My mother has been the major source of inspiration for all my writings. She was a philosopher and a very sensitive soul. I think sensitive souls have a poetic tilt in life. They execute their everyday tasks with immense enthusiasm but they dwell in their solitude through poetry. She held a degree in bachelor of arts I think she was preparing for her masters when she got married. She came from a very big family with seven brothers and sisters to follow. She was quite well versed in looking after them. When you have so many siblings then quite naturally the mothers bestows the responsibility to the elder siblings.So, looking after children and bringing them was something she was inherently trained. Though I still recall she had kept a housemaid to look after the household chores while she tended her first baby.

She was quite knowledgeable in science but her area of interest was literature. She was extremely good in maths just like my father. While I duped in that subject….sigh. 🙁

She used her science to calculate a lot of things in everyday life. This was a much awaited post which I wanted to write for a very long time. I simply called it my Mother’s Calculator.

My dad is an early riser while my mother used to lounge in the bed, much longer. (I am just the same 😉 )But once she started there was no stopping. The first thing on her calculator was our diet.

The breakfast should be a balance of calcium with carbs so milk or yoghurt were compulsory accompaniments along with bread,roti or pancakes and a teeny-weeny piece of fruit.  If it seems like breakfast for a king well that was the idea. We both (sister & I) were finicky kids when it came to vegetables. She used her tricks of adding them into our daily food while we had them without noticing the hack. She spoke in this jargon to my dad eat the drumsticks they are rich in Iron, eat those mushrooms they are rich in proteins while you needed no introduction to Non veg. They were just one food category which required no nutritive garnish and the plate was polished clean. 🙂 She was very conscious about dad’s health too, since my grandfather was diabetic so she exercised extra precaution while giving us sweets. Same applied to fried fritters and poppadoms she kept saying eat everything in moderation.

Not once did she steal our childhood away. She put the clothes to dry while we had our makeshift kitchen with veggies made of leaves and the spices made of brick powder. She tried her best to take an afternoon nap while we created havoc in the kitchen. She prayed to god while we played in the mud. But then came the right time on her calculator, right after dusk she silently stood at the backdoor of our house. We would see her from the corner of our eye and then start taking lethargic steps home. With our heads down, wash our hands & feet to quickly join our mum for the evening prayers. The next two hours were spent studying and doing our homework. She would cut vegetables for the evening dinner while we did our homework. She would check our recitations and give us unit tests. She never faltered in her calculations.

She kept a track of dad’s social drinking which umm….had a monthly limit.Yes happens !

She calculated the budget for the month. She calculated the frequency of vacations.

She cut just the right measurement for the sellotape while wrapping, she saved the gift wraps for the future and kept them under the bed.

She saved the orange peels for her face mask, the milk cream for the ghee task.

The oil canister kept upside down while the last few drops trickled, and milk packets near the gas as the cream melted brown.

The Bournvita bottles washed and dried and the tooth paste tube squeezed till the last drop was tried.

In all this if you see misery or poverty I would say you are quite misunderstood.

She calculated because she valued things and lengthened longevity of sweet nothings.

One thing she never calculated was expressing her emotions. Thats engulfs an umbrella of neurotransmitters.

Did your mother’s used calculators then, come forward and share in comments.

Easy Homemade Carrot Cake

I chose the easy homemade carrot cake because I am not as good as my mother making and saving and calculating things. I used her principle of calculation and added some carrots and oats to my cherubs favourite and that is cake. I have kept the recipe very simple and made it without any machines. Just the way mothers prepared their classic cakes with hands and no electric mixers. The approach of autumn inspires the addition of some spices. The cake has additions of walnuts and raisins which add to the flavour. The frosting is fresh cream rather than full-fat cream cheese because I like fresh cream more than cream cheese. It is extremely moist and keeps well in the fridge for 4 days. I did not keep it outside due to fresh cream frosting. The cake remains extremely moist even when kept in the fridge and a wonderful accompaniment for the evening milk cup for your child.

Photography

Well, few days back I shared a forward about the usage of sun and shadows and was deeply inspired by the technique. Still fortunate enough to have a few sunny spells so rushed H to bring a broken branch from the nearby park and came up with this laymen attempt at sun and shady patterns in photography. If you are bewildered I don’t blame you as H is flabbergasted. 🙂