Better after taste

What Vodka is for Russians, Chai is for Indians. Chai can easily be termed as our National drink. I am sure there won’t be any upheaval on this front but it’s much more than a beverage for us Indians. I too am Chai enthusiast but I have to confess that I am a late bloomer. I didn’t even know how to make a good cup of Chai, though that is something that I have mastered now. Like how I was passed on this craze by my mother-in-law, I managed to pass it on to my husband too. 

Most days when hubby is back from work and Smera has retired for the day we usually sit down together have our cup of Chai. It is like a ritual for us and this is when I get to tell him all about the notorious things the little one has been up to and exchange notes on work.

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After a lot of experimentation I have finally landed with my own formula and I thought it was really good, until we went to a friend’s place recently. She made us the best Masala Chai that we have had in a long time and it was so good that even a week after, we were still talking about it. In fact the hubby asked me to check with the friend for her recipe. I left it at that, while he went to freshen up after a tiring day at work. Just as usual I put on a pot for ourselves and we sat down to discuss some work-related stuff. As he took first sip, he smiled and asked

Hubby: is this the new recipe for Chai from your friend?

Me: No, it is just the usual one

Hubby: But it tastes really different, quite nice!

So I take the cup from him and smell it, then I take a sip and I couldn’t spot any difference. “No it’s just the same! What is different?” I asked him. Hubby takes the cup the back and then says nothing, lost in his thoughts he goes back to his notes. Then suddenly he shouts, “I know it is not the tea, it is KP Namboodari toothpaste that I used now”.

For those who don’t know KP Namboordari is a herbal toothpaste. Essentially, a tube full of mashed up popular Indian spices like pepper, cloves, cardamom. According to my husband, it is an Ayurvedic concoction that has cavity protection and tooth cleansing properties. 

I can not vouch for those tall claims, but this product has left a better after taste in my hubby’s mouth.  Whoever said Ayurvedic products do not have side effects!

P.S.- We as a family are quite crazy, it's not just my husband, even my baby sister had come up with something equally ridiculous a while back. You can read here on her experiment with Chai. 

The Logical Princess

My daughter suffers from the ‘princess syndrome’! A desire to look, act and dress up like a princess all the time. I am sure it is the same case with many other parents who too have daughters at home and unintentionally must have inflicted this upon themselves. Even I am guilty of this, it all happened quite suddenly though for me. What had started with reading fairy tales, promoted to watching movies then further moved on to pretend playing and now has reached new levels – personification!

With Smera’s birthday around the corner, we decided to go for her birthday shopping yesterday and she would just not settle for anything less than a princess dress, sparkling shoes and a matching tiara to go with. I am told that it’s not just her, girls her, girls are age are naturally bitten by the princess bug. Last year it was the Frozen craze and this time it’s the Cinderella mania!

After we came back home from the not so productive shopping trip we all sat down to eat lunch, just then she goes back to the Cinderella conversation:

Smera: Mamma you know Cinderella’s mom tells her to have courage and be kind, when she is about to die.  

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Me: Yes, that’s how real princesses are supposed to be.

Smera: Let’s play after lunch you can be the step mother.

Me: Why? I am so nice to you!

Smera: But you are always asking me to tidy up and do all the work. Daddy can be the Prince, I will be fairy godmother with this magic wand and Abdu Haq uncle (my houseboy) can be the Cinderella!

Me: (Looking flabbergasted) How come Abdu Haq gets to be Cinderella and me the wicked stepmother?

Smera: Because you always ask him to do the dishes and mop the floor just like the stepmother in the story!

Now with that logic I couldn’t come up with something smart to answer back, so I decided to use my ultimate weapon, the puppy face. She instantly changed me to fairy godmother and she took upon the Cinderella part. Daddy continued to be Prince, which is always constant and so we played happily ever after.

Moral of the story is that if you cannot beat the child’s logic then play along, because their reasoning is really nothing but giving their intelligence a form! After all imagination is the spark to the endless possibilities in our thoughts.

