It’s THE day!

After all the slogging and the tension that the BH had to endure he did achieve 105% of his target last year and therefore we are off to Canada today! ( every year the top 15 worldwide performersand their family get to spend a week in a resort all expenses paid) its something we have been looking forward from April and now we are finally there.
Clothes have been bought and attires decided. They have a formal dinner every night and a lot of activities planned for the group. Got Mowgli a suit (his first one!) to match his dad’s tuxedo (his first one!!!) I searched low and high for a dress that would look nice on my figure (or lack of!) and came away disappointed. So the sari it is for the formal awards night. The rest is all casual.
And as the grand finale, Mr.Mowgli has been coughing and throwing up since last night. Totally bad timing! We have been assured by the doctor that its all fine. Its just the phlegm coming out! To be on the safer side she has prescribed antibiotics.
Took cocoa to the boarding, coz theres nobody here to look after her when we are gone. The feeling was very similar to the first time we took mowgli to his day care! The place looks nice. There are a lot of dogs there.we have given that guy a whole lot of instructions. Have also told cocoa to behave and not to mingle with the rowdy rajapalayam and the snooty boxer and have reminded her that she is a girl and its better she keeps to herself! :-) Poor thing! Will she feel that we have abandoned her and gone away????
And that’s it! We are off!
Tata :-)

To the BH

For the memories and moments and happiness...

Perhaps Love - John Denver & Placido Domingo

Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home
Perhaps love is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don't know what to do
The memory of love will see you through
Oh, Love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don't know
Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you....

P.S. Go listen to this song!

Thou shalt not compare

Oooh? How old is he? Really? He looks so big . Slyly nudges the spouse and whispering- how can it be? Look at his legs and hands? So strong.
What do you feed him? Oh, only home made food? Does he eat well? Really? Meat/eggs?
And what about his hair? Do you use a special shampoo? Or natural shampoos? What about the oiling / combing? How often do you brush him?
Doctor? Which doctor do you take him to? Is he good?
Oh, no no nothing like that. He is such a cutie pie. Was just asking.
And then a long session in the car- what are we doing wrong. She is only half that size. And that one is three months younger also!! Maybe we should give some supplements? Shall we change the doctor? Did you see the colour of his hair? Such a rich tinge. What are we doing wrong? Why isn’t she like him?
There is a hint of remorse as to how could this have happened. Something went wrong somewhere…
We don’t do this with Mowgli.
Then WHY do we this with Cocoa? Compare her to every damn golden retriever we see!!!!

The chota bridegroom

Will he look as cute as this 24 years down the lane???

And we waste time just like that not knowing how much we have!

The fools that we are.

A college mate died today. Brain tumor. It was discovered quite late. He was not a friend, at least not a close one. We were together in an extracurricular group and had interacted quite frequently. Furthermore he had had a huge crush on one of my friends, so knew him that ways also.
He was my age. 29 years old. Is that an age to die? When your entire life is before you. He left behind a pregnant wife. I cannot even imagine how she would be feeling. How will his child grow up? I look at mowgli surrounded by so much love. From us. From our extended family, friends, relatives. He is totally pampered in that ways. What did that poor child do to deserve this fate?
It again reminds me of him.
Of life being unfair.
Of us whom life has decided to bless. How do we treat this gift? Do we treasure it and live life to its fullest? Or do we sit and waste it away? Only to regret it later!
Squabbling about petty things. Worrying about money and bank balances. Bothered about the opinions and verdicts that others have about us and our kids. Dreaming big and then filing away these dreams in a locked box where they’re never allowed to see the light of the day.
When will it get into our dumb heads that life will go on and we have to make the most of it today.
Now.

So whats the little man saying these days?

