The World Through His Eyes

Many a times when I watch him looking out of the balcony door atop the wooden sette, I often wonder what might be going on in his mind. With no one of his kind around, the smells and sounds all alien, no friends to play with, no family to belong to… what must he be feeling? His entire world is confined to the five rooms that our house is… nothing beyond that. The dazed look as he stares out saddens me deeply and I try to put myself in his place, a futile attempt obviously, but I genuinely wish I could and see, ‘the world through his eyes…’

I don’t remember being so obsessed about pets in my childhood, guess we had other better things to do, but my daughters were… they wanted a dog!

Having been brought up in the hills with open spaces around, I was and still am hesitant with the idea of keeping a dog in flats. But my ‘no’ wasn’t for this reason alone(although it was the biggest). I knew that I would be the mother of the dog and with my hands already full with three children, two daughters and one 24/7 husband😉… I couldn’t take care of another.

But the pestering didn’t stop, with the passing of days being locked up inside the house and with the sight of many fellow residents walking their newly brought pets everyday, it only grew. With time, they even seemed okay to have a cat.

There’s one fact that I need to mention here, a great big fact… I dislike cats! With all my heart! Although I don’t want to sound mean and cruel, the scary eyes and the unappealing look on their faces is repulsive and no feeling of compassion arises. I have tried but it just doesn’t happen. So basically, I was caught in a catch 22 situation.

Finally, I conceded and agreed to get home a cat but with one major clause:
come what may, I WOULD NOT LOOK AFTER IT AT ALL! and the responsibility would totally fall on my daughters. They agreed, but it didn’t happen… I stood firm on my resolve and for a change, my husband became the mother.

With a great deal of research on the type and with reference from an animal lover friend, we made our choice.

Smokie(I call him Ichmoku😊) came home on the 15th of August 2020. He was 2 months 12 days old(born on 3rd June). He was literally, as Sheldon sings, ‘Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur,’ and, much as I disliked cats, my heart went out to him. He was irresistibly adorable. By the way, his face is different, he is a punch-face Persian and the cutest I have ever seen.

The minute my husband let him out of his carry bag, he ran to a corner and stayed there for a long time. His former keeper, I like to call her his granny, had given us strict instructions to let him be for atleast a day, so we did that. However, my husband started getting anxious as Smokie wasn’t moving from the spot, so he lifted him gently and took him to his new cosy bed in his new room… the one he shares with my girls. He stayed in his bed all night.

In the morning of day two, Smokie ventured out of the room and slowly started exploring the house. Although he would get startled by the faintest of noises and also if we appeared before him, he didn’t run away… he would just stay at that place for a short time and then walk around again. He started playing with his toys too.

By day three, he had adjusted to the new environment and had started coming to us and slightly responding to our voices.

In no time Smokie became my husband’s baby and my husband his favourite… the bond the two share is amazing. I for one had never thought that my husband could be attached to a cat… he is a ‘happy with himself’ kind of a man otherwise… not emotionally needy. Seeing the way he was with Smokie, I actually googled to see if it was normal for a human to be attached more to an animal than with other humans… I learnt that it is!

Smokie’s dad putting him to sleep

Initially, Smokie used to get lost in the house, as they don’t bark, cats are difficult to locate. Once we found him in my elder daughter’s wardrobe, once locked out for about two hours in the balcony, once locked inside my bedroom for around three hours, once he crossed over to the terrace of the adjacent block. This was the scariest of all as we live on the 14th floor. Our hearts stopped beating for a good 10 minutes that night. Nowadays, if I don’t see him for even 15 mins, I call out and start searching.

Now one funny thing with cats is, I don’t know how to say it, they are ‘mono expression’ animals. They only have one expression on their faces… in fun, happiness, anger, fear, pain, sadness, just one! Take my word for it, it’s extremely frustrating at times. I so wished I could see the gleam in his eyes or the excitement in his gaze, but nothing! While I was growing up, we had dogs back home, always energetic, jumping, licking and showing fondness and excitement… so you know where I’m coming from. Smokie does none. But, the good part is, I started accepting quite soon that he is totally different… that he is a cat!

