Wunder Yearz !!!

Updates(that was long due)

2009-01-02T14:41:00.001Z

Jelly’s world out here is a total contrast to her life out in good old Bangalore. There she had loads of people to run all round her….fulfilling all her wishes even before they were expressed. She could throw any amount of tantrums and nobody could or would stop her or correct (or rather allow us to correct) her. I’m really sure she must be missing out on all that pampering….Well at least I’m missing all those lovely moments she used to spend with her grandparents , uncles, aunts and cousins…

Here it’s basically just the three of us day in day out. If she could, she would have screamed her lungs out and told us she need a break from this lonely life out here. When we initially moved in here, she did not know to play on her own or even be in a room alone for even a moment. But the past four months have taught her a lot. Now she has started to play on her own, she has started playing imaginary games and most of all reduced following me everywhere (including the loo).

As I said in my earlier post she has become cute yet naughty- Well cute as in she tries to talk like us adults, using exactly the same phrases and in some cases even the exact tune in which we would say a particular sentence. And yes she talks in full sentences now. 99% of her talk is in Malayalam, but at the same time has started adding a few English words to it. Everyday after chatting with her grandparents, her grandpa tells her “Bye Mole!”(as in bye little one). Now she has made it a point to tell my FIL “Bye Mole!!!”

Naughty - that’s her for sure. She walks into the kitchen, takes a couple of spoons or vessels to the front to room to play and once she is done, she either walks off without putting it back or calls out and asks me to come and take it and put it back !!!!She climbs on her tricycle and orders us to push it around the room. She would never try to put her tiny feet to use and pedal it around…..If we tell her to ride it she would ask us to help her off it and then would start using some spoon to repair her “Saicle”(as she calls it).

She is a total foddie (just like her dad I must say). She loves to eat just anything as long as it is tasty. We are used to spicy food, but once she started sharing our food I’ve reduced the spices. But for certain food which needs to be spicy I don’t go to reduce the spice. She eats that too with tears steaming down her chubby cheeks and a runny nose :D. Welcome to the family which lives on spices!!!

There is one thing that just happened yesterday, I have to share it with you. She watches a couple of CD’s meant for kid’s when she is in the mood for it. It’s in Malayalam and has loads of cartoons of animal characters telling a little puppy about what they do. For example there is an explanation of how larvae turns into a pupae and then into a butterfly or about how a cat can see in the dark or falls on it’s legs in spite of the height it jumps from. In this CD there is an episode of how hens lay eggs and how they hatch into little chicks. She has been watching this CD off and on for about a week now. Yesterday SM was sleeping (or rather pretending to be asleep) and Jelly was playing by his side with a water bottle, while I was in the kitchen. I heard her making some weird noise and asked her a couple of times what she was doing…but she just smiled at me when I peeped into the room. It was later that SM told me that she was sitting on top of the bottle and making that noise enacting out how the chicken had laid eggs!!!! Oh! We had a hearty laugh and I was feeling bad for missing on the scene. Later in the evening while she was playing on her own, I heard her making a similar noise and just had a look at her and there….She was squatting on one of her toys and again pretending to be laying an egg!!! The moment she saw me, she gave a sheepish smile and started blushing all over……How fast kids pick up things from the visual media! Need to be careful from now on about what she watches…..

Oh my god!! My little one is growing up a little too fast. That just brings me to the fact that in less than a week’s time she is going to be 2 years old!!

I'm Alive!!!

2008-12-05T10:19:00.006Z

Oh my good Lord!!! It’s been ages since I’ve got a hold of the system to type a blog. Life has been extremely busy with catering to loads of guests. Guests for whom I had to cook, clean and wait around. So I guess I’ve been forgiven for this long absence from here.

The first visitor was a very silent one. Very beautiful I must admit…..felt a little jealous that I could not look half that charming even on the best of my Good Hair days…..This one just came in the morn stayed on for a while looking around and just chilling out. Don’t believe??? Well have a look out here

The second visitor or I should say visitors were quite different, cause they would come in close to lunch hour and they would be mighty hungry…hungry as in they would pick and eat for hours together….and well they did look on the healthier side I should say. And the worst part being they did not pay any attention to the host!!! Yes they hardly lifted their heads from the long meal that they were enjoying. And in the end without even thanking me for being such an “adorable host” they would just go away…Just look at them feasting on the lunch I had arranged for them

Ok guys, please don’t pick up your brooms or sticks to give me a whack……please…I’ve been really really lazy to write a blog. The other excuse being that it’s really difficult to get the system free to type anything when Jelly is awake. Not that she is using the system; just that madam needs some music to be playing in the background all the while - awake or sleeping. When she is awake, she would not allow me to sit in front of the system to type a single word. And when she is sleeping I have cooking, cleaning and other jobs to be done. I have been typing this blogs in bits and pieces from God knows when!!

So here I am making a promise to myself that from now on I will be more regular with my posts. It’s truly crazy that I’m not updating on how Jelly is turning out to be a very cute yet naughty, lovable yet violent, cuddly yet someone who bites me like a little pup….Oh so much more to add into that list but that’s for the next post.

And hey I want to change the looks of my blog…I have a picture with me, which I would love to put as my blog header but I’m really lost on how to make the whole layout look a bit more lively……could any of you guide me?????

Latest Updates....

2008-09-29T11:00:00.002+01:00

It’s been a very long time since I have penned down my thoughts. I guess by now people might have got a feeling that I have walked out of this beautiful blog world. Well I had taken a short and unannounced break but never out of this world. How can I walk out of this beautiful world which gave me such adorable friends?

Well to begin with I had to go through a very painful break up from one of my oldest relationships………Hey did I give you some wrong ideas…………by break up I meant quitting my Job….. Something I treasured for a very long time. Been there for 7 long years….. it was more like a second home to me, a place where I got to meet such lovely people that they were more than colleagues to me. We built up our gang of 4 girls in less that 6 months and to this day we remain very close. None of us work together in the same place anymore since all have since moved to different jobs/places. Scattered across the globe would be the precise word to use. As I sit and type this out I’m truly missing them like crazy…… :-(

Once I quit the job I was back at home for more than a month making the necessary arrangements for what I quit my job. Then there was the usual running behind Jelly and getting her used to the fact that her mom is going to be with her day and night……Yes you heard me right…..I have taken over handling only the home front for some time….not sure though how long.

After all these up’s and down’s came a long flight journey and managing the baby all alone…away from the comforts of having doting in-laws and parents at our disposal at any said time. Settling into an alien place, a new home and that too with an extremely naughty toddler is truly something I had never really dreamt of doing. But here I am doing all this and more.

Well, we have moved continents and have set up home for the time being in UK.

From the ever noisy, crowded and homely Bangalore City here we are in London…The county where we are settling into is a very quite and beautiful one. Even though London is quite close by, we are far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. When I say this area is “Quite” I mean it in every single sense because you can literally here the sound of each one of us breathing too. The first few days gave us an impression that we are the only living souls out here. Not a sound of people talking or kids shouting or no music ……..in short no noise at all coming from any of the houses around. If not for the cars parked outside the houses we would have thought we have come to some uninhabited island.

When back at home in dear old Bangalore we hardly realized how loud Jelly was crying or talking or laughing…….But out here we have to keep a close watch on her so as to not get thrown out of our house by our neighbours …..all thanks to a loud little kid ;-) When I speak about neighbours believe me I have not got to see a single so called neighbour in the past few weeks……Still trying to blend into this kind of life…….More updates on our life and Jelly’s pranks soon……..

18 Months Update

2008-06-30T09:06:00.003+01:00

It’s been ages since I’ve made an update on Jelly. Been very preoccupied with a lot of things. I never seem to be finding the time when at work or back at home to pen down a few lines……….

Coming to updates, Jelly is turning out to be one hell of a naughty toddler. Thanks to her restless behavior her grandpa has just managed to lose that extra weight, which his doctor had been advising him to loose for ages now. You can find my in-laws in a better shape than ever now ;-). On a serious note I think it’s high time I give them a much needed break.

If I were to tell you about her day to day habits I would have to copy every single bit of what Shruthi has written here. She is turning out to be one noisy kid. She is not so keen on playing with toys, but the moment she spots any kid, who is visiting our house moving towards her toys, she manages to reach there before them and starts playing with the toy they wanted to play with. She will see to it that the said kid does not get a single toy in his or her hands for more than a minute. Its not that she does not like playing with other kids, it’s just that she is not ready to hand over her toys to anyone (grrr!!!). We try our best to make her share her toys but no, she would not listen to us one bit. If the kids do not bother about her toys then she has a total blast playing with them. She loves kids who are of her age or slightly bigger than her. Smaller kids are looked upon as though they were mere dolls. And in such cases I would have to keep a close watch, so that she does not land up hurting them.

At last my little kiddo is turning out to be a little girl!! She has started loving her soft toys. Initially soft toys were meant to be chewed upon or used as a mop to clean the floors. The poor souls are getting a better treatment now; she hugs and kisses them when in a good mood. But when she gets a good round of scolding from me for her naughty behavior, she takes a pen or spoon or a stick and waves it threateningly at them and says “Addi- as in I’m going to hit you” after that would come a whole lot of verbal assault which only she would understand.

After dinner when she is ready to hit the bed, we sit with her toys and books for some time. She makes me read her alphabet or fruits & vegetables book to her. On one such day I thought of making it a bit more interesting for her and placed her Teddy in my lap and used the hands of the teddy to point out to the objects I was reading for her. She looked at the teddy in awe and from then on whenever she wanted me to read a book to her she would take the teddy, place it in my lap and tell “Teddy…book ….book”. Now it is graduated on to Winnie book ………

You would know if Jelly is at home from the moment you step into our house. The front room would be all strewn with her toys, oh yes this needs a special mention. As I said earlier she is not crazy about playing with toys, I will tell you what her interest are later in the blog. We have put all her toys in a couple of bags and placed it in a corner of the room, the moment she enters the rooms, she marches up to the bags takes it , carries it to the center of the room and places it there. Once it is placed there she would hold the bottom corner of the bag and empty its contents in a flash. Once this is done she would either use her hands or legs and see it to that the toys would reach every nook and corner of the room. With this also accomplished, she would happily march out of this room to the next room to create a havoc out there (sigh!!!!). No amount of pleading or scolding or threatening seem to stop her from doing this….. Can anyone tell me how to tame this wild little girl????????

Now about how she passes her time in the other rooms, well nothing different, its just that in the dining area it would be spoons or tiny plates and in the kitchen it would be onions or garlic or potatoes who face the same fate as the toys. At any time of the day our house looks like it’s just had a date with a hurricane or tornado.

