Marlis left back for Berlin yesterday evening and we both sat and sighed about the fact that we wouldn`t be seeing each other most probably for at least a year - unless she decides to make it to India before March `06. During her stay this time we discovered we are both avid shoppers. That we love walking around, love bargain shops and are constantly on the look out for good deals of the 99 cent variety. After she left Ariela and I had a light dinner of toast, cheese and ham, and watched a movie which A. was seeing for the third time, which she liked very much. "Sleepers", featuring among others, Robert de Niro. About a bunch of kids growing up in the part of NY known as Hell`s Kitchen, and how their idea of harmless fun leads them to a penitentiary with pretty grim consequences. Mostly I dont like thrillers and suspense films but Ariela is trying to get me to change my mind. (Sleepers, which I now remember having seen on TV in India, a couple of years back) is in fact a good film).
Shasha (Suhail`s wife,) came in from Paris this morning and when she had settled down a bit after her journey, she and I walked down to the Thai cafe in the pedestrian zone. As usual it was full but this time I asked a lone woman sitting and reading at a table if we might join her and she politely agreed. So Shasha and I spent a very agreeable hour and a half in the sun, sipping Chardonnay followed by carrot and chicken soup, in turn followed by a spicy Thai chicken dish, cooked with veggies and bean sprouts. At some point the woman sitting at our table left and we were joined by a couple taking a lunch break, who were from a neighbouring town. They seemed very friendly and asked a lot of questions about what I did and where I was from and how come I spoke such good German.
+++
Last night Ariela had been feeling unwell so when she failed to appear at the usual time in the kitchen this morning, I decided for once to clear out the dishwasher and to put back the crockery and cutlery. Ute, the woman who helps with the household stuff came in around nine and made some appreciative noises to see me fiddling around the kitchen. I told her the truth - that when there was nobody around to do the requisite work I could somehow summon up the resources to do it. Most often though, seeing people manage their lives and their kitchens with brisk efficiency tends to make me want to merge with the wall paper out of sheer anxiety - which a lot of people mistake for laziness. Ariela who had turned up at some point, asked me what I was scared of. I said I was always afraid of dropping dishes and breaking glasses and other stuff, I felt like such a klutz. Ariela said that was quite all right, the dishes they had were very cheap, because of the kids so I could go ahead and ruin their crockery. THAT shouldn`t prevent me from contributing to the domestic front if I WANTED to.
But I have to say that once I got started on the job I didn`t mind it at all and after about five minutes even started to enjoy a sense of self importance as the kitchen began to look visisbly neater and more attractive.
+++
No comments:
Post a Comment