Home sweet home !!

Weddings...diwali..weddings... shoppings....outstations...fun...frolic...long-time-no-sees-get-togethers !! and then....PUNCTURED EXHAUSTED. Back to home and Sam runs to pick her dolls..snatches her kitchen set from her almirah, rushes out of her boots and when the clock is striking 12 at night, after a tiring travel back home...a smile she brought to me when I saw her talking to her dolls, asking them how they were and did they miss her. Ohh, you have bcum so dirty, didn't you bathe all these days..you could have helped each other na!! I could see how she was stealing my words and dealing with her dolls ;-) A glance at my face, a blush at hers - Mumma, why are you watching me this way. Sam , how are you feeling being back home? I enjoyed the wedding this much (tiny finger up), I enjoyed being back this much (index finger up), I am enjoying having my toys...books...dolls.. back after days this much ( ring finger up) and I will enjoy being back to school this much...(middle finger up). OKAY, she has learnt to prioritise :-) How happy she was , excited to have her toys, books and pillow back to herself.

Have loads of unpacking to myself, cleaning of the locked house, daily routines from the next day...but I am happy too....relaxed to have my room back...my bed...my kitchen...lol. Back from a vacation, each time, I feel, when I love my home so much...why do I need to go out for a vacation!! and each time I smile to myself when I answer back - Will ask you after a few months ;-)

Take off those flabs!!!!

Visit to Sam's doc came like a shock to me....Waiting room with a weighing scale..Mumma lets try out !! ghosh...I gained another 5 kilos!!! Where the hell is all my morning exercise going? What is happening to my day long physical work and what about my family always telling me to keep sweet items equally in my diet for the balance...After all this, I gained another kilos!!! hmmmpphhh...shocked n sad I turned back the pages and tried to see what went wrong. Am I gonna keep struggling to maintain myself like this all my life. How lucky are those who don't gain weight so easily and for me, be strict for a month as there's a vacation or wedding approaching and those 3-4 days cover up all I shed...more than that at times :-(

SO, here goes my search again and I find some more facts, some that I knew but were better reminded and some I better know now !!We all know that losing weight means eating fewer calories, and burning more energy through physical activity. It sounds simple. But I know how hard I find burning those 50-100-150 calories on my cross-trainer.I'd share some-

-Holidays off and on might be good for your stress levels, but they could be bad for your weight. Eating out?? keep in mind to have foods in smaller portions because its usually the visible quantity in number that satisfies our satiety level :-) Have a pizza cut into 8 slices rather than 4 and you know you need to have 4 slices or may be 5 of THOSE 8 !!It takes up to 20 minutes for your body to let you know that you’ve eaten enough, so eat slowly and you’ll have a better chance of avoiding that over-stuffed feeling.
-Foods labelled low fat - They may be lowering fat but increasing upon sweetners...“Read the labels,” says Lisa Miles. “You need to look at the overall energy and calories. Remember, although a food may have a reduced amount of fat, it may still have the same amount of calories.”
Exercise n stress !! Both inter-related...
-“Snack on fruit and veg, and other low-calorie options such as plain popcorn, crackers and rice cakes,” says Anna Suckling. Try to find ways to cope with stress that don’t involve food. “Exercise helps promote mental wellbeing through the release of endorphins which help to combat stress," explains Anna.
-Telivison and weight - You have time and love to watch soaps or movies..DO so but not with popcorns or chips in hand but by placing your exercise bike in front of the TV !!
-Weight gain is a common side effect of many drugs. The most common drugs that can cause weight gain are steroids (taken for many conditions including arthritis, eczema and asthma), antidepressants such as amytriptiline, anti-epilepsy drugs and antipsychotic drugs.So, make sure you follow a healthy diet plan, good for both getting better faster and weight control.
- Dr Neil Stanley, sleep expert at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, says,  "There seems to be a strong link between lack of sleep and putting on weight." A recent study from the University of Chicago found that lack of sleep increases levels of the hormone ghrelin, which makes you feel hungry.
-Table manners... Learn to say “no thank you,” and stick with it. Get used to the idea that it’s OK to leave food on your plate.