She is the new found parrot of our house. We just cannot speak anything; the moment we speak she picks up words and repeats them in a flash. Not that she just repeats it; she also knows what we mean when we tell something. I and SM at times have to use code languages to make sure she does not follow what we are talking. She calls her granny (my mom) by her name and when mom makes a straight face you should see what this little imp does. She goes to mom, sits on her lap, keeps her face close to moms face, gives her sweetest smile and calls her “Ammumma” (granny). And as soon as she sees that mom has fallen for her bait, she gives a wide grin and calls her by her name again!!!!!!!

In a couple of days time Jelly is going to be 18 months old that is a year and a half!!!!!! Now I need some help from you experienced moms out there. Jelly still needs her night feeds and I’m just going crazy with it. She wails her life out if I do not feed her. She sleeps with a full tummy of Cerlac but in a matter of about 2-3 hours she is hungry and manages emptying a whole bottle!!! It’s been so long since I have got a full night’s sleep. Please do tell me what worked out for you………..I’m eagerly waiting out here for some true help.

Taking up the Verb-y Tag

2008-06-09T08:17:00.006+01:00

Feeling a little low today, so just thought of taking up this tag from Shruthi just to give my idle mind a good and much needed exercise.......

I am: a fun loving person.
I think: I’m a little crazy.
I know: that the earth is round.
I want: to visit all the continents.
I have: very curly hair.
I wish: to get back to my pre-pregnancy day shape(sigh!!!!).
I hate: curds.
I miss: my college days.
I fear: being alone.
I feel: recharged just looking at Jelly.
I hear: Jelly’s cute laughter even when I’m at work.
I smell: the stale smell from my office AC.
I crave: to be with SM( he is off on a week long trip).
I search: for my old friends on Orkut almost everyday.
I wonder: why there is so much of hatred all around us.
I regret: not becoming SM’s friend earlier in life.
I love: anything that is chocolate flavored (edible of course) :D.
I ache: at the thought of not being able to spend quality time with my old friends.
I care: for people close to my heart.
I am not: an alien.
I believe: in God.
I dance: when I’m all alone.
I sing: when I’m happy.
I cry : when I’m frustrated.
I don’t always : give my best.
I fight : only when I know for sure that I’m right(and that too only to SM).
I write: because my memory is bad.
I win: almost all the Solitaire games I play.
I lose: my patience very soon.
I never: drink and drive ;-).
I always: keep chatting when at work.
I confuse: SM with some crazy logics.
I listen: to music when I drive.
I can usually be found: doing multiple jobs(online chatting, speaking on the phone and doing my work).
I am scared: of Jelly becoming a spoilt brat.
I need: food and oxygen to survive.
I am happy about: the number of friends I’ve made in the blog world.

Hey this was fun, it kind of recharged me for the day. Here I tag Aryan's mom , Mira's mom and anybody ready to take it up.

Travel Diary - Part 2

2008-06-06T07:29:00.009+01:00

By the first half of the first year of our marriage we wanted to take a break from the normal routine and go on a vacation. Both of us enjoy visiting new places and preferably new countries. As we looked at travel options our eyes traveled on the eastern part of the globe. We would not have to travel for long and yet it would be a land we have always wanted to travel to. Air tickets booked, hotels confirmed we were all set to explore 2 beautiful countries at a time……….. Singapore & Malaysia here we come.

We took a flight out of Bangalore to Singapore. We were misled by some folks in Blr that there were frequent train connections from Sin to Kul (Kualalumpur) and the travel time would be about 2-3 hours. On landing into the beautiful Changi Airport we took a metro to the nearest station for continuing our journey to Kul. We reached the station and got to know that the train would be leaving in less than 5 minutes; we quickly purchased the tickets and literally ran towards the train. We reached there just in time and managed to jump into the train which was about to move. We were in for a shock when we came to know that the train journey would take us about 7 hours!!!!!!!! We had the major part of the day wasted in the journey. Not that the journey was bad, but we were disappointed that we would get so much less time in Kul. We could see the landscape changing from the hi-tech city of Sin to the lush green country side of Kul.

We always make it a point when we travel outside India to travel by the mass transport system. Traveling by local busses or trains just helps us to blend with the locals and have a peek into a normal day in their lives. It’s very rare that we take up a taxi ride. On arrival into KL Sentral Station we walked over to the mono-rail station which was a few minutes walk away. We purchased out tickets and took the first elevated train ride of our lives. As we smoothly sailed through the ride we got to see the city. A beautiful city, growing closer by the minute to modernity but still firmly attached to their roots. The city was all decked up, all around we could see offices and shops all beautifully decorated. It was Chinese New Year time!!

By the time we reached the hotel it was nearly 4 pm in the evening. We quickly checked in, rushed to our room and freshened up. Our room was on the 13th floor and from our room we could see the Petrona Towers. Our stomach was growling loudly……did I tell you….. through the whole train journey we could not get anything to eat as there were no stations and we could not find a pantry area in the train. We hit the hotel restaurant for a very late lunch or should I say a heavy snack round :D. Once our tummy’s growling reduced we saw it was too late to go anywhere far. So we went to the travel desk and arranged for our city tour the next morning and went out to explore the near by places on foot.

View of Petrona Towers from our Hotel room.

I was a little disappointed to find the walkways a little dirty with bits of garbage and a huge amount of rotten oranges strewn around. We got to see most of the shops decorated and another thing that we got to see was next to most of the displays there were a couple of oranges arranged. It’s later that we found out that they were auspicious for the Chinese and this being the new year time they had placed it like an offering to the God. After a relishing meal we wound up to our room. With the lights of the room switched off we admired the brilliantly lit up Petrona Towers and the sky line of Kul. Down below we could see the Monorail zooming by silently.

The next morning we were off on our city tour. The tour was on a seat-in-coach basis, so we had a group ranging from kids to people so old that we were in awe on how they manage taking out vacations on their own at this age………….The tour started of at Jalan Tugu - The War Memorial of Malaysia. The main attraction being a huge Bronze statue comprising of 7 men which is dedicated to the men who lost their life for the sake of the country’s freedom. It was a beautiful place, with a very peaceful surrounding. Just the right atmosphere for a War Memorial.

The War Memorial

The next place we were shown was the Menara tower on the way to Merdeka Square. Here we got to see the Sultan Abdul Samad building that houses the present day Court of Law. It’s a beautiful architectural monument constructed during the British rule. Opposite to the building proudly stood a 100 meter flag pole, the one on which the Malaysian flag was hoisted when the country got their freedom from British rule.

Merdeka Square

From there we moved on to see the Royal Palace. Not really cause visitors are not allowed beyond the main entrance, so we could only get a distant view of the palace. We got to click a couple of pictures of the guards, who by the way looked really stately and grand in those uniforms.

Our next stop was at the famous Batik factory. Here we were given a tour of the factory; we got to see how beautifully the prints were made in no time. The creative hands worked wonders on the simple cotton and synthetic materials. We visited the showroom that displayed the different clothing made at the factory. From here our next stop was at the Royal Selangor Pewter factory. On the way we were shown the famous Batu Caves(famous Murugan temple), but unfortunately they did not stop there so we could only view the place from outside. Once at the Pewter factory we were given a full tour of the factory and also the whole process of turning that ordinary looking metal into beautiful show pieces. We were totally new to this metal, but for sure we fell head over heels in love with it. How quickly it set into the shape required from a watery form. As good as it looks; it was a very pricy metal too. The Souvenirs were very inviting but the price tag burnt our tender eyes :D.

Pewter Factory

Our last stop for the day was the main attraction or rather the landmark of Kul- The Petrona Twin Towers. What looked like a beautiful landmark from the cozy comforts of our room was an overpowering building. As we walked closer to it we were in awe. Both of us hurt our neck by trying to look at the tower from its base. The group was given an option of either returning to the hotel in the same coach or we could break journey out there. SM and I decided to break journey and do a little bit of window shopping and of course put some fuel into our empty stomach.

The Petrona - Twin Towers

Chinese Musicians playing some lovely music within the Mall for the Chinese New Year Celebration (It was truly Heavenly.........)

This was our first time in a full fledged mall (this was prior to the Mall boom in Bangalore), we had a good time doing some window shopping. Then we hit the food court, where we got to see stalls with cuisines from all around the world. We were in no mood for experimentation, so landed up eating some delicious Indian food.After a tiring day we returned to out hotel room. We got freshened up and got ready to catch up with some relatives who were settled out in Kul for many decades. They wanted us over for dinner, so we were picked up from our hotel by them and taken to their home which was on the other end of the city.

A very warm family, whom we had never met before made us feel total at home. They wanted to treat us to some local cuisine, so off we went to a local Malay restaurant. The ambience was good, with more than 90% of the crowd being young guys and girls. There were tables where some birthday celebrations were going on; some folks just chilling out and the rest of the crowd were families out for a relaxing dinner. We had a good time minus the fact that the food was not one bit our kind of choice. But the lovely people that they were, we had a perfect ending to a perfect day.

The next day we bid farewell to this beautiful land, a little sad that we should have planned it a little better and stayed on for longer duration. But with a promise that we would come back here on a well planned and longer holiday for sure…………..

She should have been a Goan….

2008-05-26T11:24:00.003+01:00

This weekend saw us attending a wedding of an old friend of mine. As usual the thought of going out with Jelly brought a lot of panic into my ever over stressed brains. I kind of always try to foresee all that is going to happen (negative or positive……….well to be frank more negatives for sure) on any said occasion. So as usual when I remembered that we were supposed to go for the said function, my mind started racing at possible outcomes. What if Jelly is not in a mood to go out? And if ever she is in a mood, will she be fine in the midst of a huge gathering. And if yes will she keep running around the place and make me look like a nerd, all dressed up, swearing and running behind a toddler. If all this goes on well, will the little terror allow me to enjoy the good Manglorean food………. And so on.

Well to get to the details, this friend of mine is a Manglorean Christian (for the sake of this blog let's call him R). We got to know each other some 13-14 years back. We got to know each other through my another friend (P - who again is again a Manglorean). We soon got along well, the 4 of us, the 4th addition being a cute little guy K. We were a gang of notorious foursome. Always up to pranks, never attentive in the class, all thanks to our great friend R.

So back to the details of the evening - we were out to attend the reception dressed in our best, well not in our best…. I have stopped dreaming of being neatly dressed and remain the same way all through the function from the day Jelly was born. I have as a matter of fact nearly stopped wearing “Sarees” when going out with Jelly. I truly adore this Indian attire and love wearing them, but if I dare to wear it when taking her along with us, then even before reaching the venue I would look like I have just finished my job as a part time maid and rushed to attend the function. Ok I’m exaggerating a bit, but she makes it a point to crumple my clothes beyond recognition.

Something seems to be seriously wrong with me today; I’m just going away from the main topic - So when we reached the venue we realised that the reception had just begun after the wedding which was held earlier in the evening in the church. The lively Goan music literally dragged us into the hall. Jelly was quite excited to see the flower decoration at the entrance of the reception hall - not because she likes flowers, but because she likes to tear apart flowers and leaves to tiny shreds.

