Orkut says...

" THE WEAK CAN NEVER FORGIVE. FORGIVENESS IS THE ATTRIBUTE OF THE STRONG. "

Its disturbing to read this. Making me think how strong the BH is.
How much more strong my mother in law is. To forgive and forget so simply. To accept that peoples actions are governed by God and to forgive them for all the pains they have caused and not bear petty grievances.

For me it is a battle. I like to think I forgive and move on, but have lately
realized that what I do is bundle everything deep inside and try not to think
about it. That is neither forgiving nor forgetting. Am I that weak???

Things to do

Last sunday, the BH got into one of his "I am a great husband" moods and took me mud shopping. Yes, thats what we did. Piled three sacks into our car and then scouted along the highway searching for mud! And we did hit pay dirt :-) Two sacks of red mud and one sack of sand now stand proudly on my balcony waiting for the weekend to arrive. A couple of plants need to be divided and repotted. The lilies have to go into a bigger pot. I want to buy some more new plants and new pots and planters. Vegetable gardening will have to wait. I dont think I have enough space. For the time being concentrating solely on the flowers and the leafy plants. Want to totally revamp the balcony.If I cant get them to re-do my balcony, I'll do it myself with whatever creative juices I have.
The compost bin is behaving very nicely. The first bin is almost full. It will take a month or more to get the compost. It is really a great thing. After using this, I now have so much less garbage to throw out. Earlier the maid used to clear the garbage every day, now its reduced to once in three/four days. That too is because of the plastic covers. Need to check with my newspaper raddiwala whether they will take old plastic covers/bottles/milk packets etc. If everybody could use this at home, there would be so less garbage on the roads and the city would be less polluted. It seems to be an ideal waste management technique. There is no strong stink, flies are less because the waste is fully covered. Ants are there ; but since it is out on the balcony I am ignoring them for the time being.
Registered for FRM. The exam is on Nov 21 ; i have three months to prepare. Starting tomorrow the grind starts again. After 5 years, I am again getting back to books. Yesterday evening while I was away at work, the BH cleared up an entire table for me to use as my study table. Yes, he is very sweet that ways. Now there are no more excuses to postpone the preparations. I have the study material, the syllabus, have paid the fees ( HUGE incentive) and have told the world that I am appearing for theis exam. All that remains is to pass :-)
We are planning to start a low carbohydrates diet from tomorrow for a month. I am going to go to the office gym and the BH is joining Kickboxing classes. That and the strict diet should ensure that we welcome the new year leaner, healthier and fit.
It seems like a lot of new beginnings and things finally getting ticked off from my mental To-Do lists.

Of advice and dreams

Got this from Metrodad.
What advice do you want to pass on to your kids? What's the one life lesson that you wished someone had taught you earlier? What's the best piece of advice you ever received from your parents?
And I thought and thought and thought. Yes, I'll be eating Mowgli's head with non stop advice and stuff, but in the long run this is what i want for him.
1. Live life king size. Do whatever your heart wants to do and do it NOW. There is no other better time. The opportunity might not come again. Life will not stop and wait for you at each junction. So grab the chances NOW.
2. Play without the fear of losing. Even if this sounds clichéd, life is not about winning or losing. It’s the game that’s more important
3. Learn any musical instrument. When the going gets tough, music always helps.
4. Laugh at your mistakes and laugh at yourself.
5. Friends are friends and family is family. Some will seep from one to the other, but not all. Treat them accordingly
6. Have a hobby and nurture it over the years
7. Love this planet and do your best for it
8. Dream big. And work on your dreams. Hard work and dreams together can create magic.
9. Whatever happens know that we are always there for you. Always
10. There is a God. And there are no unanswered prayers. Sometimes the answer is just NO

The "INNOCENT" devils!

Mr. Mowgli boy.

