I am supremely confused on most days … I wonder why I choose to sit around in a boring air conditioned office rather than do all the stuff I love doing …. write, read, cook, embroider, make herbal cosmetics, clean, organize, paint, garden. Well I guess the answer is simple, all the things I love doing I have been unable to monetise … and that’s the quest I am on. I have forever dreamt of a small coffee shop with a library, a craft and storytelling centre for children. A place where adults could come over lounge around read and kids can learn to paint say a paper mache bell… This I dream hard and strong, and I hope someday I have enough courage and perseverance to see it through.
I grew up in a small gold mining town in south India. I was uncorrupted by KFC and cinema halls and nurtured by walks and lots of books. Much to my mother’s exasperation I loved collecting leaves, feathers, tamarind seeds and pebbles. Life was organic on most fronts, some of us girls walked on Sundays to collect Aloe Vera from the rocks behind home, this we used as hair conditioner. Shampoo was freshly ground Hibiscus leaves. Tapioca and pumpkin were grown in the backyard and shared with neighbours. Cycling on empty village roads was the only option when one wanted to get way. Summer was all about mangoes soaking in chilli powder and salt. Life was simple, but the city always lurked in corner and lured.
I moved to Bangalore for my graduate studies in 1999 and have lived here ever since. It is here that I met the man I love and finally chose to marry. It is here we have chosen to have our baby. When I first moved in I cherished the city for all it had to offer. It is great to be a another face in the crowd. The freedom that comes from being unrecognized is like a head rush, it gets you to do many mad things. In these years I made some great friends and met some really interesting people. We did rather unusual stuff unlike the many party heads around us. The mindless conversation, coffee and friends were the very factors that made me confident and ready for all that the city was going to dish out.
Time has gone by and now the city fails to charm as much. But I am glad for the experiences I have had. I hope my child will experience both the freedom that comes from simplicity and the freedom that comes from anonymity just as I did. For both of these together are immensely powerful.
Till then I walk on with dreams of the coffee shop with an over flowing book shelf, overjoyed children with grubby hands, strung beads, colour paper, crayons, feathers, marbles, the joy of a new story shared and a new memory picked up.
