Tales of Ipsa

Category: Real Life Anecdotes

  • Gecko on the Wall

    Gecko on the Wall

    Eeks! There’s a gecko on the wall! If that is you shrieking, we are united in our fear of house lizards. A gecko on the wall twenty feet away is one gecko too many for me! So why write about them, you might ask? Alas, inspiration comes in many forms, and not always in the…

  • A lost handkerchief

    A lost handkerchief

    Its spring cleaning time! I quite enjoy the process, for it is a time of joyous discoveries and emotional reunions! Long-lost sock-twins hug each other tightly; while runaway buttons return to the family fold. That’s when I discovered it – a crumpled square of fabric, tucked right at the back of a drawer! It was…

  • A Dressmaker in the Making

    A Dressmaker in the Making

    I’m trying hard to be self-reliant. Being my own cook, baker, dishwasher, gardener, and now a dressmaker-in-the-making! All this atma-nirbharta is partly in response to our dear leader’s call, but mostly because tyrannical tailors have left me with little choice. Years have I spent, and miles have I wandered to find a tailor who would…

  • The Disappearing Donkey

    The Disappearing Donkey

    This is a tale of the disappearing donkey – those overworked and undervalued creatures that are disappearing from our own backyards. Some may sneer at my choice of subject, still others may see this diminution as a progressive step! But do not be hasty, dear reader. For the dons who study donkeys have detected a…

  • A full head of hair

    A full head of hair

    The long journey of evolution from ape to man was marked by conspicuous shedding of body hair. Why then did we retain a full head of hair? Was it just chance/ a mere roll of dice/ an evolutionary trade-off which endowed us with our crowning glory? Not so. It so happens that Africa, where we…

  • My Two Maids

    My Two Maids

    Its ten minutes past seven, and I’ve glanced at the kitchen clock for the twentieth time. The doorbell chimes. The relief is unimaginable. For the doorbell announces the arrival of the first of my two maids.    The maid in the kitchen Manisha is the senior of my two maids, and the kitchen is her…

  • What was the name again?

    What was the name again?

    Like many of my previous encounters, this one too happens during my morning ramble. Meet Ramgoat dashalong. What was the name again, I hear you ask. The little plant with its sunny bloom goes by this rather mysterious and unaccountable name; besides its given scientific name of Turnera ulmifolia. Nicknames can be singularly apt and…

  • My new glasses

    My new glasses

    Its that time of the year again. The time to restore my steadily diminishing vision to its once-youthful acuity. Its time for my annual eye check-up and, as night follows day, time to order my new glasses. The computerised eye check-up throws up a new set of numbers every year; and though I linger, hesitate,…

  • Acing the Adjective

    Acing the Adjective

    I am on a mission towards acing the adjective. It all started thus. While not exactly slow, I am not quite first off the mark in the social media race. Therefore by the time I get a look in at the newest photographs on my social media groups, the slots for ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, and ‘gorgeous’…

  • The world from my balcony

    The world from my balcony

    The balcony is where my day begins, a time of stillness before the rush of life beckons. There was once a time when the world from my balcony stretched out to the eastern horizon over scattered dwellings and lush fields of corn. I could see the sun rise and follow its journey over the vast…