Author

Kanupriya

Of Ms Pandey & Ms Banerjee

May 29, 2012


Thought to be on twitter for sometime and get updated with whats and hows of today but duh, whatay timeline. Full of negativity & cynicism! In fact every second tweet right now is about IPL5 & KKR tamasha. Now before I proceed further, let me tell you clearly that neither I’m IPL crazy nor SRK fanatic (oh yes, like most gals of my age group even I was crazy for him during my teenage days but then maturity prevailed; sigh, gone are those days of being lost into mush movies of Rahuls & Rajs). To be honest, I didn’t watch even one single IPL match this year; twitter micro updates on wins and losses were enough to bear. But this frenzy after the KKR win is now getting too much to handle. And surprisingly none of the hungama is actually on the final match or the players or the captain, it’s on… well let’s have a look at some of these:
  • Not the win of the team but the apology of Mr. Khan.
  • Not the genuine excitement of many others but the not so excited ‘I’m excited’ statement of Ms Khan – man, people had some real fun stuffs on this one.
  • Ms Banerjee and her hyper exhilaration and her celebrations and her gifts and her … well, lets leave it at this!
  • Match fixing sagas which till evening of the finals were being predicted for CSK but immediately after the win, got very conveniently pushed to KKR.
And not to forget:
  • Ms Pandey! For past three days,  a certain Ms Pandey has been sitting tight on the trending topics list. Not only that, on the night of win it was not Gautam Gambhir but this Ms Pandey (I refuse to write her full name and add yet another page to her credit in searches) who was actually trending worldwide. For what – for her ‘dare to bare’ act, the correlation of which with cricket only a brain of hers can rationalize!
Lessons learnt– Ms Pandey needs to be officially included as case study in all marketing courses; gawddd she indeed knows the art of publicity! And when it comes to appreciation, we the human beings are masters of cynicism. You do whatever, there is always a larger set ready to criticize you and your acts. Com’on for once speak about the game or the players but nope, how could we? Aren’t we just too busy with Ms Pandeys and Ms Banerjees to focus on anything else?

The Jungle Book by Campfire

May 20, 2012
Most of us would have read / watched “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling at some point of our lives, then why did I pick this book again? No, no my little one is too young for story book reading as of now, its my own love for graphic novels and comic books which makes me pick up these even if the story is read earlier in text books or elsewhere. So, when Campfire sent a mail for reviewing their new titles, I immediately picked up few for review and one of those was “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Having read their books earlier, I was sure that their presentation would definitely have something new to offer. And man, wasn’t I right! It’s yet another beautiful visual treat by the Campfire team. Loved it, absolutely loved it!
The plot remains same – It’s about the adventurous journey of a little boy Mowgli who escapes certain doom at the hands of the tiger Shere Khan and lands up in a jungle amongst the wolf pack. With time he grows up in jungle and is taught the ways of living a jungle life. Though as he grows he faces lots of conflicts, the biggest one being finding his real identity amongst pack of wolves or humans – neither of whom is willing to accept him as of one its own. Yes, it’s the same story but you have to go through this book to understand why it is an interesting read for kids and adults who like reading visual books. Here’s my quick take about the book:
  • As I mentioned earlier, it’s a visual treat! Have to say this about the graphic team of Campfire – your presentation is class apart, really love the way stories get illustrated at your end.
  • Language is simple and can be easily understood by kids of reading age group.
  • Length of the book is also apt, neither too long for kids to lose interest nor too short for grown ups to miss their attention. 101 pages of total fun!
  • Like most Campfire books, even this one comes with some interesting trivia about “Rudyard Kipling”, “The Jungle Book” story and movie at the end.
  • There is a cute poster of Mowgli and his fun at the end of the book .
From my side, it’s a thumbs-up for this book. I’ve read their one more title during my pre-baby era and will be posting a review of it soon. Would love to read more books from Campfire and yes waiting eagerly for the little one to grow and see if he develops the taste for reading or not. Totally up to his interest level but if he does, Campfire books would definitely be on my recommendation list for him.

