Arya’s First Birthday and Naming Ceremony

WARNING: This is a huge article giving a detailed account of Arya’s Birthday planning and celebration. It is written more with the perspective of bringing a smile to me and Yogesh on reading it after a few years. Advance apologies to persons reading this and getting bored.

I don't know why I delayed writing about this when it is so important to me. Maybe it was because words are not enough to describe the planning, effort and the fun we had!

1. Planning:

I was getting anxious as the event date approached. Yogesh and I had decided that we would not hire an event decorator due our budget. But I had made Yogesh promise that we will still do the best ourselves. 

The Cake - Mickey playing cricket!



2. Food:

We hired a Rajasthani Cook who had cooked for 900 people in Namita's wedding 6 years back. It was finger-licking delicious back then. He was somewhat expensive than the other caterers we could have hired, but we thought that food needs to be great to win the event!

3. Cake:
After visiting a few shops, we finalized a butter cream chocolate cake weighing 3kgs from Monginis. The design was Mickey Mouse in a cricket costume. Personally I hate Mickey (Why do kids like a mouse? I’m sure it is a big deal in US because they don’t see mice as often). I think the cake looked good though.

4. Shopping:

We got a beautiful Sherwani Suit in maroon for Arya, a red chiffon Saree for me and a new shirt for the dad. 

5. Invites:

We sent the invite to all friends and family. I called a few of them on phone to stay home prior to the event.

6. Guests:

Some of the guests came from Mumbai and few from Pune city to stay over. It was fun. Few stayed after the event too and Arya got to know them better.

7. Venue:

We had decided that we would have this event in our own society club-house. It was newly painted and clean. It would be convenient for all guests to come and for us to organize things. It is a one floor structure with an open terrace for functions. It can accommodate a crowd of 150 persons easily (catering section separate!)

8. Club house decoration:

Cake cutting done... Notice the lights and flex banner!

As the terrace was not covered from all sides and it was January, we decided to cover it with a colorful Pandal from all sides leaving the top open. We hired a guy to do light strings of various colors thrown on the trees and pandal. It gave a great celebration effect.

For the stage background, we arranged for a maroon velvet curtain with a peach frilly lace on the top and lights again. Sudhir bhauji had arranged for a beautiful flex printout to be stuck on it with Arya’s face and a happy birthday message!

We had got buntings, shiny stars, big cartoons, happy birthday cutout, alphabets of Arya’s name, lots and lots of red and blue balloons, shimmer, table decoration, all kinds of tapes, etc. from Pune city at wholesale rate. Yogesh was frowning on the demands but I'm sure he loved how it all turned out. 

We got musical candles, a “1” to be placed on the cake, and lots of b’day caps and return gifts.

9. Return gifts:

I wanted these to be useful for the kids. So chose apple shaped microwaveable kids lunch plates in various colors! We packed these in happy b’day return gift bags and kept them ready.

10. Balloons:

I wanted many many balloons, so we got a pump for inflating them and stayed up till late night. We made sets of 3 balloons for decoration. Maushi, mom, dad, me and Yogesh inflated about 170 balloons! We kept them in Arya’s room, filling it to our waists.

The little guy cried each time a balloon burst and I became more apprehensive about the balloon thing.

Hanging the balloons up on the Pandal was another huge task for us as they kept bursting or flying away due to the strong afternoon wind. Few balloons were even stolen and burst on purpose by neighboring kids too when we were not around! Somehow we managed to keep few them stuck.

The almost decorated background..

11. Table:
Table was wrapped with my white wedding Saree and maroon net stuck with balloons. We put a white table cloth on it, some stars and it was done! The cake went on it, a musical candle and the “1” letter too. Kid’s b’day caps were kept there for taking.

12. Food arrangement:

The hall for serving dinner had French windows on 3 sides. It was decorated with cartoon cutouts and stars and balloons. Buffet was set up there with chairs in case few people didn’t want to bear the cold.

13. Music:
We got a music system from my dad’s and played light instrumental music in background (The CD was purchased for my wedding but handed been heard so far!).

14. House decoration:
We decorated our house too with cartoon characters, balloons all over, and a “Happy Birthday Arya” cutout.

15. Naming ceremony on 19th Jan, 2012:

B'day aukshan. See the
decorated crib behind.

Before the birthday, we wanted a proper naming ceremony for Arya. Yogesh and I decorated Arya’s crib (the one discarded 5 months back) with buntings and Mogra garlands. We decorated the house with rose bouquets.

I'm gonna buy this cake
today too! Yummy!

Arya was dressed in a Krishna’s costume that was gifted by my friend Nivedita. He looked very cute and adorable.

I invited about 5 women for a quick Haldi Kunku and the naming ceremony. Neelam had got a Palana song written for singing during the event.

Asmita was to get the honor of saying Arya’s name in his ear along with 4 other pseudo names (I think they were Ayush, Harsh, Ashish, etc. dunno).

We tried making him sit in the crib but he wouldn’t. Ideally we needed to pass the baby from under the crib and over it 5 times or so, but he wasn’t as small anymore, so we let it go.

He had just begun crying, so I played a Palana song on my cell phone that I had downloaded from a website, “Halke halke jojawa baalacha palana”.

Asmita whispered Arya’s name & 4 other names in his ear. We had to beat her up with our fists as a ritual, and we loved that part. Done, he was officially named!

16. The real birthday celebration on 19th Jan 2012:
Immediately following the naming ceremony, we had arranged for the cake cutting. We changed Arya to a cute kurti and churidar. There was an amazing strawberry cake that we cut. Kids loved it. Arya might not know what was happening, but he seemed very happy to see so many people.

17. Birthday bash:
The venue was ready with colored lights, pandal, decoration, balloons, birthday banner and all.


Arya, Yogesh and me!

   The flex print looked amazing. The caterer was doing his job.

We were ready. Arya was in his new maroon sherwani dress. Mangal looked after him mostly.

The cake was delivered and looked wonderful. When I saw kids reaction to the cake, I knew I was wrong in thinking that cake was not a big deal. Cake is the real key to the event! And Mickey Mouse, sadly, has to be loved.


Cake cutting!

 Many guests complimented on Arya’s resemblance to his dad. Ruchi was very sweet. She took care of distributing the birthday caps to all kids.

Arya cut the cake and we blew the big musical candle over and over again, as it rekindles! The firework rocket was lit and it blasted to shower many shiny and crape paper bits all over the place.



Ruchi distributing cake.

 Ruchi was an angel again and distributed the cake to all. Oh yea, and I had missed out shopping for the cake spoons! But people anyway helped themselves with a second and a third piece!

Next Arya got up on the cash counter to collect all the gifts (figuratively speaking)! He was now wearing a white suit Namita had gifted him.



Dinner buffet.

Indoor seating. Check out the
club house. It's converted to a gym now.

Dinner was served and the indoor cum outdoor seating proved to be amazing. People loved the food!





Nivedita and family, Jayant and
family traveled a lot to reach here.



On their way out we thanked the guests and handed the return gifts to kids. They even got to choose what color they wanted. I got a feedback few days later from almost all moms that their kids wanted to eat only from those plates!

