Squishy squash

For the last few years, I've always wondered, what it is that attracts a young un, to the really amazing contraption called the " liquid hand wash"
I have tried several means to keep it around most days....the cute lil bottle sits there smiling at all but me....the reason!! it's empty ..and I had just filled it 2 days ago...I tried lifting it and checking under to see if there was a crack in the butt ( pun unintended) , but it was as smooth as a baby's bottom...turned it around and made some heavy calculations....2 days ago I had emptied a 200 gms of refilll into it...the stuff that 'foams up and adds more playtime to my house kinds'....and today its empty????
Then I hear the big complaint box sitting all smug in his room, waiting to sneak on his lil brother...and I knew what had happened...





The liquid hand wash, is used to clean, mudbombs( the yucky variety which gets rolled into a ball in the sandpit!! ---I threw the hopes of claymodelling after this) , beyblades, paintbrushes, erasers ( after it gets that black smuck, after being used very liberally on the helpless paper) , pebbles( if my estate manager even gets to hear this , i'll be thrown out of this complex) collected from the very neatly laid garden...more that I just can't list out...so what did u expect....empty after 2 days....



So in a fit of frustration and compressed anger....I forbade the lil tyke from using handwash....just the ordinary, green anti septic ( just like in those ads-- my family is a healthy family cos we use ******....ting tong !! ) soap, for him.
Yeah it worked wonders...he did use the soap...very liberally and thoughtfully, he broke it up into many fragments to keep for a rainy day....but by the end of the day I had this....
Now I know what limited TV watching can do to kids :( A la Dexter in my yard...








But at least it made me realise his love for liquid hand wash...

well he did ask me to type in the words for the descriptions...

and I still give him the solid bar to wash his hands

Amrica!!

Malleswaram Brigade!!
Early morning ! All set to walk down those age old roads...trying to find shade under those poetic sampige trees...though most of them have had to face those watery cats and dogs...each time it rains, there is at least one poor soul ( the tree) which meets its end...and "sigh" and sometimes a hapless guys end too... :(
But what amazes me through all these leaves and branches, their aged whirls in the tough trunks...we find one enthusiastic lot of geriatric clan clambering , sometimes nearly swaddling about these roads. What pulls my attention to them is :
Their fresh white( very rarely darker colors) walking shoes(sneakers they call it)....at times it could even be a tennis pair, but yet it does walk. A few years ago, the maamis might have been clad in soft kanjivarams, madisars ( the traditional 9 yard) or maybe the regular chettinad cottons..but the scene is now - post " son migrating to far away shores" the Amrica.
So it has to be the salwar kameez, and if minds permit, a tracksuit even...hair cut short ....the regular 'bobcut'...the salt and peppered hair trying its best to defy gravity, but failing miserably...
The maama, with his new shorts...la bermuda...with potbelly and veshti shy knees...and tip top t-shirt.....both ambling down the roads, navigating through potholes,the size that even the moon's craters wll have to take lessons from , potlines, cos it finally has to be one unfriendly set of guys digging up the roads, to lay yet another set of cables to give us yet another luxury...all dug up stretching into half the road...they do gingerly walk through this so called road, blissfully listening to their Subbulakshmis or Santhanam crooning into their wrinkly ears, through the latest i-pod, which is another one of those
" Mom, look what I got for you'll" heavy accented of course!!!
All this because they still love their amrica paiyya???

disclaimer : no offence meant to any soul or sneakers going past my blog!!

Beach?

Who said life's a beach!!!!?????

It sounds terribly familiar to my own organs of hearing!!! I used to have this huge sticker put up on my walls while in
college....God! knows what I was thinking of then/?? Innocence of teenaged years...or rather the overconfidence of
blundering brains...???
Beach?? Whats in it that draws you....they have quotes, writings, poetry, such lyrical dedications to that wild expanse of blue, or
sometimes, lots of yucky muck!!!
But it still draws you, pulls you- strings!!- "purse, heart and soul"...all combined..and still we have hordes of souled, pursed, and heartened versions out there on those very same BEACHES...

Now , why is that I am going on and on about this one small word...u would think???
Well try putting together a holiday - A holiday with 8 couples, no kids ( well first time lots are doing it) , partytime, new years
time...Not a tough one isn't it???Well it is...cos, after all theplanning, it always comes down to- "actually, maybe we should just go to, Bali, or, Phuket, or
Srilanka or Maldives, Goa or or or or or.......anyplace - So there's one squeak....Lets do Ooty...there are some good parties happening there...
And there's this deafening silence- U could slice through butter and still hear that swish...

