Memories - the May chapter

documenting fond and fun memories so i don't lose them.. and of course, to make space for new ones. 

May 1st: today's memory is of the beautiful, gold-rimmed eyes of tinnu, my red-eared slider turtle... one that changed colour through the day.. the most beautiful eyes in the whole world! i think i spent too much time just looking at this beautiful creature!

May 2nd: today's memory is of doing my laundry by hand in the utility area, with tinnu by my side. tinnu was fond of water, and he smelled a bit like fish. so i'd scrub my clothes on the floor and pile them up under the tap and let open the tap just a little. tinny would climb the pile and position himself under the running water. each time i had to add to the pile, i'd pick him and place him on top again. he was a great companion!

May 3rd: today's fond memory is of giving tinnu a good scrub down in the kitchen sink.. using a tooth brush. every weekend, i'd brush his shell under water and drop some antibiotic in his water tank... everything about tinnu was so pretty - his eyes, his marked skin, his beautiful shell, those tiny feet.. and the pot-belly he grew which was quite visible when tinny tried to retract his legs into his shell

May 4th: whenever tinnu slept outside his tank, he's retract his legs into his shell.. and his head too.. so if you looked under his shell, you'd see jus the nostrils hanging out.. it was so fascinating to watch him!

May 5th: i had to live differently to accomodate tinnu. i chose a wooden sofa so tinnu wouldn't get stuck underneath.. i slept on the floor so tinny could join.. i had this red camping blankie that tinnu and i slept in. in the mornings when i put him back into his water-tank and cleared my bed.. more often that not i would find a tiny wet spot in blankie that made me laugh so much! tinnu was such a bed-wetter.

May 6th: on weekend noons, i would lie down, put tinnu on my chest facing me and read.. ocassionally pulling him close to marvel at the fishy smell he smelled of.. tinnu usually dozed off with his feet stretched out in the air. during one such time, tinnu had this massive yawn. i had never seen him yawn and was properly amazed!

May 7th: another time.. during our reading sessions, tinnu had hiccups. got me worried and i put him back into his water tank.

May 8th: whenever dad visited, he would wear his grey jacket that had fur lining.. he would put tinnu on this chest and doze-off in the afternoons while i was away at work.. dad told me tinnu would go sit inside the jacket in the nook under his under-arm.. putting dad in a very uncomfortable position!

May 9th: dad also mentioned to me that there was cold air coming from tinnu's nose.. i hadn't noticed.. so i put him on my  shoulder with his face towards my neck and waited.. and sure enough, two tiny blasts of cold air came continuously from his  tiny nostrils before they stopped for a long time.. read over the internet that turtles breathe in and out for four minutes each! 

May 10: that time when i put tiny fishes into tinnu's water tank so he'd have some company.. every fish disappeared.. tinnu ate them all at record speed.

May 11th: today's fun memory is of when i ate sugarcane.. unbenownst to me, a tiny piece got stuck into my gums at the end of the row of teeth.. the spot where one expects wisdom teeth to grow.. so when it begun to hurt, i thought my wisdom tooth was coming through.. and didn't think of it much ... and put up with the pain.. a few days later, the sugarcane piece dislodged by itself.. leaving me feeling like a total fool!

May 12th: many years ago, mom and i went to attend a pooja followed by food... we sat in a row and ate.. i finished eating and i usually eat quite cleanly from my leaf-plate.. mom and people on her right were still eating.. so i waited.. folks on my left got up and left and a new batch settled in.. people started serving food and seeing my very clean leaf, served me too mistaking me for being from the fresh batch.. i had eaten that cleanly!

May 13th: today's memory is of the delicious banana walnut cakes bobo used to make over the weekends i was visiting! 

May 14th: during the 2-day das mahavidya workshop, guruji did not do the group chanting of shodashi mantra.. i asked and he told us that it was to be done the next day. the next day, it got skipped again. at the end of the class, i asked again. guruji insisted that we had done it saying 'i did it for you only madam'. a few others confirmed that it hadn't been done and so guruji led us through the group chanting of shodashi mantra. he then acknowledged and thanked me a few times for bringing it up, and said that chanting the shodashi mantra was such a wonderful way to conclude the workshop! i remember not being able to say anything in return when he thanked me and kept doing namaskara!

May 15th: this is a strange memory from when i was sitting outside the santoshi mata temple by myself.. and a little girl came over and caressed my pot-belly. her mom came and took her away.. but i was terrified! i prayed mom to not give me children!

May 16th: that time when i was very curious about what a butter-fruit(an avacado) was.. so one evening after work, i asked the regular fruit juice guy in domlur if i could have a fruit instead of the juice.. he sold me one and i took it home to eat... and was quite revulsed! 

May 17th: fun memory of the time we were moving into our current rental home.. for the boiling milk part of the house-warming, bobo and i were considering renting a tiny-cylinder-single-burner stove.. but bobo looked up on youtube and fashioned a burner out of a beer can.. we bought an equally tiny copper-bottomed vessel.. it worked out quite well.. such a fun project!

May 18th: when my brother and i were very small.. mum took us to a doc in pune for bedwetting.. the doc told mum to talk to us lovingly during bedtime and give us a chocolate each before  putting us to bed. mum never did any of it!

May 19th: the doc also told mum to feed us eggs to make us stronger.. mum being a strict vegetarian for religious reasons, set up an egg-station in the backyard.. hot milk, sugar and raw eggs it was. after which, we had to wash our mouths, faces and hands before getting back into the house. 

May 20th: when i was in school, mum bought me a real pretty pink sweater... i loved it so much and took good care of it! 

May 21st: mum also saved up and bought me a nice denim backpack while in college!

May 22nd: this is an awesome memory of riding the red double-decker bus with my brother and mom in pune, when we were little. the stairwell to the top of the bus was so narrow.

May 23rd: mom would take us to chaturshringi temple by bus.. we would wait at the temple bus stop in the evening for our bus back.. the bus stop had tiny, round yellow pebbles in its floor.

May 24th: this is a hilarious memory from school days.. our class sat down on the carpet and worked on making needle-and-thread designs on our respective tablecloths during the afternoon hobby class. when the bell rang and we all stood up, it turned out that one girl had accidentally included her skirt as she pulled the needle up and now the tablecloth had gotten attached to her skirt by a design on the tablecloth. it was so funny! 

May 25th: another fun school-time memory.. is of us picking wildflowers and berries, making brooches out of them and pinning them to our shirts. 

May 26th: we'd be shown a movie every fortnight.. it was mandatory to go watch the movies.. a handful of us still managed to give a slip, stay back in our dorms and read nancy drew and hardy boys through the evening.

May 27th: this memory of absolute amazement during the weekend painting class.. the teacher introduced us to prussian blue that was named after the country of prussia.. and when the country ceased to exist, the colour got renamed to navy blue! 

May 28th: that time when I bought/ate the first honey cake after moving to bangalore for work.. and got so addicted to it! 

May 29th: another memory from moving to banglore was of being horrified seeing people standing and eating at almost all the eateries.. i had never seen this happen before!

May 30th: the friendly hostel group i found myself in, thanks to a college senior Padmalata, decided to visit a new place every Sunday.. we'd wake up super early, skip the hostel breakfast, get dressed and leave for the bus stop... visiting new places and having fun was the most amazing part of my first year in bangalore

May 31st: i was driving after work in rain and going some place.. the rain turned to hail.. and they pelted my car top like some rocks were falling on them. scared the daylights out of me!