A comes home!!

Ever since I became friends with Aparna, have been wanting to meet her & A. We made plans, there were even talks about a blogger meet to be held in March (If I remember correctly).. and then last weekend Apar finally made it home, with 2 of her friends driving her down just to meet me & Imp. I was floored. And A, such a cutie pie, shy at first & then jumping about the whole place. She is just as I imagined, full of life, joking away & that beautiful smile...don't loose it! You're not my soul sister for nothing! Love u babes.

And Imp, too shy. This girl was at her crankiest when I picked her up from her last day at summer camp. Tired, sleepy & hungry is not a good combo! Tried to get her to eat, just to get some free time with apar, but no such luck. She just kept crying and asking when is my friend coming home. And then of course does what she is best at, shy and coy, knowing we were talking about her, enjoying all the attention. And a miracle. She falls asleep herself, while hiding her face behind the cushion. Of course she went crazy when she woke up and saw that she had a kitchen set, she loves to play with the chakla and belan. Even though we do not cook roti's at home, have to make dough for her so that she can make her roti's and parathas.

Too bad we couldn't take pics of our kids but then hey...we got our pics! :-) Come home again gurl and this time for a longer duration.

Blogging totally rocks, will always cherish the friends I have made here and hope I make many more new friends.

God and his terrific sense of humor!

Dear God,

Oh I'm pissed! Royally pissed!

She wakes up today morning, with a blood red spot in her eye. Turns out to be a cyst! yea a cyst. How did she get it? We have 2 mango trees in out back yard replete with mango's. She loves to play outside, and personally pick and collect the fallen mango's to give to her nani to pickle them. The fact that she happened to rub her eye after touching the mango and the sap is what has given her the bloody cyst. And rinsing the eye of a 2.6 yrd old with menthi solution is a piece of cake, isn't it?

What am I supposed to do, Tie her up like we tie dogs, so that she can be in one place. This girl loves to play in the grass, in the mud, yes she even likes to eat it. Loves to pluck out the flowers and make a small garden for herself or her mum.

And don't even get me started about her ears, infected! I have to take out her earrings. This girl loves jewelery, even more than her mother. And now I have to bloody well take out her earrings. Just a walk in the park. the very thought of it, has me shaking. She is going to be sooo upset.

But then hey, what has to done has to be done right. First the allergies and now this. Thank you. Please I do not want to know what all different types if reactions can happen with touch, please just stop it here. And forgive me for my explicit language, I'm really upset, I cant really vent this way at home here. What has this girl done to deserve this? To see other kids eat cake, chocolates, ice cream and only want it form a distance, knowing that seh cannot eat any of those, Only those special ones that mum makes or gets for her. Its torture looking into those eyes, and explaining to her, why she cannot have those.

Please just stop it right here, I'm begging you. She does not even understand what I am going to do, she will cry bloody murder begging me to not do this to her. Begging that she will be a good girl and listen to everything I say. If this goes on, I cant deal with this, so please just stop here, let this be the last. Please.

Love,
Upset mum.

AfterGlow!!!

For some strange reason the rains have led to a nostalgia trip today. Downloading some of my old favorite numbers and receive an email from a close friend today, whose marriage is on the rocks and that is where it is going to stay unless a miracle happens. I don't even know how to comfort him... what do I say... what don't I say. Pray the second kid on the way will be the miracle for him.

And this song comes to mind, I can never get enough of listening to Afterglow by INXS. Followed their rock star hunt for a lead singer Rock Star: INXS. Sung by JD fortune, the now ousted lead singer, thanks to his substance addiction...what a waste of talent! When you have the music why does one need substance, I'll never understand. The lyrics seem really apt for my friend.

Here I am,
Lost in the light of the moon,
That comes through my window.

Bathed in blue,
The walls of my memory divides,
The thorns from the roses.
It's you and the roses.

Touch me and I will follow,
In your afterglow.
Heal me from all this sorrow,
As I let you go.
I will find my way
When I see your eyes,
Now I'm living,
In your afterglow.

