Dubious is the word!!

Parents' thoughts are so dubious and selfish. They want only the best for their kids, even if it means hurting someothers' child. The point that surfaces out of such instances is the age old saying 'blood is thicker than water.'

The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk

In stark contrast to the stars who have plunged their vehicles on to the footpath-dwellers and then talked of 'Being Human', Mrs. Sudha Murthy has given charity and philanthropy their quiet space in her book, 'The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk'. After observing the name on the top lists for a long time, I bought it. I expected some fiction, but fact is more impressive than fiction. Half-way through it, I feel its worth is more than the money spent.
The collection of stories reiterates the significance of character and human values while emphasizing that being philanthropic does not necessarily imply being loud, rich or creating a cacophony. It lies in the hearts of those who kindle their idea to serve selflessly, never think of publicizing their deeds and give it a humble form, as simple as supplying few buckets of water for bathing to the poor and needy. Truly inspirational!

Not in Same School Please

Kaka doesn't want prithvi to be joined in his school. Says, "He imitates and irritates me with his doubts and questions at home. He wants me to help him out in everything he does at home......He will not leave me at peace even in the bus on the way to school.......I have already got chikki(his friend) who wants me to snatch everything that is in the hands of other bus-mates!!! I cannot manage two kids at a time!!!!" Pretty much puzzled by his innocence and thinking of an alternative!!!

Three years down the lane, these brothers have made the school bus their second home....they do all crazy stuff and have fun talking, shouting, playing and fighting in the bus!!!

Trust to Trustworthiness

While trust is a self-proclaimed as well as exhibited standard of staying true, it takes trustworthiness to take it to the next level and get the approval for the declared yardstick. Acceptance or authorization by others might not be the in-thing.....one of the last thought in the minds of people nowadays. But, trust is abstract and can only be established by staying trustworthy over time. These aspects struck my mind after I heard of two incidents from my friends, where trust has been defeated before qualifying to be trustworthiness.
(Please do not read between the lines. Trust me, these certainly did not happen to me or anyone in my family. I will neither support such things nor silently gulp in such insults!!!).

When an Associate is absorbed into a company, the employer trusts him to abide by the confidentiality clause. Notwithstanding, if the new employee uses the records and reports of the company to perpetuate his personal interests in just a matter of few months of joining, the trust is broken. For the company, the associate is just a middle or low-level employee and one of the many others on that particular rung of organizational ladder. So, the actual victim might not be able to realize the loss instantly, but his immediate colleagues can certainly sense it. Their sources are umpteen......that too in this world of networking, social media and round-the-clock communication, nothing can remain a secret. The cat is out of the bag once the bag appears bulky!! Users not only provide word-of-mouth publicity but also spy on your activity!! I am surprised when I came to know that none of them would reveal the wrong-doing as such things are common nowadays and are the trade secrets behind some of the start-ups by the graduates and post-graduates from prestigious institutes with a work experience of a couple of years. Yet, I am sure, none of the colleagues would certainly vouch the employee to be trustworthy nor entrust him with important information. Through such insensitive ways, the person has also put the reputation of the esteemed institution and the trustworthiness of its produce at stake!!

The second incident is this......When the groom demonstrates the value of trust in his conduct, the bride's parents feel confident and give away their daughter. However, succumbing to the pressures of routine duties and purely out of male ego, the husband slaps his wife over a petty fight, the issue might just appear superficial or a reaction in the heat of the moment. The trust of the wife and her parents are broken forever and the trustworthiness of the man is at stake. Though as parents, the groom's side might be understanding the son's condition and might bat an eyelid at his act, their boy no more stands in the trustworthy category!! Standing in his support in such an instance proves their failure to perceive the underlying aspects of character that are intertwined with the bond of marriage!!

'TRUST' is not just a five-letter word that would fit into the triple-word score at the corner of Scrabble. It is also not a medallion that you swagger of!! It is a multi-ton responsibility to be shouldered always, in all the aspects and every phase of thinking as well as behavior in order to gain the trustworthiness of people, not only those whom you value, but also those who are knowingly or unknowingly part of our lives!! Trust is subliminal and deeper concept, that needs to be promoted to trustworthiness in order to add value to the term eventually. Neither the endorsements by parents nor the mention of big universities in the resume can stand the test of time. Trustworthiness build authenticity over the self-proclamations and also the testimonies of trust that we boast of!!

