I can fly!!!! Mom look :)

They say , don't stop him from doing such creative stuff...
Oh yes! I tried only to be faced with playdough stains, all over his room walls...( they can be ugly too , you know)
Art attack on tv has nearly corroded my heart...what with so many tissue rolls being used( Amma, can I please take a lil bit.....only to see the whole roll dissolve)

Those superhero programs, has given him broken bones, smiles, storyboard sessions....and oh yes! sleepless nights for us too :D

The cartoon shows, - Pokemon, beyblade...either has me scurrying away for a hiding place or wondering if my kid has suddenly turned into some " Great Gambler" ...
Reminds me of those childhood days when outside our house, those street urchins, would sit in packs, playing with some weird paper cards...never understood the craze then. They were shoo'd and bodily lifted out too....but now I see a very similar scenario but in pristine, urbane surroundings...and of course with those very valuable, packs of 100's cards :(
How we see time coming back at you like a flashback in those doordarshan tv days...

The strip above reminded me so much of my lil son, who is always so engrossed in 'making something' as he says....and if he sees a frown on my face of more a 'volcano ready to erupt' look, he quickly writes a "Love you amma!!" and then all the frowns smoothen out...
How can we resist such love... :))

Mother's words of wisdom: "Answer me! Don't talk with food in your mouth!"

Children can be such stressbusters!!!

One minute they are making you tear your hair ( slowly dwindling numbers) out and the nest they are soothing your tensions away with their funny ways.
One day i'm sure i'll soon be waving my hands off to my kids backs and then i'll look back on these days and think " what the heck, it wasn't so bad after all!! I wonder why I made such a big fuss about it? :( " I guess parenting can be trying.

Trying, on the brains and on the slowly tiring out souls. With one son in his blissful teenage years, blissful because he wants it to be that, and knows the mom is glaring at the phase, and the younger brat on his case to becoming the best disciple of brotherhood!! It can be fun if one looks at it that way...but however I look at it, it doesn't seem so. Am I looking at life lopsidedly I wonder!
I always thought mothers were a 'super market' with endless supply of questions, solutions, craft projects, supply store....but sadly its never enough.
The older boy is always in the "You dont know anything, Ma" phase, but keeps coming back to me and asking me for opinions...and when I do give one, feeling way too thrilled at being considered, there is a retort " You dont know anything" Oh yes, we never know anything enough, do we???

Most of the times the siblings are at war with each other...fist fights and sometimes the younger sends out those nasty kicks too ( a karate kid, he is) ...but when I try to pry them apart and put them into their respective rooms, it fails to maintain some semblence of order. The very
next second, they are in each others rooms again. I give up and rightly so! Let them fight their wars...
It started off with " Don't hit him, he's younger and can't understand", but the young brat picked up on that and now he's bullying the older teen :( Talk of understated ages and sibling issues.

Erma Bombeck had rightly said this about kids
"Do you know what you call those who use towels and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes, sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop? If you have just answered, "A house guest," you're wrong because I have just described my kids." How right she is!!

But the back of my mind rebels and rightly points its finger in the direction of guilt if I were to let them get a earful.

It is tough I know, Because guilt is the only gift that keeps on giving! I have to still find a parent more specifically a mother who refuses her child something for his own good only to spend the rest of the day wallowing in guilt. But i'm so glad to say i've finally conquered the "give in to guilt" syndrome...and can now just feel horrid and terrible but carry on as if I was always right...I smile through the guilt and let it eat my insides but still try not to give in to those emotional blackmails kids are so technically masters of.

Do you know how many it takes to turn off the bathroom lights? Well 2 !
1 who says "Which light?"
and the other who retorts with " I didn't turn it on, so..... " and this coming from a kid who's a member of the 'Go Green club' in our apartment complex... lol!!! hrmmmpffff.

I wonder how mothers of 10 kids managed in the yester years or did the phase teenage years never exist???
I'm still trying to find the far end of the momma super market , where they find patience and tolerance in discounted form or better the "Buy one get one free" section.

Just the simple feeling of being!!

Turning the very hyped 4 'O' recently, made me all excited...not for what the future held in store for me....nah!! I'm not such a bore...I loved the age factor, 'cos from now I could always find the scapegoat in my age :D
I could always turn around and say " I guess age is catching up, and thats why I keep forgetting " ignoring the fact that i've become so forgetful, because of factors other than age :(
But I am so glad that age has caught up and made me more appreciative ...I love my life as it is. I wouldnt want to change a single minute of my day. I like it as it is!! I like the uncertainity with which I face the day, not knowing whether my kids will eat the lunch packed for them...I like the excuses they make for each uneaten lunch. They are masters at creative thinking. How many of us can even think of such adorable reasons for that...poker faced, sometimes, guilt for making me feel bad...but most times, nothingness..I wouldnt want to change any of that...I know that when they grow older, they'll wipe out kitchen stocks before I can say 'EAT'!!
I like the fact that inspite of my age I can still multi task. Ignoring the sugar that went into the coffeemaker by mistake, and the tea leaves into the sambhar..ignore that would you..

I still love the energy I can conjure up at the sight of a child. Many ,makes my world more brighter.

