On Being Versatile

Sue awarded the versatile blogger award to me. and here I accept the same very graciously.

To accept the award, one must write a few facts about oneself.

So here they are....

1. I once travelled ticketless in the train- unintentionally of course

2. I know it happened but still never fails to surprise me that my mom and aunt would leave 4 cousins together at home and take off for shopping- this when my cousin & I were around 6 years old and our respective siblings were 3 and 4 years old. Now cut to present- will I be able to do that now?

3. I have smacked someone on the back mistaking him to be my husband- his fault- just a second ago he was standing there wearing a black T shirt and he moved and this man again in a black T short moved to the same spot.

4. I have held someone's sari and followed her out of the theatre thinking I am holding my Mom's sari, when I was about 5 years old.

Celebrating Mommyhood

Via Kiran via Monika on Celebrating Mommyhood.

A tag to list out five lessons of life that Mommyhood has taught us, these could be sweet, bitter, funny, touching, whatever. These could be survival tips or cooking tips, or something as simple as the best thing to get puke smell out of hair.So, the rules are simple. Put the badge up. Write out five lessons that Mommyhood taught you. And tag five mommy bloggers.

1. To not only answer questions but to also question the answers- I always thought MBA taught me that. But no. Come motherhood and I am always debating, questioning, reading, googling, asking, seeking, more than what I was doing earlier. Sometimes I am questioning age old traditions like stuffing cod liver oil into a fish eating child's daily diet in hot summery Chennai or complicated stuff like whether mutton is cooling (yin) or heat generating (yang). And other times I am trying to compose the best possible answer to the kids' questions.

2. To Exercise Self Control- Leading by example takes a whole new meaning altogether. So it could be something like giving up junk food altogether (or err banishing junk food from home), or switching off the TV while eating and strictly eating at the dining table rather than languishing on the sofa, or putting the shoes back into the shoe rack instead of allowing them to lie scattered right outside the rack. Or more difficult stuff like restraining the tendency to quarrel like wild cats. (touch wood)

3. Being Straight on the Narrow- coming back home on time from office, no loitering around in shops unless really necessary or grabbing a bite in a restaurant. Keeping me time/ girlie time to hours when I will not be missed.

4. Stretching the 24 hours to beyond- Making the most of the time the kids are napping by cramming in as much work as possible, multitasking, and often urging others to multitask- handing over job works to the husband while he watches TV- give the kids breakfast, get them to do homework, maybe even fold the laundry. Grabbing any available time for reading. Gymming while the kids nap or play. Making the beds, oiling my hair, getting kids to change and many more tasks during the commercial break on TV. I have become the queen of multitask and the queen of home management even without being present at home all the time.

5. Appreciate my Parents/ Parenthood- Above all, this is what motherhood has taught me- to appreciate any parent. To appreciate the fact that parents always wish the best for their children. Regardless of what we children feel, or regardless of the fact that perhaps even if we feel that is not the best for us, and we may be right, our parents do not intend to do anything that is less than the best for us.

Inspite of being parents, they are humans first and like every human being- they might have their clay feet. They might have their failings but their heart almost always wish the best for their children.

I tag anyone who would like to take this up.

My Sins Against Gender Stereotype

Apu tagged me to do proclaim the sins hat I have done and here I bite the bait!

First of all I really do not think that burning your lingerie is a symbol of feminism or wearing pink is girlish or liking cooking, knitting is a typical girlie stereotype- after all, don't we have male celebrity chefs?
Frankly I always treat roles as gender neutral- I do nog let definitions or boundries prevail on me. Whenever I have done something that is considered masculine, I have done it without giving it a second thought- it is done because it has to be done.

But since nobody is asking my opinion but asking me to just list out 10 stuff that I have done that are considered not girlish- I do just that but give my reasons on why I did that.