English-Vinglish

Sridevi steals the hearts again in English-Vinglish, with a slight change. Now, I am referring to the heart of every middle-aged mom. Could completely see myself after 5-10 years, in her!! Felt a slight hitch whether I treated my mom the same way, when I was young!!!
She puts it simple............women crave for respect, equality and accomodative mindset in return to their contribution, rather than love and lip-service, in their middle years. Why not give them what they want, when they put in their 100 percent to internalize every person, thing and everything that make up their little world, The Family?

'Radha' to 'Krishna'

Huh!!!!!! A big sigh of relief!! Finally, I drove away all his fears, lived up to his hopes and brought smiles of relief, happiness and satisfaction on his face!! Making this happen, tears of delight rolled down my cheeks!

Blame it on Prithvi’s hair which grew more than the size of normal one-year olds, as we have delayed the first hair-cut or the traditional tonsuring ceremony to his third year. I also shoulder a major portion of the blame, as I enjoyed this postponement, given my liking for girls and the fact that both my kids are boys. I made a single pony, two pony tails and used him as a muse to try out different hairstyles for the short, tender tresses. Then came the D-day, the day he dreaded the most and still has nightmares about, Janmashtami. I dressed Kaka, my elder one as Lord Krishna and the younger one as Radha. Being soft-spoken and tolerant by his nature, Prithvi never revolted or said ‘no’ to anything. Whenever he did not like something which he has to go through, Prithvi remained callous, shocked and stiff. One could not catch him crying over anything he did not want! He did the same thing as ‘Radha’ and followed my gestures mechanically and unwillingly, to pose for the photographs of Radha-Krishna, alongside his brother. 

We went to Tirupathi immediately after Prithvi turned 3 and offered his hair to the Lord. Gone are the days of curls and plaits and here are the days of hair-cuts and boyish hairstyles. Prithvi believed that he turned into a boy after getting his pony tails tonsured! I feel really guilty for having created such a perception in his mind! I was correct in my own way, but did not believe in toddlers being so much sensitive and emotional!

So, this year, as he turns 5 a week after Janmashtami, Prithvi started preparing me for the annual fancy dress affair, two months ahead of the time. He reminded me every day that he wanted to be Lord Krishna and having two Krishnas (both himself and his brother) is double the fun! He also suggested the choice of making ‘Balaram’ out of Kaka, as Balaram is the elder brother of ‘Krishna’(himself)! He questioned me over how to make butter. As I told that it is prepared from the cream that settles on the milk, which he loves the most (Prithvi literally asks me whether I have put the cream in his glass of milk every time he has it!). He offered to forego the cream until Krishnashtami, so that I can feed him the butter on the day as Yashoda does! Ten days before the festival, he wanted me to find where we can get peacock feathers and buy 2 eyes of them in advance just for him. He wanted to have them arranged in a forked manner on his crown, like real Krishna (who appears in ‘Mahabharat’ series on TV). I was totally mesmerized by his imagination, observation, planning and the groundwork he is doing to make me accept psychologically that he is ‘Krishna’ in a cool yet emphatic manner. I just kept evaluating his path of his thinking as a third person rather than his mother. I was also taken aback by the strong impression those young years with long hair made on his mind!!

Finally, the day has arrived. Though we never celebrate Krishnashtami as a huge festival with detailed festivities and preparations, it has gathered importance in our lives after I had my first son. He was just a month old baby when we made him Lord Krishna, which we enjoyed. From that time onwards, it has become a yearly ritual and the grandparents and the extended family would also be eagerly waiting to see the kids in the related attire. So, today I decided to add up few special dishes to offer as ‘Bhog’ to ‘Kanhaji’ and put up the idol of Lord Krishna swinging in the Brindavan. My cousin made 2 crowns for the boys, from chart paper, drew the peacock feathers in a ‘V’ for Prithvi and decorated them. Throughout the process, Prithvi has been pestering me to give bath. After I took him into the shower, he was totally excited. I draped him in a dhoti and secured it with an angavastram around his waist; drew the three-striped tilak on his forehead and chest; tied the colorful arm bands and wrist bands; adorned his neck with a long 3-step chain of pearls and garnets; and put the crown on his head. To add an element of surprise, I showed him the flute that I bought and asked him to hold. His face shimmered with joy and exhilaration. After I finished the puja, I fed him butter. There was no end to his happiness. He was not stiff!! He jumped with contentment and relief!! He stood with his legs crossed like Lord Krishna, held the flute with both the hands in a slanting way from his mouth, ordered me to take a photograph and share it with all the friends and family. Finally, he is ‘Krishna’ and not ‘Radha’!!  

