Downtown Abbey

I started watching this British period drama series Downtown Abbey some time ago and just fell in love with it. It is like many other historical drama anthologies but the perfect cast, cinematography, characterization, the royal ambience, life and times of people of the 1900s are all depicted so well. It is very slow paced but that feels completely in sync with how life would have been then. The series captures so many tragedies which happened then like the drowning of Titanic (1912), world war I (1914 - 18) , Spanish flu (1918 - 20)  and many more historic events of prominence. The royal family members, their heritage, lineage and, the not so privileged/poor servant class are simultaneously shown and you can clearly understand the aristocracy...the rich becoming richer, poor remaining poor concept. You will also be amused to see so many cadres in the servant class of the estate. Lady's maid, house maid, Footman, butler, under butler and so on!😊

Image source : here

So many rules which people used to follow then can't be imagined in the present day. The law being partial towards men, the properties being inherited by men and many other discriminations towards women since times immemorial are well captured...but the series also shows how in every century there will be strong women who question the baseless rules, twist the norms and break the ceilings! I especially like watching such episodes....be it the one where Edith Crawley, one of the lord's daughters decides to write columns, be a journalist, even if she is frowned upon...or the one where Sybil wants to be a nurse and serve in war. Mary Crawley is also a fire brand who decides to play her role in running the estate. 

All the characters are strongly etched. If Miss O'Brien and Barrow (footmen) are always busy plotting and involved in foul play, the innocent Mrs. Patmore is only passionate about her cooking. The conversations and happenings in Kitchen and servants hall are always fun to watch with Mr. Carson being the strictest of all. You would remember every character small/ big by names. They all have an important role to play in the series. Even if they are class apart from the royal clan...it is amusing to see how the servants talk to their bosses, sometimes suggesting and, at times reprimanding....goes to show that there at least is a friendly vibe between the upper and lower classes even if there are boundaries, hard and fast rules. There come many junctures when the problems faced by rich, poor, downtrodden, could be same and equally severe.

My most favorite character is Maggie Smith. She is one helluva lady who plays Lady Grantham...the grandmother of all the younger ones. She plays a strong character who is stern but has a great sense of humor with twinkling sarcasm filled eyes! Half of her acting skills are embedded in those deep boring eyes. I loved her as Prof Mc Gonagall in the Harry Potter movies but honestly loved her more in Downton Abbey. Even if she is from a much older era and finds it hard to change with changing times...she does stand up for girls whenever required in her own unique ways. 

Maggie Smith - here

When I watch the series, I feel like I time travelled to the 1900s. It is so well made. You will also thank the scientists and doctors, when you look at some painful deaths which happen in the family. The Spanish flu also reminded me of the on going corona. The industrial revolution picking up, the transition of life, 'the war' changing people's minds and lives is all captured well. The British invasion in India is also touched upon.

Covidiots

Cov"idiot" is the term coined during covid to refer to individuals who think it is just ok to break all the rules, to deny the safety protocols, and be irresponsible! Whenever the cases spiked, normal people who fear for their life strictly mask up, wash hands, use sanitizer and do whatever they could and can to keep the virus at bay, but our covidiots feel the liberty to remove the mask, to party , to gather in large crowds and, even protest against covid norms. 

I could not believe when I read news about people fighting for their rights on streets in USA to remove masks, to celebrate, to go back to normalcy, when Covid was in full glory! I thought may be a bunch of people have lost senses and are behaving recklessly....but when I came across such folks even in my vicinity I realized they exist everywhere!

Some x I know was always reckless whenever I reminded about Covid protocols, with people in that home always going out, partying or letting the kids go play in crowds... because they are vaccinated. Among people known to me, they were the first to contract Covid in the second wave and repented a lot later ! Thankfully they were not admitted though they got many symptoms and became very weak later. May be the vaccine helped them or may be their immunity, but if we keep all the may bes aside, the resistance they or blokes like them showed towards Covid guidelines was unbelievable. If some of them went to supermarkets even during complete lockdown to buy the flour of their favorite brand😠… some one else was bored and just wanted to meet friends. May be I am too pessimistic but I was mostly locked up at home. The many deaths I heard even in close circles made me much more cautious and my heart raced whenever my daughter played even in corridors during peak Covid.