So far so good !! I'm so grateful to google. Its no less than a stressbuster when I hunt and find convincing answers ;-)

ThankYou God for the World so sweet !!

Few such lines which I somehow keep humming , almost,always...are much more just the prayers from my childhood. They touch my soul and bring with them bright scenes of learning. Sam was so tired after her skating yesterday that she just wanted to get home....no marketing !! Sleep time and the bed and room was damn messy....SAMMIE..... time to sleep, pack up all your stuff..look at the room and the bed..why don't you take out one thing at a time to play..there's no space to step inside....and her beautiful eyes were following my words with a question - SO WHAT MUMMA!! I FELT LIKE PLAYING!!

Okay, I'll clean up the bed and you do the rest... Okay mumma....and there she goes sitting on the floor as I arrange the rest of the room. 5minutes...10minutes...All set except the floor and she speaks up - Mumma you just said na that the messy bed was IRRITATING you...now plz dont look at the floor until I say its done!! Okay ..make it fast....5minutes...10...15...20...My episode AXE ur EX was over..Cum'on sweety time to brush your teeth...Ohh Lord!! Wats this?? Half an hour and she was still busy playin and now she says - I'm too tired cos of skating..plz help me clean up mumma....

All done and we in bed chanting our daily prayers ..... I kept on instructing her to close her eyes n sleep..my hands go to her li'll feet massaging them as we lie together. There come a sweet voice and li'll fingers on my eyes - Mumma...thoda upar tak daba do na, achha lag raha hai :-) I just couldn't resist telling her - You know Sam when mumma, chhoti mumma (masi) and mamu were kids na....nanu used to press our feet daily like this for few minutes before sleep and in winters Mumma used to feel tooo cold, so he cuddled me in his lap and used to sit in my place and put me in bed when it was warm!! Sam - Mumma just like Papa does it for me...:-) Yes Babu. And nani used to give us milk, first thing in evening as soon as she reached home from office... Sam - just like you do when I wake up?? Shining eyes opened wide - Mumma when you were not a mumma but had chosen to have me, Did the blue fairy come to you to tell you to do all this?? mmmm.... Then howcome, all parents do such things, my friend also told me her parents do the same to make her sleep...DO you all discuss this on phone and do this to us kids??Me - Baby ask dadu dadi and nanu nani about this :-)

She gave a sweet smile and went off to sleep, again, leaving me wondering ..... TIME IS SO STRONG!! It makes us learn all thats needed. Some things come in only with time, age and experience....no words can teach all this. I don't remember mumma papa having sat with us to make us learn any prayers or bhajans and Sam too is learning just as easily :-) How I realise ITS NEVER LATE TO LEARN. I'm just as old as a mother as she is as a daughter, we both are just 5. I learn a lot from her about having been a daughter and about how to raise one !!

HAPPY DAUGHTER'S DAY DARLING !!

Yelled at the FunCity guy.... ggrrrrr.....

