The consonants and vowels in life

Specky, my wife, entered with a frown and said, ‘Phew! Now I have to make a presentation on PowerPoint and it must be in Hindi.’ I looked at Pushkin and he smiled. Only a few minutes back we had been browsing the net and had stumbled upon ‘Shusha’ a font that could be used to write in Hindi without knowing the conventions of Hindi typing. Even MS Word accepted it. Shusha used a phonetic system and made Hindi typing open and embrace people like me who had used the English keyboard only.

I said, ‘Don’t worry. Consider the job done.’ So that night the three of us sat #together and as Pushkin helped his mother create a powerful presentation, I thought of and typed out an interesting copy in Hindi. At the end of that day, we agreed that a dream needs a team and that it is teamwork can lead to a victory much easily than going for it alone. Specky, being the thoughtful analyser of our team added, ‘Life has both consonants and vowels and together they make up an alphabet that gives us words like win.’

Well, this happened more than fifteen years back and those were times when we were all exploring computing with child-like enthusiasm. The days of that sort primary exploration are, of course over, but the definition and the importance of being #together remains. We believed then and we believe even now that it is the power of togetherness that harnesses optimism takes live on a ride into heavens of bliss.

But talking of being #together, we had another wonderfully eclectic experience while we were in London in 2014. Of course, we had gone there on a two month vacation and did plan to go to a few countries in Europe as well. We wanted to visit York again… and wanted to resume our ‘London walks’… and, expectedly, Pushkin was able to bring from the library a small but fantastic book with some really off-the-beaten-path walks. Unlike fifteen years back, this time it wasn’t Specky-Pushkin-me, but we were Specky-Pushkin-Monika-me… and we were destined to revisit the universe of togetherness again. Yes, Pushkin is married now and so now we have a son as well as a daughter.

The first few days saw us walking and discovering the little know secrets of eyots, haunted pubs, and the graffiti in Shoreditch… and then one weekend Monika asked, ‘So where are we all going today?’

Pushkin said, ‘You three decide while I go and get our weekly fascination on my way back from rowing.’ I asked Monika what he meant by this, and she explained, ‘Monmouth coffee has an outlet quite near our place and they open only for an hour in the morning. The coffee is unbeatable.’ So that weekend we decided to begin with Monmouth coffee and continue with discussing London weather and the cab strike, talking about the Gay Parade or planning how to get a best view as the cyclists in the Tour-de-France zip by. There was another weekend when we talked about cooking and tasting dishes straight out of a Jamie Oliver recipe book. There were satsumas to be had between meals… and Pushkin even volunteered to prepare Sangria at home while Specky and Monika challenged each other in Chess, Checkers and Fox and Hounds. Well, actually all three of us played. There were weekends when Pushkin decided to do some bike-cleaning and Monika thought she would sand-paper a table-top to be polished or painted later. Believe me, as I write this all I remember are the uninhibited smiles and the joys of togetherness. Yes, we also went out as one many days and this included cycling on the streets of London as well… but the consonants and the vowels of life came together in the most lively way when we were at home in London.

Homes, let me add here, are not just walls where we go to sleep and eat before moving out again… they are places with their own heart-beat and are prepared to be as lively as you are prepared to let them be.