But hey for a change she was not too keen on pulling those beautiful flowers part. She was more keen on peeping into the hall. I was getting a little excited seeing my daughter behaving in a very good way. I just said a silent prayer in my mind, just hoping that she would allow me to have a good time ahead. And for once my prayers were answered. The moment we entered the hall, we got to see the bride and the bride groom along with family and close friends already playing the wedding games which is a ritual with the Manglorean Christians. They start it with the bride and the bride groom standing face to face holding hands and trying to block the way of relatives or friends ( again a couple) who want to move ahead of them. Once they give way for them, the said couple stand next to the first couple in the same fashion. This continues till the whole crowd of relatives and friends form a huge human chain. At the end of this the bride and the groom have to make their way and reach the stage. Well no function of theirs is complete without the usual loud and peppy Goan music. All along a live band was playing some awesome foot tapping music.

Now the little music lover that Jelly is, she could not restrain herself from it. We made her sit on a counter at the entrance of the hall. The little one started giving a broad smile and was trying to shake her tiny butt while sitting there. She was totally enjoying herself - She clapped her hands in merry, laughed loudly and now wanted to stand on top of the counter. We quickly pulled her off the counter and went into the hall and got seated. Once we were seated she slipped of my lap and went on the floor and then there was no stopping her. Far away from the dancing crowd she clapped her hands and danced away to glory. She would look around at the guests and if she got to see that someone was observing her dance, the performer that she is she would shake her butt a little more. The evening was a truly beautiful one.

About an hour of dancing did not tire this little devil. While leaving from there I said to SM “Looks like she was to be born as a Goan or a Manglorean……by mistake she landed up in our family” That’s when SM added - “Looks like she will find herself a Goan or a Manglorean boyfriend once she grows up..” I was just starting to laugh at it when he added “I will fix her up if she does anything like that………” I told him that its double standards, “You got married to the girl of your choice then why not your daughter?” I did not hear what his reply was because I went deep into my thoughts. She is only 16 months old and we are already thinking about something that will happen 20 and odd years later. Are all parents this way ???????

Travel Diary - Part 1

2008-05-21T08:44:00.015+01:00

This has been long overdue from my side. Not that I had promised anybody about it. I always wanted to keep an account of the places I and SM (and of course Jelly now) have traveled so far, with the pictures and details. Want to do this before my all famous memory stops working completely.

So here I am all set to fly back into the first travel me and SM made together. When the thought of planning for our honeymoon started we had a couple of options in our mind. But what both of us wanted was some time away from the hustle and bustle of a city life. We wanted to get rid of the tiredness of the wedding rituals, the endless flow of relatives and most of all just wanted to spend time with each other and forget the world. So without any confusion both of us zeroed in on “Maldives”. A place that is very close by, yet completely detached from this world.

For the first leg of the journey, We took our flights from Bangalore to Trivandrum (back then the direct flights betweem Bangalore and Maldives had still not started operation). We had to break the journey for 1 night at SM’s uncle’s place as there were no immediate connections from Trivandrum and the earliest connection was for the next day.

So after a short break for the night we took the next morning flight out of Trivandrum to Male. The flight journey was just another routine one, the same old beyond retirement age and grumpy air hostess, same old badly maintained flights and one of the most horrible on flight food I have ever had - all courtesy our very own National Carrier. Remember this was before air travel boom time with just a couple of private players unlike today. This was the only negative side of the trip.

The 1 hour flight had nearly come to an end and we heard the announcement confirming the same. Just as they announced to fasten our seat belts, I looked out of the window and the view was truly a breath taking one. As the flight started descending we could see tiny islands scattered all around. The water was turquoise blue and so clear that we could literally see the shallow sea. As the flight got ready for the landing we could see the runway and that sight was truly one to behold. The runway and the ocean looked only meters away from each other, just like conjoined twins - conjoined all the way from head to toe. There was nothing to hold the water away from the runway!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful sight no doubt but at the same time the landing looked a dangerous feat to attempt.....

When we got out of the airport after the immigration, we got to see that the airport was the only thing on that particular island and when we dug for more information after our return we got to know that 1000 and odd islands formed Maldives of which only about 200 are inhabited and of that nearly 90 were exclusive island resorts……Wow!!!! We had our speed boats ready to take us to our destination………The speedboat transfer took about an hour and the views of the islands that whizzed past were breathtaking. The boat just seemed to glide over the ocean barely touching it a few times during the whole journey.

This is the view that greeted us on our arrival at the resort

Just to note - these photos are scanned images of the photos shot using traditional cameras. Those were the days where simple aim and shoot film cameras ruled the roost and the now famous and convenient digital cameras had not yet made their mark or presence felt amongst us.

Now on to the trip - the resort had two kinds of rooms - Beach Villa and Lagoon Villa. We had opted for the Lagoon Villa - this villa is built on stilts on top of the ocean water. We had to take a tiny bridge to enter the villa. Once we entered the room we just felt like we were air lifted from this world to another world that was totally alien to us. At the other end of the room was a huge glass wall which gave us unhindered view of the vast beautiful ocean ahead of us.

This was the view from our room.

The four days we spent there helped us in recharging ourselves and also getting to know each other better. The food was awesome, both of us were not too interested in sweets or desserts back then, but I guess the credit goes to the restaurant chefs for making us the foodies that we are today.

This was the view from the restaurant.

The island on which this resort was located contained nothing but this resort. When they told us we can take a tour of the island on foot we were a little taken a back. How would it be possible to cover an island on foot? But as we started walking along the shore line we totally felt at ease. And before even we could realize it we had gone round the island and it hardly took us about 15-20 minutes. The island was that small!!!!!

These were some of the pictures taken on one of those walks.

Near sunset time we would sit at our very own private sun deck and enjoy the lovely sunset. From the sun deck there were wooden steps that took us directly into shallow ocean water. This was one of those things which we truly enjoyed. Even though we did not know swimming we would frolick around in the crystal clear waters of the ocean. And if we got tired of that we would sit on the steps and look down into the ocean to either find colorful fishes or sting rays swimming by or just admire the beauty of the coral reefs that was all round the place. Wish we had our current digital camera back then, We could have taken some better pictures I feel.

This was the view from the sun deck.

This is the view of the other Lagoon Villas from our sun deck

One night there were heavy rains and the sound of the waves crashing against the sun deck was a little scary. We went out during the rains just to have a look at nature’s fury. Believe me it was so dark outside and we could hear the loud crashing of the waves on the barrier far ahead. We could feel the pressure of the waves against the stilts of our villa, it was so powerful that we could feel the wooden floor and the building swaying in a very slow fashion. It was a creepy as well as an exciting feeling.

With heavy hearts we were ready to say “Good Bye” to this lovely place after four days. But we did make a promise that we would come back here for sure, probably when our family is complete.

We had a safe journey back with plenty of sweet memories captured in our camera and in our minds.

Mother's Day

2008-05-09T10:10:00.003+01:00

My Post for-Views on Motherhood for Hindustan Times on Desi Momz Club

Dear Desi Momz,
I'm a journalist with the Hindustan Times in Mumbai and I'm working on a story about how mommy bloggers are planning to celebrate Mothers Day this year - on their blogs, at home, with other bloggers etc. So I was wondering if the folks over at DMC would want to speak to me? I'm working on a short deadline so I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!
Cheers,
Riddhi

This was the job to be done, but I’m making a small amendment to it and dedicating this Mother’s Day to this Mom………

She became a mother 39 years ago. She was just 19 years old, I would say really young to understand the whole meaning and responsibility of being one. The marriage happened much against her choice or will but soon she was trying to make the best out of it. With a lot of dreams in mind she entered the institution of marriage. But she was more of an unpaid home nurse for her bed ridden in-laws, a cook for her husband’s siblings. Once she became a mother the child was just another burden on her already heavy shoulders. She could not bring herself to love that beautiful bundle of joy. Her daughter hardly got to experience her mother’s love. After some time the in-laws left the world. Now she slowly started settling down into her tiny family life. That’s when she came to know about another addition into the family.

This time a baby boy was born to her. She tried to make up for the moments lost with the daughter by showering the son with all her love and time. The daughter felt left out for no obvious fault of hers. She found solace in her mom’s younger sister’s family. She was a major part of that household. The children grew up in the same pattern, with mother showering all her love and time on the son and nearly minimal of the same to the daughter. For the same reason the daughter also hardly felt any attachment towards her mother.

Time passed on and the children grew up well educated, with good jobs and got married. After the daughter had a son of her own, her mother loved and completely spoilt her grandson. The vacuum in the daughter’s mind started vanishing bit by bit. Then something happened that completely changed the lives of all of them.

The mother was detected with Cancer. The little distance what was there between the mother and daughter melted down. The son left his job in another city to be by his mother’s side. It was 2 years back that this happened. From that day the mother and children have built up a good bond. The moment they finish their work, the children rush to be by her side. She was able to do all her day to day household chores without an external help. But the past few days have been really heavy on the family. Her cancer has reached such a stage that there is nothing that can save her life.

Now she is hospitalized and under medication, to just ease her out of the physical pain. Her children are always by her side. As she is unable to talk the family sits by her side all the time and talk to her. The doctors have told that it’s helping her a lot. Mentally she is at such peace, probably which she did not experience all her life. She knows what she lost out with her daughter cannot be made up, but she is trying her best to make up by wanting her daughter to be by her side day and night.

This Mother’s Day I would like to ask God to ease her off her pains and worries. Let the children get all the courage to support their mother through the worst.

The Mother I’m talking about is my aunt. In whose house most of my weekends were spent during my childhood days. She is an awesome cook, a very creative person, a lady of few words……….What do I say about her. Just wishing that she does not have to suffer any more…

“Happy Mother's Day aunty !”

It's Been A Long Time !

2008-05-05T05:55:00.003+01:00

Yes, It’s been a long time since I have written a blog . My computer is just recovering from a major health problem called “Virus”, so not been able to blog for quite some time now. Jelly keeps us active and laughing with her cute pranks. There is not a place she does not reach, including climbing the windows from the cot. She loves to chatter all the time. Either she is trying to repeat whatever we talk or if that’s not easy for her at least imitate us. At times I and SM speak in English so she is trying to pick up a few words from that too.