An old notice detailing how to lessen the spread during spanish flu. source: here

The protocols may not guarantee a 100% protection but they at least act as precautionary measures to a great extent, to not get contracted and to not spread the disease. A Mask is an age old method followed to stay protected from many kinds of flus (see above image)!

On the present day, it is a great relief to see that public is going back to normalcy slowly. WE ALL WANT OUR NORMAL LIVES BACK! The norms may be lifted soon everywhere but God forbid, if there is any other new wave....please follow necessary protocols and don't be a covidiot like below!

You have any experiences with Covidiots? Do share in comments!

Covidiot's beliefs. Source : here

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my 3rd post for letter C - Covidiots. I would mostly talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries! Good luck to all the participants :)

B for Bemused!

Bemused is the word I can use, to describe what I felt when COVID effected humans. I installed a Covid status app on my mobile which precisely gave the number of cases in the country, state, district, region, the containment zones, safe zones, so on and so forth. The way we check cricket scores on mobile, the crazy me started checking the app for updates. Checking no. of active cases, no. of recovered and no. of deaths became my daily morning ritual. If no. of recovered increased, I used to feel hopeful. If I see or hear of deaths around me, I used to go in a shell. I was so confused regarding what's happening around me.

In beginning of Covid around February, every one was so hopeful and confident about Corona not doing any harm to them. So many analogies and so many theories were circulated. Some told India is a hot country. Corona will die in the summer heat... some others sang a song/slogan Go Corona Go . The creators claim that the slogan is world famous now 😏! As we stepped in to March and lock down started... millions of us lighted candles, banged the plates and utensils... with sounds echoing all over the nation. In desperate attempts to stay protected, hoping for some miracle... I too joined the crowd and prayed in silence. However there is no escape from the monster, was the soon after realization. During this candle light ceremony, an act which was followed stringently by most of the followers/fans of Prime Minister... there were many memes circulated mocking it. I shared some forward which shows the frenzy fans lighting up torches with high flames and doing adventures with flames just because the hon'ble PM, whom they love asked them to do so....I received lot of flak from so many people (the party and prime minister worshippers). Some one went a step ahead and said, "Rather than ridiculing hon'ble PM...I must rather educate the ignorant Muslims (refering to Tablighi Jamat fiasco which was blown out of proportion)". It was almost concluded by many haters that the jamat was the root cause for uprise in cases. Even in such painful pandemic people chose to create a divide and argue rather than choosing harmony and following strict guidelines to curb the spread.

100s of people mocked the Diya lighting event and shared their very open views, taunts and memes, but I suppose mostly they don't carry the label I do, and ironically what I shared as a joke, was  displayed by some in reality. They lit crackers or went on to roads with mashaals (flaming torches) as and when the diya lighting event commenced (this was in April 2020- the beginning days of Covid). 

One of the memes shared on Internet which I reshared. Source : here

A total of 4 people cornered me and in the disguise of just knowing my opinion and questioning me to share my thoughts on Tableegi first... they kind of attacked me, the fact which they will deny ofcourse!  It is so surprising when people from my own country restrict my freedom of speech, my thoughts and loosely talk, as if I am completely backing up the disaster which happened due to that religious gathering. What if I ask them the same? Like , why they are not owning up the disasters happening in their communities? Is it a worthy question? Just because I kept quiet and told that I can't talk more or that as I am mentally exhausted by this I want to walk out of the discussion, I got the following labels.

* Extremist

* Biased

* Narrow Minded

* Escapist

* Bigot

Then I saw that opinions of celebrities / cricketers like Irfan Pathan also got thrashed. For the first time I felt glad as I am not famous and sensed may be that's why some people resist and fear speaking. 4 people deleted me or got deleted/blocked by me in a span of one week. How things can escalate in a short span is surprising. The talks, acquaintances, memories gathered... they all can go to dumps due to one thoughtless war or a word. Words have the power to change the world and destroy it too. In these tiring times whoever is blessed with the skill to use them, please use them wisely🔏🍀

Bemused is what I felt on the day and keep feeling even now when so much hatred is generated due to politically selfish motives and people fall in those traps so damn easily!