Win some, lose some

Just as I was thinking of my next post, little Smera walks in with a grumpy face back from school. The expression was self-explanatory that her day at school was not very exciting. So I got started my interrogation, to better understand why her mood was off.

Me: How was your day?                              

Smera: Not good!

Me: Why not?

Smera: I was not the super reader in the class today.

Me: That’s alright, you were super reader yesterday and you will have chance to try again tomorrow.

Smera: But Hannan was the super reader and I did not like that. The whole class clapped for her, even I did but very slowly.

Me: Hmm and why is that?

Smera: Just because I was feeling angry in my heart!

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I was glad that I got the little one to talk about it. By the end of the day Smera felt a lot better after talking it out, but this incident really was meant to be a good lesson in her learning curve. These little incidents teach children that they aren’t always just meant to win. They would have to put it their best effort and the best effort would eventually get to shine. 

While Hannan got to taste success, Smera got to taste competition and which in my understanding was also a good lesson to learn. Every lesson that Smera learns, gives us also a revision in old lessons learnt and which is why something that I read a while ago made perfect sense to me today. Let our children know that is absolutely alright to come second or even fail for that matter, but what is more important is that we are there to help them when they do fall.

“It may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” - Maya Angelou 

Parenting is such a wonderful experience, lets you re-learn, re-inspire yourself almost everyday. I guess this is how we become more experienced and hopefully wiser in life!! 

Been a while

I know it has been a while since I have been here. Initially it was time constraints that kept me away, juggling between work and home. Later was hit by the writer’s block. At the beginning of the year I had promised myself to make more time for my blog but unfortunately that has not worked out well, however on the brighter side of things the year is yet to get over and I hope I can do all the justice over next three months. 

And while I was away I did some take time out to go home and enjoy Mother Nature at it's best. Surrendering yourself completely to the beauty of nature is still by far the best way to re-inspire oneself.

Caught red handed

My husband loves a challenge. It was only to be expected that he would come up with something remarkable when I teased him over his drawing skills. The hubby instead of reading the Cinderalla, drew an illustration of the story for little Smera to colour. The illustration was good, but the horse with the pumpkin coach looked more a dog. This comment did not go down well with him. As for me it was just a statement, I said it and moved on other things, while hubby continued to brood. So he decided to set the records straight. This morning he picked up one of the "how to draw anything" book and started drawing a horse. And this is what it eventually looked like at the end.

Quite a horse isn't it? 

Happy that the horse looked so beautiful, he asked little to Smera to show me the picture and then he asked Smera to use her imagination and colour the picture. But the little one had some other plans. So she went ahead and did some scribbling on the sheet instead of colouring it. Later during the day when my post lunch cleaning session was in progress, I chucked away all the loose sheets into the dustbin. Unfortunately I trashed the hubby’s horse sketch also, but then I didn’t think of it as a big deal.

As things are meant to be, trouble was staring into my face when hubby got back from work. He asked Smera to show the horse she was given to colour and little innocent child was running around the place searching for the sheet. I pretended as if I didn’t know anything and continued to look busy. After few minutes little Smera came in looking disappointed and asks, “Mamma have you seen the horse painting?” To which I quickly replied “No”, but the hubby caught the lying look on my face and went straight to the dustbin and after what he saw there, he looked very crossed with me. In fact was he so angry that he took the picture below to keep it as a record for future fights. 

I don’t think he will be forgiving anytime soon. However I am really glad for one thing, this time he got my birthday gift well in advance, hence the chances of him penalizing me on the gift part are ZERO J. 

Can aromatic food can make you feel depressed?

I am feeling really homesick today. Usually when I feel homesick, it’s primarily either I am missing home or home-cooked food. And today it is home-cooked food that I am really craving for. Whether it is summer or winters, I am perpetually hungry and worst part is I do not like my own cooking even a bit! It is not that I am bad at cooking! Honestly my food is no match mum’s magic or Kaipunyam as we would say in Malayalam.