Aryans mom has tagged me with some homework. So here I’m taking up the tag and continuing the post. This seems like one big tag so I have kept a bottle of juice and some snacks to last a whole day; I need some strength to do this ;-)

Last movie you saw in a theatre: Salaam Namaste (I know you guys are giving me a real good stare …… but that’s how we are…..not at all a movie buffs)…..but catch the latest movies on DVD ;)
What book are you reading: Been a lazy bum ……. Not read a book in ages :D
Favorite board game: Snake and Ladder
Favorite magazine: Reader’s Digest
Favorite smell: Jelly and SM after a bath.
Favorite sounds: Jelly’s laughter and the pitter patter of the first rain.
Worst feeling in the world: Not being able to spend quality time with my loved ones.
What is the first thing you think of when you wake up: Thank God! Jelly slept peacefully last night or as in most days, why the hell was she so cranky last night.
Favorite fast food place: Any place that offers value for money, tasty and spicy food.
Future child’s name: Are you kidding!!!!!!!! Not another one………we 2 our 1.
Finish this statement- “If I had a lot of money I’d….”: Invest half for the future and use the rest to travel round the world.
Do you drive fast: Only if I’m in a hurry.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? : Been used to it for 3 and a half year with SM and past 1 and a half year with Jelly :D
Storms- cool or scary?: Cool if I’m in a safe place , else scary.
What was your first car: I’ve never owned one, but traveled around the most in SM’s Bolero.
Favorite drink: Café Frappe from Coffee day on a hot summer day( never mind it any time of the year )
Finish this statement-“If I had the time I would….”: Do some glass painting or fabric painting.
Do you eat the stems on a broccoli?: Nooooooooo, never eat a broccoli too.
If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?: Burgandy
Name all the cities/towns you have lived in:Bangalore…..all my life, for vacations Alleppy in Kerala and my longest stay outside India, in Paris for a month(wish I could go back there some day)
Favorite sports to watch: None
One nice thing about the person who sent this to you: Never met or spoke to her but feel like I’ve known her for a very long time.
What’s under your bed?: Floor.
Would you like to be born as yourself again?: Yes of course, just with better brains, looks and wealth :D
Morning person or night owl?: Morning person.
Over easy or sunny side up?: Hmmm got to give it a thought.
Favorite place to relax: Wherever I could cuddle on to SM and Jelly at the same time.
Favorite pie: Finding it hard to decide which I like the most ………
Favorite ice-cream flavor: No confusions on this one…………..Chocolate!
Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s likely to respond first?: Mira’s mom probably…………..

Phew!!! I need another bottle of juice now and hey where did my snacks go?????????

15 Months Update.

2008-04-07T09:05:00.002+01:00

Continuing the “News from this part of the world” as Jelly’s 15 months update……

Yes my dear little Jelly has completed 15months……………how time flies………..its really hard for me to digest the fact that as each day goes by she is becoming a more independent toddler.

The “Mary had a little lamb” syndrome still continues out here. The moment I step into home my little lamb follows me to every nook and corner of the house. The first thing on the agenda as I enter the house is to carry her; if I just go to keep my helmet in its place then I can hear a loud wail in the background. As soon as I carry her I get showered with a million kisses and a tight hug. The funny part is that she looks at her grandparents as soon as she does this………probably trying to show off that “See I’m at last with my mummy!!!!” This tiny action makes me forget the whole day’s tiredness.

If I enter the kitchen to make or drink tea then it’s for sure that she will be in between my legs or clinging on to my neck. Right before or after this is the time she looks forward to, even if her tummy is completely stuffed with her evening snacks the little one wants me to feed her. More that the feeding it’s her bonding time with me. She feeds for a few minutes and what follows is just pure playtime. She does not allow me to get up, I have to lie down on the bed and she climbs all over me, cuddles me , kisses me, bites me, rides a horse or an elephant on my tummy and God knows what ……….

As days are rolling by she is turning out to be a big spoilt brat……….all courtesy her grandparents. Anything she does is totally adorable for them………and neither I nor SM are supposed to scold her or even give her a stern look. The end result being she has her way in everything and if ever things don’t go her way just a loud wail will help things happen(Grrr!!!)

Her vocabulary has increased very well. She understands every bit of what we speak and this we know by the actions that follow our talks. She has kept pet names for each one of us …………..especially me and SM. She calls me Ammi, Ammini, Ammeyi etc and SM Atha, Athae.

Life as a mom of a toddler is not all roses but I’m still enjoying every bit of it. There are times when I really loose my cool………. Like when in the nights even though sleepy she would not be ready to sleep or the time when she creates a fuss for not being allowed to play with the mobile charger or worse the time she would completely soak her nappy but would not allow anyone to give her a nappy change.But the moment I see her sleeping or the moment she cuddles me and just looks into my eyes with love, I just melt away………….Motherhood is the best blessing a Women could ever get………

News from this part of the world.....

2008-04-04T11:13:00.003+01:00

It's high time I got a good whack……Been so long since I gave an updateon Jelly's developments. With the poor memory that I have, will neverbe able to remember half the things what happen out here and tellJelly about it a couple of years down the lane. So its better that Ido some regular updating here.

When I was expecting Jelly and went through days and months of morningsickness (which went on from morning to evening) I thought "Life couldnot be worse than this". Later on when she was born and put me throughendless sleepless nights and painful feeding sessions, I startedfeeling life was a piece of cake during pregnancy when compared towhat I'm going through right now. As days went by and as it is stillmoving on, the days gone by have been the best possible moments whencompared to the present. Ok, I know I'm bugging you guys with my crazytalks.

Back to the updates………..Jelly has turned out to be one hell of anenergetic toddler. She never sits down for more than 1 minute. Nowthat her grandpa is back at home, she has complete fun through theday. He has a very good knowledge of stories from Ramayan, Mahabharatand other Epics's; and Jelly loves listening to his stories. If weshow her picture books or any other book it either goes into her mouth or the more weaker books get torn into pieces. But with him she isvery different……………the moment he sits down with the news paper sheruns to him, motions him to pick her up and place her on the sofa infront of him with the paper laid out. He reads the news to her and sheeither listens to him carefully or in her baby language pretends to bereading the news!!! If we try to do the same, the paper would be torninto a million pieces that it would put even an office paper shredderto shame (grrrrrr!!!). Wonder how he manages to keep her quiet.

She has seen an elephant only once during her baby days, but her crazefor them are out of the world!!! She just loves me singing "AaneBanthond aane …." A kannada song which I had learnt during mykindergarten days. The moment I start singing it she wants to bepicked up and placed on my lap. As soon as she is firmly seated, shestarts swaying from left to right just an elephant would do. Not beenable to figure out from where she got the exact walking style of anelephant. Her craze for this animal seems to have come to her from herdad; he was, is and will forever have this unbelievable craze for anelephant as long as he lives. She loves to ride on our backspretending that we are her elephants. The fun part comes when we benddown or sit on the floor or bed, she comes to us with lightening speedand tries to climb our back and say "Aaana aaana…." She would notstop it till we gave her the ride……

She had been sick for some time with a bad case of tummy upset, justrecovering now………but through her sickness I realized that even thoughshe is more of a daddy's girl (looks and habits in particular) she hasgot one habit from me……………not to feel all low when sick. SM gets aslight cough or cold and he takes it to the bed and will be in a foulmood till he is completely recovered(I can see him giving me an angrylook for making his habit public out here). I'm totally opposite tothat, I hate being in bed even when I'm really very sick………….and mydear Jelly seems to have taken after me. She has been so sick that 1night she was throwing up every half hour to 1 hour's time. But in themorning she did not act like a sick baby at all, kept on with herpranks as usual. Followed by it was more than a week of loose bowelmovements for about 4-5 times a day. Not a single day did I see hersit or lie down quietly(touch wood). She lost a good amount of herweight but has still remained to be the bundle of energy that she is.At times we would beg her to sit and take some rest but that just fellto deaf ears.

I guess this update went a way too long and I can see you guys yawingout there. So the rest for the next post……………….

A Letter To My Dad......

2008-03-31T05:37:00.002+01:00

I very clearly remember the first time I met my dad or rather saw him. My eyes were just getting adjusted with the new environment around. The lights in the room were too bright for me to keep my eyes fully open. But from the corner of my eye I could see my mom, the person who had carried me around for the earlier 9 months of my life. She looked at the door of the room with a tired but excited smile. It was then I saw a person standing in front of my crib. He just looked and looked at me in awe. The first words he uttered were ”Oh my God , Look at her!! She is soooooooo cute, look at her skin it looks so delicate and near to transparent too.”

Little did I know that he was my Dad? In the days to come I got to see him often. But that was limited to the times when he would come to my Granny’s house on the way back from his work. Come weekends and I would get to see him more often and for longer durations. He would sit by my side not knowing what to speak to me or how to play with me or for that matter even hold me. I would not blame him because this was his first chance with a new born baby.

After 3 months of my life on earth we went to “our home”. It’s from then that I got to know him better. After dinner when we went to our room it would be just the 3 of us - mom, dad and me. As I got to know him better he got to know me better too. He loves his sleep to the core. At any said point of the day he would be ready for a nap or even a good sleep. But after I came into his life, all hell broke loose. The naughty one that I am would never sleep in the night. There were days when I would cry and cry like there’s no end. He would forego his sleep and take out the car and take me and mom for a long drive, at the end of which I would sleep tight. For my mid-night feeds he used to wake up and still wakes up to fill the bottle and give it to mom so that the whole process is not too heavy on her.

Now that I have become naughtier and interactive compared to my baby days, Dad and I have a blast in the evenings after he returns from work. We do have our rounds of tussles too but hey what is life without some up’s and down’s. I drive him crazy at times that he gives me a tiny whack on my tiny butts. But the moment I’m asleep he comes by my side , kisses me and tell mom ”Just look at her ! The kid who is a major terror through the day looks like an angel when asleep………….”

What can I say to this person who helped mom to not just to bring me into this world, but is also helping me to mould my life in a better and stronger way to face this competitive world…………………………….I know I have not given a great start to your day but still ”Happy Birthday Athe!!!!!!

Tons of Umma
Jelly..........(Ok from Amma too, without her help I would not be able to post this letter to You )

Crazy 8 Tag

2008-03-04T07:35:00.003Z

Inspired by Moppets mom I’m taking up her tag as Jelly’s 14 month update. It’s been really long since I updated about her. So here goes the Crazy 8 tag from Moppets mom.

8 Things Jelly is passionate about:
1. Aooo as in Aero plane. The moment she hears the low pitched roar of a random aeroplane flying above, we have to rush out of the house with her, for her to get a view of it, else all hell breaks loose.....
2. Eating anything off the stove in whatever state it is - cooked or uncooked.
3. Tractor- takta as she calls it.
4. Jumping outside the main door in a fraction of a second and crawling in the veranda when she can very well walk.
5. Plucking flowers off the creepers that are in the verandha and in a second making a paste of it, then asking for another one.
6. Hiding behind curtains and playing peek-a- boo.
7. Making grandpa an elephant and riding on his back.
8. Me of course, it’s gone to such an extent that SM keeps singing “Mary had a little lamb”.

8 Things she does that drives me/us crazy:
1. Not allowing me to even use the toilet once I’m back home from work .
2. Even though she is hungry, she absolutely refuses to stay in a place and eat.
3. She loves her formula but refuses to drink it when awake.
4. Hates to change her clothes, if she is undressed we go nuts to dress her and vice versa.
5. No toy is supposed to be in the toy bag. It has to be strewn around the room, the best part being she never plays with a single toy.
6. She loves to imitate people, well it is fun but imagine you cannot even cough or sneeze without this one following your actions.
7. The moment she notices any clothes neatly folded and piled she has to open it and use it to mop the floor.
8. The moment she does something naughty she gives a very sheepish grin or starts crying (well actually acts like she is crying), just so that we don't scold her for her antics.