1. I learnt to drive a car at the age of 11 and a 2 wheeler at the age of 10- a thing that is very normal for a boy to do. Again, it was not an act of a rebel. Neither was it done becoase I wanted to prove a point that - oh, you think I should not be doing it because I am a girl- so I will exactly do it. Mom put me on a moped right after I learned to cycle. And I admit I was shit scared the first time. From that to a car was a natural progression. But again, it was just something that I learnt for the purpose of learning and not for driving around taking Dad's car. It was not that I was simply waiting to become 18 and take a driving license. It happened in its own course. And even afterwards, it was only in 2007 that I got my own car and really started driving.

2. I lived in a hostel-for 6 years- I guess a first in my family. Again not to prove a point because it had to be done. I never felt that pride- ladki hoke bhi akele hostel mein rahti hai. It was no biggie. I never thought that a girl should not be allowed to do it. And this also meant the countless trips from hostel to home and vice versa began- out of necessity.

3. I lived alone in a new city when I got my first job. No big deal. Neither my family nor I thought that it should be done otherwise.

4. I do not believe in not contributing towards the traditionally accepted men's domain of earning the dough. Not because I feel it is the feminist thing to do- but because it seems the sensible thing to do.

5. I feel that every member of the house, including the man of the house should help at home- kitchen/ kids/ cleaning. Because I honestly believe that what has to be done has to be done. So if I need to leave the house at 8 am then every member in the house should do their bit in ensuring that it gets done. If the home needs vacuuming- anyone should be able to take the initiative to do it

6. I do not believe that decision making is the domain of men. I like to be an equal partner in that. New house, new paints, which school etc etc. Again, I might not take the final decision or be involved in the process of looking for alternatives. But I would most certainly like to be involved at the crucial stages.

7. One will never see me sitting all coy and submissive. I love to argue my point out rather than just accept what is told to me to do.

8. And most uncharacteristically, I pushed the husband to get a blackberry - something that is traditionally his domain- gadgets and such.

9. I read in the loo. Such a man thing to do. Not the reading- the reading in the loo thing.

10. I can carry out mini repairs on my own- food processor and the likes.

I Got 10 after 10

nahin 10 because 10 - is what my brother said when he was younger. He couldn't remember that he was supposed to say 10 on 10 or 10 out of 10.

Not Only Paired conjunctions But also adverbials were my pet exercise in school days. Go to the links to check them out.

But however, this post is not about that but about infuriating words in Hindi and integrating English / Urdu words into Hindi and then using them wrongly- my last contribution to Red Marker Blogathon for June 2010.

होएगा- (hoega) - word does not exist- you call it होगा as in hoga tumse pyara kaun!!

सबसे best - It's fine to integrate English words into Hindi but how can one attach a superlative to a word that is already in superlative. Remove the sabse word before best because sabse means maximum like Aaj tak- Sabse Tez

You are fooling yourself if you are not calling it फूल (phool) but fool . And it is not fir but Phir (फिर) - people often confuse between ph or f sound- Tip- Look at Bollywood movie titles to get a hint of the correct pronunciation - Phool Bane Angare, Phir Milenge

अगर वो तुमको तंग करे तो उसका मम्मी को बोल दो। (Agar vo tumko tang kare to uska mummy ko bol do) - Not uska but Uski (उसकी)- The Ka and Ki confusion in Hindi is a major one for most people - The gender of the person or item about who we are talking is the one that takes precedence- So uski mummy and uska Daddy, irrespective of whether we are talking of son's mom or daughters dad. (or uske Daddy if you want to attach respect to the Dad not the son or the daughter)

Sakool / Iskool jaa rahe ho beta? Are you going to School?- Many of us have been asked this question- depending upon whether the question came from a Punjabi or a Bihari!

And one funny confusion that my kids have- kal ( कल) means both yesterday and tomorrow and when my kids translate what they spoke in Hindi into english for their Dad, I find them debating between the two of them whether they meant yeasterday or tomorrow before finally translating for their Dad!

