'By The Ganges'

Imagine the mornings of a working woman with an infant to care for.

She has completed the chores like prepared food, sterilised the feeding bottles, boiled water kept in a flask etc. The moment she picks up her bag to step out, her child wakes up.

Have you seen a child who has just woken up? Fresh from long and relaxing sleep and that smell of Johnson’s products and the sweet smell of his lil sweat.

Since she knows the signs, she knows he wants to pee or poo. So she thinks, “let me be with him as I still have ten minutes in hand.”After wiping his soft bottom, she hugs him.Very little ones usually don’t press themselves against their moms while being hugged but they do reciprocate by resting their heads on her shoulder or offering their cheeks for a kiss.

Overwhelmed by that sweet smell and twinkling eyes, she drops the idea of going to office. And cuddles the baby and loves to be with him the whole day. Each moment she is with him, is a moment of bliss.

This is what happens to me. I usually have a few tasks pending before retiring to bed. We teachers do not only give Home-work, We get a lot of it too. I creep towards my Vaio for quickly checking my FB and Gmail. Then I follow the ritual of visiting a few blogs I have deep reverence for.

While Random Expressions re-introduced me to Lata the Goddess and gave me a homely ambiance , By the Ganges enthralled me with its usual topics and their unusual presentation.The words here carry the smell of my childhood days and cast a nostalgic spell.

I came to this blog six yrs back to pay a return visit. I think it was called Journalism then.I had thought that I would see an elderly Bengali blogger with thick glasses but I found someone just the opposite.

I’m a lazy reader with a very short concentration span and if I could read a post in one go and love it, I knew I was there to stay. I faintly remember that first post I read here was on Parveen Babi.

Later I read a post on Mithun Chakravarti. I wanted to show this post to all those friends who chided me for being a Mithun fan. There are so many posts which tell me that there is someone who thinks like me and can tell it so well.So even when, there is a lot of work pending and I land at The Ganga Mail, the posts like Simpler Times , and 'No.70 Memory lane'and This hold my hand and pull me. 

Like that working mom, it’s impossible to resist the sweet smell and the soft hug.