Opposites Attract!

He was reading aloud again, pacing up and down.

It all makes no sense to me why my husband is appearing for his L.L.B. exam at the far end of his 4^th decade?

How much he loves to study! After we had both completed our post-graduation together in 1990s, my husband decided to do a full time M.B.A. from a foreign university after a gap of 15 years as a student. And now he has enrolled for a degree in Law from Mumbai University and today he is giving his law 5^th semester exam!

I, on the other hand, hate studying in spite of being in the field of education.

When we both sit with our laptops it is funny to notice how different our choice of reading is. He reads about government policies, property prices, and share market (ugh!). I will be reading a friend’s blog or writing something or downloading music.

Things get worse in the food front. We are like chalk and cheese! I will happily never enter the kitchen for the rest of my life if someone provides me tasty meals. My husband on the other hand finds cooking very satisfying and a stress buster too. He plans out his menu, searches for exotic ingredients and sauces, lovingly selects his veggies, chops them just right and churns out gourmet dishes which we drool over on weekends.

I make friends faster than you can spell the word “Friend”. I open up to complete strangers while the husband has his mouth shut like a Swiss bank locker most times. 

What’s the Indian Railways good for other than reaching your destination? You guessed it! The journey itself! I get comfortable with all my co-passengers and all the while have to bear husband’s poker face.

I love crime thrillers and psychopath movies while he can’t stand them. His taste in music mostly revolves around old Bollywood hits while mine range from Deep Purple and Bob Marley to nonsensical Honey Singh!

The differences are endless and too many to list here and as we complete 23 roller coaster years of togetherness, I romanticize and pen this for him.

We have changed in little ways in our effort to reach out to each other (like he actually agrees to finally adopt a pet dog in spite of his childhood fear of animals). I have learnt to quietly leave him alone while he watches his favourite channel- CNBC (Do they speak Latin on it?). We accept each other’s eccentricities and give each other space to develop our individuality. Maybe it is the differences that keep us interested in each other. We never hesitate to debate and argue our point of view and speak our minds openly, the cacophony never allows monotony to kick in.Most of all I think we complement each other like sweet and savoury flavours in a dish that destiny has designed.

Married life is never easy, more so when you have opposite personalities living under one roof,but what the hell,easy is boring! 

To Tea Or Not To Tea

It’s difficult to refuse since every cell in your body craves it. You imagine it hot and steaming, the liquid hitting you with its bitter astringent taste, filling you with serotonin. Bubbles of theanine and dopamine bursting inside you.You are calm now, breathing regular and the world is once again a wonderful place to be in!!

So why would you refuse it?

I started drinking tea at collage, the usual excuse, staying up late, completing the portions, the last minute studying. Those days I used to drink tea without milk or sugar. Dark brown and acidic, it filled me with its cannabinoid receptors helped me calm down and at the same time be alert. What a discovery it was, this thing called tea! And the best part was it wasn’t even illegal or immoral to drink it (which most enjoyable things in life are). I could even flaunt it, declare it to all that I was a tea-drinker!

Life could be tolerable because of this wonder drink. But here is the catch, everyone drinks their own version of tea!

Some like it milky and sweet, some with spices and lemon juice, some like it green and bland, and then again some add Yak butter and rock salt to it (In Mongolia, Tibet and Nepal)!

Even among those who brew it the same way as I do, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. The amount of milk, the sugar, the brewing and the quality of water. And so even when I am dying to say yes to that heavenly manna, I pause and cold dread fills my soul.

See that’s the thing about tea, you got to drink it “your way” or not at all. It’s a lot like love-making, it’s got to be with your lover or not at all (Well for most of us anyway).

But some people visit whores and gigolos you say? Yes that’s why some people end up drinking publicly brewed tea made in a random kitchen by an obnoxious and insensitive cook!

    

Now isn’t tea a delicate thing giving you immense joy for ever?

Food for thought with your morning cup!

 

(Photo Credits: yours truly)