Miss. Cocoa girl

On the brink of losing my sanity…

The BH has gone on a three day tour to the north east. The house is in a mess. Cocoa and Mowgli are at their hyperactive best! The first day I came home to see Mowgli’s stuffed gorilla lying on the floor with all the stuffing out on the floor!!! Cocoa got a stern warning. Yesterday I had full day training, so Cocoa was alone the whole day. I went home to see the mattress on the diwan ripped apart and the cotton scattered over the floor. Cocoa had the good sense to look at me sheepishly. A loud and totally incoherent screaming match started. Cocoa was locked in the balcony as punishment. Peace reigned for about five minutes. I cleaned up the mess and Mr. “Hyperactive is my middle name” Mowgli started his act. Whining, clinging to my leg and repeatedly asking for Ammm. He threw the first plate on the ground and got a nice spank for it. Cried for an egg. As soon as I made it, he started asking for maggi. I was exhausted after my full day training. I just wanted to take a long hot bath and go sit somewhere quiet away from all this noise! To ease everybody down all of us went to the terrace to play for some time. Cocoa ran about like she was mad. I felt really sorry for her. Cooped up in the house for a whole day. It must have been so frustrating for her. We came down half an hour later. Everybody had calmed down a little.
And then again Mowgli started. He was tired and cranky refusing to eat, drink or sleep. A long hour later in which I tried all the tricks in the book and some more he finally slept! I had not had breakfast, a sad lunch and no tea. Settled down at 9.00 pm for the first proper meal of the day. I was ready to cry. Times like this when I wish I was with my parents. Somebody to see that you eat, somebody else to cook, somebody who sees that you relax…
And then I started office work- as the whole day was spent in training.
Today is no better. Cocoa in a burst of love and affection jumped on me in the morning and upset an entire cup of tea over me! Mowgli refused to have breakfast! Cocoa ran away in the terrace and would not come when called. I have a full day training again today. Today also i fought with all the auto drivers and had to walk 2km carrying Mowgli and a laptop!
The BH calls me regularly and the conversation goes like this:
BH: *sounds of TV in the background* This place is amazingly beautiful. We should come here sometime for a holiday.
Me: *resignedly looks at Mowgli trying to pull Cocoa’s eyes out! * Hmmmm.
BH: I will be there today evening. Around 8pm.
Me: That is evening???? That is bloody night time! * Voice reaches hysterical pitch*
BH: What happened? Why aren’t you talking properly? Are you missing me?
Me: #@$%^&*^%$#@

Euphemism

" A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listeneror in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker."



A colleague of mine whom I’ve known for the past 5 years told me I need to develop this skill if I ever hope to be promoted.
I am known for being blunt. That and not being a part of office politics- two things I’ve prided myself in my professional life. I say it like it is. If it is good, I will be the first person to tell you it’s excellent and yet again when it’s bad I will be the first person to dump it. I really don’t see any logic in praising a bad product. If the product is good, even if it’s done by my worst enemy I will appreciate it.
So yesterday I and my friend were talking and we were discussing a very senior manager who is quite loud and blunt and not liked by the majority. Yes, he is good technically, but his tongue is quite sharp! And to be compared to him was OUCH!!! I have never looked for popularity. I frankly don’t care whether you like me or not. But I do care that you find me rude. Or that you think I’m arrogant. Coz I’m not.
I do try to be diplomatic; it’s not something that comes out easily I have to really work at it. Think before I speak. In my previous company, this was not a problem because you were solely judged based on your work. When there are only 5 members in your team and if you do the work in half the time who cares for diplomacy!!!
But here it is a different story. It’s a huge organization and to get promoted you have to depend not only on your technical skills, but also on your networking skills. Yes, I’m poor at that also. I am friendly, talk to people I like and ignore the rest! I will not smile at a manager whom I do not respect and grovel at his feet. I will not do that. So what are the pitfalls? I am seen as somebody who is not approachable. As somebody who is very arrogant. Can I change? I intend to try. As a step, I will count to ten before I give an opinion at any team meeting. Try to tone down my speech. The groveling part cannot be done and will not be done. The rest I will try!
What is the purpose of this post? I really do not know. It’s an attempt to be more truthful about my feelings. I may appear to be an extrovert, but there are a lot of things bottled up inside which I think needs to be taken out, aired and then thrown away. The trouble with me is storing all these petty petty things and creating a dump pile inside. It’s a small attempt to take a look at me inside and first try to change myself instead of finding fault with others.
Pray for me.