Mommy Guilt

Women's Web invites us to participate in their Mommy Guilt Blogging Contest.
Truly said that guilt begins the moment you conceive. Any random reason can make you feel guilty.
Guilt could be induced by others-
The Haemoglobin count is low- Do you want ordinary kids or intelligent ones- eat fish, mutton....
What? you are eating mangoes? Not good for the babies

Guilt could be self induced-
I am unable to solve this puzzle/ crossword- I will have dumb kids

As Mamma of Twins, my biggest guilt was the nagging feeling that I am being unfair to one of them at any given point of time.
From small things like-
Do I feed Ojas the first spoon or Tejas when both are looking at me and the bowl
Or bigger things like-
Whom do I breast feed first when both are screaming their lungs off at the same time.

And even bigger was the guilt when I had to supplement with cow milk only because I was unable to cope with the marathon feeding - I felt I am being a bad mother by taking the easier way out by giving them top feed in 15 days time itself. My heart did not want to succumb but my mind was screaming- let go- they will be happier to get fed on time without screaming and waiting for the brother to finish the feed in peace. The best part of starting top feed was that I did not have to count the minutes and guiltily disengage after 8-10 minutes of feed would be up to feed the second one.

There are moments when a small action or a gesture or an expression triggers a surge of love for one of them - at that moment alongwith love emerges guilt- how could I be so unfair as to feel the love for only of them?

And then there are such moments when both are being naughty. I smack one and the other falls in line automatically so there is no real need to smack the other one, make him also cry and have double duty of making it up to both of them. The easier way is to take a mini guilt trip for smacking only one of them.

Trying to be impartial is also a difficult task especially when personal preferences come in between. For example- I personally like red or black color and let's say there is a red T shirt and a yellow t shirt- I find it hard to decide whom to give the red T-shirt just because it is my personal favourite.

How do we try to tackle this parental guilt thing?

Through repeat performance- like cuddle one and cuddle the other too in exact manner

Dadda takes nearly identical snaps with the kids

Through equal treatment atleast in their eyes- Colour of toy/ T shirt, quantity of food, leg piece of KFC chicken or larger piece of KFC chicken, Shall I hold Ojas' hand & should Dadda hold Tejas' hand or the other way round when we are outside- these important, earth moving decisions are left to the kids. More often than not it is easier that way because they have clear and distinct preferences. We resort to identical stuff only if they decide so.

Bob the Builder or Tigger T-shirt- they decide!

And by closing our ears- if any external advice does not match with our philosophy of child rearing- we just ignore it and say- we parents know best!

My Name is Ms Red Marker Blogathon-3

And that gets my goat- big time.
Hello, I am Mr XYZ speaking, how are you ABC?
Wrong wrong, take that red marker out.
It is extremely inappropriate and arrogant to prefix a Mr or Ms or Dr when you introduce yourself or your spouse. You need to just use the first name while introducing the spouse unless you want to emphasise the different surnames incase the lady has not changed her surname after marriage.
But while introducing others, one must always prefix the title- Mr/ Ms/ Dr/ Other Titles.

While we are at it, I need to know how one indicates one's gender in emails. Especially in cross country official emails, I often wonder- is this person a male or a female? In most cases I use gender neutral sentences in the email then!
A colleague used to indicate (Ms) after her name in her email signature-
Efg Hij (Ms)
Perhaps this is a good way of indicating gender without sounding arrogant by signing oneself as Ms Efg Hij?

Tulika Blogathon- Lalla Lalla Lori

Tulika's latest Lori -thon is on.

And here's my list that I made earlier ...
But specific to the post is

Aa re ninda
Ninda banase
Baba aaya Mamu ghar se
Mamu ghas baba kya kya khaye
Aath pithar nau ghaaghar khaye

What I understand is that the kid is supposed to have gone to his mama's place and eaten a lot of goodies!

Red Marker Blogathon -2

I covered lots of redundant words in sentences and some more in the previous post on the red marker blogathon

In this post I would like to look at Frequently Mispronounced Words


Bury- Is pronounced as Berry rather than Burry - a lesson I learnt in class 10 - which was still a little too late for me perhaps! And since I do not bury the hatchet as often as I use the word Desserts (Dizerts) it took me very less time to get used to the right way to pronounce desserts because I had more practice with that word

Faux Pas- It is not like a fox passing but Fo Pa

Caveat Emptor- Not straight at all- Kaviat Emtore

Passe- Don't let it pass until it is said as Passay

Tortoise, Porpoise- The Alice in Wonderland silly Pun-rhyme says it all-

`no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.’
`Wouldn’t it really?’ said Alice in a tone of great surprise.
`Of course not,’ said the Mock Turtle: `why, if a fish came
to ME, and told me he was going a journey, I should say “With
what porpoise?”