My younger one turned 9 a couple of days back, and he brought with it a new meaning to friends and parties. I organised a small party for his friends of the complex. A very easy task it should have been for me who has organised birthdays for both kids over the last 13 years..It surely should have been easy. But this time it was different. I knew very few kids , because people have been moving in frequently and all I know are the faces but no names, and sometimes some names which doesnt have a face ...So I entrusted the task of making a list to my son himself...a very responsible task for him..so very meticulously he listed down the names ( i'd like to think that gene was passed down from me, i'm positive) I invited most of them and then set off to do my shopping, assuming it was all final..motherly instincts set in and told me to just buy those extra set of gifts ...and buy I did.
The party was to begin and the first set of kids walked in all dressed smartly...with all sweetness I bent down to ask them their names...the names they rattled off, sent my eyebrows into a knot...those names seemed new...I waited to speak to my son and find out if there were many like them...but I just let it be, I would deal with it later...When I sopke to him in the few seconds I caught up with him during the mad party, he just shrugged his shoulders so nonchalently " Yep I invited them while I was going for my karate classes" , so cute...i'm so glad he didnt choose to leave them behind, The party was so much fun...the excitement of the kids, the mess they
make, the smile they have when they are allowed all those liberties...I simply love the innocence with which they have fun...pure ,simple, and uncomplicated. All that they want is " their return gift" I wonder why we as adults can't seem to just enjoy things in such a simple way. NO fuss, just go out and have fun.

Smile and accept each day as it comes :)

So much marble?!!!!

Exams are done with !! And now I feel lost :(

Stress levels were high...No! it had nothing to do with studies...but it had everything to do with food, kids and their silly antics.
Don't know what it is that exams make out of them....seems like there is a hollow pit in their non-existent tummy. Normal days, they are full even before the food is placed in front of them., but come exams and they are hungry! All the time.

They start studying, and they want a break !!! They want something to eat, and whatever is offered, is not what they want..hrrmppfff. I know i'm ranting...but knowing that i've cooked and cooked , makes me growl..but of course, it doesn't show on them. Kids...Such sweethearts, I accept.

Sanity levels were dipping. The lil one was trying hard to write out a revision paper given by the school. It was a photocopied version, so ,but naturally very low on quality ( what do you expect if, 100's of copies have to be made !!), so some of the lines were faded and some were not visible at all..My young one, was trying hard to write, hard because, he can't sit in one place for lengths...and I mean 10 minutes max..!! so while he was furiously finishing off some illegible words, I turned around and asked him, why his letters were looking so sad :(.

He turned back to the sheet, peered into the paper and said ' Letters, why are you sad?"
I'm still waiting in silence, the giggle suppressed.

After a few seconds, he turnes back and says " They are sad, because they have no lines!!

"I say , " Oh! oh...thats bad, we need to cheer them up, lets give them some straight dark lines.."

He very smartly said.." its ok, they don't mind, let them be!!"
And here I am wondering if exams turn them into jesters...but one things for sure, there's never a dull moment when kids are around!!
Holidays have started, and its a long long one...Am taking off to Delhi, visiting my sister, and trying to show the kids all the handiwork the historical characters, dished out , just so that the generations to follow, have a way of spending their much loved vacations...Taj!! here I come!!

First or the second course??

Times when you scream but no voice comes out....that happens only in my dreams....

In my house my voice always comes out , loud and clear, crystal clear. Of course after a few lines it whimpers down to a croak...and all my rantings get reduced to a sad whimper. Thats what happens when you are surrounded by 2 brats and one who has a mind which runs off to the Himalayas and the other who behaves like one in the deep blue sea...



I'm still trying to decide whether its better to choose the devil or the deep blue sea....
And when the block in the brain hits you, I sit back and enjoy my chai....
and rant...



I've had a hectic post- Diwali week.
First it was a wedding in the family...by the last day, my older one was screeching and hiding under the table..." No more yele( meals on banana leaves) , Can you please give me something to eat before I go" . The younger one...( apparently assumes he was born with a spoon..no not the silver spoon thingy...but the real one...)Each time they laid out the leaf, he would go " I'm not eating that with my hand"...and I would be rolling my eyes, and clinging on to the Kanjeevaram, for fear of the payasam dripping out of the fingers on to the silk....and all the while the guys who served food, would hover over me...assuming my sons were underfed by the overenthu mother...

How I wish, we had a bring your own lunch for weddings...(it would solve all harassed mother's problems with feeding their cranky children)

I realised what a farce the whole scene of the wedding crowd was. All the while the harassed groom and bride would bend stretch and seek blessings...the opposite end the priest would be trying over the loud din and noise of the gossipy guests.
The wedding gave me a good time for retrospection..
The various rituals they organise, are so over board, sometimes I wonder if people even know the meaning.
There is this part where after the mangalsutra is tied, the elderly guests are given a handful of rice, to be showered ( mind you....shower, meaning...gently with good wishes) on the newly wed couple. But what do I see....

at the precise moment when the ceremony is conducted..there is a loud " nadaswara, nadaswaraaaa..." with some hand signalling too...the Nadaswaram peaks to high volume..the guests...most of them, chatting away happily " Nenne, namma pakadh maneli, ondhu dodDa vishya aiythu gotha??" (Yesterday, in our neighbouring house, one big event happened, you know?)...and all the while they just throw the rice grains over the persons ahead..showering the crowd...whats the point...

One factor's discussing the varities of food offered while the other is discussing the arrangements. But how I wished, they would sincerely wish the couple and their family.

There was so much wastage in the dining hall, it made my heart bleed. What does one lose to refuse a dish, if he cannot eat it. Stretch out that hand and refuse...shake your head, and say " No" but for heaven's sake don't waste food.
When you walk out and see the street children scavenging through the garbage from the kitchen,i'd rather that they gave some food, fresh and full.
Would you like to eat such food....think of them too. They are human after all.

I asked my son to just take what he wanted and could eat...so even if it meant one dish, it was ok by me. At least he was happy, he didn't waste precious morsels of food and there was no arguments of " Finish the whole thing and then get up". It would just end in arguments and sulking kids.
For a person who eats at weddings, i'm sure you know the agony one feels after the first few courses...
So go on eat, but please think of the leftover food that the young kids on the street eat straight out of the used leaves, from the dustbin...
Please. Give a thought to them.

