Day 15 | Yes Yes Yes!!!

Marriage equality and LGBT rights has always been a cause close to my heart. I know very well what it means to be denied the right to choose who you want to marry, to face judgement on choosing your life partner, not being accepted by societies for your choices or simply even being judged because you are the way you are. Although my marriage was in a different context, I can relate to how LGBT community must feel on being denied basic human rights by law.

In Australia, the debate about legalising same-sex marriage has been going on for ages. Couple of months ago the government decided to arrange a postal survey to get the general consensus. Although there was opposition to this by commissions that support LGBT rights, the high court ruled out their argument. Government finally launched the survey where Australians were allowed to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question – “Should same-sex marriage be legalised in Australia?”. There were campaigns run by both groups that were for and against the proposal. The result of the survey were due today.

As the title of my post suggests, it was an overwhelming victory for love today! And I have been elated with the results all day. It felt so good that there was close to 80% participation in the voting process. And about 61% of the people voted in favour. It feels so great that people’s opinions do matter and their votes made history today.

Let there be love. True love triumphs!

Day 10 | Fri-yay

• Feeling relaxed at the end of the work week. The feeling of having a weekend ahead makes us feel so happy (Irrespective of the fact that two days pass in a blink and before you know it Monday morning will come back with its share of blues)

• Mantam cleaned the living room as if they had a magic wand. Can’t be thankful enough for these girls know how to impress their mum

• Nice, long, warm oil massage on the scalp by Abbas

• A chilled glass of wine while watching a silly comedy movie

• The feeling of going to bed without having to care a damn about the annoying alarm next morning!

Wish you all a very happy weekend!

Day 8 | Simple Joys

• When you meet this old lady on your way to train station and she gives the brightest smile, you smile too in return and say ‘Hello, good morning. How are you?’ She replies – “Hola! Hola” – and this repeats almost evert other day

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• When your ex-colleague messages you saying how she was discussing with the other ex-colleague about you, how you bring so much fun, happiness and positivity around you

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• When your children ask if they will ever get to see their great grand parents, you say that it depends on your parents, they reply “Mumma, your parents are good at heart. They will accept us one day”

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• When your kids have their noses buried in Harry Potter books and all you discuss with them is where they are up to, the characters, the situations, the plot etc and the only odd man out who doesn’t read books is trying to catch up on the movies to make sense out of the conversations around him

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• When you have been eyeing on fascinators in shops but waiting for Melbourne Cup to be over so that they come on sale, and as you predicted all the leftover fascinators’ prices are reduced by 90% the next day! You go loot a bunch for the following years 😇

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• When you come home and show the unbelievable bargain of a deal you struck on fascinators, your daughter replies indifferently – “Sorry Mumma, the fascinators don’t fascinate me! No offense” 😆

Day 3 | Being a Barista

Happiness is …

 

… when your manager rewards your team with a company-sponsored Barista course

… when you become a certified Barista and have a backup career lined up for you

… when your office has a professional coffee machine at your disposal

… when you have two lovely colleagues who are happy to be your guinea pigs every morning

… when every person coming to the kitchen pauses to watch the coffee art in wonder and showers you with compliments

Day 2 | Australia

It’s been a little over 3 years and this country never seizes to impress me! The love that bloomed at first sight is still going strong. Living here brings me so much happiness because

• every time you take a stroll, the freshness in the air and the beauty of nature makes it a cherished experience
• every time someone holds the door for you or lets you go in first, you feel so grateful for the kind gesture
• no matter what you wear, how you look, nobody will look down upon you or stare at you and make you uncomfortable
• people don’t ask you to treat them when you have a reason to celebrate, they instead take you out for lunch or dinner and everyone pays their share
• people clean up after themselves after using public facilities (there are exceptions of course but very negligible)
• predictable driving is really stress free and it makes me so happy when I know that the car behind me will allow me to change lanes as soon as put on my indicator! They are certainly bound by the road rules, but the assurance that everyone equally follows them is a boon
• oncall doctor facility for post 6 pm emergencies when you can’t visit a medical centre, GP is sent to your home and they prescribe medicine for no cost at all
• there are parks with free electric barbecue facilities in numerous places along with other provisions

There are many more reasons but I would save them for another day (will have to survive the 100 days challenge!)

Day 14 | Happiness is… (in pictures)

… having last night’s leftover biryani for breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… when you drool over a dish on FB on the way back home and you have all the ingredients to cook it for dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… Your kids making the shopping list and carrying it along to tick the items that have been loaded on to the cart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… pairing steaming hot dosas with leftover Prasadi Mangsho for breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… manifold when you meet (albeit virtually) 30 of your school friends after 13 long years. It’s amazing how how you can hit it off like a house on fire!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… sibling love! When Mannu’s knees are wounded due to a fall, Tammu jumps at every opportunity to take extra care of her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… Cooking in colourful cookware

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… Seeing the seeds you sowed sprout

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… ManTam and I wearing white footwear co-incidentally and then finding it so cool to click a picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… baking Frozen themed Elsa Cake, cupcakes and snow balls for a friend’s daughter’s bday party and watching everyone rave about these items

 

 

 

 

 

 

… feeding the cockatoos that come in the evenings everyday and call out for us from the balcony.

You know you are blessed when

– the forgetful husband, who takes a note with the list of to-be-bought things composed by you when he goes for grocery shopping, doesn’t forget to buy a peanut chikki as he knows you look for a bite of sweet or crunchy something after your meals.

– you come back from office to pick Mantam from the park, only to find that they are busy preparing a birthday cake and an elaborate menu complete with yummy dishes all made of sand and stones garnished and presented with the choicest of flowers and leaves from the garden, just so as to continue celebrations of your birthday which already passed by.

– your colleague’s Patti (grandma), who makes the world’s best Puliyodharai, sends a jar full of her handmade tamarind mix so that you can just mix it with rice and gorge on it.

– your Mother-in-law orders her son to buy some Rabri exclusively for you from the neighbourhood Mishtir Dokan (sweet shop) coz apparently you used to love it when you were in Kolkata 4 years ago but you yourself have forgotten about it)

– your brother-in-law comes back from the market buying loads of fish and you ask if fish eggs were available in the market. Suddenly he gets reminded about your love for it and rushes back to the market to get them only to find that they were sold out for the day. He pays the fishmonger 10 bucks to reserve some aside for him to pickup the next day.

– your co-sister refrains from eating the fried fish eggs to ensure that you get the maximum share of it.

– your ex-neighbour-cum-friend, who is continents away now, downloads some memorable pictures of yours from your FB profile, makes a movie with a slideshow of these snaps with “Happy Birthday Seema” song playing in the background and sends it to you on your birthday

– you call your Amma on her birthday, but she keeps mum, you hear her sobbing at the other end, your tears start flowing, your daughters climb onto your lap, wipe your tears and tell you “Don’t cry Mamma. See you have two mothers sitting on your lap”