November 6, 2015.

No walking this morning. Me in me arm chair, window, rain trees, sky with parakeets swimming and screeching morning air, pigeons....and thinking the day's blog ... Ruskin Bond writes,'I came here when I was nearing fifty. Now I'm seventy, and instead of drying up, as some writers do in their later years, I find myself writing with as much ease and assurance as when I was twenty....And I enjoy writing...Its not a burdensome task.' Bond is a writer, me a journalist; a typist of press notes is a journalist; a writer is minus press notes; a Bond is read; me am not; a blog, a blogger and a like; 2015 Chekov literature. Rama serves off the tawa, Akki rotis with gunpowder ... a Facebook menu made of Madams rice powder ...it goes well with filter coffee. Two house sparrows land up; me shares Akki rotis; they fly off. And Rama dips into her arm chair with Akki rotis and we talked of Dombivili times when Deepavali meant an anxious wait for the bonus to land in empty pockets; Rama would count the notes twice over when me brought them from office; no cheques; cash; and that evening bypassed Press Club and drinks; every newspaper group me worked, did give a bonus; ahead of Deepavali in Bombay there would be bonus strikes with the textile strike being a sure Deepavali rite...till the last day Millowners' Association, Bombay will say no, trade unions will reject offers, political calls made and then a 8.33 per cent Deepavali bonus; every year the same copy typed on the same typewriter; sometimes typed the story for the next year. Rama would wait for the bonus to touch home before planning the itinerary. Deepavali sweets: mixture, ribbon pakoda, mysorepak, thattai and farals learnt from friend Vasanthi; Rama will note down the raw materials to be bought from the Marwari; with schools shut, Vidya, Dakhi and Ganesh had no time to wait; those were times when the entire family sat together on the floor for lunch and dinner with Rama taking the centre; and to Dombivili East for clothes and crackers; Vidya, Dakhi and Ganesh busy in putting up mud killas (forts) with their friends; dressing and ponding the killas; a week and more of funning; home was laughs, shouts and chewing. And today, there is no bonus; IT companies give performance bonuses, not Deepavali bonus; with most IT companies linked to foreign clients, no Deepavali for most; they enjoy Christmas; no buying textile jigs in crowded shops; Ganesh and Vidya order the world online; Dakhi, Shreya and Chiyu are planning an InOrbit trip for clothes and crackers; Joshi Bandhoo in Borivili for faral. Rama and me sit and wait; the Akki rotis are over. Keep the doors open for Shreya, Chiyu and Grandmother Dairies of Kartik Iyer...