Justforkix

Dog Stories

2010-10-23T22:17:00.000+05:30

We had sniffer dogs sniffing up the whole 60 acres of campus, ie almost 80+ buildings in the campus, all thanks to the misdeeds of a wicked mind, who made an anonymous call about a possible bomb threat to our office campus.
We’d got an email from the authorities mentioning that the campus was being combed , but I for one jumped off my skin when I heard a deep panting from behind and turned back to find a huge canine rite in front of me.
But that was mild, when compared to my colleague’s reaction, when he came out of the rest room to find a huge police dog rite in front of him. And he had no clue about the combing operation also!!
Soon, our project was abuzz with the team proclaiming either about their love for the animal or their fear!! And soon folks were sharing their experiences with canines.
This had me rewinding to atleast 10 yrs back down the memory lane. One of funniest ever I've heard till date happened to my friend Asha,(P.S: she is a bigshot in TCS these days! ;), this happened, during the first summer of our posting in TCS,Chennai. Asha had this knack of starting and maintaining eye contact with any dog that she came across on the streets of Chennai- she would stare at it and murmur something to shoo it away and the dog , made curious by the unusual attention thats being bestowed upon it decides to reciprocate the same and to check the person out personally, decides to follow her.
And one such time, when she was on her way back from work, she saw a dog on the road and started practicing her ‘ Art of hypnotizing a street dog’ immediately. This particular dog, as the case turned out to be, was a wee bit more curious than the ones from her previous encounters and kind of started chasing her in the beginning itself, rather than sniffing and soflty following, which is the unwritten rule, in most cases. It even managed to catch up with her and sniff her shoes , which scared the wits out of Asha who managed to jump into a Rickshaw that was whizzing by!
Scared as she was, for a moment she forgot that she was in Chennai and that Chennai-ites did not understand what the mallu word ‘Patti’ meant. (Patti means dog, BTW). So instead of telling the driver where to go, she just exclaimed ‘ Patti, patti, patti’! to the driver. And that guy couldn’t fathom what she was telling him, could not link the word to any possible destinations that she mite want to go either. But I guess, he really wanted to help the lady in distress, and it looks like the closest word that came to mind his mind, was ‘theepetti’(matchbox), maybe coz of the rhyming of ‘patti’ and ‘petti’, and his brain would have prefixed the ‘thee’(fire ) to the word ‘petti’(box) in his urge to help. He dug his hands to his pockets , produced a matchbox and handed it over to a much shocked Asha!!! The expression on her face, I can easily envision. She herself couldn’t understand why the guy was offering her matches, obviously, she was not going to scare the dog by lighting fire there, but she was courteous enough to say No to the equally confused rickshaw wallah!
It took an analysis session from us roomies, back home in Mullai for her to find out why the guy offered help with a matchbox!!

Desiderata

2010-10-18T20:50:00.000+05:30

I realised how stressed I was when I caught myself searching for Desiderata in my laptop. The poem was my must read everyday to keep myself sane while working in a couple of BT projects almost 8 yrs back while working in TCS. That was the time during which I transitioned from a programmer to a module lead, how I despise myself for moving from tech to mgr zone then!!! It was indeed too early

It was for the first time then I started working in a really competitive environment, where your team whandles one module of the program and there are competitor companies handling other modules. So a bug in the program was unacceptable and mgrs were on top of you for figures and data and graphs and what nots!The most convenient thing to do was to give them what they wanted and push down the prgramming to the TMs and thats what I had done too!!! Thats the single biggest mistake in my career, I believe. It was too early for me to give up programming.And I must confess , I never got back to the technology side at all and I missing that big time!!!

Hey,I deviated from the actual topic ages back. Yeah, so during one of those BT pressure cooker days , when I came back to my desk after a particularly heated squabble with onsite , Desiderata was waiting for me in my inbox as an unread mail and the very first line just swept me in- first thing I did was to have a printout taken and placed rite in front of me, nr my PC and the comfort I drew everytime I read it was boundless.I moved on and multiple projects happened after that in TCS as well as in Infy, but though I've read Desiderata on and off, it was never on my cubicle after then

My current one is so stressful and I was neckdeep in it without realising that I was stressed to the core and then I caught myself searching for Desiderata.....

Now I have it in my cubicle and I keep reading itevery now and then, and the effect is just the same. Magical

I must confess, my TVM days project was also really really stressful especially the first one year, but then I had a magical cushion there --of wonderful friends, formed at a period in life where I thought I had grown too old for new friends and that too not one but a bunch of them-- will keep that for another time :)

PS : If and where the mind is without fear are two other poems that have a profound effect on me…

Maruti Suzuki

2010-10-02T21:29:00.003+05:30

Achu does have a good sense of humour , I believe! I mean for a four year old, hes doing quite well. The other day, when Mommo who is yet to get full bladder control, did soosoo on his shorts, Achulde was exclaiming. ‘ You know what Amma, Mommo is Maruti Suzuki’, I was confused for a moment- both of them love cars, but Maruti Suzuki is neither in their love list or hate list’ . Then he explained further, hes always Susu-ing in his pants, so we will call him Suzuki J

The other day they were both so much into role play, Mommo was the doctor and he had the stethoscope on and was examining Achu patient, in a while they both were gone to the next room, and then Achulde comes running commenting’ Amma , amma , your son na, the Dr. he has done susu on his pants again!!!!

Jai Hanuman

2010-10-02T21:29:00.000+05:30

Achu is a big fan of Lord Hanuman, if I call home from my phone, if hes the one answering the call, it is never a hello, it is a Jai Sreeram, Jai Hanuman from him!!

I guess R’s mother has a very prominent role in this development, when we go to Aluva, she shows this picture book of Hanuman and tells him stories. The lil fellow is yet to realize that people will make fun of him for proclaiming he is Hanuman,. I for one was very relieved when he had switched from Hanuman for a short time, but now he’s back to Hanuman with full force.

Sometimes hes carrying Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders, sometimes bringing Sanjeevani for Lakshman. He transforms into some character or the other in Ramayana, worst is when the two of them are Bali and Sugreeva, they are always attacking with the Gada!!

For a while, he was Narasimha, when he happened to hear the new story, and would tell the full story to anyone who would acknowledge his presence.

And when he is Hanuman, I am Sita and R is Rama and poor Mommolde is Ravana and sometimes his Appuppa is Ravana and them Mommolde gets to become Lakshmana J

The funniest part is he cannot say ‘Sri Rama’, he says ‘CRama’ and then I can’t help correcting him , no Achu he cannot be C Rama, he would be D Rama—the poor fellow wouldn’t understand at all and gets confused to the core, no Amma it is C Rama only’ and I cant help but tease him more on the same lines :)

An update on my Snip Snip Snip!

2010-09-26T20:44:00.001+05:30

Donno, whether you guys remember an anecdote on my adventures/experiments with Achu's hair just 2 days before his birthday, well, that got published in the DC newsletter of Infy :)
Had edited it a teeny weeny bit to remove 'too much of personal stuff'

Here is the new version

A ‘Barber’ic Act

- Manju Malathy

So there I was, sitting in the lounge of Ruby Salon, waiting for the hairdresser to make his appearance. Achu, my son was on my lap fast asleep. Time, I felt was tired of moving at the same pace always and had decided to take a break and go for a stroll. And time was what I didn’t have on me. If the lil’ fellow decides that he’s had enough of his afternoon siesta, then all my plans stand cancelled. My heartbeat had returned to normal, just half an hour back, when the receptionist at Ruby Arena told me over phone that indeed they do consider and attend to cases where, Moms’ attempts to cut their kids’ hair backfires! ”

It was just 2 days to go before my Achu’s 2nd birthday and that was when I decided that my little one badly needs a haircut. I just couldn’t refrain from
getting into the act, though I very well knew , that all such experiments taken up previously by self also had not yielded good results.
But I just had to, you know and there I go. He has just gone to sleep and wouldn’t get up for the next couple of hours, so goes my calculations. I have all the time- in fact more time than I would ever need and all instruments handy- the scissors, electric shaver, the combs- you name it, I have it. Should try out the mushroom cut this time, the coiffeuse in me whispered, the hair is lengthy enough to permit the style. The little fellow normally sleeps on his tummy, giving me all the freedom to execute the style in all its glory.
Sniiiiiiip goes the scissors from near the right earlobe to the left- I make a straight cut - non-stop. Half my job is done, or so I think, I congratulate myself “well done Mama Bear, good job! Way to go!!.”
Oh well, did I say, half the job is done? Do wait for a moment.
There is this straight line, I agree but what do I do with the hair beneath the straight-line-cut? What do I do with that? Achu would surely wake up, if I use the noisy electric shaver. I will have to rely on the scissors and shorten the hair beneath the line. Maybe I’ll make it crew-cut like. Very clever!
But the scissors had a mind of its own, apparently, ‘coz in no time, there appears a skin colored patch -rite there.
Why is the skin showing up here? Now where did the hair go?
And more importantly how do I correct this? And hey, most importantly, how do I turn Achu into presentable form, on his birthday?
How can I do such a stupid thing?
That’s precisely what brought us to Ruby Arena at half past two on a hot Friday afternoon!

Now, you might be wondering why, I didn’t take him to the hair dressers directly, instead of committing such a crime? To be honest, empathy is the only
reason I have. Why subject the poor hairdresser to Achu’s hate crimes? I don’t know what is it about that class (Hairdressers) as a whole, that
brings out the worst in Achu. Not only does he cry non-stop, but somehow gets super human strength to practice all his kick boxing steps on them as well.

While in Bangalore, all the salons that we’ve visited once have flatly refused to take us for a second session. The funniest was when we went to the beauty parlour run in our apartment complex itself. The lady was so glad to see us both. Looked like we were the only ones visiting her in a long long time. Achu didn’t have a clue that it was for a hair cut session and even had a song on his lips!

There were three trained staff in the parlour and one of them very enthusiastically brought out all the equipments and I noticed the big ‘Q’ forming on Achu’s face. I warned all of them, on what’s in store for them, but they all refused to take me seriously. I sat on the chair with him on my lap, and used the technique I learned from my peadiatrician on how to immobilise a child safely. Though I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold like that for long. And Achu on his part had started his practice sessions too. The moment he saw the instruments, his energy appeared from nowhere and soon the other 2 girls offered to help and caught hold of his arms and legs respectively. In the next 10-15 minutes that followed, I cannot recollect what all I did, Achu was trying with all his might, the girls were clinging onto wherever they could hold and the main beautician, perhaps not knowing what else to do, had decided to join the lot who were already clinging on. At one point I caught a glimpse of the action on the huge mirror on the wall. I was standing by this time, tightly holding him, so that the scissors won’t hurt him. Achu was clinging onto me and wailing away to glory. The two girls were clinging onto Achu from two sides and one of them was holding me also tightly, I have no clue as to why! The girl who was cutting his hair could be seen once in a while, appearing and disappearing in and out of this formation. And the beautician lady was holding me tightly, with all her mite. Yup, I checked a second time, just to make sure! Apparently ‘coz she couldn’t get to hold Achu, she was standing behind me and had her arms around my shoulders, wrapping me tightly. Achu was so weak by this time, his crying had become a mere whimper, but still he was kicking! When the act got over finally, the much relieved Achu gave a weak ‘Byeeee’ ‘Byeeee’ to all of them; they all were too tired to even respond. I promised myself that I should use my cam-corder next time I visit a parlour, so that I can use the video to blackmail Achu later.

