Oh my goodness, it’s 9 o’clock!

My favorite expression last week has been "Sorry, No time!". Last week felt like a marathon to me.The first half was all upbeat,then energy levels started dropping (unfortunately no "Gu" gel to boost
me up:)) and towards the end, I almost crashed. No first hand experience, in running a marathon, but have seen G take it, and yes, make it!

I felt like racing against time all the way through. Was frustrated, not being able to spend enough time with M. Got irritated with work not going anywhere ..Driving back from work at 9 pm on Friday, tired, I rang up G & M and they were headed to Pasta Market to get Pasta. Was elated to hear that M wanted to wait for Mama to feed him. My spirits rose hearing that. Felt a boost of energy rush in.. Sat next to M and started feeding him, reading "Hally Tossy's dog had a bad breath".

Saturday sailed perfect, with a biking trip to shoreline and eating out. Sunday wasn't bad either, completed all the chores and got ready for the week ahead.

I realize that, I like it this way, to be a busy bee, fully consuming every minute of the day. May be last week, was stretching it a little too much. Reminds me of the cliché "Time is free, but it is priceless". I don't want to waste one of the most expensive resources in life :)

My remarks about time left none in our household untouched, specifically M. My statement "Oh my goodness, it is 9 o'clock" and the way I look at our clock , has (sadly) instilled in M a sense of fear and dislike towards our clock. (Blame it on me, I will be careful next time with these remarks). He told me the other day,
"Mama, I am scared of the clock, I don't like it". I tried to pacify him with, there is nothing to be scared, it is our friend, it helps us keep track of time and the like. No, he, was not convinced. I left it there, even forgot about the whole stuff. Later that night, M found a way to solve his issue. (Now, I know, why Miss R says, M is a very strong willed boy).

He found a party hat which was lying around and he covered the face of our alarm clock with it. Fully satisfied with his gimmick, he came back and told me, "Mama, now I don't have to be scared. See..". M's ways always makes me think out of the box..I need to learn from him.

So, this is our clock's new look. It has been like this for a while now.

M gets very upset, if we remove the party hat, so be it..
These kids..

Rain

It is been rain, rain and more of rain, this week. Unusual for sunny California, but absolutely no complains. We really need it. California is in severe drought!

My perceptions of rain ( oh well, many things ) have changed over time. My earliest memoirs of rain goes back to my childhood days, may be, back when I was 5 or 6. I used to spend my school breaks with my mom’s relatives. It rained very heavily one of those nights. Thunder roared, lighting was in all its fury, and strong winds rocked the trees. I was scared, looked at valyamma(my mom’s cousin sister) and she told me to chant after her a sloka( I have raked my brains for it, but no, I am not getting it. No, it is not “arjunan phalgunan”, it was something else..), and the thunder would go away. Not sure whether the sloka did any tricks to the thunder, but for sure, it did to me.  I used to drift into sleep soon.

Then I grew up, we moved from near my mom’s place, to a middle class neighborhood. My friend circle changed. Summer holidays was fun with Indira Nagar gang. We used to play in the rains, completely drenched, until my friend’s mom shouts at us to come back in. It was fun!!

And now, here I am, sitting in my kitchen gazing at the rain. I am getting used to it, I have started liking it, may be even loving it.  One moment, I felt impelled to  go out in the rain like in the old times, but second thoughts (Oh, how I wish, I could be that 2nd grader again, who never has a second thought…) , I ruled against it. But, yeah, one of these days, I am going to do it (when M is not watching, I know he would be thrilled… but don’t want to get him sick…). Thought, I would settle for a photograph for now. I asked G, if he could get me one. “It is not going to look nice, only professionals can do it.”, G muttered. “That is ok,  I am not worried about the quality, pretty please get me one”.

I am posting that photograph here, I know, you cannot make out that it is raining. But…your imagination sure can see it :)

Magnolia blooms

Sipping up my morning coffee, I walked to our living room. Cuckoo clock struck once, it is 30 minutes past 6. Another day in the making… Opened the blinds and glanced at our backyard and there, it caught me. Our Magnolia is in full bloom !!  Our visits to the backyard has been almost nil as the weather has been lousy for the past couple of weeks.

The magnolia in bloom took me back a few years down the lane. Two years back we moved to our own home.  We were thrilled, wanted to do so many things to our home, but one look at our bank accounts and we are back to tightfisted. Finally “Treasury Secretary” (I guess, by now, you know who) approved the budget. I started racking my brains for landscaping ideas. We decided to start with our current flora and determine which to retain and which not to. We noticed the lone tree on one corner of the yard. It looked pretty unassuming, no flowers , no fruits, just a mass of leaves, which looked quite ordinary. We were so bend on cleaning it up and planting something “pretty” there, but somehow ruled against it.

Months later, here comes our first spring in our new home an Lo and behold! the lone, unassuming tree has transformed  into a ravishing beauty, A magnolia in full bloom!!

Took another sip of the coffee. I felt my spirits rise. Magnolia blooms were dancing in the wind, I felt they are whispering to me a secret, a lesson for me, to give a chance for each and everyone, no matter what. I felt, hope for a new tomorrow, a better tomorrow. Cuckoo clock struck again..Oh my , it’s 7 am..Duty beckons…

A birthday note…

I do have changed a lot over the years. Wiser with age? Nah..  The major change, I would say, is that life has taught me to appreciate things which I have, and be thankful for it.

