I have two lives. Yes, you heard it right.
One as Shanthi,
the other as Mama.
It's funny how different these lives are. They are intertwined with each other, you can say. But, I try to make them as different as possible.
My elder one, on the other day, wrote on my palm in big letters "Mama", and told me that he was writing names for everyone on their palms. I smiled. Mama is my first name now, and then follows my real one. And am more than happy to accept that.
But since this is not my motherhood blog, let me concentrate on what happened with Shanthi the whole of 2009.
For starters, we ushered in the new year with tired bodies and minds due to the trip from Las Vegas. And then, birthdays followed. With 3 of us having our birthdays in the first two months of the year, those first couple of months just flew by with parties and stuff.
And then, one not-so-fine morning... I was woken up by my hubby who had a relatively grim expression on his face. It was too early to wake up, but he didn't mind the time. He just said "Pack your bags, we are leaving to India". I rubbed my eyes for more clarity. Firstly, I panicked if something untoward happened to our folks back in our swades. But he didn't seem panicky. He was just very neutral. He then explained about how he was asked to take over the project from India. The news was staggering. Truly. I wasn't quite sure how to react and then just looked blankly at him. We had a month's time and we had to decide if we would go back or would stay with a new job. Frankly, at the peak of recession, we were lucky to go back to India with a job. I've heard horrifying stories of lay-offs, which made families quickly sell off everything and pack their bags to India, without a job too. At least, we were in a better position. And so, it was one hectic month of March, putting up everything on craigslist and giving away all those wonderful things we bought for ourselves so lovingly. And even more dishertening was to leave all our friends there. We lived for a short period in the US, but we had the best time of our lives there. Weekend parties, outings, all which seem a blur now. All that remains now are those bitter-sweet memories and a big sigh.
Life wouldn't stop for anything or anyone. Despite the sighs and sadness, there were a million things going on in my life. Settling in India involved a lot of things. Since it was the first time we set our home here, we had to start from scratch. And so we did. Orissa wasn't quite what I expected. Bhubaneswar was one of the fast-growing cities, which had all the style and malls, but the only thing missing was the traffic. Lucky us. Or else, we wouldn't have got adjusted to the gruelling traffic in India as soon as we came back from abroad. How else could one explain about me driving a car all by myself, and even getting a driver's license (without any bribe ?? :P) There were so many things to do, and the kids loved their new schools too.
But, life didn't stop there. As we were still happily exploring in and around BBSR, my husband's new job with a famous bank made us leave this temple-city and shove ourselves into another temple-city, Chennai.
The routine is unchanged for me, at least. The kids have new schools, new friends and my hubby has newer colleagues. The funny part is that I have a new maid. But am not complaining... thanks to the gym in our condominium in Chennai, my gym routine is established once again.
And so, with so many things occurring to me in one single year, I sometimes smirk at the ironical name I was christened with. Some day, some day Shanthi will reign !!
Wishing everyone a happy new year... Ciao !!!