So Tortus and Porpus it is- though the teacher taught this to us in class 6, I still took time to get my tongue around this one. What they say about habits dying hard.

Jewels/ Jewelry- No jwels or jwelry- Jools and Joolry

Mauve- Doesn't pronounce as is- needs to be Mowed a bit- Mowv

Suite- Doesn't suit me at all- I like it Sweet

Excited- Eggs do excite but not here- Ekcited not Egcited

Dais- Day us or Dais not Days

Vehicle- Don't take the Ve-hi-kal - take the Vee-i-kuhl

Edited to add
How could I forget my favourite Jalapeno- Ha la peno
Take a look at this site- you can just roll your mouse over a word to hear the right pronunciation
howjsay.com

Red Marker Blogathon

After Sue announced the red marker blogathon , I could not able to remember a single thing that I would like to write about. However I promised Sue I would revert back to her soon.

Anyways, this post is up as now I can able to remember the usage errors that get my goat.

Myself, ITW has come to discuss about Red Marker Blogathon.

Can I talk about it now?

Yes offcourse you can but you may not.

What? Please repeat again.

Let me desert you for a moment and get some deserts.

You have seen ferocious loins in the joo in zoon?

Come home and I will show you my ferocious dog who will literally pounce on you, lick your face, push you to the ground and bite your head off.

Oh, if I would have known about your fear of dogs, I would have kept him tied up, instead of allowing him to literally bite your head off .

Both participants did well. They were neck to neck with each other

CORRECTED COPY
I could not remember a single thing I that would like to write about.
Or
I was unable to remember a single thing that I would like to write about. However I promised Sue I would revert to her soon. (the back in revert back is redundant)
Anyway, this post is up as now I can remember the usage errors that get my goat. (can is redundant.)
Myself, ITW has come to discuss the Red Marker Blogathon. (Oh, this just gets my goat.. Why say the Myself or about)
May I talk about it now? (Yes I am one off those can and may brigade)
Yes offcourse you can but you may not.
What? Please repeat again. (again ko maaro goli... just say repeat)

Let me desert you for a moment and get some desserts. (It is pronounced Dizerts)
Have you seen ferocious lions in the zoo in june? (Now if you can say Joo, why can't you say June or If you can say Zoon, why can't you say Zoo?)

Oh, if I had known about your fear of dogs, I would have kept him tied up, instead of allowing him to bite your head off .
Both participants did well. They were neck and neck with each other (One more time I catch you saying neck to neck, I am going to just go for the err. jugular)

Edited to add- There are 2 deliberate errors in the post- Latha has spotted one. There is another one - look for it!

5 Things that disappear just when you need them

Kiran did not tag me on this one but she did tag me on something else and I have already done it before.
So I take up this interesting tag to do here as I am itching to write something that is easy to write and requires not much thinking, unlike a few book reviews which I would like to do
So those elusive 5 things
1. My thinking cap- everytime there is a ppt to do, I spend days moping over where the thinking cap has vanished. I spend hours thinking up ideas, story boards and one fine day, which is usually friday evening, I hit upon a brilliant idea and not much time to work on because as a rule, weekends, i do not take my work home!
2. My keys- alway vanish in the crevasses of my bag. If I need the cupboard keys, my fingers lock upon the house keys, if I need house keys, the only key that comes to my hands are the car keys. So I packed all keys into a bag and guess what- the bag - and mind you- not a small one- the size of a decent clutch bag, hides itself into the depths of my bag. I think I need a smaller bag.
3. The husband- everyone agrees to this one- the husband has the art to vanish from within shouting distance everytime there is an earthquake, or when the child falls ill or when I feel emotionally drained or when I need to talk/ bitch/ gossip or when I feel like going out for dinner.
4. The net connection in the husband's laptop or via airtel broadband- every single time it vanishes. The problem never happens on my laptop but the moment I even think that I should ask the husband for his laptop to brouse, my husband complains that "net is not working". This especially happens when I want to skype.
5. The maid- Always vanishes. whether in my home or any other place I go, the maid vamooses as soon as I reach there. And if one afternoon I am not at home, the maid would have come and gone moments before I had reached home.