Back to bloggin and picking up my limbs and voice ...

So I went on a holiday!!! a few days away from the noise and madness, the phones, and cooking...Yes..that was a big one for me...no cooking!! Don't we all moms love that a break from cooking, waking up early and then just chilling out,

This was a holiday with a difference..I spent more energy here than I would have at home...
whoever said I would relax, needs to do this ..a few days out in this beautiful place called Kurumba resorts on the Ooty Coonor stretch.

It all started when we missed the first board which announced big and loud to the world whizzing past it( except us.!!!)...only to realise that the path leading downnnnn to the resort was right next to it and we have zoomed past....and now have to go beyond, to the next bend or else no holiday no break :(.

We reach the path back again...and wow!!! smiles and yipppeeess...but what happened???
The driver not too happy with the road going down. Says its just 4 kms ( actually only 2 and half) and we can easily eh!!!! walk it down...what about our luggage?!!....huge ones to include the kids, and the immense energy they have carried with them all the way from Bangalore...

All our requests not successful. The driver looks like one stubborn ox...reminding me of the Dudu basavanna they would bring to our doorstep during some season...and the man with the lanky, slim , animal would say " AaDu, Basava..(dance, " And the victimized cow..or bull would go shaking its head ...left right ,left right. The driver just did that...
" oh, oh, no way will this vehicle go down..."

So off we went...a couple of us( many children to give us support...)...trudging along...cooing and aawwing at the beautiful green...even the grass on the side, looked lovely..the trees did their jig to see us too...really, i'm not lying!!!!. After 3 kms...we reached the wow!! resort . Only to find our cottage was way down ...many steps to go and a few steep pathways to roll down on....

We loved it...the kids all the more. We went rolling, hauling our weary legs all around. The kids had some kind of an unending energy dome...they kept exploring, jumping down rocks, the dry stream bed....and were asking for moreand more and more..It was just impossible to ignore that call for fun.

They have a lovely idea of a typical chai kada...with the works, by the pool side for the evening tea time. A small thatched hut , selling tea and coffee in an authentic coffee percolator..glass bins for the tea bikis and some oily rubbery bhajjis( this I didn't like, but enjoyed the fun eating and dripping oil..lol). BUt what made the place and idea more interesting was the aura it spread around it. An evening by the pool, sipping hot masala chai, lounging around on the lawns, or sitting on their rustic cane chairs...it was indeed so relaxing...if we chose to blind ourselves to the kids climbing rocks and jumping and screaming around...

Eid was celebrated while we were there, and the dinner was exhaustive...6 types of biryanis, yummy desserts, making us wonder if were were in a resort or some food festival. The guys from the resort had dressed up as typical Hyderabadi Muslims, burkha et all....to add to the novelty, and I must have gained a few extra kilos just looking at the food...I wont tell you how much I ate though...after all it was a holiday and on vacation we are allowed to go the full length...and so did I...

This place was filled with trees of nutmeg, clove, bayleaves. Of course for us city birds this was haven. There were some giant malabar squirrels to add to the exotica too.

But considering that our rooms were way down the steep slopes and we had to make hundreds of trips in each day, we were all so exhausted, and dawg tired...by the end of the trip. Always wondered how some of the visitors who make such trips always manage to be up and ready for breakfast...leave and do their actvities, and be back dressed yet again in a new set of clothes, for lunch..and are back to dinner with another set of clothes...their kids are so well behaved and eat without fussing. The kids always want to swim when the parents tell them to. They don't climb rocks and roll down grassy slopes. They walk in and walk out with their parents and never scream and tell the world that they are on a holiday....so why??? do our kids ( 11 in all) do everything in contrast to this. I wonder..
We were seen for eternity in the dining...we were all over the place, using all energy to see and explore every single space in the resort. Ate everything in sight, drank as if there was no tomorrow....sometimes wore the clothes through the whole day...( we would hardly have the time to breathe...forget change into and change again) And never did get to see the same child twice in an hour...



Yeah....now i'm all ready for my holiday...at home, lazing around, no school, no early mornings....and just chilling...

So if i'm seen too often on your blogs please forgive me.....I'm on a holiday...

The rage!! and the rage!

""Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."

Yes this is a line I read somewhere...and know I have done well in my life.
I've used this to my hearts content over and over again, the last few days...( 15 days so far..not yet done though!! )
I agree with it wholeheartedly....the divine feeling you get, as the name carries across and tingles in the air leaving you feeling content and smug, is a feeling only mothers get. And more so, moms of two teaching their kids for exams. But any mother will do.......I'm sure they'll agree with me.

The kids are 'nuts', I tell you..and have driven me to the stage of 'AHAM BRAHMASMI'. How else would you explain to a boy of 7 that whatever stunts he tries...in the end , he's the one who'll be writing and not his mom?

For a question " Why is oxygen important to us?"

His answer " How do I know? You tell"

**I was actualy smiling and choking on my laugh, when I heard it**

And he comes back from the exam...and apparently must have 'made blow torches while he spun a few rubber bands into magic catapults, while writing the paper'... He was pretty upset...and so when I said
" Thats the reason I ask you to stay put in one place and study and not treat the house like a gym..."

He very matter of factly says " Its ok ma!! its after all an exam!! "
Hmppfff, huh!! eh!!
What was that?

I really need to learn that... :D

And I have to learn a lot from them.


