Browsing category

Just Generally

New Year Reflections

January 1, 2017
End of previous year & beginning of a new year… this joy & celebration & enthusiasm to welcome the year. While I join the celebration and enjoy the fun, I also end up wondering why? Why this zeal to welcome a new date? Why this eagerness to greet this day? After all, isn’t it just another calendar date? Why to make new resolutions only on first of January? Would it make any difference if new resolutions were to be made on first of March? Why this keenness to start things today and not on any other day of the year? Is a calendar date really that important to start something afresh? A beginning can be anytime, anyday, any moment, why this strong urge for the beginning today?
While I sit back and reflect, I realize once again that it’s not the rational or logic that can give answers to every why of ours. Perhaps for certain things, it’s just good to rely on our belief and have that faith – faith on new beginnings, faith on magic of those beginnings. Somehow the magic of beginnings always remind me of these beautiful lines by Meister Eckhart:
“And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust in the magic of beginnings.”
So, cheers to yet another beautiful beginning, yet another new year and let’s hope this new year proves to be as magical for all of us as we are hoping it to be today.

Happy New Year to You & Yours from Me & Mine 🙂

Anything, Everything, All The Time

November 27, 2014
Hola people! Whatsup? I know I know, all of you are busy like crazy in your fast running lives. Hmmpphhh, well same here. Can’t believe it’s almost December now and this year is ending too! Hope everything is going great at your end.

You know I just attended a great conference, something that I was excited about but it turned to be truly enriching to me in more ways than I had envisaged. While there were many highs about the sessions in that conference (more on those later :)) but there was this one comment by an international speaker that I thought I must share with you all and ask your views on it. As is the case with any conference these days, the speakers were hardly getting any chance to speak as almost everyone in the audience had to speak something after every few minutes, wait let me say after every few ‘seconds’. No I’m serious, people these days have to speak anything on everything and that too all the time. Gone are the days when speakers used to wait for questions, today thanks to internet and the connected smart phones in our hands, everybody in the audience is super smart. Intelligence is available just at the click of our fingers and everybody has profound observations to make on almost everything.  People want to be noticed and broadcast their respective moments of fame on Twitter or Facebook or whatsoever social site that is work-in-progress right now. Same was going on in that conference too, mid way interruptions with “I think this” or “my opinion on this is that” kind of unnecessary comments along with “let me get a picture clicked with this celeb speaker” to “let me post this on twitter before anyone else”. Finally one of the international speakers commented – “You Indians are the chattier lot. No, I don’t mean any offence to you, it’s a good thing but among all present in this room from different countries, Indians have maximum opinions on most of the things.” Well, one look at her expression and you knew how ‘good’ she thought it was 😀 :P. Few of us laughed, few were embarrassed but after sometime, we were back to being the same.

While the session ended but I kept on thinking at her comment for long. Why do we have opinions on almost everything and that too such strong ones? Why do we have such poor listening skills but strong verbal skills? Why do we have this urge to prove “I’m the best” or “I know the best” all the time? Why are we always in a hurry to speak first and prove our point? Why are we always so insecure but trying to project to be oh-so-intelligent and confident all the time? While I personally like the warmth of our relationships and inter-personal equations in Indian culture but aren’t we also too judgmental of each other now? Partly you can say it’s in our culture but I think partly it’s also the age in which we are living in currently. We know too many things about each other now and of course we only know good things about others lives as that’s what we are busy broadcasting socially in our real as well as virtual world. Nobody updates the fight they had with their spouse last night but this one dinner on some rooftop restaurant must be broadcasted to all. And the ones who are having a fight today with their spouse heave a sigh of frustration at this update without realizing that the other one had already gone through similar fights yesterday :D.
Why are we always in this deep need of exhibiting our life to others and why is it increasing day by day? Some amount of competition is good in life but why this competition and pressure for anything & everything and that too all the time? This why and that why and many more whys…

