Aaah

I rub my hands in glee. Finally got a little time on hand and hands on the comp and a few pics downloaded. Good enough to do a phot post depicting the year since last b'day that was as far as Ojas & Tejas are concerned.

Over the last year, I can sense a regularity in their "religiousness"- they do their bell ringing quite religiously in the morning. And even sing some slokas learned in their music class

Stage performance- they are quite a pro- contrary to my expectations
Making B'day cards- ideating the theme depending upon the interests- flower pots for MammaAh, well, this is their own interest- the Mickey!Falling in love with Kababs like their parents

And Learning table manners
Enjoying hotel stays because of the Bubble bath- the key enjoyment in hotelsCompetitive spirit- participating in games and challengesUnderstanding the concept of Rakhitheir first toy train ride

During the Friendship carnivalAnimal Love!

Ojas' first Horse Ride

Uff- the costume craze begins- Ben 10, Spider Man, what nots

Happy 5th

The first time in 5 years I have not been ready with a b'day post in advance. And here I type a quick wish to my babies in the midst of planning their b'day party- what else but a Ben 10 theme party.

As the day is going by, we have already cut a home made cake, distributed chocolates in school and received lots of gifts. Ben 10 toys, tiffin boxes, water bottles, crayons, color books and quite a few dresses to begin with.

The kids have been marking down one day at a time on the calendar put up for this very purpose. They have been heavily involved in the preparatory work- preparing games, looking at return gifts and looking forward to distributing them. They have decided to keep everything a secret because it is all a surprise for their friends.

They are eagerly looking forward to the Ben 10 cake and blow as many candles as possible.

Well, the last one year has been eventful. The kids are the senior-most in their school, are getting ready to leave this one and move on to the big school. To my delight, they are reading well, though they still look at me to read a story for them, they are even able to solve jigsaws with minimal assistance from us. They have showed an inclination to learn board games, but not yet really focused on it. They have become a big bhaiya to their cousin Donut and they are quite cutely holding the baby in the lap, feeding the bottle to him and gently playing with him, taking him around in the pram and trying to make him laugh.

They have gone on their first holidays and are quite taken in by the hotel and the bubble bath particularly.

Their affinity towards animals is quite strong and I am glad they cherish and love nature.

Their swimming has improved- judging by the stars they get for swimming but they are yet to learn to finish their snack box completely.

And as I look at Baby Donut, I realize that one day Ojas and Tejas were also so small and dependent just 5 years ago, there were endless dirty nappies and feeds and I was so looking forward to them growing up just so much that they can talk to me, read with me and share their experiences with me.

And now, I savour each moment, wishing that time would fly just a little slowly, just a little bit...

Happy Birthday my Darling Babies

I Always Thought My Kids Embarrass Me in Crowds

They find small excuses to cry or fret or complain everytime I am busy in a crowded party.
But on hindsight, I realize they do it only when I am one of the organizers and they feel neglected. They check on me from time to time so they seem to be the only ones coming in the way of my work.
The last party was an eye opener.
1. While most of the other kids were screaming, jostling and clamouring to be first - my kids were politely saying- me ? me? Not even once insisting "Me first - Me first".
2. While most of the other kids were crowding around the toy basket and snatching and collecting many toys for themselves, my kids were asking or at the most crying to me saying which toy they wanted- and they would settle for just 1 toy.
3. And when Tejas got a prize - a bag of toffees, all kids snatched the toffees while Tejas was content sucking his earlier prize of a lollipop and Ojas was simply annoyed that why others were snatching Tejas' toy and pushing him. Even then he did not go to snatch the toffees. Only expressed his annoyance to me.
4. While most of the kids surround the hosts with- where is my return gift where is my return gift, my kids ask me and me alone for the return gift. Never once "assaulting" the host with questions.
5. Second helpings? More juice? Another ice cream? Only if I permit or someone directly asks them. They never walk up to the host and demand.
6. And, they never go uninvited anywhere.

Well, I convince myself- as long as their tantrums are with me only, I am ready to bear it even in public. But I don't want them to trouble others or push and jostle and snatch....

Siege of Mithila

I thought the book started slow but to my delight, it picked up pace as it progressed, so much so that towards the end, I began to wonder how the author will finish the story when just a few pages are left.
The book covers the journey of Ram & Lakshman along with Sage Vishwamitra towards Mithila. And what happens during this journey? They meet Sita travelling incognito with her companion through her kingdom in search of asuras preparing to attack Mithila. Does love at first sight happen?
The author beautifully puts through the fact that Rama can reach out to people independent of gender/ position bias therefore he finds it so easy to simply follow Vishwamitra's instructions- no questions asked. Whereas, on introspection, Lakshman realizes why exactly he questions every instruction or decision of the sage.
The book is a medely of divine and dark arts, fantastic characters, events that defy logic yet keeps the interest and curiosity alive. In no case it is a replica of the clean Ramayan that we are used to but a total cocktail of fantasy fiction.
Kaikeyi/Manthara are not just wicked but pure evil.
Sita is not at all demure- she is a tomboy warrior.
So what exactly is the Siege of Mithila? How does it happen? Go on, read it and find out.
And yes- I read the chapter on Sita Svayamvar with bated breath. Even though I know the outcome already.

