After a long time...

Have been missing for quite sometime now ! actually 3 odd months. What was I upto? Well , just plain lazy. There were lot of times when I wrote some posts in my mind but that never materialized. Anyways, some nudging from friends ( and thank god that there are some of you who end up reading) , here i am. This hopefully should be a fun post for that's what I have been having over last few months. The winter chill has quietly made its way in north India and the weather is at its best. October is a special month for us for couple of regular reasons and some specials as well. Regulars are the fact that almost every one important in my life have their birthdays - daughter, mom, sister , myself and this gets interspersed with multiple festivities we have here. The warmth and happiness is in the air, you can almost feel it. This year was special as kids and myself got over almost 3 weeks of viral sickness in the household and a some professional gains for myself. So now if I am not having fun amidst all this, then something will be seriously wrong with me !

This year was also different for couple of things. We did daughter's birthday party at a place called Energy Centre in Gurgaon located in the largest public park here. The idea was not to be different but for children to have fun. I and the daughter were so bored with the umpteen Pizza Hut parties she got invited for - Same food, same place and  sometimes even similar return gifts. The concept was novel and nice. Kids were invited at the centre where  they first had a movie screening on climate change, there was a solar car ride, the centre head showed them giant solar panels and how they help to generate power for the centre. Post which they all headed for Terracotta painting - we selected pots since the return gifts were lovely plant saplings which each child took home to grow. The area was open, green and so very pleasant in the evening. We have gone couple of times there as a family now . for those in gurgaon, you must visit Roots- the organic cafe of the centre. Don't expect a superlative service- food takes good 40 min to arrive and the menu is limited but the place is like any college cafe...sit in the sun, grab a book, let the kids climb trees or run around and what perfect winter afternoon you want. This Sunday it was a beautiful sight watching them dancing under the bougainvillea tree - the flowers falling down on a windy day over them.

October also had a festival a week. With the kids now of an age where they are participative, more aware, its all the more fun.  A lot has changed the way Diwali gets celebrated now. A few days before Diwali,  daughter found it amusing that we made a big deal about new clothes on Diwali. I found it a little offending given the sentiments  around the festival esp with grandparents around but then it struck me, in today's age  she is so used to getting a new dress every now and then that she would not find  a novelty in the same.  So this Diwali took extra care to ensure that she gets her favorite dress for Diwali, it comes gift wrapped and is a surprise for her. The whole song and drama around it surely made it a novelty, with her now waiting for Diwali next year. Things seem to be changing so fast - there are hardly any fresh sweets being bought- most people end up buying chocolates- even we ended up buying chocolates for the  kids friends. They found the sugar made " khilonas" traditionally used with " kheel" during Diwali very fascinating but backed out when offered to eat them. I wonder another five years and we might not see such things around. People have started going out for dinners on Diwali day - finish the puja, do away with the crackers and then off to a nice joint for family dinner. May be it suits them but I actually squirm at the possibility of my kids ever preferring that over home made poori, sabji, dahi vada and kheer. So till the time I have control, I am going to ensure that they have a very traditional Diwali . If I ask anyone of us, I don't think any of our Diwali memories is about the festival getting different and better every year like birthdays. Most Diwalis for all of us is same - Same puja, same sequence of events in every household, dads still asking moms  every year how to do the puja, same aarti and same food menu. Yet its one of the fondest memories we all carry with us. Given the distraction and fast changing world these children live in, the only hope this mother has is to make the routine so repetitive year on year that it gets programmed in their mind and hopefully in their hearts.

Last month was also special. Some professional gains followed by my birthday. Sometimes I do wonder, I could have been single still or may be married but no kids, could have been in a different profession but what I am and have today is great. I never thought what my life will be in the thirties but I have learnt the futility of planning your life and have started enjoying what comes by. There were times when a maid crisis gave me distress or a bad day at work meant a week of stress- Now I have learnt to take all of this in my stride. I now appreciate and acknowledge that each day of your life will be different. You will get stuck with people you don't like personally and professionally, you will struggle to become a better daughter, wife and mother, you will always be short on time for your children but then the small joys, successes and happiness also come along. All we need to do is appreciate the same.