My First Mother’s Day

May 17, 2012

Normally I’m quite cynical about all these so called special “days” like valentine’s day, rose day, chocolate day, kiss day etc etc etc… I mean you name it and there has to be a day for it! Not that I don’t like to be wished or don’t wish my close people on such relevant days but somehow I’m quite repelled by the overall commercialization of these days. We now officially know that from marketing and promotional success point of view, Valentine’s day in India is actually a more celebrated event than Diwali or Holi. And belonging to the same marketing fraternity I can’t even say everything is irrelevant or not required, though like many other things there has to be a limit to it. Imagine a multivitamin health supplement ad being positioned as Valentine’s Day gift for your loved one? Oh yes, I did spot it in a mainline publication during Valentine’s Day marketing fever. Coming to emotional events like Mother’s day, imagine banners all over web that read sentences like “click here if you love your mom”. From Alphonso Mango to Platinum earrings, everything has to “the” gift, which if not given to your mother would just not prove your love for her! 
Owing to these reasons, I actually refrain from making a big noise of any such day in our lives that are more of marketing gimmicks than anything else. But have to say that all my cynicism and skepticism went for a toss this mother’s day when I saw the little one giving me his trademark gummy smile first thing in the morning. And when Nitin asked him lovingly to wish mumma a happy mother’s day, there he started to grin and gave a further bigger smile. Yes, a four-month can’t speak but his big toothless smile was reason enough to suddenly make me feel special that day, to make me pick him up in my arms immediately and hold tightly as the most prized possession of my life. After that I received a call from my mom and when I wished her “happy mother’s day”, she replied back with a jovial “same to you”.  Wow, there was something in that “same to you”. Yes, yes I know emotional glands become hyperactive the moment you enter parenthood but you know, you have to experience it to know what I mean by feeling most special by just a smile from the little one. Remember your first mother’s day or your first father’s day? Ya, ya exactly that kind of feeling. No gifts, no overtly emotional celebrations, just a quiet lunch-out with family, sweet wishes from close friends and acquaintances, light conversations with my mom and lots of fun with the junior – ingredients enough to make my first mother’s day just so special and memorable. Must confess that motherhood is one such experience that actually makes me look forward to be wished for being a mom on mother’s day, the day after and the day after and… well didn’t I tell you that mommydom makes your emotional glands hyperactive 😉

