Year 6 – Happy Anniversary, Mint

Dear Mint,

It’s been 6 years. Gasp! 6! It’s a number I am still trying to come to come to terms with, because it makes me feel just so old! But then who am I kidding? I have always been the person who struggled to embrace adulthood. I thought getting married at the little age of 23 was the most grown up thing I did. Until I realised being married does not necessarily include growing up.

I must admit though, not marriage, but the forced adult life has caused me to grow up a little. All I can is that I am so glad I grew up with you. That is so much nicer than the idea of meeting you as a ‘grown up’ person who has already been forced to attain adulthood. You have seen me transition from a whimsical child to what I call a half adult to a choiceless  adult. And although I grumble and rant quite routinely about the perils of adult life, I have to admit, on most days it is not so bad. And that is mainly because you’ve made it all such a fun ride.

Let’s face it though. Life with you is like my friend said, ‘riding a constant wave’. While I see other peoples’ lives resembling stable, flat lines, ours swells with excitement and then plummets into adventure and uncertainty, only to rise back to more excitement. I am a person who always preferred stability to adventure. When I talk about stability, I mean being rooted to one place, enjoying a level of certainty and sameness, having an established routine in place. But you, you love riding the wave and boy, you sweep me off with every surge and ask me if I had fun! I am now used to holding on to you for dear life.

We’ve had a few good years in this city. To my surprise, by now I find you almost as attached to this place as I am. And now, we’re back to a crossroad and we need to pick the direction we want to move in. The next few months are full of myriad questions. And the only way to find answers is to wait for them to unfurl. For an anxious and impatient person like me, this can be quite a test. But the ease with which you coast along at such times makes me feel amazed. If there is one thing I could learn from you, it is your ability to be zen and nonplussed.

This year is going to be huge for us. We’re working towards one of the biggest projects of our lives (getting a baby home!). And as I watch our lives being hijacked by this massive project, I can’t help feel all excited. The coming few months are going to be overwhelming for us because there is so much going on on all fronts. Thank you for keeping me safely belted up. Thank you for being the awesome person you are.

All my love,

Pepper

Summer

I am beginning to smell it. And I can’t begin to describe how happy this makes me. For the first 15 years of my life, summer was always associated with freedom. Because summer came with a special gift, the glorious summer vacations. Summer meant complete abandon. It meant endless hours of play time. Sweaty afternoons. WWF card games. Famous Five and Secret Seven marathons. Special treats in the form of Rasna. ‘Correcting’ notebooks from the previous academic year. Calling out to friends who lived on different floors of the building by collectively ringing our bicycle bells. Playing cricket till we could hardly see the ball. Roller skating in the dark. Taking cold showers. The smell of Cinthol soap. Abundant mangoes. Delicious freedom.

Those were the days of ecstasy. Nothing could pull us down. The heat and sweat didn’t stand a chance. I am strangely undisturbed by the heat even now. Maybe because the heat is still a reminder of my past freedom. While the world complains about the unbearable heat, I just shrug and pull out my tank tops and cotton skirts. I look forward to cool glasses of mango milkshakes and cups of mint flavoured butter milk.

Summer. I am beginning to feel it. And that makes me so happy.