'Radha' to 'Krishna'

Huh!!!!!! A big sigh of relief!! Finally, I drove away all his fears, lived up to his hopes and brought smiles of relief, happiness and satisfaction on his face!! Making this happen, tears of delight rolled down my cheeks!

Blame it on Prithvi’s hair which grew more than the size of normal boys, as we have delayed the first hair-cut or the traditional tonsuring ceremony to his third year. I also shoulder a major portion of the blame, as I enjoyed this postponement, given my liking for girls. I made a single pony, two pony tails and used him as a muse to try out different hairstyles for the short, tender tresses. Then came the D-day, the day that he dreaded and still has nightmares, Janmaashtami. I dressed Kaka as Lord Krishna and him as Radha. Being soft-natured, he never revolted or said ‘no’ to anything. Whenever he did not like something which he has to go through, Prithvi remained callous, shocked and stiff. He did the same thing as ‘Radha’ and followed my gestures mechanically and unwillingly to pose for the photographs, alongside his brother. 

We went to Tirupathi immediately after he turned 3 and offered his hair to the Lord. Gone are the days of curls and plaits and came the days of hair-cuts and boyish hairstyles. Prithvi believed that he turned into a boy after getting his pony tails tonsured!! I feel really guilty!! I was correct in my own way, but did not believe in toddlers being so much sensitive and emotional!!

So, this year, as he turns 5, he started preparing me for the annual fancy dress affair two months ahead of the D-day. He reminded me every day that he wanted to be Lord Krishna and having two Krishnas (both himself and his brother) is double the fun!! He also suggested the choice of making ‘Balaram’ out of Kaka, as Balaram is the elder brother of ‘Krishna’(himself)!! He drilled me over how to make butter. As I told that it is prepared from the cream that settles over milk, which he loves the most (Prithvi literally asks me whether I have put the cream in his glass every time he has milk!!). He offered to forego the cream until Krishnastami, so that I can feed him the butter on the day, like Yashoda. Ten days before the festival, he wanted me to buy 2 eyes of peacock feathers to have them in a forked manner on his crown, like real Krishna (who appears in ‘Mahabharat’ on Star Plus). I was totally mesmerized by his imagination, observation and strategic planning. I just observed his path of thinking as an audience. I was also taken aback by the impression those young years with long hair made on his mind!!

Finally, the day has arrived. Though we never celebrate Krishnastami as a huge festival with detailed festivities and preparations, it has gathered importance after I had my first son. He was just a month old when we made him Lord Krishna, which turned out well. Then, it became a yearly ritual. So, today I decided to add up few special dishes to offer as ‘Bhog’ to ‘Kanhaji’.  I put up the idol of Lord Krishna swinging in the Brindavan, made murkul, sweet with milk and paruppu vadai. My cousin made 2 crowns for the boys, from chart paper and decorated them. Through this time, Prithvi has been pestering me to give bath to him. After I yielded, he was totally excited. I draped him in a dhoti and secured it with an angavastram around his waist; drew the three-striped tilak on his forehead and chest; tied the colorful arm bands and wrist bands; adorned his neck with a long 3-step chain of pearls and garnets; and put the crown on his head. His face shimmered with joy and exhilaration. After I finished the puja, I fed him butter. There was no end to his happiness. He was not stiff!! He jumped with contentment and relief!! Finally, he is ‘Krishna’ and not ‘Radha’!!  

My Twist To Newton's Laws

Challenging Newton with my laws of thought

First law, a person continues to be in a state of thinking, ideating or self-indulgence at a progressive pace, unless disturbed by someone!
A corollary to this law is the concept of emotional inertia. It is a state where the prospect is inert to expressing any emotion (be it happiness, sad, anything), even when the world is breaking down in front of him a

nd just maintains a poker face just analysing the situation!!
Second law, the force that must be exerted to disturb him is inversely proportional to the acceleration of thoughts and time span of indulgence. Here, acceleration is considered to be a scalar quantity, since the thoughts are independent of direction.
Finally, I negate the third law which states that every action has equal and opposite reaction. Even when the source of disturbance is a whiff of air or a gentle touch or slow whisper in the ear, the reaction would be unexpectedly enormous 'haaaaaaaa........what??!!(as if they just woke up from a deep sleep)'
(Disclaimer: I bend and bow the propositions of the great scientist. This is just a thought, not targeted at anyone nor has any intention to hurt anyone or poke fun at someone's inability)