Have also learnt overtime that there are 2 sets of people who really enjoy the person you are. Indulgences in life is a luxury and these are the people who indulge you completely- your parents and your kids. No one enjoys your success more than your parents. The joy they feel when you succeed is tremendous - more so when you are a woman. Your parents treated all their children equally and fairly. They invested in you as a daughter as much as in a son and when you succeed in life, its a pride that's their prized possession. It can be a small win for you or a matter of fact thing which you deserved but the tinkle in their voice when they hear this surpasses all of that. The second is your children who make you real and humble. They couldn't care less what you have done or not done. They are the only ones peeping out of the door , ready to hug you the moment you land. The eyes twinkle seeing you as if all their lives , they have just been waiting for their tired mom to come home. Couldn't care less what you have achieved outside, you fail if you cant fix their favorite breakfast or read them a book.Nothing can be more humbling and real than this. Not to take away the importance of your life partner ( less he gets offended )- that's more of a relationship of equals - you enjoy each others success, console on failures and move together. yet there are expectations from each other. With your parents and your children, its pure love - its just YOU who matter to them .

In other news, December is round the corner. Intend to soak the winter sun and relish some great afternoons. Hopefully will do some more writing as well. There are some serious topics that bother me at times and hope to let it find its way in this forum.

Here and there...and no where

Its really strange. Since the time I started writing, there are multiple topics that flash through my mind. I make a mental note that I shall post something on that . sometimes, there is a nudge from a friend as to why don't you write on this topic and I note that as well but most of the posts that you see are actually which  have been penned ( or rather typed)  in less than an hour , on an impulse, hurriedly spell checked ( as i noticed when i re read some old posts). The thoughts flow and i oblige myself by writing them down.

Never mind- the point is not related to what I am going to write. Again an impulsive thought I felt should find its place. ;). Last month has been , well, to be honest , just plain boring. I think July month does that to us. Vacations are over, mid year appraisals are done leaving a plain vanilla month ahead. So here's this post - more on This and that and here and there in July.

Monsoon  Memories:

So as you can see the blog look and feel has been changed in fond memories of the monsoon. Memories yes as a) we don't get them enough any which ways these days and b) the whole thought of traffic jams, clogged road and dirty laundry do not even let you enjoy the monsoon. Actually the amount of comments on facebook with few drizzles of rain in Delhi are the virtual enjoyment of monsoons we all indulge in.

I personally was never a monsoon 'fan'- my kind of enjoyment is to sit by a window and enjoy a book with a hot cup of hot chocolate. So when  few days back when rain came visiting our world, the kids insisted on going down in the rain. The sheer thought of them catching cold, managing office with a sick child quickly flashed through my mind. No way! you guys are not going downstairs in the rain- I managed a stern face as two pleading eyes looked at me. I tried to reason as well but they perched themselves on the edge of the window, looking down longingly and then came the last hit -" If you don't let us enjoy nature, how can we ever learn about it and take care of it " and then in a typical DDLJ moment ( Ja jee le apni zindagi type), I told them to run and rush. soon a couple of more kids joined...someone played music via their portable systems and it was plain sheer bliss. I was though back to how I enjoyed rain...a cup of hot chocolate , by the window, this time watching over 2 devils shaking hands with mother nature.

Grocery fix:

So the kids most of the times help me for any grocery shopping we need to do. I get to spend time with them and they learn ' on the job'. It starts with the elder one making a list as I look up the kitchen and then the three of us land up in supermarket. Its a funny sight...a head is deep inside the tomato basket picking up the ripe ones as told by mom or a little voice from behind with 2 hands full of the stuff they found at the counter. One of them will push the cart, the other will carefully place each item at the counter. We have healthy debates as to what's healthy to eat and hence purchase and its quite a democratic process- As I stop them to pick up chips and pies, a small hand hold me back from picking up a bottle of Diet coke. I see some people looking at me rather strangely- I bet they must be wondering how much I am making the poor kids run but then to all those ' chin up in the air moms'- You look more amusing walking in the aisle with a maid following you with a cart with your child perched inside it' . You either make them participative in the whole process or spare them the visit to the supermarket only to get one candy in the end.

Homework Woes:

For a change not for the kids but for me. I thought it was a smart thing to have them at 2.5 year gap but with the younger one in playschool, the workload on me on weekends is as great as the one on weekends. And then God save these fancy schools and  their Show and Tell concept and who insist on a 3 year old to come prepared with some topic every Monday. I thought play school was well about play but nonetheless, I think its a better way than the earlier pushy way. The challenge on hand is to get an extremely- full -of -energy boy to sit down and learn three lines on cleanliness whose clever enough to add a fourth one "We should keep our Mamma clean" given his obsession with me. The elder one moves to Grade 1 and it's a delight to work with her, refresh some fundamentals - if only the schools could spare the Art and Craft work. I don't have the skill set, motivation and creativity to think of ideas and it feels terrible to be written off in grade 1 for your drawing skills by your won child. So now I have a personal development plan and Google bhagwan to help me with ideas on how to go around the same.

So folks this his how July has gone. August has some long weekends and look forward to a relatively relaxing month.