Talking Parrot – 3

August 25, 2014
Crazy days, crazier nights! No wonder I have not come back to this space for almost 3 months now. 3 months and I must have got at least 13 posts saved in my drafts folder and another 30 in my must-blog-on-this list but damn… this daily madness of my life. A detailed post on what’s keeping me on my toes these days in another post later. For now, let me come back to yet another anecdote in my Talking Parrot series.
Yesterday it was one of those very tiring days; by night I was literally dragging myself to finish the daily chores. It was almost midnight and little one wanted to play basketball at that hour! Oh yes, craziness like these are normal affair in my household now. I have no idea from where does he gets all this energy, I have concluded that he runs on a battery and that too something more powerful than Duracell… chalta hi jaye, chalta hi jaye types. Anyways coming down to the talking parrot series, here’s a replication of the late night conversation between Mumma & Ni:
Ni: Mumma, tya hua? Abhi thelo na piliizzzz. Pilizz, pliiiiiizzzz (He uses “T” for “K” in hindi, so thelo is actually khelo in his language as of now :))
Me: (With a very tired expression), Not now Ni. Kal subah khelte hai
Ni: (Upset & silent with a pout, looks at me intently)
Ni again: Mumma tya hua? Tum thatt dayi ho (Tum thak gayi ho)?
Me: (with a sad face) Haan beta, bahot thak gaye hai. Sach mein
Ni runs to the fridge, comes back with something in his fist & asks me to sit down.
Ni: Mumma idhal aao, neeche baitho ne et (ek) min mere paas
Me: Haan baith gaye, bolo kya hua?
Ni immediately opens his fist, shows me some grapes and brings one to my mouth saying: Mumma ye grapes tha lo, tumhara sab thatt theet ho jayega, fruit thane se hum strong bante hai na (Mumma, ye grapes kha lo, tumhara sab thak theek ho jayega, fruit khane se hum log strong bante hai na. Of course it was me who was giving me this gyaan on eating fruits the same evening). 
And lo, Mumma was suddenly all awwww & oooo & teary eyed & lumpy throat! The next moment Mumma ate that grape and hugged him in her cheerful “ole mela beta” mood. Trust me just one grape fed by those tiny little hands and with a face full of innocent love were sufficient enough to charge me for another hour to play many rounds of basketball & football matches with him.

At times I wonder if moments like these are sudden or seeded in life. As they come unexpectedly on days when you’re really down or frustrated. And one such moment, just one is sufficient enough to make you realize that all this effort is worth it. Totally, absolutely worth it! :). Thank you God for this blessing in life!

Adding colors and freshness to my space but WIP…

March 31, 2014
Hola people, what’s up? I’m back from what you can call some real crazy travel schedule, festival fun with in-laws side of family, new experiences, new memories & new insights on food, travel and relationships! More on those later (note to self: I must take out time to jot down my experiences, as this trip was different in more ways than one) but this post is just to say a big hello to all of you. It’s 31st March today and those of you working in financial sector or business development roles must be having a crazy time today. Good luck, may this year end on a big note for all of you.
And I had a day off yesterday after what seemed like at least a decade! Yes, it was just another Sunday but few things were different – I was sick, down with very high fever, have fallen this sick after long and hence was on bed for most part of the day. Household chores were ignored, child was being taken care only partly by me but primarily by husband and the maid. Even Mr. husband was at home for a change this weekend and for a CHANGE even maid was around at least for few hours this Sunday! Maids in Bangalore, ufff….but more on this again later! 
So, after long I got to be on bed at least for few hours and I got the time to play around with my blog that I have been wanting to do for long. The last theme that I updated on this blog was almost 7 years back. In fact a quick look on my “About text” told me that it was last touched 8 years back. It read, “blogging for 4+ years now” whereas in reality, I have been blogging for almost 12 years now! Well, have not changed much on “About” yet but definitely have been trying to work around with a different theme. Have added bit of color, changed the layout and updated it with some new design trends and widgets. During the process, also realized that both wordpress and blogger have changed quite a lot now. Blogger’s own themes are not as per current design trends and customizing it with any other theme has become very time consuming and not that user friendly. This blog change is still only partly completed but I’m actually quite liking it. Don’t know when will I get the time to work on it again but trying to at least finish the basics today. Just a bit of color addition and a different layout itself have motivated me to do this post. Hope I will get the time and energy to be here more regularly now. After all, who doesn’t like freshness to his/her space and as I always say, this is one space of mine that I cherish truly and miss it whenever I am away from it for long!
So, do you like this new layout of my blog? Any suggestions for improvement? Lemme know your views please. Bbye until we meet again and hopefully very soon 🙂