"What ?? Ooty??!!! Are you nuts? But there's no beach there!!!! "

Why is it so important, for us to be near the beach?? We pay loads of money for those 2 very important tickets or passes....so precious, that we hold onto it for dear life....So much effort goes into planning that one evening...one would think we're all setting out to meet 'the president'....
Clothes decided, accessories, transport, partners ( yeah, we still have hopes....even after being married for donkey's years,
that we have the right partners)...cos you see, it should be the right mix...
The day dawns, and there's hectic activity-Hair styled, cut, trimmed, whatever those seemingly disappearing and greying tressess can hold, parlor visits....bear all
those screechy painful waxing sounds, with a smile....after all we've paid for the tickets..Evening dawns, and then its time to go.....bundle up into the cars....and head off.....there's so much of excitement....party
time...Dance all night, sing, drink, eat, and then dance again....there's the horrendous countdown, which after a while u dont know if its going backward or forward....but at the end of it, all you hear is one loud roar...and your caught up in " HAaaaaaPPY NEW YEAaaaaaaaaR" and ur wishing some Hari, Nari, Pari....

Awesome, party, awesome food, better still greater time we had....all exhausted, shoes in hand, sores in the dainty ( some not so :( feet ) we pack up again in our cars and head back home, and crash out on the bed!!!
Amazing new years party...it should have been isn't it???
Yeah, we all would say...But did anyone see THE BEACH????? and then we paid so much for those same beach parties!!!!
Lesson learnt- no more...
but come August- September and its back to " But this place has no beach".....Why o why???



ps. And I just get this mail..and its back to
Check out the videos of HRC in the link below. This could change your minds….


http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hard+rock+bali&search=Search

When the forces come tumbling down!!!

Murphy's law states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance"
And it is referred to as Sod's law, which states that "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way"

I did give a lot of chances,so you'd think it'll hit you like a tornado...sweeping all kinds of positive thoughts within its centre...swirling along the way...but let me tell you...the fun in challenges is facing them and then feeling so satisfied with your attempts, consequences be damned..

The day started on a beautiful note....The frontage just takes the breath away...green ,absolute purity, the stone walled seminary building in front, looming along with so much of peace...the glorius red blooms of the flowers, playing hide and seek with the varying hues of green in their leaves. Something that only a few will witness, amidst the cacophony of blaring sounds of traffic, hazy grey halo around you, contributed by the notorious riders on their mean machines9 yeah, those hayabusas and the R1's...the loudspeakers loudly reminding people around that its the festival season and to be merry...!!!!! Merry!! yeah, it was a beautiful day...

First call: " I'll come over for lunch at 12.30..." no problems....easy...

Second call " Your aunts regained consciousness, and she 's feeling much better, are u coming to visit her like u said last evening?? " Yes I replied, after I give lunch to ......

All set, lunch is set in motion...veggies cut, menu planned ,simple and basic....and sit down to write some stuff....school revisions, kids room cleaned, toys ( mostly yo yo's now, the latest craze after the beyblades!!) put aside....books arranged..

Sat down for a respite from standing...cos backs been telling me, it needs a break...when I hear a very small voice " amma, gas off agidhe" translated it means, the stove has been put off....no probs...the winds must be the culprit....get up and check....no light....felt like singing out " c'mon baby light my fire"....but not in a mood to sing...
it struck me that the spare cylinder is standing as a mute spectator with the regular one grinning alongside....the agency had not sent me the spare as yet...some shortage they said a while ago and with so many events in the last few weeks....I forgot....but now it hit me full force....
I smiled ( all fit teeth, no cavities grin)....this means I can order out!!! yeah...great...called up ....and told him the prob....but he insisted he'd eat whatever was made, and just asked me to finish it( whats with homemade food and elders, grrrr)... ..Fine....transfered all contents to the Microwave ( what would I have done if it were not for this amazing invention) finished cooking...not perfect but close....
Gave lunch...he enjoyed it too....poor man!! feel bad...craves for homemade food...and then got ready for my visit to see aunt...done....no problems there..... see I thought to myself, necessity is the mother of all inventions, huh!!!