But I have learnt that when you really scream...a hollow, wall cracking scream.....letting the last letter just stay there hung suspended in mid air...it does bring a smile on MY face....
It feels satisfying...I dont even bother to look and see if it has had any effect on them....'cos i'm sure it hasn't.
And so the reason the younger one has his name ending with an " N" ...to deviate from the the statement and make my house sound and echo like a ringing bell.....

and to add to the cacophony his mother makes, he has learnt the latest rage in ringtones....
so my house is reverberating with this...... seconds being provided by the older brother...
and whoever dares laugh at me....
a virtual kick in the butt for all of you!!!


Yes!!! I am waiting so so ...for the break.....no screaming, no nothing...
Just Nirvana.....


and listening to this song in the meantime....

Who said life is simple??

I think its time I convinced myself that I’m not needed everywhere and that what I have been doing has been ok…and that life gets by …no matter how hard I try…it’ll still remain the same.

If I have to look at life’s gifts to me…I’d consider my sons the best ones amongst them. They just make my life so simple….just a plain circus. Isn’t that simple enough…

Well consider this.

My older is a stickler for details and ….
His books are always so neat, I wonder if he even opens them to use it.

The younger :
I remember wrapping the books in brown regulation school sheets….clean, neat and light brown. 2 months down the academic year…I can’t see the brown…its just plain black and ..I insist he’s a dirty kid, but he insists he had nothing to do with it…

And they both go to the same school??!!!!

Older: Its been 3 years since I gave him pencils and erasers…each exam I ask him to take a new pencil and eraser, but his is still brand new. (He was a lil upset that his teacher had borrowed his eraser and taken off the plastic wrap around it…hmppfff so much for cleanliness..!!

Younger. I’ve raided Metro , the wholesale place…but I’m always running short of stationary…what does he do with them???? 3 erasers and all gone in one day?? Don’t even ask about his pencils…he’s sharpening them so often, I don’t think he even writes in them at times.

Storage better get better in days to come…
Older: His things are always in its own place. He’s a very outdoorsy kind of boy, but his stuff always gets back to the same place…and they are looked after too…sometimes to the point of my frustration…

Younger : He is an organizer too…his things just organize themselves into bad, sandy and broken. And trying to ape his elder brother , he borrows all my boxes from the kitchen…sometimes…even the expensive Tupperware ones…to keep his stuff. After a few days…I find all his things in one jumble in one huge bag…Where did all the boxes go?? Search me??!!!!


I’ve tried to maintain a little bit of tradition in my family. Love celebrating festivals and following customs. Its fun if one were to look at the brighter spot.

We lived our childhood celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, Ramnavami, etc, community style…and they have taught me huge lessons in bonding and teamwork.

This Janmashtami, as is tradition, I made all the sweets( some I bought of course) and true to our custom, while offering naivedya ( offering to the Lord) I kept a small bit of buuter on the Lords’ idol. Bang on!! Came the first question…

Younger : Will Krishna eat it?

Older: So dumb!! As if he can..

Father : Of course, if you really pray hard for him to, maybe he will..with a wink .

Me: silence…

Next morning..the blob of butter as expected still remains in its original spot.

Younger…He didn’t eat?

Me : Maybe he was full with so many sweets..

Older: Hmpff…so dumb!!

Younger : ( after some thinking) How can he, Ma…he’s playing the flute, how can he eat and play at the same time …!!!

Time for me to change the idol I think…next time, I’ll look for one laidback Krishna maybe….eating butter ????

I am now convinced that whoever said that as they grow, their vocabulary increases, just don't pay attention. But I can show them its not how it is…it just gets down to simpler words, and then by the time they marry it gets to become monosyllables…and we still wonder why our husbands don’t answer with anything more than Haan!, yes! OK, maybe….?!!!!

But life is one big gift, like I said…and I’m sure a few years down the line when they are away from us…I’ll be grasping at these memories and all they would do is make me smile..

Nerd alert!!

Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers

Obscure?!!!

Does that mean, I am one? :( Oh oh!! and all the while I was thinking I was being a very caring mother, one who answers the doubts unanswered by the school teachers ( wonder , how that issue will ever get solved?? ), felt very elated when I solved the math problems...i've had to study the chapters too before I let out my tirades...All the tarzanish yollering, all come to an abrupt end... :( :( :(

My son called me a 'nerd'

I was sure, being social ( I can talk to walls too...but thats the issue of being a chatterbox...) , I sometimes do dumb things like walk into walls or furniture...not always pursuing intellectual activities...I still push a door that says pull...yeah...I can be dumb too..., I stop myself from jumping and touching the branch of a tree on the roadside, ( thinking it is not age appropriate..( the auto drivers might just die narrating the incident to the next 100 drivers along the street :( ...). And I take part in some of the popular activities like watching movies or television ....I'm not a loner...I have friends too...and love each and every one of them , and keep in touch with them too.
But then why do you think I am a nerd????
Well , unit tests are on now...and somehow, my elder son assumes, the way to solving math problems are just getting the answers right...which of course the school and all their clan frowns upon...they need the steps ...and I very smartly told him that...
" How can you just write an answer, how will they know how you got to it??. When I was in school ( wrong call....totally...should have just shut up) we used to always write each step and didnt think of arguing like this"
"Huh!! You were a nerd , ma!!"
Nerd?!!!!

How do they expect us to teach them anything if we don't know anything?? But if we know it, we are nerds...wow!!! Great isn't it?
The other day, I overheard a few students in my sons' school talking...( I know, I should learn not to eavesdrop on kids....). One of the kids while watching a match was trying to write down his notes, that he had missed..( I thought that was so cool and smart, he was so responsible) , when.....
"Saw that A, what a nerd he is..so dumb, no?!!..."
Poor child, and here we mothers were sitting and wishing all our sons would at least look at their books and not run around like monkeys, convincing the principal that their teams needed cheering , so he should give them permission to watch all the matches...huh!!!