Mother Tongue

Tulika books announces their blogathon- Writing & Speaking the mother tongue (click link to reach there)
The question of the fortnight is
"How different are the written and spoken forms of your first language? If you want children to become familiar with their first language, which form would you look for in children's books - formal or informal? Why?"

How different are the written and spoken forms of your first language?
My first language is Hindi and according to me written vs spoken Hindi does not pose much of a problem if the language spoken is the shuddh hindi. Having lived in Bihar, we had our own way of speaking, for example the princely hum instead of main used for 1st person which changes the entire sentence. But once our grammar lessons were in place in school, I was quite comfortable writing hindi in its formal glory, the shift from the format I would talk normally waswas not a difficult task. Therefore like lot of people think in Hindi and speak in English- such was not the case with me- I wouldn't think in spoken Hindi and write in formal Hindi- the thinking while writing was always seamless and flowing. I honestly do not know whether lack of practice with the written hindi word will pose a problem to me if I need or want to write now- because, language, like anything else needs to be spoken to be kept alive. So I better buck up my act before Ojas & Tejas get old enough to start asking me difficult grammar questions.

The beauty of language is that it picks up nuances from other languages or dialects as it goes along- kaahe instead of kyon (why), tarkari borrowed from Bengali instead of subzi (vegetable curry), chatti for chappal (slippers). These words blend into our normal conversation and we are unaware of how easily we have slipped into using it until someday someone points it out or we sit up and think- how did this word get into my lingo? We shake ourselves and shift to the more modern version- and therefore the kaahe became kyon one fine day- formal modern speak.

Another important aspect is the way certain words can sound or convey- sometimes they become non-translateable. Words are living breathing objects with feelings- they are concepts- a single word is an idea on its own- and they have immense power- power to take a life of their own once spoken or written
I sincerely feel that there is no word that conveys everything that khasta stands for in English or certain words, especially potty speak sounds so bad or revolting in Hindi that I personally prefer using the English word- the butt being another such word- the intensity of the word is evident when you use the correct hindi word- I have never really heard anyone use that word in spoken hindi.

Another aspect is official communications- I still need a translator to translate business/ commerce speak into Hindi- I was not bad in my school days but lack of practice has made me seriously lag behind in Business Hindi.

So coming back to the question- broadly I do not find written formal Hindi different from spoken Hindi- especially if you look at the grammatically correct Hindi spoken in the Hindi belt. Business language is a problem for me but fiction/ literature is not.

If you want children to become familiar with their first language, which form would you look for in children's books - formal or informal? Why?

For a regular book, the formal form would be idea because that is more universal. The idea of a children's book is instructive and educative apart from being of entertainment value. So I would prefer that a formal tone is taken as far as language and grammar is concerned. And it also makes the interpretation clear.
However if the tale has a regional flavour, the story could use the regional word with a translation separately explaining the origin and meaning and a photo accompanying to make it clearer. As I said, language assimilates- it seamlessly blends words from various origins into itself - so the more the merrier.
So therefore, while the local Biharis especially the ones who live near Bengal border say kal for nal (tap), but kal means yesterday or tomorrow in the formal Hindi language- I wouldn't want the word to be placed randomly in a normal Hindi book. But in a book with a regional flavour- it could be interesting to have the regional word.

