Only if you’re successful

 

 

Image from: Houston Chronicles

Taking the plunge

Remember my bucket list, well inspired by MiM, I’ve started working on it.

After a lot of churning these last few months HD and I have finally settled on an  idea that we’re really positive about.  Its something that HD has been dreaming of for a very very long time. And it finally seems possible.

We’re looking for someone to invest / partner with us. So if you’re interested, do drop me a mail.

Any of you that have started something of your own, we’d like to hear about your experiences. Any pointers or words of advise you may have for us.

And…if anyone can point me to a graphics designer / logo artist that can help us out, would really appreciate it.

Puppy love

Over the weekend, Goosh finally deigned to acknowledge our parental status.  Ask him where his Baba is, and he’d poke HD’s knee. Ask him where Mamma is, and he’d poke me.  Yeah, he did it just about 2 – 3 times outta the hundred times we asked him. But it still makes me swell with pride.You see I was getting a bit concerned that he hasnt started calling us Mama and Baba yet. He says mamammama and babababaa for just about everything.

You can understand how poignant this moment was for me  – especially since he unfailingly recognizes a dog a mile away. He’ll spot them much before we do and start off with a “baw wow wow wow”  each time. For dogs of all breeds, color and sizes. Whether a real dog, or a distorted picture. Whether on TV or in a book or on the road. Or a soft toy. We’ve been wanting to get him a puppy.. but living in flat, with both of us working…its just not feasible. So y’day we gave in and bought him a huge soft toy doggie. And he clutched it right thru the day, never letting go.

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The little critter is on a pointing spree. As soon as he gets up in the morning, he’ll climb onto us, give a huge wallop and grin and start pointing. Like his Royal Highness climbing onto his favourite stead.  He’ll point towards the door and go ‘aababaawbaa’ till we take him out of the room. And then all over the house. He has to have his morning inspection of the house you see. His walk through the house usually leads to the kitchen, where he proceeds to open every drawer and take out every single utensil. But I ramble….

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I’m amazed at how much he picks up from observation. Like the TV remote. He knows the diff between the TV remote and the mobile phone. He knows you point it towards the TV and press some buttons and something happens.  In the Goa hotel, he surprised me by switching on the TV – he ‘knew’ the remote and TV – though the remote was grey and v diff from our home one. And the TV was a 10inch box compared to the LCD at home. How did he know??

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He always loved to see us brush and would get all excited. Now he’s got his own brush. Which he happily munches all thru the day.

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My lil baby is going to make his wife really happy. Y’day I observed him playing with his toys. He has this big box/tray kind of thing to hold his toys. He took them out one by one. played with them. And then put them right back!!!! Not once, but repeatedly. He must’ve seen me and HD putting away his toys atleast a dozen times a day and picked it up. Sigh… I’m keeping my fingers corssed and praying that he remembers this as he grows up and always puts away his own stuff.

 

 

Less is more

I’m constantly battling a whole lot of clutter, a lot of stuff, and too little storage – I have piles and piles of stuff that we’ve never used. And probably never will – I think  to myself  if only I had a larger space, more cupboards, more… ..

Yesterday stumbled upon this. Can you believe it!? Living in a house that’s all of 89 sq ft!?!?!?!

Got me thinking. We always want more. More of this. More of that. More space. More money. And ofcourse more time.

Maybe sometimes less is better.

Do we ever consciously choose less?

Here’s a couple who did. They chose to live in a 450 sq ft house. Though they could afford much more. Why – so that they could be near the beach and the hills.   I loved this part the best:

A fascinating 30-day-project :

Most of our lives are lived on average days, not big once-in-a-lifetime days when we get married, or pay off the house, or graduate from college. Yet, many people focus quite intently on these big goals, to the exclusion of day-to-day life. This is my effort to emphasize the days that make up 99% of our lives. For 30 days, I’m recording the regular things that I do, every day.

Amazing na what people think and do.

Care to share your thoughts on this?

The birthday bash

It’s been 2 weeks .. and I still cant believe my ickle baby turned one!

Some photos from his birthday bash:

with all the grandparents

snowflakes!

Baby doesnt like the snow

2nd round of partying with chachoos

Bye bye soft curls

Bye bye soft curls. Bye bye innocence.

Its like he grew up all of a sudden once the soft curls were chopped off. Transformed from a cute lil baby into a bold little imp.

Judge for yourself:

and then on Nanoo

climbing on Mamma

aww

Rock star!

Back on home turf

Just after…

He was fine for the first 30 % of the mundan. Till he felt the first nick. And saw all the hair falling around him. Then he just howled like a banshee.  Sobbing, with these big tears rolling down, sad puppy dog eyes pleading with us. All 4 of us heartbroken to see him wail so. Barely holding back the tears ourselves. Me kicking myself on why I’m putting my baby through such agony.