Our Smokie is of calm temperament and doesn’t have a scary side. He doesn’t scratch or bite, just pretends to when he is playful. Although he has the inherent hunter instinct, he is incapable of hunting, infact, he is fearful of any foreign object and even insects and retreats when he sees any. He has an adorable wild side… when he is upset, he growls, literally like a tiger but really soft(that’s the maximum he can do) and it’s funny. He sleeps like no one is watching, on the floor, on the couch, in bed, behind my books on the shelf, under the bed, on my husband’s work table and sometimes on his scratch post too. And when he’s sleeping all sprawled or curled up, it still takes us time to figure which side his head is and which his bottom.

Although I still feel bad that he may be alone(no other cat around) and I juggle with the thought that we got him for our selfish needs, maybe, maybe not, Smokie seems secure in our home… we are his world. He is a year and eight months old now. He has grown quite the big fluffy cat, but still looks extremely cute. He has this innocent look about his face that is adorable. He continues to amuse and entertain us with his looks, stunts, playfulness and his curiosity. I tell all my friends that I don’t like cats but I love Smokie. However, one good thing that has happened after he came into our lives is that I have become a little compassionate towards cats, just a little, but that’s still huge for me.

If you are keen to bring home a cat, there are somethings that may make the experience easy for you:

1. Research and read up on the temperaments of different breeds. Depending on that you can decide which one you want.
2. Know the authenticity and genuineness of the breed you choose and the place where you decide to get it from. We got Smokie from Pammy’s Persians(that’s his granny’s FB Page). She treats them with a whole lot of love and care. She even took classes to train my husband before handing him over to us.
3. Purchase everything like food(both wet and dry), food bowls and water bowl, litter tray and litter, some toys, a comfortable sleeping place, a scratch post before hand.
5. Take a pet carry bag with you when u go to get your kitten for the first time and lay some newspapers on it incase it pees.
6. If you don’t want it to sleep in your room, leave it in its room in the night from day one.
7. Keep the bathroom door that it will be using ajar at all times but the toilet seat cover on, kittens are so little that they can drown in the commode.
8. If the kitten litters anywhere apart from its tray, clean that place with a strong disinfectant so that the smell completely vanishes. If it doesn’t, chances are, it will litter there again.
9. Take it for regular vaccinations and make sure you get it neutered around eight months, (we did that) if u don’t intend to let it mate. If you delay, it may have mood swings or its behavior may change and it may stop eating, become aggressive, litter around the house etc.

Last, but not the least, if you are like me, not the cat kind, if I could love one, so can you.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration.’

https://www.blogaberry.com/

https://nooranandchawla.com/

All in a Day’s Drive: My Top 5 Places for a Day Trip, in and around Bangalore

Amidst the upheaval and the atrocities it caused and the standstill that our lives came to, the one positive thing that the first wave of Covid left us with was the discovery of some wonderful day trip locations in and around Bangalore which were otherwise unexplored by us despite living here for over 16 years.

After the ‘first wave’ lockdown, till the time life returned to normality(which was very short-lived ofcourse), almost every weekend we used to take off on a drive. Our social life was non-existent and staying indoors was taking a toll on our equilibrium, both physical and mental. That’s when we decided that we needed to get out.

With ample googling by my husband and sometimes recomendations through friends, we chanced upon some unexplored, some serene, some blissful, some enchanting, some adventurous, some mystical but all unique and naturally beautiful escapades.

Here are my favourite five in random order:

1. Gunjur Lake, near Dodaballapura(this is not the one in Whitefield so please look it up on the GPS accurately)

An unexpectedly stunning drive through barren majestic hills on either side leads to this picturesque lake that rests calmly, surrounded by hills on all sides. I don’t know if there are other roads that one can take(there must be), but we drove from Yelahanka New Town via Dodaballapur road.