Vande Mataram

Total Concentration on Ojas' & Tejas' faces as the promos of KBC came wherein a participant was singing Vande Mataram.
Made my eyes brim with tears of pride.

In their countries series, they have also learnt National Songs / Anthem too.
Seriously I am facing difficulties coping with their studies!!

Now That Makes Me Feel completely Jobless

Neighbour's Kid R- What are you making?
Me- who was loafing around doing absolutely nothing- Nothing!
R- Then make cakes
(the unsaid was of course- don't roam around uselessly, do something useful)

But then- since he is my biggest champion - the one who can charm my cake off my baking pan- out of my greedy hands, I take it as a compliment!

Milestones

So Tejas can read with the book held upside down and Ojas can effortlessly write Mirror Language.
The two can manage their guests on their own- which includes bringing out bowls and serving snacks to their friends afer a decent interval of the visit has passed -on their own accord mind it- no prompting from me- rather this prompts me into action when I forget my manners when guests are at home.

Apart from that, they entertain well too- put on the cartoon, bring out books/ toys/ sketch pen(aargh) & paper for the friends to write.

Then why am I still washing their bum?

Radha

Ojas- Radha is Krishna's Girl Friend
Mamma- What is the meaning of Girl Friend?
Ojas- Girl पता नहीं?
तुम girl है ना
(You don't know Girl? You are a girl naa?)

Obsessive Cleanliness Disorder

Hop over to Hip Hop's to read this post about queer people with OCD on Cleanliness.
It is strange to see such high levels of obsessive behaviour- so much that one doesn't even care about the comfort of the people living in the house.
To me the concept of cleanliness itself has evolved over a period of time. I come from the Northern part of India where it is not uncommon to walk all over the house with your "outside" shoes/ slippers. I never really thought it to be dirty especially because we do not really use the floor for sitting/ sleeping or preparatory cooking. And moreover, the weather does not permit us to walk bare foot at all.
When I landed up in the South, I was majorly irked by the concept of leaving the sandals outside - it is very common for North Indians to joke- wear any slippers and go, anyway you have to walk bare foot inside the house, so what's the point in wearing your strappy sandals to a party.
Or stuff like- I went inside and could feel all eyes on my feet- then I realized that I have walked in with my sandals.
Just imagine a new year bash inside someone's house and you saunter in a mini skirt, fashionable jewels and ahem... bare foot because you are forced to leave your chik sandals outside the door. Most annoying. Thankfully I haven't had an opportunity to attend such funky dos at anyone's home.
And more than anything else, half my self confidence goes off if my footwear is not right, or to rightly put it - absent.

When I first set home here, I did not have "rules" like shoes outside. But as per the practice here, people would leave their footwear outside before walking in, even when I explicitly told them to wear them inside. I found people happily plonking down on the floor when they came home. When kids happened and they were crawling all over the place, putting stuff including slippers in their mouth, the cleanliness dragon within me got unleashed. Today the rule is all sandals outside in the shoe rack that got specially built outside the main door like it happens in all decent self respecting South Indian homes! So I have finally joined the club!

But, the question I ask is- by keeping sandals outside can one really claim that the house is spotless? I have walked into "no chappal inside homes" and have come out with grime in my foot that takes a good scrub with soap and pumice stone to come off. I have seen people with feet that leave black marks all over because they walk bare foot in their homes.

And I have seen homes where you can eat out of the floor. Now that is the place I would inspite of myself, hesitate to walk in with grimy shoes.

Since I live in the ground floor, the dust flies in faster. You can find me obsessively mopping the floor whenever I see my kids' feet get even slightly blackened with dirt. Because I don't want any one to walk into my house bare foot and go back to their homes with dirt. To me it is the most disgusting thing that could happen to someone.

But of course, it only takes a demo from a vacuum cleaning company to make you realize how dirty your home is.
Infact a new outfit of homecleaning system that would make us poorer by a lakh rupees was demonstrated in our house. He talked about a continuous system that keeps sucking dust particles flying in the air.
I had one question for him- while all this sounds very good, what about when I am outside my home, do I carry this with me all around?
What do you think of shops that request you to leave your sandals outside?
Simple- I stop shopping there!

Robot

Brother- we are going to see Ravan
Me- Why raavan? so late? See Robot
Brother - We are going to see Ravan dahan
So I finally gt to see Eindhran (Tamil). Not that it made a difference- Especialy because I could follow most of the dialogues and especially because- where were the dialogues?
I loved the dances most of all. Loved the songs Pagal Anukan and Killimanjaro. The songs lose the mystery in Hindi. In Tamil to me it was a mysterious jabble with exotic dance moves so it suited each other. In hindi, it loses some of that touch.
The story was no big deal. In the end the villain proves to be right and that did not gel with my expectation that the hero is always right! The ending left me a bit dissatisfied.
But overall a total timepass.