8 Things Jelly says often:
1. Amma(when she has some work that needs my help)
2. Attha!(Complaining about her dad scolding her)
3. Appa(her grandpa)
4. Kaaka(crow)
5. Kaa(Car)
6. Bow bo(Dog)
7. Aoo(aeroplane),Aata(Auto),Takta(tractor)
8. The most frequent being Taata(tata for going out).

8 Books Jelly read recently:
1. My vegetables book(it actually tastes better than the veggies I give her I suppose)
2. Any book that is easy to be torn into bits.
3. Books than can be sent flying from one end to the other end of the room.
4-8. I have decided not to buy any books till she develops some interest towards it unlike the above.

8 songs Jelly listens to over and over
1. Do you wanna partner (from Partner).
2. Darde Disco (OSO)
3. Bhool Bhulaiya title track
4. Nagada(Jab we met)
5. Hum to Aise Hain - Laaga Chunari Mein Daag
6. Twinkle Twinkle( in my horrible voice)
7. Chubby cheeks(again in my dirty voice)
8. Kuch Iss Tarah(theme song of one of the serials on Sony Tv, even if she has started dozing this song would make her stand up and shake her little butt to it)

Her choice of music is totally out of the world, she loves those loud item numbers and all of us at home love soft melodies. No Idea where she got this from??

8 Things that makes Jelly the person she is:
1. The most attractive smile that can melt any heart, even if it come after something really naughty.
2. Total foodie just like the dad; loves to keep munching on assorted snacks.
3. Quick witted, imitates people at a lightening speed.
4. A true loud speaker, one scream can make the whole neighborhood wonder what is happening in the household (her way of getting things done her way).
5. Just started walking a month ago but runs around the house in lightening speed now.
6. Hates being carried or even touched by strangers but at the same time loves to put up a show of her talents in front of them.
7. Loves to cuddle and to be cuddled (a very positive change in her cause she completely hated it for the first 7-8 months).
8. As soon as any of us lie down she manages to climb on our tummy and starts riding an imaginary horse or elephant.

8 People I think should do this tag (Kids or Moms, whichever way you like to do it)
Shruthi
Aryan’s Mom
Rohini

My list kind of ends there , so anybody reading this could take it up the tag along with the above 3.

When Terror Struck

2008-02-26T09:41:00.001Z

Not long ago, not far away was a place or rather a house in which 4 people lived. There was a peaceful silence surrounding the house. Not a thing in the house was out of place. Not a speck of dirt or dust could be found there. The people in the house went on with their day to day work in a very systematic way. They woke up early in the morning, cooked, ate and left on time to work. It was all so good to be true.

Then came a day when the ruling party changed. No there were no elections that took place. A dictator came and took the rule in her hands. Yes, “Her” she kind of just snatched the power off the hands of the present ruler. Not a single soul could raise their voice against her. She had her way of getting work done as per her whims and fancy.

The age old empire crumpled in front of the old rulers eyes and there was little he could do to stop the change in power. He could not be blamed, he was helpless. He was a ruler who would just give a stern look and the rest of the residents would meekly move to a corner and silently obey. But now the tables had turned.

The new ruler has been ruling for more than a year. It’s total chaos at any point of time in the house now. There are either loud wails or laughter to be heard. The rooms are all in a mess. At any said time of the day the rooms look like a violent storm had passed through it destructing everything in its way. The floor of every room had the ruler’s stuff strew around. And nobody is brave enough to clear the floor; else they would have to bear up with the violent reaction from her.

There was a time when the old ruler would think a million times before laughing or even smile at something. But with change in rule things have changed so much now that you could hear the loud laughter of the old king. He is found singing songs, telling stories, listening to hip hop numbers and at times becoming an elephant and carrying the new princess on his back. The old ruler’s wife can be seen running behind the princess waiting for orders and commands. The old ruler’s son can be seen dancing to the latest bolloywood numbers. His wife could be seen running around the house behind the princess trying to feed her or keep her clean by giving her a bath.

This is the condition of the house where a dictator called “Jelly” attacked. The Jelly rule seems to be increasing in leaps and bounds as each day passes by.

Size Does Matter !!!

2008-02-25T05:36:00.002Z

Past few days have kept me busy with some “Shopping”, yes you heard me right “shopping” something I hate doing for the life in me. I know the next question coming is - then why I’m doing something I just don’t enjoy.

Well the firm that I work for requires us to wear uniforms (sigh!). But the fun part is that our uniforms change every year and we are given the freedom to choose what color we want to wear. Being in the service industry we have to wear clothes that make us look professional. We have been having sarees and western formal wear as our uniform all these years. But this year all of us decided that we have had enough of sarees and thought of going in for only Western formal wear. That’s when the entire problem started.

Two of my colleagues are on the higher side of the weighing scale. Not that I have an enviable figure, but I can quite well squeeze myself into some normal looking clothes. We started our uniform hunting from one of the famous shopping chains in India. Our string of bad luck started from there - from this year, they did not have a stock of formal shirts and blazers. So with no choice left I and my colleague moved over to another famous clothes chain. We looked out and found some good formal wear. But the happiness we felt at that moment was short lived, because the biggest size they had in the store would just fit a lady a size bigger than me. We said good bye to them and hopped over to the next shop. Well this also was a famous one with over 5-6 outlets only in my city and many more similar ones in the whole of the country.

We hopped in, found a shirt of our choice and were shocked to find the same story repeating here too. It was a true shock for me. In a place where I find at least 4 out of 10 people who are on the heavier side, shops don’t just stock clothes for such people. There were clothes which looked so tiny that I had a doubt if even “Jelly” would fit into it. They have casual wear for people who are on the heavier side but not formal wear. It’s truly crazy!!! What do such people do? Go around without any clothes? Or try and squeeze themselves into clothes that are way too small for them and look awful?

Believe me, we went hopping and jumping from one shop to another for more than half a day with no results. Why this had to happen to me? I don’t mind shopping, provided I have to just go to the shop where I want to buy a particular stuff which I have planned months in advance :D. I hate whiling away time in shops just making the sales guy display one product after another and after the whole ordeal leave the shop without purchasing anything(Grrrrrrr).

Finally we had to go get some shirt material and found a tailor to stitch the shirts for us. Has anybody gone through a similar situation????????

Latest Updates

2008-02-07T11:43:00.000Z

I’ve been missing from the scene for some days now. I’m alive and all’s fine in this part of the world. New work (as in just a change in the job profile) kept me busy for some time. Now I’m kind of settled down into this routine.

Last weekend saw us attending for the very first time after Jelly was born a full fledged wedding. It was a common friend’s wedding. It was absolutely great to be in a place where I could get to see people I have known from my childhood days. There where friends whom I had met during my pre-university days, friends from my degree days and mostly the ones from the degree days who have still remained to be in touch.

It was a typical south Indian wedding and Jelly had a blast with the traditional wedding music playing in the background. She enjoyed looking at the lights and flower decorations. Something she did not enjoy much was strangers coming over and trying to carry her. Once the music stopped she wanted to be let on the floor to crawl. It was really difficult to hold her back from dirtying her clothes. So once we started restricting her movements she started getting a little uneasy or rather cranky…..But in short it was an enjoyable day.

After a whole year of Jelly being born we went to a studio and got a “Family Portrait” done………………now that the family is complete :D. It was true fun. The photographer had a tough time making all the three of us look at the camera at the same time. Once he would tell me “Chin down, look left……..no not that much, chin up a bit ……..ok ok that’s fine” and then would go on to SM and repeat similar orders to him but where his orders failed was with Jelly. She made him run from left to right with the camera to get that perfect shot. And hey it was a perfect shot. The pictures came out really awesome. We have decided to do this every year around her birthday to just keep a track of how much she has grown (and how fat we have become).

Jelly has been walking a few paces unassisted and when she does it expects us to leave all our work, look at her and of course appreciate the great work she has done. She has started showing a strong preference to solid food. By no means is she ready to drink milk during the day. We have been having a tough time on what to feed her. Anybody reading this could please suggest with any healthy solids that can be given to a 1 plus toddler……that just made me realize my baby is no longer a baby but a toddler now. I have been waiting all this while for her to start walking, talking and in short grow up and now that she is there I am missing her baby days……………Am I being a little too crazy? No idea……

A-Z About Me

2008-01-29T07:38:00.000Z

Tagged by Aryan’s mom. Get a closer look at my A-Z’s

A - Available? Yes any time but only for SM and Jelly
B-Best friend: SM for sure
C-Cake or Pie? Cake Cake and only Cake and only Chocolate Cake
D-Drink of choice: Cold Coffee
E-Essential thing used everyday: Besides clothes my deo
F-Favorite color: Black
G-Gummi bears or worms: Gummi bears for sure
H-Hometown: Kerala
I-Indulgence: Pastries-Could die or kill for it.
J-January or February: Jan, Jelly dear was born in Jan
K-Kids and names: One and only one Jelly
L-Life is incomplete without: My love, Jelly, family and friends
M-Marriage date: June 1
N-Number of siblings: None, my parents were not ready to take up another risk :D
O-Oranges or apples: Oranges
P-Phobias: Do you think I will let out the secret
Q-Quote: “Live life like there is no tomorrow”
R-Reason to smile: All that I have in life today
S-Season: Winter, can snuggle up with SM on the pretext of the weather ;-)
T-Tag three people: Any three people who read my blog , one for sure being Shruthi
U-Unknown fact about me: I’m a human
V-Vegetable you do not like: Tomatoes
W-Worst habit: Want to lose weight but cannot stop my craving for desserts
X-x-rays you have had: Chest
Y-Your favorite food: Chicken Biryani(just the thought of it makes my mouth water)
Z-Zodiac: Leo the lioness

Phew!! Done with it. My God Aryan’s mom you surely gave me a brain massage.

Reflections Of My Mind

2008-01-28T06:39:00.000Z

Never been a movie buff, but this weekend got to watch a movie that just touched my heart. Not one to feel emotional after watching a movie but this movie just made me sit back and think “How much every single family has to sit together and watch this one".

I’m speaking about “Taare Zameen Pe”. Not giving a review of the movie out here. Just felt like putting up a post on how close to our hearts this movie can get. It’s not one for people who just want some masala entertainment for 2-3 hours.

Aamir Khan has played the role of the teacher very well but it is Darsheel Safary who brings out the over pressurized child in every one of us. Not sure if he understood the kind of role he is playing but he has lived the character to the best of his ability. Agreed they have made the movie with a little bit of the Bollywood masala to keep the crowd on their seats but otherwise it’s a movie that raises many questions in our minds.