Since it was a little more than an hour’s drive from home, we left at 3 p.m and reached the place when the sun wasn’t at its fiercest. We found a spot close to the water, much like a jetty and set up our tent there as my daughters love the ‘camping’ feel. Our tent is always in the boot of our car and is a very handy and easy to set up purchase from Decathlon. Along with it we carry our set of camp chairs and a table, again from Decathlon and a mini gas stove and beach umbrella from Amazon.

My daughters sat on the bank dipping their feet in the water and made pottery with the clay like mud. It was nice to see them loving the feel of getting their hands dirty. We picnicked till late evening and made our way back after capturing some beautiful memories. My husband is a photographer by passion so taking pictures is one of the ‘important to do’ things for us.

Fun with Pottery 😀

2. Talakadu, en route to Shivasamundra

Now this is a place that was a part of our journey but turned out to be more fascinating than the destination.

It was a hot day and I am thankful that we made a stop here as although Shivasamundra and its adjoining falls were gorgeous, this was more intriguing.

It is a circle, you start from a small temple with marvelous and super human architecture and come back to it after wading through what feels like a beach in a jungle… quite literally!

Check out the rings

Legend has it that Talakadu was cursed and entirely submerged in sand. Now, the sand forms a pathway that connects all the tiny temples(there are believed to be 30) most of which still lie buried under.

The most recently excavated temple

To make it easy for tourists, an overhead shed has been built for much of the sandy walk.  When I saw the sand, my first thought was, ‘God knows where it came from in the middle of a jungle that lies on the banks of a river.’ It is actually beach sand and for a layman like me, it was a mystery until I read up on it once I got back. The minute my girls saw what was under their feet, they sat on it and started building sand castles. Our guide amused us trying to explain the lore in his super sweet attempt at English.

The sand walkway

That’s our guide explaining the mystical past 😀

By the way, a little before we reached this place, Kaveri met Kaveri. We stopped at a charming little spot to make my first encounter with the waters of the river Kaveri.

Talakadu is special for two reasons, firstly because of it’s association with the river Kaveri and secondly, due to its rich cultural heritage and past. 

3. Gudibande Fort, Chikkaballapura

If you like surprises, this is the place for you. For us it was serendipity.

An hour’s(max 1.5 hours) hike uphill from Gudibende(appx 2hrs drive from Yelahanka New Town) took us to this quaint fort with a million dollar view of the city below. It is so stunning that I just wanted to sit and keep looking and looking.

The million dollar view

It was an easy trail but full of surprises… we were walking in dense vegetation with creepers and crawlers and suddenly it opened up into a man-made staircase that again suddenly transformed into a dark, damp cave. That’s how it is right to the top, we were told there are some 400 steps in all. We walked there when the late afternoon sun was shining on us. It was quite hot so we kept hydrating ourselves. This was one hike which my elder daughter, who otherwise is on all fours when we climb hills, enjoyed thoroughly.

Surprises on every bend

Quite a place for photography

This hike is truly enchanting and adventurous. If your kids are Dora fans, they will love it. And not to forget, the view is worth the tan you will most likely get and every drop of sweat you will shed.

4. Skandagiri Hills, off Bellary Road

The rising sun in all its glory lighting up the horizon with its myriad hues, the spine chilling wind blowing on our faces, the bliss and serenity surrounding us; this experience left us awestruck and mesmerized, and to witness it, we hiked up rocky hills in the wee hours of the morning for around 3.5 hours.

Not your cuppa?… Do it, you won’t regret!

For first time hikers it may be a little difficult, tiring and frustrating but what awaits you at the summit will change it all. It is totally totally worth it!

Unlike other places, this one is best visited through a travel company as it is difficult to find the start point in the middle of the night(I doubt Google maps will be of help). Ours was ‘Namma Trip.’ We boarded their bus at midnight from Hebbal(nearest stop for Yelahanka) which took us to the foothills after a refreshments break at a Shell petrol pump en route, and we started the climb at 4a.m.

