It's In The Blood
Let me just say that NONE of the Pinterest plans worked out over the weekend. Hubby said no to the t-shirt idea. I had already packed away the sticky iron SOMEwhere. Also, I suddenly realized I did not have a 2 litre soda bottle as we rarely buy soda unless we do dinner take-outs, and even then, it's just a small pet bottle because I just crave the fizz after. I also love zucchini mezhuku-perraty so I was a bit skeptical about wasting it by making it into chips. So much for the inspiration.
However, I did make kalakala, or diamond cuts as many call it (but not me, because I like the way kalakala sounds and mine did not turn out diamond shaped). Made it for the first time in my life - a very easy snack to make if you've followed any ONE recipe properly (and not combined 5 recipes like me). It's the first sweet dish I've made that my husband polished off (he doesn't have a sweet tooth).
This week was the death anniversary of my paternal grandparents, which got me thinking of my paternal aunt who passed away in Oct 2009 - she used to make kalakala often, and I made them in her memory. In fact, I felt compelled to make it. I really miss her a lot. There are too many great stories to tell, but she really looked after me like a Mum when my folks left me behind for my studies. I wasn't a small child though - I was almost 19 years old, but terrified of being left alone in India. I had no such issues when they left me at Wits Uni in Johannesburg, the very first time I left home, maybe because a lot of my school friends were already there, language was never an issue, and my folks were just 3 hours away (roughly 300kms) versus an entire ocean away. My aunt made life good in Salem (she wasn't the only one, but this post is about her). May be it was because she was very close to my Dad and they both exhibited a similar body language, spoke in a certain way and even used the same tone. They also loved old Tamil movies so watching her appreciation for it reminded me so much of my Dad. There's just too much about her I'd like to save for another day. But, on this weekend, I felt as though she was reaching out to me. I've been feeling it a lot of late.
This weekend my husband also lost his paternal aunt. Though he does not express his emotions much and doesn't like most of his relatives, I knew he was very upset because this aunt also helped raise him when he came to India for studies. And last night while we were out shopping for groceries at Spar, my son kept pointing to a section of the store and saying, "Mama Jessie, Jessie!" I actually froze at first. Because that's my aunt's name. My husband and I both looked at where he was pointing and it took us a while to realise he was pointing at an entire wall of greeting cards at least 15m away and was referring to one card that had the character Jessie from Toy Story. If you knew how difficult it is to see this card amongst hundreds, where half of it was hidden behind other cards and all that was visible was her face and cowgirl hat, you too would be in awe.
This week was the death anniversary of my paternal grandparents, which got me thinking of my paternal aunt who passed away in Oct 2009 - she used to make kalakala often, and I made them in her memory. In fact, I felt compelled to make it. I really miss her a lot. There are too many great stories to tell, but she really looked after me like a Mum when my folks left me behind for my studies. I wasn't a small child though - I was almost 19 years old, but terrified of being left alone in India. I had no such issues when they left me at Wits Uni in Johannesburg, the very first time I left home, maybe because a lot of my school friends were already there, language was never an issue, and my folks were just 3 hours away (roughly 300kms) versus an entire ocean away. My aunt made life good in Salem (she wasn't the only one, but this post is about her). May be it was because she was very close to my Dad and they both exhibited a similar body language, spoke in a certain way and even used the same tone. They also loved old Tamil movies so watching her appreciation for it reminded me so much of my Dad. There's just too much about her I'd like to save for another day. But, on this weekend, I felt as though she was reaching out to me. I've been feeling it a lot of late.
This weekend my husband also lost his paternal aunt. Though he does not express his emotions much and doesn't like most of his relatives, I knew he was very upset because this aunt also helped raise him when he came to India for studies. And last night while we were out shopping for groceries at Spar, my son kept pointing to a section of the store and saying, "Mama Jessie, Jessie!" I actually froze at first. Because that's my aunt's name. My husband and I both looked at where he was pointing and it took us a while to realise he was pointing at an entire wall of greeting cards at least 15m away and was referring to one card that had the character Jessie from Toy Story. If you knew how difficult it is to see this card amongst hundreds, where half of it was hidden behind other cards and all that was visible was her face and cowgirl hat, you too would be in awe.
I don't know what to believe about our loved ones contacting us from the "other side". Quite frankly it terrifies me. Watch Theresa Caputo on "Long Island Medium" (plays on TLC here) and you'll see what I mean. This whole week I felt as though my aunt was reaching out to me, and I don't know why. I am not sure I want to know or even if I SHOULD know at all. For all that science tries to explain away with logic and reasoning, there are many mysteries of this world yet unsolved, and will probably remain so. If my aunt is reading this in a heavenly blog some where, I just wanna send her my love. And some ummas.
I guess that's a feeling many go through - that of loved ones trying to say something to us, do something from the other side.... Some might say that this feeling is because they are so much on our minds during that particular time
ReplyDeleteI get the same feeling with my grandmother. I feel so much regret she did not get to meet R, even though she was the first person in the family to know about him.
ReplyDeleteMy mom always says that her dad has saved her in many situations and has come to her in her dreams just b4 something bad happnd etc etc... Ahhh sad she couldnt meet him....
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