Browsing: Chatty Divas

“She may be mythical to many but I have not yet learned to control the free flow of tears when I look at her killing the demon with the spear, in a trance -like environment created by the sound and movement of the Dhakis, traditional drummers.

To me she is a modern day working girl – our Ma Durga! Created with the fire of the Trimurti, she works diligently to kill Asura – the ‘demonized’ image of everyday evils that we need to deal with in our lives. In a world where women’s subjugation still is an agenda to be dealt with, it is mesmerizing to see multitudes of strong powerful men bowing their head to the divine Ma.” GUEST BLOG – Chatty Divas

My help here in India, Janki Mashi, pampers me with sweet oranges on a sunny afternoon and treats me with these stories. I call her “my help” for lack of a better word to describe her. She is more like a mother to me. It was a Sunday afternoon in Gurgaon. Janki Mashi had heated some mustard oil to apply on my hair and scalp. She does these things without my asking for it and does not take nicely to my resistance ever.

Kirti Mukherjee and Sulekha Rawat are the two bloggers behind Chatty Divas. They tell stories of ordinary people, of family love and angst and of lives lived in India and America. Here are some of the highlights of their blogs posted in 2014…Flying the Friendly Indian Skies, Bombay – A train to Nowhere; Diwali on Two Continents. Stories so simple and natural that it’s like being in a circle of friends.

What happens when there is a massive power cut and Mumbai’s trains stop running? The buses are jam-packed and cabs are at a premium. Can one walk three hours to the suburbs? On a dark and rainy night, nameless people become friends and it’s all about the kindness of strangers. Guest Blog post from The Chatty Divas.

“In India, traveling by air is no longer a monopoly of the elite, but has instead become an affordable and convenient way to travel for all. When we were younger only the rich and famous could afford air travel. The average, middle-class Indian citizen had only one option: the train, and that too either the sleeper class or the third AC.

Thanks to the low cost airlines in India, now everybody makes a beeline for the airport, and many have forgotten the way to the railway station – including me.” GUEST BLOG

The Chatty Divas bring you their insights on East and West, and on India and America. Here are some of the best posts from them – witty, friendly and almost always, wise! Kriti Mukherjee and Sulekha Rawat take you into their world and show you Modern India as it is lived by everyday people.
Guest Blog – The Chatty Divas

“My mother hasn’t forgotten how to bake a cake but she sometimes doesn’t remember all the ingredients, missing out a few in the process. She recounts funny incidents making us laugh heartily with her but she repeats them again after a while, forgetting that she had already shared the same with us a couple of hours earlier. It kills me to see her uncertainty and confusion. However, the only consolation is her lack of awareness of this condition.
I fear forgetting basic things like reading or writing; the mere thought of losing my memories is terrifying. What if one day I wake up and don’t recognize my family members, forget their names and how much I love them?” Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

“Meet Amma, 85, who sits all day smoking weed! She has a farmhouse and lives in a lavish set up with some 12 -15 rooms. She grows weed in her backyard, tends to it in the morning with immense love; orders her tea and carries it to the lawn where she smokes up some of her creation.
She puts on her thick rimmed glasses and controls her shaking hands till they settle on the page of her diary where she writes a new story every day! When I heard that, I knew immediately who I wanted to be when I ‘grew up’.” Guest Blog – Chatty Divas. Photo: Marilena Benini

“Stories of extramarital affairs are a class apart, especially in India when penned by Indian authors. Majority of protagonists end up going back to their husbands or wives, leaving the poor lover in the lurch. Nobody wants to cross the Laxman Rekha drawn by the caretakers of morality.”
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

“This is really my account of a year of returning to India. It’s strange how eight years of living somewhere else changes your entire outlook. I came back thinking I was coming home and home it was but it was eons away from where I had left it.
It is only when more than a year has gone by in a place that it starts spreading its tentacles around you, shaping you to fit to its contours, nipping you a little here and molding an extension there.”
Guest Blog: Chatty Divas

” One of the Hindu temples dedicated to the Goddess Shakti, Vaishno Devi’s Mandir is located in the hills of Jammu & Kashmir, India, close to the town of Katra in the Reasi district. In Hinduism, Vaishno Devi, also known as Mata Rani and Viashnavi, is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess, and the temple is one of the most revered places of worship in India.
There’s this saying that unless the Mata (mother) calls you, none can visit her shrine and receive her blessings. I think I’m living proof of the truth of this, as my attempts to visit this holy place have been met with delay time and time again.” Guest Blog

“I grew up in a small and close-knit family in the hills of Darjeeling. Our two bedroom wooden house sheltered me, my elder sister, our parents and my paternal grandfather whenever he would visit. It was a life of happiness, giving and comfort. Our needs were almost nil; our days fulfilling to say the least – except we had no brother, and there was a void, especially at the time of Bhai Dhooj.

