I was using a Titan wrist watch since my college, once the Casio days were over. I thought, I’ll not buy one after this. I keep loosing a lot of stuffs (mostly my spectacles and wallets, the other two indispensable things), but never the wrist watch. Couple of times I forgot them, it came back to me promptly.

Then I got married. Oh, before that – around a month before the wedding, I got a watch as a gift from my organization. Not a bad one. I gave it to my Dad and asked him to give it away to someone he wants to.

Then I got married. I had a kind of wish list for the gifts, but ended up getting 4 wrist watches as gifts, all pretty good ones. A customary one I got from my wife’s cousins (I never gave one to my Bro-in-law, just in case. I offered my sister to take one from my stockpile for him, but she just gave me the looks, you know.), One my friends at work gifted, Two my cousins gifted. Since all of them were gifts, I couldn’t gave it away immediately to anyone in family. Total watch count – 5.

A few months later I won a contest at my grocery home, and the gift was… as you would’ve guessed it by now, a Wrist watch! I checked my B’Day calendar and used it on the immediate next B’Day on the list.

Today, I bought a new phone for my wife from Univercell, and Bingo! They gave me a Reebok watch free with that. Yeah! Bring it on!

The story begins with the following lines.

The mother writes to the son struggling out his living amid the miseries of a distant city. She writes with pain in her heart.

“Son, I just want to see you.”

Basheer had left his home in his teens to join the freedom movement in Kerala. The story in a whole deals with his journey from Vaikom to Kozhikode to participate in Salt Satyagraha. This almost records his history as a freedom fighter.

But what I wanted to talk here about is ‘Mother’. Even though the story starts with a generalized statement about mother, he tells in his story that he is talking about his mother. Despite this one can clearly make out the ‘Mother’ references in the story is about ‘Mother’, not only his Mother. This ‘Mother’ could be the motherland too. It should be noted here that he uses the more generic ‘Amma’ than the more Muslim specific ‘Umma’ (ഉമ്മ).

After talking about his many experiences with freedom movement, police and a stint of stay in Jail, the story concludes when he returns to his home after many years.

When I entered the home my Mother asked. “Who is it?” I stepped onto the verandah. Mother lit a lamp, and asked as if nothing had happened, “Son, have you eaten anything?”

I said nothing. I was shaken and couldn’t breath, cried. The whole world is  asleep! But my Mother alone was awake! Mother brought a vessel of water and asked me to wash my hands and feet. Then she placed a plate of rice before me.

She asked me nothing.

I was surprised. “How did you know, Umma, that I was coming today?”

Mother replied, “Oh… Nothing. I would make food and wait every night.”

It was a simple statement. Every night I did not turn up, but mother had kept awake waiting for me.

The years have passed. Many things have happened.

But mothers still wait for their sons.

“Son, I just want to see you…”

Note: My Mother is unlikely to read this. But I would like to say to her – “Thanks… for being the Mother”.

God went on Vacation. Population Outburst!

The nick, DesertWind was originally suggested to me by my friend Samir Bin Khalid (aka SBK), an ardent fan of this song.

While surfing over Internet, I found an interesting wiki on Desertwind on Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki.

As this Wookieepedia page says,

“Desertwind was the name given to the Jedi who accompanied Nejaa Halcyon and Ylenic It’kla on a mission to uncover the Sith in the final weeks of the Clone Wars. His true identity is still unknown, but suggested individuals include Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and A’Sharad Hett.”

Seems interesting.

PS: My girlfriend, Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 4S, is named Desert Rose.

• Official travel to Mangalore, Chennai, Pune and Bangalore. Hectic!
• Started a ride to Rajahmundry & Badhrachalam. Has to come back after 100 Kms, due to engine failure.
• Couple other rides planned, didn’t work out.
• A week vacation at home.
• Lots, lots and lot of movies.
• The Hindu Metro Theatre Fest.
• Couple of awards, promotion at office.
• Experimenting with an microwave oven.

And here’s a bulleted list of what I’m planning for next few months

• Trying to set up a theater group and organize an amateur theater fest at office.
• Setting up an internet radio channel at office.
• Qadir Ali Baig Theater Fest.
• Ride plan to Kathmandu, Nepal.
• Travel plan to Andaman Islands. (I might save this for future!)

Hmmm… Let’s see…