Kuch toh log kahenge…

March 16, 2012
No, I’m not taking about the television serial which is currently airing these days with this title (BTW since I’m at home these days, I have started watching TV and that too a lot but let me leave this topic for a separate post). Right now I’m in a mood to rant and crib and … well, two and half months into motherhood and I have concluded that you do whatever, there is always someone who will say you should not have done “this” or how could you do “that”. No, I’m serious… you do whatever but people will have something to speak about it. For e.g.,…ummm there are actually many but let me list down this one for now:
Like most Indian families, even my family had that forty days recuperating period where a woman is supposed to follow certain set of rules after delivery. Fair enough, as even medically a woman is supposed to take rest for first six weeks and hence I was ok complying with all those rules. Though did not understand the logic behind many things like certain food restriction including healthy items esp. when medically doctors ask you to eat anything, no walk etc but still I followed everything as suggested by elders.
The first few weeks were just soooo hectic, yes the joy of motherhood is incomparable and I don’t think I can ever find enough words to express the emotions attached with motherhood but then the reality is also that this phase is tough and tiring and unpredictable and exhausting and… well those who have experienced it know what I mean. After the elder family members left, one day my husband asked me to take a break for few hours from all the baby work and relax for a while. He was observing me coping up with my new life, continuously putting in all the efforts that a new mom has to and being awake 24×7 for last seven weeks. In fact I had lots of health issues in my last trimester due to spine problem, so had not gone out anywhere apart from medical checkups for last few months. So, he wanted me to have some change just for couple of hours and knowing my love for movies he asked me how about going for one in the nearby multiplex? Initially I was apprehensive about the idea and thought it to be practically impossible but then he planned it out on behalf of me. My mom who stays in the same town had come and even she insisted that it’s perfectly fine to go out esp. because baby was asleep in the afternoon and that’s the only time of the day when he sleeps at a stretch for 2-3 hours otherwise the max he sleeps continuously is for 1 hour and then it’s milk time for him. So, baby was duly fed, his next feed properly arranged and all his immediate necessity items were explained to my mom with an instruction that if he gets up and cries she should immediately call us and we would reach back in 10 minutes. Apart from mom, my brother as well as my maid was there at home. The kind of preparations and arrangements that I was doing, it looked like as if I was going out for a month. In fact my mom laughed at me and said that she is the one who had brought me up, so she could very well take care of my new born for two three hours. But she also added that she was happy to see the sincere mommy in me and how such feelings automatically come in a woman the moment she becomes a mother.
Anyways, so we went for Agneepath, getting the ticket was no big deal as movie was already running for weeks and it was an afternoon show. I loved the movie and more than that loved the free time I got. It was a pleasant change and in all my excitement I went and posted it on Facebook. Lo and behold, here I dug my own grave. While some were happy that I could manage to go out, most of them pounced back on me with a glaring “how could I”!!! From phone calls to FB messages, from acquaintances to relatives, almost everybody in the same accusatory tone – “how could I! I left a one and half month old baby and went for a movie!!!” Oh yes, it did sound like the biggest sin one could ever commit in the history of mankind. And thanks to same messages being communicated again and again, after sometime even I thought, oh yes how could I. There was this guilt trip suddenly within me, blame it to all the emotional hormones, which are anyways hyperactive during early stages of motherhood. Though when I discussed this with my husband, he had one plain simple statement – what the heck! We discussed and discussed and yes he was right – what the heck!
  • After all, the baby was not left just like that, wasn’t my mother whom I trust the most there at home to take care of him?
  • It was sleep time for the baby and by the time we came back, wasn’t he sleeping peacefully with a lovely smile on his face?
  • Weren’t all his necessities duly pre-arranged and explained to mom?
  • The multiplex was at a distance of hardly 2 kms from my home, so one phone call from mom and wouldn’t have we reached back in max 10 mins?
Well, everybody has their own ways of relaxing and instead of cribbing or sleeping, it’s actually a good movie for us. That one short break refreshed me more than what a nap or anything else could have done. Then why not take that break, get revived and take care of the baby with a happy smile? I would any day prefer to do something within possible limits which can energize me and enjoy this phase happily instead of just cribbing forever that a baby changes the life of a woman forever and alas life will never be the same! Trust me guys, motherhood is anyways so tough but I think it has been made tougher by all these so called “how could you” kinda people around us. And this is just one incident, I have actually many to share where all the efforts have been ridiculously questioned with more ridiculous “how could yous”. Maybe I would list them down in different posts later, as of now I have concluded it once again – kuch toh log kahenge, logo ka kaam hai…. Kya, of course “kehna” 😉
P.S: Phew finished this post in more than ten sittings, thanks to the attention span, which little one allows me these days. The moment I sit with my laptop, he gives me a killer smile and well here goes the laptop for a toss and mommy gets lost in his smile and aaooos, aagooss, geeesss etc 🙂

