Sundays were always slow days for me. Boring almost. A day to do absolutely nothing, giving in to my lazy nature(under control during the 6 days with the greatest difficulty). Almost like a baby's day really- awake at 11, no breakfast, take a long hot bath, eat a hot lunch, and go back to sleep. Rise again in the evening, eat , trouble a few people around for entertainment, and before you know it, its night- dinner time and drop off again. Bliss.
Job has made to shift to another city, Bangalore. The times, they are a changin'. Routine made me wake up at 6:30 am (!) this Sunday. (Yes, yes I too hate people who wake up so early.) Force of habit too strong for me though. Chores all done by 7:30 am, me and my friend, Snehal decided to go for a walk. (Yes, yes I too hate people who go for early morning walks.)
Bangalore always seems to be right in the way of cold winds. This morning was no different. We walked briskly to keep warm. The sun rising lazily was promising us a warmer day ahead. The wide roads were deserted almost. We walked along the pavement kicking stones and chatting as the great wise trees swooshed gently and watched over us.
A man was ironing clothes on his hand cart a little ahead. Surprisingly, Bangalore has no shops that iron clothes. People here get it done by men who move around with small wooden hand carts with charcoal irons. The steam burst off the freshly washed damp clothes as they were being pressed to perfection by the hot and heavy charcoal iron. Lovely smell as we walked past him.
A huge house was being built further on. The smell of cut wood was in the air now. The workmen were not around, the house looked deserted - Wood shavings and nails and iron railings strewn all over the yard from the previous day's work. But we knew that it would soon be full of laughter and life. A couple were giggling and chasing each other inside oblivious of any onlookers.
We saw a small neat park ahead and entered through the half- sunken wooden gate. The night's rain had darkened the trees and the mud, both giving off the heady sweet monsoon smell. The dew on the grasses washed our feet as we walked on through...
The long walk had given us a good appetite and we turned back after a while. Houses seemed awake now, with gardeners out, and newspapers off the porch and the women set to cooking breakfast- this because we smelled delicious sambhar being cooked ! Made us even more hungry.
One of the many roadside barbecues was open for business. Snehal is a vegetarian; it totally turns her off, the smell of crisply roasted spicy meat. I laughed loud as she avoided even looking in that direction and walked on fast.
We soon reached the bakery at the head of the main market. The aroma of fresh breads and cakes and rolls was too sweet for us to resist. We ate a piece of cake standing by the corner, watching as a jack fruit seller got to work cutting up a fruit. I love the way the fruit smells !
...too many strong aromas for us since morning. It was time to head home. The whole bustling market lay before us, but Snehal said we had to cook lunch. Our neighbors too would get to smell something heavenly today :-).