An experienced and helpful guide, Chandan, accompanied us. We had walking staffs (another purchase from Decathlon) that helped us a great deal and is highly recommended… we found plenty of branches on the way up that I used as a makeshift as we were three and the staffs only two. Comfortable sports shoes are a must and a warm jacket preferably with a hood as it gets freaking cold on the hilltop. We were left shivering to the core despite wearing our hoodies.

But the overall experience… mindblowing!

However, this one place is not quite suitable for kids; the risk of skidding and falling in the sandy, rocky terrain during the descent is way too high and moreover, the duration is long… overall six hours of walking up and down.

After a leisurely breakfast(which is included in the package) at one of the restaurants at the foothills, we were dropped off at our pick up point.

5. Avalahalli Forest, Yelahanka

Without sounding biased, this is our favourite discovery. The reasons are various:

– It is really close to my house, just a 20 minutes drive and if it’s early morning, you can actually run there.

– ‘The woods are lovely dark and deep’… well, they are lovely, bright and deep. The forest doesn’t give you the creeps. It is huge and fairly unexplored and makes for a great camping/picnic spot with family. We have gone there multiple times and we have set up our tent and made small fires on clear openings and when it’s not windy. Peeling the barks off of the eucalyptus trees is therapeutic and makes for great firewood. And the biggest relief, there are no monkeys or any other wild animal.

– The landscape is amazing. Although majority of it is forest land with tall trees everywhere, It has stone hills at some places, patches of grasslands here and there and a cycling trail too(the mountain bike types). To sum it up… it’s a photographer’s paradise! I have become quite the guinea pig model for my husband here.

– The sunset is beautiful and surreal. The jungle suddenly calms itself as the evening sets in, and behold, right in front of you the sky turns into shades of orange, red and crimson. For the sunset alone, I feel evenings are the best time to be here, the wilderness gives you a different feel altogether.

That brings us to the end of my list. It would be incomplete if I don’t mention that all these places are worth visiting for their proximity, their abundant natural beauty, raw appeal and sheer charm and ofcourse for photography.

An important thing to remember is that we are outdoors so the best time to reach the destinations is by late afternoon(except for full day trips) so that we have a comfortable experience without getting beaten by the harsh sun. Also, because these places are not commercial, there aren’t any good restaurants around. Depending upon the time of visit, it is ideal to carry food and beverages accordingly. We usually went/go in the late afternoons with a flask of coffee/tea and snacks and juices for the kids. For full day trips, we carried sandwiches and tea/coffee for breakfast and packed our lunch, heated it in our mini stove and ate in disposables. We even made instant noodles at one of the lakes… the authetic feel of camping it gave was memorable.

Apart from these five, we drove to several other places that are beautiful and unique in their own way. Writing in detail about all wasn’t feasible, so leaving you all with just their names and a picture each:

1. Chhota Ladakh, Dodda Iyyur Rock Quarry
2. Kuntibetta, SH19 Pandavapura
3. Nelligudde Kere, Bidadi
4. Manchanabele Dam, Magadi Road
5. Tobo Hill, overlooking Bannerghatta national Park
6. Vatadahosahalli Lake, Sabbanahalli
7. Horsley Hills, AP (Our longest drive of 3.5 hours one way)

Manchanabele Dam on my birthday 😊

Rock Climbing at Tobo Hill

Based on the activity you have in mind, you can look these places up and plan your drives.

Save the Earth?

‘The planet isn’t going anywhere… We are!’
-George Carlin

With the pandemic back with a vengeance, I often wonder why this calamity has befallen us, and while I was pondering over it today, I remembered a *video of George Carlin(my favorite Comedian and Satirist) that I had watched some years ago, where he talks about our meddling with the earth and how we may have to pay for it.

My daju(elder bro) tells me that we ‘humankind’ are a mistake… that we are either a failed mutation or we weren’t supposed to be here at all.

Earlier I didn’t give much thought to this but now, after all the things that have been happening to us, the more I dwell on this theory, the more I believe it is true… n why not?