Well coming back to the ‘Birthday debacle’–this time around, I just want to save his face and save myself from some ‘kind words’ from everyone else. I had no excuse whatsoever, for doing such a thing.
And the conversation going on inside the parlour, did not impart the much needed confidence in me either. I can make out from the accent that it’s a client from Maldives.
‘No, no, not like, that, don’t make it short, no, NOOO, don’t DONTTT’.
‘Is this okay?’- I hear a feeble second voice, that of the hairdresser (Let’s call him ‘H’), to which there was no reply for a long long time followed by a very disappointed ‘Anyway you’ve done exactly what I’d told you not to … ‘! Not very encouraging, huh!

Oh well the poor poor guy, I thought to myself, he has no inkling of what is in store for him, in the shape of Achu, his client in waiting!
Achu decides to wake up at this point, leading to the much dreaded ‘worst -case ‘ scenario. Poor Achu and poor poor H that is all I could think.

Soon we had the stage set- only the time and venue changes, the action and the reactions all remain the same — the scenes are much familiar to the lead artists i.e. Achu and self, those on supporting role though initially clueless, invariably jump into action with much vigour, remain stunned on seeing Achu’s actions and then recollect themselves and get into a ‘wrap it up somehow’ mode. And every single time, a couple of enthusiastic onlookers would join, thinking they can help -poor fellows! Once we even had a enthusiastic shopkeeper from the neighbouring vessel shop coming out to help his hairdresser friend.

To cut a long story short, 25 minutes later, we all came out, flabbergasted, exhausted, relieved and glad that it’s over!

Achu said his TM weak Byeeee Byeee this time also and the H was not at all amused. But it was indeed a win-win situation for all of us. Me, because the bald patch had finally disappeared - H had managed to make it a mushroom cut-crew cut mix, Achu ‘coz he had managed to gift the H a couple of dozen freekicks as return gift for favours received and H because we were out of the place finally!

All for this one moment

2010-05-07T15:27:00.000+05:30

Have you seen the Lufthansa advt with the caption that goes ' All for this one moment'.The gist of the ad is that it has mulitple pics(an excited boy watching a flight take off, a traveller sleeping comfortable in the flight, a couple meeting each other in airport/flight) with this caption conveying that ' we dont mind all the hassles and hooplas in our business and are gratified if our customer gets this one special moment in his life , because of us.

The power of this caption came to my mind strongly recently, when a very tiny little routine act that happens daily made me think ' All for this one moment'.

Its so easy to get sucked into the fast pace of our daily lives and end up postponing 'n' no of things, not even thinking about 'n' other things that used to bring a smile to your eyes everytime and do even the most dearest of things that you cherish doing, mechanically.

Life for me had reached that point y'day and it was not just y'day, it had been going on like that for quite sometime. The one hour before you start to work is filled to the fullest that it overflows all the time!!!--- running from task to task, completing and tickmarking and then hoping to the next one, defines the hour. Its the most draining one hour , thank God, it comes in the morning.

You will laugh, if I describe the activities.

Helping Achulde and Mommolde with their daily brushing,,making sure that they dont swallow the paste,helping them with daily Potty ,helping them with their bath, helping them dress up, packing their set of additional clothes and breakfast- - all look like deceptively simple tasks. But if the two of them have opinion of their own in each of these activities, then its a different ballgame altogether. Mommolde would run with the paste in his mouth to the sitting room, I need to run after him , but the fact that Achulde is alone in the bathroom and the bucket is full of water, would make me sprint back to the bathroom.They start running out of the bathroom ' at the drop of a ...hmmm waterdrop'!!!, I guess, as they know, that , I'll run after them. and invariably one would run and one would stay in the bathroom, making things complicated!! And they hate towel drying their hair, they start running and I just cant let go off them, as I dont want them to catch cold. Since I need to use both my hands to towel dry, I cant hold them and dry.so that gives them all the more freedom to run. And I would be in a slightly bent position for this as well, so I need to run after them in that position- Mommolder with the towel over his head and face and running forward, without seeing and me following , trying to dry his hair with the towel- i'd be panting by this time,as its more or less like a frog leaping excercise for me!!!and I need to get back as Achulde would be in the bathroom. You've no idea, how many situps I do in that one hour!!!

But then, once I towel dry Achulde , I wrap the towel on him and I just gather him into my arms , and he'll give me s tight hug and close his eyes and remain there with his chin over my shoulder , without uttering a word and I just look into the mirror and watch his content face happily. Thats my ' All for this one moment'.

And I got a blessing very recently. My lil Mommolde also has started doing the same thing. Ofcourse he has no clue , abt this tiny token of appreciation that’s shared by Amma and Achulde!! So he took my by surprise, when a couple of days back, when I towel wrapped him after the daily dose of frog leaping cum towel drying and gathered him to my arms, and the lil fellow like Achulde, gave me a hug and fell onto my shoulders, with his eyes closed and sucking his thumb, his face content. ‘ All for this one moment'!!!

Lorry or Glory ?!

2010-03-10T22:22:00.000+05:30

I recently came to know of one long running series in Asianet thats been entertaining the Mallu junta for over 3 yrs now.Its at 7 in the evening mon-fri.all the usual masala et al . And I for one am totally against these serial killers!!! And I had no clue that my Achan and Amma were addicted to this series as well.And how I came to know is funny. We'd reached home much earlier than usual by 6:30 that day. TV was playing in the backend as usual, and then suddenly when one of the lead female characters came onscreen, Achulde exclaimed ' Look Lorry, Lorry'. I couldn't find any HMV in the screen and was confussed.Following the serial for a minute explained it all. The lead character's name was Glory.I looked at Amma with disbelief and my amma was like" its ok, its coz he sees all these advertisementsabout this serial, he doesnt watch the serial, we dont watch the serial or anything, you dont worry kinds!!!' I would have believed her,but then in the next scene they showed a white swift car coming from adistance and Achulde was like' Look Amma , thats Prakash's car' and you know what Aakash drives a blue Zen Estillo' and my jaw dropped, surely my son wouldnt know all this from the advetisements for sure!!!My child has been following a serial at this age and that too a painkili one!!

Updates

2010-02-13T12:20:00.000+05:30

A lot of things have changed, lots of water has flown through Thames as well as our Aluva puzha. Mommolde turned two and is much more naughtier than Achulde was at this age. And the favourite pastime for both has been to take on each other as if they are equals,they fight atleast 80% of their waking hours. At school, Achulde is more interested in keeping to his friends circle and Mommolde likes playing with himself.Hes not yet reached the age when they start playing with friends.But they both keep an eye on each other. But once they reach home, its as if they've entered the war zone. They play together for the first 10 mts and then they start the Big Fight. And I reach home, a good 4 hours after they reach, hats off to Achan and Amma for playing referree till then.

Oh well!

2010-02-13T11:32:00.000+05:30

oh well, If my procrastination continues at this pace, I will soon defeat the purpose of this blog. when my boys come to this page, after the initial ecstasy of being able to see how they were when they were babies, they'll soon find what a lazy bum their mom is,not able to even key in a few words a week and that too when they are upto n thing every hour!!! certainly its not coz she cant find things to write about, shes spoilt for choice in that arena. then what is it thats keeping their mom from keeping her word!!!Well she had decided to start afresh from New Years, but then that would look too ordinary.every other resolution maker and keeper would be doing the same. And in any case the birthday is coming up soon, so why not be a lil' diffnt and start from the b'day onwards!!! the birthday came and went, birthday resolutions are better than New Yrs. Thoda hatke hain. but again it isn't that diffn't. So just take up another day, when no one would think, you'd be back in the act and then pretend, you were never out of the scene, its just that, your friend weren't visiting your page that often, you know.
Last time I tried a diffnt trick altogether, I had not been active for almost 3-4months and then one fine day descended with half a dozen entries and adjusted the dates and my friends were baffled, " Oh we didn't know you were writing'!! comments poured in ;)
This time, let me hope, I stay active as a regular for long time, making frends, visiting frens and most importantly , sustaining the same...

Boys are fun

2009-09-12T22:21:00.001+05:30

People often ask me about how I've been able to manage work and home without much hassles with 2 boys around?! Until recently, I used to think that this whole stuff they talk abt managing two boys is a much hyped up non- issue. But slowly, it has started to sink in.Now the sitution some of the time atleast makes me move into ' I couldn't agree more agree more to it ' lines.

Especially after my chetts and family came for vacation(they have two girls), I am forced to accept the theory or fact that, bringing up boys is a different ball game altogether. Girls(at this age atleast) , I think listen and think more. With boys ,the acting comes first and thinking comes later at leisure time, if you have the patience to explain it to them then.Or is just with my boys?!!! I wonder.

Boys resort to fighting physically at the drop of a hat. With Achu, pushing /pulling/beating/pinching Mommo is like second nature. I think girls cry more than boys do, but my lil ones offer competition in that arena too, they can beat any girl in wailing/crying non-stop.

On days when I feel esp bad for scolding them or punishing Achu, I feel miserable and take resolutions on how I would behave from that day onwards. But once back home, resolutiosn fly out of the window, mostly in the first 10 mts - latest within the first 30mts itself.I must admit that this must have something to do with the long hours at work as well, cannot deny that. But the credit due to the boys- they must get that, rite ;)

I dont know why both of them need the same thing at the same point in time and have not qualms abt laying hands on each other to get possession.We made it a point to point to buy anything and everything in twos so that such fights dont occur.But then for certain toys, you just cannot buy two of them like the mini toy car- how can you have two ofthe kind in one home. I think you should not have it at all, if you cannot have two of a kind!!! And guess what, it doesnt stop there, even if you buy two of anything. Theres a competition on to dismantle anything that they can get hold of and its a matter of an hour or two, before the parts are seen lying all over the place. Once this is achieved, both of them would want the better toy all to themselves!!!And the latest trend in this industry is that they mostly want only the thing that the other one is playing with currently and not anythingelse!!!And Achulde, who is quite popular in the class for his penchant for prophesing the joys of sharing with his Kuttaaaar( kuttukaar for friends),is no role model when at home. He is the one who needs anything and everything that Mommolde is playing with. Mommolde on the other hand lets go most of the time (in comparison), but if its something, then he must have, then theres no stopping him either.And mind you, you can't take sides, you need to be impartial- but in my case, one of them is still a baby and not a boy yet, so Achulde gets the advantage most of the times., when the two take in each other.And the moment, I take Mommolde's side, this fellow throws tantrums!!! I'm just waiting for the time, they can take on each other as equals. I'll atleast be spared from taking sides then!!

Another thing I noticed is that the boys speak louder than girls and if you have to make yourself heard, your volume needs to be even higher. Then as the TV would be playing in the background atleast 16/7, your voice needs to be on a higher decibel than the boys and the tv's!!! And I think boys are fuzzy eaters as well. My boys had not had much of an issue in terms of being very selective on food, but post the cousins' visit they've been introduced to the worldly vices of maggi and black juice-'pepsi'. And of course ice creams!!!
All said and done, I realise how much of a challenging task this is. To bring them up well, without any partiality or prejudice and giving them no reason to complain, being there for them, not letting them down - thus paving the way to bring them up as confident , responsible caring and compassionate individuals- thats the bare minimum that we as parents should be able to do for them.(Touchwood, I hope they turn out so!!!)

