Memories of Childhood

Nita did a nostalgic tag which I self assign to myself.
"What are the 7 favourite things you enjoyed doing as a child?" is the question.
1. Going to friends' house and playing in a group.
We were doing it everyday without fail right on time. We would gang up at one of the friends' house and play till the street lights would come on.
We would play 5-stones during the season- summer I think and kit-kit - hopskotch?!! With what expertise!!
2. Cycling.
I still get nostalgic everytime I see a cycle. We had a huge playground right opposite the house where I learnt to cycle. Our entire gang would cycle on the field and the roads of the colony. I remember riding right into a group of ladies walking in the middle of the road just out of spite because they used to never budge when we would ring the bell. My regret in a big city is that my kids will never get that same pleasure of long distance cycle rides, pedaling furiously uphill or relaxing and feeling the wind into the face downhill.
3. Walking
Once we got too old to play we used to walk the entire stretch of road in our colony with our gang. I still love to walk. You can really see and take in every little thing going around if you are walking. The remnant of my walking days is the long walks in a mall. I love walking at a slow pace and staring at each and every shop - what's thye deal, what's teh item on sale, evaluating whether I can live without it... Walking really enables a lot of thinking and imagining and talking. I do miss the late night walks in our complex with hubby which we were doing pre-babies days
4. Summer Holidays
At Patna- my grandparents' place. Strange we never did take holidays as per the modern definition- going to a resort or a new place. It was always to Patna and sometimes to Delhi. I do miss teh stability and predictibility of such holidays. You go for a month and a half to your native place and the holiday job is done- cheap and best and engaging with all the cousins gathered there at the same time. An advantage of having large families. So much of bonding!
5. Eating without worrying about weight gain
Not that the eating has stopped but it is accompanied by an ever nagging sense of guilt. Every summer holiday around 11 am I would fry a plateful of home made potato chips and potato papad and hog. Then there was this bread and malai with lots of sugar or just malai and sugar. Or fist-full of mixture...Gosh I feel fat just thinking of it now.
6. Studying/ Going to School
No I am not a snob. But I did like the reading out loud while studying for exams especially english or hindi or practicing sums. Imagining I am the teacher and teaching a class of idiots while studying for exam made it so much fun. I miss reciting poems and feeling like a much learned person. I just loved going to school. I am vicariously enjoying via the sons. I would feel guilty if I missed school and would be mentally picturing what would be happening at school at each hour and only around 4 pm I would relax. Somehow this habit continues and I do the same thing when I miss office. The only change is that I relax around 5.30 pm now
7. Family Outings/ Festivals
Going to relatives or friends houses in the evening and looking forward to the snacks that get served there. Festival days which meant Mom cooks an array of delicacies and you get to enjoy them unlike now that it becomes such a chore- you have to cook, you have to follow the traditions, you have to clean up and you have to store the left overs and the office gives you a holiday to slog at home.
I tag all the emotional ones out there who are sent on a nostalgia trip reading this.

Ojas Tejas Speak

Lame Excuses
After a mosquito bit Tejas in the calf he says- Mosquito kaata. Ab school kaise jaenge? (Now, how will I go to school?)

Chor Chor Bhai Bhai
The kids bring a classmate's tiffin box full of biscuits in one of their school bags.
Next day I ask Ojas (thinking he will reply truthfully) - who gave you this box?
Ojas- Silence/ ignores/ looks away
Tejas mutters under his breath walking out of the house- Shivani (she is a classmate)
By the way- they know the names of all the girls in their class- I am not sure the same can be said of all the boys' names.

Help
Help is a big word I use with them everytime I want them to do something.
They find me in the kitchen cooking with the half door latched. They want to come inside & cannot, so they shout out to me- Mamma, Help!

Self Brushing - with a little help
Mamma is not allowed to brush their teeth now. Forget brush, not even taking their toothbrush & applying paste. Since Ojas was unable to squeeze out the last bit of toothpaste, he tells me, very specifically - tum paste pakdo (you hold the toothpaste). And as I squeeze the paste out, he dislodges it onto the brush!

