Cyclathon in Bandra

Yesterday was car-free day in certain parts of Bandra. It was a welcome change to see people walking happily on the roads without having to worry about the speeding vehicles. Hundreds of children cycling down the roads in colorful headgears were a pleasant sight. I just hope that such car free days are organized more often. It will give us the luxury of walking on traffic free roads and having a peaceful day without the constant honking of vehicles.

Our greed for accumulating material luxuries has led to us losing so many other invaluable and environment- friendly practices. We have given up using the ammikal and aatukall (grinding stones) and have switched over to grinders and mixers and pay thousands of rupees to gyms-only to do the same sort of exercise that these ancient grinding stones would have given us. We are not satisfied with having one small vehicle for the family, we want huge cars and have lost the habit of walking or cycling in and around our neighborhood. Our children are not allowed to travel to school by public transport, but we are ready to shell out huge sums to pay for the school vans. Then we go hoarse, talking about global warming.

Of late, some of the ancient practices are coming back and I am very glad about these changes. Nowadays my grocer packs things in paper pouches or he wraps them in paper. On the personal level, I am slowly moving away from plastic and trying to use traditional cleaning materials like thengai naar for washing the utensils, salt water for cleaning the furnitures etc. I certainly miss my grandmas and grandpas at this juncture, as their advice for eco-friendly measures like these would have been invaluable.

Woman's day out

At 40, with two school going children and a punishing schedule of translations, I hardly get the time to be myself. But last week was a nice one, where I could relive my youthful days.
A bunch of friends who have become closer to me through the kids decided to have a get-together and it turned out to be the most memorable evenings in a long time for me.
We met for tea and snacks and decided to have North Indian fare for snacks. All the dishes turned out to be super good and we had a great time relishing them, chatting, teasing, pulling each other's leg. There was no gossip about mamiyars and nathanars and no crying on shoulders about worries or ordeals. It was plain fun, joking and laughing out loud and playing a couple of rounds of Chinese Whispers. The children were trying to calm us down, but we were on a roll.
I felt that such get-togethers can be great stress busters. And the best part was to be reprimanded by children for our childish behaviour!
I'd like to be a child once in a while like this!