What North India calls Bhai Dooj, Nepalis call “Bhai Tika”, we Bengalis call “Bhai Phota”. It’s one of my most favorite Hindu festivals, where a sister follows a set of customs to extract a promise of her brother’s protection throughout her life and under all circumstances. The brother in turn makes that promise through various customs and a token of cash or a gift. After the exchange of money and gifts, an out of the ordinary feast follows.”
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

“I remember my mother’s cooking and how the entire house used to smell like a culinary heaven then. She used to wash our clothes by hand because we didn’t have a washing machine; the only help she had was a cleaning lady who used to sweep and mop the floors daily. Rest of the chores were her responsibility which she performed lovingly and without complaint.

Fast forward to me now, I can’t think of managing the house like my mom and need a lot of help from a lot of people to survive. I have a lot of like-minded friends who are as hopelessly inefficient as I am.

But the domestic help has also evolved with us, and are no longer the docile, simple kind. Their lifestyles have undergone a transformation too and sometimes they are even more advanced than their employers. It’s now all about cell phones and designer labels!”
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

It’s been more than a year since I moved to Gurgaon, India, from the US. While my routine still is very similar to what it was in Connecticut, social life in India has created a drastic change in the quality of my days. And with that one single change my life has transformed in entirety.

It was raining friends in the city of Delhi and Gurgaon; the excitement and anticipation of their visits is peaked because of the stories they carry with them enriching my knowledge in the process. This occurrence reminds me of the folk tales in Bengali literature called “Thakur Mar Jhuli”. Am I becoming the “Thakur Ma” (paternal grandmother) with the sack of stories then?

For most women, conceiving a child is natural, a fact of life. But what about those who just cannot conceive? Is surrogacy the answer? Kriti Mukherjee describes a heart-rending obstacle race on the part of a young couple to finally become parents – and the silent partner who helped them get there.
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas

“It seems my tongue has two black strips, like a runway’s tarmac, running along its entire length. It’s an old Indian superstition that people who have black spots on their tongue are capable of predicting things and what they say or wish for comes true. I am the queen of predictions and the mirror of the future.”
Can words spoken in jest come true? Is there such a thing is a ‘black tongue’? Sulekha Rawat explores this less traveled road and wonders whether she is really psychic and whether words spoken without thought can actually come true.
Guest Blog – Chatty Divas. Photo: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

“In a country with the 2nd largest population in the world there have to be preposterous systems of elimination. We must keep in mind that it is this same country that is producing some of the best brains in the world.
In the meantime, all I am seeking is a way to get my daughter to join that stream of screaming thousands for an academic certificate. An extremely ambitious dream to have in a country where expectations go beyond just the crazy procedure of admissions.
These are just the entry tickets to an endless journey of prodding for things that have limited “seats”, like delightful careers or cushy lives.” Guest blog – Chatty Divas

The Chatty Diva, having worked in both India and America, shares some insights into desi networking.
Question asked in Delhi before a networking event – “So what do we do when we get there?” or a blatant “How will this help me?”
Question asked in Manhattan before a networking event – “Where did you say it is?”
GUEST BLOG (Photo by Neal Fowler)

Living in New Delhi, India, Sulekha Rawat tries out various roles from housewife to ‘domestic engineer’ to career woman and finally entrepreneur. In the blog ‘Chatty Divas’ she recounts the ups and downs of a woman’s world, and the realization of what’s really important in life.
Photo by Harry Scheihing. GUEST BLOG

Horror stories of the hired help in India abound. Here is a love story about an Indian nanny which brings back memories of days when the ‘Dai Ma’ was a loved and revered figure, a second mother to the newborn. A new post on guest blog ‘Chatty Divas’