Arya changed to his comfortable clothes. We were the last ones to have dinner and finally relax. After the huge anxiety and effort, the event did go as smooth as butter.

Here are a few photos of the event.



Sinhgad college staff and families.

 

Arya admiring the gifts and
his new white suit

 

Guests



My sisters and their families!
Mani is married now though.



Mom and pranju



Mani and Arya



Dad and all.


 

Fighting Migraine

It is like a time machine. It begins and transports me to a vortex, a zone, stopping whatever activity I am in, bringing to halt the day I was having. When I come out of it, 2 hours or 2 days are gone. Migraine has been a loyal and a bitter companion to me for over 20 years. I have missed so many moments, events and details about things around me. It is not a serious or sorry thing to write about, but hey, it is my blog.

My mom used to say that I’d complain of headache as a child in school. Migraine back then wasn’t so famous. My simple parents didn’t know what was wrong. X-rays, MRI’s were done, but a neurologist was seen only when I was in my teens. Finally the thing got a name – migraine! (It rhymes!). Tablets didn’t provide long term relief. I didn’t want to continue a tablet a day for the rest of my life.

In my 10th standard during migraine I would draw all the curtains in the house, covering each slit of light coming through the door with a rug. I would lie with my head on moms lap until it passed away. My sisters had to bear with the dark house and no TV on for a day or two. I would cover up for the lost time by studying through the night. The headaches were bad back then. Today I am surprised where I got so much strength to fight those.

Of course my family was very supportive about it. They didn’t even know that it was quite common and there were many people who suffered.

It was there in the engineering and MBA too. Again I wondered how I would take care of my career, job and a family of my own! How will I manage?

When I was in MBA, I read about homeopathic treatment for migraine (A big commercialized doctor in homeopathy claimed that he can uproot it totally.) We went. Fee was too high, but my parents paid it anyway. And there was a slight improvement (should I say touchwood?). I continued it for some years and the intensity and frequency was bearable. He didn’t uproot it, did improve my condition a lot.

Presently it is a combination of allopathy and homeopathy. I know what to do at the onset of such a headache and I am well prepared for it. I don’t expect something for 20 years to go away in 2!

Now migraine is a known word. There are so many websites, informative articles in newspapers, so many medicines in various streams, so many counseling groups, etc. In fact people make faces when I give it as a reason to ignore my duties.

Today I'm managing my career and my family with the help of a person I can rely on always – my hubby. Yogesh makes me feel so cared for when I am in the zombie zone (I never expected somebody other than my mom to understand it). I thank him each time I come out of it.

Thought of writing about it as I lost the last weekend at home due to a headache. It's Friday already and I'm thinking how I would enjoy this one!  

Pune is waiting for the rains. I am too.

We havent purchased our raincoats yet. Yogesh too doesn't have one. We, like many dedicated stingy Punekars will buy them only when we get drenched in heavy rains a few times. Sadly we haven't seen the rain that our normal wind cheaters cannot handle. And it is mid July now!

Where is the rain? Have we driven it away?

It may be an inconvenience when you go to office half drenched. It is a risk to drive amidst rains. It is yucky to get mud splashed on you. But I've always loved to feel the rain whenever I can. To look out of the window when it is raining, to drink hot black tea, and to have kanda-bhaji (onion pakode) when it is raining is amazing.

As a kid I always made sure that I go out when it was raining heavily - at least once. I did those crazy things like making paper boats, and I also sent small insects on big leaves to unknown destinations via the streamlets in my building compound.



Rainy road

 I remember when I was doing my MBA from Dept. of management sciences, Pune University, I absolutely loved the campus. I wish I had clicked photos of me there. I knew back then too that I will want photos of me in PU later, but simply ignored it at that time! Well, it is still green, but it doesn't feel the same now. There were times when I would go home from college on my puny little bike (Sunny) soaking in the rain, with people looking at me as though I was crazy. 

I even went home soaking wet in the rain on purpose while I was in my previous company. This year I might have to do it due to lack of raincoat though.

So when will it be?  

Ordinary days that are not so common

Yesterday evening I asked Yogesh to stop by a fish vendor. He agreed immediately, bringing a smile to my lips.

Arya was handled by Yogesh/Maushi while I cooked the fish.

I loved the steaming aroma of fish in the house. Rice, fish and dal – yea I love it. It is a soul food for me and a comfort food too. I should have been born in Bengal or Kerala I guess. Both guys in my house love it too, so no complains.

Had a restful night’s sleep and no early morning car driving lessons today.

The sky is lightly clouded and the weather is coldish.

I had called up Arya’s maid. He seemed to be playing as his voice reached me from her phone. I told her to teach him some words like tea, coffee, water, ball, bat, etc.

I can’t complain about work load in office. I’m just doing some avra-avri i.e. some data organizing on my laptop for ready reference next time.

Work-desk got shifted, but I didn’t mind much. I’m not going to let this spoil my day!

Now I’m sitting at my deck sipping a cup of hot lemon tea and writing this blog.

The only thing missing is my favorite coarse plain brown shawl and a pillow and I’m done! (I love the rough texture of that shawl. It feels very cozy.)

Ordinary days  - I love them.

About the cell phone

I forgot my cell phone at home and going to the canteen for mango juice (Wonder if mango pulp juice is as nutritious as a real mango juice. But that’s another story.) It is amazing to walk free i.e. to forget carrying wallet and stash some cash in the jeans pocket, to forget the mobile at home and walk with free hands and most importantly to walk without a care.

We women don’t have such huge pockets in our formals and on our shirts too. Salwars don’t have pockets at all unless you choose to be un-fashionable. Jeans are a savior with just a little space for your cell and cash. But you need to be careful all the time such that it doesn’t fall when you sit. I have lost one of my prized cell phone that way.

BTW, Arya is learning by leaps and bounds. From a couple of months now, he can talk on the phone. No he can’t actually talk yet. But he knows the phone gesture lingo. i.e. to hold the phone to the ear, always keep walking when you talk, talk few words in a loud voice (Aaaah? Haan? Olaay, etc.), laugh a few times, rush to the phone when it rings and raise both the hands as if saying who could it be?

He talks with my mom and dad, replies to their comments in his own language.

The best part is, he knows when the phone is on loud speaker and in that case doesn’t hold the phone to the ear but in front of his mouth! Cutie pie.

That’s it! I hate being hit.

Timepass post...

Mom was visiting me last weekend. Arya was playing around as usual. Whenever he came by to kiss or hug me, I involuntarily held both my hands around my face and head. If I am not as alert (or if I am eating something) and Yogesh is around, he protectively holds his hands in front of my face to save me, from a head-butt. My mom was surprised and even scolded me for being like that with my own baby.

Arya has been head banging a lot since birth. What concerns me though is that instead of banging his head on a wall or furniture, he bangs it on mine. He runs towards me in playful mood and leaps on me. His head being heavier freely bangs against mine. No, it’s not painful for him.

A few days back, I was lying on sofa while he ran to me with his arms wide open. Looking at how sweet he looked, I forgot about the dangers of his action. Within a second he hit his forehead on my upper lip sending a sharp pain through all my teeth. I yelled. I cried. He didn’t get hurt as usual, but my upper lip was swollen. He sat there looking at me with tears in his eyes ‘cause he thought he had hurt mamma. I applied some ointment and held a hanky on it. Arya didn't like me hiding my face and so grabbed the cloth from my hand and put it on his lip! It’s been 5 days to it but my lip still pains when I chew.