Cheeni Kam Hai...
Tejas wanted sugar.
He asks- Mamma, Cheeni...Cheeni... Cheeni kam hai! (song)

Complainer
I drop Hubby's car keys and the remote opens up. Now Tejas does this regularly and asks us to snap it back into position.
But this time he calls- Dadda, see, Mamma tooti kiya, car key. (Mamma broke the car key)- All that while careful enough not to touch it and leave behind his finger-prints

Self Service- Benefit of Twins
-I sit on the floor with a pillow and the kids jump on my lap one by one from the bed. After a while, I say I am tired and go to sleep.
Undeterred Ojas takes a pillow and sits down asking Tejas to jump on his lap. Then asks Tejas to do the same service for him.
-Similarly I rock them on my knees lying down on the bed (in the process doing ab crunches). After I tire out, they do it for each other.
-When one gets stuck on a puzzle, the other helps out tactfully- just nudges him in the right direction without actually doing it-unlike Mamma who impatiently pushes the piece in the right position.
-Dadda gave them a ride on his back and then lay on his tummy and said now give me massage, I am tired.
So Tejas gave Ojas & Dadda a "ride on his back" and in identical fashion lay on his tummy and said "Tejas tired give massage"
Translation
Tejas- mudee engai
Me- pretending I did not understand else I would have to look for it
Tejas- helpfully translating-Mudee?? cap ? where?

Rolling the Rrrs Away
And they still cannot say R- so it is yaining, yoti, yabbit, Yong-Coyyect (wrong-correct), Zahul...

Songs
Added to the Able-to-sing list- O, O sanam (Dashavataram), Cheeni Kam hai, Gapu ji Gapu ji gam gam(Ojas-Tejas version).

Photo

After parking all their cars they call to each other and take "photo" with the car key remote- just as Mamma does for every little puzzle they do.

Chupa Rustam

I picked up a pouch lying around. Found it slightly heavy. Unzipped one of the pockets and found a sliver spoon tucked inside. Removed it heaving a sigh of relief at finding it and not going mad searching for it.

2 days later Tejas picks up the pouch and unzips the pocket muttering- isme spoon hai- there is a spoon inside!

And Reverse Psychology does work here- I just have to tell Tejas not to do something and he does it promptly- like no sleeping, no keeping foot on mamma while sleeping, mamma will not make you wear pajamas...

Lulla Lulla Lullaby

Munchkin's mom has recorded the lullabies she has been singing and I am prompted to do my list-
The Standard Old Favourites which my Mom used to sing
1. Nani teri Morni
2. Re mama Re mama
3. O Chandaa Mama
4. Chanda Mama Door Ke
5. Aa re ninda
6. Lalla Lalla lori

Favourites from Our Time which we loved
1. Lakdi Ki Kathi- esp the Tabbak Tabbak is the most appreciated part
2. Gapu ji gapu ji gam gam (changed to Baku ji baku ji & Chutu ji chutu ji - their nick names)

The New Age "Lullabies" which another mother of my time sings
1. Jhalak Dhikla Jaa
2. Aashiq Banaya (changed to Bubble banaya because Ojas used to blow spit bubbles a lot when he was a new-born)
3. Dhoom Macha le- hot favourite even now
4. Cheeni Kam hai cheeni kam hai...

Rhymes- though many of them do not qualify as lullabies
1. Old Mac donald- with plenty of other animals added
2. Ringa-a-ring-a-roses
3. Baba Black sheep
4. 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish
5. How much is that doggie in the window
6. Here we go round the mulberry bush
7. Twinkle twinkle
8. Ding dong bell
9. Johnny Johnny
10. Chubby Cheeks

Rules of the Game

When the husband shows even a slight sign of going back to the bad old non-veg ways...
Close on him immediately and make his favourite egg cake and egg scramble if there is no meat handy at that moment!

Whoever Said Pink is For Girls Only...

...May Not Have Seen Ojas & Tejas.My Metrosexual Males wear Pink
-Pink Shirts, Pink Pajamas, Pink Bottles, Pink toothbrushes, Pink Books, Pink Blanket- you name them and they want to have it in Pink...