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my 2nd post for letter B - Bemused. I would mostly talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries! Good luck to all the participants :)

A new year - 2020

As the clock struck 12 on Dec 31st 2019 and as we stepped in to the new year 2020 - we discussed at length on how Wuhan's the epicenter and COVID may spread rapidly to other countries. Till the shit hits home, it is human tendency to sit back, relax and read the news, shake our heads in disbelief, let out the 'tch tchs' and share updates on Whatsapp. I vividly remember how I received a video being circulated on whatsapp, in which Chinese people were throwing wads of money from hospital windows...how the isolation actually looks like.. and how some people 'who lost their mental balance' are purposely spitting on the elevator buttons to infect other people. I was not sure about the authenticity of these videos but it felt scary!

Little did we know then that a storm is ahead of us...that we have to face repercussions of so many kinds. The new year started with lot of enthusiasm like every year. I was glad that my daughter finally got adjusted to preschool. She was 2 years 11 months in January 2020! I was happy that I acquainted with new folks at office and made a couple of good friends, after being in solitude for nearly an year. I was also happy that I started losing the weight I have put on post pregnancy!

Days flew and we entered March. When the first case was identified in Hyderabad, the city I live...we were still hopeful, adamant and, strongly believed that the virus won't be that strong to impact a whole city. I heard people started leaving offices in a hurry, in the fear of contracting the Covid in March, one fine day when they heard about a case nearby! I felt that this unnecessary panic must end. "People running amok, creating a tense atmosphere is all such a drama. After all we had conquered viruses related to SARS and Swine flu," is what I thought!

I never thought that we are completely stepping in to a NEW life on this new year... As we entered March, like a typical human I was in the denial stage, clinging to hope, and wishing for all this to be a bad nightmare! However the unprecedented life full of surprises kick started forcing us all to be the new versions of ourselves!

CORONA means resembling the shape of crown or having a halo like appearance. So this novel virus which feels like nature's (man made??) wonder with a crown on head, proved soon to be a shape shifter. It felt like it is an alien that invaded the human kind using it's super powers and started ruling over them in no less time... 

image caption : here

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my first post for A - A new year - 2020. I am taking up this challenge after many years as I feel I have lot to talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries during this Pandemic! Good luck to all the participants :)

Travelling Down the Rainy Memory Lane

What is the thing about memories, that makes us so energized and so happy?
Is it the nature of the memory that it is treasured deep in mind like a diamond?
Is it the very fact that memory can be relived in our head but can never be experienced again?
Is it the reality that good memories even if volatile, have the power to keep us get going!

As the downpour got heavy and the raindrops started slashing my windows fast and hard,
And as the sound of the rain pierced through my mind, holding a mirror to memories,
I went into a trance, trying as much as I can to hold on to that haze of memories...
The memories surfaced one by one reminding the happening and the happiest times!

I was a child, wearing a sleeveless smocking frock stitched by my Mama!
I ran to the window, to watch the raindrops in glee and jumped up and down, to show my love.
Letting down the umbrella and getting drenched in the torrents of rain used to be pure joy.
The heavenly happiness rains used to bring was unmatchable for me...
For some the dark grey clouds set in the gloom, but for me, they always filled the heart with rainbow colors!

source of Image: here

I grew and life kept going, I got too busy to observe the dancing droplets on the windowpane.
But I tried to keep the child in me intact and started writing my thoughts, whenever rains welcomed me!
The hostel life gave plenty of time and opportunity to fill the pages of my random journal.
I scribbled away to glory, all those seen, unseen, shared, and unshared feelings in me!

