Bye Bye Mamma!

Every morning as Ojas & Tejas leave for school, I wave them bye bye from the door.
And then I rush to the window and call out and say bye again.
This Monday, they had to miss school because of stomach upset & sore throat. So I left for office and said my byes and closed the main door. As I was walking past in a great rush, a voice called out "Mamma"
I rushed back and saw Ojas standing at the window and waving- "bye"
A meltdown moment for me!

On Why Am I going all Emotional

One Day they will grow up and there will be no more impromptu holding up of their arms and urging me- "mamma godi" (mamma lift me)
Or their casually coming and sitting on my lap without any second thoughts.
Or an obliging hug or a "puchch kissie"- kiss on the lips
Or the quarrel for mamma's lap or sleeping on mamma's tummy in the night.
Though we try to give equal share of love and attention to both Ojas & Tejas, there is no denying of the fact that while we parents get double the fun in bringing them up, their share of parent's attention and "me time" is halved by luck & design.
Cannot fault them for quarreling with each other & punching each other when one has bagged the lap and the other wants to sit too. Or disliking it when we try to lift both of them and give them a "double ride".
Last month they started school. I had to come to terms with the fact that there would be strangers taking care of my little babies. 3 hours each day they would be doing things about which I wouldn't know ever.
There will be day they may have to leave home/ city and move to a hostel and then onwards if they decide to work for someone. I have lots to let go off. Lots to learn. Lots to give up.
Their home, their parents will become one comforting base on whom or which to rely upon. Their roots to hold them on while they soar for newer horizons. Their homing nest while they explore the big wide world.
I will have to learn to set them free instead of clinging on to them in my selfish motherhood.
This post is to remind me to cherish each moment as they come by, to hold them and commit to memory (or blog memory), to indulge their childish simple requests becuase they would not be coming for long and to let go when the time comes and not hang on to the memories of past.
So when those arms go outstretched and the face is screwed in a ready-to-cry mode-if-mamma-refuses and the tiny mouth utters- "godi", I drop everything and oblige them and hug them to my chest. I savour the tiny, warm body clinging to me, I feel their tiny gallopping heart beats against me and hold them close, tightly, soaking in the feeling, committing to memory for posterity.
I wonder- when the principal is giving so much pleasure, what about the interest?
Fingers crossed!

Pearls of Wisdom

Life is not a dress rehearsal
borrowed from an M&B- yes great wisdom is prevalant in those hallowed pages!

Whether you eat a small bit of shit or a huge one- it is still shit
courtsey hubby

First Movie- 401st Post

Last Friday we took Ojas & Tejas to Jaane Tu - their first movie in a theatre- Mayajaal!
Dad had booked 4 tickets to mark the occassion, thinking that the theatre guys will kick the parents out & all only the kids in if we buy only 2 tickets. 1 more adult- Mausi was called in and the 4th seat for given to Ojas!
Ojas checked just in case- "no doctor?"- thinking for a moment we had taken them to the doctor.
The moment the lights were shut, and the movie started with the scary horse scene- Ojas started crying- ghummi chale pointing to the door and Tejas sank into Dadda's lap and averted his eys as far as possible away from the screen yet watched the screen with on eye partially hidden behind Dadda's arms- if it is possible, that is.
Ojas' heart was gallopping at the scary movie and the added discomfort of the Rs 140 seat closing on him, he was not enjoying it at all to Mamma's great sadness!
So Mamma picked him up and held him safe in her arms. The first half was spent like this inspite of Mamma trying to make Ojas dance to "pappu can't dance".
We bought popcorn at intermission and that cheered them up considerably. And then they sat upright and popped popcorn & watched the movie. Mausi had to buy another pack of popcorn which was not shared with the adults at all.
Anyway, I loved the Shah couple in their element & liked Arbaz & Sohail the best in the movie!
1 movie had them hooked. The entire weekend they were saying- movie chale?
We also watched Sholay with English subtitles- for hubby's sake on Sunday.
The subtitles do not do justice to dialogues like-
"Bahut yaraana hai?"
"Pichle saal jo jamna ki shaadi mein humlog chup chupa kay gaye the- usme ee khub nachi thee!" "Sardar bahut khus hoga! Sabaasi dega!"

Cafe Amethyst & Coffee World

OJAS & TEJAS WATCHING THE HOOKAS ON DISPLAY- RATHER THE LIZARD THAT WAS LURKING THERE

Cafe Amethyst is located off Peter's road in a sprawling colonial style bunglow. We went by night and the trees in the garden were all decorated with serial lights, giving it a very festive look. The place is lovely- gives an out of the world feel.