And today he playfully hit me once again with his head, a full force blow on my left cheekbone. It's been several hours now but well...

I should get a helmet that I can wear around him or a cushion I can tie around his head.

I don’t think my mom would understand.

--------------------------------------

BTW he has started hitting other kids during playtime, some even older than him. He hit my sisters daughters and my maids children. My maid's 3 year old daughter doesn't come to our house anymore 'cause Arya hits her. So much for thinking that my baby would be timid and bullied around in school. I have to curb this habit.

Why watch a movie with a baby around?

I am a soft romance movies fan. I love movies like Only You, One Fine Day, DDLJ and the sorts. Before I start let me mention that I hate 'P.S. I love you’. It is a depressing movie about lost love that always makes me think all sorts of things that could happen and I start relating to the character a little too much. Similarly I do love serials that have romance as a theme.

There was this serial some time ago aired on Star World/HBO I don't remember - Sex and the City. It wasn’t very romantic. It revolved around 4 New York women who search for different things in life and how their friendship evolves. It also showed their relationships and NY fashion. Recently one of my friends gave me this pen-drive with the movie version of the same serial. It had the sequel too. These movies are fun to watch.

I can't sit across the TV and watch anything without interruption due to Arya, the chores or Arya's chores. So I watch few scenes and if Arya wants to eat, I miss 15 mins of the movie. Yogesh continues watching, so the movie proceeds. I come back and don't want to rewind it to start from the scene I was on. (Why spoil the fun for both?). Some minutes later, we get corporation water. The supply is timed, so Yogesh has to fill it up and store it. He misses a few scenes, but the movie continues, don't know for whom? This happens on and off.

Later when I see that he is not going to be around for a long time, I rewind to watch it, and he does the same. So actually we end up watching the same movie multiple times, in random scene order and making up the story in our heads. I don't understand why film editors take so much trouble compiling it! Thus, over the weekend and 2 more days, I have still not seen the entire movie and have also lost the desire to see it.

But it rained - Parikarma

This was more than 10 years ago.

Back then, me and Namita were teenagers, and mani was a kid. We loved MTV, Channel V, and Star TV (which is Star World now). Each day after school/college, when mom n dad were in office, our afternoon was dedicated to watching music videos and hearing all sorts of songs in huge volume! We watched X-Files and Friends re-runs, and Highlander.

Golden days, yeah.

Here's a song that me and my sisters used to hear when we were way too young. Asmita may not have liked it as much, yet we played it loud. I was thinking of this song in office last month but couldnt remember the lyrics. A few days back, when I was in Asmita's car, she up'ed the volume of the radio amidst the traffic, and I was transformed back to my younger years. I used to love this song. It was touchy. The video was way too sad. (I was always a sad-songs-person.) When I read about it online I knew why. Click here to read the story. http://www.parikrama.com/bir/story.html. Here are the lyrics.

BUT IT RAINED

BY PARIKARMA

Wrapped in a polythene tucked away safe in my mind
A little goodbye maybe or just a passing smile

The birds fly away to the southern sky searching a home
A bunch of paper flowers or a little boy left all alone
Can somebody hear me I'm screaming from so far away
Morning who will calm you now, the evening is eclipsed again

Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained . . .

They justified the cause for which Daddy might give up his life
It's been so long, so long a time, still I miss Daddy at night
The ache is long gone but the never keeps staring along
The waters in the seas are high
and all the sand castles have drowned

Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained . . .


You must hear the song, the music is heart touching....

Who says love can’t be bought?

For the past week and a half, Yogesh had gone to Bangalore, Mysore, and other places and it really, really, really upset me.

Firstly, I am already stressed with balancing the baby along with my job. I need a break for a few days that he hasn’t planned as yet. (I hope you are reading Yogesh). So yes, I was envious. How does he get a trip for a week, while I slog alone!

Secondly, with him going out of Pune, it upset my whole routine. I had to drive to office and back 30 km every day. I had to handle Arya when I was back since he wasn’t around to carry him when I was doing something else. I slept 2 hours later than my usual time each night!

Most importantly, Arya’s nanny also decided to bunk for 7 days without any notice, multiplying my troubles! My anger kept on increasing everyday, so much so that I could literally burn him with a glance.

He finally came back yesterday. I avoided speaking to him. He had got few toys for Arya. One of them is a yellow furry duckling. You wind the spring and it starts jumping and walking ahead. Arya gave a crackling laugh when he saw it jump. He too jumped on top of the duck and grabbed it. Next Yogesh showed me some accessories he had got for me. I didn’t budge.

Last but not the least, he showed me a Mysore silk dress material today morning. Oh, it was beautiful! Of course I couldn’t ignore it. I loved it. He really has a good eye for dresses… I wonder how, but it did win me back!

If you are still reading, Yogesh, I still do need a vacation, and movies, and shopping, and dinners out, and all the pampering, so start planning!

Arya's talking!

Yea, he was talking in his own language for a long time with words like Aaaiee, Paapaa, Ajee, Atya, mamma, etc. but never meaningfully addressing people or objects.

On Sunday the 6th of May, we were going to Kandala for Pranjal's 3rd birthday. She is Arya's cousin. Arya already got the vibes that we were going out, so he kept roaming behind people to get him ready too. He even cooperated with wearing the diaper!

When we were almost done, my dad started calling to people "Chala, Chala, Chala lavkar" and began walking towards the door. Arya understood and shouted "Chala, Chala!!!" He too walked to the door. I was so thrilled! I wished Yogesh was there to see it! It was the first time Arya said something with understanding. And I can't believe my baby's first words were not 'mamma' or 'papa', but 'Chala'!

He didn't repeat the same words again when we prompted, but when we came back my aunt asked me to get the water bottle to the kitchen, and Arya said - "Batli (bottle)"

Now I have to decide if I like being called 'Aai' or 'Mamma'!

Arya's walking!

Arya started walking. On 19th April, 2012, the day he turned 15 month old, he took his first steps from the sofa chair to the wooden table – a distance of 3 baby steps. We kept smiling and encouraging him all the time. He knew he was doing something special and loved the attention he was getting.

Actually his self-training began by holding the rear bar of his bike and walking. We also held his hand so that he could get his confidence up.

But the sofa to table was his first independent adventure. I loved it. After that there was no stopping. The distance kept on increasing with a few more baby steps, every time he did it. The first week was an unbalanced, tilted to one side, sometimes leaning behind walk, resulting in his falling down. If he saw anything he liked, he'd let go of walking to simply crawl to it faster. He kept losing his balance when he saw something exciting.

Yesterday he learned to rise up from the floor and walk. (Oh, the earlier walk was when he was already standing holding on to some furniture.) The same evening, he learnt to hold an object in one hand and lift himself up with the other. Now he can turn directions, talk and carry objects while walking!

His latest try was to hold a big ball in both his hands and get up from the floor, something he couldn’t do yesterday. But judging by the rate that he is going now, he will learn that quickly too. I think he is trying to compensate for the time lost in the last few months!

