these deafening silences.
these incessant
violent
screaming silences.
tell me
how do we stop
bleeding silences
unless
we locate the rupture.
unless
we speak.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Our Cook - Didi :)
Yesterday afternoon my friend/roommate sent me a whatsapp message. It was a recorded conversation between our cook ( we call her Didi) and my friend.Thanks to the auto call record option which my friend always keeps enabled in his phone. Inspite on being in office I played it because I knew there should be something about this message.It turned out to be a mindblowing conversation and left me deeply affected for the rest of the evening.
For a week and a half , we have had no vegetables ( Sabzi) at home. There would be text messages from Didi everyday reminding us of empty fridge ! And in the mornings if she found any of us awake while preparing breakfast for us she would say- Sabzi bilkul nahi hai , please laa do aaj. She had somehow managed to feed us for all this time out of sheer creativity.
On a lighter note, she seems to have developed a knack of making food out of nothing over the years, thanks to us! But clearly she had lost it this time !
No wonder she decided to make this phone call and gives us a piece of her mind .She asked just one question to my friend -
Why do you work ? Don't you work because you want to feed your stomach ? If you say I will bring sazbi myself from now on !
Clearly my friend had no words. He was stunned and stumped. I was too!
We have known Didi from 3+ years now and we know the kind of difficulties she faces everyday. With a good for nothing husband and a school going kid , her life moves only if she works. We know that she finds us very different compared to all other houses she goes for work. We never complain. Never demand. She prepares whatever she wants. We are always more than happy to eat anything she makes. And if we don't like something , she knows it when she cleans the dishes next day. We know that we are the first ones whom she asks money if she is in need. We have developed a certain trust and goodwill and a strange kind of bond over the years.. There is an unspoken understanding where she voluntarily makes up for any lapse from her side and we never question her for anything.
Yet it was heartwarming to hear that she would take up the task of buying vegetables henceforth.
She cycles around the locality house after house, spends the whole day working and yet she said she would find extra time for us. She was genuinely concerned and we understood where it came from.Though it was heartening it was also heart breaking. Because somewhere we were deeply ashamed and embarrassed.We ask so many life questions to ourselves :
What do I want in life ?
What kind of relationship do I want?What am I looking for in a partner ?
What do I do next with my career ? Am I happy with my job?
What is my life's purpose?
All seemingly deep questions! But we still miss the fundamentals don't we ?
No question is as significant as this one - Why do you work ?
If you do not even have time to buy vegetables and eat nutritious, healthy and tasty food , what is the whole point of earning money ?We are so busy that we dont even want to go out and enjoy a tasty meal. And we are perfectly Ok with our cook preparing a basic meal out of nothing and we don't even feel that we need to buy vegetables and eat better !
We lose out on life not because we are not asking questions or finding answers. But because we are not asking the basic simple questions !The answers are out there for us to see, if only we ask ourselves those seemingly easy but invisible questions!
And sometimes those questions come from people we least expect!
For todays dinner we have my favourite palak panner and bhindi . You see I love Palak and out of all the many vegetables and stuff we bought Didi knows what to make first!
Life is back at being good, thanks to Didi :)
For a week and a half , we have had no vegetables ( Sabzi) at home. There would be text messages from Didi everyday reminding us of empty fridge ! And in the mornings if she found any of us awake while preparing breakfast for us she would say- Sabzi bilkul nahi hai , please laa do aaj. She had somehow managed to feed us for all this time out of sheer creativity.
On a lighter note, she seems to have developed a knack of making food out of nothing over the years, thanks to us! But clearly she had lost it this time !
No wonder she decided to make this phone call and gives us a piece of her mind .She asked just one question to my friend -
Why do you work ? Don't you work because you want to feed your stomach ? If you say I will bring sazbi myself from now on !
Clearly my friend had no words. He was stunned and stumped. I was too!
We have known Didi from 3+ years now and we know the kind of difficulties she faces everyday. With a good for nothing husband and a school going kid , her life moves only if she works. We know that she finds us very different compared to all other houses she goes for work. We never complain. Never demand. She prepares whatever she wants. We are always more than happy to eat anything she makes. And if we don't like something , she knows it when she cleans the dishes next day. We know that we are the first ones whom she asks money if she is in need. We have developed a certain trust and goodwill and a strange kind of bond over the years.. There is an unspoken understanding where she voluntarily makes up for any lapse from her side and we never question her for anything.
Yet it was heartwarming to hear that she would take up the task of buying vegetables henceforth.
She cycles around the locality house after house, spends the whole day working and yet she said she would find extra time for us. She was genuinely concerned and we understood where it came from.Though it was heartening it was also heart breaking. Because somewhere we were deeply ashamed and embarrassed.We ask so many life questions to ourselves :
What do I want in life ?
What kind of relationship do I want?What am I looking for in a partner ?
What do I do next with my career ? Am I happy with my job?
What is my life's purpose?
All seemingly deep questions! But we still miss the fundamentals don't we ?
No question is as significant as this one - Why do you work ?
If you do not even have time to buy vegetables and eat nutritious, healthy and tasty food , what is the whole point of earning money ?We are so busy that we dont even want to go out and enjoy a tasty meal. And we are perfectly Ok with our cook preparing a basic meal out of nothing and we don't even feel that we need to buy vegetables and eat better !
We lose out on life not because we are not asking questions or finding answers. But because we are not asking the basic simple questions !The answers are out there for us to see, if only we ask ourselves those seemingly easy but invisible questions!
And sometimes those questions come from people we least expect!
For todays dinner we have my favourite palak panner and bhindi . You see I love Palak and out of all the many vegetables and stuff we bought Didi knows what to make first!
Life is back at being good, thanks to Didi :)
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