May 28, 2012 03:26 PM
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(Updated May 30, 2012 05:31 PM)
Once a staunch abstainer, I have caught up with on-line reading quite fast. Thanks to my fav bloggers who kindled my interest and led me on to graduate to e-books and such other up-dated versions of readings.
When Vimala Ramu, whom I tailed (pun intended), of course on-line, told me that she had published a collection of her blogs, I did not lose much time in grabbing it. Colors did not come as a surprise because I had already read most of the blogs that were bunched together in the book. But what came as a greater gift is the repeat read which enthralled and amused me afresh and more. Simply unputdownable, once I began reading Colors, it was my constant companion, readily available in my hand bag. There were occasions when, while reading, I would suddenly feel self-conscious as I’d burst out laughing in the crowded Metro or in some other public place where I was made to wait because that is what Vimala intended you to do. Laugh out loud at the quirks of life.
In Vimala’s own words, “As the ‘naughtiness’ of my forties had continued into the ‘fifites’ also, I was game for trying anything for a thrill…” No frivolousness here but just the insatiable thirst for adventure and trying out something new which makes life so much fun-filled for Vimala even in her seventies. In “The Family Treee”, Vimala’s prankish humour manifests in” I hurriedly checked up the names of my two spouses (or is it spice in plural? It is certainly spicy in real life)” The conservatives need not fear an allusion to bigamy here. It is just that “This blasphemy was committed by a website dedicated to the genealogy of its clients” thereby mistakenly attributing two life-partners to the authoress.
Infecting the readers with a generous dose of joviality, Vimala also has the rare capability of putting one firmly down on the ground when she writes, referring to her husband’s noisy morning rituals, ”On a more somber tone I can add that, at our ages, these noises are not exactly disturbing. On the contrary, they are a source of strange satisfaction that the other is alive and kicking!” One cannot help but silently agree to that.
In “Noise Is Good”, Vimala once again reiterates,” Silence or noiselessness signifies death. My husband loves my habit of dropping things in the kitchen with a noisy clatter every once in a while”,because it’s an assurance that “his old lady is “OK” and in “working order” Does it give you the heart-warming picture of growing old together? It does.
Born in a large family and married into a larger one, there is no dearth of humorous anecdotes for Vimala to share. In “Variety Is The Spice Of Life”, Vimala recounts, “ Sometimes, when my brothers-in-law come to meet my husband, I almost expect a Tala Vaidya Kutcheri ( a Rhythm Concert) to start any time as they all have the habit of slapping their thighs with their open palms whenever there is a lull in the conversation.” It is not difficult to visualize the quintessential Indian Joint Family re-union. Vimala brings in a whiff of the long-lost family get-togethers which once used to be the singular source of socialization and entertainment – much craved for then, much longed for now.
But Vimala is her regaling best in “The Divine Surgeries” where her long bus journey to and fro work gave her sufficient time to steal a nap. The result is Brahma wanting to get rid of his extra three heads and Rama, ‘a normal six pack handsome fellow’, wanting to check on a doc who could repair Shurpnakha’s nose while Ganesha looking for the best lipo-suction surgeon to trim down his pot belly. By the time one closes the book one can almost see Vimala impishly winking at you from the back cover!
As Jayanthi Madhukar says “that every family should have a Vimala Ramu”, one cannot agree with her more. At her age, instead of pining and mourning over an empty nest, Vimala has found a novel way of reminiscing her olden times through blog bytes drawing the world closer to her into one big Haa Haa Laughter Club. Thanks and hats off to you Vimala!!
It’s high time the publishing world recognizes that blogs are just not a commoner’s electronic scribbles but a mode of creative and artistic expression epitomized by the likes of Vimala Ramu. As Isabel Cecilia Pascuel chronicles on iww, Colors”…keeps me sane after a crazy day…” the therapeutic value of Vimala’s style is irrefutable and gets endorsed time and again.
The book Colors is available on Flipkart as well as Pothi ( http://www.pothi.com).
Grab it fast, if you are down or otherwise, coz this gonna be a sure shot sparkler in your life…more fizzy and chilling than the shot that you have a mind to down to make you feel ‘up’! -:)