And yes, I am congratulating myself too for not bringing the pressure on my child to walk sooner, although I was so eager!

Quick, cross your fingers, it’s the mail van!

Childhood. I wish I could go back to those days, or at least see them as a movie on a projector screen. I want to remember small things I did back then.

My mom still remembers her childhood. She had 7 siblings and they stayed in a joint family of another 4 siblings with their parents. Some days were good, some were bad. In a good phase they got to cook what they want, got clothes stitched during Diwali, got chappals to wear, etc. The other days they were not so lucky. Yet, whenever she recollects her childhood, there is a spark in her eyes, saying, “Amcha lahanpana sarkha anandi lahanpan konacha nasel. Asa vatata ki parat lahan vhava, Akka swayampak karat disavi ani amhi khelat rahavot!” (“No one might have had a happy childhood like ours. I feel like becoming a kid again, to see my mother cooking in the kitchen, and to play with my sisters.”). She called her mom ‘Akka’.

 She once told me that whenever they saw a mail van (Red van by Indian Postal Office) or a Fire engine, they crossed their fingers. It meant that they would get “Khau (Sweets)” when they got back home in the evening. Actually even I and my friends believed this during our school days. We crossed our fingers when we saw the red van, however we rarely thought of looking for sweets when we got back home. It was different back then for my mom, as her parents barely made ends meet. Some days she did get a surprise and felt good for remembering to cross her fingers.

Come to think of it, what does that van have to do with sweets? It brought letters from relatives and loved ones far off – carrying good news and updates. People might be distributing sweets on hearing from them. And so the custom.

Nowadays we don’t crave for sweets so much, as we keep buying them whenever we want to. Also, these Red Post Office vans have become so rare, with the surge of internet, emails, phones, etc. that we have forgotten that they ever existed!

But then today, while coming to the office, I happened to see this red van going merrily on its way. I crossed my fingers on a sudden reflex, without thinking what I was doing. After a few minutes I told Yogesh that we are going to get sweets today evening, because we saw the van! He might have assumed that it was yet another whimsical thought of mine, and kept driving ahead.


So, will I get sweets today?

Tears? Why?

I was always an emotional person. There’s always some reason for me to feel terribly happy or terribly sad.

One source of the sad feelings is the news. I try, but I can’t keep myself away from TV news or online news sites. I do not log into news sites per se, but Yahoo, Gmail or Rediff give latest happenings on their home pages / personalized pages.

The most recent reason for my grieving is reading about Baby Falak’s demise.

I initially read about this on TOI website. After that I could not help but read about the baby’s condition every morning when I came to office. If I knew she was about to have yet another major surgery I would also check on the site how it went and how she was coping up. I have felt so much sympathy for her – I almost felt connected to her. I couldn’t believe what she went through - suffering and enduring so much pain when she should be smiling and playing, getting adored for her small baby antics. Falak’s story had gripped the entire world. Many wanted to adopt her post release from hospital, despite her medical condition later.

Be it motherhood or the fact that I am a woman; I cannot bear to see any child in pain, missing from home, or physically abused. Luckily, I didn’t have to do moral policing to other parents ‘cause I have a very good friends and family circle around me who treat their kids like angels.

When I heard that Falak has passed away, I couldn’t keep the tears away. I feeling sorry for her, or wanting punishment for the culprits does not erase what she might have gone through when she was being treated like that. I don’t want to hope for her go to heaven, because heaven should be experienced when you are alive.

And now there is another similar story about Baby Afreen. Again I haven’t yet logged in to new sites to read about her. It is on email home pages. Media sensationalizes such news to get more hits on their web pages.

Such baby-battering cases are social issues that I hope we overcome in years to come.

Meanwhile I am trying to keep myself away from tragic stories.

Arya at 15 months old

Long time since I have posted something about Arya and his progress. I want to write it somewhere to remember it in a few years...

Walking:

Enough!!! He is testing my patience! It’s a big wait for me to see him start walking. I have heard from other mommies that once he starts it, I would get no rest. Ideally I should be happy to wait.

Teething:

He has sprouted 4 teeth now and can bite. Whenever he wants to show love, he bangs his head on mine, scratch my face with nails that I had cut yesterday, or bite me on hands, legs and face. I have read that I should not encourage this behavior, and I don’t, yet he is not showing signs of slowing down!

Talking:

He talks a lot in a baby language saying, “Mum mum mum” very clearly although not to me. He says it to the person he wants work done from, like hoisting him up so he could see what’s cooking in the kitchen.

He can say AAI (again not to me). But he knows who’s-who now. He looks at the right person when we say – “Pappa kuthe aahet (Where is your dad?)” Or “Go to your mom.”

He understands simple sentences like “Paani pii” and searches for his sipper and to drink water from it.

These days he is doing babb babb babb babb with his lips and ‘Ha Ha Ha’ at the end of Johnny Johnny.

Mangal has taught him to do boova ala, making an ‘O’ with his lips pulled inside his mouth!

Peekaboo!:

He loves peekaboo! Okay - all babies do. But it is real fun to play it with your own baby. And they seem to take it so seriously. (Did I write about this before?). To start the game I just need to say “Arya kuuuuthe??” OR “Mee kuuthe” (Where’s Arya?/Where am I?)

When I say the former, he knows that he is supposed to hide. He takes only 2 spots to hide, either behind our kitchen half-wall or between the curtains.

He crawls and sits behind the kitchen wall at the same spot each time, eagerly looking over the corner with eyes wide and alert, smiling all the time. The moment you say “Sapadla” (Caught), he laughs so much, sometimes touching his head to the ground or rolling on the floor (ROFL – only babies can do it).

The other spot is the curtains. He cannot really move them and go behind yet. He just goes and sits in between the folds, clearly visible to everyone in the house. Me or Yogesh have to still say “Arya kuthe, Arya kuthe (Where’s Arya)”, looking in all directions but one. And then shout “Sapadla”, starting the giggles all over again.

There is yet another way he has devised all by himself! He just goes and sits right behind you, either leaning his back on yours, or sitting facing it, for you to search him. You have to look around and pretend to search him for a while until he slowly pokes his head and shows himself, laughing all the while. This is a sweet trap though… he repeats this as long as he has your back accessible and you can’t say no.

He also looks for us throughout the house and loves when we jump out of hiding.

Cricket:

He has a plastic bat and different balls to play Cricket with. He pretty much smashes the ball with all his force using the bat. This is a single person play. He hits the ball and crawls speedily with the bat in hand behind it to hit it again. Sometimes we help by throwing the ball to him.

At times we find him lying facing down on the floor and his bat extended below the sofa or the table trying to nudge the ball out (Who taught him this?). BTW Cricket can also be played with brooms and onions too, if you do not have bat and ball. Who knew?

Chicken:

Arya has a toy chicken. Actually it is a cock. It flaps it wings and runs ahead when we pull its string. We’ve had many laughs at the expense of this toy. Sometimes it runs in the kitchen and we say that it wants us to it. Arya beats it up a lot, tries to remove its wings, and sometimes pushes it very hard for it to run ahead. The cock just lies there ‘cause it was lying sidewise in the first place. Arya beats it up all over again.