The bilingual books or the regional translations of Tulika are very commendable contributions towards keeping the local dialect/ language alive and helping a particular language in assimilating words from other languages
Tinkle, Champak, Amar Chitra Katha played a very important part in my early development of language apart form being my reason for being well versed with Indian stories/ myths/ epics.
As far as written Hindi is concerned- whenever I buy books- I buy comparable numbers of books in english, hindi & tamil so that the children develop their language- this is something I learnt from my Mom- we used to buy Hindi & english editions alternate months.
Regarding spoken language- we are clear that if we want kids to learn all 3 languages- we need to be strict with ourselves- so my family & I speak to them in Hindi, my husband speaks to them in english & my husband's family speak in Tamil- and my kids- I am proud to say - can seamlessly shift among the 3 languages depending upon the audience.

Me? Creative?

I must be if Sue awarded it to me

Thanks Sue- I am thrilled!
Since this is an award for being creative, I am creating my own rules for doing the tag
So as per my low standards- what are the most creative stuff I have done?
1. A poem I wrote for a cousin of mine way back in class 5
2. My essays and short stories in class IX & X were applauded consistently by my English teacher and it was a huge deal for me because she had very very high standards- someone remarked when they saw a "good" in my notebook- getting a good from Mrs T is very very rare.
3. Among my official presentations- my recent one done totally in verse, my trend presentation blended into the history of the product, my presentations using story aproach like navrasa, 5 senses etc- I think I do a decent job of giving a story to creations
4. Using props to tell my kids stories- like the globe for telling a story which talked of various countries, or drawing the story as I narrate it, using their toys/ books/ sauce pouches which they are obsessed with- to teach them addition, division subtraction- really- to me it is a big deal because I have been book-ish most of the time and trying to change that for the kids is a huge step for me
5. Conceptualising my in house magazine
6. Revamping my garden and making my terrariums

I tag
The Mad Momma- need I say why?
ArtNavy- too many to list out here- it will be like I am doing the tag meant for her in my blog
Phoenixritu for her unbeatable wisecracks
Rohini for the awesome baby shower ideas of her - if she becomes I party planner- I am so asking for discounts for predicting that
DotMom for her awesome cakes- I would have listed my baking recipes also as creative in the list above but I am not that shameless

Honest Scrap Dare

by Kiran
10 things about me I bet no one knows
1. Travelled ticketless in train
2. Switched off in meetings more often than stayed awake- but see my notes- I manage to note down everything that happened
3. done a 6 year course in Kathak
4. I secretly agree that no matter how hard I work at it the end results of my cooking exploits are not in proportion to the amount of hard work
5. I am glad that I take my kids everywhere because they give me a sense of purpose when I am getting bored in a place or in a group.
6. Sometimes coming to work is my only escape from the alternative of slogging at home
7. I love to travel but the process of getting the luggage ready is so exhausting that I would rather not go anywhere
8. Cartoons enable me to get my house work done
9. I prefer shopping alone- mostly I escape from the group if I have to seriously shop
10. I am a poor loser. I cannot bear losing out in an argument or a situation or a game

Prize Milaa

Thank you Print Lover for your tag & award. Honestly I am touched by what you have to say about me.

" Her posts are short and laced with humor. A free flow of words. No over-analyzing."

Coincidentally my aunt recently said the same thing about my writing- free flow!

The tag now...

1. What is your current obsession? cleanliness
2. What are you wearing today? my attitude......salwar suit what else

3. What’s for dinner? eggs maybe, ah well definitely

4. What’s the last thing you bought? medicines

5. What are you listening to right now? sound of A/C
6. What do you think about the person who tagged you? funny, talented, artistic

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? does it have a garden?

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer? mangoes

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Paris

10. Which language do you want to learn? of the Mind

11. What’s your favorite quote? KLPD

12. Who do you want to meet right now? The husband- I am spoiling for a fight
13. What is your favorite colour? Black
14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet? my black trousers that don't fit anymore

15. What is your dream job? a job is a job with any prefix..so does not matter

16. What’s your favorite magazine? Tinkle
17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? Rs 5000? usse kya hoga

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas? matching matching
19. Who are your style icons? anyone who can look styilish without extra effort

20. Describe your personal style.? currently? churidar & short kurta
21. What are you going to do after this? Press Publish

22. What are your favorite movies? my standards are not very high that way

24. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can’t live without? lipstick, lipstick, lipstick...I can miss out the rest but never the lipstick
23. What inspires you? Food