The holiday that wasn’t!!!

Friday night 9.00 pm: Three of us happily trotted into the airport bound cab. A very tired BH and I and a hyper Mowgli who had slept the entire evening. Good, we said. He will play till 2 am and once he gets into the flight he’ll just drop off.
4.00 am: Cramped Lufthansa flight. Bleary eyed parents with hyperactive kid. Kid has downed three bottles of milk and still not showing any signs of sleep. The BH constantly reminding me not to lose my temper and slap him coz we don’t want to go to jail for child abuse! How do you entertain a 20 month old for a 9 hour flight!!!! We pored over his sticker book for hours, tried to make funny faces, gave him more and more bottle of milk so that he would sleep, threatened him, pleaded with him and finally just an hour before we landed, he slept!!!Only to wake up as soon as the flight landed at Frankfurt! This was how our holiday (that we had been looking forward to for so long) began and this was how it was for most of it! Never before have I been so physically exhausted from lack of sleep. On reaching Canada the time zones and jet lag took over. So Mowgli would get up at 1.00 am at night and then play till 5.00 am and we would again be struggling with sleep the entire day. Somehow the word I associate most with this holiday was SLEEP! Mowgli baby, we thought this trip would be an experience for you! Sweetie, it turned out to be an EXPERIENCE for us. The next international trip we’ll take together will be when you turn 18! Ciao!

Now to the good part. The place was lovely, the weather was superb and it was just three of us the entire week. It has been quite a long time since we have taken a holiday, just us. Our room had two lovely bay windows- one facing the mountains and the other facing the woods and the river.

Our days started pretty early thanks to Mr.Mowgli. Breakfast was yummy yummy .Buffet breakfast with a huge spread- breads, mini Danish, doughnuts, cold cuts, bacon, sausages, omlettes,cereals, puddings and fruits. I as usual went berserk. All these are my favourites and I just love them. Huge strawberries and juicy juicy peaches to complete the meal. The BH watched me in shock gobbling up the entire menu and again finding the strength to go pile up on strawberries. After the initial shock wore off, he was amused, I think!
Then we would come back to the room, change and go f or a long walk.

There were a lot of trails behind the hotel, one leading to the waterfalls, one along the river, one just in the woods. It was fun.

Mowgli thoroughly enjoyed himself playing peekaboo with the squirrels and chipmunks, putting his hand into their holes and yelling ‘KIRREL KIRREL’ at the top of his voice.

He loved the horses also and the dogs that were there everywhere.
The awards function was great. Both the boys looked awesome- Mowgli in his black suit and the BH in his tuxedo!
And the usual antics of Mowgli. Tried to pull the hair of the CEO's wife! ( it was a close miss!); Was horrible for the formal dinners. Hello! I cant manage him when there is one fork an done spoon on the table. They had THREE forks, THREE spoons, THREE knives and THREE glasses!!! It was Mowgli's idea of heaven. Kissed all the girls in the airport. He would first run and stand next to them, slowly put a hand on them. the parents would immediately exclaim " Oh, what a cute boy,baby" . That was his cue. Hug the baby girl right there. It was great entertainment for everybody in the airport!

So here are the photos and I am off to buy that cottage and estate in the hills. I think I am a much better person in the hils than on the plains :-) The BH has been heard starting all his sentences with " When you were in Canada you were not like this" ;-) Get me that house and estate in the hills sweetie. I will always be good to you *devilish grin
Yes, this is how a squirrel eats!

Dad and son looking at the babes!


Dada.. Ollollu ollollu.. ( Water!)

Cozy threesome.