I hope all these sweet memories never fail me in future. I also know that I will collect more and more such sweet things to remember each day.

God! I can be so stupid!

There are lots of stupid things I do and I don't want to be so dumb as to post any and every comic thing I do. Some things are better kept under the wraps. Actually I do such things when I think there is some logic to it.



Today I have done something that most people in this world wouldn't do. Yogesh will remind me once again that 'Tula duniyadari cha samaj nahi!' (You do not know the ways of the world.) I can't tell you this today 'cause he reads this post and will definitely ask me questions.

More to come...

Holi and Woman's Day 2012

I’m feeling like writing something in detail, but there are so many topics. So I’ll just write about them here in short.

• Driving to office 


• Came to office alone today on my bike after many months. I’ve gotten used to Yogesh driving. I just sit behind doing nothing but watch the houses and streets go by. I’ve also gotten used to his company all the way for the 1 hour drive. Plus I am a lazy person when it comes to driving. I had tried emotional blackmail with him in the morning for dropping me here, but it didn’t work. He’s getting good. Well, missed him.  



• Streets were bare today on account of a holiday for Holi. It felt good to drive when I started. I remembered that this was how driving in Pune used to be about 6 years back when I first begun driving. Actually I liked driving today. Felt independent once again. I know that tomorrow I wouldn’t want to drive. A woman’s mind can be so complicated!  



• Elections have given Pune smooth & silky roads. Rains will again change them to a more familiar sight. Wondering why roads cannot last more than a few months. Yes, politics and strategy by road contractors is the reason.



• Not too much pollution on roads today. Government should give more such holidays for the environment.
• Not being at home


• I’m missing Arya and know that Yogesh must be enjoying his company. Jealous? You bet. I hate the days when Yogesh has a holiday and I don't! Sincerely. I’m not a hopeless romantic, but I just feel good to be home when everyone is home. Saturdays, he goes to work and I’m home – it’s not the same.
• Women's day today


• It is women’s day today and I am feeling something for the first time. Pride, Solidarity, Appreciation, Respect – a little of each. Earlier I used to feel that people have just hyped the concept. Today after a marriage and a baby and a job, I think differently. Someone has written to us – “Many of you manage a tough balancing act between your personal and professional lives and I am aware that there would have been times when you had to make personal sacrifices and trade precious moments for guilt.” Very thoughtful.



• Yogesh hasn’t wished me yet. He forgot about mother’s day too last year, when it was my first!



• HR person on the floor is planning some event for women’s day today. Company is also planning something different.
• Holi today and Shimga!


• Missing my lunch and breakfast friends in office. No one to chitchat with me on our internal messenger. I’ll have to search some company for lunch.



• Today, people in my society "CasaPoli, Wakad" are playing colors in the club house. I don’t play colors but enjoy watching people play.



• I got a pichkari for Arya for Holi. Since he cannot hold a water gun in his hand, I got a cute Spiderman water-toy for him. It is a small plastic toy where you can fill water from his head, and press a black button on his stomach. When you press the button, the Spiderman pees on your face! A water jet! Arya was so happy to see Spidey pee! He began pressing that guy’s stomach again and again. It was fun. And we fooled Maushi too – asking her to press the button!



• Arya saw Holika Dahan yesterday. Saw that there are lots of sweet children in the building. Women are bonding with neighbors. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to speak to many women due to my office hours and baby care. Well, someday I will.

Thoughts and Traffic

Yogesh comes to pick me up from office at Kothrud to home in Wakad. (I just love him for this.) It is a 14 km and a 45 min journey that gets boring and routine most of the time. I keep asking him, "Ghar kadhi yenar?" ("When will we reach?"). And he replies 10 mins just for the sake of it, even though it is about 30 mins away.

There is traffic with dense black fumes coming out of PMT-PCMC buses and 6 seater rickshaws. (Seriously guys, don’t the pollution rules apply to public transport???). And I feel sorry for the kids begging at the signals or some poor homeless man sitting at a pavement with just 1 cloth bag full of god-knows-what as is sole possession. Sometimes I get anxious when I see little school/high school kids crossing the busy roads chatting with their friends, paying little heed to the speeding vehicles. Dunno how I am going to let Arya go to school on his own, ever! And then there is tree-felling going on all around for some road widening work. I plunge into thoughts all over again.

Yogesh weaves his way out from all this mess. Poor guy. Sometimes I think he knows that I am pondering over such seemingly petty things, and hence tries to distract me by talking about Arya, a guaranteed mood up-lifter for me.

These days I try to find some silver lining in such cloudy mess. Just to uplift my spirits and carry on like any other sensitive but lazy-to-change-anything person.

Few days back when I was on Senapati-Bapat road, I saw many trees on the road-divider. PMC is working hard at maintaining the shrubs and trees on it. (There are some areas though, where the shrubs have dried up and need a good trimming.) Some of the trees are dried up too (deciduous/lack of water? Dunno). But suddenly I found the silver lining there!

Even on the dried up trees I saw there were many bird nests. On almost every tree throughout SB road! It means that although the citizens and PMC are doing their best to cut trees off, the birds have still managed to find a small haven right in the middle of the busy road! We need to give a thought to give them more space, more safety. If we can’t plant trees, we can atleast arrange for some artificial bird nests and artificial bird feeders (Actually, one of my friend sells these.)

I must admit though - Bravo to the birds, and to the spirit of living!

Arya’s first Makar Sankranti and Bor-Nahan

Makar Sankranti was tomorrow. Arati tai asked me if I was planning a Bor-Nahan for Arya.

Bor-Nahan is Showering the kid with berries, chocolates, and other eatables. Bor/bora are nothing but berries. The custom is for bringing prosperity to the kid by showering stuff on him and distributing it.

I began considering it. Arati tai told me what could be done in a short time. I am not a big fan of customs and traditions, but like to do fun stuff when it is easy to do.

15th Jan 2012 was a Sankranti. I couldn’t find Bora anywhere. We also had to buy the little guy a black dress for Sankranti. Mom and dad got these items, thank God! They also searched for halwyache dagine (jewelry made out of til-gul) for the event, but couldn’t find it. Anyway I only wanted to do as much as I could. So I let it go.

I had got til-gul, kumkum and some return gift to ladies who would come. Maushi made some bhel & tilgul laddoos at home. I made a mixture of revadi (tilgul vadi), murmura, dairy milk chocolates, bor (berries), etc. for pouring on Aryas head. I called up some kids from neighboring chawl (my maid’s kids). And guess what? She got few more kids along. So while I was planning eatables for 4, as much as 9 kids turned up.

For the Bor-Nahan, Mani placed Arya (dressed in black)on her lap. I showered the mix on his head seven times. At first he was surprised, then confused and finally shocked. Kids were waiting, eager to collect the showered stuff. At the seventh attempt, they literally pounced on him and picked up everything. A smart one picked up only the dairy milk chocs. Some kids tried in vain to search chocolates. Some tried stealing from the bowl of mixture when they thought I wasn't looking! Yes, I let them take it all. Mani surprised them by giving them a packet of Kurkure each. We gave them bhel, more chocolates and sent them on their way. It made their day! Boys had their pockets full and girls held up their frock hems to make a Jholi to carry stuff!!!

