And it is that time of year again.

Vidur’s Final exams. Sadly two of his classmates and friends from Class I, Prabanjan and Ashwin, are leaving. My mom used to love talking to Prabanjan on the phone. Real cutie. It always amazed us how he sounded (and looked) exactly the same over the years.  That time he dressed as a bride for a fancy dress competition, he looked like a miniature of his mom. I always think of him as a guy who raced around the place, now here, now not.

Ashwin…hmm. Another sweet chap. His mom, who also taught at their school, is a really nice and friendly person. We always phoned each other whenever we wanted info about something. And I’ll never forget her help with getting back Sriram’s i Pad, which he forgot at Yeshwantpur station en route to Pune. Her husband ensured that he had someone check the waiting room and actually retrieved it and held it until we went and picked it up. Some major coordination there! In fact, a miracle, I’d say.

During this week, I’ve also managed to be sick – I think I probably got sicker waiting at the doc’s clinic for two and a half hours. Stupidly, I didn’t carry a book under the fantasy that it would probably only be ten or fifteen minutes before she saw me. Hmm. I was absolutely freaked when I saw the waiting room full of women in various stages of pregnancy and some with newborns. This doc happens to be a real sweetie and spends time with each patient. Hmm. I could have actually gone home and brought back a book to read. Maybe I should always carry my ebook reader. That’s a thought.

Ah, well, we cannot turn the clock back, can we? Instead, like a scout, I’ll be prepared, in future! Although, I have to admit that it was fun observing each person waiting there. There was this young girl of about 16 or 17, who had accompanied her mother to the doc. It was hilarious watching her strut in her rather uncomfortable heels across the room every now and then. She walked about rather consciously, going tick, tack, tick tack, loudly on the tiled floor. Even more enjoyable was the fact that most eyes followed her movement. She kept adjusting her hair tied in a pony tail, arranging it just so. She kept moistening her lips. And she kept looking quite impatient about having to hang around.

Then there were these two ladies, all nicely dressed up. One of them wore make-up that didn’t include her neck. Rather pretty she was. She had a huge rather ragged shopping bag into which she kept rummaging for her phone, because she either texted or made a phone call every five minutes. Very interesting indeed. Her companion was dressed all in pink. Pink salwar kamiz, pink earrings, pink watch strap (yes!), pink strappy sandals – and I waited to see what she tied her hair with. Sure enough, when she turned, I saw a nice long plait  secured with a – you guessed it – PINK scrunchie.  Oh wait, she had on a finger ring with a pinkish stone. Hmm….this lady sure cared about her appearance. The two ladies didn’t speak a word to each other. Sisters in law? What? We’ll never know.

There were two girls who arrived together dressed in jeans and “tops”. One wore a backpack and kept on fiddling with her hair. She also wore some kind of foundation. Weird. It is rather hot these days and make up simply runs. Not a pretty sight.

There were a lot of couples who had come in too….and they were all pretty normal. One lady kept talking on the phone rather loudly and the collective eavesdropping on her phone calls quite shamelessly kept us all occupied in a drowsy kind of way.

Then….well.. I so wished I had gone with Mom – we always talked non-stop taking turns to whisper and raising or lowering the volume, depending on our level of excitement 🙂 – the entertainment would have been complete. Miss you, Mi! 

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