Then I read this somewhere...

Nerds are also sometimes portrayed as having symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder, such as by showing an extreme devotion to following rules.

I think I need a time out and go assess my skills at parenting and more of being a "non-nerd"...and I just need to find out what the hell this word Esoteric Knowledge means??

Digging up treasures!!

The art of patience...is being drilled into my head by my younger son. One would think , being a mother, I would be very tolerant and coo and drool over all their artwork and craftwork...
Yes, I do...I love each and every piece of it. Crooked, wonky, bare...yes...all of them. And not because i'm their mother. But because I see the glow in their eyes when they do them. Each color they use has a story behind it. ( yes it is explained too....Preethi, I'm sure you'll understand Nantu and his persistent questioning more now...). Each line they draw has a direction.
They are so pure and so uncomplicated. Simple, yes, thats what they are.
Last evening while my lil brat was finishing up a drawing for his school work....all about creation, the teacher had said. The words were, Day, night, stars and the moon, Adam and Eve, mountains, sky, etc....( Biblical stories, but learning after all)
He had in a typical child's eye, drawn out the coulds, birds, etc...the triangular mountains, the blue of the sea....and of course the brown sand and mud...with the 2 palm trees for special effect, and to top it all Adam and Eve...small stick figures, with very expressive eyes... ( Yes, I did see it in those miniature figures too)...but his brown coloring had stopped towards the end of the patch....and he had skipped on to his next work...( must have gotten tired, I thought! ) But being a pest of a mommy...I had to butt in and ask..
"What happened to the mud out here...washed out???"
" No! Adam and Eve are digging...."
Yes! absolutely divine, the answer was for me...and I prayed he would leave it like that, so I could promptly scan it in and send it off to his best critic and most loved aunt...my sister. But a few minutes later, when I was packing his suff in...I saw it was all coloured and completed.

He saw my confused 'dufus' look and said..."yeah! they finished and now they've filled it up with the mud. Just like how we do in the sand pit...remember? You told us to"

Case closed.

But come early morning, he drags me along, all dressed in crisp , uniform and white 'blancoed shoes', to the sand pit...."see what we all( I sighed...thank god there were others too!!) did last evening....awesome amma..we dug a tunnel through the jumping plates too...seeeeee...."
And this is for you'll to see....

(I'm sure Adam and Eve have not seen this , and hopefully so have some of the very stern , nosey neighbours)
P.S Normally they clean up and cover up the holes in the sand pits, but this time, I guess they were too proud and enamoured by their design prowess to think of rules and norms

I should have gone scuba diving....

I think i've gone crazy!!! NO really...How else would you explain madness???

By now the whole world must be knowing about our International airport and the really amazing issues that crop up each time one hears about it...forget going there or driving there but yes....there are issues.

The first issue to hit me...the roads have all been widened.. ( now, tell me....why didn't they think of this earlier...??? ) ...the beautiful grass in the Golf course....has had to shrink up a bit...and somehow..'I can't seem to get the whiff of moist earth and fresh grass smells when I drive past...It is one of my favourite routes to drive on....Last evening while going past, I was talking
on the phone with my husband, trying to co-ordinate something...and ....then after a few minutes, I heard " what happened?" and then I was brought back to earth....I had forgotten I was on the phone and I had to disconnect if I was done with my non-stop talking...I was lost, staring at the green next to me...phone still stuck to the ear...( I don't even want to think what my kids must have thought, while I looked like one 'Mr BEAN' ) ...if my husband hadn't thought to interrupt my train of thoughts...I might have just hung on there looking like an idiot...

This week has been a series of kiddie birthday parties...yes..the whole week...and here I was thinking I needed to get my sons to go out a bit and socialize instead of running like mad men when there's a fire..they seem to have a better life now...but what do you do if you're stuck with this...

My younger son gets invited to a party...where there are strict instructions that only his age kids have been invited ( the older one says..."thank god!!! who would go and sit with these irritating kids, ma"...So before I left to go out on some errand..I left instructions with my younger curly poo, that he was to be in their house only at 5.30 pm and not earlier...the gift was packed and left ready for him to see and take...
Exactly at 5.20 I get a call..." Ma...S is saying I should go to the party...but I don't want to go" I was like huh!!! but why? And he was like " Sai is not invited , i'm not going.. ( what loyalties!!!! ) " I tried convincing him...blaming myself for not being more persistent...and then I said " Ok...at least stay out of the play area...sit at home, till I get back, and then we'll see...how will I tell them that you didnt want to go??? " ( yeah....go ahead and blame me... " but I was stuck in some work...and brains were not thinking...and any mom will know its tough convincing a child from the other end of the phone.. :( ....6.30 pm...I was at home...smiling to myself...'cos I thought I had pulled off a big thing...no tantrums and no phones from downstairs..hehehh, when the bell rang.
Opened to the door to find 3 smiley faces..M, a pretty lil girl dressed in party clothes.., S, the uninvited party crasher...and my curly poo...dressed in the oldest of clothes and sand in his hair, and face and holding something....
A plate full of cake, a' return gift' , and some wafers...and to beat it all he gives me all this and said " I didnt go, A saw us and called us home...so we went and aunty gave us this...I played one game too Ma.. ( and I was supposed to be convinced ! ) ...now take this...i'll just go get my 'appy' and come ." ..and as if to pacify me, he says..".I didnt want to go , Ma...A saw us and called us...we couldn't refuse "

Bwaahhhh...waaah......
I need to hide.....
Now i have 2 more parties to go...one again where my older one doesn't get the invite...not that he's bothered...but...I dread another crazed evening...

I tell you, I should have just gone scuba diving and stayed there underneath.....