Here I am,
Lost in the ashes of time,
But who wants tomorrow,
In between,
Longing to hold you again,
I'm caught in your shadow.
I'm losing control.

My mind drifts away,
We only have today.

Touch me and I will follow,
In your afterglow.
Heal me from all this sorrow,
As I let you go.
I will find my way,
I will sacrifice,
'Til the blinding day,
When I see your eyes.

Now I'm living,
In your afterglow [in your afterglow].
When the veils are gone,
As I let you go,
As I let you go.

Touch me and I will follow,
In your afterglow.
Heal me from all this sorrow,
As I let you go.
I will find my way
I will sacrifice,
Now I'm living,
In your afterglow.

Bathed in blue,
The walls of my memory divides,
The thorns from the roses.
It's you who is closest.

Pray things work out for you B.E.!

Nature!! I love you!

I've been cribbing about the unbearable heat over the last few months, on chat, on twitter, you name it! Even the rains in the night didn't satisfy me just increased the humidity during the day. But today evening, I was blown away. Terrific rain with an added bonus - hails. I remember the first time we had a hail storm in Mysore. Cuz's and I were picking the ice from the grass and eating it. Today was a great day to get drenched, have hot coffee with some yummy pakodas.

Few plants in the garden were literally blown away, making them bare and lopsided. Yet, the rain was simply beautiful. Never thought I'd miss the rain and getting drenched soo bad.Of course where there is rain there is also the electricity playing hide and seek. And with dad missing the IPL, it was time for World Space! Sheesh...We have literally forgotten the wonderful radio thanks to the television!

Blissful evening! Leaving you with one of my all time fav songs by Bruce Springsteen, Dancing in the Dark. If you look closely the girl in the video is our very own Courtney Cox aka Monika from F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Conversations from the Imp household!

Post 6pm, we're both in the garden enjoying the evening breeze after a hot sunny day.

IMP: Mummy see...pointing towards the sky... Mooon!!
Me: Nahi beta woh moon nahi hai. Those are the clouds (She does not understand the silver lining to a grey coud)
IMP: Nahi mamma, Moon hai. Imp jaati hai?
Me: Nahi beta, Wahan Koi nahi jaata, koi nahi rehta.
IMP: mmm...(thinking in progress) bus hai?
Me: nahi
IMP: tractor hai?
Me: nahi
IMP: nayi mamma, tractor hai. Imp ko maalum hai, sab maul hai mamma.

Watching songs on my lap, she suddenly exclaims as I change the channel..
"Oh God! No Mama!"
Stunned and shocked mum: Where did you learn that?
Suddenly shy Imp: Bacche Ma!

Sleepy mum to imp: Sleep baby. Mamma ko nini aiye.
IMP: nahi
Me: fine. then let mumma sleep. you do your puzzles
Imp: No. Uttho Mamma. Ye lo, colouring karo (handing me the crayons and hte coloring book)
Me: No. Imp ne paani nahi pi, mamma imp ki baat nahi sunegi
IMP: hmmm... theek hai...takes a sip from the bottle. Ab bas hai, okie...paani pi..abb uthho aur coloring karo. Imp puzzle karti hai. Theek Hai.
Me: Aur piyo...
IMP: Nahi. Bas Hai
Me: Piyo.
IMP: Imp jaari hai. Imp ko bahar Janna Hai. Tum ninna karo. Ok Mamma. Byeeee

Goes out and wakes up Nana and Nani to open the main door, since mum has refused to!

After breakfast, dad is getting ready to leave for work. Imp scrambles from my lap to wear her sandals.
IMP: Nana... Imp aari hai...I also coming.
Nana: No Beta, you stay here. You have to have your bath.
IMP: Nahi. I also coming. See Imp ready hai. Nai Nai nahi karna.
And is getting ready to go out the door, to wait right next to the car.
Nana: Theek Hai, car me round deke, nai nai karna...ok..phir mamma office leeke aiyagi.
IMP: Nahi. Imp ko office me dosa khana hai. Abhi.
Nana: Lekin aise gandi jaaogi?
IMP: Gandi nahi hai nana! Imp ko jaana hai...please nana..please nana...please... (she does a wonderful lip curl when she is pleading. Will melt the strongest heart!)
As usual Nana melts: Theek Hai. chalo. Paani ki bottle rakho aur bye kardo mummy ko.

