A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare', I woke up with this distant chanting sound on a Sunday morning. If you think I am in Vrindavan, no I am not. Dark dingy curtains were protecting me from the morning sun. I am still in my bed, pampering. 'It's going to be a pleasant day', I thought. We are expecting some guest today!

Bindhu an all-rounder is a house wife, spending time with her family and is busy making preparation to receive the guest. Did I say all-rounder? Off late, Bindhu had been intoxicated by this chant. She plays it in the kitchen, with the makeshift Bluetooth amplifier. It goes in endless loop, while she cooks.

She is all geared up to totally eradicate the "Kacha Badam" song which she hates, since it plays involuntarily in her mind. A low angle view of her would give you the depiction of the lady in Tom and Jerry cartoon. Spotting a pair of socks with flowery gown and petticoat, and usually seated on a stool not matching her size.

Jokes aside, the fact is she is hooked with this chant ever since she visited my cousin for his mother's anniversary prayers. They happen to be our guest today. She got immersed with the "Bhajans" performed by Krishna devotees.

We are used to hosting guest into our homes, however this weekend the experience is going to be quite exceptional. I took a stealthy walk towards the kitchen and found my way to the "Chuku Malli" special coffee preparation. I recalled the Whatsapp voice note where Bindhu mentioned 'The green gram is in the microwave'. Our microwave oven is a wall mount unit. However, the creative me, have mounted it temporarily on a Styrofoam tray, to curtail renovation cost. I gladly pursued my morning routine, parking myself on the couch, and watching the news channel, keenly putting in green gram into my mouth while watching what Putin was up to in Ukraine.

My retired uncle Inderjit had already beaten me to the couch. I can tell judging from his mischievous smirk. As usual he is very opinionated about the happenings around the world. He seems to be quite curious and asked 'So, what's happening, Bindhu rushed out in the midst of cooking'. I told him we were expecting some guests for lunch. 'Who', he said. Just to irritate him, 'Surprise' I said. He gave me a quizzical look by raising an eye brow. I was further amused with my success.

In the meantime, Bindhu is in the morning market. It's a considerably small market for this district which offers fresh poultry, fish and vegetables. Her hunting spree, as usual are the feathered chicken. Lips smooching with her mask, flipping the bands behind both her ears, she fiddled with the phone attempting to open the "MySejahtera" application to scan in. It's a contact tracing software meant to curb the growing COVID and the latest Omicron mutation. She made it thru, and stepped in and performed all the required purchases. 'Santan', she said, and pointed one finger to the chap selling it. Its coconut milk meant for the "Kerala Chicken Dish" later. She picked her chicken and her chef. That's poor me sipping my coffee and waiting at home not having any idea about her evil plans for me.

She carefully walked towards the vegetable section and enquired, 'Do you have fresh coriander?' An Indonesian worker handed over some to Bindhu. It's typical for any woman to hand pick the items to match their expectation, therefore Bindhu refused to accept it, and proceeded to look at the bunch of coriander stacked on the table instead. She carefully picked it, and left the market full of glee.

As irrelevant as it may seem, she witnessed an injured cat on the road and coerced a passer-by to help. The cat was carried and placed on the kerb just to avoid further potential issue. She had a doleful look on her face, pitying the poor cat and had to drive back home. She needn't have this additional hurdle for the day, however she could not avoid helping since she is an animal lover. By the way, she leaned backward to check if the slaughtered chicken is properly placed in her shopping basket.