A short and wonderful ceremony. Good fun and great memories!

A Pesky and Pampered Traveller

I love to travel when conditions are favorable. I mean I am a little pampered and sensitive, but still, I love to travel when I don’t have to bear physical stress. Mostly I have found people around me who are caring. Yes, whenever I travel, the person next to me is always caring towards me. Good things happen to good people I suppose.

Travel with Mom:

I always sat next to mom while travelling. I always had a shoulder to lean on, ask for stuff I wanted, etc. Thanks to my height, I could even lie down on the bus seat with my legs folded, when I put my head on her lap.

Travel with Kanchan:

At one time, I had to travel with Kanchan to our friend’s wedding. It was a sudden fix, and we had to rush almost in the middle of the night to Sangamner, Akola, about 14 hours journey by some jeep. We couldn’t miss it. Luckily Kanchan sat next to me. But there was a catch. I love to sit silent looking out of the window. And she can be uncontrollably talkative. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is not an answer for her. You have to answer in detail. Yes, she gave me the window seat all the way to and fro! See, I don’t forget a good deed. Oh, I digress. We enjoyed the wedding, and for me the travel was bearable thanks to her. I also remember that we had taken only a single set of our ‘new dresses’ for the wedding and saw that the whole crowd changed clothes every couple of hours! We were embarrassed but couldn’t do anything.

Travel with college friends:

This is going to be nostalgic. I remember the college Alibag trip that my group had set up. I didn’t want to go and jumped in at the idea at the last moment when my friends sent someone’s dad to pick me up! Again I just got up from bed and went off. Kanchan, Nivedita, Seema and all our friends…we enjoyed a lot. Yes, I had to talk and answer questions in detail.

Travel with Kanchan's friend:

 I even recollect one occasion when I had to go to Andheri for an interview for MBA summers, and Kanchan’s classmate ‘R’ was travelling with me. She had told him to take care of me! And R made sure I got the window, and helped me with the luggage, etc. R told me that he was asked to do it!

 Travel with Asmita:

There was once when me and my younger sister – Asmita went for a Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan trip with dad’s friend from office. He was taking his tuition class students on a group trip. We joined. This time Asmita gave me the window seat at least for a major length of time. She acted the older sister part and I could sleep on her lap. The trip lasted for 2 nights and 3 days. We both couldn’t gel up in the group and we missed mom so much. We called up mom and talked at lengths. Dads friend tried to include us in the group but it didn’t help much. Asmita and me talked about all the students and how they behaved.

At Harihareshwar, we couldn’t find any hotel room to sleep – I suppose all were booked. It was dead cold winter and we were shivering. We got shelter at a person’s backyard. Some students made amazing dinner outside and we ate. Asmita and me found a cows shed, filled with hay, cowdung, and of course cows and bullocks. We got in a corner and made some place to sit. I laid my head on her lap for some time. It was warm and cozy and we slept in no time. After sometime, we both got up with a tap on our shoulders. Sir had come to wake us up. We saw that the cow’s mouth was so close to us, eating the hay from near us. It was amazing. Sir said to me that Asmita seems to be your elder sister since she is so caring!

Travel with Yogesh: 

And after that naturally it was Yogesh. Right from our honeymoon trip in Kerala, where I could lean on his shoulder and sleep for hours in the bus, to sleeping on the platform with my head in his lap while waiting for the train, Yogesh has always been there. I have always enjoyed the window seat when I am with him, plus he is extremely caring and concerned when it comes to food we eat while traveling.

I have had migraines on many of our trips and he makes sure I enjoy even then. I remember clicking many photos on or Kerala trip. We had made the bus stop at many scenic places to do just that. Other couples in the bus were sort of irritated by this but we couldn’t let go of it. One such place was the tea gardens at Munnar. Everyone was reluctant to get down from the bus but eventually everyone did, and those photos are still the most memorable!

Travel with Arya:

Today situation is a little different. I travel with my baby and I have to be the caring person for him. In our Konkan trip, he slept on my lap for hours on end, numbing my legs. He stood near the window and shouted out. I had to hold him all the way. I feed him in the moving bus and made sure he was comfortable. Yogesh still looks out for me. But I’m the one for Arya. It has made me more thankful for the caring I get these days.

Birthday jitters

Preparations for Arya’s first b’day are in swing, even between the arguments that me and Yogesh have.

The caterer is booked, the venue is booked, invites have been sent, and calls to people have been made. Mandap booking would happen this week. Decorator will meet us this week too. We have got some decoration items for his b’day at home. Cake is to be booked though. Searching for good soft music CD’s to be played during the event. Also thinking of return gift options and birthday caps for kids.

We both love to do this for him. I hope everything goes off well.

Arya and the disappearing curtains

The latest big story in our house is our curtains.

Couple of days back, I was feeding Arya in the kitchen, while talking to his nanny. Suddenly we heard a small crash and saw that the curtain rods in front of our terrace had fallen down, bringing all the curtains down. (Well, my aunt sat on the curtains! But that is another story.)

I, my aunt, my maid and the nanny began talking about it. We were all calm and someone said that anyway we wanted to wash the curtains, etc. None of us overreacted or acted distressed.

This is when Arya got confused and all animated. It was a big thing for him it seems. He started talking in his language, making quick sentences, telling me with his hand pointed towards the place where the curtain rods were! He also pointed towards my aunt and started talking in a deeper voice and a frown. As if asking her why she did that! We were surprised. He continued the same thing over and over again, gesturing with his hand up in the air, meaning ‘Look what happened!’

We understood that he was upset. So we put away the rods and curtains. But this boy would play around for a few minutes and come back there muttering about the missing curtains. Yes, it was his play spot behind the curtains. And the curtains are beautiful and change the ‘look’ of our living room significantly. Maybe he just knows what-is-where in the house and doesn’t want it to be changed.

And just yesterday we had a security door fitted to our main entrance. It is an iron door – brown in color. Arya liked the men who came for fitting it, and loved the din they were making. He even loved the new door, going to it again and again while playing.

In a way he was telling us that he is familiar with his house and doesn’t want it to change so fast.

He has a mind of his own and doesn’t want to be taken for granted.

TV, Tooth and Arya

Wanted to write so many stories over the days but didn’t get enough time. So here is one now. Of course it is about Arya. Writing about something else will require even more time.

Arya is smarter now. (Yea, I’m writing this for the 100th time). The other day he was standing near the sofa chair that I was sitting on. While playing, he dropped the TV remote on the floor and I told him to give it back. And hey, the little guy carefully sat next to the chair and tried to grab the remote. After three tries, he managed to get it. He looked up and handed the remote to me! He understood me even though he cannot talk a word!

Yea and he does know what to do with the remote when it is in his hand. He holds it up in the direction of the TV and presses several buttons at a time. He also looks up at the TV to confirm if something has happened!

To continue the TV story, my boy now goes to the STB directly and presses many of the buttons on it. Just to remind you, we have already paid few hundred bucks to get a new remote when he had dropped it. STB replacement will cost more. So this one presses buttons on the STB and cranes his neck up, towards the TV, to see if something has changed! Who told him this? I have changed channels only a couple of times from STB when the remote was too far off!

