A good day

I have spent the past few months (ever since Diwali actually) hating the weather and the pollution. It has turned me a little bitter towards Gurgaon overall. But yesterday, oh yesterday the weather redeemed itself (lol).

Beautiful skies, sun, clear crisp early winter air. A perfect day for picnic. Tanmay was so happy with the “picmic”. Its really cute watching him learn to talk. He isn’t the most talkative toddler but kind of makes it up with his cuteness. Inadvertently all of us have started speaking like him.

And although my resolve to turn into some kind of cooking goddess hasn’t really materialized in the way I wanted, I have improved quite a bit. Managed to make pickles, yay !! The old me would have posted pictures but I am just too lazy to do so. So believe me when I say I did it.

I know things are about to change soon. For all of us. I cant imagine how the chemistry will be. But I pray to God that things go well.

Amen.

Proud Parent Moments

Kids make us proud everyday. Everything they do is special. And its wonderful watching them grow curious and ready to explore everything (everything!!) they see.

But sometimes, some things they do or say are striking.

The other day, I had an appointment and went to my doctor, who happens to be a very amiable lady :). We generally take him along and put him in the play area while I go for the consultation. But since it was exceptionally sunny, we decided to take him along inside with us. First of all he inquired - "Hospital ? Injection?" After assuring that no injections would be administered to anyone, he calmed down and happily played in the waiting area. But the moment we went inside the consultation room, oh dear God! The moment he saw her, he just started chanting "Doctor na, doctor na..." . Poor Ksh had to take him outside lol..

I didnt really think a lot about it then. But later on I reflected that he had never seen any doctor other than his own pediatrician (a male) and the doctor in nursery rhymes (from five little monkeys). So he had never really seen a woman doctor before. He just deduced that the person sitting behind the table in a hospital has to be a doctor, regardless of the gender.

Looks like kids dont abide by gender stereotypes  :)

Toddler tales

Before I had my son, i kind of used to judge people who let their kids scribble on the walls.
I feel really really sorry now.
Kids have that effect, they humble you. Tremendously.

My child does a lot of stuff I never thought would happen under my roof.
He eats only with the television on, refuses to poop without a diaper (! really !), scribbles on the walls, even throws an occasional tantrum or two. Of yes, and he also believes in is a staunch supporter of the nudist movement. Doesnt wear pants at home at all (diapers only when he wants to poop). Thank God he wears one at playschool. However, he compensates that by taking off his shirt as well as soon as he is home.
Before I had him, I had never imagined my home would look like a storehouse (child proof storehouse). It is now really spartan with the bare minimum of furniture left. The show cases which held my precious book collection and cherished knick knacks have now been boarded up (he climbs on them). The lower kitchen shelves have been evacuated and the counter rims are oiled (climbs there as well). Our bedroom has a 12 feet wide bed ! The only concerns we have anymore are safety and hygiene.

But yes, I know that one day, when the kids are all grown up, the walls will be clean, sofas wonts be spilled upon or jumped upon, our plants would survive without being routinely uprooted.

And I will miss these days.

Detoxing

So my tiny little humble terrace garden is in full bloom this season. After successive unsuccessful attempts to grow lemons and oranges I gave up and went the herbs, shrubs and creepers way :).

Tomatoes were a success. And so seems the karela. I never knew before that fresh karela flowers give off a very very sweet smell. Kind of like jasmine. But only before the sun comes up.

My medically prescribed month long "bed rest" is coming to an end. This has been a blessing in disguise really. Turns out that it takes me a week to get rid of "work thoughts" from my subconscious. And really lately I have been feeling so "light". Its refreshing. I am able to think of new stuff which is awesome. And most importantly I got to spend more time with tanmay :)

Read some good books lately - A Gathering Light, Return of the Dance Master, Up and Down in the Dales and Sita. Oh yes, and a childhood favorite - The little House in the big woods. 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Confessions

My energy levels have plummeted lately.
And I hate it. I hate to talk about it and think about it.

Maybe I should start meditation. That should help.
I have to get back in sync with myself.

:)

A much awaited "long weekend" came and went. And it went surprisingly well. 

So here is a list of stuff taken care of during this weekend:

1. Indulging in something constructive - started a wood work project. It is going pretty well so far.

2. Clean and declutter - managed to clean unsightly grime from the corners of marble floors. What worked in the end was sheer brute force, i sanded them off with some fine sand paper :)

3. Get a pretty thing for the house - a beautiful lamp shade. Wall mounted of course, because nothing is safe within a height of 3 feet anymore.

4. Take care of greens - worked some more on our "kitchen garden" in the balcony. Proud to say that our mint and tomatoes are doing just fine thank you very much.

5. Go social - managed to meet three different sets of friends. I guess we should do this one a little more often.

6. Be happy - ohh yes. :) four whole days with T and K made me very very happy indeed.

And T loved his new "gaaadi". So did we. Touchwood.  

"People change."
This is not just something Dr.House loves to remind us.
It also appears to be true.