Letter from Baby to Mum-n-Dad

January 31, 2012
Got this as an email forward and just loved it! I so wish I could know who actually wrote it first. I think all new parents would be able to relate to it and those with grown up kids would surely feel nostalgic after reading this :-).
Dear Mommy and Daddy,
Please keep this letter from me in a place where you can read it and re-read it when things are rough and you are feeling down.
1. Please don’t expect too much from me as a newborn baby, or too much from yourselves as parents. Give us both six weeks as a birthday present, six weeks for me to grow, develop, mature, and become more stable and predictable – six weeks for you to rest and relax and allow your body to get back to normal.
2. Please feed me when I am hungry, I never knew hunger in your womb and clocks and time mean little to me.
3. Please hold, cuddle, kiss, touch, stroke, and croon to me. I was always held closely in your womb and have never been alone before.
4. Please forgive me if I cry a lot. I am not a tyrant who was sent to make your life miserable, the only way I can tell you I am not happy is with my cry, bear with me and in a short time, as I mature, I will spend less time crying and more time socializing
5. Please take the time to find out who I am, how I differ from you and how much I can bring you. Watch me carefully and I’ll tell things which sooth, console and please me.
6. Please remember that I am resilient and can withstand the many natural mistakes you’ll make with me. As long as you make them with love, I cannot be harmed.
7. Please don’t be disappointed when I am not the perfect baby you expected nor be disappointed with yourselves when you are not the perfect parents.
8. Please take care yourself; eat a balanced diet, rest, and exercise so that when we are together you have the patience and energy to take care of me. The cure for a fussy baby is more rest for Mom.
9. Please take care of your relationship with each other. What good is family bonding if there is no family left for me to bond with.
10. Keep the “big picture” in mind. I’ll be like this for a very short time, though is seems like forever to you now. Although I may have turned your life upside down, please remind yourselves that things will be back to normal before long.
Enjoy me – I’ll never be this little again!
– Yours.

Ain’t it just sooooo touching?

Santa did actually come to our home this year :)

December 31, 2011
Santa arrived with quite a clatter
we had to wake to see what was the matter
What a precious gift he left this year
a bundle of joy we love so dear!
Happy to introduce my li’ll bundle of joy to all my readers, I’ve been blessed with a baby boy this year. On this last day of 2011, I’m actually an 11 day old mommy now :), still can’t believe it but yes I’m :). 2011 has indeed been the most special year for me & my family, hope 2012 will be as blissful and joyous like last year.
While the li’ll one is keeping me on my toes, I just managed to sneak in five minutes to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Have a great & wonderful year ahead!
Phew, this is all I can manage to post while the new daddy is playing with the baby. Time to get back to my new life now :). Will be back with my new set of experiences as and when I can manage time.
P.S: These are the first pair of shoes of the li’ll one gifted by his nani. Gawd, I think I have never been as obsessed with any of my shoes, as much I’ve been with this li’ll pair :). Have kept it on my bedside table like a piece of decoration 😛

The Immortals of Meluha: Book Review

November 30, 2011

Don’t remember when was the last time I got so hooked on to any book that I took all-nighter efforts to finish a fiction series. Shiva Trilogy is indeed one of those which got glued me to it like crazy. And thank God, I did not read these two books separately. I had missed to read the first one when it was released. So, when there was buzz about ‘The Secrets of the Nagas’ getting released, that’s when I actually picked up ‘The Immortals of Meluha’. Otherwise had I read these two titles separately, can’t imagine the restlessness that I had to go through about ‘what happened to Sati’.
Set in 1900 BC, ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ is the first book of Shiva Trilogy series written by Amish Tripathi. What we modern Indians call the Indus Valley Civilization, the inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracized and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills! Amidst all this chaos, here appears a Tibetian immigrant who as per legends will be their savior, their God – the Neelkanth. But is this immigrant ‘SHIVA’ a normal human being prepared to handle the same? This book is the story of SHIVA, an ordinary man whose karma actually made him MAHADEV – God of Gods.
What I liked about the book:
  • The Presentation. It’s actually a mythological story but presented as fiction with its own share of thriller, romance and action. I mean the way author has presented this story is absolutely commendable!
  • The characterizations – from Shiva to Parvati to Brihaspati everybody has been sketched out in a unique way. Though we are aware of these characters but this book gives lots of interesting information about them that actually personifies them as real flesh and blood human beings.
  • The details, I absolutely loved the knowledge it provides on our old civilizations and ancient India. Not everything is fiction, lots actually hold true as per our history and mythology.
  • The theme, which makes you believe that one can become God only by actions and nothing else. The whole concept of “Har Har Mahadev” which reinforces that there is a God in everyone.
  • Last but the most important one – the plot! It’s racy, engaging, page-turner, fascinating and totally gripping till the end.
What I didn’t like about the book:
  • Actually nothing strongly negative about this book except the language that too only at some places. Maybe at places I found Shiva’s language to be too casual but then you know it might be because of the fact that somewhere in our brain Shiva is ingrained as God, so called Bhagwaan Shivji and that’s why his casual approach in some situations like his initial encounters with Sati might seem bit odd . It’s more to do with perception I think 🙂
Overall, a very interesting and must-must-must read book. It’s not in news unnecessarily; it deserves to be a bestseller. I will be back with my views on second book of this series in my next post. Till then, tell me did you read the book and did you like it?

