My World in My Words

What do you do when your 3 year old tells you, "Amma, I want to see Blue Cinema."(She hasnt learnt the use of the word Film yet)

Well, I just switched on the TV and let her see it.

But before you call in the authorities, let me clarify, she had seen the promos of the hindi movie "Blue" with the underwater sequences and wanted to watch it coz she heard her dad and me discuss that the same was being shown on television.

To add, its all blue for me too.....I hate mondays!!

Yes, I really am!!

Today was Sunshine's first Parents Teachers' Meeting. The notice was short and Don had to travel on work. So I made it to the meeting alone. I was the last parent scheduled for the time slot and I could see the teacher explaining lessons and rhymes and tunes to the parents and telling them what they need to work on.

I was expecting the same dialogues for myself when I sat down at the table.The teacher started with "I don't have anything to tell you" which startled me a little bit. I didn't know where she was going and then she continued, "She is just perfect.She does what she is asked to do, patiently awaits her turn in group activities, is very organised and is very caring towards kids smaller than her. If somebody asked me who the model student in my class is, I would say Sunshine, what do you do to her at home...." She didn't continue after that coz I had averted my face as I didn't want her to see how shamelessly I was crying, of course out of happiness and pride

I have been an avid follower of Mommy Blogs since I was pregnant.And as years passed by I realised kids today do things/achieve milestones at a much lower age than when we were kids. 1.5-2 year old kids could sings rhymes, say alphabets and numbers, put complex jigsaw puzzles in place. Mine couldn't and I would never try and force anything on her if she didn't show any interest.

At 3.5 today, Sunshine still doesn't say all her alphabets right,doesn't know any numbers after 13, doesn't know the words in rhymes properly nor can she make sentences in any language than her native tongue.

But at 3.5 today, she knows that rules are to be followed, hygiene is to be practised,patience is a virtue,songs and stories are to be enjoyed, children smaller and weaker are to be protected... I don't think I need her to achieve anything more than that.

Thanks Sunshine for making me so proud.And thanks so much for making me feel vindicated that I followed what my heart said instead of trying to force things on you just so that I would be a "In" mother. I am so proud of you and so much in love with you!!

And if you think, this was happiness, it turned to Ecstasy with this sms from Don after I had shared the review/report and my tears with him "Congrats.Am proud of u n one day u wl b known as Sunshine's mother. Am proud of myself as I am in lov wid 2 wonderful women at d same time :-))"

Love u Sunshine & love you Don!!

Though we cant enjoy the the full traditions of onam - the pookalams,sadhyas, pulli-kallis, thiruvadiras and more importantly loads and loads of people around at home - today at a flat in Chennai...I didnt want my daughter to be deprived of at least whatever I can manage.

So other than the onam kodi(new dress),palada pradhaman and the onam sadhya, we got together to make this Pookalam. Sunshine enjoyed the adventure and cant take her eyes off her creation...for that matter neither can I!!

So I am sharing it with you all and hoping you all have as colourful, beautiful and fragrant year ahead as this Pookalam!!

Yipeee!! Yes, I did it! What you ask? Well I am now officially a 'recognised' blogger of the blogworld..a tag and an award all at once!!


Itchy has awarded me a Kreative Blogger award for the meagre offerings I have on my Blog. Seriously a case of loving the person more than the Blog , but then who am i to look into a Gift Horse in the mouth? I accept the award with all humbleness and graciousness!! Thanks so much Itchy!!

And now the Tag:To list things about myself in the given various category:

Seven Things I like to do :
1.Hugging people esp Don & Sunshine
2.Reading
3.Listening to Old Hindi Film Songs
4.Cooking
5.Tying my hair high up
6.Travelling
7.Watcing Movies

Seven Things I like to eat/drink:
1.Cold Coffee
2.Dark Chocolate
3.Puttu-Kadala(Mom made)
4.Fish Pickle(Mom made)
5.Pavakka Theeyal(Mom Made)- Typical Mallu dish with Karelas
6.Masala/Parippu Vada
7.Phulkas