First Proper Vacation

The vacation is about to end n the crocodile's festival is about to start! Last 2 months have been wonderful, different yet lonely. While I dozed off until late morning hours, enjoyed maa-ka-khaana n the pampering of siblings n their better halves; it was Mr.Phani's turn to wake up to the alarm n cook for himself! I enjoyed the poker nights while he spent them listening to devotional commentaries! While my sons started playing with kitchen set, madhu( my sis's daughter) got interested in 'hamara-ek-bodyguard'(a boyish game created by kaka n prithvi)! The boys learnt about dora, princess' n barbie while the little miss borrowed her brothers' gyaan on superman, spiderman n batman! While my kids enjoyed the company of madhu's cousins, madhu helped me buy gifts for kaka's cousin. We as elders thoroughly enjoyed the exchange of mutual interests, the friction resulting from the interactions, the innocence reflected by their actions! Quite different vacation altogether! All this fun n lazy-time is about to end! Time to buy the ticket from utopia to my heaven! Time to stretch my muscles! bracing myself to jump into action! Lots of dusting, cleaning, wiping, clearing work ahead n 18 more days of eager waiting!
Thanks one n all for making my lonely period memorable!

My kids don't miss me!!

Went on a day's visit to Mysore at 4 am yesterday leaving kids behind, with my mother. Expected a call from my sons within an hour, crying for me to come back.............but, surprised with their response to my absence. Guess what...........both of them didn't even take or mention my name until I came home today at 11am!!!!!!
Damn it! They kicked the ball into my court! Time for me to digest the reality and retrospect my maternal instincts!

Ugadi Wishes

While festival means dusting, clicking the 'refresh home' button, exercising every muscle in the body, cooking and cleaning up the aftermath, for women; 
it means gaining a lot of calories from the sweets and savouries at the loss of a huge sum of money for men;
it signifies a holiday to stay back at home to enjoy the food, new dresses and the celebration for kids;
But when we reminisce the occasion after sometime, only the opinion of our grandparents stands tall! Festivals create an occasion to come together and reinforce one another that we are a family. The festivities symbolize celebrating such joy and happiness!! Happy Ugadi to one and all & enjoy the festival!

Thanks to FB

The best thing about getting in touch with school friends on fb is (that too when u have changed a number of schools during those days)........................
some of them connect with you as the only girl with chubby cheeks in kindergarten, some as the student who joined mid-session in 3rd class, some relate to ur grumpiness to share the new imported fancy pencil box, some remember u as a notorious girl, some who offered a helping hand, some who have supported u through the bad marks in examinations, some who offered stiff competition. All these marvellous people who accepted you as yourself in childhood, track you down on fb, at a stage where they have their own busy lives to lead. They send a friend request once again, to show how much they valued ur presence in their school days. Is it not an acknowledgement and privilege to re-friend them?!! Thanks to Fb

The D-day!!

Waiting for the one day to celebrate our birth, love and wedding throughout the year, making it an unforgettable experience on the D-day, receiving wishes and gifts from near and dear, adding a colorful page to our memory and emphasizing the virtue of Life.........Thank God for showering such an honor only on mankind!

Superman-Batman Friendship

How did batman & spiderman become friends???? One day when spiderman ran out of the thread(used up everything) for his web, he sought the help of Batman, who was flying nearby. Batman flew to the nearest store and bought some for Spidey! Thus, the friendship starts!!!!!!!!.....................as explained by Kaka to his li'l brother, prithvi!

My Update

I am thrilled............feeling on top of this world!!! An author uses my status update in his best seller and I came to know it today! Wowwwwww..........feeling good! Afterall, my status updates mean something!
Until now, I know about fans using the quotes of their favourite authors. Today, I came to know that it can happen the other way round too!

Agneepath

Agneepath - A horror experience for kaka (shut his eyes tight and went to deep sleep after the first image of Sanjay Dutt flashed on screen) and nothing less than an entertaining experience for Prithvi (he did not want to miss a single frame).
The ease with which Hrithik carries off every role he takes up, is amazing!
Miniscule role for Priyanka.
Packed with every element to cater to every viewer. Definitely a movie to watch once.

Veg-haleem??!!

My tongue always used to drool for the taste of Veg. Haleem. It has been my craving since the day I stepped in Hyderabad. This made the banner 'Veg. Haleem' by Pista House conspicuous(to me), among hundred other such sign boards around. Believe me, it is just mashed veggie korma with lots of ghee and dry fruits.....tasted awful! Totally disappointed! Not worth the 12-year-dream!