5 minutes later, he’s forgotten all about it and is his playful self.  Hours later, we’re all still worked up, wondering if his head’s cold, whether he’ll scratch himself etc etc.

Some facts about the trip:

- We’d gone to Shravenbelgola. Juno’s 2nd road trip..It’s just 150 km from Bangalore.

- It took us 7 hours to get there. Of which 3 hours were spent in driving through Bangalore. And another 3 hours because every one we asked for directions kept telling us to go straight. We ended up doing an extra 100 km and driving through Tumkur.

- The return trip took 5 hours. For 150 km. Of which the last 50 km in Bangalore took 3 hours.

I so HATE Bangalore for this.

- The plus: got to see a night sky full of stars after such a long time.  Driving from Tumkur, trying to find the highway ..we’re lost. Single lane road, winding, no lights, no traffic. Scary. And exhilirating. Just so beautiful. And the road back from Shravanbelgola. Rocky hills along the way, coconut plantations, paddy fields and a lovely blue sky….

[edited to add: Mundan was on 1st Nov. But as usual, the post got delayed]

Simplicity

 

 

Image from: Houston Chronicles

Done dana dan

And the  things I did that make me proud & happy when I look back

• Believed in myself when no one else did.  Love it when I look back and go thru the list that “every one” told me I couldn’t do “Girls dont do that. Girls cant do that”… I just loved proving them all wrong.
• Trekked. All over the Sahyadris. Miss ‘em soooo much. Want to take Goosh trekking like that some day.
• Travelled. On my own. Southern Cal. Paris, Belgium, Bangkok, Pattaya.  On my own.  Kayaking, snorkelling, rock climbing. Yay! And I hope my son also gets this love for the outdoors.
• Learnt. To dance. To skate. Things that I thought I could never do.
• Taught. In bombay slums. Worked at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal.
• Married HD.  Inspite of all our differences, there’s just something about him. This guy makes me HAPPY.

And now I pass on this tag to MGM,  Abha, Mamta, Monika and anyone else who’d like to take it up!

My Bucket list

Trust starry for that ‘reminder’ nudge. Every now and then, you have a way of making me take a step back and relook my take on life. Thanks.

so 10 things I want to do. not necessarily in order.

1. start my own company. i really really want to do something on my own. be my own boss. work on my own terms. decide my own time. but i’ve just been putting it off. there’s always something to prevent me from giving up that monthly paycheck. but i’m getting there. slowly. ever so slowly.
2. travel. africa, south america, machchu-pichu, antartica, australia, new zealand… so many places to explore. i’ve travelled them all over the internet (cant tell you how many travel sites i’ve explored & and the endless re-runs i’ve watched on travel n living!). want to go see all of that for real. with Goosh n HD.
3. dance with HD.  Salsa. Tango. Anything
4. Get back to nature. some of my best times were when i could commune with nature. long walks. staring at the sky. thats my roots. that’s what kept me ticking. have to get back to it.
5. balance. figure out how to balance this whole work-life thing. how to balance being a mom with being an individual.
6. learn kannada. am really really embarrased about this one. been in Bangalore 5 years and still havent learnt beyond a handful of words.
7. spend more time with my son. play with him more. laugh with him more.
8. take up some exercise on a regular basis. walking, swimming, gymming, dancing. anything.
9. learn about music. learn the guitar.
10. find a full time maid/housekeeper/robot  to outsource ALL the housework to

 

And the 10 things I have done.. coming up soon

 

 

Where’s the time

Each and every day, it seems, all i do is rush rush rush. Up at 6am, rush thru the morning chores, rush to work, 9 packed hours at work, rush back, play with kiddo, more chores, feed him and i’m ready to drop dead again, but kiddo’s full of energy so another few hours of him running arnd and screaming for attention, and cursing and swearing under my breat h and wishing i could get some sleep.  Being sick is no excuse to get me off that routine. OK, I get a little concession here and there. But it just doesnt make up for all the bone-crushing tiredness that i’ve accumulated. I feel like I need a month of hibernatoin – just eating and sleeping – to catch up again. tell me, how will a half hour nap compensate for a  year of sleep deprivation?

I love Goosh and want to spend more time with him. But where’s the time?

I want to start exercising.But where’s the time?

I want to sleep. But where’s the time?

I want to be again, the person I used to be – But where’s the time?

Between juggling a job and chores, and deciding the menu and tracking groceries and instructing the maid and sorting the clothes and cleaning the loo and boiling the bottles.. where’s the time?

Tell me – do all working moms feel this way?  How do you juggle time?

I’m so tired of the the well meaning advise people keep giving me – to exercise, do yoga, go for walks. Live my life for a day, and tell me, what do I cut down on? Where shall I squeeze in that extra one hour?