MOWGLI IS WALKING!!!!

I am so excited. iots all i can do to stop grinning away to myself :-) Mowgli has finally decided to walk!!!
He started walking yesterday evening, Jan27'08 5.15pm ( recording the date and time- please bear with the antics of a crazy mum). Once he started he just could not stop. went around and around the table. picked up his shoes and went to the door. It was so adorable, funny... you have to experience it to understand what I mean.
Today morning he completely forgot what it means to W-A-L-K. gave me blank looks when i stood him up. acted as if I have gone crazy and proceeded to ignore me completely. I was so disappointed. The BH is out of town and will be back tonite. i was planning on giving him a huge surprise and it looked as if all my plans were foiled. come 5.00 pm and voila! Mowgli again started walking!!!! its 10.30 now and Mowgli is fast asleep. The BH will be back in an hour or so. so the surprise has been shifted to tomorrow morning. Lets hope that tomorrow he does not forget again!!!!

Is this why I am getting offers for managerial posts???

"The Dilbert Principle refers to a 1990s satirical observation stating that companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to management, in order to limit the amount of damage that they're capable of doing."

Its a cozy winter afternoon and

two babies are snuggled in deep and sleeping peacefully....

Mama look.. NO SUPPORT!

A Tale of three little girls

Once upon a time or maybe not so long ago, there were three girls. Fresh out of school. As different from each other as could be.
One was by nature calm and quiet. The second looked quiet but hid everything behind a mischievous smile. The third did not know what quiet was. By some quirk of fate they all came together. The year was 1998. They were just about to begin their under graduation. Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
You ask me if they were so different how did they like each other?
They did not. The first two knew each other faintly. Together they disliked the third. Her skirts were too short. She always sat with her legs crossed. She chewed her pendant in class. The third thought the first was too haughty and hoity poity. She was as white as snow (literally!) and maybe she was too arrogant about it. The second one was fine, but wasn’t she too timid or was that just a show?
The second and third were allotted the same class. Slowly differences melted and each discovered that being together was fun. They shared the same sense of humor; thought similarly. Facades soon broke apart. The first one wasn’t as calm as she showed; she could be quite impulsive at times. Like the time there was no class and they went to the zoo! The second one timid? No ways! She was bold and a pillar of strength behind that shy exterior. Sharp retorts and a sweet smile to cover up. The third one was the most impulsive. Emotional and never stopping to think before speaking. Always ready for anything.
They rebelled against the convent sisters- lack of freedom, poor food, too much of snooping. They cut classes and saw films. Danced their hearts out for the hostel functions. Studied together, played together, slept together and were inseparable. Evenings after college were fun with everybody discussing the new ragging, crazy seniors, classmates, and teachers. Nothing ever escaped them. Four glorious years flew by. Soon it was graduation day. They were sad, but sure that whatever happens they’ll always be close.
The first one went on to prepare for M-Tech. The second one got married immediately afterwards. The third one escaped from an impending marriage to do her MBA.
Its 10 years since they met and they are still that close. They have been with each other through thick and thin. Stood by each other during troubled times; shared each other’s happiness during happy times; lent a shoulder for all those weepy times. All three of them are married with kids a year apart in age. They are all in different places, but still keep in tough with daily mails, phone calls. And even if they don’t talk to each other for months, when they next meet they will just pick up from where they stopped. That is the kind of friendship those three girls share.

I am proud to be one of them (p.s. I was the third one). This post is dedicated to both of them. To the best friends any girl could hope for. I am happy that they have been with me through this passage from girl into womanhood. And I am sure they will be with me when I hit my thirties, forties, fifties, till I die. Together we’ll gossip about our daughters-in-law and grand children, go on that rishikesh trip without our husbands and children, freak out as we get older and rock the place!
Manju and Simy, You both are the best!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANJU!!!! May the coming years get even better :-)

Jobs available?

The part-time job is over. We are in a state of suspended tension and delayed reactions. Yesterday it was me frantically going through different bank accounts, calculating and recalculating. Today it’s the BH chanting a mantra “don’t worry, you’ll get a job” repeatedly. After 5 minutes of chanting he stops and looks at me and asks in a pitiable voice, “you’ll get, right???”
The calls that I am getting are not at all encouraging. Either the pay is too less/ not flexible enough. And there’s not much choice. Most of the companies are on a recruitment freeze. This option is still open. The only issue is the timings. It is from 2-11 pm. This is fine, but on days when the BH is travelling, I need to be back by 7 at least. They do not give you a laptop nor do they encourage work from home, so have kept this as the last option. If nothing works out by Mar, I am going back there. There is no other choice.
The last time I was looking out for a job the situation was so much better. I could pick and choose from different very interesting profiles, good pay, and different locations. This time I am choosier in terms of flexibility in timings. At places I am not even asking about the work or the pay. It is just the timings. It is so degrading. Why aren’t workplaces more parent friendly? I am sure it is not just the women; surely the fathers will also want to spend time with their children, right? See them grow up; be with them; do things with them. Not just on the weekends.
Yes I have a family and that is top priority. But that does not mean I’m dumb and will shirk on the work front. Why should family and a career be mutually exclusive? Can’t a person have both?
Our savings will take us along for four months. Till May. After that we are broke.

one of my favourite forwards!

