Flights make me dizzy, pray harder, cuss a bit and more, but here I’m, ready to take a flight to Delhi. At present, we are at the airport. And I’m happy to see so many shopping outlets at the Mumbai airport. I could easily kill two hours at these stores, but today, I plan to skip these entirely. We are situated near our gates. And ten minutes into entering this space, our food bag is wide open. The kids eat some roasted Makhanas and I snack on my roti-achar. I try to see the travellers around me and guess who is taking which flight. After an hour, I kind of guess who’s flying to Delhi with me. A guy who is wearing a nice pair of sunglasses, a family of two couples and kids, and some more people. Ours is a connecting flight, so of course, not all will get down in Delhi. I do pity those people for their long travel hours.
The sun is out and about. We sit near a coffee bar, and I see different folks using the chairs and tables but hardly ordering anything at the bar. There is an infant around, but I can only hear his cry. My son is now showing off his Rubic’s Cube skills. I’m amazed by this family of seven. Looks like two sisters are travelling together with their kids. I LOVE how one of the sisters is conversing with the kids. The kids are partly bored but patient enough to talk to her. It’s so important to enjoy this pause. And perhaps that’s the only reason I sometimes wonder to take my kids on long journeys and show them how to enjoy these pauses we get now and then. To breathe, to look out of the window, to just stare and perhaps read a book. We can’t be always doing something, be it playing games, sharing heavy information, or solving some problem. We still can keep it light.
I have checked my busy bag that I got for my two kids some odd five times. And re-packed everything as our gate calls started off. It was an utterly smooth ride to Delhi. The flight we sat on was an international flight, though our journey was from Mumbai to Delhi only. And hence, we got to explore some maps from our seats and some down- and front-views from our plane.
We are soon united with my father-in-law, and the kids are overjoyed. There is some Roohafza that he got in a bottle. Such a refreshing drink. And in less than 80 minutes, we are home in Rohtak. Thanks to all new roads that have come up recently.
Winter hasn’t kicked in yet, but this mixed weather can really confuse you. I did miss doing a proper Diwali pooja in my Mumbai home, as I very well know where all the Pooja stuff is kept. In my MIL’s place, it’s nice but I kind of make-do with what we have in hand. But Diwali is truly the time to be with his parents. It feels complete. Shows me what matters the most. Not the decorations or Instagram-worthy home corners but a feeling of togetherness.
The pollution on the next day of Diwali sometimes makes us cuss for the fact that we are out of Mumbai, but the feeling settles down soon. We try to catch up on reading and sleeping early here. It’s also nice to dry your clothes in sun on ropes lined up on huge verandahs. Something that I don’t even dream of in Mumbai.
I like looking at the way people garden here. Mint is everybody’s favourite. Rose is next. Curry leaves. Some people also keep little boxes near their gates to store grains for the birds. Some people are fond of fragrant flowers like Madhu Malti, Raat ki Rani, Harsingar Parijat (night-flowering jasmine). People also like to grow bougainvillea. I also love those white and red brick houses. It just adds to the whole countryside view.
Rohtak is also a birds’ paradise. I see bulbuls, babblers, sparrows, parrots, robins, kingfishers, bee eaters, mynas, drongos and a few other beautiful birds around in gardens and kitchen windows. Once, I happened to spot a pied kingfisher. Didn’t know such monochrome-coloured kingfishers existed too. From the house terrace, the sound of the chattering of parrots is a constant.
When working in the kitchen or sitting in the corridor, I hear various announcement-making vehicles crossing by. Some sell veggies, some buy scrap materials. Some fix khaats (a locally made bed that can be assembled and dismantled in seconds). Around evening time, you’ll see women going to get milk in huge steel cans. It’s kind of an exercise for them and they thoroughly enjoy chatting around.
During winters, you’ll see men and women selling kacharis on their carts around the city. Which is why, it makes entry in our chutneys in the mornings.
The greenery, women sweeping leaves in parks, laid-back schedules, birds chirping around dense trees, the crushing sound of the leaves, ant colonies, droplets of water on grass that you find in the mornings, flowers laid on the roads—every sign of winter in nature is a beautiful revelation.
TASTE MEMORY 