mirthi, came home on his usual visit. Suddenly while having his hot sizzling paratha blurted out lovingly... "Till when will you lead your life as Ms Mukhopadhyay ? Soma bano." With a B. Ed degree in hand, the next day we hopped from one school to another. And as luck would have it, after 11 years of marriage, I walked through the corridors of a reputed school of Bareilly and my journey as Soma started. Circa:2003 Place: Chandigarh We moved to a place near Chandigarh in 2003.Both my children got admitted to Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh and I again got happy being Ms Mukhopadhyay. But as luck would have it. There came up a vacancy of an Assistant teacher in the Pre Primary wing in the school where my kids were studying. So here again goes Soma ...
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'TOTTO DAALA'....bana daala

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                                         I always take pride in being a Bengali. Bongi, is what my dear friends call me in Punjab with love (pyaar naal), which in fact makes my love for my lineage grow stronger, sharper and sweeter. The rich cultural heritage that Bengalis boast of... indeed needs a salute. One such event where you can get a glimpse of our rich heritage is during our marriages. .  Bengali marriages are to be experienced to understand and to respect the richness of the culture, which I always talk about fondly. It's nothing but a display of art and culture of the state. Starting from the mandap to everything about the bride and the groom, is artistically executed and presented. TOTTO (trousseau decoration and presentation) is where the brides family and the grooms family literally scuffle... ‘ Yeh kahey mera dekh, toh woh kahe mera.’ Various kinds of trays in...
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Trunk Tales

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Every trunk has a tale to tell...  Trunks are an integral part of  all those who serve the country in uniform.Hopping from one station to another, these black boxes are no less than the ones that are found in airplanes.Hidden in it are innumerable tales that they safely safeguard.  They usually tend to retire as one retires..  But the lady wives have this strange devotion to these metal storage systems and try whole heartedly to conserve them till their last breadth..if not all, then at least a few.  ....in the process take pain to make it a part of their living rooms by some quirky DIY's ;) or whatsoever.  Here is mine.. Adorning the centre stage of our living room is one of those black boxes, to which I was introduced to when I joined my husband at Dehradun after marriage.The tough got tougher as it took us from one station to another. First the two pair of hands that banged it open and shut gradually became four.. But it never relented. From the unifor...
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