Certification time yet again

2009-08-22T22:12:00.001+05:30

Those who have been regularly following me on my blog would know already, how I've been faring on the certification side, that my company has mandated. Now they have slightly modified the rules. 2 certs in an year has been changed to one cert every 6 months!! So it requires you to take the certification every 6 months, you cannot postpone till the year end :( And I had to take one before Sept end. And since my chetts and fmly are coming over for Onam which falls on the first week of Sept. I just thought it would be best to take it before Onam. And I was feeling quite confident on taking this exam, as I was also involved in preparing the training material for this certification sometime last year, I hoped it would all come to me, while in the certification hall.I just needed sometime to read the material once.I had registered for the exam on 20th and on 18th nite, Achulde started showing symptoms of fever!!!Now , how many times I've warned myself against procrastinating- and I dont understand how I end up doing that all the time. And I had kept most of the material untouched, saving it for a last time read on the eve of the exam!!! I ended up touching the material only by 8 in the nite, after taking Achulde to hospital et al.Ended burning midnight oil and somehow managed to read it all once.

Managed to scrape through, which is more than enough for me. Couldn't ask for more. :)

On Sabarimala and grand parents

2009-07-22T20:06:00.000+05:30

Last time the husband went to Sabarimala was before our kalyanam, and he'd been planning to go eversince. So when his cousin called up , informing his plans to go during July, he decided to go alongwith them. So we all went to Aluva and from there they did the Kettunirakkal and proceeded to Sabarimala. It has been raining cats and dogs this monsoon and the Manalppuram temple is already submerged.

You know what, every year, during the monsoon, the river overflows and the temple submerges completely, during which time they move the Deity to another place in the vicinity and perform pooja there. And where the area allotted for regular car park et al during the normal times, the river would be just ankle deep when it overflows - making it an ideal place for recreation-the whole town would be present there on such occasions . That evening me and Amma took Achulde and Mommolde to Manalppuram, and both of them were scared in the beginning, but I somehow tricked Achulde into entering into the waters, after which we had a nice time there. He just refused to come out later on.

The husband and cousins had a nice Darshan at Sabarimala and came back by evening of the next day.

After coming over to Tvpm, we've been frequenting Aluva atleast once a month, I guess.My children have been getting to meet both set of grand parent quite frequently. And they are quite attached to them as well.That I think is a very rare thing to happen these times.

Aerobics

2009-07-17T22:05:00.001+05:30

Though I'd not put on much weight during my second pregnancy, whatever I've put on has been on the wrong places,and its just refusing to go way. And since you could call me a foodie, there's no way I could diet my way into my good ole' clothes, that have been waiting patiently in the wardrobe all these years. I just had to shape up to get into those , I kept on telling myself, but couldn't bring myself to start attending any session - there was nothing in the vicinity and I was way too lazy to start practising on my own. It was then that the HR team of my org announced a week of activities based on themes. One of the sessions was Aerobics, High speed exercises were never my cup of tea. I preferred the Yoga any day. But in this session, that lasted for barely 40 mts, we were made to do a workout for 15 mts, that left us all out of breath and panting and excited as well. I never thought I could move fast and I thought I needed a long time to grasp the steps. But I guess, I was just imagining thing up maybe. So when this hoarding ' Learn Aerobics' popped up in my neighbourhood, I decided to give it a try. yeah true, it takes me more time to master the steps, but I've been improving and I've not called it quits yet as well(touchwood!!!). Though the results on the weighing scale are not encouraging, I am determined to continue. I would love to wear those dresses before the new year!! No high hopes, as I am fully aware of binging habits and weakness for good food!!!

Roller skating

2009-06-21T22:03:00.003+05:30

Now that the summer holidays have started, all you can see all over the city are advertisements for summer classes for kids for Yoga, aerobics,painting, musicals- vocal and instrumental and dance.And my excitement hit the roof when I saw advt for skating classes put up all over the city. that is one skill I'd always wanted to master. We'd tried to find out coaching classes while in B'lore, but were quite unsuccessful. One more thing to add to the list of good things that happened after moving to Tvpm, I already told myself, as if I'd already joined and mastered the art. I called up the phone no that was given in the advt and the guy who answered was amused to find that I was not in the age range of 3- 18. he couldn't believe his ears when I told him my profile, I think he just didn't tell me that he thought I'm nuts to attempt at this age. So he told me to call him after the ' Peak season'. So I waited patiently for 2 months and called him up in June, He refused to answer. And finally when he picked up, he said, he cannot spare any time for me. I felt so let down. I was not asking for exclusive time, I was ready to learn along with the others, i couldn't possible understand why he wouldn't teach me and the hubby. So when we saw this write up on The Hindu about one skating academy near Chaaka, which is almost 30kms plus from where we stay, we decided to enquire there. They sounded okay, when I spoke to them over phone, so early morning on Saturday we both went all the way to Chaaka and while passing by the Kowdiar palace, we saw this group skating right in front of the palace and assumed that it must be the guy whom we'd spoken to earlier , who;d refused to teach us . Though we went all the way there, we just ended up watching the trainer and the students from inside our car, as we knew it was not going to work out,the distance was way too much.So reluctantly we came back and on our way back, we spotted the same group still practising in front of the palace.This time, we decided to give it a try and convinced ourselves that if the instructor talks to us, he mite realise how enthusiastic we are about the whole thing and mite decide to teach us. This person turned out to be yet another instructor and he was more than glad to take us in as students. And so we've begun our skating sessions. I just hope, I'll get rolling sometime in the near future.

Achulde turns 3

2009-05-30T20:32:00.001+05:30

Achulde turned 3 years old on 28th. Man, time flies!!! He wanted Mickey Mouse cake for his b'day. We'd placed the order at Ambrosia and they were okay with delivering on the b'day morning directly at school. But on the previous nite, we heard rumours about a hartal in the offing. Well this is the land of bandhs and hartals , that too lightning ones, that just gets called on and off at some political party's whim and fancy!!!So we thought it would be a good idea to bring and keep the cake in our refrigerator itself , so that we can avoid unnecessary worries. So we went and brought the came from there and guess what, very soon found that the cake was too huge to fit into our refrigerator, We took it out of the cardboard case and tried to place it inside, but still it refused to go in. Do I need anything more to worry abt and in the huzzlebuzzle that followed, the side of the cake that I was holding , slipped from my hand and while trying to catch, my fingers wen right into Mickey's throat!!! I was in tears. There was only minimal damage, but that was enough. How would Achulde take a damaged one to school?! I mustered all my courage and called the cake guys up. Although it was closing time, they were good enough to wait till I took the cake back and then corrected the damage and offered to safekeep for me and deliver the next day despite the hartaal!!! We have the baddie, the bandh and hartaal guys and then we have such nice ppl also around too, for a change :)

PN: Achulde's b'day celebrations went well too :)

Hospital time

2009-05-25T07:58:00.001+05:30

Normally its Mommolde who marks his calendar regularly every month for a hospital visit.Achulde would be the culprit though, bringing in the cold n' cough without fail every month. But he doesn't fall sick really. He gets just a minor version of it, but he loyally passes it onto Mommolde who ends up in hospital most of the time.Once we switched the doctor, we were able to contain with just visits and no admissions. So this time around, when Achulde fell sick,I thought it would be like every other time. But his fever spiked by Friday evening and it was well past the Doc's private consultation hours,so we had to take him to the OP.And I knew what was on store for me. They almost invariably manage to get the child admitted, based on my previous experience, but when your child has fever around 103-104, you stop worrying about all that, don't you. My main concern was that, I was so sure, I wouldn't be able to make Achulde stay in the hospital, he would be scared and restless for sure and he would cry out so loud that he would turn the whole place upside down. I was hoping that we'd get a single room.But like I knew already, there were no rooms available and they admitted him in the Paediatric ICU. He placed himself in their hall of fame, when they attempted to have the cannula on his wrist for giving antibiotics, by producing the highest decibel voice in the known history of the hospital!!!I was there in the room, so the Nurse aunties asked me to wait outside and 3 of them managed to hold him and took the blood for all the tests and inserted the needle for the cannula as well. Inside the ICU also, only one of us could be with him and he created quite a tantrum by calling out for Me when I was outside and for the hubby when he was outside. We both knew he just had a fever out of this chest infection , but that was not the case with some other children who were admitted there. Some of them were really unwell and the last thing those parents would want in the vicinity would be an impatient toddler crying away to glory and showing tantrums.He just refused to sleep on the bed and wanted the cannula to be removed and wanted to go home. After a couple of hours he fell asleep on my shoulders and that's when I finally managed to put him on the bed after so many hours.In the morning, he was running all over the place with a couple of balloons and trying to make friends with the other kids prompting one doctor to think loudly ' whether the hosp admits healthy kids also these days?!!!' I was worried for him ,as he mite catch infections from other kids and worried for the other kids due to the kinds of disturbance that he was causing. We were just waiting for our doc to come, so that we would be discharged from the hosp, but that was not to be. Since the fever was persisting, they decided to discharge him only on Sunday. But luckily for us we got a room just in time, so the next 24 hours were much better.I was just hoping that fever would be completely gone by Sunday, the last thing I wanted was Mommolde catching this infection.Moreover Mommolde was pretty upset that all 3 of us were missing from home all on a sudden.Reached back home by Sunday evening, and by Monday morning, lil Mommolde was running a high temperature!!!But luckily it subsided well in 2 days time and we didn't have to get him admitted. I was esp worried as it was Achulde b'day on 28th.
But these hospital visits are humbling experiences indeed.

The City of school seasons

2009-05-01T08:10:00.000+05:30

I think Trivandrum is one city that revolves around school and academics year round. While you know places,where you see activities/happenings based on seasons or events or maybe festivals etc, i think I can rightly state that this city has everything running based on school activites and timings alone.Maybe this has something to do with the fact, that majority of the population would have moved in and settled here 'coz of the govt jobs and the sole focus of the middle class has always been education of their children.But they get way too focussed and I think, most of the parents dont have anythingelse in their mind other than the education of kids till 12th and professional degree course after that.Its all about school classes and then the tuition classes before school hours and then tuition classes after school hours. You often see huge crowds gathered in front of houses at odd times- 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning or 7:300- 8:00 in the nite, which would be anxious parents waiting to pick their kids after the tuitions.Am indeed skeptical about being sucked into this vacuum.

