Arre Kya Baat Hai! (old)

On internet watched the songs from Morning Raga this morning. They are really beautiful. Shabana Azmi looks great. Perizaad Zorabian also. But it is the music that gave me goose-flesh. I had listened to the cassette in Delhi in December and had thought that it was monotonous. Back to Bologna, I had tried playing it in the car while going to work a couple of times and then given up. And then today, watching the songs is completely different from listening to them. Listening to the cassette now will be another experience. Yet it is still the same cassette!

Morning Raga brought memories of Malati. Renu's friend in NPL. In our home, everyone was didi-dada, but not in Rahul's home. There Renu was just Renu. And Malati. Her voice heavy, almost like a man's. Practicing Carnatak music. Heavenly. Thinking of Malati brought in mind her sister in law, Vatsal's wife. Their twin sons. Crying desperately in the corridor at Wellingdon hospital, the blanket dirty with blood. Didn't know, how to console her. What do we men know about loss of some thing that grows inside you?

I cooked bhindi today. And some arabi. It makes me a bit sad to find all these vegetables at the Bangladeshi fruit and vegetable stalls in Bologna. Till two years ago, I would wait for months to go to Delhi, mentally tasting arhar ki daal, bhindi, karela, mooli ... Now every thing is there, very convenient but not so good for the nostalgia.

The Bangladeshi girl in the store had packed bhindi and arabi, and asked, want some fresh mangoes? Made me shudder. Nostalgia and memories killed by fresh fruit & vegetables that come every week from Bangladesh.