Letters To Koko

 Dear Koko,  Someone told me, it is the little things in life that make life worth living. As I grow older, I think there is something inside me that has given up loving things which are traditionally considered "big wins". Sure there was a time when I would have considered a big TV, or a fancy phone to be the epitome of luxury. I think that person in me is gone. I am not sure whether it is because I grew up or I naturally gravitated towards your almost Zen behavior.  I am so surprised at the lack of want that you exhibit in the face of certain rewards. I am talking about times when we are at the mall for example, we ask if you want this or that. You don't exhibit the greedy want or crazy excitement that I remember feeling as a child. Not all the time of course, but sometimes :) So let's go to this December morning when I saw you absolutely thrilled by an idea and we sort of got swept up in the spontaneity of the moment ourselves. It was a Thursday morning, you were o...

 Dear Koko,  Yesterday we had a unique opportunity to meet Amitav Ghosh ! This was in Champaca bookstore in Bangalore and wasn't as widely advertised as the rest of his appearances in the city. We got lucky with the place as it wasn't as crowded as I had anticipated.  These kind of things typically take hours, but here we were in a room full of like minded people who were enjoying conversations with the author and moving along in an orderly fashion. I really enjoyed the experience.  But you, you seemed to be having a party of your own. First of all, the bookstore itself is such a delight. You were quick to find stuff you liked as well as corners you could curl up in.  Then, you volunteered to arrange the books that were kept for signing. I am not sure how much of a help it was for the people, but they were very nice to indulge a little helper. Then, you got a front seat view of the author coming and sitting down to sign his books, interacting with people, shari...

 Dearest Koko,  It was a little after midnight on 24th December 2025 and you were dreaming. In your dream you said something vaguely about Santa and I woke up.  I was suddenly overcome by a terror. This was not the kind of terror that Stephen King novels are made up of, but the kind that covers your heart when you are stuck in traffic or your are in the shower. It is the very real fear of time slipping away. You know how anxious I get when we play any game that has the sand timer running? Even if I know what the answer is I falter when there is a timer running like that. This has been the bane of my existence, but tonight it was something else.  Playing Santa for you has been my obsession over the past few years, In the beginning it was easy. I would decorate the tree by myself, get the gifts and put them under the tree. When you woke up you would get something under the pillow or see the gifts under the tree. The tragedy with this generation of children is of plenty...

 Hi Koko,  So this morning was fun! You and I were just sitting and getting bored, when we came across a great article on my very favorite author Kurt Vonnegut. In 2006, the English teacher Ms. Lockwood gave an assignment to the students to write to their favorite authors. No one responded except Kurt.    This was his letter: His letter ends in typical Kurt style asking the students to write a poem - 6 lines about anything but rhymed. We did that and laughed so much. While Kurt urges us to enjoy just the act and it would be "gloriously rewarding" in itself and it was, I just cannot tear up the first poem you have written and discard it into trash. This is for your future reference: I play football,  Sometimes, I fall Then I walk down the hall At the humungous mall, I twinge in pain I see a man with a cane, Limping his way What's he got to say? So I go and ask him, Are you Jim? And the man answers I'm just a lowly freelancer. Living with my son-in-law Every day t...

 Hi Koko,  There is so much war talk going on that I thought I had to break it up. Forget about you, I am getting anxious. There are WhatsApp articles on how to prepare for an eventuality like a nuclear explosion in your area for crying out loud! So I thought it would be a good idea to look at your new books. We gathered around all your books, reading through to see what we will learn this year. History seems interesting with India's Freedom Movement being in the syllabus. It is important now more than ever to get your facts straight. Maths has some new Geometry concepts that we will enjoy. But it was of course one poem by William Wordsworth that caught my eye. I read it after years and it resonated just as it had the first time, so I thought it would be an interesting social experiment to see how you interpret it, and here is how you explained the poem to me: I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of gold...

 Hi Koko,  I told you about our second day's experience in the last post . On the third day we were going to the Van Gogh museum , which was honestly the one thing that I was super excited about. You not so much, because - how many museums are we going to see Ma! :(  I mean look at that people pleasing smile of yours - I know it very well, it seems to convey - Ok, I'm here, but I'd much rather be somewhere else. And the museum junkie that I (& your father) am, I wanted to know about everything at the museum so I took up the audio guide. But somehow, within the time that we stepped in and we were at this first painting (The Potato eaters), something happened. Suddenly there was a shift, till now you have seen paintings of kings and queens, in their livery and luxury, and here was someone painting some ordinary people during a very ordinary mealtime. Absolute kudos to the wonderful storytelling and the thrill of finding different paintings on different walls. Suddenly c...