The Talking Parrot Series – 1

October 27, 2013
I have a talking parrot at home these days and that parrot is none other than my little one! Yes, he talks now and that too a lot. Time flies, we always say this, but wait till you have a baby and see him/her growing in front of you. You really will see this term “time flies” in a different light altogether . So, this talking parrot has to repeat everything we speak. At times, his sentences leave me totally amazed wondering if it’s really him who said all this! And the reactions range from Awwww to WTH to Oleeee to WHAT! Yes, yes parenting emotions are all about diversity and that too at a speed which you won’t even know is humanly possible 😛
So, yesterday I was trying out a dress and little one was as usual messing up with things kept on the dressing table. What’s with the fascination of these kids with dressing table and kitchen utensils! As usual my brain was multi tasking and while I was looking at the fitting of the dress, I kept on saying, “Ni No! Don’t throw this! Don’t open that” A total irritated WTH stage I was into when the little one suddenly stopped and started looking at me intently with a smile.
Me to Ni (that’s what he calls himself these days): Ni, Mumma achchi lag rahi hai?
Ni: Aan, Mumma achchi. After a short pause, with gleaming eyes and pointing to his own clothes, he asks: Mumma, aul Ni achchi?
Oh that shining eyes and that cute “Aul Ni achchi”, I immediately bent down, hugged him and replied:
Me: Ale Ni toh hamesha achcha, har kuch mein achcha, sabse achcha!
Ni: Otte. Mumma bi hamesha achcha, hal tuch mein achcha, shabshe achcha!
I can’t tell you how I felt at that moment! An immediate transition to “Awwww” from “WTH” within seconds! I know he didn’t understand what he said, he was just repeating my sentence by replacing Ni with Mumma but still it was such a different thing to listen to it from his mouth. #WishfulThinking by the mommy in me – Wish he will say this someday when he understands the meaning of it as well .
And the mommy in me has decided to document such tidbits of my current phase of life. On those gloomy, clueless, lost-in-life days I must come back and read these to remind myself that life is not only about pre-decided goals, fierce ambition, planned holidays, showcasing our perfect life on social media and socializing with so-called friends! At times, it’s just about living in the moment and experiencing it then and there. For you never know, when one of those moments will actually become memory that you would like to cherish forever! A memory that’s sure to bring a smile on your face whenever you will think of that moment!

More options, lesser communication :)

October 18, 2013
I’m back! Once again! Once again I was gone for long and once again I want to be back! To this space of mine that I had always cherished! That I want to cherish in future as well! The space that is mine! Where I was free to express anything! I miss this space. And my expressions! And the me-time that this space used to give me earlier! I want that back! I really do! Those people with whom I could converse! Without the fear of being judged! The like minded ones! And the not-so-like minded ones! Opinions of whom were healthy! And so were the conversations! I want those readers back! I really do! I don’t want this space of mine to meet the same fate as that of many other form of communications these days! Conversations are shorter! Opinions are fabricated! Ideas are copied! Personal interactions are dead! And ideologies are… well, what’s that?
Well, whatever be the situation now, one thing is for sure that I had always liked to have a space where I could express myself. It started from a black slate as my mom says where I used to draw things at night that I did the whole day :), moved to copies, then diaries, then fancy notebooks, then handcrafted notepads, then a computer, then a basic laptop, then a higher end laptop, then an ipad, then a fancy phone, then millions of writing apps installed on multiple digital devices, then… phew the more the options and the fancier the medium, the lesser the communication! No :)? At least with a black slate, white chalk and minimum language skills I used to draw daily :). So, here’s a hope that amidst all the chaos of life, daily madness, insane schedules, inner turmoil and external craziness, I will get back to certain passions of my life that I once truly enjoyed! And writing definitely is one of them.
Anybody still coming here :)? 

Parenting 2.0: Nuggets from the little one

June 20, 2013
So, the little one has been gifted a talking parrot by his mama and new mami (oh yes, he has a mami now, more on that later 🙂) and he was totally in love with it. But as is the case with most of his toys, he got bored of it after few hours and then started throwing and hitting it with his bat. This is one habit that I have really not been able to control. He gets bored so easily with anything and he is just not the child who can play with toys. He needs more of outdoor engagements like basketball, cricket or anything else to do with balls. He is obsessed, like seriously obsessed with balls! 
So, this parrot stopped talking after being hit few times. And little one got restless, started shouting on the parrot as if that toy will get scared of his scolding and will start talking again. When the shouting didn’t work, he got sad and kept on showing the parrot to me with a “nai nai” and expecting me to tell the parrot to talk to him. I observed the toy and realized that the batteries came out when he threw it last and hence the parrot stopped functioning. The mommy in me tried to use it to my benefit. I took the parrot, showed it to him and told – “This parrot is angry with you, you hit him and hence he has stopped talking to you. He is sad that you threw him and is not going to talk to you again.” I repeated similar sentences with a sad face to create the impact and kept showing him the parrot and during one such act I showed him the back portion of the parrot where the battery section was open. Immediately his eyes lit up, he snatched the parrot from me, examined it carefully and then started looking around aggressively. After some running, bending and lying down, finally he could locate the batteries underneath sofa. Took all effort to finally grab those back and inserted them in that parrot. And lo the parrot started talking. With a winning smile he came to me, gave the parrot back to me and said – “le le”. Oh that look on his face as if saying – mumma you tried to fool me. And the mumma looked at him appalled with mouth wide open and completely shocked at the brain of this tiny little creature! 
Gawd that confident “le le” to me… all I could tell myself was welcome to parenting 2.0 or is it like 3.0? Ummmm maybe n.0! Whatever but you just can’t fool the kids these days and he is just 17 months old as of now!