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To make matters worse, just this morning I was feeling miserable thinking how far I am from home, have been away from home for over a decade and just then I smell something really fragrant being cooked in my neighbour’s house. It looks like they have invited friends over and I am suspecting they are up to cooking and eating something scrumptious. My living room and kitchen is filled with aroma over-flowing from their kitchen into ours. I am sure you can imagine how it must be adding on to my grief.

All that aroma is making super-nostalgic and hungry simultaneously. I know I am sounding really absurd but that's how emotional I have got all thanks to my neighbour. Food makes me feel real good because it reminds me of my childhood. But when I am deprived of mum’s food it feels more like being tranquilised with misery, which have a powerful, mood-altering influence on me.

Such misery can stoop me to unbelievably low levels of irrationality, for instance I am currently wondering if I could just call the police and ask them to arrest my neighbours for enticing me. That’s a far-fetched idea and I know the law wouldn't even have a provision for such a thing. However I am sure of one thing, the constitution would have been much different if I were entrusted with the law making responsibilities. 

Good ideas gone bad

Every child loves their mother for the food she cooks! Food is an irreplaceable connection between the mother and child that starts right from the womb. I am not planning a philosophical post on motherhood. Rather this post is all about challenges that mums like me face everyday with our mediocre cooking skills. By the end of this post I will be able to unload the heaviness on my heart, which I have been carrying around for the last few days. Beware this is post is going to take a melodramatic twist, so prepare yourself!

To start with I am not a great cook but I like try new things for my little one. I want her to eat healthy and nourishing food. Not just for her, I believe every child deserves it. I try to incorporate all elements of balanced food into her meal everyday.  Most mornings and nights are spent thinking what to make for the little one. And on a recent afternoon I made some rice along with her favourite chicken curry and carrot pachadi, a bit of carbs, proteins and good old veggies all packed in one meal.

Now who in the right mind would like a spicy chicken curry with a sweet and sour carrot pachadi? Carrot pachadi is wonderful of combination of freshly grated carrot, gently mixed with beaten yogurt that is tempered with mustard, onions, curry leaves and green chilies. At least that is what I was thinking until Smera took one bite and declared it “YUCK”! I was heart broken. This was the first time ever in 4.5 years that the little one had called something that I made for her as – yuck. I mean there have things that she has not appreciated before, particularly when it involves veggies but her reaction had never been so harsh. So I chucked away the entire thing and spent the rest of the day brooding over it!

After a day or two, a great idea popped in my head. To make something yet again with carrot that would win her heart this time and heal my wounded heart. So it was going to be carrot and it had to be something sweet. So I decided to pull out the trump card – Carrot halwa also known as Gajar ka halwa! So I spent Thursday afternoon, preparing carrot halwa while she was at school. I put in all the best ingredients and an extra dose of love too. To be honest the halwa’s idea initially came up for hubby’s cousin but then it seemed perfect for the both of them.

So in the evening after dinner when I gave her carrot halwa, she took first bite and thankfully didn't say “yuck” however she did go on to make the dirtiest face ever.  If that wasn't enough the hubby gave her the permission to spit it out too. 

Me and my holiday confessions

Ah back from my wonderful vacation and suddenly everything is beginning to look lovelier. That’s what a good holiday is really meant to do, leave you with warm fuzzy memories and a smile isn't it? On my way back home, I spent most of my travel in thinking of this post. Pondering what is it about Paris and Rome that I could write that has not been written or said before.  Well everything has been pretty much said and written, but the memories we made were new, fresh and here to stay with us for the rest of our lives.

While I must admit the trip was far away from what I was anticipating and here's how it all happened:

1. Paris was really cold: the initial choice of destination was Hong Kong, which is what we should have stuck to considering it was really cold in Paris. The idea was to enjoy the Disney holiday in a pleasant weather, rather than in hot and humid one. However the weather in Paris towards the end of March is still far away from being pleasant. It was rainy and cold at 5 degree Celsius and the hubby left no stone upturned to make me feel guilty!

