ऋणानुबंध

 मी पुणेकरांची कधी कधी चेष्टा करते किंवा पुण्याशी संबंधित विनोदांवर हसते पण मला त्या शहराशी असलेला माझा खरा संबंध माहीत आहे. हे एक मोठे शहर आहे जिथे मला जीवनाचे सर्वात मोठे धडे मिळाले, काही खास मैत्रिणी आणि माझ्या शैक्षणिक पदव्या मिळालेल्या. उच्च शिक्षणाच्या प्रवासात मला कठोर शिक्षक, माझ्या क्षेत्रातील सर्वोत्तम संधी आणि माझी वैज्ञानिक उद्दिष्टे प्रकट करण्यासाठी एक व्यासपीठ मिळाले. मला साधी राहणी आणि उच्च विचारसरणीची काही माणसे भेटली आणि या शहराने मला कोलम रांगोळ्यांची कला भेट दिली. मी नाशिक विरुद्ध पुणे किंवा मुंबई विरुद्ध पुणे या विनोदी वादात सामील असू शकते, परंतु मला माहित आहे की मला  सतत पुण्याची आठवण येते, मला ते शहर आवडते आणि ते माझ्यासाठी दुसर्‍या घरासारखे आहे (पहिले, अर्थात नाशिक).

Exhale and Let Go

 

Sun was setting and my phone beeped. There was a message from my junior college teacher, Mrs. Seema that one of our teachers had passed away and that there was a prayer ritual in the society hall. I decided to go with a hope of meeting all other teachers under a common roof. I stepped inside the hall, all the teachers were sitting on the chairs and on the stage were the family members of late teacher Shree. One by one people came and expressed their thoughts heartfully on the stage. When I was a student, teacher Pummy and teacher Seema had high ego issues and they never went along well professionally. It had been a few years they had retired and today was the day when they would be seeing each other face to face after a long time. Otherwise, fire would pass between them and they say ego hikes on the mountain of success. Just then the prayers ended and I stepped out of the hall just to see an unexpected view. Teacher Seema and teacher Pummy were seen into each other’s arms, hugging and consoling. I kept looking at them and smiled at myself. Grudges and personal differences water ego and vice-versa. If not worked upon in right time, we may lose the best of our companions and life may not give us a chance again to get back to our partner or our old friend. When its time to leave this world, everything and everyone is left behind. Today and now is the time, to forgive, forget and get back to our lost ones. Who wants to die with a sad, heavy and unsatisfied soul to be carried for the further journey in the dawn? Let’s make life light and easy for yourself first and then also for others.

आजी, पापड आणि बरंच काही!

 

उन्हाळी सुटी घर आवरण्यात आणि धान्य भरून ठेवण्यात पटकन निघुन जात असे. धान्य स्वच्छ निवडून आणि ऊन दाखवुन आम्ही कोठीत वर्षभरासाठी भरून ठेवत असे. उन्हाळी वाळवण मध्ये नागलीचे, उडीदचे पापड, मसाला, तिखट, कुरडई, शेवया, साबुदाणा चकल्या आम्ही करीत असो. मी काही एक्स्पर्ट वगैरे नाही पण आईला थोडी फार मदत करीत असे. मदतीच्या नावाखाली बरेच पापड मी वाळवायला नेते सांगुन रस्त्यात फस्त करीत असे. पापडाच्या सेक्टर मध्ये माझ्या आयुष्यात यू टर्न भुसावळच्या शूरजोशी आजींना भेटल्यानंतर आला. मी खऱ्या अर्थाने सिरियस आजीमुळे झाले.  मुळात माझ्यासमोर दुसरा पर्यायच नव्हता. आजी रोज मला नव्याने तेच  ईंट्रोडक्टरी लेक्चर देत असे.  विषय होता उपवासाचे पापड. त्यांची सून स्वयंपाकाला लागली कि आजी आमच्याकडे येऊन दमदार आवाजात मला पापड रेसीपी सांगत असे आणि तु  करच असा आग्रहही धरत असे. मी सुरवातीला हो म्हणुन टाळले आणि मला पण वाटले विषय संपला पण एके दिवशी भल्या सकाळी आजीने मला एक किलो बटाटे घ्यायला बाजारात पाठवले. मी परत येऊ पर्यंत त्या दरवाज्यात बसल्या होत्या तेव्हा तिथे मला पळण्याचा स्कोप नव्हता. मी निमुटपणे बटाटे घेऊन आले आणि मग मला ते उकडायला लावले. साल काढुन मला बटाटे उलट्या दिशेने किसायला लावले, असे केल्याने किसणीला बटाटा चिकटत नाही. मी त्यात योग्य प्रमाणात (आजींच्या सांगण्या नुसार) साबुदाणा पीठ आणि चवी पुरते मीठ घातले. आजींने मला ते गरम असतानाच, एक जीव होऊ पर्यंत मळायला लावले. आजींच्या उंच स्वरामुळे एव्हाना बिल्डिंग मधल्या ऑलमोस्ट सर्व लोकांना कळले होते की मी पापड किंबहुना उपवासाचे पापड करीत होते ते. कहाणी मध्ये ट्विस्ट तेव्हा आला जेव्हा पिवळे तिखट ही कन्सेप्ट आजी कडुन कळली. भुसावळच्या पिवळी मिरची पासुन केलेले हे पिवळे तिखट असे. हे तिखट आजीचा ट्रेडमार्क होता! मार्केट वॅल्युव तशी आजी  वॅल्युव म्हणता येईल. घरातील तिजोरीतून अर्धा ग्रॅम सोने द्यावे  तसेच काही आजींनी त्यांच्या थैलीतुन मला थोडे पिवळे तिखट दिले. माझ्या कामावर नाखूष असल्या कारणाने नंतर ते पीठ मला आजीने मळून दिले आणि  प्लास्टिक पेपर वर अंगठ्याने पापड कसे पसरवायचे  हे ही शिकवले. पापडाचे मशीन वापरल्याने चव बिघडते असे त्यांनी मला दरडावून सांगितले. पापड दोन तासात वाळले आणि लागलीच मी ते तळले देखील. सूर्यास्ताच्या वेळी नदी जशी शांत निवांत वाटते, तसेच पापड दिल्यानंतर आजी गालातल्या गालात गोड हसल्यात. मित्रहो आता असे झाले आहे कि इतर उन्हाळी कामे होतील किवा नाही होणार मात्र आजींनी शिकवलेले उपवासाचे पापड मी नक्की करते.  मिस यू आजी ❤

