Jan and Feb updates

Gosh! Jan and Feb, usually the quietest months of the year, have turned out to be a topsy-turvy up-and-down roller coaster and have touched all the emotional high and low points this year.

It started with us returning from Bali on a high, having enjoyed a short but fun vacation – only for my husband to fall ill within a week of returning. And no, it wasn’t Covid!

He’s been having some digestive issues for months, which aggravated during the trip. Tests revealed a malignant tumor that needed to be operated on immediately. The next couple of weeks were a mad whirl of tears, hospitals, doctors, scans, and the works before we settled on a plan of action.

Once the plan was in place, things began to run very smoothly. K got admitted, the surgery went smoothly, and he is now at home recovering nicely.

Thankfully, the tumor was caught early, and his post-surgery results were clear, so there seems to be no need of chemo as of now.

Now, it’s just a case of being cautious, taking the meds, doing the check-ups, avoiding stress and anxiety, and focusing on rest and recuperation for him.

There was a lot of waiting time at hospitals this month, and I used that time to finish up many books and reviews and kill time on the gram.

Snubnose used that time to focus on her art and her upcoming exams. She is taking a design course in school, so she always needs a complete portfolio. Some of my favorite sketches she did were rough cuts without any intent of display.

February rolled in fairly uneventfully. I took the kids out a couple of weekends – to give K peace and quiet and not have the kids fretting about his health. It broke my heart to see their worried and anxious faces while they tip-toed around the house, and so a couple of days out to the bookstore, restaurants, and museum lifted everyone’s spirits.

Here are some of the many artworks we saw at the newly opened Museum of Art and Photography.

Piglet is becoming a wee bit more adventurous with his food, so I took the kids to a Japanese restaurant (Snubnose’s favorite cuisine), and we enjoyed a simple Bento box meal at Bento Bento.

Piglet turned up his nose at some of the food but was willing to try the vegetable and chicken sides. Win!

A visit to the city center always, but always means making a visit to Blossom Book House. It’s the ICONIC bookstore of Bangalore. They sell new and used books. I have got into a financially ruinous relationship with them where I buy books from them, sell them back to the shop for a pittance, and buy more new books. Even worse, they have this service where you can call them and ask for a specific book, and they send it to your home. No!

Anyway, this is my recent haul!

There was some amount of binge-watching also this month. I rewatched some old favorites – Fleabag, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. I caught up with the latest season of Derry Girls (hysterically funny, and I am so sad the show is ending).

February ended with a bang, with Snubnose celebrating her 17th birthday. Her last three birthdays were very quiet, and she wanted to go all-out, as her next birthday would be another washout (board exams). She and Piglet went go-karting, bowling, and dancing with her friends. He is her best friend these days and is happy to tag along with her crowd. I was surprised to see him so comfortable with the older kids and busting out some pretty fancy moves on the dance floor!

All this enjoyment isn’t in our usual style. We are generally home birds and live a very quiet life. I think the shock of K’s diagnosis and treatment caused us to overdo it a bit, but underneath all these distractions, K and I have been quietly rethinking what our lifestyle should look like going ahead. Changes may be on the anvil; we are taking it slow, trying to quiet down the rush of our day-to-day life, take things easier, and move slowly but surely into a simpler, quieter life. Let’s see how things go.