A Creationist Evolution

There is an age long debate (since Darvin I mean) between proponents of Evolution (boring scientists who have devoted a sizable chunk of their lives immersed in research studies) and Creationists (mostly people appalled at scientific “theories” based on facts and logic). From what I could gather, the two teams feel that both their ideas are mutually exclusive with no room for overlap. And that is something I don’t understand. As I see it, evolution is the proof that God exists. Here are some of the scenarios that could have happened:

a)      God created the universe (or “our” universe in the multiverse system) as his high school’s summer project. Being a “teenager”, He was very busy partying and enjoying the summer and started working on the project a little late, only about a few trillion years before the submission date. By the time He eventually started working on Earth, the project was already past its due date. Understandably, He didn’t have enough time to make everything Himself. So he just put Earth on “autopilot”, which is to say that he arranged for all the right ingredients and kick started the system so that “Evolution” would do the rest. Then He promptly went back to party with His friends.

b)      As God started working on the Earth project He got called away by His wife who wanted Him to work on another project for Her. Now He didn’t want to face Her wrath and couldn’t say no. Eventually the still unfinished and abandoned “Earth Project” caught “mold” – starting with green slimy stuff, small wriggly worms and eventually crawly insects walking on two legs who infested the entire project and tended to turn everything to scum.

c)      God planned the Earth Project as a part of his large real estate empire The Multiverse. Now He had a lot of things to handle and couldn’t be bothered with every little detail. So He delegated the Earth Project to his junior manager who in turn delegated it to one of the interns and assigned her a project lead. Understandably, the intern had absolutely no work experience and the project lead had absolutely no interest in the project. But she hoped to impress her bosses so she started on the project from day one. She did what she could but it was never good enough for her bosses who kept asking her to change little details at every standup meeting. He kept giving her offhand instructions like, “Make the wriggly creatures get out of the water and live on land”. “But why, they are perfectly happy in the water?”, she would say. “Just do what you are asked to do. Remember that you are just an intern”. And she did what she was sked to do.

She had begun with a simple beautiful plan involving simple self-sufficient creatures, but by the time the project ended it had transformed into a monstrosity due to her boss’ numerous modifications. After her internship ended, she eventually got a job offer but declined it and opened her own little cupcake shop right across the street.

longer days = more fun

Addicted to tea - sweet, gingery, low milk tea :) 

Loving the wonderful beautiful colors promising a lovely spring. Spotted a bunch of poppies tucked in a corner at a busy traffic intersection. Lovely.

Bubs new favorite activity is driving the "gaaai". And mine is watching him drive the "gaaai" of course.

The kitchen garden tomatoes are coming out fine. Funnily enough, the ones planted in non-fertilized soil are doing much better. Same goes for the Coriander and Mint. Bubs has finally learnt not to uproot mommy's precious plants. His another favorite activity - playing with the "mitii". However, cleaning the mess afterwards does not make it to my list of favorite activities. 

And yes, we are gearing up for the next vacation. Fingers crossed.

A day at the park

After a long long and seemingly unending winter, we finally got to spend a lovely sunny day at the park.
It was so refreshing and peaceful to be near the grass, the yellow little chirping birds, lovely yellow flowers growing among the weed and the carefully tended and manicured roses - everything. It was just perfect.

And I was thrilled to see bubs love it too. Sometimes I feel guilty for making him grow up in a city. He was so happy chasing squirrels and collecting interesting looking leaves and stones.

Anyways, on another note, I decided to get back to sketching and bought a new sketchbook only to have it hijacked by bubs. He has already filled up half of the pages with his signatures. Do I love it ? Absolutely :)

Counting blessings

For a while now I have felt a growing distance between God and me.. like the connection has faded a little bit. It is not as though the faith has declined. No, my belief in Him is strong as ever. But the distance has increased, kind of what happens if you dont talk to your best friend for a while. As far as you know, they dont have an idea whats going on in your life. And yes, it makes me very sad.
As I said, I have been wondering about the reason behind this. It may be because I dont take time to "stop and smell the roses" anymore, dont contemplate so often, or may be because of increased awareness of all the evil around us. Yes it makes me very sad indeed.

And this is one of the reasons why I have decided to focus on all the positive energy around. Think of good things, live a simpler non cluttered life, reach out more.

And yes, I know You look after my family and me.
I am thankful for all our blessings.

सर्वे भवंतु सुखिन:, सर्वे संतु निरामया।

सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यंतु , मा कश्चिद दु:ख भाग्भवेत ॥

Say hello to the new year

Let me begin the new year's first post with a prayer - Dear God, please make the people less angry, less violent. Give them the ability to believe in good, be good themselves and do good to others.

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Started watching movies again. Just finished True Detective by HBO. Its brilliantly made, has some absolutely fantastic acting in a very gory and somewhat shaky storyline. 
Next was I Origins. Good story, good natural acting with no actor trying to become bigger than the movie itself. 

One feeling that keeps coming back to me these days is disgust - for this whole consumerist attitude engulfing the society. Even more terrifying is the ease with which this is happening. 

huh... this calls for an addendum to my prayer - Dear God, please give us enough wisdom and strength to resist the charms of unnecessary spending.