The greenwashed leaves and all the rain hues still don't fail to impress me.
In my child, I again search myself when she dances delightfully on catching the glimpse of rain.
The excitement and the amusement she feels on seeing the rain reminds me of my older version!
Decades back I was her and now she is my younger self exposing the same flashy toothy smile.

How I wish I could reflect the same unconditional happiness and the smile once again in life?
Does life always stay simple and the same, and only we complicate it with our expectations, dreams, and desires?
Does life plead us to be the same carefree soul, where the happiness and worries are not chained to any?
Does life hint you to live your childhood again through your child and keep counting your stars?


PS: A random poem scribbled by me during the rainy season of  Covid Lockdown!

Labour Room Saaga - Finale Episode (Part 1) - "The Enchanted Epidural"

Continued from Episode 2

At first, it just felt like a minor jolt, the one you have when you are tensed before the exam and your mouth becomes dry and watery at the same time, that kind of feeling. I was feeling nauseous may be because of the stress I was facing as I would be entering the most dreaded phase of the pregnancy but still I was not sure if that can be called a contraction. I was with my dad at that moment as mom went out to get fresh and come back maybe! (I really didn't bother even till date to know what happened behind the screen during my event ;) ). I told my dad about the minor movement and about me being unsure of whether or not it is a contraction. He who had no idea what to do started searching for a doctor or nurse. I was continuously hoping this is it and the errand would end in an hour or two. After getting the contraction, I was given a stopwatch or a buzzer - I am not sure what it is called and asked to press the button and record, every time I feel the contraction. They were timing the contractions. I felt like a celebrity is gonna pop out, for whose arrival everyone in the hospital is waiting with a ticking stopwatch. I was not even sure half of the time, if it was a contraction or my anxiety or if I was just hungry (though I was not at all in the mood to eat). In my experience, the most horrific part was the dilation examination done by my doctor or any visiting gynecologist available at that time. The way they shove their hands like it is an easy peasy lemon squeezy, I really  wanted to kick hard with whatever energy I could muster, so that they faint and not repeat that on me again! "I am not a chicken to be marinated for Gods' sake. I am a to be mother lying in labor not dying in labor," I thought to myself.

After a while, I was shifted to the actual labor room, where I can wait along with staff and one person from my family as a companion to me. My mother and husband took turns to be with me and I was dressed up in a maternity gown (or do they call it labor gown??) and asked to relax. The pain induction worked and the intensity of contractions started to increase. I could feel a pull, a push, a blow, an extension, a contraction, a wave-like pain, and some crawling and so much weirdness, which I really can't recollect on the present day. It did feel like period cramp at first but slowly it became the "Baap of it "シ (If I loosely translate in English, the labor pain when intense felt like the mother of the period pain which felt like a baby). I laughed at my own stupid joke and tried keeping calm. I was slowly dilating and was in pain and got a slight fever by late evening and felt like I may pass out any minute, or I may puke. Irrespective of my resistance and denial, I was fed some juice, some coconut water and don't know what else, to stay energetic and revived. When I said I couldn't bear the pain and requested the doctors to give me epidural, they happily obliged. An injection or maybe a catheter was pierced somewhere in my spinal canal and the drug was induced. It is funny how I did not pay attention at all, on what actually they were doing. I completely submitted myself to the staff and I guess only half of my senses were working, so I could not understand the step by step processes.

I lied down on the elevated labor bed, which extremely felt uncomfortable to me. The pain subsided a lot. I guess up to 40 - 50 %. Epidural works in different ways for different people. Some people completely get relieved, some partly relieved and for some, it may not work at all. I took the risk and I fell in the second category and was mostly relieved. My body mostly became numb below the waist but I could still feel sharp nabs of pain on the right side of my waist and hip. It felt weird as only my sides were paining. May be baby is struggling to move inside and kicking in my sides, is what I thought. So the wonder drug injected through the epidural helped me stay calm but refused to work on one side of the body. I screamed is what I thought but I actually was pleading... "Can you please increase the medicine dosage!?" I was still in pain. I never knew I could throw a tantrum in a hospital but I did. I was in trauma and I guess you can do all the drama during the trauma, just for that one night and none would dare to stop you, but the hospital staff who is used to labor so much day in and day out, will not be patient or pleased with you...was the fact I soon realized :-) . I was covered in woolen rugs and sheets and I requested the nurse to increase the room temperature, as I was shivering. She curtly said in an irritable tone, that it is common AC and I can get one more rug if I want. I told I will play music and was instantly reprimanded to reduce the volume to the lowest possible number as I would be disturbing other women in labor :) So I immediately sensed that being a drama queen may not be the choice we can implement involving everyone around us! シ