How ignorant he was behaving...that too with the li'll kids and the Parents  out there. Why were all just bearing him??? Went for an outing at the Ambience Mall Gurgaon with a family. Sam and Rosch, almost the same age...awww....How excited they were to play games at the funcity . Sakshi, mom to Rosch, got the card....500, I think...for kids to enjoy. I must say, Sam was for the firstest time willing to play games, may be cos of the company of a naughty li'll cute boy! They played games, happy...excited...shouting...running...and collected just some tickets, may be a 50 or so and were too excited to get the redemption gift in return for those tickets. Gift, be it anything, sounded like a matter of pride to them...they had won it afterall :-). Running out of time at 10.30 in the night and dinner yet pending, we decided NO MORE GAMES.....reached the redemption counter...the guy counted the tickets and said 2 pencils....Okay....Sam , new to games was quite happy, I won a pencil....Rosch was not too happy having won a just small pencil...but okay rules were rules. We didn't expect the guy to give them a teddy for those 50 tickets :-) but what we expected was that he would let them have their choice of color for the pencil. He gave 2 similar pencils... I asked Sam was she okay with that...peeping through the counter glass- "Mumma..vo purple wali jispe smileys bane hain". I asked "Rosch, which color do you want baby." but he was not interested in the pencil and was quite unhappy. Sakshi asked me to just take Sam's and he shall get settled in few moments. Sakshi asked the guy...WHO WAS FREE THEN, to kindly exchange the pencil and give Sam the purple one...No response...she requested again...no response...he stood dumbstuck!! We waited for few seconds...Sam's shining eyes at the purple smiley pencil...I requested the guy...he wasn't even looking at us standing exactly in front of us just across the counter...Requests over, I asked him to change...no response....There came another set of parents with LOADS of tickets for redemption...The guy took them and started counting..."Excuse Me!!" I said...hmmphhh.... My poor li'll Sam looked at me with a sad face " Mumma, is he not gonna give me that purple one?" And that single sentence of hers was of much greater value to me than those 500 Rs or that pencil that costed a mere Rs2...it made me wild...I caught hold of those tickets...keeping in mind not to spoil them as THE KID was waiting for his gift...I kind of yelled at the guy- " WHat will take you lesser time...couting these hundreds of tickets or exchanging a pencil lying at your hands' length??" He just atred at me...FURIOUSLY, I picked up both our pencils and gave them straight onto his nose shot alongwith 2-3 angry sentences...

Some of you might feel this weird and over-reaction...I don't...Why did we drive an hour, spend ..Okay just Rs.500 for the card...stood there requesting for 15 minutes for the pencil..JUST FOR THE SMILE AT OUR KID"S FACES. Why do any of you parents take your kids to these places..Only for that smile and excitement. ANd that man, he behaved as if we were ghosts he could neither see nor hear....such a man was handling the entire FUNCITY section of the mall??!! Shameful I must say. Yet another thing that I was surprised at was that none of the parents who were besides me, watching all this nonsense raised their voice with me...next could have been their kid making a sad face just for not getting a small toy of his color choice!!! Who the hell gave the rights to that guy, who is being paid salary from OUR pockets to behave this way...as if the mall was his and he was letting our kids play for free. ALso, few games were not working...BUT...they were working enough to deduct money from the card when it was swiped !!! Out of 5 requests, twice a guy came up and let us use the funcity card for our deducted momey..Fine, it was just a matter of say a Rs.100 but my question is..if they knew those games were not working..WHY DID THEY NOT PUT UP A SIMPLE SLIP AT THE GAMES DISPLAYING THAT THE GAME IS NOT WORKING?? Many parents just shifted to next game..many retried twice thrice at same games and got their money deducted....100rs from each pocket must have made them a thousands within an hour or two. Whats all this rubbish in a BIG MALL??!! ANd there was no incharge to attend my complaint about this irresponsible behaviour of the staff...Great...and we parents take pride in announcing that we went to the mall ...to make a fool out of ourselves!!!

Parenting is an ART..so is maintaining Any Relationship!!

I have been reading a book since a few months...Yup, I'm taking months to read cos I am not a regular reader...or I better say, I don't get time to be one....and I happen to re-read many of its pages as and when I feel the need to. It was about Simple Ways to reduce STRESS but the book and the author has lots more to say beyond the topic and I simply love his quotes as much as I love Sudha Gupta's parenting tips...I am till date a loyal follower of her tips :-) Just read a post today at my favourite forum, an elderly woman who is now into the HALL OF FAME for that forum speaks of simple ways to be humble and maintain healthy relations and her small thread is flooded with replies. It says - Be it any age ... it demands respect .... each age has a different definition of RESPECT..

