Sunday, September 16, 2012

Too busy to record what I am doing


It is nearly two months since I wrote in my blogspot. It is not because I had nothing to say. On the contrary I was so busy doing so many things that I couldn’t focus long enough on one topic to write about. I haven’t learnt or it is not my style to say things so crisply in few selected words like my son Rajan. The thought of having to write elaborately in detail on what I am doing and what is happening with my life is enough to make me want to take a nap.

Living in a Home is neither like living with the family nor like living with neighbours. Living here is kind of like living in-between or both. It is a close-knit, gated community. Being in a Home with hardly 15 – 20 people at any given time, meeting them at least three times a day, one tends to get involved in everybody’s life, without being too intrusive. We happily interact with guests of any of the members. We get to know who is going where and what their current interests are. Watching other people and their life-style in such close quarters is an interesting hobby we all engage in. This has enabled me to feel so aware of myself.

In the last two months I read 3 books.  Hemingway’s “The old man and the sea” downloaded from the internet in pdf format, which I have read, may be, over 35 years ago. Erma Bombeck’s “A marriage made in heaven” which my daughter-in-law Barbara gave me from her private collection may be over ten years ago, which I have already read three times, and “The Cousins” which my friend Pradeep sent me by mail for my review. 

I enjoyed each one in its own special way. This time around, I understood the ‘old man’ Santiago’s struggle in a different way.  I do not get tired of reading Erma. Having enjoyed reading it again, this time I also read some of her newspaper columns from the internet. I enjoyed the story telling style of ‘The cousins’ but not the story as such.

Last week, quite by accident, I came across a shop that sells new and used books, next door to the supermarket, where I do my usual shopping. I bought two books, again the ones I have already read, to read again. 

I also did a 16 page, Devi Stotram booklet for a swamini, who has an ashram from across our Home. After being out of practise for over 10 months had to get familiar with typing Tamil and using Pagemaker. Enjoyed the challenge of doing it and learning new words.

Last month I visited an old cave temple with 4 other people. And on Krishna jayanthi, on an impulse, I went to a Perumal koil in a small village, had special darshan and a full-meal prasadam and I made a friend too.

Two months after I have sent in my application, I got my ‘proof of residence’ ID card from the post office. This is the first time ever I have gone through such a process for getting a document, all by myself. That itself I consider an achievement.