Friday, November 21, 2014

Fit in or Stand out?

We all live in comfort zones and find it really difficult to part away with it. But such is life, it will bring challenges and will expect you to raise yourself above the petty things and aim at the goal that is set higher. If you are a regular at the blog, then you would know that I love looking for inspiration from people in my life, everyday people like you and me! And so today it’s going to be my eldest niece, Mariah but I love calling her Ammu.

Ammu until this June was studying at the Indian School grade 5, one of the most prestigious CBSE schools in the Oman and was in the CBSE (I) curriculum, which is far more relaxed and than the regular CBSE. However when we decided upon putting Smera into an international school known for strong academics and extra-curricular activities, Ammu seemed excited about this new school for her.

It wasn't going to be a task as she just managed to clear her entrance test in Math and the second challenge set for her was French as opposed to Hindi was going to be the second language and she would have to catch up on her French. The third challenge for Ammu was to make new friends and so far it was easy for her as she joined and grew up from a toddler into a confident and popular 10 year old girl. Now it was going to all back to square one and at 10 it’s a bit more difficult to fit in.

But in all of this she had an advantage as she had an extra month of vacation which she utilised very wisely and got herself enrolled for Math and French coaching. As a result of the challenge that was set in front her, she pushed herself to the limits and in the very first test in French she scored a 100/100 and in Math she scored an 87/100. Since the first week her academic scores have been getting better the ever.

Simultaneously she has been making friends too in her peers and superiors but it is a bit longer process than she had expected. She is trying to make friends without changing the person she is and believe me it’s a tough ask for a 10 yr old. I keep reminding her of all the good parts of her character, while some days are tough but some days are super cool. The problem with the kids at her age is they without realising end up hurting, or bullying their peers. But what is important is not to lose your identity to become one of them.

In life I've learnt that trials are a great way to progress ahead in our lives. Sometimes they may make us feel excited and enthusiastic, while others simply are meant to overwhelm us.  The key is to never to lose your confidence, you may lose everything and get it back with firm belief in yourself. My advice for you and every child would be not to hesitate in taking chances and appreciate whatever you've have learned from a tough situation and you must also understand that every step is necessary in this journey called Life!

I know you've always enjoyed Dr. Seuss, he once said "Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”.  Taking a cue from Dr. Seuss, there is wonderful song that I am leaving for you and I feel best describes your situation. I Love You and you make me very proud girl!! 


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Sweet November !!

I love this month! Got god’s best blessing – my Ma, met my hubby for the very first time 11 years ago and also got the most precious gift of my life – my daughter Smera! They all celebrate their birthdays in November. All the scorpions in my life have been the best bunch of crazy rock-stars that make my life electrifying!  

Little Smera celebrates her birthday today as she turned all of 4 years! This year had been tough for her especially with us shifting countries, making new friends, to new schools, but she managed all of it with her charming smile and few tears too alongside. With each passing year, she is becoming crazier like me. I never thought I would say it this early but, “Smera your questions are way too smart for mamma to give you all the answers”.

You are my best friend and my partner in crime. We laugh n cry n tickle n dance sometimes all in the same hour! With you I am getting to re-live me childhood and that is surely the best part of having you! I love it when you give me your lap to sleep and scold your daddy when he troubles me. God bless you girl and here is just as I promised the Princess Elsa cake for your birthday.



You are also becoming naughtier by the day, however I will confess, I love it when you giggle after you have done something mischievous. While I have to confess I am not a perfect mum by any means but you have always made feel proud by just being yourself. However I am little worried about your future plans of wanting to become a fashion show girl, super-heroine girl and Barbie, I hope this year you would find something reasonable real soon. 

Here’s a little piece of advice for this year – be tough, don’t shy but never let anyone make you cry, spread smiles and always remember Mamma and Daddy will always stand by your side!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Silly Saturdays: Fellow asking me to be Mellow

Been a while since I took a dig at myself and that made me wonder why? Answer is quite simple it’s just that the hubby has been quite busy these days and he is one who usually brings the best or the worst out of me. As a consequence of spending sometime with him, this is what happens.

On very silent Thursday morning, while I was gently urging little Smera to drink her milk and get on with getting ready to school. The half awake hubby walks in with his PBJ sandwich and sat down beside us. Munching on his sandwich he heard me yet again to Very Gently Urging her to finish her milk and just then he comments:

Hubby: “Are you not well?”
Me: “No, I am perfectly alright and why do you ask?”
Hubby: “I asked as I’ve never heard you ask Smera to do something so softly.”
Me: “What do you mean that I am always yelling at her?”
Hubby: “Err!! That’s not what I meant. I mean either you are too aggressive or as today extremely mellow.”
Me: “Extremely mellow?”
Hubby: “I mean you need to find the right spot in your voice! Ah I realise my sandwich is finished let me get ready quickly”, and he quickly vanished off from the scene, leaving me fuming.

Meanwhile while we were discussing the pitch of my tone little Smera was giggling and slurping up her chocolate milk and that meant it time to get her into her uniform.

This made me wonder when the better half will really understand to use better choice of words to explain his thoughts! 

A week that went by !!

Being a Stay-At-Home-Mom or SAHM as the new lingo is, is one the most difficult part of job that any mother has do. Now don’t get me wrong, with all due respect it’s a very important job and somebody’s got to do it but the problem is at the end of the it’s a thankless job. I wonder how mums all the over world and over hundreds of years have managed to stay at home all the time and have been happy about it. I have never met a SAHM who has ever complained!

I was brought by an extremely hard working mum, who would be away almost 5 days a week but she made up for that I missed in just two days. Yes of course she missed my report card days (that was mostly on purpose), or school functions etc. But she was always around still and the one thing that I really learnt from her is to be independent! Be it monetarily or emotionally, every woman needs to be self sufficient!

I am currently at a situation where I am absolutely frustrated as I do a little bit of work from home, content writing, blogging etc. but it is just not satisfying my soul. I want to get back to the corporate routine and which is quite impossible right now with no one to look after my little Smera. It feels like living in a jail especially on school days as I have to be on mercy for the hubby to come in early and answer some of the her questions. Since we moved to Muscat we don’t have a baby-sitter so far and the question of having some Me-time is zero.

To help myself feel a little liberated I have started going to my hubby’s office, working on the website content. So my usual routine starts at 4:30 am, and that’s all thanks to my body clock and if knew where it was located I would have long thrown it out of body. Going after sending Smera away to school I get ready and rush to work, work on the content bit till 12:30 come back for houseboy to clean, cook lunch and pick up Smera.

Once Smera is back I am already feeling sleepyishly liberated and that’s when I take her down to play for an hour that is roughly around 5-6 pm. This is the time when I am really doing a security guard’s duty keeping both my eye on her, while she plays. In between other kids from the compound ask the lovely lady aka me the time, to make sure they don’t get in trouble with their mums. Once back from the play I give her a bath followed by then dinner and then I tuck her away by 7 pm.
Image courtesy: Corbis.com
Sigh!! I am feeling almost exhausted writing about it, imagine me dragging my self with that idiotic body clock. Then the laundry, tweeting, whatsapping, facebooking and thinking of the next blog post, while preparing for next day. Sounds extremely chaotic but I am loving it. I just wish if I could find a full-time help at home, which would make it more interesting then I guess.

For now I am happy, for having started working from office instead of my couch! 
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