Happy Festivities!

October 30, 2011
So, hows everyone doing? Hope the festive season is going great and you all had a sparkling Diwali. Diwali was good for me too with beautiful lights, colorful flowers, yum food and sans crackers. Yes, for some strange reason this time I didn’t burn even one single cracker. Not that I’m fond of noisy bombs but i always loved those bright fireworks like flowerpots or fire-wheels, though this year I was not attracted to even those. Not sure of the reason – maybe health or maybe mood or maybe the general repulsion towards noise pollution. But like always, I did decorate my home with beautiful diyas and flower arrangements. Decorating my home esp. for festivals is something which I really-really enjoy doing ever since my childhood and after marriage it has an added charm as husband dear eagerly waits for me to dress up our home with my hand made art pieces and as per my design preferences. So, this year it was no different as far as this part is concerned, by evening I was damn tired but loved every bit of adding festive charm to our house. Maybe I will do a photo post on it sometime soon :).
Till my next post, here’s wishing you all a very bright & jovial festive season! Celebrate these moments of life and make such occasions special for you and your loved ones. May God bless you all with lotsa happiness, peace and prosperity!
I shall be back soon with reviews of my recent reads. I actually managed to read some really good books recently, so next post has to be on books :).

Devi Ma jaldi se tumhe ek beta de!

September 22, 2011
Question to all married women (esp. the ones who are yet to enter motherhood): Have you ever been blessed with something like, “may God bless you with a healthy and hearty daughter”. At least I have not been, not even once!
I know we have discussed it enough and many including me have expressed million times our dissatisfaction over this bias that happens in our so-called progressive society till date. In fact I have given up on arguing on this topic of male child obsession, it’s only me and my husband know as to how much delighted we would be if we will have a baby girl whenever we will have our child. And I really-really mean it, nothing can compare to the joy of having a cute and caring daughter. We always say we will be really happy to have a healthy baby but super joyous if it turns out to be a daughter. Then why am I writing on this topic again today? Well, because of these two incidents which happened yesterday:
A lady not too old and from her personality you cant even call her orthodox blessing me like this (verbatim quoted): “Mata Rani jaldi se tumhe ek swastha beta de, bas devi maiya se yahi prarthna hai ek beta aa jaye tumhare god mein”. Hmmm…I just silently smiled. Then her next discussion with my mom was another cherry on top. She explained a whole puja ritual that is done during Navratri festival to have a beta. And how this puja is a sure shot method to be blessed with a son, if you follow all these XYZ instructions Goddess Durga will indeed bless you with a son only! Mom also smiled and replied, “bhagwaan inlogo ko ek sawasth santaan de, phir beta ho ya beti kya fark padta hai”. But that lady kept on & on & on explaining whatever… with a conclusive statement “aap ek baar karke toh dekhiye, dekhiyega jaldi hi beta aayega, beta“! And no that lady was not some old haggard conservative granny, she was a middle aged woman, educated and working as well!
Another person who works at a senior position in a corporate announced his leave citing reasons of his trip to Vaishno Devi temple up north. He is going even in the rush season of Navratri as Goddess has fulfilled his wish. Mr. X just got a son few weeks back and would you believe if I say it’s his third child? Yes, a third child in this generation and no points for guessing that earlier two kids aged 11 & 7 are girls! Though he never mentioned it explicitly but this question was there on almost everybody’s face when he had announced the arrival of his son as to how come a third child in this age esp. when he already has two angel like daughters? Nevertheless, neither it was asked directly and nor it was our business to interfere in his matters. But Mr. X definitely has the nerves to accept that son was his mannat from Devi Mata and he is trekking all the way up as Goddess has fulfilled his wish.
Wow, so you pray to a Devi Mata who is actually a woman to bless you with a male child? You’re asked to keep a fast during Navratri and do numerous rituals to offer your prayers to Mata Rani so that she can bless you with a son? You believe in the Shakti of a Goddess, in the power of a woman to fulfill your any wish, yet when it comes to ask for a child you ask for a son! You have faith in a woman but ask her only for a male heir … Interesting & ironical isn’t it 🙂 ?
All you educated and supposedly broad-minded people from my society – I know seeking a blessing to have a daughter is unfathomable and asking like too much. But least you can do is bless a lady to have a healthy child. If you can’t utter the words “Devi Ma tumhe ek sunder si beti de”, then you don’t even have to say to have a beta… “swastha santaan” or a “healthy child” makes much more sense. Accept the child as the best gift that you can get and let the decision of giving you a beta or beti be better left to Almighty!

