rediff

I remember my first few pigtail attempts at riding the poor man's vehicle, the environment-friendly bicycle. The one I learnt on belonged to my father's office. Every time the peon came home to deliver or pick up something, I would whisk the bicycle away. In the beginning it was too big for me. Perched on the seat, my feet didn't quite make it to the ground. So I resorted to the kainchi or scissors-style. Which meant right elbow on the seat, hands on the handlebar, and legs across on the pedals...

A hot cup of ginger-laced tea with a crisp newspaper is how I best like to start my day. But the idiot box, spouting news from every possible channel, has ensured that I do not crave for the reams of black ink first thing in the morning. More so since I moved to higher realms to where I must climb some 50-odd curving, at-times-steep stairs. The newspaper boy leaves my set on the boundary wall below. He cannot chuck the roll up to my floor as the lower floor balconies lean too far out. However...

Baby's in the family way." This news from the youngest of us five siblings came as a pleasant surprise. First Baby became a doctor and then she got married and then of course the stork came calling. Baby had indeed grown up. But she continued to be Baby for all of us at home -- even as she waddled kangaroo-like, her pouch growing bigger as D-day neared. When the four-year-old of the second sibling came visiting, he wanted to know why Baby Auntie's stomach was so big. Because there is a baby...