lalita larking

An obsession with cryptic crosswords. Everything else falls in place.

Name:
Location: Kolkata, India

Monday, December 31, 2007

The last weekend

I must write my last post for the calendar year, I fret. The weekend has been lazy, to say the least. But unlike Granny Weatherwax, I do know decadent has nothing to do with having ten teeth, since Nanny Ogg would be unident then; I know it is more to do with not opening the curtains all day, as Granny suspects.

I hate winters. We never had them when I was a child, to start with. My first encounter with winter had me wrestling duty, conscience and a streak of self-preservation, which screamed 'go back to Madras' at me. But a few years in Delhi and even Calcutta winters will 'larn' you, as Huck Finn says.

So one learns indolence and basking in sunlight. One learns knitting, but that is another post. One learns the luxury of a good quilt, the reason why more children are conceived in winters and such fascinating things. One learns about winter vegetables and pigging out. One learns that the kitchen is a wonderfully warm place on cold dawns.

Add to this a couple of decades of experience. What comes up is a tendency to leave the geyser on, all the time, even while feeling guilty about using hot water to brush teeth and wondering what kind of hell such luxury will land you in, but preferring to be comfortable here and now.

I really should be writing, I think. The last weekend of the year should be blogged about, surely. But beer and late pasta lunch make for sleepiness.

This napping in the afternoons is a new thing for me. It started thanks to the side effects of the methotrexate therapy. Though the drug was discontinued, I continue napping. I slide under the quilt and consider what I want to say about the end of another year.

As I get comfortable, I consider that a short nap is not that much of a sin. It is practically an act of virtue, as I will wake up bright-eyed, and then I can write the post. My toes snuggle into the folds of the quilt, creating a warm burrow. I yawn and consider post ideas. One has to shrug a bit and wiggle around to get the quilt all nicely wrapped and it takes fine judgment to make a cocoon.

As years go, 2007 wasn’t all highs, there is that. The lows when they happened were spectacularly low. But it wasn't a bad year, really, was it?

Being diagnosed with 'undiff. connective tissue disorder,' also known as rheumatoid arthritis was a low. The severity of the onset was scary. While there's relief, the relapses and the evolving disease make one appreciate the bright points and highs all the better. I could talk about how life becomes centered on the affected joints.

I could write about how the last weekend was leftover lunch and reading; receiving a call from my bookshop about a book I might be interested in, going and getting it and reading. Oh, and beer and pasta. Wonderful things, weekends are.

I could write about that Rafi song that is haunting me now. Phir miloge kabhi. That's a brilliant song. I could write about my toyboys; music lessons or the latest Araucaria offering- Thomas Hardy novels and a huge grid.

Or I could write about how wonderful it is to see a new comment on a post I wrote early in my career of blogging, how it cheered me and made my day. Comments like that are what a blogger craves, and make blogging the pleasure it is.


I've spent most of what should have been a busy Monday falling in love with your blog. Only an ...erm... numskull of rare merit would stumble upon one of your posts and not feel the urge to keep reading.:-)

You'd better believe your posts are being read - oldest and otherwise. And with a great deal of enjoyment at that! Thank you, Missus Em.:-)

Egad! To think I might have missed you entirely if I hadn't Googled "Kshetrayya"! All right, so it wasn't a VERY busy Monday.:-)

I yawn again and close my eyes. Yes, I will write about the last weekend, but after the nap. I will wish the readers of my blog a very happy New Year, too.

Cheers!

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy 2008 Mrs.Em and thanks for all the wonderful posts

5:48 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, 5
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art 10
As ‘Truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;’
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
‘Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.’

Happy New Year,

Sincerely,
Secret admirer

9:53 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy New Year, Lali. Stay well and write some great posts. How about a poem to start the year off?

8:50 am  
Blogger dipali said...

Happy 2008 Lali. All good wishes for health and happiness to you and yours:)

2:02 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

WA- Thank you. A great year to you too.

Anon- Copy paste with more care if you have to quote the Bard at me. And yeah, Happy New Year.

Ash- Thanks, and a poem it shall be. Happy New Year.

Dipali- All good wishes for you and yours too, lady. Have a blast this year. :)

10:13 pm  
Blogger Alien said...

Happy New Year Ms Em ... no verses from the versifier .. (@versifier really had me thinking..)

Cheers

2:46 am  
Blogger Lalita said...

Alien- Happy New Year, ET. That versifier was for when you used to comment in verse, not your posts, which are poetry. :-)

11:44 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

a Very Happy New Year 2 YU Lalitha!!
i hope you write on and on and on...
Well my wish is that you write some legend :B how I wish to read on and on!!
Ohh and you know 2007 has been special for me in the blogging arena, I found your blog and some others I completely adore!!
your blog is fantabulous, I just keep on coming back to read more ;)
AND i tried crosswords :B, i just could one in an hour ;B and after that , I told the computer to solve it :)
but I think I will just one more time

Have a nice day

9:09 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

VeenS- A very happy new year to you too. Look, consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias and thesauruses is all allowed, it is part of the game, you have to know what you are searching for, after all. It is what the compiler challenges you to discover, and when you get the joke you laugh along with the compiler.

But VeenS, do tell me what you'd like me to hold forth about, it'd be a kindness to an elderly lady, it would be.

Meanwhile, HIJKLMNO (5) Tee hee.

10:19 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lalitha !!!

now what is that? HJKLMNO (5)?
alphabets thats 9
words ->5
:((, you know thats the point "knowing what you r looking for" phew!!
Hey and you serve me a feast by posting nice nice posts ;)

5:05 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

VeenS- That's fairly simple, as cryptic crosswords go:- H-O, H to O, H2O, ergo water!

And thank you kindly for saying I post nice nice posts. It cheered me up no end.

9:38 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

see.. I can't make out simple things.. I am embarresed beyond limit :(

do u mind my 1 qs (i take time to understand stuff...So pls don't get really irritiated here )

what did u mean by this -"do tell me what you'd like me to hold forth about"

i have read this line like thousands of time coming back to your blog.. but i think my interpretation thingy sucks!

thanks for NOT saying "get lost "
:D
lov
veens

10:59 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

Veens- I just meant, tell me if there is any particular topic you'd like me to write about. That's all. :-)

Keep visiting.

9:06 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes! of course the types that have tales, legends stories of the past, mythological characters etc.. and loads of "don't asks"

i think i stated with Conan Drums.. and with the exception of the poetry , i have read it all and loved it all!

except for school poems.. i never had any luck with poems!

giggles ;)

lov
veens

3:22 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

veens- Okay, myths legends fiction pieces, anything but poetry, right? Will try to cater for you. *giggles*

10:09 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lalita.. u r sweet :); thank u!

looking forward to yur posts.. whatever there subj be ;) I am in!

2:04 pm  
Blogger Lalita said...

Now you have made me tongue-tied. :-)

10:24 pm  

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