Occupied

Last two months have been hectic. I had a lot to juggle through and at times it became too stressful. But in between that, I managed to step out. I met two of my school friends for breakfast one morning and the same evening met my ex-colleagues over a retirement party we arranged for our Manager. 

I visited Alliance française one afternoon to attend a writing workshop conducted by a french author from Reunion. It was a wonderful experience to go back and relive those alliance française days. The workshop was followed with a musical reading session with a student playing piano as the author read excerpts from her book. 

My reading sessions continued without interruptions and we are now reading Poornachandra Tejaswi's book "Carvalho”. It is a unique book in which even animals are important characters. 

My nephew’s engagement brought the family together. I am not a fan of such elaborate functions though. I feel that in our culture, we give more importance to rituals than to relationships or people.

We visited my Cousin’s house to meet their new kitten - Balasubramnyam was the highlight of the day. 

I met my teacher friends from school in our regular outdoor cafe. It is always good to relax and have a good conversation. 

My Malur visit to pay property tax turned into an exhausting exercise. I had to face the terrible bureaucracy in the system that haunts common people in India. It was ridiculous because, I was facing all this trouble to PAY my taxes. 

With so much happening, I needed a mental detox. Therefore, I took my usual road trip to Tiruvannamalai and spent some quality time relaxing and trying local cuisine. 

Upon return, I got busy making a class video for my Grade 10 students. They are my last batch in this school and I have taught them since they were in Grade 8. I tried to capture all aspects of their school life (As much possible) in the video. It has come out really well and the kids were emotional watching it. As a tradition that I have been following since last two years, I treated them with french macarons for all the hard work they had put in to complete the portfolios.

I visited Surathkal last weekend. I watched a Yakshagana (Devi mahatme) at our family friend Vinoda akka's house. 

I took my nephew and niece to the beach one late morning and we had Maggie at our favourite shop by the beach. I used to take them to the beach when they were kids. Now they are all grown up and my nephew's wedding is around the corner. 

We did some wedding shopping. I attended also the wedding of my cousin's daughter where I met a lot of my relatives after a long time. After lunch, my niece and I drove back to Bangalore. 

It is my nephew's wedding next week. I shall remain occupied for some more time to come.