If I had the chance to go back now, I would do at least a few things in a different way.

Indian culture is quite different from the western ways. I never recall me write a thank you note, or say thank you to my father or mother. I considered it to be too artificial. These days , when M gives me a happy valentine’s day card, I feel happy. May be, I should have done the same too, as a kid. Forget about the thank you card, I did not even help my mom in the kitchen. I recall that, once in a while, my mom asked me to do some odd jobs in the kitchen and I used to be so reluctant to do it. Now, me, as a working mom, I realize how difficult it would have been for my mom those days. I regret not helping her those days.

Here I am , miles away from my parents, and it is my mom’s birthday tomorrow. Dear achan and amme, I pray to God for your happiness and health. Whatever I am today , is because of you both, dearest achakuttan and ammakutty.

My Raleigh Venture ‘08

I have promised myself to be a “buzzling with activity” person, this year. As a first step, here is my new Raleigh Venture ‘08.

Last month, we were at this bike store in sunnyvale which had lots of Mountain bikes, comfort bikes and the hybrid ones. Me, the most ignorant biker, who looked at bikes as  “the thing with two wheels and a brake”  gazed at the different models there with perplexity. M and me wandered around the store, trying out M’s bikes. G was engrossed in getting the right one for me. “Do you like this or the other one?” G asked me pointing at two different models. “I like the chrome green :)” , thought to myself. Shopkeeper was scrutinizing me.“What’s the difference?” I replied back to G , with that look which says “Don’t you know, I know nothing about these..?”. “You can try it out”, shopkeeper told me. I was hesitant, did not want him now, judging my riding skills. “No, that is ok”. Here comes the next question from him. “Are you shy?”.  “No, but I don’t want to try it out”- replied back. This guy is getting on my nerves, but no, I am not trying it out. But, why? I thought to myself. I think, I did not want to give in to him, my ever superior ego ;)

G goes on and on, about the difference between the mountain, comfort and hybrid. I acted as though I understood every bit of it, and finally I chose my chrome green one :), for three reasons, it was very light, I liked the color and it was more girly than the other option. I cautioned my mind to not get excited about it, as I wasn’t sure whether we would end up buying that. G is very thorough when he makes a new purchase, and I really admire his patience for the same . I am the impulsive, impatient one, but has learned a bit from G.(Ain’t I better now, G?)

Finally, we got it(yay!!), 2 bikes and a bike seat for M for our spring time bike trips.

We came back home and when M was taking his nap, I had my hands set on my Raleigh Venture. Wow, it was real light, and smooth. I felt happy, cool breeze against my face and riding through our neighborhood and next to the corn fields, made me relaxed. This is the best bike, I have ever had. I love it, am proud of it, and will cherish it…Thank you G.

Daddy’s my HERO

Technorati Tags: child's world

M has grown a lot since my last post. It strikes me with so much surprise, to see how much M and I match in our temperaments. There are times, when he talks so much like G, trying to cheer me up, when I am glum. He is too much of an adult those times and I am smiling, and the next moment, he is the angry, whimsy, three year old, impossible to placate.

G wants me to post this snippet, before I forget.

Background:

M is like any other 3 year old – he likes to show off. He has been trying hard to impress us by pretending that he knows to read, although he does not. He often makes wild guesses which makes us burst out into laughter, and he feels great about that. Few months back, when gas prices hit highs, there was some news about airlines going bankrupt in the front page of WSJ, with a picture of an airbus next to the news. M reads out loud “W-A-L- L S-T-R-E-E-T…” and then tells out loud “Aeroplane”. So, get the picture?

Couple of days back, we got a new pajama set for M which has “Daddy’s my HERO” written on it. It was G’s birthday. I made M wear his new pajama and shirt and suggested him to show it to Dada(That is how, M calls G) and read it aloud for Dada. M thought that was a cool idea and was excited to do that. He goes straight to G, points to the letters on the shirt and tells G: “Dada, Look at my pajama. It says “Dad is my” , then, he spells out the letters “O-R-E –H, Hero”. We have been constantly telling M to read from left to right(as he always reads from right to left), and yes, this time, he did it , he read from left to right as he was looking at the letters on his shirt :)

G , here you go. I have done it. Someday, many years later , M may read this, and I would love to see the smile on his face then.

Belated welcome – 2009!!

Belated welcome – 2009!! I need some change in my life. Not that I do not enjoy the current one, I absolutely love it. I just need to make it more lively, buzzing with activity. I have been lazy, for a while now, more lazier that what I would like to picture myself. So, I have decided to wade in . Yet to see , how far it goes.

Christmas holidays and new year eve was real nice.I owe this post to a good friend of ours. We had a nice time during the holidays because of his and family's courteousness.We were alternating between their and our houses. Finally when they left us, we had a feeling of emptiness. I know it will pass on. M also felt the same. He told me that, "Mama, I miss A". The next sentence from him took me by surprise. He told me "My dream is that A will come back" . Well, these are the catchy phrases from "Shark boy and Lava girl" movie which M and A watched, which M would have never watched without A's company as he would have been scared. It felt interesting to me ,how M related that to his own world.

Relationships !!  We meet several people in life. We develop an instant rapport with some, to some others, we grow close with time and to some, we never get along . I am amazed by the myriad of relationships and their complexity. I dedicate this post to all those treasured relations of mine. Thank you all...