Nooooooooooo - For NO. Accompanied by persistent shaking of the head and a stern finger wagging No.
Mama,Dada - His slaves
Cocooo - Cocoa. He funnily does not know how to stop at one ‘o’. He has to drag it out ’ooooooo’
Ollollu - Water. Don’t ask me how it is related J
Goooooo - Go away and don’t disturb me
Baa - Come. Accompanied by a sole finger gesturing you to come near.
Taa - Give it to me right now
Ina - Here, take it and go.
Duddu – That elixir in the bottle. The one stop solution for everything
Meh – Any female other than me
Da – Any male other than his dad
Buaa – His bua and conspirator in crime
Paapa and Uma - His paternal grandparents His champions and fan club lifetime members. His paternal grandparents.
Baaba – Any child, older or younger than him
Bow bow – Dog
Kaat – for Cat
Amm – Food with a capital F.
Boh - Ball/bat/balloon
Deep Groan and pushing face – Either potty time or just wants to go play in the water. More the latter
Pua – Shall we go? Often said when he sees or senses any family member about to leave the house. He runs to the door with his shoes and waits there for the concerned person to take him and go out.
Tata, Bayeeee – tata bye bye. And please take me along with you.
And a whole lot of gibberish. Where he seems to be fighting with us, complaining about one to the other, getting irritated because we are so ignorant and not able to understand what he is saying.
I waited so eagerly for him to start walking and now he just doesn't stop! So having derived that experience I am in no hurry for him to start speaking coherently. This ngfugynmvu is cool enough :-)

A super duper smashing rolling weekend!!!!

P and his wife S had come down from Cochin. This was an occasion for all of us to get together. It was after such a looooooooooooong time that all eight of us were together again that for the time being all differences and hurts were swept under the carpet. What did we do? Ate. Slept. Talked. Tried out two new restaurants. Lebanese at the World cuisine network and Café Terra for their breakfasts. The latter was great. I see myself going back there again J
Saturday night, the BH made beef roast. Mowgli slept at 8pm like a very good boy and therefore i had a really good time. We talked and talked till 1 in the morning. It has been so long since we did it. Reliving our college days. Before marriage Bangalore adventures. Gossiping about old friends and foes and how many have moved in between the categories. This time around there was a new topic of conversation. In-laws! Now that all of us are married everybody had something to say about spouses and in-laws and relatives. The guys cribbed about their wives and S and I made fun of our husbands. S had a great time listening firsthand to all of P’s performances in college. I guess we supplied her with a lot of fodder for future blackmail and leg pulling J Poor P!
It made me nostalgic, very nostalgic. Not just me but everybody. It was like a realization to us as in ‘see, how much have you guys changed!’ I think we should do this more often. Like get together every month or so and just talk. We have made plans for this New Year. Book a cottage somewhere and chill just like how we did in 2006.
It is so easy to get carried away in the rush.
It takes so little time to stop and smell the roses.
Why don’t we stop then?

Time out?

Gimme more!

I just love them :-)

Mowgli threw a tantrum and started throwing his toys at us. The BH got mad and made him stand in a corner with his arms folded. And believe it or not the little imp was actually loving it!!!! he threw a couple of poses, sat after a while and then just refused to come out of the corner!!!!

What do I do with this chota shaitan????

“He is completely fine now.” She smiled at me.

She is Mowgli’s day care aunty. I smiled back. Grinned would be a better word. It was a 75 mm smile of pure relief and finally happiness.
In the initial days I just couldn’t believe that for somebody so outgoing it took 10 weeks to finally adjust to day care!!! He is the first kid over there who has taken this long. That battle is over. He has finally agreed to play with the other kids. Allows the girls to carry him. Has moved in to the toys section from the sand pit. Walks to the BH with his bag in the evening. Runs to me smiling when I come back from office.
Other than these he has also sorted out a couple of other things. He is again back to liking me. Yayyyyyyyyyyy! That phase of clinging to the BH for everything is FINALLY over. He now understands that I will come back at night and that the BH goes away in the mornings. So no tears and tantrums when the BH leaves. We now kiss the BH bye and say cheers to him and happily close the door!
The worst fear I had when Mowgli started day care was that he would lose his mischievousness and maybe become too insecure about people. Both my fears have been proved baseless. He is still the same old naughty imp that he was before. The insecurity was there in the beginning, but it has also passed.
Touchwood and I cross my fingers!
p.s. Mowgli’s mom is still grinning!