24. What do you carry in your bag? That's a post in its own right

25. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)? wear the one in which all parts of the set are traceable first

26. Coffee or tea? cold coffee
27. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed? Pick a quarrel with the husband
28. What is the meaning of your name? Moniker? obviously wants to keep writing

29. Which other blogs you love visiting? see blogroll

30. Favorite Season ? Winter where I live ... there is no winter here

I tag

Phoenix Ritu

Dipali

Mad Momma

Rohini

Sue

The Magik number Seven

Kiran says that I am a creative blogger and therefore I need to summon all creativity to list 7 stuff about myself in various categories
Seven Things I like to Do:
Read
Eat
Shop
Day Dream
Walk
Internet
Puzzles

Seven Things I like to Eat
Mutton
Chicken
Fish
Cakes (Chocolate truffle)
Chocolates
Peanuts
Haldiram Lemon Bhujiya
Potato Chips
Stuffed Parathas
Gulabjamun
Mango
Litchi
whaat.. only 7..ok I will stop

Seven things I like to wear
jewelry
heels
Trousers (when they fit)
short kurta & churidaar
Sari
My long black skirt
Diamonds

Seven of my most prized possessions:
My sons
My family
My self
My recently found self confidence
My positivity
My home
Our combined ability to put all the square meals on the table

And I add from my side (to justify the creative award)
Seven thing I most want to do
Lose weight
Travel
Anger Management
Write
Have a large home
My own venture
A good job bringing up the kids

And seven friends I would like to pass this award to
Dipali
Poppin's Mom
Mwimw
Rohini
Desi Girl
Eve's Lungs
Boo
Indu

Domestic Horror in 80 clicks

The venerable Dipali tagged me on this one and I come up with my own domestic horror stories- the first is a fridge horror story-
1. New year's eve of 2004...I noticed an odour near my washbasin which was something like wet matted dog + it's urine, faaart, dead rat, spoiled food. Now being the self- appointed nose of the house, I took it upon myself to hunt for the source of the smell. And lo and behold, I peeked behind the fridge to see the outlet of the fridge ejecting droplets of something completely yucky and lots and lots of green stuff and maggots and other assorted animal kingdom members swimming and multiplying in that fluid even as I looked at it.
New year's eve, on a friday night- which means the next 2 days one cannot get someone to clean the fridge. So yours truly and husband dear take on the mammoth task of pushing the fridge till the balcony, tilting it and washing the hell out of it!
I believe it was a milk spill that found it's way out of the outlet
2. Gas horror story- Diwali day, a friend had got married few days ago and because of that I had quite a few coconuts collected as return favours.
I decided to display my culinary skills and make coconut burfi. All went well and I removed the coconut mix from the gas. Found it to be too watery and not morphing into laddus no matter whatever I did. So I took my cooker and put the mix back into it and left it on (low?) flame and went away going about my other business. Horrors- a roasted, burnt smell came percolating to my nose and I rushed back and found that I had left the gas on high flame and as a result had a charcoal black scene awaiting for me.
Fast forward a few tearful moments and I ended up spending Diwali evening cleaning the cooker partly leaving the major part for the maid next day.
And to my chagrin- the maid refused to clean it beyond a point.
I had to cook mutton the next day in that cooker and no way I was going to have coconut + charcoal smell contaminating the taste. So I brandished my metal scrubber and spent a good hour scrubbing away the finest of stains until I got my cooker ready to cook mutton the next day!
I tag
Monika, Ansh
M4
Moppet's mom
MayG