A path bordered by potted plants leads to the door steps where one needs to wait to get seated.
The crowd is youth and foreigners and uncountable table spaces. We took the garden bench that was so hard on the butt that we had to change to round table with garden chairs that were so light that Ojas had a tough/ scary time - the chair was tipping to the front because he insisted sitting perched in the front.
We ordered chicken lollypops (quite shrivelled up miserable looking pieces), fruit salad- lousy quantity at criminal prices- a major portion taken over by uneatable sour black seeded grapes and a strawberry shake which was mercifully drinkable.
The place is ideal for a business meeting, youth hangout or a slow date as the servers hardly look in your direction, yet they are so busy that they are running around in a great rush.
The verdict is - go there for the experience, if you are not in a rush. Don't have huge expectations from the menu.

We also went to Pizza Corner's Coffee World in alwarpet.

I don't know I have never felt welcome at Pizza Corner. The decor is very bathroomish- white tiles, no warmth. The same was felt in the coffee place. Very cold, distant and sort of- finish your job and go. Coffee lounges should bring you together and not set you apart. The place is like that. Round tables which don't keep you together even if you are sitting side by side, large impersonal looking sofas, cold looking walls and uncarpeted floor.

The strawberry-guava crush was great tasting. The sandwiches were gigantic in proportion but the chicken was there in plenty but did not express itself well because of overcrowding by veggies & bread. But then I am finicky about my chicken. The chicken has to speak out loud and clear else I will not notice it.

Factual Fiction err Fact- Aroma

Delighted, she buried her nose into her child's hair and inhaled deeply, over and over again- almost as if she was an addict.
It did not have the typical sweet, baby smell.
Nor did it smell like the J&J shampoo she used on him daily.
Ummmm...
Said she, as she inhaled yet again into the smoky, mouthwatering aroma of barbecue fare they had enjoyed a little while ago.

And Now Maternity becomes a Career Hazard

CV's of women at childbearing age get binned...
Pregnant women lose promotion chances...
Employers wary of employing women who may marry & leave or get pregnant and take a long break...
And now this blatant statement that it is a career hazard.
It screams discrimination to say the least.
I think it's time we women stop being apologetic about being pregnant.
Instead, we should be worshipped for bing nice enough to bring into this world and take the pains of rearing the future workforce of the world.

Fine discriminate at your risk-
- Studies say a diverse workforce including women bring in more diverse thinking or approach to the problem. Also lends a competitive edge calling for more participation from either gender in a diversified situation.
-Studies also hint at women being more stable employees and men top job ditchers, also women negotiate less and thereby companies face less loss of time & resources for replacement search, training and settling down before they actively contribute to the new job.
- Are corporates willing to give up 50% of their workforce contributing to the GDP? Considering the overall office/ house/ child rearing work women do, they are mor
-Some industries like mine actually regard women as better suited to the job than men - especially the roles that require creative thinking and ideation for FMCG products as they have more women focused approach to brand building.
- On a tangent, Imagine the film/ Television industry without women in the workforce?- What would we do without our dose of saas- bahu drama- Watch Sasur-Damaad drama or what? No way!
-On a lighter note,
-the ad/ modelling industry would suffer greatly if there were no women advertising their cars/ cigarettes/ male grooming products etc.
-we would have only male gyneacs! when the preference is largely for female
Heartening to note that someone in Corporate India is luring more women in the workforce

Patna is all Flooded

and my sister is stranded there!

Another Org@&m1c Fare

The guava souffle at Barbecue nation- worth to die for!
Replicates a just ripe pink guava and because it's all flavour- it does justice, no honour to the natural guava. Sweet, smooth, and very pink, Se*y I must say!
Meanwhile,
also look at
Nutrichoice multigrain cracker from Britannia- a lovely blue & green pack with the richest ever natural honey flavour- and what size of the biscuit- (exaggeration alert) just like a thappad- slap! huge- the size of a palm - well almost
A pack of 6 (100g) sells at Rs 18 and a pack of 12 in a resealable box with individual snack packs sells for Rs 40.
Must eats
Sunfeats Golden Bakes butterscotch etc
Goodday Classic range- butterscotch, honey raisin, choco

Factual Fiction- Restaurant Chair

The group stood waiting for the table to be cleaned.
She was busy doing quick calculations. If she takes the chair in the far corner, she might be isolated from the group and miss out the fun gossip. If she sits in the middle, the kids might sit one on each side and she would end up handling both kids - holding their juices in each hand and get to sip her drink only if she bent and drank from the straw without holding the glass.
If she takes this corner, someone might ask her to shift inside so that (s)h could occupy the corner seat.
So she waited for atleast one or two people to make their decisions and start sitting so that she could take the most appropriate seat.
Looks like she is going to lose the game again.
One couple sat next to each other. The hubby moved to the opposite side and one of the kids occupied the seat next to him.
Looks like she will have generations X & Generation Next for company yet again.
Before anybody could get settled, she blurted out to her husband-
Sit next to me, I might just get jealous of the other couple sitting together romantically.