I don't usually take to children. In fact the only child I ever took to was Crystal Mariah. But there's this one little girl that's stolen my heart. She doesn't speak, I don't think I've ever heard her voice and so I don't know her name, but I know that she's seven. She showed me by holding up seven fingers, and I know that she likes jumping down steps, and that when she smiles, it's the most beautiful thing in the world.

The Boys Grow Up

A mouthful

I held her hand to help her down the steps and she heaped a mouthful of blessings on my head. I couldn't have got a nicer thank you.

The Boys

M, Fox, J-man, Luke

I realize that other people live just as much in their own little worlds as I do mine.

Satish and Me.

Puffy eyes and Genuine smiles [been a while]

Marlene and Me.

People scare me sometimes. They REALLY do. *wide eyed look while brain contemplates shutting down*

Multi layered.[pause] Why not? :)

A song for me :)

M and his new baby Grace/ Greeny Beanie/ Thug Thumper??/ or whatever it is you want to call her.

On those I know

The Chick:
A guilty conscience pricks the mind
Yet somewhere somehow you will find
That although somtimes you feel trapped
The human spirit does adapt
----

The Girl With The Accent:
You're pretty, you turn up the heat
You charm the pants off most you meet
You'll always be, yet in the end
My boyfriend stealing bitchface friend
----

The Song Writer:
You live your life the way you choose
Try so hard to make it work
Build your castles in the air
You'll make it someday meet you there
----

The Window Cleaner:
Convicted, yes, you've come so far
I back away from who you are
Yet when I'm sure no one will care
I know, I know you'll be right there
----

The Stranger:
Something less and something more
It's something that I just don't know
Still unperturbed, I'm glad that I
Chose to have ice cream and pie
----

The Other Sister:
Here's the frowny sister yeah
Antisocial as it were
But underneath that gruff extat
You're just a big ole pussycat
----

The Sister, The Best Friend:
I know there is an unsaid rule
That sisters can't be best friends too
I just ignore this minor point
Small things don't get us out of joint
----

On other things

On Boys:
They say they're happy; satisfied
With Pam or Jen or Susie
But want to hear me tell the truth?
They all want Big Boob Rosie
----

On Cheating:
They taught us all through Sunday school
This is not what you ought
But life it taught us differently
It said just don't get caught
----

For the women of yore- On Emancipation:
She stole them when he wasn't there
Quite done listening to his rants
She wears them now, what will he do
Without his smarty pants
----

On Overconfidence:
They went ahead all geared to win
They landed on their tusses
Because they lost the game you see
They're all big sour pusses
----

On Money:
They say money isn't everything
They couldn't get much cheesier
I'll take the green stuff anyday
Makes life a whole lot easier
----

On Sensitiveness:
His eyes they water up in hurt
Over a stupid gal
Oh stop, or else I think I'll gag
I'm sorry but I shall
----

On Marriage:
An octapus is on the bag
It's eyes so mournful staring
I wonder why that dormant look
Perhaps he thinks of marrying
----

On Bad People:
When someone something nasty does
To bring me close to tears
Fate does something nasty back
Like maybe jams their gears
----

Strange, Stranger

Poems for strangers

Constant thought please go away
I'd rather you wern't here
Come again another day
Perhaps sometime next year
----

As I was walking through the land
I found a boy to reprimand
I threw the boy over my thigh
And spanked him till I heard him cry
----

She said she wasn't nice at all
I took her at her word
I stopped going by to see her work
I think she is a turd
----

I met him on the plane he said
Over coffee let us two gather
I gave him my most disarming smile
And said, I think not rather
----

Sounds hoity toity on the phone
Her name, we call her Mary
But such a darling girl you see
She's Mary quite contrary
----

He stands a bit uncomfortably
I think you got the gist
She laughs at boys who inadverdantly
Get their knickers in a twist
----

..So I tell the little monster, see if you can say this like one word.

Hoof hearted ice melted

'Very good.' I say, 'Now try this.'

Heifer hearted hoos melted

'He stood lonely in the searching sunshine; and he looked beyond the great light of a cloudless day into the darkness of a world of illusions'
-The Lagoon, Joseph Conrad

I saw a picture just now. A funeral picture. The adults arrange their features enough to look suitably sad. The children however, who clearly haven't been taught better smile full fledged smiles for the camera. It isn't everyday that Grandma dies you know.

My sisters are hot air balloons

'We are not hot air balloons. We are contented people of some weight
and consequence.'

Said Joe in their collective defence. :)

Fifteen men on The Dead Man’s Chest-
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest-
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!


No prizes for guessing what book I just finished reading. :)

Oh what the heck, it’s twelve where you are.

For my other big sister.
Love always.

[Don’t ever stop missing me.And don't forget to hear the unsaid in the said. And I mean every sappy word of it. :) *distance hug*]

In Retrospect

She grew up my mother, speaking Konkani, Kannada, Tulu, and god knows what other languages. But she never spoke a word of these to her children. I find that odd. And I believe it was entirely intentional. But didn’t she realise that if we didn’t get caught one way, we were bound to get caught the other?
We grew up speaking English, English, and English. Even the maids spoke in English to us, our Mangalore cousins spoke in English to us, our grandparents didn’t speak to us at all and people gave us queer looks and said, ‘Don’t you speak anything but ? ’ And then gave us pitying looks with not a little condescension.
But in retrospect I think this is what she wanted to give us. She wanted to make life easier for us, not difficult like her’s was. She was thrown into an English medium college straight from a school that was ‘supposed’ to be English medium and was expected to do well.
We speak now ‘perfect’ English and our accents are relatively clear. We don’t make obvious errors in grammar maybe in spelling. We do try to remember that it’s lose and not loose. :)
But we lost didn’t we. We lost the chance to make fun of the mallus with them being right there and not understanding a word. And we probably lost other things like maybe, culture and maybe just being able to talk to you family.

If somebody was to ask me if I was Mangalorean, I’d probably say yes. But when I think about it, it isn’t really true is it? I don’t speak the language, I don’t know anything about the culture and I can’t cook the food.
The only things I know are that they have ranging from mildly to very insulting sayings for every occasion and that sea water and well water mustn’t mix. Another one of their loaded sayings.

[Thought dismissed]

Don't go to the monsters. Let the monsters come to you.

[And i'm not just talking about children.]

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

I was tiny. And I found a song book. With words and music. Oh yeah!.. pitter patter pitter pat.

Sing!

And he sang.

‘Swing lowwww, sweet chariotttt. Coming for to carry me hommmmme.
Swi ing lowww, sweet chaariottt. Coming for to carry me hommme.’


:)

Judgment without condemnation. Excellently put.
Justification? No. Just thinking aloud.
In between, should she try an extreme?
Singularity. A good thing I thought.