The refrigerator breathed its last on 4.6.2021 evening 7.30 pm. Our life came to a halt. The contents in the refrigerator had to be moved. They had to find a space in the already crowded kitchen counter.

As it was the lockdown period, we had to wait for a week to get it replaced with a new refrigerator. So, the food had to change . Idli – the staple breakfast was done away with – as there was no refrigerator to store the batter. Milk had to be consumed – added to tea, mixed with coffee, boiled with turmeric – huge glasses – so that it need not be wasted. Vegetables and fruits which were otherwise lying in the refrigerator, for days on end – was consumed fresh.

Chocolates, fruit juices were bought less and consumed less. In short, junk food was not ordered and stored.

Wow! The choice of eating healthy was no longer an option but a necessity . So, now I am thinking should I give a weekly off to my new refrigerator every month? What do you say?

I have recently changed residence to a place little away from the city. Life is calm, quiet and peaceful. There is a lot of light, sun and air but these – these days are not the only essential ones – rather the elixir of life – is the signal tower in your mobile.

If those three bars are not to be seen or seen partially – then that’s where the trouble begins. Running with the mobile in hand all around the society for connectivity – for calls, for transactions, for OTPs, for downloading – it is like a mini- marathon, something which is becoming a part of my life now. I am not fond of exercising but these days I seem to love these mini- walks or mini- marathons.

An empty triangle on the top right – hand screen of the mobile has in a way made my life peaceful. I donot wake up to a flood of messages in the morning – wanted or unwanted. I donot get calls – unnecessary calls from sales or marketing teams – anymore. I am sure they give a buzz, but it never reaches me. Life is peaceful.

Buffering happens quite often leading me to learn the art of being patient. Though the world goes digital; declined payments, delay in transactions is something that happens quite often here – and, I have understood the value of holding cash ‘for unforeseen circumstances’ – one of the three motives for holding money. I have taught it for years and now I have understood its importance.

There are times I feel like I have lost a limb. And, Yes, people are not able to contact me. Still, I prefer this as now my work colleagues, friends, family have learnt to ping me and get me to call. Lovely! Who wold trade this peace and bliss for those three full bars. I have found ways to live without this limb.

No signal! Very happy ! Very peaceful!

I have had anxiety issues, insecurity, anger management, blind rage towards my family member for quite a few years now, which I had ignored – consciously, ignored stating that I will work on it today, tomorrow, yoga will help, I should meditate, do rigorous exercises….. these little changes in my life will change my mindset. But, deep down I too knew that all these were mere ways of escaping from facing the problem.

This lockdown I finally decided to take the bull by its horn. I cried out for help – help to talk to someone who was and will never be part of my life. A third person who will not be be biased towards what I feel or think. Thankfully, I went in for counseling and these sessions put things in perspective.

It led me to see the rational aspects of events in my life without attaching emotions to it. And, that helped. It made a huge difference to an otherwise confused ‘me’. These sessions held a mirror to me and I could see myself clearly for the first time in my life.

I am not healed completely. At least I see myself progressing somewhere. I am less anxious, less stressed, I get less worked up. I do-not chatter unnecessarily to anyone and everyone anymore – I am no longer scared that people will sense I am insecured. I pay more attention to the conversations I am a part of. I am a lot more assertive now. And, above all, I have chosen myself, my sanity over everything – something similar to what the ace tennis player Ms. Naomi Osaka did a few days ago.

Counseling and Therapies help. I still have anger management, I am envious of others and I do suffer from anxiety issues – the beauty is I am not ashamed of it anymore. I am not afraid of my ugly side. I donot look at myself as a monster. Thanks to the counseling sessions, I appreciate myself of being honest about my emotions to myself. And, What a relief that is . I just love being myself. Counseling helps.

I caught up with a friend of mine after a long, long time over the phone – A friend who is a little senior to me. We had a good chatty long conversation. We practically caught up with our lives. We shared our journey, our insights, our learnings and unlearning. Finally, we bade goodbye !

I got a beautifully drafted message which encapsulate how she appreciated me for taking certain decisions in life and felt bad for not being around when I needed help. And, more than the conversation it was the message that said it all or what did you say ‘summed up the intent’ Lovely!

And , that’s exactly what I learnt today – the art of beautifully ending a conversation – the parting touch or the final touch. Now, I am bound to remember those warm words first and the conversation later. This is the art of conversing in the digital era.

I have been reading the sexual harassment case in a leading school in Chennai. And, now there are such incidents being reported in other schools, as well. The more you read about it, the more scarier it gets. It makes me wonder about a lot of things – the oft asked question is : how come the school pretended to be ignorant of it all these years? How come school educators/ administrators/ teachers think such issues would not blow-up on social media – when social media has been slowly growing up as an all powerful organism? Are our educators across Indian schools so distanced from technology and social media?

How many schools, educators and teachers across India – parents included are aware of the POSCO Act? Is the POSCO Act – a part of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) across any Government colleges or universities offering B.Ed? If the Act is meant as a policy to be framed and only to be set aside, how do we as a country with millions of schools – big and small – commit to children’s safety and well-being.

It is time the Ministry of Education makes it mandatory that the contents of the POSCO Act should be discussed in all PTMs, during staff meetings and in a lucid version to children during morning assemblies. POSCO Act should not be treated as another Government of India (GOI) circular to be filed and tossed aside by the schools and other educational institutions.

One of the biggest challenge while re-arranging a house is not re-organizing the furniture. But re-arranging the kitchen. The typical south India kitchen is full of vessels big and small. Each utensil has a purpose. Some of them who are post their retirement age act as – Multi purpose storage vessels.

At the time of re-arranging, discarding these broken utensils becomes a challenge. Hence, these utensils are like heritage sites – a reminder of the elaborate dishes we used to cook when we had the luxury of time and resources – along with a huge joint family where fanning and feeding was a festivity in itself.

So these vessels are maintained and preserved for posterity.

A cousin of mine wants to dump his old mother with anyone who is willing to accommodate her. He does not want her to be sent to an old age as he would have to cough up the caution deposit. So, he is seriously looking out for one of our family members to accommodate his mother and is ready to offer a sizable amount of money for her looking after.

How and when do mothers becomes such burden? When the baby has nowhere to go and clings to the mother, the mothers life revolves around them. Now, it is her time to cling to her son and it is his payback time. Hope sons in the world realize that youth is not permanent and old age is not a disease.