A half-baked cake

I baked a perfect heart-shaped raspberry cake today.

It came out soft, creamy, fluffy and spongy.

You ought to be familiar with its colour and aroma.

Much to your delight, it still reveals the same zest for life!

Its contour is colourful and confident

Its natural silkiness melts up the soreness inside.

This time the frozen berries on the top jazzed it up a bit.

And, the lily flowers on the tray have made up for the lost scent.

Yes, that’s the story of one half of the cake.

Let’s keep the other half for some other day.

As yet, it’s unprocessed and half-baked!

Residual Love

You love green apples, I love red ones

You prefer continental, I like Indian

You hog and jog, I sleep and skip

You focus on the destination, I enjoy the ride

You listen to Gwen Stefani, I hum Ghazal notes

You adore winter holidays, I am a bright summer girl

You always get lost in my eyes, I can’t ever track your heart

Yet one part of me in you loves the red apples

Yet one part of you in me sings - ‘I know, we’re cool’

Laugh lines around my eyes – Smile please!

Some well-meaning relatives in my life have only one ambition to execute this year. They tell me that they can’t wait to shop like crazy for my wedding. And that, they are getting old and might not be agile enough to perform all the wedding-related chores by the time I actually do get married. Therefore, I have been told to seriously consider their plea.

Thirty and not a sign of settling down, is considered a big deal in a woman’s life. My parents, thankfully, don’t make it sound as big as the rest of the people in my life do. I have started hearing their sympathetic tones lately.

So, what should I do?

There are 2 ways of sorting this out -

First - I should let my parents do the groom hunt quite actively now and happily participate in all the activities. I should let my profile flash on various matrimonial sites and carefully choose to interact with the right prospective/s. Basically, I should open myself to the route of an arranged marriage system.

Second – I should wait for Mr. Right to come into my life. A dear friend KM had once pointed out – ‘Onnu, don’t you think, you live in a fantasy world or something? How long will you just sit on this and wait for your fairytale miracle to happen to you?’

My reply was, and is still the same – For as long as it takes.   

Is there still a third way of setting this up? I am yet to discover, if there is.

In my mind, I am in no hurry to settle down. But, when I put my mind to rest for a few hours, I wake up to this harsh reality of my life - where everyone around me is screaming aloud in 3 different languages – ‘when are you getting married? Kab shaadi kar rahi ho? Aei mey, kokhon beye korchish?’

Honestly, I don’t know. I really DO NOT KNOW!

I just know one thing it will happen when the Gods up there take time out to decide upon my future. In the meantime, I can only keep my attitude as optimistic as this sales executive at the Levi’s store, who claimed that I can never outgrow the perfect 26-inch waistline! Also, as realistic as the parlour aunty who recently asked me to replace my daily skincare products with anti-aging ones. Precisely, that’s the reason why it is not tough to keep my outlook well-balanced.

And, for some other strange reason, an acquired interest in the field of Sports, is currently defining me as a person.

It’s bound to instill in me the true spirit of sportsmanship, if nothing else. 

P.S.

I love aging. It brings forth a lot of maturity, humility, fun, and some elegant laugh lines. 

When colours don’t beam

The window pane has a slew of colours, today

I cannot see outside of it anymore.

Open the door please,
Don't you hear me knocking?

Rat-tat-tat

Aren’t you familiar with the sound of this knock?

Don’t you remember you once taught me to knock?

You helped me to make this perfect sound of knock

The kind of thud that is unique and rhythmic!

I had learned this sound by heart

Thought you, too, followed the same

Why are you taking this long to open the door?

Open the door please,
Don’t you hear me knocking?

Rat-tat-tat

When you finally decide to open the door

You might not find me around, anymore

But there is one thing waiting for you to recover

From that cabinet next to your bookshelf

Your birthday gift that I missed last month

A branded box of ear waxing strips!