Meri Adhuri Kahani…

April 13, 2013

Without any deliberation, I think I should title this post as “Meri Adhuri Kahani”… yes, that’s what the status of my life is these days. Almost everything adhura or half complete! Blog posts – half complete, books – half complete, paintings – half complete and millions of things at work – half complete! Ufff where are days flying by these days? In past few weeks, I have saved soooo many posts in drafts. I thought to share about my excitement of watching a movie in theater after almost an year and what better movie than Kai Po Che to write a post about but that too half complete. Women’s Day, Holi, some positive updates at work, some not-so-pleasant updates of motherhood but everything half complete. And this also reminds me that I have a new template for my blog and even that work is – half complete! Phew, let us see if I manage to complete this post till end or this also becomes a part of my “Adhuri kahani” series.
Anyways, coming down to this post… last two weeks have been no less than mayhem at my household. Maid lapata (ufffff this misery never ends ) and to top it, little one terribly sick. High viral fever followed by body rash and super fussiness! But what was the highlight of this phase was his blood test. Yeah, blood test and you might be thinking what’s so big deal about getting a blood test done. Ain’t we all get pricked all the time? I, for one, have always managed to get all my tests done alone without much ado and after reaching adulthood at times have even wondered on few women who shout and create hungama during blood tests. Yeah, I met many such ones esp. during pregnancy checkups. During those days, checkups and lab visits used to be quite frequent and so were the encounter with such screaming and ‘oh-i-m-such-a-delicate-baby’ kind of women. Trust me I never could fathom the big deal about it! But things were different this time when I went for the first blood test of my little one. The moment he entered the lab he started howling, maybe the setting around made him scared or whatever. He was anyways in high fever & then came out three needles. Okkkk, and then I was suddenly nervous! Rational mind said it’s after all few pricks that would get over in seconds but the mommy mind said – oh my god, all these would be inserted in his veins. Yes, I was sweating even in that AC. And this little hyper active brat – uffff you do anything but he could manage to free himself from that doctor’s hands and roll over to the other side of the lab table. Then came another worry – what if the needle moves inside if he would be this unstable! Hee hee, I am laughing now while I am writing this. But this, as well as millions of whats and ifs and buts were coming to my mind during those few minutes of his first blood test. He was screaming at the top of his voice and both me and my husband were standing still, silent, apprehensive with our fists tightened and brows joined! It took 2 nurses, 1 doctor, 1 lab assistant and 2 of us to finally make him stable to go through those three needles and yes, those were just another pricks. Little one was crying more because of being scared than pain and we were worried more for… ummmm…. Ha ha ha I think no idea why on earth were we so worried that time. But we were! Didn’t I say earlier that parenthood makes your emotional glands hyperactive . And at the same time it does make you strong, far stronger than what you were before.
Thank God, he is better now and everything seems to be coming back to normal. But I had no idea that something as small as a blood test can evoke so many emotions within me. This had to be jotted down somewhere for us to read and have a good laugh later .
So, tell me how was it for you when you took your little ones for blood test for the first time? Were you like me or your normal calm composed state?
P.S: Yayyy, finally I could manage to finish this post. But guess how many sittings did it take to complete this? 5! Yeah, that’s how my life is these days 🙂

Haylos :-)