Every person I meet has this standard question to ask me already ' Are you trying for Loyola admission?'I think its a tmatter of time before I succumb to the pressure , maybe. Cant help wondering how tough it would be on the kids as well.Can't help feeling sorry for them. I dont know whether I'd want my kids to join Loyola. No doubts abt the fact that its one of the best schools. But then you are getting the best of the best, you are just bound to do well. But I dont know really whether they aim at developing all facets of the childs personality, finding out what he is good at and encouraging that, I dont really know abt that. And here you cant ask any directly either, am not sure whether they would understand what I mean to ask. I've heard that Loyola takes admission during UKG and in 2nd standard, and if you dont qualify in their UKG exam, you cannot attempt the 2nd standard entrance exam. And that based on the academic performance they move kids to ICSE , CBSE and state syllabus etc. I dont know how the kids can take this sort of pressure at this young age. I heard that there are people who even conduct coaching classes for the Loyola entrance!!! But the school must be really good, 'coz I've not seen a single loyoloitw who doesnt beam with pride while mentioning abt their school.The one that Achulde goes to currenty is the Early Learning Center of Trivandrum International School. Achulde loves going there and I must admit, if there is one thing that I dont regret on for moving to Trivandrum, it is the school that Achulde has been going to.From whatever I have seen, its based on how they do schooling abroad, its all theme based and the kids get to actually try their hands on the things that they are learning. The cute pieces of work that Achulde brings from his arts classes , the joy and pride on his face , as he shows off all these to us. The other day, he brought this cute cutting of a boy in blue sleeping on a hay stack. They were learning the rhyme ' Little Boy Blue'. But they say, this kind of schooling would not help the child in this competitive world. They quote the results of this school with the results of the city's best schools.So the experts think its best to have the kids in this school for their overall grooming and then move them to where they'd be ready to face this competitive world!!!The sad part is that they have only the ELC in the city, and from LKG onwards, if you plan to continue in this school, my kids would have to travel a good 40 kms every dayby bus.(The main school is almost in Attingal, you could say!!!)

I guess it would be the same scenario everywhere, be it Bangalore or Cochin!!!Maybe not to this extent, I hope.

Coorg Beckons

2009-04-20T07:59:00.000+05:30

We had not gone on any pleasure trips since Achulde and Mommolde happened, as in no trips to any locale, - just us et al. So decided to go to Coorg, which has been on the top of our lists from our Bangalore days. We decided to drive all the way to Coorg and though both the set of parents didnt voice any concern, I am sure, they were not comfortable with the idea of us travelling alone with kids. In India, I guess you bring up your kids, even while they are bringing up theirs !!!! :)
Since our Club Mahindra holidays were due for a long long time, we didnt have any issues with finding a resort etc and were spared any confusions arising from that front. I think one of the wisest things that we've done is taking the ClubM membership. You dont have to plan much for a holiday in terms of where to stay etc- you are spared all the confusion from ahving to choose. Plus you automatically plan for your holidays every year when the days are credited to your account.So basically you dont keep postponing your vacation plans.We stuffed in quite a no. of places to visit in between.
Guruvayur was the first point. despite standing in the queue for 2 hours, could not make it toa darshan as the kids got really cranky by then, and the ppl in the queue also started showing signs of intolerance and some even started advising /giving tips etc. Had to pull out of the queue with reluctance , we drove till Kozhikode that nite and resumed our 6 hour journey from Calicut to Coorg in the morning. We were there for jus 2 days and most of the time was spent in the resort itself, where the kids thoroughly enjoyed. We visited the Tibetan monastery as well too, but the kids couldn't care less and were really tired, so had to call off most of what we had planned for, initially.I think the one mistake that we made was that we didnt plan for a couple of days more in the resort , but that can be excused (I guess)as we had not done any planning or travelling since ages!!! Lessons learnt for the next trip!!!And know what, though I had taken swimwear, we did not spend any time in the pool, as Mommolde was not really well and Achulde was way too scared to get in!! Besides the water was very cold too.
But all in all, had a gala time there :)

Of 'Hanuman Pandaram', 'Mahishi', 'Poochandi' and 'Jose'

2009-04-18T16:28:00.001+05:30

When I was small and even when I was not that small, I remember being scared of the dark, of Ghosts, of entering into any unlit room, once dusk had fallen. And it took me a long long time to start sleeping in my own room. I remember being jealous of UL, when she proudly used to mention, that she sleeps alone in a room. We used to discuss then, of how unfair it was of adults to scare us children by mentioning about ghosts and all such stuff. My folks used to use words like ' Hanuman Pandaram', 'Mahishi', ' Poochandi' etc, to scare me , when I wouldn't listen or obey and having never seen one, I used to associate these names with the scariest figure, I could imagine then. I remember declaring to UL then, that I wouldn't do such a thing to my children(All this happened, when we were probably 8-10 yrs old).Now I see myself using these very words to scare Achulde, when he is naughty. His response varies. Sometimes its a ' Achulde pedi', but most of the time he just ignores and carries on with his activities.I try and promise myself not to do that anymore, but most of the times, i cant control.I am happy that he ignores it most of the time. Recently, I noticed that, hes pretty scared of the guy who comes to clean the windows and fans etc. He sports a Big moustache and looks pretty scary, so I started using his name to get things done.Whenever I say' Jose is coming', the lil fellow, would go and sit in the chair and say ' Achulde Goo Boy' and then sit there for anothe 2 mts. Now that has also waned after a while. The funniest moment was when I overheard Achulde telling Mommolde ' Mommo, NO, Achu chetta Jose-ne vilichi. No No' :)

Vidyarambham

2009-04-18T16:09:00.000+05:30

On the 2nd week of Mar, we all went to Mookambika for Achulde's Vidyarambham. We'd been plannning this from quite sometime. It has to be done before the lil one turns 3 and this is next month.And long weekends and holidays, it would be so crowded, so we decided to go during march, when we calculated it would be least crowded as, it would be exam time for all the kids.Though we heard , at the last mt, that it was the utsavam time there, the temple authorities informed that, it would be crowded only during the Rathotsava time, so we decided to goahead with our plans. We went by train from Tvm to Mangalore and from there, took a cab to Kollur.The last and only time, i'd gone there before was over 12 yrs back and I'd loved the place then. Right in the middle of the forest, small township, lush green and all peace and quite and just being in the temple, calms you down and makes you feel blessed .Last time we could spot Pea-cocks and deers even on the road sides, they were not scared as they were not harmed by humans.
This time around, I noticed that its become more of a large township, but still the sleepy one only still, luckily :) But the pea-cocks and deers were not there, though.Offlate Guruvayur has been so crowded, that Darsan takes a min of 6 to 8 hours. We were glad to see that , it was not much crowded in Mookambika.Came morning and Achulde declared that " Innu Achulde HariSree Venda". But by the time we reached the temple, he was not protesting, and when the priest started chanting the mantra, he looked interested and sat quietly on his father's lap and did whatever he was told to. The function went off well and even lil Mommolde didnt cry thoughout the ceremony and was watching curiously.

issha shada dattada

2009-04-05T00:41:00.002+05:30

That was the new tune, Achulde had been humming for the last couple of days and neither self nor the husband could make heads or tails on which song it was.Normally we make out the song from its tune and then the words would make sensei.e, the resemblance would gently appear. But this time around we had no clue.But next morning, when I went to drop him at ELC, his teecha there, tells me that they are practising an action song for the School Founder's day, based on Disney's theme song ' Its a small world after all'.Over the course of next couple ofweeks, issha shada dattada became issa shollel attada :)we found ourselves singing 'issha shada dattada' all the time.Once when the husband sang it aloud in Achulde's words, the lil singer corrected his father with ' Damesha, angane alla, say ' Mole', mole, mole(for small) with his hands cupped like a ball to show 'small'.April 1st was the D- day, and he was to perform to a packed audience in Tagor theatre'. Already i was thrilled and tensed for him.We all were seated an hour in advance and the stage was all set. The tiny tots' group action song was the first item. All of them walked in and was forming two rows from either side of the stage.Achulde walks in and his attention gets diverted to some prop on the stage and he stops right there, deciding to watch it furhter. His teecha comes to the rescue and carries him to where he should be standing . His is not the only case we find, as the ' teecha's have to run here and there on the stage to bring back toddlers who have chosen different spots than the ones intended for them.The songs starts on the background and the all the lil one are looking to either side of the stage at the teachers and imitating what the teachers are showing them from either side. From where we sit, we can see the teecha raising her hands, turning around etc.And on the screen set at the back, they were screening photos taken during the last one yr during the various functions/activities in the school.Halfway thru the dance , while doing a turn around step, Achulde notices the photos on the screen and he decides to dance while watching the photos !!! From then on , he's 90 deg turned , ie., hes standing sidewise on the stage, but hes dancing nonetheless, doing all the steps, just that he almost had his back to the crowd :) It was so much fun to watch the show.In between, the lil one standing next to him decided that enough is enough and did a ramp walk across the stage,towards where her favourite teecha was standing!!! and then there were many faces, who were on the verge of breaking down into tears, seeing the huge crowd in front of them.All in all, it was such a nice experience, all the proud parents assembled and enjoying.I can imagine the effort that has gone into putting this up. To get them all to stand and perform is such a major acheivement I must say

Unaccustomed Earth

2009-03-23T21:44:00.004+05:30

Everytime I read a work of Jhumpa Lahiri, I end up sad and depressed for days on end. I thought this plethora of feelings that I go through, had something to do perhaps with my ageing process ;) or to the fact that I empathise a lot and thus create all such trouble for self.But I was kind of relieved on browsing the net for her works, almost all the reviewers admitted to being haunted /daunted on reading her works. I read The Namesake when I was pregnant with Achulde, it did not leave a nice feeling and I decided not too read her work again, atleast for a long time, then.
So when one of my closest buddies, gave 'The Unaccustomed Earth', her latest work, as a gift, I was initially reluctant to even start reading it. But I soon found myself, sitting late into the nite, such a page turner effect the book had.Its a collection of short stories and what is common across the stories is that in each of the story, one of the characters , mostly, the protagonist would have a secret to reveal that would turn out to be the crux of the whole story.And in each story, the secret is brought beautifully , in a unique way, mesmerizing style of writing.She is a skilled writer, enviable indeed, engaging , confident and completely in control.I loved the first one on Ruma and then 'Hema and Kaushik' the best.The latter haunted me for days on end. The only glitch was that , the moment the venue shifted to Thailand and clue was given on the timeline(2004), it suddenly crossed my mind that , Tsunami would become part of the backdrop and it turned out to be right. That was the only time, I found myself out of the book and not engaged/engrossed, the surprise element (if she intended any) was lost.But that didnt reduce the impact of the grief by an iota even. I was saddened and disappointed by the decisions taken by the protagonist(Hema), and somehow I wanted to shake her into making the right decision, all the time knowing and to be honest ,consoling self saying its just a work of fiction!!!
Maybe it was reminding me of one of my best friends, who is now in a very difficult situation in her personal life, and has not been doing anything abt it, I just dont want her to be another Hema. I want her to take control of her life and make things easy for her and others in her life. This is to you girl, hope you reach where you ought to be, where you belong to, pretty pretty soon, touchwood.