आजींना डेडिकेट केलेली रेसिपी सर्वांसाठी खाली पोस्ट करत आहे

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BiAtfmv-ca4

Stereotyped!

                 

            I am much aware about the adjectives given to the single child viz., spoilt, selfish, anti-social. Being stereotyped is an old affair for ‘the onlys’. I very often find myself going defensive about myself by saying, ‘yes, I am single to my parents but I blend with my cousins very easily’ ‘I am not awful but as normal as others’ ‘O’yes, I like sharing and it comes spontaneous to me’ ‘No, no, I am not a loner!’ ‘Yes, I do things my way but that even the ones who have siblings do!’ ‘I can handle pressures’ 'Well, I don’t like to take sarcastic humor or pulling down humor, but has this anything to do with me being the only child’ ‘Not that everyone likes to fight but arguments make me super-uncomfortable’ ‘yeah, I cry easily but I am a human and humans sometimes suck and they don’t only suck because they are the only child’  ‘I like my privacy and respect others’ privacy too’.

        Due to the stereotypes of ‘the onlys’ of being shy, emotionally under-developed and socially awkward, my parents trained me to be socially outward by constantly putting me into group activities and oration competitions, sending me home-away in cousins for months, putting me into boarding at an early age, letting me extend my friend circle and many times having a friendly chat with me in my teenage.

    Well! Research says that, ‘siblings can have a buffering effect when there is a parental dysfunction in the home, in which case having siblings tends to dilute the negative impact of such stressors’. Siblings can share the death or health worries of the parents which otherwise is pretty scary for a single child to bear. On the other hand, in the world of siblings, ‘the onlys’ very often face a setback of being ignored, being less-trusted in their tasks, being underestimated, being judged for their smallest behavior and often looked down for their less confidence apparently. As a single child as I have been thriving to give my best in relationships, duties, domestic tasks, humanitarian approach, I do not get an equivalent response from the world of siblings. I try to hunt for a sibling in a friend, a permanency in a relation, a family in a relative, a bonding in a relation, and I also try to pour in the best of mine. On a temporary basis I do get a cozy response for my investment of emotions but it always comes with validity. After some time I am supposed to re-invest and renew the bond by proving myself again and get nominated once again for the relation. If I give the best or better than before then I am reconsidered for the relations or else I am judged for being detached or I fail to be as attached as before as per their scale. I don’t know whether the siblings have to prove their existence and ability to each other in a relation again and again but I will definitely like to relieve myself from the pressure of relation validity, of being judged and also the repetitive proving affair. The way ‘the onlys’ want to be a part of your family or easily accept the other one as a family; similarly they should be accepted unconditionally and without any relation-expiry-date. 

My Hero!

 

    

As I sync into the typical teeth chattering winters in Nasik, the winds of Niphad carry away my thoughts to the Ramsar wetland site of the Nandur-Madhyameshwar. Although I anxiously wait to witness the local, the migrants, the settled-migrants birds in this wetland, the most exciting site for me is away from the crowd, a long cobra-like swaying neck of the heron. Right there in the aquatic society, it still prefers being alone. Herons are loyal for their life and have single partners (they are monogamous) just like albatross. Their nests are  placed not accessible to the ground predators (on trees) and are built of sticks, creating large platforms up to a metre across. They lay around 2-5 bluish green eggs once in a year, babies are called branchers and both heron parents help turn by turn in incubation and guarding of the eggs, they feed the babies together till it becomes adult. Ma and pa heron equally share their responsibilities and duties towards their family. Usually in the night, neck-curled herons rest on the trees with the family. These otherwise loners are sociable when nesting. Herons are very smart and they outsmart their predators by feeding at a distance from them. They can also wade under water 1 to one and a half feet in search of prey during night. They are very intelligent, highly mobile and migratory. To our eyes, the actual prey capture appears instantaneous but in reality, the heron waits very long in patience and stillness before the actual catch. Here, Heron teaches us the quality of patience, of observing with an enthusiastic eye and creating an opportunity without wasting any moment. Heron mostly symbolizes tranquility, patience and stillness to me. The Bird also signifies beauty and determination for it prospers on the threshold where land and shore exists together. As I keep staring at this peaceful and calm beauty, it gives me the feeling of healing and sacred serenity. In observing the heron I feel motivated to become like one, meditative and still, yet thoughtful.