This is in response to Esther’s Weekly Word Prompt.
This week’s prompt is Mood.
Mood-s
Though I am not a mood-y person but when things don’t happen the way I have planned or wished I do get upset. Yesterday, I had planned a good summery lunch which did not turn out well. I analysed and re-analysed what had gone wrong and then chalked out another elaborate plan to redo the messed up meal and in doing so I over used the gas cylinder. Given the LPG Cylinder crisis in the country I wanted to expend fuel cautiously but in actuality I did the exact opposite. So I was cross with no one but my own self for a very long time.
Moods are fickle. They manifest in odd ways. My paternal aunt squarely blamed the Government if anything went wrong in her kitchen. A problem with the gas stove, cylinder needing a refill midway cooking, masalas getting burnt due to lack of attention, vegetables getting over cooked – none other than the State Chief was to be blamed. If the Chief Minister luckily escaped the slew of accusations, the responsibility of kitchen mismanagement and malfunctioning then fell straight on my poor uncle’s shoulders. After all she was cooking a five meal course for him on a working day getting late to the office. Punctuality was never my aunt’s strong point but nobody had the guts to tell her that.
In a better mood she would address uncle as Newton and make tea for him humming to herself. Uncle….? Newton….? Seriously….?
At first, I attributed aunt’s mood swings to hormones but it took me some time to realise that the couple thrived on such idiosyncratic exchanges.
My mother was a stickler for discipline and also known for her red hot temper. A series of clanging noise from the kitchen and we’d know something had triggered her royal rage. It’s the time when father would quietly advise me and my sister to be out of sight. A pure sane handling of a ‘delicate’ situation.
I once knew a temperamental artist, who in one of his fiend-ish moods, painted the sky red, the meadows blue, the trees purple, the sun white and the moon green. Once spent, he threw the vitiated canvas in the garbage pile from where his agent, used to his eccentricities, retrieved it.
At his next art exhibition, when he saw the cursed canvas up for public view, they had a massive showdown. But when the discordant painting was auctioned for a jaw dropping sum he fluffed up with self importance.
Mood can be notoriously tricky and playful – it can make or break relationships, it can ominously wreak havoc, it can even add a generous measure of comic relief to a day’s choc-o-bloc schedule.
I wonder in what mood did the Supremo order that devastative strike… ?
Maybe we’ll keep that topic for another post..
Geeta Ji,women usually blame their husband or in-laws if anything goes wrong from kitchen to office,from PTM to departmental store but LPG cylinders added PM to the list.
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Hee…Hee…
Right Nusrat!!
I happen to get that…
Love the closing line of your comment.
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Lovely post, Geeta ji. 😊
You’ve described the many shades of mood so beautifully—especially the family anecdotes, which made it both relatable and amusing. A very engaging and enjoyable read!
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Thank you very much Maha…Glad that you enjoyed it. I wrote it on a lighter note.
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Mood reversed is doom
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Yes…Yes ..Derrick. I wanted to caption the post Doom then changed my mind… Thanks a ton …
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Everywhere we hear of the shortage of petrol, gas and LPG. The basic culprit is the war between America and Iran.
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Yes, that is the real reason. There’s a saying in Bengali that when two kings fight the weeds get burnt. We are the weeds. The aam junta.
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Exactly. 👍🏼
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great post, GC! Your aunt sounds funny, in a fun sort of way! OMG about the artist and his art! How cool it went for such a sum!
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Yes, she was fun…Carol, both my aunt and uncle left for heavenly abode many years back.
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It’s always such a pleasure to visit your blog posts! You blend depth and humor so well to reflect on mundane but significant aspects of life. I can be a moody person too although I have started to cultivate a relationship of self-awareness with my many moods. Does a mood define me? To what extent can it control my life? And how do I regain my agency over the mood? Your note made me reflect on my own life 🙂
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Thank you so much Deeptangshu. Moods tend to define personalities. It’s important to introspect on moods and how they affect a person and near and dear ones. Also surrounding because some people cause harm to their surrounds in bad destructive mood.
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