Bhakti Margam

2009-03-23T21:28:00.003+05:30

Nowadays Bhakti is the flavour of the season and the TV channels are loaded with Bhakti serials, atleast the malayalam channels. My Achan was an ardent fan of Swamy Ayyappan which ran for almost 2 yrs and , when they started running short of original stories on the diety, they introduced stories on experiences of Devotees and in no time, it got so boring that even Achan gave up after sometime. But even now I see a torrent of such serials like Devi Mahatmyam, Krishna Guruvayurppa, etc etc.Since Achulde and Mommolde play with the remote quite often, the TV would be running in the background, most of the evenings in our home though no one would be watching as such. One such day, it was showing a story on the Goddess killing an Asura and most of us sitting in the family room were passive viewers. The Asura entered the scene,the make up was intended to be scary, the blackpaint on the face, the Jada , the big moustache etc, he was doing the roaring laughter coninuously for 5 mts on entry, the tyical demon laughter and I was beginning to wonder whether Achulde would appreciate this act at all. I didnt want my child to have a disturbed sleep and was abt to reach out for the remote to turn it off, when the monster on TV decided to do the Attahaasam once more and immediately from behind my chair , I hear a meek 'return' ' Hee haa haa haa'. That was Achulde standing there and imitating the Asura's laugh. He was enjoying the show. Apparently, he had not even realised that , it was something that was designed to scare the viewers!!! He was enjoying it thoroughly thinking its a joke :)

Happy First Brithday to you Mommolde :)

2009-02-24T20:34:00.004+05:30

Its been a long time indeed and what better excuse do you need - it was Mommolde's first birthday . The star birthday was on 31st, but I had to be at work on that day, eventhough it was a saturday!!
And on his DOB, the husband was away in Beijing, on a 5 day tour!!! So we decided to celebrate on 14th , Valentines' day.
Achulde's First b'day was a gala affair, we'd even roped in an event manager, who managed the whole show for us including getting the return gifts, caps and blowers and all things nice. We had asked for a live cartoon character(in attire ofcourse) (Winnie the Pooh, as that was the theme for the party)- that was the anti-climax of the whole show, the guy was so thin, he looked awfully thin even in the Pooh attire :), now all that brings a smile to one's face.
We wanted Mommolde's b'rthday to be equally good.We had Pooh as the theme, this time too. Out here in TVM, they've event managers doing weddings etc on a large scale, but nothing on a small scale. We'd booked Travancore Hall of South Park, we but we had to do most of the arrangements ourselves, with the help of the Hotel boys. This time we were not planning on a large scale anyways, just family . And we didnt have much of friends in TVM anyways.
We'd purchased party poppers and snowflake spray, when we went shopping for the return gifts , and I gave clear instructions to a couple of hotel boys on how to just twist it to pop it and to spray on a certain height so that it would snow down beautifully. All was set. The cake cutting was set for 7 in the evening and all the folks arrived on time. Though we had party caps and eye masks, most of the kids refused the eye masks and opted for the cap only.
Achu and Mommo were sporting Offwhite Sherwani'is and both the kids for a change, didnt resist self''s attempt to dress them up in this attire, that by itself was a major achievement for self. :)
And at 7, we 4 got together to this side of the table and the crowd assembled on the other side and all started singing the Happy Birthday song.I was trying hard to get Mommolde to touch the knife atleast. Achulde was already blowing the candle and then suddenly the Hotel boys made their way into the crowd . The one with the spray had atleast forgotten half my instructions, for he was spraying the snow at just his level, the spray didnt have time to turn to snowflake, so it decided to just stay as lather on the guests' head. Same is the case with the popper man - he was miles away from the party scene, pop goes the contents into air!!!:) My attention wandered from the cake cutting and I couldn't control my laughter and I noticed that the whole crowd 's attention was in that direction, all laughing loud and running away from the scene. Then the "Snow Man", decided to focus on us and all of us were like ' Run for your lives'. The husband was like' M, focus here, we should be cutting the cake, not looking elsewhere!!!' etc.
Finally off went the boy and we returned to our second attempt at cake cutting. By then a naughty lil friend of Achu's(Kanna Baby) decided to join our side of the table. Kanna baby for a change had decided to wear the eye mask!!! He walked over from the other side in style sporting the Cap and eye masks and Mommolde got all curious as well a lil worried at the same time( He was seeing someone in a mask for the first time in his life).This lil fellow decided to position himself by my right side, a lil behind me and Mommolde who was on my left arm took a sprint and landed on my right arm and started climbing over my shoulder, trying to take a good look at Kanna Baby,with his back towards the cake and the crowd, there was no way we could get him to look at the cake , let alone making him cut the cake!!!
It was so funny, this time for a change, we were quiet relaxed and laughed our hearts out.
Finally, the husband somehow managed to get Mommolde to look our way and all of us cut the cake together :)
Achulde was really happy as he got to play for a long long time with all his friends. And we had a nice time with family and very close friends.
Man, Mommolde is already One, one year just whizzed by!!!

Broken

2009-01-25T12:34:00.002+05:30

Scroll to left, and then to rite, scroll up and down’ was my New Year’s resolution!! Before you jump into conclusion that this mite be a new form exercise that I plan to start practicing this year, let me clarify,
No ,no, I did not mean scrolling in person, but ‘scrolling throught the recipient list of my compose mail window, before I click “ the sacred” send button !!!
Don’t believe that? Well , that’s just a subset !
My being absentminded is not by design, I’ve resigned to the fact that I am just designed that way!!! So my resolution for the new year was the latest in the series of the futile attempts at trying not to be very absentminded and careless atleast during workhours.
Checking recipient list was included in my mental checklist, after I caught myself just in time before clicking on the ‘post’ button after composing a weekly status report’. Now ‘post’ sounded unfamiliar, where’s the ‘send’ I normallyclick! That’s when I realized, I was about to post in BB (my company's Bulletin Board) my project status report!!! Heights of carelessness and that was when the mental checklist was revisited , re-vamped and re-introduced!!
All was well in my world, until today, when I got a mail from ‘A’, my team member , cc-ing my supervisor ‘B’, citing reasons on why he needs a release from the project and asking me to commit on a specific release date that he had in mind. Now,the project is in a very crucial phase and he is one of the key personnel in the team. I could not commit to any certain date, until the KT was complete and the new TM has scaled up well. But the same time, I did not want to discount that fact that the person had a genuine reason for the release. I decided to draft a mail noting down all points and send out a mail to my supervisor and once I was done with the composing, instead of saving , I clicked on ‘ send’ and went on about my activities. It being an exceptionally busy day, I had //commented the mental checklist process for the day.
The very next moment I get a ping from A, “I got your mail, you sent the mail to me, not to B!!!
Jaws dropped, I didn’t plan to send it at all ,rite-away in the first place, wasn’t it still in my drafts?!!
I cross checked my drafts and sent, no surprises here, it was in ‘SENT’ and not in ‘DRAFT’.
Ms. ‘Carelessness Personified’ had ’ replied ‘ instead of intended ‘forward’.
‘No problem, I’ll forward him,myself’ stuttered the embarrassed self .
’ I’ve done that for you’—he pings!!!
Then comes his reply, just a oneliner “‘ Looping in ‘ B’”!!!!
I ran to my supervisor’s desk and updated him, before he could sit down and read the mail himself,and he, who by now is so used to my “speaking on ‘mute’ during conference calls‘ and ‘moving files to wrong folders’ syndrome couldn’t contain himself and laughed out loud.
I was back at my desk, embarrassed, trying hard to contain it all, realizing how I’d royally broken my ‘New Year’s resolution’
Can it get better than this?
Stupendous Achievement , even before first month of 2009 is over!!! :)

The effect of my Nazar

2009-01-18T00:07:00.002+05:30

My amma always says that we should never talk or even think that our kids look healthy now or thats its been sometime since the last infection. The moment you think/say, your baby is bound to fall sick the next day. The beginning of this week, I couldn't help noticing that its been atleast a couple of months since Achulde's last tryst with antibiotics , though Mommolde has been very regular with the attendance!!! And I even went to the extent of admiring his chubby cheeks!!! The very next day, got a call from his day care at noon. A call from the day care is something I am yet to learn to take with minimum composure. The moment I see the caller ID , I panick and I dont even bother to say Hello, its always ' What happened?" This time, its fever and I couldn't believe my ears, he was bsolutely alrite, in the morning. We took him to the Doc. He did try his best to behave and when the doc took out the thermometer, i could see him trying so hard to control the outburst, he managed not to cry for the first 1 or 2 mts and then , started out full volume. Then it was 3 of us holding him, while the doc examined, and Achulde as usual was in top form!!!
It turned out to be a middle ear infection, and that happened thanks to me , alone. Achulde had a mild cold last week and a running nose. So the good old very knowledgeable self, did the good act of making him blow his nose forcefully, very well knowing that , it mite lead to ear infection!!! As always, I thought that its just for the books!!!
Now he's on antibiotics, and we are all plotting new dramas and trying old tricks, to get him to take his medicines.

Happy B'day to you Happy Nuyea

2009-01-11T00:08:00.005+05:30

Achulde thinks 'Happy Nuyea' is something similar to 'Happy Birthday'.
Once he noticed people wishing each other a Happy New Year, he also started doing the same. He even went one step ahead. He wished Happy new Year a Happy Birthday.
When one of his Appuppas called us to wish , he grabbed the phone from me and started singing.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you Dear Happy Nuyea
Happy Birthday to you!!!
:)
His 'Teecha' at the day care was telling me that one whole day, he was going on abt saying ' 'Achulde Happy Nuyea' 'Achulde Happy Nuyea' :)

Mommolde

2009-01-11T00:03:00.003+05:30

Extremely unfair, not to have a post on Mommolde, you'd think.
Lil Mommolde has started taking baby steps. He'll turn one next month. His star birthday is on 31st, but I have to be at work that day, we have a major deployment on that day. He turns one on 10th Feb. Maybe we'll celebrate it on the following weekend.
I'm sure I'll have a tough time, convincing Achulde that its not his b'day and Mommolde would have to be given the privilege of cutting the cake.
From a practical PoV, it would be better to let Achulde do the honor,lil Mommolde wont mind this time.He can just initiate the process and leave it to Achulde to take care of the rest of the matter

Kochu Poochan

2009-01-10T23:52:00.003+05:30

Did I hear it right? ' Kochu Poochan , Kochu Poochan' ,(meaning Lil' Kitten) Achulde was chasing a cat, all excited and I could see that the not so 'Kochu' Cat was running for its life. We'd gone to J. Ngr, visiting my ammumma and thats one of the visits Achulde loves. He has a lot of fans in there and he loves being the centre of attraction. Its like his stage over there and he just starts performing, the moment he reaches there, songs and dance and all masti stuff.
Plus, since we live in an apt, going to J. Ngr is a diff exp. for him. And the added attraction is this cat, that visits our home , once in a while. Achulde has learnt this malayalam rhyme 'Kochu poocha kunjinu' from Manjadi. So whenever he sees the cat, he thinks its Kochu Poochan ( I dont know how this Poochan replaced Poocha, though!!!)
On a general note, I must say his vocabulary has improved and he can repeat full sentences now.

The URL of my blog

2009-01-10T23:43:00.002+05:30

Its indeed been ages, since I even visited this page, let alone thinking of scribbling something. I was so sure I'd not be able to type in the URL correctly.I even came up with this very clever idea of going to UL's blog and taking my link from her 'friends' list'!!!! :)

The promise that I thought I’ll be able to keep, that I’ll post a note atleast once in a week has been broken and in what way!!Have not posted in the last 3 months!!!
So what excuse do I have for myself. Shall I blame my employer this time? The company that I work for has mandated that all the employees should take two certifications an year, one from the technical stream and one from the process or domain stream. If you don’t clear that , your ratings get affected and that affects the pay package. And worse is, these exams get carried over to the next year and one would have to take four certifications the next yr!!!

Last year, which was my first year in the company, I’d thought that I don’t have to go through the grind , as I’d joined sometime in June, but the rule was relaxed for people joining from July onwards and I came to know of that only in Dec!!! 2 certifications in two weeks time –looks tough enough for a full time student. And I had a toddler on toes and was in the last trimester of my pregnancy, had my regular project work and the last thing I wanted to do was study like in college days!!! But that’s what I found myself doing, the husband, poor guy was doing the cooking and managing lil’ Achulde and there I was going through oodles of books and even walking to and from in the room, with the laptop on my hand , trying to recollect stuff and memorize stuff!!!

