Insomnia

I was called an insomniac by my roommates when i was in hostel.
I wouldn't get sleep any other time other than nights, even if was dead tired.
They were all, on the contrary, slept all the time.
I would be jealous of them.
Me being insomniac continues even today.
I feel jealous at S who gets sleep in 2 seconds at any time and any place.
As for me, i need a perfect place, perfect ambiance, perfect NO- lights and NO- noise to go off to sleep.
Even then, it takes several minutes for sleep to come near me.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, the book which I finished reading recently.
I can say it's definitely one of my favourites.
Few excerpts which I liked (especially of Amir's father's dislike towards the American way of life)...

"But the Bay Area's smog stung his eyes, the traffic noise gave him headaches, and the pollen made him cough. The fruit was never sweet enough, the water never clean enough, and where were all the trees and open fields? For two years, I tried to get Baba to enroll in ESL classes to improve his broken English. But he scoffed at the idea. 'May be I'll spell 'cat' and the teacher will give me glittery star so i can run home and show it off to you', he would grumble".

"It turned out that Baba had had no money on him for the oranges. He'd written Mr. Nguyen a check and Mr. Nguyen had asked for an ID. 'He wants to see my license,' Baba bellowed in Farsi. 'Almost two years we've bought his damn fruits and put money in his pocket and the son of a dog wants to see my license!'".

"I wanted to tell him that in Kabul, we snapped a tree branch and used it as a credit card. Hassan and I would take the wooden stick to the bread maker. He'd carve notches on our stick with his knife, one notch for each loaf of naan he'd pull for us from the tandoor's flames. At the end of the month, my father paid him for the number of notches on the stick. No questions. No ID".

It's funny the way Kannada movie advertisements are posted in news papers...
After the title, they always want a caption in English...
And to describe a hero they need English words such as 'power star', 'crazy star', 'challenging star', 'hatric star' and so on...
In the end they speak of saving Kannada language.

Pondering...while in the hospital

* Learning to change the saying 'Health is Wealth' to 'Wealth is Health' or 'One that is wealthy (or the insured)can afford to get health care'...
* Getting few good news on my health side:)
* Cursing all the Doctors who diagnosed me incorrectly; for having made me swallow those bitter pills for one whole year; for preventing me from having some delicious food items for so long...
* Looking at my daughter from the fifth floor window...
* Listening to her speak new words (umbella for umbrella and Hydabd for Hyderabad)over the phone...
* Watching cookery shows just to increase my food cravings...
* Fighting with the sisters and canteen boys to get a cup of Horlicks (my condition was never so pathetic)...

S bought flowers for me today (to say 'get well soon')...
He has of course bought flowers for me many times but this time it was special. Why?
He argued with the hospital management to get those flowers inside the premises as it was not allowed.
He also gave them a valid reason for doing so...that being "Hospital management entertains a flower shop inside its premises at same time puts up a rule inside the hospital that flowers are not allowed into the wards".
With this point being raised, even the management laughed and said he would do something about it.
At first I was angry on him but once he explained the whole story I felt it was very sweet of him.

For Granted

While I was lying on bed this weekend sick with fever, I went back to the days of my high school and college days or rather call it 'days when I was matured enough to think about others and not just myself'.
Then, whenever my mother was down with fever I never helped her. Even if I did it was after she told me to do so but not by self.
I knew I shouldn't be doing that yet I couldn't get myself up helping her.
She would just tell me once and not insist or complain about not giving her helping hand.
Lying sick in bed this time I realized how mother would have felt- so tired and weak yet carrying out the responsibility as usual.
For me at least, I had S who took over all my job while at the same time looked after my little brat.
But my mother wouldn't tell anyone...
I still take her for granted for so many things and I think even after realising this I will still continue to do so just because she is my Mother.
And I also know that she wouldn't complain in future too.
May be one day my girl too will start doing the same and I wouldn't complain.