The New Woman

 Here I am. Back from a Break. I thank each one of you who cajoled me, pushed me almost compelled me to start writing again. I have been on a big break from writing, expressing or voicing anything.

It was a self inflicted break. A Pause. A Comma. But many full stops mean continuity.....

Yes. There is a New me. We human grow a new something every day. The White blood cells shed die in 17 days, Red blood cells 120 days and Liver cells 18months! Every 5-6 weeks our skin also recycles but do you know what stays forever are our Brain cells! But we make new connections and delete old ones also all the time! So every Month, Every Day we can have a new us.

What do I share? Where do I even begin?

Well lets begin from here. In the last one year, Russia attacked Ukraine, a minuscule sized country, which retaliated with help from all other Big countries and the fight is still going on. I find them behaving exactly as my 2 kids, not ready to give up or give in or be alone!

The last year, Covid reduced and everything opened up much more. We started enjoying movies yet again and found my Love for movies back after relishing Pathaan. I did not want any cerebral use when I went in to watch unlike the serious, adrenaline thumping stuff on the OTT. I loved the masala, the gorgeous locations and the high action classic drama that Indian movies bring, And I also did not know that I missed the multiplex wala Popcorn so much!

On the multiple cleaning sessions that I do for my home, I found a bundle of masks. What do I do about them. Should I throw them? 

That sounded almost Blasphemous, as if the Covid Virus is lurking somewhere and listening and waiting for the last laugh. Should I wash and store! That seemed too much of an effort. so I just pushed them, further inside the recess of the cupboard so that they don't come lurking again to puzzle my mind. 

This gets me back to Pushing away or Pushing back memories. How many of you have wanted to not remember but remembered! Then got carried away and had misty eyes, bad headaches or even thrown up the nice food you just had! Memories are not stored in cells anatomically, not written on the body unlike tattoos and not carried around like oxygen in our blood, then why do surface and resurface! Well they are encrypted and encoded things in the body. Some smell, some sight, some trigger can get you fresh to that memory much like Google gets to you when you search for some dress online. It is everywhere you see! The Myntra ad will not leave you alone. 

The more you try to erase memories the more they surface! But what you can do with the memories is change the code. Well I learnt Coding! Not the virtual world coding but Real world Coding...To change codes of memories. It is still a task in progress and I will soon come out with a "Masterclass for Uncoding the Memories"😛

Well somethings change and some just don't. What doesn't change in a Parents life is the race from Monday to Friday. The bags and tiffin boxes and the reminders for Homework. The boys have been getting in the normalcy of school in the best way possible. What gets to me are the last minute forms for competitions, the last minute notices for some activity the next day in school or the constant exams that this year the boys' school have started having. I am more on the other side, when I keep telling the boys to take a break or leave away some work....when they are at it till 10pm to complete things!

Also what doesn't change is the Fact that time does run. This year I finished 40 cycles around the Sun. Though It seems a lot, it feels like yesterday when I was walking with my now 88yr old Dadaji to the small Entertainment Zone in Ahmedabad, all excited to sit on the moving monkey or the car ride in the zone. I used to be responsible for the 4 year younger brothers and would be treated by an orange candy bar at the end of this outing. One of this brother is married with 2 kids now and the other is getting married this weekend! Time does Fly but it is Frozen by the most powerful thing, Memories.

So here I am writing away and making New Connections and New Memories for the New Me. Here is my Old Self saying Hi!