The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.
Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
This Student Received The Only "A"

Bday bash!

The birthday cake. Chocolate TRuffle. Very Very yummy!!!!

Happy Birthday to you...

With his grandmom

With his Bua ( BH's sister)

Mowgli with his mema ( my sister)

10 things I learnt from my husband:

1. To take what life gives you and be happy with it
2. To not let personal grievances cloud a relationship. Accept it and move on keeping the differences behind. Once closed the chapter remains closed for ever
3. To not plan too much, but live in the moment and take each day as it comes
4. To never let others know the difficulty you have while doing things for them. Smile and act as if it was no big deal
5. To say only good about others. If there is nothing good to say, then don’t say anything at all. To never crib about others irrespective of how much they hurt you.
6. To be always optimistic, always seeing the better side of life and believing the best about people
7. To be quietly determined- be it career/personal. Work hard to get what you want albeit in a quiet manner and be patient. The results will come with time. No outward show or dramatics
8. To not judge others at first sight. To be prepared to change impressions. To give people a second, a third and even a fourth chance to prove themselves.
9. To love without expectations
10. To live life KINGSIZE!!!!

Coco Tales

We have stopped considering coco as a dog! She is as human as mowgli!!!
Is it possible for a two month old puppy to be so individualistic? She understands everything you tell her. She is so quiet you would not know there is a dog in the house. But try locking her up in a room; she barks and whines till you open the door and let her out. If we are late in opening the door, she goes to a corner and sulks and ignores you completely. You have to pet her, cajole her and slowly coax her into being friends with you.
The vet was saying that golden retrievers are very loving and if not treated with love they can go into depression. Really true. She is very dull and sad if we put her on the balcony for a long time. On the other hand you pet her, play with her , tickle her she is really happy.
Toilet training has started, though we haven’t made much headway. That’s the only part I am not happy with. She is still in the territory marking phase. So there are small puddles everywhere. I clean them up immediately, but with mowgli crawling around full time that is a health risk. Other than that she is a joy to be with. We go to the park every evening; a healthy exercise for all of us. Coco plays around and mowgli walks holding on to one hand.
The best is the night times!!! After a year of interrupted sleep we had heaved a sigh of relief when mowgli started sleeping through the night. Now it’s back to square one courtesy the smaller baby. Around midnight coco decides that she has had enough of her bed and its time to snuggle with her adoptive parents. She jumps on to the bed and burrows in near the BH’s feet. Then slowly inches forward to my feet. From there to my back and in the end she snuggles in next to my face!!! Last night I got the shock of my life when a wet tongue started licking me in the middle of the night. We have tried to put her in another room at night, but she starts crying. How many times we put her back into her bed, she still manages to get back to sleeping with us. Guess we have to get used to sleeping in fits and bursts for some more time.
Mowgli is happy and a wee jealous. He does not like it if she is in our lap or if we pet her too much. Otherwise he is happy smiling at her, pointing at her and saying ko-ko. Giving her his favorite things to nibble like his powder tin, the BH’s hairbrush and sometimes trying to kick her when he thinks nobody is watching.
So this is what it would be like if we have a second baby?????

We were three before. Now we are FOUR!!!

Introducing the latest addition to the jungle house- COCO
She is a golden retriever pup- 45 days old. We have bought her home against all odds (read “odds” as our parents!)
We both love dogs and a golden retriever is like a dream come true. For now, coco and mowgli take turns to play. When mowgli is awake, coco goes to the balcony upstairs and when mowgli sleeps she is brought down. Our flat has a big terrace, so we go three 2-3 times a day for coco to play about. When she gets bigger we’ll have to start going to the nearby park. There are a lot of things to work out and manage but we’ll take it as it comes (I have abandoned chalking out plans for anything below 5 years!!!)
As I write this, a small tongue is delicately licking my toes and snuggling between my legs to find a cozy spot. It’s a nice feeling- the kind that makes you happy from inside and brings a smile to your face. :-)