Common yet rare!

August 26, 2011
Yesterday evening had a chance to return early from work and that too during daylight. While nearing the lift I noticed lots of happy kids playing and running around. Well, to be honest I had no idea that there are so many kids in my apartment and even kids of today’s generation go out and play games like hide & seek in playgrounds! From their chirpiness and conversations it looked like they were playing hide & seek itself with few of them hidden in the basement car parking area. When I reached my floor, just outside the lift saw these two young girls of neighborhood family clapping hands and playing Miss Mary, Mac, Mac, Mac (something on the lines of the hindi one “aam churi, chappan churi”… remember 🙂 ?). That game and the way they were playing immediately brought a smile on my face :-). Oh, so kids do play such games till now, though with bit variation but the core fun aspect looked the same.
As soon as I entered my home, something made me decide to go for a walk in the evening itself. I generally go down for my walk at night once I’m back from office or maybe after dinner. Since I go out in dark, mostly I end up walking in the pavement area circling my apartment where there is ample lighting instead of walking in the green area where there is only dim lighting. And once I went down in the daylight, I was surprised to see the place abuzz with so much of activity there. Garden was indeed very beautiful with lush green grass, swings for kids, beautiful seating arrangements within patches of greens and a lovely fountain. Yes, I had heard many times from my neighbor that the garden in our apartment is quite nice and fresh but only that day I realized how lovely it was. Also made me think that I had never come down to this area in the evenings, in fact the only time I remember checking this place was when we were moving in and had gone down to check out the facilities. Those days, that area was under construction and hence not so well maintained. I do go down to the common facility areas on weekends but mostly it’s to use the swimming pool or occasionally the gym but never ever to this beautiful place full of natural beauty, fresh air and bloom all around. And I have been staying in this apartment for like 2.5 years now!!!


Spotted this empty bench and decided to sit on it for a while before starting the walk and the whole surrounding made me so nostalgic. There were women gossiping, kids playing, old aunties sitting on grass in circles and old uncles discussing something while taking their walks; reminded me of park evenings which we used to have during our childhood days. It was actually quite lively and nice, lost in my thoughts with my ipod plugged in my ears I never realized when more than an hour slipped by. Even music seemed to be more melodious with serenity and greenery all around. Only when the phone buzzed, I actually noticed the time and realized that it’s already dark now. And guess what, I was so lost in my thoughts and engrossed in silently observing people that not even once I felt the need to update my Facebook or Twitter stream in that one hour. If it would have been just another free moment at my home or those waiting hours while on commute, I’m sure I would have been glued on to any digital screen refreshing my timeline or reading something interesting on internet.
Relaxed and refreshed, while I pressed the lift button to go back I only wondered why I didn’t come there earlier? Why we generally tend to ignore such common activities, which actually can give us some very special moments? Some pleasures are just so near to us but we are too busy to even notice it. Some things are just so simple, yet they give you such unique satisfaction. Reminds me of this quote by Paulo Coelho which I had liked so much while reading The Alchemist – “It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary”.
Note to self: I must go back to this place and spend some “me time” whenever I can, after all I used to enjoy doing this so much during my school and college days :-)…oh those lovely evenings in hostel when I used to spend hours reading my favorite books on garden benches…