a 3 yr old - let her choose her choice of dress to her activity class - she feels resepcted
a 10 yr old - let him/her choose his dish from the menu - he feels respected
a 14 yr old - let him /her choose own set of friends...advise...dont tag any of them - he/she feels respected
a 18 yr old - let him/her choose the way of dressing to a party - he/she feels respected
a 21 yr old - let him/her choose the path of earning - he/she feels respected and come back to you/parents for advise and guidance
a 27 yr old - let him/her choose the one he/she wants to spend life with - he/she feels respected
a 30 yr old - let them decide the way they wish to maintain the house and spend on their child - they feel respected
a 40 yr old - let them be approached for suggestions for  decisions at home and work - they feel respected
a 50 yr old - let them advise you to what way should be taken to save for future - they feel respected
a 65 yr old - let them hear being praised for their efforts infront of their grandchildren - they feel respected

So, said the wise lady, respect differs to each person and each age...All thats needed is to be humble enough to understand where to be assertive.....to be able to differentiate, realise and agree that its time you leave your nest and move with time....to be able read the psychology that which are those 8 times out of 10 when you should leave your loved ones free to decide and support them in society rather than having pity on yourself for not having been heard...which are those 8 minor decisions you let them take...which will then make them trust you for those 2 major decisions in life.

I had a topic in my mind, I wanted to write about -  "PROMISES I MAKE TO MYSELF" but I realised that before I pen down about that , there's much more I need to realise, learn, gather experience. Here, it reminds me of a single dialogue once stated by my uncle cum guide, Dr.Ashwani Malhotra - "You are a doctor now, but before being anything...learn to BE HUMAN !! Learn to differentiate when to have pity...when to have sympathy...when to be strict..when to be arrogant ...when to be humble and when to be adamant. At each phase and stage of life, learn to forget who you are and how old you are.....learn to realise and accept that when the other is NOT WRONG, there's no harm in agreeing to him. That is how you maintain healthy relations, be it with your parents, siblings, friends or colleagues." SO true that was...he must not even be remembering now about this but I do :-)

I, hereby thank all whom I get to learn from...my parents, my sibs, my daughter, my relatives, my friends, my foes...all :-) Each lesson makes us a better human...if we wish to learn from it and most of all Implement it.

Remember...d you remember.... Who's turn is it now??

Oye chal na aj gol gappe khane chalte hain.....n tab our joint used to be Prince ke gol gappe. Mumma hum jaein? aapke liye chowmein le aenge....you know friends..my li'll sis used to be sooooo chubby...fat, must I say....her classmates bullied her... and I used to fight at home - humei alag school mei kar do..iske friends isse chhedte hain..ye roti hai...school ka lunch nahi khaati...main kya sabse ladti hi rahungi. My Gol Gappa, she was and later accompanied me to eat gol gappas, which she never ate...lol...PAISE for 2 plates, one for both but we used to have one , get her aloo chat !! Moti, do u remember that fight, kaise bhool sakti hai, we keep narrating that to everyone till date, when you bit me and I hit you hard on your back and each fight of ours or us sneaking away from cleaning our room  ended with mum's typical dialogues - jis ghar mei do behne hoti hain na, vaha to dhunde se bhi zameen pe tinka nahi milna chaiye......behno mei to ek dusre ki jaan basi hoti hai...tum dono to mujhe pagal kar dogi...rofl....But see mumma, I proudly say TODAY...hum mei ek dusre ki jaan basi hai :-) and hum dono ke ghar mei hote hue apko dhunde se bhi ek tinka nahi milega :-) Plz exclude Sam's sharartein from all this !!