We as humans have so much of expectations from people close to us. Our parents had and still have high expectations from us. They want us to be the best in all that we lay our hands on. It’s not about my parents or some other parents in particular. To be really frank even I and SM already seem to be having some expectations from Jelly, not academically. We expect her be much more well behaved, without throwing tantrums in the public. We expect her to be like other kids who are very friendly with every stranger or even be more manageable at nights etc.

When is it that we start expecting things from our children? The movie made me look at Jelly in a totally new light. As a completely different individual, someone who already has a mind of her own. And hey she is just over a year old and how could we expect her to behave like a mature adult. She is still not old enough to even speak out what she is going through. When we go out on a long outing she gets cranky after a while. It can just be that she is tired or hungry or not feeling comfortable to sleep with a lot a noise in the background…….It could just be anything. But we get frustrated that our outing is not happening as we had planned and get all worked up. Is this not having crazy expectations from a 1 year old?

Not sure if I have been able to convey the kind of feelings or thoughts I had in my mind when I started typing this post. But just felt like sharing my thoughts in random to people who are brave enough to read my blog. But if you have a few hours to spare do watch this movie it might just change your perspective on how to raise your children.

A Beautiful Evening

2008-01-22T11:28:00.000Z

It was a beautiful evening. The sun was just a soft glow far away in the horizon. The clouds just seemed to be pushing the sun out of view at one end of the sky. At the other end the moon was pushing aside the clouds and coming into view and making us feel its presence. Birds were chirping and in a mad rush to reach their nests and call it a day.

I sat by the window a hot cup of coffee in my hands. Soothing music played in the background. Somewhere far away I could hear the whistle of a train as it made its way past the busy city.

Life could not be better than this. The peace that was surrounding me was too good to be true. Never felt so relaxed after Jelly was born. Nothing on this earth could spoil this time I was spending with myself.

All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain on my right forearm. What was it that was causing this severe pain? I could feel the blood rushing down from my brain into my hands. I did not know if I was bleeding. But I was unable to see anything. Why was it so dark all of a sudden? Why was I feeling this haunting silence all around? What was happening?

Right in between all this confusion I could feel something tender touch me and from the corner of my eye I found Jelly sitting up in between her sleep and take a good portion of my skin in her tiny hands and give me a sharp pinch. That’s when I came back to reality and realized what peace I felt earlier was just a “Dream” and the sharp pain I felt was Jelly trying to wake me up asking for her midnight feed (sigh!)

Picture of the year 2007

2008-01-14T06:15:00.000Z

Taken up a tag from Shruthi of http://nychthemeron.blogspot.com/ and posting my favorite picture of the year 2007.

A sunset shot taken from the banks of the backwaters in Kerala.

The reason I chose this picture as the picture of the past year……….The first vacation taken out with family and friends after “Jelly” was born. Another reason I chose this picture was because I got into the frame a houseboat sailing by as the sun was getting all ready to take a dip into the peaceful ocean far away.

We had a great vacation both at the houseboat and the resort. During the 4 days of the vacation we lost complete touch with the outer world, we were forever surrounded by water and just water. Jelly totally freaked out at the kids pool in the resort, she was just 8 months old but still managed to have a blast.

It will be one vacation that will remain in my memory forever……………..

Anybody reading this could take up the tag and let us enter your world through your pictures.

Birthday Bash!!

2008-01-07T11:33:00.000Z

Hi everyone, it’s me Jelly again. I just sneaked in here to put up a post on my birthday bash without mom’s knowledge. She’s busy back at work so thought I will do the honors.

My day (or rather midnight) started on a very sweet note. I guess it was somewhere close to 1am. Mom was fast asleep and I just started feeling hungry, so I sat up and tried to wake mom out of her slumber. But hey, what's the fun in waking her up so peacefully ;-). So I just clear my throat and let out a loud wail. Mom literally sat up in shock, put me back to my sleeping position filled my empty stomach and patted me back to sleep. When she thought I have slept, she quietly placed a loving kiss on my cheek and said ”Happy Birthday Sweetie”. That was the first time I heard those words ”Happy Birthday”. I went back to sleep not able to understand what it meant.

It was around 6:40 in the morning when mom woke up and whispered in my ear that I was born into this world last year around the same time on the same date and again wished me “Happy Birthday”. That’s when I started getting an idea what it all meant. I just went back to sleep and knowing that today being a Sunday mom will not rush to work. I had a very deep sleep till 8 am. Daddy sneaked into the room when i was still slepping (that's what they think)and gently planted some kisses on my cheeks and forehead and said "Oh!! see our baby is already a year old" and just kept looking at me with all the love in his heart. It’s only when mom pushed aside the curtains and let the morning sun rays to enter the room that I woke up(officially ;-) ).

After going upstairs grandpa and grandmom came over and wished me. I had my share of tit bits from everybody’s breakfast plate, crawled around the whole house, especially the kitchen where there was a lot of work happening in a hurry (and lot of things for me to pick up and throw :D )

Mom was busy answering phone calls and telling “Thank you” to so many people. All were asking for me but the cruel mom that she is, did not give the phone to my hands, she switched on the speaker and let me hear their voices and let me tell things I wanted to tell them. Unfortunately no body could understand what I was trying to tell .So mom helped them out by telling what she could understand (sigh!!! the pain of being a child).

After a bath and feed I just started feeling so tired and sleepy that I slept almost immediately. After more than an hour’s sleep I woke up to see mom blowing air into balloons. Yippie!!! Balloons they are so colorful, I just love them. But dad and mom would not let me touch them at first, but you know how adamant I can get at times (he he he) So mom was forced to give 1 balloon into my hands. Then dad and mom took me to the room where all of them keep eating, they call it something like “Dining area”. I was in for a big surprise the room that is quite boring for me on any day looked very bright and colorful with balloons and streamers. Mom told me the streamer hanging on the wall read “Happy Birthday”.

A little later mom and dad went out and came back with a huge box. When they opened the box I found the most adorable “Phoooo” (Winnie the phoo) on a cake. With the cake came so many people, some whom I have met earlier some whom I have never seen before. My grandparents (mom’s mom and dad) also came along. Mummy made me wear a beautiful pink frock. They lit a candle on the cake and asked me to blow it (phew!! A tough job for me) Then mom and dad held my hand and made me cut the cake.

Then came the yummy part of the day…..one after the other all of them fed me bits of the cake, which I totally enjoyed. The rest of the day went on equally great with loads of friends and relatives of mom and dad coming over, wishing me and giving me so many gifts. Even though mom and dad kept telling everybody on the phone that we are not having a party, people kept coming in till late in the night.

I never thought that “Birthdays” are so much fun else I would have asked dad and mom to keep my birthday every other day ;-)

PS: Overheard Dad telling mom yesterday - Now that “Jelly” has completed a year we could give her a few whacks if she gets very troublesome. That’s a little scary for me. Please friends, tell mummy and daddy not to do anything like that cause I’m the most adorable and loveable child in town.

A Year gone by........

2008-01-04T09:39:00.000Z

Looking back at year 2007,it was one that had a lot of anticipations, hopes, and fears, learning, a lot of understanding and the best one, being a mother.

If I just look back to last year this time - I was counting days, hours and minutes to my due date. The date given was 7 Jan but people around put me into the waiting mode right from mid December. So by the time it was Jan I just wanted things to happen soon. But the little devil that Jelly is, she decided to come only a day prior to my due date.

Becoming a mother just put me on a roller-coaster ride. Plenty of ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns (Sigh!!!!!) I know that this is just the starting phase and I have a lot more to see and experience.

Its been a year since my dear “SM” gradually transformed from a totally silent person to the “Dad” who sings and dances for his daughter (LOL) It’s a big shock for me cause for the 8-9 years that I have known him, its unlike him to hum a song or tap his feet to some music. If ever he did hum a song it would be when only the both of us were around. But now I truly cherish those moments when “Jelly” would be cranky at meal times and just to make her laugh and eat her food he would try to shake his body to the tunes of Himesh Reshamiya, Kailash Kher and many more like that.

He gets angry with “Jelly” when she gets a little too fussy or irritated. But if I get a little angry on her or scold her when she gets unruly, he scolds me saying ‘Why are you getting angry on my poor darling, she‘s only a baby….”(Uff!!!!!!)

“Jelly” is going to be a year old this weekend and it just feels like a few moments ago I had her in my hands for the very first time. She hates crowds and so we thought of sparing her from the pain of a “Birthday Party”. It’s just going to be a silent day with just both the set of grandparents and us(something she truly enjoys the most)

As we are already nearing the first weekend of this year I look forward to a year in which “Jelly” would become a more independent than the previous year. She would learn to take life in the best way. Learn many more new things, be able to express herself better, and most important grow up to be a great human being.

"Happy New Year" everyone……………

Latest Updates From Jelly's Kingdom

2007-12-20T10:48:00.000Z

Every single day in this part of the world is a mad rush. Our day starts when our alarm goes off anywhere from 5am to 7am(the alarm – Jelly). I’ve never seen her wake up in a cool way, she always literally jumps and sits up as soon as she wakes up…………believe me it looks sooooooooo cute. She takes about 5 minutes to actually wake up. She sits and sways till she is wide awake (by which time I and SM would be ROFL)

Coming back to the updates let me list out “Jelly’s” developments in the 12th month.

Tooth: Jelly has sprouted 3 teeth, 2 on the upper jaw and 1 little stub on the lower jaw. She has learnt to use it quite well too. If we give her anything to eat she pushes the food with her tongue to the front where her tooth is and nibbles on it like a rabbit. And of course she has learnt to bite quite well too. The only scapegoat available for her is poor me (sigh!). The moment I reach home from work she clings on to my neck and give a good bite on my cheeks…

Vocabulary: She has added a few more words into her tiny list of words. The best for me being “Amma” which she does not use liberally, it’s meant only for those precious moments when she wants to get some work done from me (aaagrh!!!!). Calls her dad “Attha”, her grandpa “Appu”, at times for dog “Bow Bow”, for the crow “Kaa” .If she want something or she wants to go near something she tells “Baa”. The most frequent words she uses is “Adhu aaya” (for who is that or even for what is that)

Bath: She enjoys her bath unlike her earlier days when she would scream her lungs off from the moment we would apply oil to her till we pat her dry. Now the tables have turned and she starts crying the moment we take her out of her tub (sigh!!!!!!) She love to splash in her tub so much that at the end of her bath I look completely messy….

Food: The moment she sees her bowl of food, its hard to keep her doing what she has been doing till then. She needs to be fed immediately. But after a couple of spoons she rolls over and goes on to play. So now I strap her up on her bouncer for her feeds :D. She loves to have tit bits from what we eat. Totally relishes on raisins, biscuits, chips, pappads or anything else we eat. Her milk feeds have reduced and solid feeds have increased.