 Hi Koko,  It is no secret that I love Agatha Christie. If someone says they love reading murder mysteries and in the same breath say they do not like Christie, be very suspicious of them. I remember when I was in my graduation days, the prevalent opinion was to look down upon Christie as "not literature". For a while, I swayed and had not read Christie for some time, because I had the morbid need to "fit in" with the elites. But now as I have grown older (and possibly wiser), I have developed the ability to distinguish bullshit from real knowledge and I have little patience for purists who keep harping on what is acceptable as great and trash literature.  Reading is something I enjoy and if it is entertaining, that's good for me.  The year was 2022 and we were visiting Calcutta, and as it happens we raid the old bookshelves to glean something interesting and I picked up a Bangla favorite, while you cheekily picked up an Agatha Christie. I think it was "And...

Hi Koko, Annual exams are coming and I thought it would be a great idea to sit and start revising. As I finally open your books and have a look at the portions I am surprised, nay, shocked. The chapters are getting serious.  I don’t remember learning directive principles in class four. It definitely came later. But here I was making you read about the constitution of India and our rights and duties. Suddenly, you become serious and ask me, ‘so how old do you have to be to be the prime minister?’ I’m baffled, where is this coming from?  ‘Well when I grow up I will go to the top and clean up everything.’ What do you mean, clean up? ‘Well you know here it says everyone should have a decent living conditions. But that’s not happening. Look at that footpath in Agara junction, the one in front of the temple, those balloon sellers live there. There’s no bathroom, or clean water. They don’t have money, it’s so unfair’ So you’ll clean the footpaths? ‘I’ll get hold of all the villas, br...

Hi Koko, I have not been a good documentarian. Every other day something cute or clever just goes by and I don’t end up noting it down and it gets lost. But this one was hilarious and I thought I will just make a note before I forget!  This weekend we went for a play and in typical play watching fashion I thought of wearing a saree. Ok, that’s not true. It’s just exceptionally hot and I wanted to wear something in cotton. That’s airy. And looks good.  So there I was ready before your Baba. I am standing in the foyer trying to close the right footwear. There will be a fair bit of walking so the heels are out of question. I show you a few Pinterest images and ask what do you think of sneakers or boots with this, And part comes the reply: ‘only 19 year old poor grandmas wear that, you’ll not like it on you’ The fashion pundits have declared anything goes, but my pundit knows I cannot be comfortable in something I don’t understand.  Keep dishing stellar advice.  Love, Ma...

 Dear Koko,  In the last chapter I told you about how we arrived at Amsterdam, so now let's focus on what we did there.  There were a number of things-to-do in Amsterdam (sans the hash browns of course), of which the first thing on our list was the Rijk Museum . As with all our bookings, we always do them in advance, preferably through the museum website. This time was no exception and we got the tickets. I was very excited to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer. It was only when we reached the museum that we found out that the painting has been shifted to another museum in Netherlands, but we did not have enough time to put that in our itinerary now. I was a little bummed for sure, but the museum is so beautiful and so many other wonderful things to offer that I soon forgot this slight heartburn.  Located on Museumstraat (as the name suggests, all major museums are on this street), it was an easy bus ride from our hotel. Boy, was it windy and chilly, we w...

 Dearest gentle Koko,  (Yes, I just completed watching Bridgerton, which nowadays you roll your eyes at - "again! Bridgerton, so boring ." But I was so tempted to start a letter with this address ) So on to the next part of our trip. We reached Amsterdam's Schiphol airport with a confidence which only we have. We had purchased the I Amsterdam card, so we were assured that we can just step into any transport that we like. We were only in for a rude shock - Amsterdam is not for the faint hearted. After the initial confusion, we took on "the small walk" to our hotel from the station.  It was the initial enthusiasm which made us exclaim- "Look that is Rembrandt's house" ; "The canal is so beautiful" ; "Oh these houses are right out of a postcard" ; "Look at these cute cyclists". That's where I draw the line. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing more ferocious than a cyclist in Amsterdam. They are absolute hooligans. The...