Seven things I like to wear:
1.My Smile
2.My Attitude
3.Sindoor
4.Jasmine on my hair
5.Long Flowy Skirts
6.Saris
7.Payal

Seven of my most prized possessions:
1.My Family
2.My Memories
3.My Good Health
4.My Engagement Ring
5.My Wedding Invite
6.My Photos - right from childhood
7.My External Hard Disk


Seven things I most want to do:
1.Bring up Sunshine as a good Human Being
2.Loose Weight
3.Confidently drive a Car through Panagal Park(Chennaites will know)in Peak traffic
4.To learn Classical Dance & French
5.Travel all over India and the world
6.Bake the most heavenly cakes/Cookies/Pies/Tarts and the likes
7.Makes enough friends to tag on the blogworld!!!!

And Seven friends I would like to pass this award to:
I dont have 7 friends in the Blogworld to fwd the tag to...so I tag Patti

Hey this is fun!!

beverages like frappe, Cool Blue, Apple soda; food like samosas, sandwiches, puffs and old friends...Itchy & Chechi to feel 10 years younger and 20kgs lighter...

Cheers girls, may we always be so young!!

is my finger since I could not cast my vote yesterday. Its the first time since I turned adult that I was prepared to vote. I was in the Country and had stayed in the same address long enough to have all kinds of proofs to apply for my voter's id, which I did but unfortunately mine or Don's name did not feature in the electoral list.

I went to 3 pooling booths in the 40 degree C afternoon sun of Chennai to find out and totally confirm that our names aren't included. Though I know its the thought that counts I felt I had let down the country a bit by not being able to cast my vote. I really do feel a prick in the heart when i see the stained fingers of those around me.


A thought that crossed my mind while I was running around the polling booths was that how little we no I (let me speak only for me) do or get to do for our country. If only we all did a little more!!


I really do hope next time I get to vote.

Literally...i dont know how true it is and also in the Indian context but I liked the thought somebody out into it.........I received it as a forward from a very pretty woman who is the mother of 4 daughters and is a single parent...I am sure you all will like it as I did...

The Price of Children


This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something
absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the
breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the
first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's
nice.



The government recently calculated the cost of raising a
child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a
middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't
even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It
translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week..
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't
have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just
the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm
cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the
boss said or how your stocks performed that day.


For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under
refrigerator magnets and collect! spray painted noodle
wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's
Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your
buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a
baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice
cream regardless.


You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your
family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in
your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.
You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal
justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college
can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the
monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a
slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without
limits, so one day they will, like you, love without
counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren &
great-grandchildren !!!!!!! It's the best investment you'll
make!

Andy: Dont you feel very Rich!!

what i try on/ pick up/ buy/ wear or not wear and if I were complaining about it I have now stopped as of yesterday afternoon.In fact,especially after yesterday's incident i love my husband more for his ignorance/disinterest whatever.

I was at Lifestyle trying to buy something to utilize a gift voucher I had with the expiry date of 31.3.09. Footwear being something I could always have another pair of, I found myself checking out the Footwear dept.

Saw a guy decently attired in obviously branded semi formal clothes,browsing through the various models. I was happy to see him take so much interest in his wife's- similarly attired in jeans & kurtti, hair cut short in a beautiful cut and branded eyewear perched on top of the head- shopping till i realised it wasn't interest, it was instruction.

He picked up a shoe and handed it to her saying, this is what you want. Without waiting for her response he tells the sales guy to bring out the same in her size. The lady in many subtle ways try to hint him that she didn't like it....in words like "yeh mere us dress ke saath nahi jayega" or picking up another pair and saying "yeh wala acha hai" or even ignoring when the sales person came back with the said pair in her size. But the husband seemed adamant.

I was tempted to go to her and say "don't buy it if u don't like it" but then i know better than that. So just walked away from there before I could see how the drama ended.

I would rather go back with my husband, show him a few shoes, listening to him say sometimes with interest and sometimes disinterestedly "ya that's good", "nice", "ya will go with ur dress..." or whatever it is that I would expect him to say but finally buying only what I like or want.

And yes, I did remember to send a prayer up thanking God for my disinterested husband!!