Next morning : time 5.10 am

poured milk into the jug, switched on the microwave...and put the milk inside, closed the door, and set the timer, and pressed start...kaput, the entire house power went tssssss....tripping?? :)
Tried again....and then realised the power was running on the generator....great ...can't use this heating unit....now...panic sets in...lunch boxes got to be ready in half an hour, stuffed everything into the electric rice cooker....boiled milk, made my tea there ( realised can't live without it...and will have it even if it means terrible tea, boiled water, whatever...just name it tea....) but surprisingly it turned out ok...made some bhagala bath for the lunch box...( first time i've given my kids that,:( someone would think i'm a chef..heheh....) felt super guilty, and had no time to dwell on it....just stuffed all things into their bags....and rushed out of the door...

Coming to think of it....it wasn't bad at all....y do people buy so many contraptions??? :) Just one thing would do???

I'll say this, and then smile, cos it was fun...thinking of no cooking dabba stuff....how to make kanji??? How do I make idlis now?? that was the breakfast menu....no probs....

Just think of it as an experience....no time to get irritated, only time to improvise...and still give your kids nourishment....isn't dat what i've beenworking at ,giving up my career all along...a smile on my children's faces...

And in the end, its just another phase, and i'll get thru it..hopefully by the end of today.....

( I hope that dumb cylinder gets lonely and sends out the SOS to his favourite stars)

Adam and Eve

Teaching kids I thought would be easy...just be patient!! but my lil one just walks all over my patiently handled nerves...and in the midst of teaching, keeping a rather stupid straight face at all his funny statements, and keeping myself from being tarnished as " a bad momma".....he comes out with great liners...

this one goes like this:
Scripture - What clothes did Adam and Eve wear?
son: they were naked!! ( and a very silly smirk, he's just about learning all from his older brother ) ) while the answer said clothes made of animal skin...no amount of convincing got him to agree....they were naked before the clothes were made.

Myself : But when they wore clothes, what did they wear?
son: Clothes made of animals skin.

myself : It is animal skin, not animals.
son : No it is animals, not animal. U don't know anything....
myself : But u don't use the plural here, its a word said animal skin....
son : no it is animals.
Myself : but its not plural...its just one...

son : NO. one for Adam and one for Eve.
myself : laughed within myself and just shut up....


By the end I realised, such great stress busters...if only we give ourselves a chance to look at this with a smile and not as a war....

after saying all this : i'm still wound up....nothing can bring down the mood....just being alone, makes matters worse....each time I think of these scenes and they bring a smile, but it stops right there.....doesnt reach inside...is it so tough???

MUMMY RETURNS!

Did any one ever say festival????

OOOfff.....huff, puff....Tired, exhausted....thats what this entire month makes us women ....but i'm not complaining...Cos I louuuuurv, them. I

ts fun, there's the planning for each and every festival...the menu's are planned, the decorations taken out of storage, gifts bought, clothes bought, stitched, last minute runs to the tailor, and then the most interesting thing that i've loved all my life!! the trip to the market... If my mom was to read this she'd just click on next i'm sure...cos she wont believe its me...me shopping?? Not her daughter for sure...but yes!!! transformations did happen...

Marraige brings with it, these few thrills in life too... The trip to the market, to buy grocery, veggies, the flowers...mmmmmmm i'll go anyday... I always make a list at home, some suggested by my mother in law, and some by the actual need of the day...but that list always gets lost in the forgotten depths of my purse....cos all I can think of when I reach the small lane, called 8th cross , is those wonderful strings of flowers....Such beautiful colours, such amazing varieties, such amazing fragrances... The mallige, shyavanthige, jaaji, sampige, thale.....such lovely flowers, it makes me want to buy all of them.....but just like everything, I have to stop...or else i'll land up lugging huge bags... Then comes, the interesting part...each festival has their share of decorations....for the varalakshmi pooja, we have stuff to decprate the goddess, her hair ornaments, the crowns, the jewels, its so beautiful....then the Krishna janmashtmi, where u have decorations for the Ladla krishna....the cradles, crowns, the garlands.... no one can resist such stuff.....I know, cos each time, my mother in law tells all visitors " u let her go to the market, and she'll return with the whole market itself!!! " Can u blame me???? I have a friend who just said that she misses all this stuff.....so i'm just filling myself with fun and shopping...



Lakshmi pooja finished , raghavendra swamy aradhane done, now we're all getting ready to celebrate the Birth of Krishna...and what does the preparations mean??? again cook, decorate and enjoy.....now getting ready to buy stuff all over again....and I love it!!!

Now its time for Chakli's murrukkus, obbattus, adhirasam, appam, seede, kodbale, thengol, nippattu...( wondering y the mix of culture.....??) Nothing to worry,....just taminnada in the fore....