Intrinsic motivation!!

"Dhruv, if you stand up , you cannot answer this question. Ok now somebody tell me,.... On what continent is the Amazon River located? , Sukrit, you can't answer this question" (Here Drhuv is a 5 year old, and Sukrit a big 13 year lil more knowledgable old boy)

A soft, dulcet voice pipped higher than the rest. The authority in her voice was evident. There was no mistaking her role. How could anyone not stand and watch and listen?!

I still have to come across a sight so heartening and filled with warmth. 10 pairs of bright, sparkling eyes were looking unblinking at her, in rapt attention. They could not afford to miss even one word, she had very thoughtfully put forth. If they did, another child would put up her hand - a la classroom style, before they could, and they would lose all of 5 points.

I stood a few feet away, just at the turn of the corridor, eagerly awaiting the response. What I saw, will stay etched there in my forever filled heart. A petite, 8 year old girl ,Dia, was holding a book of TRIVIA and surrounding her in a radius of less than a feet were 5-6, four, five and six year olds...girls and boys all huddled , sitting cross-legged and staring wide eyed-eared at her. She had achieved what few of us adults can. To get a child of that age to sit still is an achievement and that too during their evening playtime- we momma's can vouch for that.

Now I understand why my little one had come home the other day from play and said in a very angry, sad, dejected tone and told me, "Ma! you're very bad, you didn't teach me the capitals of the world!, even Mahika knows :(" Then, I had wondered what brought this on and my mind had raced and delved in to his school schedules, to see if I had missed some test of his. I sat with him then and was beaming a huge grin. It was my favourite pastime, we were out with our Atlas ( I would read the Atlas when I was a kid, when I was bored) and my son was all ears and hands and legs looking at the small, tiny lettered cities and countries and rivers and mountains....

What could have been a time consuming, tedious, war logged task for us parents, who have hyperactive, restless and 'terribly short attention span' children, who think only of running, jumping, and falling, Dia had achieved it effortlessly .

Also spotted were a few older rather smug looking boys ( the 12-13 year olds) including her brother who sports a T-shirt, that reads, " I'd rather trade my sister for a video game" and my older one too, walking past and slowing down next to them, hoping to overhear her questions, and then running it through their mind databanks, if only to go back and show off their ' I'm superior skills',

Motivational skills developing early. I'm sure her little class will ever be thankful to her. And so will their proud momma's and papa's , even though it means asking her son for the millionth time, after being told,

Son,- "Ma! ask me what is the capital of Turkey"

Me ,-" What is the capital of Turkey? "

I'd like to leave you with a classic poem on motivation. I loved this and wanted to share it with all of you.

Promise Yourself

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing

can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity

to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel like

there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything

and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best,

and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others

as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on

the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times

and give every living person you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself

that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, and too strong for fear,

and to happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Flushed and glued!!!

"We spend the first twelve months of our children's' lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up."...Phyllis Diller


And I just did that!!
And hours later I am still eaten by guilt. The look that crossed the little one’s face broke my heart. He had kept to himself all evening, not troubling me, working hard on his craft work. Cutting and sticking pieces of paper…

Toilet tissues have found new uses thanks to television channels showing interesting programs on craftwork . My kids love these programs, and so do I. When I’m tired and having no energy to function around a 2 boy household, I thank my stars, these programs are aired on TV.
In spite of all the war that goes on against TV watching for kids, I subscribe to the fact, that a good program can work well for your child , and so it does.

Now my family is thrown out of gear…after the hand wash episodes, now it’s the turn of disappearing tissue paper. Whole rolls of paper is water washed into balls, human figures, painted and glued together, so that makes another item in the house dwindle, the scotch tape, or if nothing else (actually more preferred) the insulation tape, in all sizes and colors.
Now this tape can wind itself around a very normal, healthy tennis ball ( It bounces better ma!!) , it holds two seemingly innocent sticks together for some deed its always unaware of…sometimes it could be used as the catapult, or maybe a bow and arrow, but it can be used…none of those shop bought stuff hold a candle to these lopsided craftwork

When the presenter Neil, smiles his trademark one, and does his various stuff, little does he know how the mommas on this side of the TV would like to wring his neck…Inspirations aside, I have now, small stones, pebbles ( picked off our own apartment neatly manicured garden) , shells, sticks, vague looking objects, sand, mud, charcoal from the dhobhi’s space, all brought in to satisfy the little ones’ creative outbursts.

He spent a whole morning, stooped and pensive posture, working hard on his new Pièce de résistance, my entire drawing room, resembling a stonewashed sandpit. …and turned around to proudly showcase it to his tired-migraine-hit-momma, when she turns and screams with horror.
She sees first the floor, not the little piece of paper, he’s proudly displaying…and gives him a earful.

Thankfully for her, he knows she'll immediately regret it and come and hear him say, "Ma! Look what I did…awesome isn’t it???"

And she, after her initial mad reaction, sees his work and can’t stop herself from giving him a big warm hug and laughs when he tries to squirm out his wiry body from her blotchy, potchy kisses…

While trying her best to not show ,her mind furiously working hard and trying to trace the next batch of tissue rolls kept in storage….

She sells ,sea shells ,on the sea shore!!

I was just going through a website looking for sea shells for some school project reference. It amazed me to see such wonderful creatures...and all I did these years were collect them from beaches , wash them and kept them in strategic places...showed them off to the kids who gazed at them so lovingly...

They were the ones who actually saw them for what they were...I did see the colors but they saw the changing patterns, those beautiful streaks of light passing through...and then this year it came back
On our visit to Goa we stayed on this beach which was filled with shells....starfishes..which I had conveniently relegated to the encyclopedia. God!! they are such amazing beauties.