2. McDonalds was our saviour in this trip too! It’s not like we were in China but we had little Smera with us and nothing better could have come to our rescue! A dose of McDonalds happy meal made the little one extremely happy. Though I must confess the French desserts at the local patisseries too worked like wonders.

3. We had not taken a holiday in 2 years and had almost forgotten how naïve tourists frequently get taken for a ride. Case in point was our first day in Rome – our first stop was Vatican – to recharge our batteries before the long wait to get to San Peitro, we decided to get something light to eat. We asked the waiter for his recommendation and that is where we exactly went wrong. The lunch was neither light on the stomach nor on the wallet. A total rip off, but on a positive note I still got a very appetizing picture for keepsake!   

4. Even if you are not a history or an art enthusiast, the city of Rome will turn you into one for sure. Everyone knows that St. Basilica and Sistine Chapel are strikingly beautiful, but the spectacular work of art enchanted even our little Smera and the story behind the art and history made her appreciate the Easter celebration even more this year.

5. This was officially the first trip where we spent most of the time soaking ourselves in holiday fun rather than clicking picture! And now when friends and family ask us to share the holiday fun, I have no pictures to share! All I have is a few 

6. Also I must admit the French were nice, much nicer than my previous trip but the Italians stole my heart! I particularly thought that the Italians people were a happier bunch than any place I have ever been. Especially the random people we met walking on the streets, in fact I loved it so much that I could actually imagine myself living in Rome. 

And the holiday came to an end with little Smera singing “let it go” in full throttle, while watching the movie on our way back home in the middle of the night! Go bless all those passengers who were sitting around for having the courage to bear her through that night! 

Mommy's guide to happy mornings

Have people ever doubted your parenting capabilities? I get it all the time and honestly I don’t mind it at all. I usually get tons of advice on how to raise my child, while I do listen to them, I do not guarantee to follow them. While I cannot claim to be best at the task, but I do try to give my best shot at it.

Just recently my interaction with another newbie parents got me some eye rolling and this made me wonder if I was really being tough on Smera. I mostly get in trouble for being a bit too strict with my daughter. But I believe toddlerhood is just the best time to learn all about discipline.

The newbie parents were appalled to hear that Smera’s sleep time on school days is 7pm. They felt it was an absolute injustice to the little one. I was asked questions like then when does she get time to play? My response to them was – “She perfectly manages to do everything a child needs to do before 7pm”. I might have sounded a little rude but this was the truth!

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Smera is a morning person, loves to get up at 6am (even on holidays). Her biological clock is tuned to it waking up early in the morning. Nothing is more special than seeing her get up with a smile every morning. The reason being she had a good night’s sleep – just a  simple logic. Morning’s are never a struggle with Smera and on most days she is extremely happy to be going to school. I never have to scold her to get out of bed.

As an infant too Smera had this habit of waking up real early, though I did have to put her into an early sleeping habit but that too wasn't a big task with her. And this good habit has helped her to settle into school routine. 

Smera leaves for school at 7am and unfortunately her school finishes at 3pm – a real long day. After school the little one loves to come back and unwind at home, colour a bit, play with her friends, dawdle around the kitchen to find her snack, have a bath, eat dinner and listen to stories just like any 4 year old child. The only difference might be that she skips her afternoon nap.

There is another reason why I chose early to bed routine for her that is because I have never been a morning person for most part of my life. My dad has had some real tough days to get me out of bed. Most days I have spent my time in classroom dreaming of sleep. And that is the reason why I want to put in good habits right from the beginning for her.

I have learnt from confirmed sources the ultimate mommy fact – most children are the happiest when they have slept well and their tummies are full.  As they grow up with they would need to focus more on studies and that’s when sleep will become even more crucial. Then why not practice good sleeping habits from the beginning itself.