I managed to clear both the certs and I remember buying a book, as treat for myself ' The Hindi Bindi Club', dont remember much of the book, other than that it had lots of recipes in it.

This year also, I've managed to clear the certifications by Nov itself and I've not got a treat for self. Is there any book that you would recommend?

Happy new Year

2009-01-10T23:31:00.002+05:30

A very Happy New Year to you folks.
One resolution that I would like to take, is to post atleast once in a week, or maybe a fortnight or atleast once in a month?!! I just hope I can.
Work wise, its been really hectic, the las quarter, I've not worked like this in the last 4-5 years, I must say. And to top it all there were the yearly certification exams!!!!
But I just should not stop blogging because of all this. After all one of the reasons for this blog, is that my Achulde and Mommolde can take sneak peek into how naughty they were , in here. I need to keep this promise. Hope I can
So whats yours?

Bad Server - No Donut for you!

2009-01-10T23:28:00.002+05:30

Hey thats the only reason, I didn't have even a single post during the last 3 months!!!
Well, hows that for an excuse. Good enough?
Have you ever heard such an excuse before? :)

Nnnte!!!

2008-09-28T00:23:00.002+05:30

Achulde has been having the time of his life, hes not been going to the day care for the last two weeks. The first week, his day care had closed for Onam vacation. And the next week, his cousins had come visiting from Mumbai and were here for a week. Though he was not exactly on friendly terms with his cousins, especially the younger one Kavya(whom he calls Kaayi)- who is his age(jus 6 months elder to him). They were always fighting, pulling , pushing, crying and keeping guard on each other!!! And the moment one of them does something, the other one would sound the alarm(Amma,” Kaayi,Kaayi, kaayi”) or Appacha “ Achu,Achu,Achu”!!!(Kaavu and Devu calls me Appacha , for Appachi!!!) The moment one takes a toy, the other one would jump upon her/him shouting “ Achu-lde “ or “Ente”. Now Achulde has given up his ™ word “ Achu-lde “ and has started using Kaayi’s “ Ente”, only that he pronounces it as “ Nnnte”.

After the girls left, he's quite bored with no one to fight with, around. So he has chosen lil Mommolde. Anything that Mommolde picks up for playing is “ Achu-lde” and he pounces on Mommolde shouting “ Achu-lde” and then stops mid-way and nods his head--correcting himself and shouts “NNNnnte”!!!

I'm sure, I am gonna miss his "Achulde" for sure!!!

Of Client Visits and Elephants!!

2008-09-04T18:13:00.005+05:30

Client visit in Technopark is a very colorful affair. Its not just business, its a celebration.A couple of companies go all out to showcase not just their business, the extent to which they go makes one wonder whether, its a Kerala Tourism package that they are offering their clients. Technopark houses multiple companies in the same building , and there are more than a couple of such buildings in the campus.Ground Floor of the building, that we have our office in, is used UsT and when it comes to client entertainment,they top the list. On my first day at work after the long leave, I was confused when I saw the large Pookkalam on the reception, Onam was atleast 3 months away!!! But my doubts were cleared immediately, when a Limo arrived in front of the building and 2 clients stepped out and were immediately surrounded by a volley of ppl. Two huge garlands were brought and they were garlanded. The clients were thin framed and everyone could see that they were not at all confortable, but on the whole looked they looked amused with the reception. Then they all moved in to see the Pookkalam, which was done in the form of Theyyam(I had come to the first floor by then and was watching the whole episode from the portico.)Then the photo session of the clients alone and with UST crew and with and without the garlands followed.Once the official photo session was over, the clients took their camera and started clicking away!!!
Later in the day, I was talking to one of my colleagues , who mentioned that stuff like these are nothing new and that the day's show was not upto the mark, it seems. The procession with elephants was missing and there was no Vadyamelam as well. Now I was the surprised one.And that it seems is the measuring scale for 'How important the client is to your organisation.?" The no. of elephants go up,when the visiting party is somone higher up in the coporate ladder of the client organisation!!!
To each his own,thought I initially, Nice time pass, i tried to think of it. But mind didn't agree.How important is such a welcome to your client? How much does it impact your chances in the clients books? Is it really worth the effort? What is it that we are trying to prove in here?How safe is it? You have multiple companies in the same campus and thousands of employees from different parts of India and even the world, here to earn their daily bread - who have nothing to do with your company's eagerness to showcase the tourism package to your client. Why am I being so serious here, you mite wonder.After all, is this only time and place that you would encounter elephants being used for such purposes in Kerala, you mite think! The point to be noted here is that its not in any 'Ground' ,as in, a place where people interested in such activities can assemble , that you are bringing in the elephant and the procession.What if the elephant decides to play naughty, for reasons beyond its control.How prepared are the authorities , in case of such an eventuality? Its not even a place, where only interested parties need attend and others can stay off the premises , kind of rule can work. I am surprised the Park management has no issues whatsoever with such activities.Thank God, my company doesn't indulge in such extravaganzas is all I can say, but am not sure, the elephant when in fury would attack after validating the identity!!!
On a lighter note, there is this fwded mail that is on circulation.A typical mallu forward mail that makes fun of everything 'Mallu', this one caters specifically to Technopark. One of the questions is " How do you know , if there is a client visit in UST, Technopark?". Ans : "If you can spot elephant dung in the Sreekaryom- Karyavattom road, you know that there is client visit in UST!!!!" Hows that?!!!

Achulde and Mommolde

2008-09-04T18:05:00.003+05:30

Lots of folks have been asking, why I've named my kids Achulde and Mommolde!! The answer is I was hesitant about using the real names or pet names in the blog initially.(Though I am kind of comfortable now, I've got used to calling them Achulde and Mommolde in the blog) And I was searching for good names. Achu at that time, was not able to say 'Achu-inte' (malayalam equivalent of Achu's-meaning something that belong to Achu) and he used to say 'Achu-lde.' And for something that belongs to Aadi, he would say ' Momm-lde'( Mommo is what he calls Aadi).
Thats how I got those two cute names Achulde and Mommolde.

Jus for Kids!!

2008-09-04T17:59:00.002+05:30

The husband thinks I should rename my blog as 'Jus for Kids' :) So what, atleast my kids can enjoy reading the posts, once they are grown ups - a journal on their mischiefs, what an idea Sirji :)

Photosession

2008-09-04T17:36:00.003+05:30

How much time do you think it would take for a family of four to get a Family Photo taken at a Photo studio, specialising in the job? Half an hour, one hour ???
It took us 3 whole hours(Residence time, not just Service Delivery time, in purely S/w architecture terms)
The husband and self did kind of know what to expect, and we think we are very well prepared for whats in store. Going by the 'Barbar Balan 'experience and the kind of fuss that he puts in while just cutting his nail, we know that Achulde would be a star performer this time also. What we didnt expect though was that lil Mommolde will put in tough competition for his brother!!!
We reach Paramount Studion by 6 in the evening and their Ace photographer takes us to their model studio, which looks real grand and inviting. Main idea is to take ' typical Family photo and Photo of Mommolde in his Rolled Over state - a photo that you can find in any kerala home, would be a studio photo taken after the baby has rolled over.
Both the kiddos are in good mood, it can't get better than this!!!
I tell the photographer that we would like to get these 2 photos taken ASAP, before their mood changes. But the photographer has other ideas. He wants a photo of jus the kids and as expected the husband and self get carried away. We place Mommolde on the mat, he rolls over immediately and gives a smile. Now the P asks Achulde to lie down just like Mommolde, but the lil fella flatly refuses.In an act of convincing,the husband and self lay on our tummy , thank god
the P didnt take a snap then.Achulde agrees reluctantly initially, but the P does the mistake of coming closer to the venue and immediately Achulde changes his mind and walks away.P does a wise thing by taking solo picutres of Mommolde on a Bean bag.By then somehow, we make Achulde come back, but he wont lie down, he prefers sitting. So we try taking photo with one sitting and the other on his tummy, but there is a big gap between them and Achulde refuses to
budge.so we decide that we can make Mommolde sit next to Achulde and get a snap taken. The lil fellow is yet to sit by himself. So a new strategy is devised.
The husband would support Mommolde with his palm and once the P says 'ready', he would take his hand away and once the shot is taken, he would catch Mommolde before he falls down.And this we have to do in the next 10 seconds, before Achulde decides to walk away again. Shot is called, supporting hand moved away, snap taken --yes, yes, yes --But predictably the husband fails to support the lil one from behind and lil Mommolde falls straight on his back. He starts
wailing away to glory. So I take him out,soothe him and after a good 15 mts, he calms down, by the time we reach the venue, Achulde's solo session is going on. P has pulled out a chair and Achulde is posing solo. The husband is laughing out loud and narrating funny things to Achulde to make him smile and everytime the husband says, ' Smile', there's this weak giggle that we hear from Achulde, but no sign of smile in his face. Poor fellow, he thinks he has to
make giggling sound when asked to smile.And the real smile appears only after the flash goes blink!!! After 3-4 trials, the P says, its best to take natural snaps than making the kids smile !!!
Now is the time for the family phots. the husband, self and Mommolde sit on the chairs, but achulde decides to go and sit in a banana shaped chair, which lies in the corner of the room.We try to lure him, but he refuses to budge. Then its decided to pull the banana chair
in, so that we can get all of us in one place. But the moment , its pulled in, Achulde gets tired of sitting on it.Mommolde gets really cranky by now and we have no option other than calling it quits. P advises us to go for a round in the car and then come back. We decide to buy a couple of KitKats, and pass it onto the P, so that he can use the same to make Achulde pose!!! we get back in another half an hour and strategy is planned once again. Mommolde refuses to
pose solo, so the rolling over photo yet is out of question. We all pose and then Achulde starts whimpering. P shows the Kitkit in an attempt to lure him, Achulde's hand goes up and the whining turns to crying. We decide to give him one kit kit to hold, but he starts crying as he wants it opened. So finally one is unwrapped and given to him that makes him busy for a while.By then Mommolde is fussy, by the time he is comforted, Achulde has finished his chocolate and starts crying again. So the second one is given and meanwhile , the husband and self have been exchanging M and A, whoever needs comforting , is handed over to self- need based. Amidst all these scenes,the photographer manages to click a no. of family photos. Surprisingly, P's complaints are majorly against the parents. Sir is not smiling, Madam,is not looking this way etc etc!!
I got so irritated with Achulde's show , that the moment the P said 'Done', I could not resist giving A a good fat pinch!!! And he started his Raaga vistharam!! If you see the photos, you won't believe, all these happened!!!
All said and done,it indeed was worth the effort, no doubt about it :)

Linguistic Worries

2008-08-18T07:04:00.005+05:30

Couldn't help wondering how the tables have turned in my Achulde's case after reading the post 'Speech' in UL's 'Diaries'. After he started going to 'Bright Vistas' day care in Bangalore, there was a dip in his ease with Malayalam. The language confusion syndrome had set in. At school, the care takers would be communicating in English, the Aayahs would be talking in Kannada or Hindi and his caretaker was a tamilian who would speak to him in Malayalam that sounded like Tamil.

Naturally, I was keen on my kid speaking good Malayalam wherever he was going to be, so we would speak to him in Malayalam only.After a couple of months, he could successfully manage to communicate to us in bits and pieces using Malayalam words predominantly and some English words and a couple of Kannada words.We encouraged daily doses of Manjadi, and were really proud when he started reciting Malayalam rhymes.