When all this was happening, the lady from LifeCell who came to collect my umbilical cord eagerly waited near my feet peeping now and then to see if I was ready. A nurse/doctor (really not sure who) came and checked the dilation and said it was 5 - 6 cms. The clock showed 9 PM. I came early in the morning at 3 AM and from then till now I moved from 1 to 5 cms. I was never such a poor performer. I perform well under pressure. Come on Afshan, You can do it. You can dilate quicker if you mentally train your brain, but my poor squishy brain... I didn't even know where it was anymore. I was feeling dizzy, pukish, hot and everything felt hazy. I found my mom in the corner reciting the prayers she knows and reading a page or a verse from the Quran. Even in mid of so much trauma, that scene moved me. I felt painless even if it was just for a fleeting moment.

source : here

I was squeezing my husband Imran's palms tight and hard, whenever there was a shooting pain in my right waist. The rest of the body was numb with minimal bearable pain. The nurse expressed displeasure as my mom was hovering around. My mom said she will just stay for a while and kept praying, checking on me and kept moving in and out. When Imran left my hand as he had to do some e-payment, I screamed. I screamed aloud as I just wanted to keep squeezing his palm. I felt it could be at any moment. I was counting numbers and strangely humming the song, "O humdum suniyo re , O chaliya suniyo re..." from the movie Saathiya (one of my fav songs). Maybe it played last on my iPod... but I was humming it too loud in my head. I also don't know what business I was doing down there which now was like a late-night party hangout to all the nurses, doctors and rest of the staff...

To be Continued .....

PS: I am clearing my head and recollecting that day after 2 years, hence I would like to break it here, and finish the ordeal soon :) Thanks for stopping by!

Unfinished Stories!

I was an empty page fluttering away, happily waiting for the letters to be written and colors to be filled 

You filled it with gibberish and I thought you bled that ink from your mind

The colors, Ah!, those colorful colors made my everyday visions happy and happening

Those colors seemed to blind the real you and masked the grey hue, as I wore rose-tinted glasses

When I shed the glasses and turned the pages,

There you were again, bright with all new scent, that crispy glory, and many new words 

I wanted to turn the page back and dive into the story I already knew

But like everyone, I got attracted to new stories, new beginnings, happenings, and new everything...

I took the brush, painted the new page and scribbled to my heart's content

Dancing to your tunes, your rhythm and writing what you would love to read

I trusted the story to stay with me until I give it a shape. I nurtured it, till it firmly got rooted in my mind

Few invisible letters started showing up in between my written words and my lines had new grey lines behind...

I wanted to hide the grey, subside it and kill it wearing again my rose-tinted glasses

I groped in the dark for the glasses, and my old thoughts and weaved stories became carcasses

"Oh! This just can't be the end", I thought to myself. A story would never have a plot so loose!

But the universe hinted that all stories may not end, some of the ends get hanged from a tight noose!

I huffed, I puffed, I screamed, I cried. I did everything I could, to breathe life into the stories

All my efforts were in vain as I saw that the pages got decayed, whilst trying hard to stay alive.

I no longer had the authority on the pen, as the words were getting jotted by someone else

I tried reading and succeeded only partially. The meaning of the words felt vague but dense and intense!

I was reprimanded, to tear the worn out pages of the book and to start scribbling afresh

How could I do that, when the decayed page devoured a piece of my heart and bits of my flesh

I waited and stared at that page, hoping it would magically become colorful again

A tinge of hope, that the rust would turn to glittering colors, washing away all the thoughts and the pain...

source: here