Parenting trap #1 - Perfection

What is with parents wanting nothing but the best for their children? Is good not good enough anymore? Why suddenly there is a desire for everything to be perfect? Either it’s the best school, best pediatrician, best tutor to even best prospective life partner. Does good not satiate our desires? The world around me is split into two the one with that have the best and the other striving for the best.

Competition is great and in any form would be healthy not only for the mind but also for the soul. But the question that has been going on in my head is if excellence too has the same effect? The idea of perfection is not frightening, while the idea of desiring perfection for others is asking a bit too much I guess.

We as parents want to give our children the best school, but are they worthy of it? Why not let the child prove his or her caliber in academics. We would buy the best of the branded clothes, take them best vacations or dine in the at best restaurants. But are telling them how much it costs to afford this best lifestyle?

I grew up in an environment where my parents tried their best to give me a good opportunity in everything and expected me to excel in studies. This I felt was reasonable, but somewhere from then to now things have changed and the reason being our aspirations.

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This new age parenting is a bit scary for me, we are training our children to be the best. But what are not teaching is how to get there and also understand the value of ones failures, that too many positives.  How else would the youngsters understand what it takes to be best at something, if we don’t guide them towards the right path.

I don't know why are putting ourselves and our loved ones through this pressure. We parents love to celebrate the A grades. If the child didn't win, then we wouldn't tell that child had even competed to save ourselves of the embarrassment of acknowledging that someone else was better. It is as if we are telling our children, there is no point participating if you cannot win it.

Now more than ever the youngsters must understand the concept of discipline, dedication, practice, punctuality, consistency and teach them to find positives from a failure. It is important to help them understand that we are not perfect. Even if we make mistakes, we have a share in everything that's happens to us, good and bad.

The journey of our life may not be perfect, but we will eventually reach where we want to be. We have to be careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence is what we should aim for and teach our children, perfection will follow us with persistence, patience, and by prioritising our passion.

Old habits die hard

Can you believe it January has almost come to an end? What is it with time that stops for no one or anything for that matter? I have been thinking of posting something for the last few weeks and then got busy with life. To be honest I am really glad that 2014 is over, had been a tough year at many levels. That explains why I was keener on 2015 to get started, but time seems to be rushing and I am yet to catch up with it this year.

I have carried on my old habits like laziness into this year too. Not just that in fact I have attained new heights in being lazy already in 2015. Just yesterday Smera came in from school with her school bag all messed up courtesy her lunch box. The bag had to be cleaned up and somebody (i.e. me) had to do the job, so gave my washing machine a golden chance to be my savior. 30 mins later not only the bag was clean, my washing machine survived my experiment (sporting a proud grin).

Now that I have confessed of washing the school bag in the machine, let me also share that I wash little Smera’s shoes too in the machine. Actually I go to the ridiculous extent of buying only those kinds of shoes that can be machine washed. To explain better these shoes do not come with washing machine friendly label, but I have attained this wisdom through my trial and error methodology (yet again sporting the proud grin).

Strange things happen to nice people. It continues to haunt my life in 2015 too. It is quite to keep track of the number of times that I got into trouble for bizarre reasons. After feeling proud about my accomplishment yesterday, I decided to help myself to nice cup of chamomile tea. And just before bed I stopped to have my daily dose of multivitamins. One of them is a big capsule and just as I put that in mouth, I heard Smera crying in her sleep, so I quickly downed the medicine with a small sip of water and ran to the bedroom.  She was alright and it just the dream, I switched off the bed to realise, something was stuck in my throat. In my rush I took little to have medicine and that thing was stuck in my throat. Went back to the kitchen had lots of water, the feeling got a little better however it didn't go away completely.

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Suddenly memories of biology class flooded my thought and made think how to get rid of the silly capsule stuck in esophagus. Remember esophagus, a thin tube connecting the mouth to the stomach? Yes that was hurting.  Then I remembered of rice, somebody once told me when something like this happens or a fish bone gets stuck, fill your mouth with a large ball of this rice and swallow it. Hoping the rice takes the capsule down my pipeline, I ended up eating an entire bowl of rice to feel better. With no choice I retired to bed thinking of blogging about this.