Unlike most other animals who inhabit the planet earth:

We fight with our own kind.
We kill our own kind.
We cannot live in harmony with our own kind.
We are a threat to our own kind.
We are the epitome of ‘The seven deadly sins.’
We kill other animals solely for pleasure (includes hunting, trade, meat etc).
We die of a 100 diseases in our natural habitats.
We do not know how to choose competent leaders… I added this on a lighter note, but it is true nonetheless😉
and the most important of all, we are the ONLY species of living beings who go against nature, interfere with it and do not respect it… (it’s no wonder that all animals are outside now and we in cages).

But ironically, and this is the best part, if a calamity or a catastrophe occurs, we fear that we need to protect, heal or save the earth. Like it is happening now… I saw a whatsapp forward of a kid kissing the globe and saying ‘Get well soon.’

Pic courtesy: Google images

But does the earth really need to heal or be saved?… that too by us? or do we need to mend our ways and save ourselves?

Think about it…

Ending with a quote from George Carlin again; and I can’t agree more…

‘Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet, the planet is fine… The people are fucked!’

Well, isn’t that the situation right now?

*Click here to watch the video (https://youtu.be/uHgJKrmbYfg)

Omicrorantined!

I woke up from my slumber to a distant voice calling me ‘Aama.’ At first I was too dazed to figure out anything, then the reality creepily dawned on me that it was our tea time and I had fallen asleep on the afternoon of our second day of Home Quarantine.

Still drowsy, I got up to attend to the hunger calls of the youngest bird in my nest… quite literally actually cuz no matter what they are doing they never miss snack breaks and timings and they start chirping chu chu chu chu. So while I was figuring what to stuff into their beaks, the events of the previous day played in my head.

It was a dull evening, after tea around 5p.m. of January 12th. I casually asked my husband to check his covid test report. We had tested together the day before but I had received my report earlier in the day and it was negative and since I was the one with the cough and the runny nose while he just had a mild throat irritation, I, not in my wildest of thoughts would have imagined what was going to hit us.

That’s why when he opened the link and I saw ‘positive’ written there… it’s only natural that the ground beneath my feet slipped. I kept looking at the screen in disbelief but at the same time I maintained a brave and calm facade and was alert enough to ask him to get inside his room immediately.

I think this happens to first timers… to come to terms with it, so once he was in, I asked him to download and check it one more time before I went about informing our Society Covid Response Team(the selfless team of people that manages everything related to covid, from home quarantine to sanitization of property, to sending and putting up notices, to taking care of the covid waste to even helping residents with food n supplies and medical needs. They work superbly and seamlessly to make life easy for the infected. Every society should have such a team) and going about the mandatory formalities.

I was unwell and horribly under the weather but I immediately donned on my battle avatar and became ‘Jhansi ki Rani’ in a jiffy. I rushed the kids and the kitty into their room… my two daughters aged 12 and eight and our cat(they spent the entire seven days locked up inside but with their gadgets and games and everything else that they needed to pass their time with). I asked them to change their clothes immediately and wash their face, hands, feet… everything! Then I went about spray sanitizing the house, at places he’d sat and on the things he’d used etc and the places I had touched too. I sprayed so much that the LPG cylinder alarm went off due to the heavy odour and because my nose was blocked and I had no sense of smell, I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed😀

After seeing to it that the kids were settled in their room and my husband in his, I came to mine, closed the door and fell on the bed. I was slightly tensed and my heartbeat was racing a bit as I was worried about the kids now. The reason was, I had isolated myself from the time I’d started coughing and only when my result came negative, had I gone out into the hall. But my husband hadn’t, although we both were wearing masks and the kids too at all times we were together; he was sitting with them, serving them food, eating at the table with them and all. The only thing he wasn’t doing was touching them or being in very close proximity. .. thank God for that!