Now after moving to Trivandrum, I suddenly see that the tables have turned.He has not only picked up Malayalam beautifully, now he has stopped using the other languages altogether.I am in a situation where I need to see to it that he doesn't forget his English !!!.So I find myself speaking to him in English once in a while,though he makes it really obvious that he prefers to communicate in Malayalam.I insist on my children knowing English mainly because, knowing the husband as well as I do, you never know, when we'll decide to move to another city, just like that!!!

Now in his lingo, pussy cat has become 'poocha poocha' and Bowbow/doggy has become 'patti patti'!!! And in the day care that he goes to in Trivandrum, they have a rabbit.When all the children run after it shouting 'Bunny,Bunny', hes the only one running shouting ' Moyalu, Moyalu'- mind you its not even Muyal, its Moyal for him :)

Initially when I tried reading bed time stories to him at nite, he would just get up and leave. It took me some time to realise that he was leaving 'coz he didn't understand what I was reading to him.That was not exactly in conformance with what I had read on the net on how children would love being read to, even if they didn't follow the language.But nowadays , he wont walk away, when I'm reading, but he's more interested in the pictures in the book. If I read to him in English, he'll make a story based on the pics and tell me in Malayalam!!!

Linguistic woes, huh!!! :)

A False Alarm

2008-08-09T21:38:00.004+05:30

When we reached home , after work on friday, Mommolde was running high fever.One full circle completed in a month.And already the second cycle has begun!!! Just 3 week back, Mommolde was hosptialised following high fever, then it was Achulde's turn the next week and then mine. And now , it's Mommolde again!!!
The thermometer showed 100.4,I decided to give him calpol before taking him to the doc. It was then that I noticed more than a couple of bright red rashes on his hands and tummy. What more do I need to panic?!!! We reached the doc's residence where he has set up private practice and when the doc asked us to rush to the Emergency unit of the hospital,we got so worried. Our Paed. has this nature of not telling us in detail, on why he wants the tests done, until the test results are out.He never tells us what he suspects also, until its confirmed. The result being, we end up going through this high voltage tension drama, every time the lil ones fall sick.(But thank God, touch wood, every time,they end up being just false alarms, so I don't mind going thru it once in a while, as long as the kids are safe and sound).
This time also, like every other time, I got so anxious and shot all the questions like ' But why are the rashes there? ' What do they mean? what is his ailment?' and he replied calmly ' I cannot confirm anything, until the blood test results are out'.
'Would that mean an admission?' to which came the reply, 'I would like to get him admitted, but I dont think there is any vacant room in the hospital'!!! So we rushed to the emergency unit , where and waited for a long long time and finally the blood sample is taken for the test.In the mean time, the junior docs, came to examine him and fired Q's on whether we'd been out anywhere, whether someone at home is down with any epidemic, whether someone with any ailment visited our home et al.With each interaction, the heart beat just shot. I was in tears by then, not knowing what was troubling the lil one. The husband went one step ahead and using his mobile,searched in Google with the keywords that he caught hold off from the conversation between the Dr.s' and I could see the blood draining from his face!!! The next 3 hrs were one of the longest in recent history. And finally the junior Doc came and told us that , it must be reaction to insect bite,as the blood tests have come out negative!!! We both broke down to tears ,tears of relief, all the pent-up tension flowing out, but nonetheless grateful, that it was just a scare!!! :)

A fine balance

2008-07-27T14:59:00.004+05:30

Its a fine balancing act that we do with our lives all the time and we forget that too all the time. The only times you think of what a tightrope walking that you are doing, would be when you've lost the balance !!!(It's a different story that you do lose the balance very frequently :) )And when it happens, the rule of Murphy just applies itself tightly over the whole game plan !!!
I had charted out the list of activities for the month of June and July, well in advance, with the aim of completing all my pending "To do" things , before I joined back work by mid- july. But that was not to be.
I've not been able to complete , even one task from that list!!! And I've joined back work too :(
First it was the house shifting-though you know and are very well prepared for the task, its such a pain, esp when you have to do it twice in a span of 3 months!!!
Associated with that came all the side effects like no net connection et al, but that can be treated as minor too.
Then lil Mommolde came down with a mild cold that went onto become a severe infection and the worst part was that, the antibiotics administered orally upset his tummy and he had to be on IV, which meant he had to get admitted in hospital for 5 days.
That had other serious repercussions, esp. since Achulde has become an ardent "chipko" guy, after his trip to Aluva.
Had started thinking that things are back to normal and then, Achulde's fever starts.This event is all the more complicated because, administering the medicines part is so so so difficult. He has learnt to spit , so whatever is forcefed, comes out in doublespeed.It was 3 of us holding him and me giving the medicines thru a syringe!!! That lasted for a week and now Mommolde has cough and cold again!!!
And I am already 2 weeks into work!!!
Someone asked me on how it feels like, joining back work? I couldn't help answering " Its a very fine division of time between work, home and hospital!!!' :)

Achulde goes visiting!

2008-06-08T22:36:00.004+05:30

'Why dont you take Achulde along, when you go to Aluva this weekend?'
The statement surprises everyone including me and I regret it the moment I say it.I know I am done.
Achulde's g. parents are here for his b'day and they are going back, this weekend. The husband also is planning to accompany them as he has some other duties to take care of there. And this is when the CFL in my head decides to go all bright. Achulde's g.mother gets all excited and starts planning immediately. The husband just looks at me, he knows its one of the brilliant FIMs(Foot in Mouth) that pops out of me from time to time, those are my TMs.
Now what do I do. Since the suggestion is mine, I cannot take it back. I look at R. hoping he would save me. ' Why not
?!'comes the response from the husband!!
It could've been a life saving 'No , next time' or a ' Are you sure?' response, but no,he chooses to say 'why not?'
Amma by this time is all enthu and goes a couple of steps further and suggests that 'Let him stay there with us for a week at
least?!!
A week?! Completely out of question.He cannot stay away from me for that long. But can't you see the obvious? How will I stay
away for 2 days from my lil' Achulde?
Achulde, ofcourse doesn't have a clue of whats happening. He's so many more important thing to take care of!
Night falls. The plan is to leave by the early morning train and what do I do now? To make matters worse, theres a silly tiff between the husband and self, so there's this 'First who?!' thing also in the air.So the matter remains undiscussed till the D-day morning.

Come Saturday morning and the plans are still on. I get him dressed up, the lil fellow is still sleeping, its just 4:30 in
the morning. Clothes are packed, food is packed, everything's ready. Iam all the while hoping that he'd get up now and then
he wouldn't want to go, but no such luck!!!They all enter the elevator.The husband's carrying Achulde and as the lift's about
to close,Achulde wakes up and looks around.I press the button and keep the door open, just in case, he starts crying, I can
take him back.He looks around, assesses the situation , smiles and gets all excited and waves good-bye!!! Tough luck. I go
the balcony and wait. Thought process is that ,the smile and the good-bye is only 'coz hes just half-awake, by the time he
reaches the Ground Floor or atleast by the time he reaches the car, realisation would dawn and sense would prevail and he'll
come back in another 5 mts.I stay there , sharpening my ears to catch the crying sound. I see the car on the road- no such
luck either!!!
The next one hr, the hopes are really on a very large scale. They'd be coming back from the railway station, c'oz he realised
and started crying!!! Have you ever wondered, the capacity of the human mind to hope against all hopes? Is it coz I am an
optimist(Am I really one?!) or is every one like this?
I decide to execute all my shelved plans during the weekend. Visit to the Dr, dentist etc had been postponed for quite
sometime.I set about doing all that. Howelse would I pass time?
5 hrs later, the husband calls, they've reached Kottayam, Achulde is all smiles and really happy and playing et al non-
stop, eversince he got up from slumber.I am relieved. If he doesn't cry,then I am OK, I tell myself!!!
The full day passes, with phone calls to and fro, each one of them bringing good reports - he's fine,he's not cried at all,
he's busy playing,he's not asked for me even once etc etc !!! Although the last piece of news is not that pleasing ;), I am
happy for him, though I cannot help wondering whether he's just putting on a brave face.
The weekend is one of the longest ever, even Mommolde is wondering and looking all around, he must be feeling strange, the
place is so quiet all on a sudden, something hes not at all used to!!!
Sunday noon, I call up the husband and ask ' Didn't he ask for me even once?' 'Nope' comes the reply. 'You are sad 'coz he
hasn't, isn't it?' comes an addendum!!!I must admit I am sad, not really sad, but I'd be lying if I say, it didnt affect me.I
think I feel that way 'coz, my gut-feel is that Achulde is just not showing, somehow thats the feeling I get and thats
worrying.
Anyways, I am glad the weekend has passed.
Finally I am at the Rlwy. Stn at 6 in the evening. The Day Express arrives on time luckily.I can see them both now. Achulde
hasn't seen me yet. I am almost running towards them. I am just abt near them, the husband is glad to see me( I notice :D ),
Achulde is busy looking at the train and then suddenly he sees me. The next moment he squeals in delight and the next moment , he looks the other way, he wouldn't make eye contact with me for the next 5 mts. I am already in tears.And then he jumps in the air and is in my hands, in one swift motion. All excited he starts his rhymes ' Tain , tain gauway, come gain nather
dday !!!'

All my anxieties, all my worries have melted away and all's well in my world. Touchwood!!!

'Candle in the phone?!!'

2008-05-29T19:30:00.006+05:30

It took me sometime to realise why my son was blowing with all his might into the receiver of the phone mid-way through the conversations, y'day , whenever someone called and asked specifically to speak to him.

They were singing his ' Appappachi' song over the phone, and the lil' fellow was doing the blowing the candle part in-between !!!

Apartment Hunt - Part 2

2008-05-28T16:31:00.006+05:30

Then there was this house owner, who said that he cannot rent out his house to us, 'coz we have small children, who will mess up his house.

And then there was one who said, he cannot give his house as my parents' or R's parents being there, means more no. of people in the home, which he doesn't like.

And have you heard the latest- the owner needs 1k more from us than the rent he was getting from his previous tenants, as they were a family of 2 , whereas we are a family of 4!!!(Wonder whether the apartment size also grows, when the no. of members in the family increase)Doesn't that mean that its .5 k rent per child per month as hostel rent?!!!

Wonder , what all we need to go through before we find a decent place to stay!!!

Appappachi to you

2008-05-28T15:42:00.005+05:30

My son has been singing the 'Appappachi '(Happy Birthday) song for quite sometime now.As part of the buildup to his birthday which is today, we all'd been singing this to him and he was enjoying it too. But the anti-climax was that , today when we sang it, he was like ' Ildildilde!!!'(which is his way of saying Illa, illa-meaning no no). Looks like he's become quite bored with the song now !!!

At the day-care that he'd been attending while in Bangalore, there were birthday celebrations once a week-every friday, where all kids' whose birthday falls on that week, would cut the cake and then there would be a party. And on fridays, he's not that happy on seeing me or R, when we go to pick him up from the day-care.Its like given a choice, he'd like to stay back for some more time, kinds. Too bad, he couldn't celebrate his b'day there amongst kids his age. And he has not started going to day-care here. We are planning to have cake cutting et al here at home as well.Hope that makes up.

Lights, Camera Action!