Physical activities: Let it be day or night, when she is awake or when asleep she is always moving around. She stands on her own for a few seconds and shakes her bootie to some catchy Bollywood numbers. Even when she is sitting she does this as soon as some peppy music starts playing anywhere in the background.

The development I enjoy the most is that she loves to be cuddled now (which she never allowed me to do till date). She lies down silently waiting for me to cuddle her, or tickle her tummy, or (when the devil in me wakes up) bite her chubby cheeks…………

That’s all with the news from Jelly’s kingdom.

PS: Posting will be off for more than a week as we will be off on a vacation. The rest of the news from this part of the world will be updated next year.

Happy Holidays !!!!!!!!

Lost for words.....

2007-12-13T11:39:00.000Z

I’m lost for words, how do I begin?

What is that I thank you first for? Is it for allowing me to be a part of your beautiful world? Or is it for all the love you have given and still continue to give? Or is it for the support you always given me for the decisions I make?

I still remember the day we first met……..Those beautiful days of college life…….when we became the best of friends in just a matter of days after getting to know each other. Our friendship grew to become a really mature relationship. You were that friend who would be able to read every single emotion on my face. It’s not that we spent the whole day together………just a few moments were enough for you to know what’s happening in my life.

It’s hard for me to tell even to this day when I fell in love with you my friend. I had a hundred questions going through my mind……..the most important being “Will I lose my friend?…….. if you came to know that I had started to love you to an extent where I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you”. I got the answer when our common friend S told me that even “my friend” felt the same.

The day I would never forget in my life came when you expressed your love for me. We were well past our college days but still I felt excited beyond words.

After 3 years of courtship we finally got married. Through the later 3 years (before “Jelly” arrived) I have been thoroughly spoilt by you. It’s not that it has been the rosiest relationship on this earth but these years has drawn us closer to each other. Every year seems to be increasing the love and understanding we have towards each other.

The reason I put these thoughts into a post is to tell you that I have started loving and respecting you much more during these 11 months. These 11 months from the day Jelly came into our life you have not only been a great father but also the best support I could ever get on this earth. You might think I’m getting a bit too formal with all this…………….But my dear SM I just want you to know one thing “Without your love and support I would never be able to be this ‘Sane person’ that I am, I would never be able to give Jelly all this time and love I’m able to give now”

Thank you my “Love “

Your all “mushy “wife (sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A Letter For My Darling

2007-12-07T08:49:00.000Z

Dear Jelly,

It’s been 11 months since the day I first saw you, touched you, and heard you…

11months, 335 days, 8049 hours, 482931 minutes, 28975841 seconds (and counting) and it just feels like yesterday (sigh!!!!!!). I can still feel your tender body in my hands, the way you looked at me for the very first time, the very first time you smiled at me. I never thought that I would feel so comfortable playing the role of your mother. It feels like I’ve been a mother all my life.

It’s not that every moment we have spent together were positive ones. There have been times when I was angry with you (especially the times when you would not sleep @ nights even though you were very very sleepy)..But I take this opportunity to thank you for making me a lady(a responsible one at that) from a girl with no worries, for making me more compassionate, more positive and most of all - filled me with so much patience that occassionally I doubt if this is really me ?????

I have been someone who did not like sleeping at odd hours (like an afternoon nap) and even during the nights, I never had deep sleeps. But from the day you were born I have started to realise the importance of sleep. I have realized that how we cannot have a normal day with just 2-3 hours of sleep in the night.

You have become a "Big Girl" now. You crawl at a high speed (shaking you little butt…which looks sooooooooo cute), you hold on to tables and walls and cruise along quite well. If we give you our hands to hold onto you take tiny steps and walk .You are able to stand unsupported for a few seconds. If you get to hear some peppy songs you shake your little head and butt and dance. You speak a few words; well coming to that you have been calling your Dad “Atha” for nearly two months now. If you want to go out you tell “Taaaata” or “Baa Puam”

The cherry on the icing was when you called out loud and clear “Amma” just yeaterday, the day when you turned 11months old. What better gift could you give me on this day? You have been referring to everyone in different ways except me and you chose this day to call me Amma .I feel at the top of the world.

Keep growing like this, taking one day at a time ……….

Love

Your “Amma”

A Walk Down Memory Lane..........Part 2(contd....)

2007-12-03T10:15:00.000Z

I’m back with my "second month" updates…………..been a little busy….. Had a lot of places to explore in the kitchen, dining and dressing areas of the house…

Coming back to the updates - After a long and tiring bath the time would be right for a good nap and that’s when mom would go for her bath and grand mom for her daily chores. By the time they were done with their work and think about lunch I would start feeling hungry and cry out loud for my feed. From then on, I would love to be with mom, plenty of feeding and plenty of nappy changing work for mom and granny - hehe.

When mom would sit for her lunch in the noon I would feel a little left out as to why I have to drink only milk and they get to eat a variety of colorful things everyday. So again a reason for me to test the power of my lungs and this time I would not stop till she left her food and come to my side ;-)

Post lunch I would have a nap and that’s when mom would get a bad idea to take some much needed rest…….how can she think of something like that??????? So yet again am in my usual playful mood and would not allow her to sleep :D

Most of the evenings would go by in seeing a whole lot of new faces who would come to see me and mom and they would never come empty handed ……there was either some dress or toys or some accessories for me (yippe!!! mom never got anything). So many strangers came by and despite mom and granny giving a hint to them that I preferred being on the bed and would cry, they would carry me and I had no other other option but cry.

Night or rather late evening I would start feeling restless cause I knew that mom and granny would try to put me to sleep through the night and that’s something I just hated (actually I hate it even today). So both mom's and granny’s nights would be a flurry of activity of mainly trying to put me to sleep and get some rest……...Something, which they would not have got through the whole day. And the by the time they would have achieved this they would have lost their sleep (probably by 3-4 in the morning). I would be tired after the whole ordeal and have a very peaceful and deep sleep.

Hey I forgot to put in the best part of my day………when “Dad“ would drop in on the way from work and call me all funny sounding names. Oh!!!!!!!! I would just love those moments when I would just keep looking into his face and he would ask me how my day was……..Wish I could tell him how much of a havoc I created during the day and night for poor mom and granny. And above all how much I missed you “Dad “ through the day………….

A Walk Down Memory Lane..........Part 2

2007-11-28T11:32:00.000Z

Hey guys………its me Jelly. Mom is a little too busy (rather lazy I would say) to put in a post about my second month updates. I seem to be the only person who is really free around so just thought of taking things into my own little hands.

By the time I entered the second month of my life, my parents had named me. Getting back to the updates by the time I was a month old I had settled down into a little more relaxed routine. I was totally relaxed but mom and granny looked really drained out and sleepy at all said times. I cannot understand why they kept telling everybody that I was not allowing them to get even an hour’s sleep neither in the day nor at nights.

A normal day in my life would begin somewhere around 6-7am. Mom would be all sleepy eyed when I woke up from my short nap and looked at her. She would just murmur something about not having a baby who loves to sleep. I would stretch out my little muscles which was tired after a night filled with activities and just look at mom and give her one of my best toothless smiles and there mom would just give me back one of her best smiles and just cuddle me and shower me with kisses……….(am I not a spoilt little brat)

After a feed and nappy change I would be ready to watch grand mom and grand dad do crazy things with their face and voice to make me smile. The spoilt brat that I am, I would try to act as though I’m not too impressed at their antics so that they do a bit more and there I would floor them with my toothless smile…………and there you will find them totally happy.

After entertaining them for sometime I would realize that mom is not to be seen around and as usual I would have no other option than to cry. There I would bring out the loudest of my voice and cry away to glory till mom runs to my side leaving her breakfast half finished to feed me.

Later in the day would be the time when I could exercise my lungs a little more….”Bath time”. Grand mom would apply oil and give me a bath and from the time she would start the process till I was put into fresh clothes and given a feed I would cry like there was no end to it………..but hey it was fun driving mom and grand mom mad.

Ok guys I’m getting a little too tired and sleepy I shall update the rest of my second month events tomorrow (yawn!!!!!)
(to be continued..........)

Drivers In Bangalore

2007-11-23T10:55:00.000Z

Truck Drivers:
You usually don't get to see them directly because they sit somewhere at an altitude. You can however identify the cabin crew by a frantically waving hand on the non-driver side. This hand belongs to a crew-member called 'cleaner' and all scholastic efforts till date have failed to decipher the symbolic meaning of these waving. It is however Safe to assume that these waving mean 'stay away'. Fortunately the trucks are prohibited from the arterial roads. But you can see them racing each other at 30 kmph and 31 kmph on the ring road. They successfully block the whole width of the road. It is advised that you take them over from left (yes, the wrong side) for, they wont let you pass from the right side anyway. The other advice is to keep away from them.

BMTC Drivers:
You can see them from a mile away from the distinguishing color and driving. It can be very dangerous and frustrating to follow a BMTC bus. The bus follows Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and at any instance you can not predict the speed AND the position correctly. One observation that might help the reader is that they always keep right between bus stops and move to left (well, almost) at bus stops. This is the apt opportunity for you to take the bus over and go stuck behind the next one. The drivers can be seen although mostly through the bus's rear view mirror. If you happen to see them directly through their window, be prepared to listen to advice (varies from motherly, fatherly to ultra indecent) for having taken them over in a dangerous fashion. While a normal bus can easily create a road block on any given road, there are special capacity joint-buses (called janti vaahana) which have an uncanny power of blocking up to 3 roads at a time at a junction.

Cab Drivers:
Characterized by red eyes, irritable nature, unkempt facial hair, constant honking even at stationary object! They always try to go at 80 kmph, assume the urgency of an ambulance and expect everyone else has less important job. Most of them do not sleep for days together and some of them are trying to compete with David Blain for stretching human limits. The author personally knows few cab drivers who do not have a habitat. They just keep a pair of spare uniform in the cab, eat sleep in the cab and use public bathrooms. Driving style of these indicates that many of them were auto rickshaw driver earlier. However, they still seem to carry the self image of an auto rickshaw and try to squeeze a MUV into the 1 meter gap between any two objects.

Car Drivers:
Characterized by creased foreheads. Having paid through their noses and fighting to pay the EMI, they are obsessive about their cars and want to make sure nobody bumps/scratches their car body. This sits on the mind perpetually and causes those creases on foreheads. Most pitiable class of drivers having the most to lose from the mistakes of other classes of drivers.

Auto Rickshaw Drivers:
Having stood over years as undisputed symbol for rash driving, they are unfortunately losing grounds to cab drivers. (Unfortunate because a rashly driven MUV is more dangerous than a rashly driven auto rickshaw). Auto rickshaws are the vehicles with most diverse speed ranges. They travel at speeds approaching zero when they have no passengers aboard and travel at speed of unto 3x108 m/s when a passenger is aboard. Analogous to the belief that "a cat can pass through any hole that is bigger than its skull" auto rickshaws can "pass through any gap that is wider than the headlight". They defy all laws of Physics. A typical auto driver sits with a calm and indifferent attitude of a formula-1 driver just before the race. Based on his age, he is a Rajkumar/Shankarnag/Darshan fan.