Meanwhile my husband consulted a doctor and he was prescribed some meds to manage his mild symptoms. I took the same meds too upon the doc’s advice. And some 4 hours later, after attending to the needs of the quarantined folks and a bit of cleaning up etc, I called it a day. I avoided staying in the common areas as much as possible throughout the Quarantine period.

That first night, I didn’t get sleep. No matter how mild the symptoms, the fear of the uncertain had crept in and that kept me awake. But the next morning onwards I got into a routine since everything remained as it was.

Some things that worked for me and the advantages of living in an extremely well organized big society and a big city:

Swiggy: I will be eternally grateful for this privilege of vast food options and door step delivery, as firstly, I was in no position to cook and secondly, cooking would mean too many touch points and exposure. Since we are not too fussy about food and since both my husband and I lost neither appetite nor sense of taste, we swiggyed all our meals for the entire week of Quarantine.

BBdaily and Swiggy Instamart: for groceries and all essentials. One thing I ordered daily was coconut water through either of these two apps.

Am2pm: Making use of the in-house pharmacy for all medicines through calls and whatsapp and the blood test that the doctor advised for my husband. Thankful for this privilege and their promptness in delivery and services.

Disposable crockery: I used only disposables for serving meals to my husband so there was absolutely no touchpoint with him except his garbage bag that I touched for disposal, that too wearing gloves. I washed my plates etc separately and with a separate scrub and kept them in the utility at all times away from other utensils.

Steaming and gargling: We bought a steamer for the girls from Amazon(another life saver for the many items we purchased during this time) as the one we had was quarantined with my husband and I prefer to do it the old fashioned way so I didn’t need it. And, I was joking about this with my friend that we have a bottle each of betadine in all the three bathrooms😀. So warm water and betadine gargle(not the kids) and steaming 3 times a day… mandatory!

Washing hands and frequent sanitization: Because I had quarantined the kids although they were both fine throughout(touchwood) as I had to be up and about, I kept washing my hands all the time. I asked the kids to do that too… either sanitize or wash. On a lighter note, I was thinking if there were a contest for the amount of dead cells shed from washing hands, I for one would have won unopposed… I literally washed my hands away😄! Well I didn’t have an option, I had to serve them food and cut and serve fruits, so washing my hands was a must, although while cutting fruits I wore gloves as it was direct contact.

Wearing a mask: We purchased a big pack of surgical masks from Amazon that we all wore and discarded every day.
I wore a double mask whenever I stepped out of my room and I started doing it after the onset of my first cough. The kids had to wear their masks while they stepped out to collect their food… poor girls… this was the only time they stepped out of their bedroom. Smokie(our cat) didn’t have that little privilege either as his food and everything else was inside😒

Maintaining distance: In my opinion, this was the most difficult and the most important; the symptoms are that of common cold and flu… so you never know. I decided not to take chances and be careless around my kids as they are the most vulnerable with no vaccination. I think this was my best decision! I maintained distance from the time I started coughing. I stopped letting them come close and I isolated myself once I took the test and stopped my househelp from coming home too.

Keeping the news to ourselves: We were already burdened by the stress and anxiety of the illness and I with its physical manifestations too, so we chose not to inform our friends and family members back home in the initial days. Their expression of concern and worry would have overwhelmed us and the news of our illness would have worried them to no end and they would’ve felt all the more helpless for not being there. Therefore, we kept it to ourselves until we were mentally in a state to handle everything with ease. A win-win situation🙌

Although mild, I do not wish that anyone gets infected as we do not know the long term after effects that it may leave us with.
Also, as adults we are far more patient, less restless and more understanding of the situation but it’s not easy to lock up two young kids and a cat inside a room for seven days… it was a torment for them as well as us but ‘sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.’ I have to totally give it to my girls for taking it in their stride without any fuss, tantrum or negativity… it made everything so easy.

Thankful for all the support we received from everyone around, the chats and talks with our friends and family that kept us occupied, motivated and sane; and with Netfilx, YouTube, Spotify and Smule giving us company… we somehow sailed through the turbulent Omicron Home Quarantine wave.