Number Game

Monika tagged me and here it is:
One for husband- the only person whom I can love and hate at the same time, the only person with whom I love to spoil for a fight, and the only person with whom I can sit quietly for hours together and yet feel annoyed when he moves away from shouting distance
Two for twins- Ojas & Tejas- I feel I am the richest person in the whole world when I have one each cuddled and huddled on each of my arms
Three for siblings- bro, sis & me- stands for sharing & not sharing clothes, lecturing the bro, our combined stay in Chennai, and assorted moments of "bachpan"
Four for home- number of years spent in the "own" house..it's not big enough, it's not the house of my dreams but it has a garden- a house of my dreams has a garden anywhere anytime.
Five for marriage- number of years we have been married...as on date...
Six for friends & relatives - with whom I can take off from where we stopped anytime and anyday
Seven for self realization- the class I was when I realized I don't have a steady best friend in class! See "six" above- I don't regret it so far!
Eight for days of the week- which I wish for - the 8th day being the one I need to recoup from the week bygone!
Nine for family- we have moved from 5 to 9 in the last five years...K, twins, SS...and you bet this is a dynamic number- may the tribe increase...
Ten for Work Ex- 2 jobs, 10 years, and I feel I have miles to go yet....

I tag

Phoenixritu

Sue

boo

madmomma

kiran

desigirl

Around The World in 80 Clicks

A tag started by HBM that was passed on to me by ArtNavy.
Here are the rules:
Just write a post of your own (5 things that you love about being a mom) and find someone to link to and tag - someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country - and link back here and leave a comment.

So are the 5 best parts of being a Mamma to Ojas & Tejas ?
- That I can look at a cow or a gas cylinder or a petrol bunk or an auto and shout in awe for their sake- little joys!
- Knowing that I am the most wonderful person according to 2 little people in my life
- That a person who will not sing Happy Birthday in public will now be dancing on any location in public or private with the 2 kids in tow and not feel goofy or loony or shy at all
- That I can truly understand and apply in my life the quote - Not letting school interfere with education - which means I may just stop midway to show a goat or a flower to Ojas & Tejas at the risk of arriving late to their school.
- Being pleasantly surprised at testing my own mettle in terms of ability, endurance and sustainence in terms of child-rearing? Today I am sincerely amazed at my ability to even give their meals on time, remembering their vaccinations, taking the all important decision on schooling or deciding when is the right time to take them to the doc!

I tag
Gauri
Getting ThereNow
Usha
Dipali
Dotmom

Bihari ? Tabhi....

Shamelessly tagged myself on this one and did a very smilar one ..
You are a Bihari if...
1. You cannot have any meal without the potatoes- infact you cannot cook if you don't have potatoes
2. You are not disappointed if you get peanuts when you were offered badaam.
3. Your vocab include words like- atthi (which is a substitute for any word you cannot get at that moment and the other guy can totally understand you if you say give me atthi, or move off, atthi is coming), khar (crisp/ khasta), chaap (sadakchaap, chappalchaap), chhutihar (faded and looks old), bhannate (swiftly), lesraana (fine line of difference between lesraana which is lazing around and lesraa gaya which means spilled and spread out- think of a diaper accident- you will get the drift), masbhind (immensely lazy), phirant (truant/ spoilt), mota-moti (approximate).
4. You have, at some point of time, been called with your name with syllable "ua" or 'e" or "wa" attached to it -like Ritu is called as Ritua or Neha is called as Nehe or Nehwa and Mitu is called as Mitua and no not always in a contemptuous manner.
5. atleast one elderly in your family refer to someone's wife as uski dulhin. Even if she is no longer a shy new bride.
6. You can have roti and vegetable for all 3 meals happily
7. At any given point of time you would have had a Chotu, Ramu or Kaanti work for you (who would be called as chotu-a, or kaanti-a)
8. When someone says "hug'' an immediate imagery is of the potty before you realize it is just a hug! And when someone says Mercury you know it is the tubelight not the element mercury, or when someone says marketing you do not think of Kotler but of shopping
9. You know what is sattu, litti, bhunjaa, singhaada

I am Brilliant- Yet Again

This time Hip Hop GMom awarded me this - in her words- "for the lovely accounts she gives of her twin delights."
So this time I award this to those who can answer this question right as per me or as per brilliant, unarguable logic
"There is a room.
Ajay and Meena are lying dead on the floor.
There is a broken glass bowl and some water spilt on the floor.
Who are Ajay and Meena?"
Answers will be revealed on 12th with the comments published.
Those brilliant ones who get it right may collect the badge from Hip Hop G mom's post linked above as I am too lazy to post it!