And as I got up this morning I was feeling much better and the discomfort was gone. Just then I decided to finish up my morning chore and sat down write this post.  I guess strange things will continue to happen this year too! Who knew that a dirty school and a capsule could inspire me to write my 2015’s first blog post. Wishing you all a very late but a real happy new year!

Suffering the Questionitis Syndrome

Do you get questioned often? I am bombarded by them everyday and most of my days, start and end with a question. Mostly asked to make me go crazy, but there are some real smart ones too I have to confess. There are some that put me in a tough spot, if I should answer the truth or cook up a story to support. Nonetheless I know it is good to encourage Smera and her is curiosity.

A few years back I read somewhere that it is scientifically proven that children who are naturally curious fare better at school, in relationships, at work, and end up being intelligent, creative and satisfied people. Right so this means no matter how tough it is going to find answers for her questions, I must persuade her to be a flexible thinker! However this responsive style of parenting, where we help the child to cultivate the habit of questioning has its own flip sides too.

And today I plan to write about the question that has been disturbing my little munchkin a lot, she has tried different ways find the truth but answer is still evading her.  The question was –“Why was I not there at you wedding?”. “Didn't you love me then?” she asked me once and I always tell her that she was with god watching the ceremony happen from the heavens above. Then the next question she would come up with is, “Really how come I don’t remember and why am I not there in the picture?”

Over a period of time, she has come to terms that she was not invited to the actual party and that she omnipresent from the heavens above. But the matter does not end there for me, just when I was thinking that the problems have solved, the little child asked me another bouncer of question. “Can you get married again? This time you can invite me too!”

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So as I am writing this post the little one is busy checking her wardrobe for a white dress that she plans to wear and along with her princess wings and tiara. Looking at her enthusiasm over getting us married again, I am wondering maybe it isn't really a bad idea and probably this time I could get married in jeans and t-shirt. 

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.

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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! 

Say a little prayer

Every night as I put my little Smera to sleep, I say a prayer thanking god for the things he has blessed us with. Now that she has become big she has started saying her prayers herself. It goes something like this. “Thank you God for the food we eat, thank you god the playground we have, for cheese and chocolate milk Mamma gives and for the Lego that daddy will get me on my birthday. Could you also give me Queen Elsa dress and a big cake? Thank you for everything!!”

Much as it sounds funny, but she is god’s blessed child to have a good childhood for she has good health, good school, healthy food and a home to live in. There are so many who are struggling for their sustenance of the very basic called – Life!

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What angers me the most is that we humans are ready to kill each in the name of our religion. And I don’t believe in religions, I only believe in the existence of God and humanity for all. All these religious upheaval happening across the world makes me wonder what are becoming into. I am a Hindu by birth, married to a Christian, lives in an Islamic country but in all of this religion has no importance in my life. I do go to the temple, church, mosque or gurdwara only for one reason they give me peace.

The Quran says, ‘There shall be no compulsion in the matter of faith. Distinct is the way of guidance now from error.’ There is great wisdom hidden in this line, our actions defines our intention and we people will receive only what we intended. Then why not wish for good things for everyone, peace and happiness, wouldn’t the world become a better place then?

We humans fight in the name of Allah, Jesus, Ram, Krishna but have we ever thought what the god wants from us. Whether one believes in a religion or not, but we all appreciate true act of kindness and compassion. To truly understand the God we people should stop debating about scriptures and religious texts; this only lets down our faith in the almighty!

Dalai Lama once said, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

If we have lost our feeling of peace and harmony, it is because that we have put out of our minds that we all are a part of the very same god. I was reading something Bulleh Shah, the great Sufi philosopher once said,

“Break down the mosque, break down the temple

Break down whatever there is besides;

But never break a human heart

That is where God himself resides.”