2008-05-23T19:01:00.012+05:30

These days, when I get into the kitchen, its as if to shoot for a cookery show. Can you believe that?!!

All ingredients will be ready and kept in bowls based on instructions that were given earlier. I just need to take the right quantity and mix and bake or cook as required. And I get into the kitchen to cook only when I fancy. And I cook/make only fancy stuff these days like Chocolate Roller coaster etc.

One of the many advantages of having a maid!!! What a lazy bum I've become. But I do miss running my own show sometimes. Donno when those days will return. Not too soon, I hope, as I already have enough on my hands with Ac and Ad.

Gopalakrishna Panickar enna House Owner

2008-05-22T15:21:00.013+05:30

Remember the character played by Mohanlal in 'Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam'? The antics he indulges in to get the tenants to vacate his house? Wasn't he so lovable?

Well thats the last quality I can attribute to my current house owner.We discovered that he is a royal pain, so much so that, we have given notice to move out of our current apartment , where we have stayed for just 2 months!!!

We had liked this apartment so much, it was ideally located - near the NH, yet tucked in , less noise, easy accessibility- we didn't have to think twice before choosing this one.R was apprehensive, 'coz the house owner was staying in the adjacent one. But I didn't think that was much of an issue as we'd be minding our business and them theirs--but that was not to be.

In our haste, we overlooked checking out some basic minimum fittings like the plumbing work for washing machine, exhaust fan connection et al, and repent we did.

I approach him(Let's call him 'G'( Gem of a person) to talk about the same, and to my dismay he says a big 'NO' to the same, his reasons being

1.) You did not tell me, before taking the house.I cannot fit anything more as the deal has been signed.

2.) Previous tenant did not have all that.

I had a good mind to say that previous tenant did not pay as much rent as well, but refrained.
You see we've always belonged to the category of those less fortunate souls who have to live in rented apartments,but I must say we had not faced such issues before.
Maybe things are different in non -metros. In Chennai as well as Bangalore, we had all facilities provided by the house owners, if something was missing, we just had to tell them , they'd either fix it for us or ask us to go ahead and do it ourselves and deduct from next month's rent!!!

I walk back saying 'OK , I'll get it done myself at my own cost' . Then Mr. G comes running behind and says 'Since you've decided to go ahead , I would like to let you know that I can allow only premium fittings in my apartment'!!!

We realised then of the shape of things to come.

Its been a very eventful two months, since then,with lots of anxious queries for anything and everything rite from rent payment even before the month ends to worries that my toddler mite draw on the walls and complaints on car parking, basically everything under the sun was fast becoming a problem!!!

And we reached our wits' end when, on coming back after a week's break from R's home, uncle G. comes and complains that ' You did not tell me before going away, you are yet to learn the basics of community living!!!' to which R replies ' We thot we just have to tell the caretaker, since its his job, didn know we have to tell you as well!!'

To keep it short we gave in our notice and are on the lookout of new apartment!!!

Oh Blog , thy Name!!!

2008-05-20T23:52:00.005+05:30

There's been no end to the no. of times I change my blog title. Everytime I login I change it. I think I'll have to do a re-cap every now and then in my posts, so that I can tag the chronological order :)

From ' An afterthought ' to ' Is it me'? ' to ' Thinking Aloud' to 'Cacophonix Chronicles' to 'A penny for my thoughts' to 'Blogmatix.me.in' to ' Jusforkix', I would call that quite a journey!!! :)

But I like this one very much, I guess this name will stay.

I've always been an ardent Asterix fan. So the influence is obvious :)

What say wot what? hic!

Apartment apartment everywhere, not even one for rent

2008-05-20T23:40:00.003+05:30

That has been the situation that we find ourselves in, out here in Tvpm.We see big banners and cut outs everywhere of apartments and villas, in such astronomical prices, but the problem is that most of them are in the 'under construction' phase.

Can you believe that furnished apartments in the city comes for a monthly rent of 25k? I was shocked to say the least.

We've not been able to find one that fits the bill. If one specification is met, the rest are obviously not !!! If we get an unfurnished one, the location is not good, if those two are satisfied, then the no. of rooms are not enough...no end to our worries.

Keeping fingers crossed. Hope I find my beautiful home soon.

Left handed compliment

2008-05-20T23:15:00.002+05:30

Thats what I think of what Am. Prez said the other day about how people in his country were facing food shortages 'coz us here in India have suddenly started eating more!!!

I thot that would've more to do with good portion of the grain production going for bio-fuel research et al

Even if indeed it has to do with Indians eating more, then , I would be proud indeed , as that is clearly an indicator if how our living standards are improving.

Way to go , India

One moment here, another gone

2008-05-20T23:00:00.004+05:30

This is my biggest problem.
One moment I'll be all over it and the next moment I'll be too lazy to even bother about it.
I fear that I won't be continuing the blog, simply 'coz I'm too lazy.
I hope I will get over this phase soon.
I hope I'll continue blogging 'justforkix'!!!

Baby Talk

2008-05-06T14:22:00.012+05:30

I realised , how much of baby talk I do in my daily conversations, recently when a very funny incident happened. While pregnant with my second one,I used to take short breaks from work to walk about, in my company's sprawling campus in Bangalore. This campus is very unique, it is a ' See it to believe it' kind of place-lush green with , completely in tune with nature-lots of trees and plants of all varieties et al.

Just behind my building, stands a big tree , a very old one with a big hollow bark. As I was passing by, I hear a frantic 'Meow' from somewhere, I couldn't locate, from where. And then I notice this little kitten, hanging from the lowest branch of the tree using its front paws ,to save itself from the fall, crying in distress. It had not even opened its eyes, must've been just a day old.Just above the branch was the hollow bark and inside it was the mother cat and the rest of its litter, the mother cat looking at the young one , not knowing what to do.There were Associates walking about in the stone pavement near the tree, the cat wouldn't be able to come down , I knew that for sure. I stood there helplessly as well,as I had read somewhere that some cats abandon their offspring, if its touched by humans.My instinct was to stand right beneath the kitten with my 'Duppatta' so that if and when the kitten falls, it can fall safely into my 'Duppatta'.

Luckily, I didn't do such stuff, after all what would my teammates think, if they happen to see their Project Manager in such a scene!!!

I was looking around wondering what to do and the mother cat had started thinking of me as an unwelcome intruder and was staring at me. I dare not touch its young one. At this point another associate - a total stranger was coming from the opposite direction oblivious to the whole scenario. He looked at me puzzled, wondering whether I needed any help. The point to be noted is that , I was heavily pregnant at the time and seeing my expression, he was wondering whether I was in distress. He asks me whether I need any help. I blurt out ' Theres a little Pussy cat over there, it needs help'. Now whats wrong with that statement, you must be wondering. Nothing but that I used baby talk when I said pussy cat, to be precise, I said 'Pushi (shi as in 'sssh'i) cat'. ' A what?' says he, quite confused.I point to the tree and he says' Oh , a cat, you mean!'. He shrugs his shoulders as if to say , theres nothing much we can do abt it. The little kitten decided to take matters into its hands and just let go of the branch and fell down with a thud. The mother cat sprang down in a split second and took its young one back to the bark.

The guy smiled at me and walked away and so did I. But I was quite embarrassed . All this baby talk with my first one, was influencing my language in such a big way - but then consoled myself thinking, there would be a phase in his life as well, when he also would be doing such baby talk happily :)

Season of Weddings

2008-05-05T13:45:00.006+05:30

This is no ordinary wedding season. Year 2008 has brought me one good news after another, of 'Good ole' friends tying the knot. When I say ' Good Ole' I mean 'Good Ole' (wink).

Some of our very good friends who had remained single, coz they couldn't find their soul mates or 'coz of many other commitments, are finding time and luck this year.And this starts the age old debate on 'what the right age for marriage is?'.

Many friends of mine who married quite early (i.e , in their early-mid twenties) vouch for that, while others who preferred to wait for some more time, found bliss in their choice as well. Then there are some who say that 'Its always wise to postpone, since with marriage comes endless responsibilities, so why not enjoy for some more years before you take the plunge'.

One thing I've noticed is that ' There indeed is a general rush so that certain milestones can be achieved' - like say, to have your children before you are 30. Partly 'coz of health concerns , partly 'coz of the sense of achievement/pride that accompanies the successful completion of milestones.

I know of a guy who used to boast that ' He was the youngest in class'--no no, not while at school, he must have been atleast 24 yrs old then!!! I don't understand, what credit he holds for that,it was solely 'coz of the Govt's policy of age regulation from KG onwards, that his 'seniors' agewise ended up in his class!!!

Coming back to today's point, Here' wishing all the very best to our friends who are getting married this season and here's hoping that the couple of remaining friends--the ones who are closest to my heart, will get married in this year too.

Contradicting Quotes!!!

2008-05-02T14:22:00.013+05:30

I was inspired by Paulo Coelho's famous words “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.” while reading 'The Alchemist' . Infact from my life's experiences too, I have found these words to be true.
But offlate I've been wondering whether anyone has said before that " When you dont want something to happen, you find that it happens to you, with or without the help of the conspiring universe!!!" ( something you've dreaded ,even when the chances of it happening was miniscule or remote,)
10 years back,I had moved out of Tvpm- where I was born and brought up, to Chennai where a Techy job beckoned . Eversince, I must admit, I was not particularly fond of coming back to Tvpm to settle down. And honestly, I didn't think I'd ever have to do it. And marriage took me to Bangalore, the place , where I had always wanted to settle down, if I were to be in India.And we bought a home in Cochin as part of our backup plans so that if at all we came back to Kerala, thats where we wanted to live.I'd always dreaded coming back to Tvpm, donno why.

Now look at me.Life has come a full circle for me. I am at Tvpm now, believe it or not.Its not the same old me, lock, stock and barrelwise -- while it was just Me who went to Chennai, its a package of me , my husband and two adorable kids, who have come back !!! I have nothing against the place 'as is', but its just that I never thought I'd be living here. It was always Bangalore for me. And when the topic of coming down to Tvpm came up when R got a good break here, I brought up all my case points against moving. All said and done, here we are, as the positives outweighed the negatives.
Donno for how long, we'll be here, but the point I am 'Thinking Aloud' today is about how the very thing that you dreaded always happens to you.What else can explain, about me being here now?!!

So while I believe in Paula Coelho, I believe in the Quote that I made too :)

Is this me?

2008-04-30T11:46:00.000+05:30

Here I am. Starting out on an expedition, I thought, I'll never be able to start on. Something I thought would always remain a distant dream, something to just think on and on about as a pleasant ' To do Task' that I would always keep postponing on and on.
But here I am. And the name is as impulsive as the decision to start writing as well!! I'd kept the title 'An Afterthought' for my blog during all my day dreaming sessions. Then it was ' Is this me?' for a while, but while creating,it became 'Thinking Aloud'. It had to be this one, as that is exactly what I plan to do here :)
And what do I do here? Offlate, I've been noticing that my personality progression ( or is it regression?!) has been from the ' Highly sociable - having lots of friends ' tag to 'Socialising-Negligible or nil, Friends--only old/long lost ones'!!!
I didnt mind that really, until I started wondering whether it had starting affecting the way I interacted with others.Well, that tag has to go,indeed.And since old friends dont have time for me (wink) and I dont have time for new friends, this I thought is the best option.
Keep reading people, there will be a lot from me in this space, in the days to come