My milk glasses always poured into moti's tummy making her chubbier and softer and her veggies into my plate...dekho shuru se kitna dhyan rakhte the ek dusre ka hum...root cause..mumma ne kuch bacha hua dekh liya to daant padegi.....so SAATHI HAATH BADANA ..... lol. She used to play with dolls and I was the authorotative teacher. I was like one of her dolls who was growing with her, whom she loved to dress and decorate...hahaha...that reminds me of " BUCHHI" bechare ko parlor parlor khelte khelte ganja kar dala tha humne. But he was soon replaced by Yashu...ganja hone ke liye nahi...to be pampered. Me, a meek character and she, a rebellion ...... me, a writer,a composer, her singer and she, my artist, my crafts lead, my tomboy......me, a stick on her head to study during late nights for exams and she, my voice for all that I needed to ask for...WE.....EACH OTHER'S STRENGTH !!

Hey, mumma papa...you should be so elated and proud to have such kids ;-) ajkal ke bachhe kaha itna pyar karte hain ek dusre se....hahaha. I wonder how kids to the same set of parents with the same nurturing, vary so much in nature, behaviour and then in their fortune .... but blessed we are, having been instilled with values that help us in all goods and bads and more so blessed we are to have the best men as our partners, who are both our weakness as well as our strength.

Thanking mum papa for everything and our respective men in our lives, I would KINDLY like to insist...not to take these posts as our weakness ...Tareef kar di to aasmaan pe mat chad jana koi bhi...I AM EQUALLY A NEED FOR ALL OF YOU ...... hahahaha!!!

Moments cherished !! Home...dedicated to mumma papa and bhai ;-)

I'm digging hard to catch hold of any one instance of the many that are dashing in my mind to begin with... My li'll bro.. so cute he was, now turned into a macho... :-) making me run behind him...where's my baby..behind the curtains...under the table... mmm...here you are..chalo..open your mouth and have a bite...NAH...and there he runs off...another 30 minutes of parade and the li'll tummy is full for this mealtime. Days passed by, so did weeks and months and years, when I saw him grow into a teenager, my chubby boy dressed in a doctor's coat or as a policeman or as KRISHNA each year till he was 6-7, now insists on letting him choose his style of wear and me and Sis here convincing mum dad on one side and him on the other and this continues till date for different matters :-)

Another part of childhood I see now at back of my eyes.... my koochie koo is not well...what was it, I don't remember....mum's badly upset making hell lot of dishes in small quantities, he might put something in his little mouth. O Lord !! why can't kids explain whats wrong..how do I help him...calling docs..pouring in medicine was all the more harder... Burden at workplace, should I go or not..my baby needs me at home, DIDIS cannot replace mumma-papa. Papa's endless calls from office - How's he, did he eat something, should I get something he feels like eating..Okay we'll take him to another doctor today...Sun Sets, there comes Papa with a rolling car to make him happy and we four surround him, making him busy and befooling him into eating something. Papa is singing songs and dancing in front of him..Mumma preparing something and we two sisters, unknowingly, are learning PARENTING !! Clothes were his fantasy and so was dressing him for mum and papa and he was like a soft toy, OUR POSSESSION, for us two.

Growing together, we never realised mumma papa were growing old too :-( We could see ourselves trun into youngsters, and adults with million dreams in our eyes...we couldn't see them with fewer but realistic dreams or should I say expectations from life, of giving the best and safe future to their beloved kids...until the day I got married !!! Then was my sis's turn and bro reaches out to hostel, mumma papa left behind with all these sweet and sour memories. Must have hurt them, for sure. I can realise when I see my girl grow each day..when I see old pics of my li'll bro. We, family, love each other sooo much...how we missed all those years...those moments, not having expressed our love and appreciation. But Its never late :-) A BIG CHANGE..the house we 3 grew up for 20+ years of our life is being shifted from now. Mumma papa moving forward with life but I can see the memory flushes on their faces, when they talk of small incidents that happened in the TV room or under the dining table hmpphh!!

How hard they prayed for us, what toll they have paid for us all these years. Mumma Papa, we all love you so very much and feel sorry for not being good enough at expressing that, but you know we do :-) Its the same for parents as well as kids - ALL PARENTS AND KIDS MIGHT NOT BE PERFECT PARENTS AND KIDS BUT THEY LOVE EACH OTHER PERFECTLY !!