Ok, moving on.

He knows his name is ARYA now. I think he can say it too. It is just not very clear yet and I am not sure if he says ARYA. He pronounces it ‘AA EEE YA’. I would want to believe that he calls his name.

About 3 weeks back my baby has sprouted his first tooth! Yea! Finally I can feel something hard and sharp in his mouth! It is not all the way out yet. It is just a small point. But it is so funny. Sometimes when he remembers his tooth, he tries to chew a small grain of rice with full concentration. His face holds a frown and the sweet and round lower jaw does the work. It is so cute to watch! I’m thinking wow what a logic kids have – food+tooth=chew!

First timers for Arya on our Konkan Trip!

 Cold winter air on the face.

 Mom dad by the side all the time.

 Good-old mom-cooked food to eat at unexpected but beautiful locations!

 So many ducks and pigeons in cages making weird sounds. Talking to them and calling them near.

 A window seat to stand and see the trees, houses, people and cars actually move backwards. Wow!

 Rhythmic vibrations of the bus for a sound sleep.

 So many happy faces in the bus. Two new friends – Mandar and Sakshi!

 Vast expanse of water and roaring waves that seemed about to go over the body!

 Cool sea water at the feet!

 Sand rushing back to the sea from under the feet with the retreating waves!

 Mom splashing water high up with her feet.

 A ride on the horse-cart at the beach.

 A place to stay with trees and gardens all around.

Arya experienced all this and more for the first time...on our Konkan – Harihareshwar, Srivardhan and Dive Agar trip last weekend.

Kids love toys, but not necessarily the one's we get them!

Since Arya was turning 11 month old on Monday the 19th December 2011, I thought of getting a gift for him on the way back home from my class. Yes, we make it a point to celebrate every 19th of the month for him (at least for his first year)! I’m sure he might be thinking “Hey, what’s the big deal?”

From a local toy shop I got a big ball for him. But since I am a woman, and that too ‘a mom’, I am both gifted, and entitled by nature to buy something more, like a beautiful toy mobile phone.

Arya loves playing with our mobile phones and we love to see him finally silenced for a few minutes so that we can relax. This phone has 3 modes – numeric, alphabets, and songs ‘n’ greeting. It has colourful buttons and a huge bright blue light at the top. It can stand on its own and the screen shows letters and numbers as you type. Here’s a photo I downloaded from the internet.

First, I gave the ball to him on Saturday and placed him down in front of it. But, what was I thinking? Arya screamed on top of his lungs and rushed to grab my legs. He must have thought that this huge object that can move on its own might crush him. It seemed threatening to him. Since then we are introducing it gradually to him. Now even after 2 days he gently tries to poke the ball only when we are around, and yet comes rushing to us thinking that the ball might chase him.

About the phone, Maushi and I were desperate to show him that for the past two days. Yesterday Yogesh got a pack of cupcakes and lit a small candle on one. Arya wanted to grab the candle and the knife too. (Kids want anything that is dangerous.) We did the usual song and cake cutting.

Then we showed him the gift. Arya’s face lit up with all the buttons and the big led… and the voice and he loved the musical tones. We felt so proud for getting him something that he loved (and especially after the ball incident). It is so fulfilling to see happiness in your baby’s eyes.

Today morning after playing with his mobile for about 15 minutes, my boy suddenly dropped it and went back to playing with his favourite baby oil bottle!!! It is transparent, filled with oil and has a white cap. As simple as you can imagine!!! I’m thinking, what’s so great with this baby oil bottle that fascinates him so much???

Only he can tell.

Missing the Baby

Dear Arya,

I am missing you a lot, just like most days in office. It is now 5.30 pm and it is still an hour and a half before I will see you again!

I love how you yell 'AYE AYE AAA' from inside the house the moment we knock the door ever so lightly. You are already waiting for us long before we knock. We love to hear your voice outside. It makes me smile even though I am tired.

You become so impatient for me to lift you up while I'm still dropping my helmet and removing my shoes. I know I should wash-up before I pick you up, but I can't let you down. After all you've been waiting... You get so excited, that you almost beat me up with both your fists, when I hug you, making me realize yet again what I am missing every day.

And you are getting sharper by the day. You have understood that when mom or dad wear helmets, they are leaving... and that's when you come to me so that I will hug you and maybe not go to office. It is your attempt to try and keep me home. You don't like it when I put you down or give you back to Maushi on my way out.

You've learnt to wave goodbye to me in the morning. It is heartbreaking. You don't realize yet that tata means we will be away from you for 9 hours!

Hey, it is nearing 6 pm now so I'll pack up to come home!

Love,
Mom.

Weekend wedding, Arya's talk, and the pampering!

I got silver kadaas / anklets for Arya’s feet on Saturday. They have little ghungroos on them... so he goes chum chum chum the entire place now. My parlour lady wasn’t available to do Arya's haircut. The boy hair grows like anything. The last cut was just 2 months ago! I'll have to get it done coming weekend. I also put 4 of my dresses for stitching and counting days to get to wear them.

I visited my mom’s place. My parents were very happy to see their grandson say words like 'AAEEE, AATYA, AAJJI, MAMAA, PAAPA'. Yea Arya has started jabbering this for the past week and a half. It is such fun to watch. He opens his mouth wide AAAAHHH to say AAYEE. So now my aunt (UM) wants me to let him call her Aayi. She says he can call me Mama. :) I'm not sure but, OK.
My mom also got to experience what a tycoon my son could be. Running up to corners and climbing every piece of furniture!

On Sunday UM made Idli Sambar. In the evening we went out for Yogesh's collegues wedding. Weddings are fun and here I met the people he works with. I'm not saying fun food-wise, but emotions wise. It is a new start for the couple and everyone in their families. Or, am I too senti these days?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we were travelling for the wedding, I had a sudden sharp pain in my right arm. And it didn’t go away. As always I began to wonder why...I had done a lot of cleaning work in the house over the weekend. Was that why? Or was it because I carried Arya over my arm for a long time to comfort him. Nope. It wouldn’t cause such a sharp pain. Was it the bike ride? Or was it carrying the laptop for so many days finally is having its toll?

Yogesh applied some ointment to it, yet I woke up in the middle of the night to reapply. I was thinking of the reason for the pain even in my sleep. And it suddenly struck me.... I had washed Yogesh shirt! 1 shirt! I can't imagine that I’ve become so delicate and pampered!

Kanchan believes that our (i.e. me and her) bodies are not made for physical labour. We are made for only light physical work, like sitting in front of a computer. I think she might be right! Is that funny?

My baby's first birthday coming up!

Arya is turning 1 year old in Jan 2012. Planning to throw a bash for him.

Need to do loads of planning.... lists of guests, cake, menu, decorations, gifts, invitations, clothes, venue, shopping, etc etc etc....

Wondering when it would be an ideal time to start?

For the venue, I need to choose from the 2 options below -

1. The club house in my society that has a big terrace and is surrounded by trees on one side. It can be decorated by some professional guy. We can have colored lights, 1 banner on the stage and balloons all over. We can have a buffet on one side with chairs... need to give this a thought. It sure would be nearer to my home and easier for everyone to come.
2. Any restaurant these days gives you a party space for free if you give them an order for X number of plates. They have professionals who can decorate the space for you. Pro - you do not have to bother with the prep and food arrangements as they do it all.