January 14, 2013

Wish you all a very Happy Makarsankranti, Pongal, Lohri & Bihu. One day, so many celebrations! But then that’s the beauty of rich cultural diversity like ours. So, how’s the new year treating you? Like every year, this year I couldn’t wish you on time. But then as they say wishes are never late… so, wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR too!
You know I miss this space a lot, I really do! There’s so much that I want to share, so much that I want to discuss and so much that I want  to express but… sigh life seems to be running by these days or shall I say flying by and that too on a jet plane! I read, heard & knew that life will change after entering mommyhood but would it change so much? Well, I had no idea! While I try to cope up with one thing, the second springs up within a blink! But I do wanna write on this space more regularly now, as for a person like me writing is the only medium that always helps me express my thoughts more clearly. Have been writing a diary ever since I learnt writing I think and have been blogging for more than a decade now. I so hope and wish that my this passion does not die like many others in the rut of life :-(. So, hoping to get back with my next post soon!
Bbye for now, will be visiting my favorite blogs to read updates from your life there. 

Kho na jaye ye

August 19, 2012

“Kho na jaye ye, tare zameen per…”, these words are buzzing again in my mind since yesterday. Ok, first a confession – when I had watched this movie in 2007, I actually was all teary eyed for most part of the movie. Having lived in hostels since childhood, the song “par andhere se main darta hoon maa” had moved me in a way that can’t be expressed in words. By the end of the movie it was quite an embarrassing situation to face my husband and friends with swollen red eyes and wet cheeks. Like many others I too had loved, loouuuueeed the movie then. By chance I happened to watch it again yesterday. And to say that I “cried” again while watching it would be such an understatement! Not only did I cry, I actually cried buckets or rather tanks or maybe pools… errr let’s leave it at that. Well, this time I was not just with welled up eyes rather it was what you can call as flooded eyes. Difference between then and now? Well, last time I just watched it as a regular viewer but this time I watched it as a Mom. And trust me it had a different impact all together! 
Oh the character of Ishaan and scenes like the last ones where early morning he gets ready on his own… all these suddenly had a perspective of “what if our little one had to face this or what if our little one had to do that”. Surprising part was that it was not only me who was so emotional about it but even the husband dear who otherwise makes fun of anybody who cries reading a fiction or watching a movie was himself silent and wet eyed. Sigh we have indeed become parents I think, we now get sentimental about anything and everything around us 
But the movie also made me rethink about many things related to child upbringing yet again. Imagine a special talent like Ishaan getting lost in this world if he would not have met a teacher like Nikumbh and let’s face it, in reality there are actually very few Nikumbhs existing in our society. Imagine the bullying which a child like him has to face just because he’s not good at maths or science. Imagine the kind of pressure, which a child like him has to bear to fulfill his parents’ expectations that have been set for him without evaluating what he is good at or what does he like to do. And from where do such expectations come from? From parents’ own dreams or through their aspirations for their child? Nah, in most of the cases it comes from comparisons! Comparison with siblings, cousins, friends / acquaintances / society / colleagues’ kids, classmates and many more! And when does this comparison start? When your child starts going to school or starts moving out socially? Again a nah! To be honest, these days such comparisons start even before the little soul has arrived in this world. Yes right, it does start from womb! Seven months into motherhood and I think I can state this fact with full conviction.
I can see it, feel it and experience it all around me. You go to park or any social circle and there are moms discussing what their kids can do. There is a serious comparative analysis that exists for kids of any age including toddlers and babies. Oh your baby doesn’t eat this but my baby does and you know this particular food boosts brain development by X %. Oh your baby has not started talking yet but mine toh started babbling at the age of Y months only, you know in preschools they check how good your baby is at speech or expression. Haven’t you introduced him to this series of videos, arrey they’re must for cognitive learning or mind training? From first tooth to width of smile to duration of sitting straight to number of steps in first walk to what he eats to how much she talks, there is this unsaid competition amongst most of the parents for almost everything – how come my baby didn’t do it first? It starts from there and then slowly moves on to Mathematics scores, sports activities, board exam results, engineering, medical, foreign degrees, so on & so forth. The ‘other’ child is always doing better and hence you’re supposed to do and follow what son or daughter of X, Y, Z is doing. In some cases it works but in most cases as per me such comparisons or expectations only lead to a burdened childhood and un-nurtured dreams. 
Being a mother I have just these simple wishes for myself now – may I never get affected by what others’ children are doing; may I always have the sensibility to understand and appreciate the uniqueness of my child; whatever my child’s potential be, may I always be successful in making him realize that he is indeed the most special gift god could have ever given us! Yes he is and I know almost every parent feel the same, it’s just that some have to be reminded back at certain stages of life. 
Phew a long emotional rant after long but didn’t I tell ya earlier that parenthood makes your emotional glands hyperactive 😉