Let's keep our eyes and ears open, help those who need us. Stand for what is Right and I am sure our good intentions will somehow find the right path! But if this to happen it has to start with me and my family! 

School is Cool!!

I love to see the little children smile as they go off to school. My daughter started her big school this September. Going to school has always been an enjoyable experience for her. Be it back in Dubai at Blossoms or at Kids World here! Just as I expected her initial first week was great, I would take her to her class leave her in with a big hug and she would happily proceed . By second week we started sending her with cousin sister and our driver aka Salim Uncle. 

This transition wasn't so smooth, Smera was not quite happy about going with Salim. She being mamma’s girl found it difficult to let go, by the end of the 2^nd week slowly as she started getting used to it, the poor child fell sick with terrible viral and bout of wheezing. While it’s common for kids to fall sick when they initially start school, but in Smera’s case falling sick was not a big hitch, re-starting the routine was most complicated part.

As a mother it was really tough for me to send teary little one away, to school. I would spend my day restlessly waiting for her to come back and see smile on her face. This is one of the challenges I wanted her to overcome. Smera loves listening to stories and I would tell her about kids who are less fortunate, who want to go school but can’t make it as they don’t have the means to go to school. I would tell how I didn't realise as a child how important school was. As each day passed her anxiety was reducing but the tears still didn't go away!

Just then 17 year old Malala Yousafzai won Noble Peace prize, and this gave me a perfect story to tell Smera. I pulled “I am Malala” book and read the excerpts to little one, where she was shot on her way back from school. This story really moved little Smera, she asked me a lot of questions, “why did the bad men shot her?”. She had a lot of questions in her head, why girls can’t study? Why the bad men killed children who wanted to go to school. After satisfying her curiosity, I explained to Smera education helps us understand between right or wrong. Those bad men didn't want kids to understand that difference. I explained to her, how Malala’s parents stood as strength for her and encouraged her to study and live the life she wanted to.

Image courtesy:  www.malalafund.org

I am not sure how much of the story she understood, but there were two things that she took away from it, firstly education is a greatest gift that god has given her. Secondly, good education will help her become a good ballerina and super heroine girl! My child had such an impact that the next school, she was all smiles and it made extremely proud! 

Thank you Malala you have in many ways have inspired our lives and may god bless you girl! I wish more power to you girl and let there more girls who show the same courage and the determination as you to study. The great part of girls getting educated is that they would ensure the next generation of children would also study.

A frozen quagmire !!

Our lives have been changed completely ever since the day Disney released its movie Frozen. This has been by far her most favourite movie after Cinderalla and Mary Poppins. The love for the movie has turned into a craze and little girl has been heavily negotiating for a Frozen dress, shoes, doll and anything and everything related to it. Phew!! Now we managed to postpone all this for almost 11 months saying “we’ll get it for your birthday” and now the birthday is round the corner and I have a feeling we’re going to be in a soup!

She loves anything and everything related Queen Else and Princess Anna. Infact it is also her current ambition to become the Queen of Arendelle and make a snow man with her magical powers. What has been adding up to my problems is the fact, that she watches all the toy reviews too on the Ipad and has been keeping herself updated to all the new things that are available in the toy market.

Now birthday just 2 weeks away, our child has not forgotten our promises, that we had been making to her and I have a feeling that if didn’t do something about it we are going to have a mammoth confrontation. To save ourselves from a prospective ugly situation, I started scouting all shops in the city that could possibly have the Blue Queen Elsa dress, but soon I realised that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Now that not it, at this instant my task is to how convince the little child to change her mind on the dress. Being her father’s daughter that she, this too is no small challenge as she’s – a tough negotiator!