He feels strongly towards these actors and towards Karnataka and Kannada. In a surprising observation, many auto drivers refuse 1.5 times the meter reading after 10 PM if you are exiting from Ranga Shankara*. This is their humble way of commemorating their favorite star who made films like Auto-Raja.

* Ranga Shankara is a theater built in memory of late Shankar Nag and it is the place where all new dramas are staged first

Two Wheeler Drives:
The class in the most advantageous position. They consist of a variety of sub-populations like office goers, salesmen, mothers dropping children to school, college students, neighborhood store owner transporting about 1 ton weight on a moped, whole families of 4-5 children going on an outing etc. They usually mind their own business and do not cause inconvenience to other types of vehicles. They use all possible space on and around the road, including footpaths, medians, drainages, staircases etc and thus enhance infrastructure utilization .

"Borrowed the contents of the above post from another source.....found it too hilarious and close to reality that I had to post it here"

Shop Till You Drop..........

2007-11-20T10:06:00.000Z

This I thought was just a phrase used by some of the leading stores to increase their sales. Not until I met this colleague of mine “R”. I have never seen anyone who has such a craze, time and of course money to shop……..

No one would believe the kind of craze she had, has and will forever continue to have for shopping. We work for a service industry where in we are required to be at work in uniforms. So we hardly had the need to shop for clothes. But this could not stop our dear Ms R. There was not a single weekend where she would not shop for at least a pair of dress. If it were not clothes then it would be some jewelry or shoes or some such nick-nacks…………………….she had a reason to shop every time.

The best part being that she would shop and then think that the particular dress or whatever she shopped for was not as good as she thought it was and then shop again to get over this feeling (sigh!!!!!!!!)Have you seen anyone like this??????

The reason I felt like writing a post on this was because of a conversation I had with her last weekend. She was to attend a wedding of a relative on Sunday and on Friday she was complaining to me that she did not have a “Good Sari” to wear for the said function. Here is how our conversation went:

R : Hey I don’t have a good sari to wear for the wedding on Sunday

Me: How come, did not buy anything for yourself for the wedding?

R : Actually(giving a sheepish smile ) I had bought a sari but you know what ……….

Me : Tell me dear………let the story come

R : The sari was a Blue one with a golden border ,I really liked it when I bought it and got the blouse stitched ,yesterday I just tried out the blouse to check out the fittings and guess what ?????

Me: I’m listening …….tell me

R : I just felt it did not look that grand for the occasion (in a very low tone)

(I was literally ROFL)

R : (in a sad tone) Now I want a sari that befits the occasion……………What do I do????????????? There is hardly any time left for me to buy a new one and get the blouse stitched……………………………

By the end of the conversation I was laughing out so much that I had tears in my eyes. Dear R - I know you would read this and chase me all around the place to beat me up. But dear I just could not stop myself from letting people know about this crazy Friend on mine.

Does anybody out there have a similar habit or met someone with a similar habit…………please do let me know.

A Nostalgic Day

2007-11-14T06:13:00.000Z

November 14 is a day that brings a lot of nostalgic memories to my mind…………….”Children’s Day” .It takes me back to my school and college days.

Back at school it was a day we would start looking forward to probably from the beginning of the academic year. It was a day when we would get freedom from the boring routine of wearing a uniform to school, instead go wearing (ok ………flaunting) a colorful dress. Most of the times for me it would be a dress that mom would have stitched…so the reason to flaunt it was even more :D

Another reason to look forward to this day was to see how our dear old Teachers tried to keep us entertained throughout the day with different cultural program’s planned and executed by them. Adding a dash of seasoning to it was the games organized for us and the most anticipated event was a kind of trekking to the tiny forest kind of plantations used by the defense personel behind our school…………………..oh! those were some awesome days (sigh!!!!!)

College days were not as enjoyable as the school days. ……………But are still memorable ones. The day was celebrated with an ethnic name given to it “Gurukul”. Where the college was transformed into an ancient Gurukul kind of atmosphere .The common meeting area would be taken over by some huts made of hay and bamboo sticks. The college looked so adorable to look at. This was further highlighted with many music and dance programs planned and performed by our lecturer’s .I still remember one lecturer singing the famous song from the movie “Sharmili” which was originally sung by the legendry Kishore Kumar “Khilte hain gul yahan” But when the said lecturer sung it ,it turned out to be something like this “Khilte hain gulu yahan, milthe hain dilu yahan” We friend's still laugh out aloud at the very thought of it…………………….

Now I have started looking forward to this day again as I have a little angel in my life. I know she would have some similar experiences in the years to come. Just one hope that she would be able to know the importance of the day is just not limited to the fun she will have in school/college but to remember the great person “Jawaharlal Nehru “ who loved children beyond words can express and whose birthday is celebrated as “Children’s Day”.

Wake up the child in you atleast this day of the year "Happy Children's Day"

Going To Mis You....

2007-11-06T09:57:00.000Z

Joy and sorrow always go hand in hand they say.......

When Jelly first started to roll over I was really excited and felt like am at the top of the world - after all my little baby had achieved her first milestone, but with that dawned the sad feeling that she is no longer completely dependent on me.

There were tougher times ahead - she would roll over the moment she was put down. I would put her on the bed for a diaper change and even before I could pick up the diaper, there she would be - already on her tummy giving me a toothless grin………………..

I would put her down for a feed and even before I could start feeding her she would have rolled over and start searching for me… :-(

Then came the next stage - she started crawling…actually she started crawling and sitting around the same time. So it was double excitement for us. But as I said with happiness came the sad part that our little bundle of joy was quickly turning out to be a naughty little one. Her waking hours go in crawling towards everything inedible around and popping it into her mouth in a fraction of a second. If she is not doing this you will find her holding on to anything within her reach or trying to reach something just out of her reach with the intention of hoisting herself up.

But the moment I was looking forward to and also dreaded has just come………………my little Jelly is sprouting her first “Baby tooth”. Yes you heard me right - I will not get to see her cute toothless smile any more.

Oh!!!!!!!!!!! That beautiful and innocent toothless smile will soon be a thing of the past, and this phase is to never come back (Gulp!!!). My baby - I’m going to miss that phase of your life sooooooooooooooo much.

A Walk Down Memory Lane..........

2007-11-03T09:59:00.000Z

A walk down memory lane…….

It’s been 10 months since Jelly has been a part of this world and it just feels like yesterday. These 10 months have taught me so many new lessons. It’s made me much more patient, more attached to someone than I have ever been {the only other exception being SM of course} and of cos - much more stressed out that I have ever been in my entire life……..

Let me bring out my experience of being a mom one month at a time. So here comes the experience of first month

Born on a cool January morning she was the most beautiful ray of sunshine that ever touched SM’s and my life. Oh!! How perfect nature’s creation looked…..She looked like a fluffy pink cotton candy too delicate to touch and just too irresistible to bite into :D

Ok, back to the main topic - she was the most peaceful baby around - not a whimper, not the slightest indication of the storm that was to start in a few hours. Like I said she was too good to be true. She did not want a feed or change for the whole day!!!!!!!! But I guess life has to come to a full circle. When I just started feeling proud of “what a silent “daughter I have, she brought me out of that trance with a terrific jolt. Once she started wailing in the evening there was no stopping her :(

From that day my sleepless nights and restless days started. She would never sleep at nights, she just kept wailing as though something was hurting her real bad. The days were no better either cause madam did not enjoy her bath one bit, right from the moment her bath started till she was fed after the ordeal, she would cry so loudly that my neighbors knew her bath time ;)

The moment she would sleep I would try to just stretch my aching muscles and get some rest, she would wake up wailing for a feed or a change….so in short the first month went by in getting used to a 24/7 schedule .Unfortunately that schedule still remains quite the same : (

Anybody out there who shares a similar experience? Please tell I’m not the only one who has had to go through this………………………..

My Busy Life -1

2007-10-31T07:35:00.000Z

My my what a tiring day I have and people just don’t seem to understand it …………….

After a totally tiring night how can you expect me to be in the best of my mood?????? Now u would ask how could I have a tiring night, well………….i had to wake up more than 4-5 times during the night ……….why?…..well ……..cause I was feeling a little too hungry and WTH how can mom and dad sleep when they are supposed to spend some time playing with me???????????

They just don’t seem to understand me ….
Mom (in a sleepy tone) “What is your problem my dear can’t u sleep like how other kids do?”
Jelly (in my thoughts) “No way!!!!Are there any set rules that all kids are supposed to sleep night???”
Dad (in a grumpy voice)”You are such a devil at night…Why not do all these antics of yours in the day time??????”
Jelly (again in my thoughts) “Are u around in the day for me to show all this ??????”

After a tiresome night like this when I feel like having a peaceful nap in the cozy comforts of mom’s arms, she wakes up and get ready to start her day!!!!!

I don’t know what’s the hurry to give me a bath when I’m totally feeling tired after the completely eventful night…So here I am wailing away to glory to just be put into my cradle and have a peaceful Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Ok guys “Good Night”……………. err all right “Good Day” for you folks. Mom will update you with the latest news in my world or rather Our world

Lost.........

2007-10-30T09:56:00.000Z

Started my blog with so much excitement but today I felt my mind going totally blank as to what should I write about????????

Its not that I have to put in a new post everyday but there seems to be so many thoughts going on in my mind that I’m really not able to decide as to what I should put in here ….

Today I feel a little disconnected from the world……..a little less connected. Its one of those days when u feel low about something but u try to figure out what is it that’s making u feel low and u feel blank

Its been a normal day so far with waking up seeing Jelly in deep sleep ……on her tummy…..with her mouth a little open………..Oh how cute she looks……….how innocent she looks……….but the moment she wakes up its back to reality as to how behind an innocent face a tiny little devil can hide :D

But hey just the thought of her is helping me cheer up……..rather I feel totally recharged for the rest of the day. Oh!!!!!!! kids how they seem to be blessed with the power to bring light into the darkest corners of our lives.

Just Born!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-29T11:11:00.000Z

This day would be forever marked in my mind .....................OK probably only for a few days or months........... as the day I finally found the courage to start a blog of my own. Yes "at last" cause this thought has been going on in my mind for the past few months.

The first time I felt this urge was probably when I read the "out of the heart" postings from many moms. Yes I'm a new mom .....well not exactly new, about 10 months old.

A normal day in my life just goes between work and spending some quality time with my little one whom I would refer as "Jelly"and my better half "SM"cause between the three of us he is the "Silent Man".

Wunderyearz is my little blog space where I would put forward as the title suggests - wonder years of my daughter with a dash of spice from my day to day life.

Don't know how far I would be good at putting my thoughts into words........... but would do it as I would, while talking to an old friend......