Invitation cards would not be needed since we would call up people on phone. Email invite would do for others...

Date is another thing... do I keep it on the 19th which is his b'day, but falls on a Thursday? Or should it be a convenient weekend party for everyone?

Still humming the same song!

Does it happen to you? Do you wake up in your bed, and have some song playing in the mind for no reason at all? Yea?

Do we hear that song in our dream? Or has our subconscious mind heard it playing somewhere while we were sleeping? Was someone singing this song yesterday? Dunno.

But I know for sure that when I wake up in the morning with a song in my head, it plays endlessly throughout the day, even when I am working or feeding the baby. If I’m talking or focused elsewhere, the song comes back to me as soon as my mind has a few cells of free space to play. Sometimes it can be my favourite song, so for that day I'm fine. But a few times it is just some stupid song like an item number from a Hindi flick. And it won’t go away, no matter what! I’ve tried singing that song aloud, giving it due importance so it would go away. It doesn’t. I try singing something else ALOUD. But no help.

Today I woke up with another good song. It is from Linkin’ park, titled “Somewhere I belong”. The lyrics are good, but it has a very heavy music. I have a flair to remember the music - as is - from any song that I hear even a couple of times. And so I now have a head full of metal beating against each other with some fast paced wordings!

Here it goes...

I wanna heal, I wanna feel,
Like I’m close to something real.
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

Birds at Pashan lake

On our way to office in the morning from Wakad to Narhe by highway 4, there’s a beautiful lake at Pashan.

I read an article that Pashan Lake is a home for huge number of migratory birds coming in winters. We do see native birds here throughout the year.

This year Pune municipality has decided to renovate the lake and secure the boundaries by constructing huge walls around the lake and creating a pathway for bird watchers! Needless to say that the work is half done and the number of birds coming here is reducing year on year. This year the numbers have dropped once again. So now there may be a path for birdwatchers, but alas there would be no birds!

Half the lake itself is covered with water plants, particularly near the HEMRL side, and there are no secure resting places for birds. There is constant human interference too!

The city used to boast this lake as a bird watchers delight. Well, one more delight fading away.

Yet, I see a few beautiful non-native birds here resting on the walls. It is a pleasant sight to start the day. I hope we save the lake - their environment.



Detailed article at: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-28/pune/29482725_1_migratory-birds-pashan-lake-human-interference

Beds and growing up

A few months back when LO was 5 months old, he began to hold on to the sides of his cloth crib and to roll on one side to look over the edge. He also did not have much space to stretch or move around in it. I tried in vain to ignore these symptoms. Yes, him growing out of the crib. But eventually I had to include him in our big bed.

I asked Yogesh to fold the crib and put it in the overhead storage space. He did it in no time.
And there I was heartbroken, standing and staring the empty space. Till today I had bumped my toe so many times on the edge of the crib and cried out in pain. I had tried to find places where I could keep the crib so that I won’t fall over it. And now I couldn’t imagine him not in the crib there. Shouldn’t I be happy that my baby is growing up! But then, I would miss him being so little too! What an emotional mess a mom can be.
Today LO occupies nearly 50% of the space on our bed, changing angles, sprawling his hands and legs in whatever direction he wants until one of us is cornered or thrown off the bed altogether, to sleep on the mattress on the floor! So far so good…

work and loads of it.

Friend on office messenger at 10.30 am

“Hi dear. How was your weekend?”

“ Very bad, loads of baby work, house work and no one to care about that OR about me.”

“Don’t fret. Your kid and house is your responsibility. Do not expect other’s to help. Do whatever you can, and let them feel the guilt.”

“No one would ever realize what I am going through.”

“They will, don’t worry”

Him on email at 13.15pm

“So how’s your day? Had food?”

“It’s fine. How’s yours? Didn’t eat yet.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted. But ok I guess.”

“OK. Take care, eat fruits.”

“Oh, you gave fruits in tiffin. I didn’t realize. Thanks v. much.”

Head banger

LO is developing a nasty habit. He bangs his head on the wall whenever he gets the chance to! We pad the walls near his bed with pillows, but since he has learnt to stand up, he raises his head above the pillows and bangs his forehead on the wall. It might be a great game for him, but it is a shocking for us to watch. Sometimes while playing, he accidently sits with his back to the wall. And as soon as he realizes that there's a wall behind him, he starts rhythmically banging the back of his head on it. Other head banging targets are my forehead (actually anyone’s forehead), anyone’s tummy, pillows, furniture like stool, sides of the bed, doors, etc.

As always, I read about this on the internet. It says that boys are more susceptible to this behaviour than girls. They do it when they are bored, or overstimulated, or if they have ear pain, or teething, etc. etc. etc.! So pretty much anything and everything. What’s more, only 20% of the boys seem to do it! And my baby is one among the minority! What a life!

Night-time awakening

LO woke up again this night at around 3.00 am. *Groan*. He has been waking up at nights from about a week ago. I’ve not had sleep for 2 consecutive nights and hence office just seems to be some halo I walk into every morning. Some days I seem to be sleep-walking and my tongue doesn’t seem to move quick enough to form clear words while talking to people. My analytical skills and typing skills have degraded. My appearance is just a little bit better than the at-home-and-with-a-baby look, barely passable office attire. These days the time and energy is too limited. On top of it all, my face says I’m an owl. I think I can expect someone in office to call me a retard soon enough!

I’ve been reading a lot of articles on the net about what to do to make the baby sleep through the night. Feed him, form a bed time routine and teach him to sleep back on his own. Assuming that he might be hungry at nights, I tried feeding him different kinds of food at different times to see if he feels full enough till the morning, but it hasn’t helped. Articles say children have frequent light sleep cycles with deep sleep cycles, and so when they half-wake up, they don’t know how to go back to sleep! Whew! Hence to make sure he doesn’t fully get up, I pat him on the back when I see that his fingers are twitching or when he changes sides in the bed. See! I am awake when he starts moving in sleep!


The only bed time routine that I can afford in my limited time as a working mom is to feed him, put a diaper on him, change his clothes, and rock him to sleep! I can’t afford to wait for him to go to sleep on his own, especially when the big bed is inviting me to sleep. Maybe someday when I have the time and patience to do that, I will. I'm hoping he will learn it on his own. Till then me, and yea a few times Yogesh, will have to be the two night owls, guarding our prize.

LO loves me!

I had read that babies’ as little as 8 month old give parents loads of kisses when they are in the mood! I never thought this was literally true until...Babies make life so easy!

For about a month now LO stands on my lap, and grabs my hair strands near the ears with his tiny fists. With a sudden jerk he tries to bring my face closer to his (he ends up banging his head on my forehead, and it hurts!) Oblivious to the pain, he immediately follows this by kissing my face (read licking). My face gets covered with slime from his wet kisses! The best part that is all the time he keeps saying something like 'booae booae' sometimes sounding like "boy boy". I am the one lucky person to receive this affection most number of times, since I don't have a moustache and a beard, you see. What’s more, if we have him playing in the lap & if we start making booae booae sounds, he immediately starts the whole routine again!