The reminder that Sunshine is afterall only the centre of my Universe and not that of the world and most certainly of a certain school(lets call it XYZZ).

After Don stood in the queue for 7 hours (4.00am -11.00am) just to get the application and then spending an equal time to return the filled up application, we got a letter from them saying 'we regret...........'and for what reason, none other than the fact that her name was not picked up in the lottery system that is used for selecting kids.

My first reaction was "how can they do this to my child?????????", then reasons started flowing in from all and sundry. One explanation was that since I was not of the same faith as my husband, which incidently is also the same as that of the school,we were rejected. I was fuming till Don(whose desire is was to see Sunshine in this school)vehemently said, if thats the reason then I wouldnt send my daughter to that place even if they beg me to.

Anyways I had Plan B in place and we are all fine but it really hurts to see the rejection of Sunshine even if its for a school admission and with no other reason but not being picked up in a lottery and to top it all something she is not even aware of...

Oh what agonies await me as she grows up and faces sometimes rejection, sometimes failure and sometimes heartbreak...when she herself finds out that she is not the centre of the Universe afterall.

Good Lord, be with her always!!

if you found out that you had a hobby that you weren't even aware of? Me, I reacted by first trying to psycho-analyse myself and then doing the easier thing of taking snaps and blogging about it.

Well it all started when a holiday planned went awry and I was left with a lot of time in hand. The time that forced me to hear the calling, requests, orders name it as you please that it has been ages since the cupboards have been aired, that there lurking behind that chaos might be clothes that haven't seen sunlight for sometime,that air/humidity/rodents could have destroyed what are in those cupboards.

With no more excuses to give I set out to do the task.There were clothes I didn't know I had, materials that hadn't been stitched, sarees not worn,books I hadnt read, music I hadn't heard, recipe book which I had another copy coz I didn't remember that I already had one, unused gift coupons past expiry,some currency in purses not used, bday cards not sent,gifts of Sunshine waiting for her to attain the age mentioned on them, lovely frocks waiting to be fit for her and the usual. The usual of course it is for the cupboards that Andy rules. But for one thing.

I found diaries and note book of various colours, sizes, shapes and I realised for reasons too coz I did manage to remember why some of them were bought. Wanna have a look at some of them...common...



This one I had picked to create a gift for a friend of mine. Luckily I gave her a adhoc gift(if it can be called that) else today 6 months after her bday I would still have not given her a gift. Note the pics of a cool , classy lady on the cover..well that's why I picked it up.




A couple of months after I had picked the Lady Notebook, I picked this one up and for the same reason. Coz I thot this one was more fun...pink, polka dots...what more could a girl want?



I have no idea why I picked this one up...5 Subject note...hmmmm hmmmm hmmm...no no I don't remember.



This blue note was bought for a class I wanted to join. I went to the institute, paid the fees, bought the stationery everything but they finally cancelled out the batch that I preferred coz of the timings. So this book is left untouched.



I fell in love with this Coffee Book the moment i saw it. It was so me. Coffee, brown earthy textures, recipes.....I don't know how to explain it but if somebody asks me what notebook would represent me(Why would somebody ask such a stupid question, beats me?)it would be this. I use it sometimes to jot down what I am feeling..but like my blogs they are few and far between.



Thoughts was meant for exactly that. when my pregnancy report first came positive, I went and bought this book to write down for my child what my thoughts were. However, things didn't go as planned and the book was shelved till after Sunshine was born.However it was not thoughts that I put into it..it was more facts, about her and her birth. The thoughts still needs to be put in.




This one I like to call Jatar Mantar. I picked it up at a bookstore when I felt I could be jotting down things to hand over to my daughter and from her to her daughter...you know something like a tradition...This notebook had that 'I am traditional/heritage' feel. Guess I should start using it before it becomes history.

Anyways, these are a few samples of what I found not to mention a host of calender diaries, notepads etc.

The psychoanalyst in me diagnosed that there are a lot of bottled up things in me that I want to bring out..maybe write out..so the gesture of buying these books to pour myself out on them. Very scientific na?

So whats your diagnosis doc?