-They often get gifted in matching pink & blue

-Initially Ojas used to select blue and Tejas pink but slowly their tastes have started changing- now Ojas takes pink & Tejas takes blue.

Puzzle Train

This is what they do with their puzzle pieces. Anyways, picked up 6 picture puzzles made of cardboard on a cardboard tray- each 15 piece set for Rs 40 average. The tray has the piece outline pre marked for ease.
Also 2 wooden puzzles with Winnie the pooh scenerary for Rs 100/- The tray has the photograph on a paper that can be used to line the tray and the 25 pieces of the puzzle can be placed on that. Once the kids are adept with it, the paper could be removed.
These were bought at Baby World in Besant Nagar.

Factual Fiction- Guavas

Early Morning-
Man- Sir, Shall I pluck some guavas from your tree.
D- go ahead, pluck some.
Mid Day-
D, near a bank- How much are these guavas?
Man- Rs 10/ kg (or some random figure)
D- Bl00dy, you plucked these guavas from my house this morning. Are these "some" guavas?

Hair Cut Stages

Every Hair cut is done in the following stages-

Stage 1- You skim through all the styles in the catalogue- most of them with firang faces and imagine how each will look on you.

Stage 2- Give up and ask the stylist to guide you, giving your overall preferences which would normally be - desired length and whether you want something new or same cut.

Stage 3- The stylist advices you and describes a style that is suspiciously similar to the current one, even though they give a different name or bring out the subtle differences between current and future intended style.

Stage 4- You either agree to the intended cut murmuring a small prayer to the Almighty or command- just maintain the same style.

Stage 5- This is the most important & also dicey stage- the stylist clutches a small fraction of your hair and you watch in the mirror as he indicates this is the length he or she will remove. Now as objects appear closer than they really are in the car rearview mirror, hair length appears shorter than they really are in salon mirrors. If you agree to the visible length to be cut, mentally add atleast 10% to it for your hair will be shortened more than it's seen.

Stage 6- Washing/ Conditioning- fairly harmless

Stage 7- Cutting- fairly harmless again as long as you don't die in shock at the length of the hair cut off and don't panic and stop your stylist in the middle of the cutting. As they say, if r@pe is inevitable, just lie back and enjoy it, you leave everything to the Almighty & the stylist in question- knowing/ rather forcing yourself to believe that (s)he knows his/ her job the best and you the owner of the now fallen locks ought not to interfere in the process.

Stage 8- Drying- this is the stage when the stylist will comment how frizzy your hair looks and how your hair could benefit greatly using a particular brand of shampoo or conditioner. And then the said stylist will graciously add that since your hair is not so damaged, it's ok if you use just the conditioner- (see how much I have reduced your expenses by suggesting you take only the conditioner)

Stage 9- Reality Strikes- you look at yourself in the mirror, they hold a small mirror helpfully behind you so that you can see the lovely bounce in the back side but you may or may not end up looking as hot & glam as you imagined.

Stage 10- Escape- This is where you make a dash for it before the stylist weilds the promised conditioner bottle. If you shuffle your heels even a little, you are forced to go to ...

Stage 11- Where the stylist bring the bottle to you- which will normally be the one the salon is forced to use by the corporate decision makers, reads out all the benefits and hand you the bottle. You will look at it, read the labels armed with new found knowledge and then look up into the expectant face of the stylist willing you to ask you how much? Now this is not going to come cheap. If you are ok with it- ask for the price else just say not today,s ometime later and make a dash for it- before you register the disappointed look in the stylist's eyes.


The point of this post- I got a new haircut and while hubby laughed at me, I think I am liking it- It's getting better as the oodles of conditioner that was put is wearing off.

A Man's Ego

Is universal.
No man ever thinks or admits or accepts that his asset is "small"
So when Tejas is told- 'your "asset" is small'
He retaliates - "No, Big"
On any random occassion, they will make sure they remind me that their asset is "big"
So who am I to dispute! Anyway size is relative right?

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