So lovely Friday evening, I summoned the little child and on sanguine note, I started the conversation talking about ballerinas and how wonderful they look, their costume is so pretty. Slowly Smera started looking a bit interested in the conversation entire conversation. Then I also confessed to in my most apologetic voice saying, “Darling, I have not been able to find the Blue Elsa Dress you have been wanting for your birthday. I am sorry can we please change your party theme to ballerina theme?” Smera was most understanding and said, “don’t worry Mamma, I know you can get it from Walmart, I am sure you will get it there, they say it on the Ipad!

Right to make sure she has her desired birthday dress, I will have a take trip to the US and visit the Walmart store! Thank you Walmart for giving me a new headache!

Alarming insight

Yet another weekend is here and I felt like putting up my feet and watching a nice movie. I switch on the TV, I put on a romcom and start writing this post while watching a movie and I am thinking - What kind of man do you like? Is it the intellectual types or the guy who loves music or a man who loves to click pictures or someone who just smells enchanting! Well, my man is the kinds who is the intellectual types and also loves indulging in exquisite perfumes.

But hey I am not planning to write on how to find the right guy for yourself! Instead it’s going to be all about, how the right guy can get you into trouble with the building maintenance guys! My hubby loves his perfumes, he stashes them everywhere, in the car, in his laptop bag, the bathroom, doesn’t even spare the shoe-rack, name a place you can spot it there!

However I have taught myself to live his obsession, but of late it has been getting giving me a headache. Not because of the fragrance but because of the fire alarm ringing in my ears. The building maintenance guys have upgraded my flats alarm system just last month. Ever since the fire alarm has become ultra-sensitive to the slightest whiff of anything.

It mostly goes off just as the hubby as about step outside, the house, and the reason – before getting out of the house hubby like to douse himself in the Perfume! Now no matter where the location is of this act is the hypersensitive alarm sniffs it and shouts out loud. For the first few days I used to call the building maintenance guys to bail me out of the situation, but then even they got fed up! So with no choice I had to learn on how to disable the fire alarm and reset the gas connection which is all inter-linked in this building.

And just as I got one more thing to tease my hubby and feeling smug about my recently acquired DIY skills the alarm went off, again. But I figured that the usual suspect is not around. Quickly through the process of elimination I found the villain – the boiling sambar this time! 

Perks of Parenting: Awesomeness decoded!

The past week has been extremely thrilling as my daughter started her trial classes at the big school. And as I would go back to pick her up after an hour of the trial run, I am flooded with compliments on how wonderful Smera is at practice sessions.

Motherhood is not at all an easy project, as it usually doesn't come with an end date or instruction manual and I have a lot of reasons to tell you why you should not have a child. But not today! Today I am going to blabber all about why you should have kids and not miss out on a prospective source of exuberance in your lives.

1. It’s amazing when someone says “OMG is that your daughter/son?” It some how suddenly makes you feel light years younger. Forget the age defying face creams, the hair colors and other expensive spa treatments. This one line works better than all of those.

2. You can get away with the long queues at the doctors, immigration, passport office, you name it and voila it’s done. I recently skipped a line of 50 odd people at the immigration counter, all thanks to my little munchkin.  

3. For once you can be colour coordinated and not look silly.

4. You don’t need a travel buddy anymore, your child automatically upgrades to the best travel mate ever and the spouses can go for a hike! I mean not literally, then that would more fun!

5. Chances are as your child grows they might look an updated version of you! If they take on the spouse’s looks then you can take all the credit for the good parts of their character. 

6. Personal achievements mean nothing in front of your off-springs success. A parent really experiences their hearts being pumped in with pride into every chamber and ventricle of the heart.

7. Moreover your parents suddenly love you more, as you give them the best gift of their lives – the joy of being grandparents. Guess that is what showers of blessings are.

8. You are up to date with the latest on games, movies, music and the works. Definitely helps boost a parent’s confidence immensely when you can understand what the younger generation is talking about! Makes you feel in vogue.

9.  You get to make more friends and most importantly we somehow end up finding useful/VIP contacts, thanks to their friends list.

10. You get to re-learn about life in general – finding happiness in small things, thinking out of the box and the joy of giggling for no reason.