Now my 'show off' collection has tripled and so has my need to know more about them. Like my lil one repeats a definition from his school..'teacher helps us to gain knowledge' but no I gained from these glittering eyes, that of our lil children...

They could spend hours just looking for that little crab that would crawl out unsuspectingly out of the small nooks and shells, and the sand..Can we as adults devote an entire day just looking at shells and searching all over the bare sand for them?? I wonder??

Should I or should I not?

Poles apart?!!!!

Yes they can be. Two people raised by the same entity ( yeah, that’s what I start thinking I’ve become ), with such diverse behavior and energies, mindsets and tolerance..Life can be a one long roller coaster ride.

But it does bring with it, some fresh smiles, and a few moments of unrestrained laughter.

My kids see to it that I never retain the same mood through the day…

After all she's their ‘weird mom’- someone who can’t figure out why the damn cellphone doesn’t just go to call mode, even while they play their games on hers…it somehow seems to obey like magic when they operate it.


She’s the ‘Nerd’ in the family- only because she remembers all her math from school, while they only see dancing figures ( I’m sure its purely futile just for my sake!! ) His dialogue was” you’re a nerd ma!! How can you remember such stuff….so dumb” Now how much dumber can I get???


She’s the “stupid momma” –cos she doesn’t know why” Neil Armstrong was the first guy to step on the moon?” Now why should I know that? Isn’t it enough that he did and he was first…”No. But why? Even Edwin Aldrin was with him, why not him? “ Times like these my frustration is directed towards the teachers for asking such questions in class…and all for 6 year olds…

She’s “the irritating momma” only because she insists he eats his lunch just like the others do…while he is playing a sport. He is thrilled that his other friends too consider their moms as irritating…” all mothers are irritating , ma! P says so too, and so does D “ . Now only I know what D’s and P’s mothers think of this…

She is the “stepmother” – Only because she gave the chocolate to the brother before she gave it to him…aaaww, is that a category under being a step mom…I wish I was the goddess Durga like the one Zanny has drawn out, with her various hands…handing out treats with all hands and still being reasonable.

She is “gross” – she asks them to eat a fruit instead of chocolates, or the chewing gum.

She is “cool” – cos she taught them how to whistle…fingers inside the mouth, lips tightly closed over it and hoot…getting them ready for their heydays eh!!. She also taught them to climb the coconut trees, blow huge bubbles with the gum that just doesn’t seem to leave their system., and better still she taught them that it is ok to feel scared to go up in the para sail, but go you must. Cos tomorrow you might regret not trying it once. And they came back all excited and wide eyed!

She is “the wikipedia” for the apartment complex, cos she takes time out to find info for everyone, just so that they can have that extra play time…and the other moms can go to their kitty parties.

She still is trying to find out the reason why she gave her older child an honest answer to his
"where do babies come from?" and squirming from the sly smiles she got as his know-all looks. (Wonder if daughters ask such questions too? Cos I never did...)

She loves it yeah!! So much more…adoloscence is looming hard on us…and we have big monsters creeping out to scare us…but I’m sure, this weird momma will stay put chasing those shadows away….while still laughing each time she thinks of her lil one’s take on his question to Neil Armstrong!! “ Edwin Aldrin was scared that the moon was hot, so he asked Neil to go first”


Reminds me of the song from the latest movie "Taare Zameen Par" Such lovely lyrics...

His hands can turn around fully...look!!

Just a few seconds ago she heard a nerve racking scream.....it came from the play area...the same direction from where she had heard cackling of laughter, arguments coming out of small sweet voices....half of them just being parrotted, just because the older kids use them....sweet, melodious chatter,it was like the early morning chirping of the green parrots that keep flitting about from one tree to another,amidst the noise and din of the traffic...It was all so normal....the noise was needed, to assure her, that everything was going on just fine...

The scene out of the balcony seemed so beautiful., so blissfully joyous, sandcastles being made, small ginger hands digging into the sandpit, making long tunnels to let the water from the tap,filled in the bisleri bottle , taken from some generous ground floor apartment lady. All bringing a smile to her face.

She went about getting things ready for the evening meal, put aside the toys still running around on its tracks or spinning in the board all by its loneself...
Pulled on her shoes...she had decided to go for a walk...the weather was so brilliant, it made you want to feel the breeze..she had just finished tying the laces, still smiling, thinking of how it felt to feel free, and happy...

And then she heard it!!

Her blood froze!!...It always did, at such sounds...her house was sitting right there like some mother hen watching over her brood...and she did just that....kept an eye for all the other mothers....She rose from her chair, to go in the direction of the sound, when the frantic ringing of the phone, brought her back. She half ran, half walked, she wanted to get back to see what the scream was all about.
She answered the phone.., and stood transfixed., her heart beating faster than before and her mind running in all directions..but it was just a fraction of a second. She needed to act fast. She knew in her heart, what was wrong...she just felt it.
And then she ran...as fast as she could...and looked down into the area, where she was told he was...Her heart did a somersault..
He was sitting there, so tiny and so lost.., his friends, just a year older maybe, surrounding him. One took his hand and held it up for others to see..."hey, look, da!! His hand can do one full round!" Her tears were streaming down her cheeks!!
And then she found her voice! "Stop that!! Don't touch him!!" she screamed her lungs out!! It must have been the fear in her voice or the agony, will never know...all the kids were rooted to their places....the older brother looked up, and went about his game ( for that age, his game was important, how could he know what was wrong!!and how bad?? )

She bounded down the steps...couldnt wait for the elevator to take her down, she ran, like a mad bull was chasing her!!! 3 steps at a time..and reached 4 floors in record time of 10 secs...never know how she did that!!

