Away from Blogging: here I am at it again...

The reason I could not blog was various:
 Our dog fell very ill all of sudden, she would not eat anything, she was just lying around and had become very quiet. We consulted the Vet., he checked and said, it was just some digestion problem, she would become better in a few days, he gave her some injection and some tablets and tonic.
However things started becoming bad to worse: the doctor too,  got worried as she developed all kinds of lumps in her throat, her legs and her stomach, and she was not eating/ drinking anything, except water.
He took some tests, for he suspected cancer: we really thought she was going to die any time. But the reports came negative: that was good news indeed!
But, still according to the Vet, she had lot of complications, and,  she had to be taken everyday to the clinic to be given drips, and injections, she really looked very sad as if she had given up, she was resting all the time. She had to be force fed, it was very difficult. It took around 1 month for her to come back being her old self. She still could not walk freely as before because of the lumps, slowly the lumps got dissolved, through medicines, her voice came back rather feebly , and she started showing interest in eating.
It is amazing how from literally being  on the death bed she has somehow recovered.
Now almost after 10 days she has got back to looking her normal self, walking better, eyes shining with health, she has to put on some weight which she had lost during her illness: she is definitely on her road to recovery, and she is being really pampered by all of us.
 She had Jaundice, liver problem, kidney problem, and other related problems and complications. 
I somehow could relate to her as a patient: for many years ago I too suffered from Malaria, which left me in the same state  that she was.
We are really grateful to our Watchman, our Maid, our Doctor and Of course God who saw to it along with all  of us who loved her, that she  somehow got over this severe illness. 
At least, we can shout, groan, and make a big fuss about our illness, but our dog just kept quiet, not being able to express its discomfort, the pain, the uneasiness: we can learn so much from animals.

                                                     Toffee  with our son and daughter

Everybody was petting / pampering her during a small get together we had : it was not only a celebration of my husband's birthday, it was also a celebration of Toffee's recovery, and she enjoyed every bit of it.


Then a very dear friend from Norway, Shanthi came,  and stayed with us for a night as promised by her. We had so much fun chatting away till midnight. I had come to know her through blogging. Next morning she was dropped back to her hotel by Ananth.
Our son came the same night from Ann Arbor Michigan for 3 weeks. Our daughter and her husband too came for 3 days for Ananth's birthday. We had a whole gang of uncles and aunts, cousins who had all come from various places to attend the get together at our place to wish him.
I, who always have Time, as my blog's title suggests, found time literally slipping away, for this time, I have not even really spent time with our son, who would be leaving on the 22nd of this month.

As they say, "all good things must come to an end". I leave you with some pictures:

                                        Our daughter and her husband Ram

Bought this beautiful Tussar silk saree for another blogger friend Linhy, who lives in Chicago, would be sending it with our son.  Isn't it pretty?

A Family Entertainer

Emerging tired from the examination hall, I trudged towards the Jayanagar bus stand to catch a bus for Indira nagar. I thought if I take the packed Bangalore city bus now approaching, I can avoid waiting in the equally crowded stand. I then bulldozed my way into the bus, soon to realise that it was filled with long-distance commuters, I cursed my luck. Inside the bus, my attention was drawn to a Tamil family that consisted of a woman in her mid-30s,her elderly mother, a 10- year old daughter and a seven - year old son. Except for the little boy in somebody else's lap, they were all just hanging on to straps, bars, other people's shirt-tails and shoulders.

          The lady looked quite attractive and charming in a white salwar-kurta set, with a purple flowered dupatta  She was wearing shiny gold bangles; a pair of diamond studs adorned her earlobes. Around her neck was the typical (kodi) that married Tamilians wear.

The glittering accouterments led me to believe that they maybe NRIs. I was soon undecieved,  for I heard them conversing in a fluent mixture of Tamil, Hindi and English. They must be from the North,  I thought.  For I had myself lived for a considerable length of time in UP,  and this was the precise mixture of languages we then used.  It brought back pleasant memories of my girlhood days,  before we moved to the South, and I got married,  erasing  this delightful form of communication from my repertoire.

         The lady looked smart and efficient----probably a housewife,  a working journalist,  a computer programmer all rolled into one. She certainly had the look of a well- organised person ---- a good home-maker,  a loving mother and a perfect wife (none of which I am).

                          By now,  the bus had reached M.G.Road and the rush of humanity seeking the exit pushed me closer to the Tamil family. Near Ulsoor, the lady and her little daughter got to sit.  It was going to be a long halt to allow  the innumerable people to get  in and get out of the bus.

            Sitting down, she spotted an elderly woman known to her,  apparently waiting for another bus, just a little distance away from the active melee near our bus. The lady exclaimed excitedly, " Look, there is Juju patti;  children say hello to Juju patti."  Equally excited , the children, on seeing the patti shouted  " Hello Juju patti, how are you?

         The patti ( grandmother) was thrilled by this unexpected meeting . She dared not to come close to the bus and the seething crowd, but  started gesticulating in a highly animated  fashion,  inisisting that they must visit  her house; she would not forgive them if they didn't. This was followed  by nodding of heads and waving hands.

         Meanwhile, the children's grandmother joined in the pantomime, complementing patti on the beautiful sari she wore . In turn,  the patti with her excelllant miming,  conveyed where the sari was bought, for what   occasion, and who presented  it to her.

         Not a word had passed the lips of the actors in this delightful little drama.  I thoroughly enjoyed the entertaining tableau before me.

            My journey was nearing its end. Within less than an hour of our shared bus travel, I had come to know and like the family. I stepped off the footboard, disappointed to see that they were not getting down too. To this day, I least regret having caught that crowded bus.