random ramblings

  My small world got reconfigured once more in the last few weeks. I lost my father two weeks back. I had travelled to Montreal, Canada for work for two weeks and this was a sudden shock on a surreal Sunday morning. There was no warning, no mental preparation. I went through the motions of just packing and leaving in the first available flight, trying not to think too much. Past two weeks have been a blur of rituals, doing what needs to be done mechanically and meeting people I hadn’t met in decades. Words seem to have dried up for some time. It may not be the best way to process the grief, but this may take time.  

  1.  It was the last week before schools opened, so we took one day off and spent it in Trivandrum’s Lulu mall’s play area. Kids had a great time. I was hoping we could get out in an hour or two, but had to drag them out in the evening.  I was mostly observing strangers, if that is a nicer way of putting it. So many different types of people. An old lady in a housecoat and thorthu, being pushed in a wheelchair. A thatha, so overweight she was hanging onto the railing, joking with her grandsons. A girl and a boy dressed fashionably, girl with rolled up tshirt, walking hand in hand - after some time, another girl joined them, three of them walking holding hands like an ad for something. School groups - I assumed some from International school, checking up on someone who was sitting outside a play area, from their group, video calling and chatting. Two lovebirds, thin, must be in 12th or undergraduate, clinging to each other, their group accepts this pair as one person. An ...