Looked at the little face looking up at her...never had she seen a more serene face, eyes so trusting and hands held out!!
She went forward arms outstretched!! Glad that she had reached him...glad that she could see for herself what was wrong!
She looked down then...and what she saw, broke her heart!! The hand was hanging limp from the wrist, a small portion of the wrist at a varying angle from the forearm....she swallowed hard...she couldn't afford to cry..couldn't afford to show fear...couldn't even ask what had happened???


Just lifted the little bundle all of five, in her arms, and then she felt the shiver, and felt the tremble....his face was burrowed in her neck, ....and then she knew he was feeling safe, safe in his mother's arms, safe in his mother's cooing!!!

But then will this image ever go away from her mind???

crafty

Ma!!!! I forgot! ( Heard this before??) and the time says 8.50 P.M. Now, if this forgotten malady existed before 7, wouldn't it have been cured. No! How can it? Where's the excitement of parenting, where's the rush hours, the stress....? so I gingerly, ( hoping against all hopes its just a very normal thing forgotten and for which I have my useful remedies. That sweet stressful, 'ur my best mom 'look oozing out of those sly eyes....knowing full well, that a 'not done project' could mean me standing in the silent corridors, chewing more than my fingernails...worrying to death, what that lil, mind must be ging thru...nah, I'd rather trudge thru the rainswept , slushy roads, with umbrella in hand and go digging into dusty chart papers, pictures, and god knows what, looking the best clown that can be conjured. PLonk myself to the task of cutting sticking, and being told what to do, and more importantly: " You don't know anything, ma" , only to hear the next minute ...a screech, " Maaaaa.....shit!!!( I thought there were better words being taught lil children, all of 11, ) I forgot!! one more??? Now what???...I had to stick pictures in my note. Thats cakewalk, I thought.

But who said it was....early paleolithic man, didnt think they would require his skills and tools to be kept ready in hand all colored and printed, did he??? At 9.00 pm , its back to the ever helpful, internet ( How did these kids manage in the pre-internet days??? ) Maybe the project were based on those pictures you got in the friendly neighbourhood 'shetty angadi' [the all purpose mall for us hassled mom's- all of 100 sft]

Sit through, cutting and sticking, trying to act all knowledgeable, when the silence is haunting.....the rascal lot, has gone into deep slumber...knowing that momma, will ease it away... 3 hours, and endless moves to keep the "segmenta sacralia medullae spinalis:- no adlike moves, with MOOV-from collapsing . And as my friend says, keeping the eyes open with a pair of clothes clips....finish with the very much appreciated ( by thyself of course, what did u expect???) work. I quickly close all paraphernelia...and jump straight into bed. With visions of glowing monsters, attacking the gluestick only to let it fall splash on the sheets..., the looming faces of the teachers...) I blissfully settle into deep slumber.
And who said it was eay. But the "awesome, amma, ur the best" drives all those monsters into their nooks.....and I get back to chewing the nails, .....

Flights of agony!!

And then the metal bird with wings took off...
A 3 hour or less glide through the skies....smooth flying and a 'high' i'm sure to the hunk ( aren't they always!! )sitting behind the controls....looking out at those puffy "white bales of cotton", in an entirely different plane altogether, unaware [ and maybe he's just hiding his smirk :( ] of all the soaring stress levels in those super efficient mom's with the ever more lovely kids...

Yeah, he is unaware....

Now i've always failed to understand, why?? when there are 21 hours before a flight.....and all precautions taken to assure no hassles...why is it that your child always wants to use the loo...only then in those 3 short hours...why??

And it has to be now!!!

This trip to those elegant wonders called *toilets, reminds me of those stretch denims ......you enter the wonder room, and the walls ( whatever little you can see of it) just close in around you....tight and well fit....
Your child is now fidgeting around , and so u move around only to knock into something....and then you realise its everything....lift the fidgety rascal....and then you feel a trickle down your back...turn around to see, that the tap, does look so interesting to that brat, and he has found it
too before you....You manage to stop that flow, when you hear a plonk, ...and there is that shining metal thing standing mutely looking at me...its previous occupant , just went down the pot!! the toilet roll....oh now what else??? try to find a quick way out....finish the job, half hanging for dear life...and the other half to one hundred other things.....and quickly run out....job
done....feel like you've walked to the moon and back....and am I glad the journey's over....

Now the train journey, is a whole ball game altogether....There can be some really sweet stewards who seeing a child offers you that extra ice cream, or that one extra sweet...and all the while your child is looking at that icecream, as if he's never ever seen one , why?? Can't he see i'm still juggling with the one tray already, placed so picture perfectly on that contraption in front...the one that plops right back, if you give it a slight nudge...now try doing the circus, with the fidgety rascal on your lap...and the tray in front and the extra icecream ....and your growling tummy screaming blue murder....They say that when a child cycles his legs in the air it gives his legs strength and helps in its growth...so it has to be done....
Now I know how it is to have a child kick, kick , kick your seat from behind, with such a rythmn that even Sivamani will bow his head down....so I try to hold onto those legs in the hopes of stopping the beat....but those escaping feet, just nudges the tray....isn't it supposed to work that way....so what the heck....tray slides back.....food tray and all....and in the process of
stopping the icecream ( the one the extra thoughtful guy has handed over to my oh so cute kid) in the other hand goes flying ....across the aisle, and then I need to hide my plastered smile....way deep down into those unseen bags and junk......

why? why ? And all we think of is the next vacation and where do we go now????

And this time ...its a whammy....first the flight , then the train ride, and then the road trip....with 2 seemingly innocent boys...

I think i'll opt for a tranquilizer for myself!!!!!!

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

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???