And as usual I have no say in this conversation.

The Ear Piercing Saga

Finally! Its done at 2.5 years, the third year of her birth. And for those wondering I should have asked her...she is the one who has behind me to get her ears pierced.

Imp has always loved jewelery, is fascinated by it. And for the longest time she has wanted earrings. She would always look at my ears and want to wear my earrings too. This Tuesday, we suddenly woke up to realise that Navratri was on us and with Imp being in her third year, this was the day to get her ears pierced. The question now was how? the traditional method or the Gun Shot method. My ears were pierced by our family doc's compounder and now he is quite old and not a feasible option. A few phone calls later decided to go to a Jeweler. Getting his number took another day.

I was still in doubt, since I would have to be alone with Imp and she feeds of my anxiety in seconds. Plus stranger anxiety. She has tons of it. So I did some checking on the gun shot method. Spoke to my beautician, turns out she does piercings and has done for kids younger to imp too. Speaking to her helped. And blogs came to my rescue. Read a lot of posts. Esp by Poppins and Priyanka. Both their experiences scared the shit out of me. And then I read this which gave me some hope. Also checked with the pead, and realised that the doc's don't give any anesthetic simply cause they don't see any reason! So beautician it was.The decision was the easiest part of the whole day, I was to realise later.

Before going I decided to mark her ears, and she wouldn't let me. She howled like no mans business. i even let her mark my ears with the marker, but to no avail. I fed her lunch and we left with her fav teddy in tow. And to my luck the AC is switched off, power cut or an energy saving exercise? Getting her to sit on my lap was a BIG task. The earrings she was to wear came to my rescue. She starts crying the sec I hold her head to put the anesthetic cream and then there was no turning back. And of course in between all this the mark conveniently disappears and we have to mark her ears again. I wasn't even sure if her ears were marked properly! SO finally I'm holding her head, one lady with the gun, one lady to pull the ear lobe, one to hold her hands and one to pin her down on my lap. Took us about 10 min to get this combination right. And then the earring kept falling off that gun. Holding her down was bad enough, and I was so wrong in thinking that it would be easy with the gun. She just refused to sit tight, kept fighting to get off and me feeling guilty as hell. Finally we get her right ear done. The left one, the earring refuses to detach itself from the gun. And that woman gets it from me. Should I have kept quiet? I do not know, but my daughter is crying from pain and I could see her ear lobe being pulled/stretched by the gun, not a pleasant sight. Miraculously it is done. Check both the ears and no bleeding, just red. She refuses to have the anesthetic gel applied again and I don't push her.

Then it is my turn. yes I got my ears pierced again. Simply cause my left one was not done correctly, was crooked. And majorly to know what it feels like...esp the after effects. And that woman goofs up on mine big time. My right bleeds a bit, and even after 24 hours they are still paining. Watching me go through the same procedure calmed imp to some extent. And plus she is fascinated & thrilled that we are wearing the same studs. She cant wait to get out of the beauty parlor and I know the staff there is also waiting for us to leave. No body likes to hear the cries of a baby, esp a baby in pain. She smiled only when we pick up dad from his office to go to the Ice cream parlor ( yes they have lactose free ice cream, called Sorbets) as I had promised her. By the time we reach there she is fast asleep. She wakes up as I am applying Entorps to her ears and remembers that she has not had her ice cream. She polishes half the box of Forest Berrie Sorbet.

And there end our ear piercing saga. Thank god it was me they goofed up on. If I had to do it again, I would go for the Gun Shot, Its smoother and quicker. And get it done in the first year, the older they are the tougher it gets.