Incessant Musings

The tale of the moving kitchen!

2012-01-10T20:46:00.001-05:00

Yes you read that right! The moving kitchen .... That is what I need! A kitchen cart! About couple of years ago I moved to California! I was totally unprepared for the loss of space among other things! The kitchen came as an absolute shock! I have survived in small kitchens, galley kitchens! But this kitchen was designed in spite! Just to throw me the famous curve ball!
Survival instincts had me using the garage as an extension! In came a pantry closet! But still how could I make it work? I ordered a kitchen cart! A year later I moved to a bigger place with a kitchen to dream for! So in my moment if sheer bliss, I gave away the cart!
Now that Tootsie has decided on her life mission! To raid every cupboard high and low, climb every surface and destroy any semblance of order; I miss my kitchen cart! Especially since the only place I have managed to secure is my pantry! The only child lock requiring no drilling!
Now off to do some cart hunting! Maybe I can finally cart the dishes to safety!

Sleep is my arch enemy!

2011-10-14T01:01:00.001-04:00

It is 1 AM and the house is still alive and alight. Even if the lights have officially been turned down some hours ago, the three ring circus won't shut down! We have retreated to the parental bedroom, numerous out of tune songs have been sung and rejected. The little pixie has been coaxed, cajoled and finally left to her own devices. Tired parental eyes watch, limbs outstretched, bodies are used as an obstacle course!
Years ago when my favorite movie was Sound of Music, I loved the song "The sun has gone to bed and so must I". Years later when I decided to have kids, I hoped these lines would ring true. Even after being a night owl myself I was delusional enough to believe that kids sleep through the night! Well 7 yrs and about 2500 days later I must tell you mine don't! When God was sending out the memo's about bed time, my kids weren't anywhere close!
My daughter thinks bedtime is the time to
Have crying jags and pretend sleepiness (you want to keep mommy hoping)
This phase is the first and starts early enough for mommy to get excited! And late enough for her to hope this is the actual bedtime. Usually culminates in a 15 minute nap after which we are re-energized and ready to face the night time fun activities with vigor and high spirits!
The slightest sound can be a source of excitement!
Last night Dada and the audacity to sneeze while she rocked on mommy's lap! The sleepy eyes turned bright and alight and awake now with renewed vigor, it was declared that fun awaits!
Songs that have been used before can not be re-used!
Every once in a while the pixie climbs onto Mommy's lap and asks her to sing in her out of tune voice! However the rule is no song can be re-used, now we'll see how she gets past this one!
Bedtime is for language practice and serious conversation!
My daughter thinks bedtime is to narrate to mommy our thoughts about life in general. Only mommy does not follow the pixie speak, so she is in training every night! And the pixie says seriously over and over again "aai hula, sshiish theethhee thhekkum ....voishetheeee"
And when all else fails, it's time to decide your life's direction
Night time is when the pixie trains to be a singer (Barney's "I love you" is sung over and over again), a belly dancer (bring on the butt shake baby), chicken dancer (this involves walking around in circles with hands shaking and folded into their armpits), voice trainer (we practice voice modulation, even if sometimes it looks like Pixie is training to be a loudspeaker!), tight rope walker (this is practiced on the bodies of parents who pretend to sleep), mountain climber (again parents who are available make good mountains) and last but not the least training parents in survival skills (staying awake and alert in times of extreme sleep)
I am hoping to clear training in about 18 years, I will then update you on how we faired...till then from zombie world it's a zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Show me the inventor of Cribs!

2011-08-10T01:46:00.000-04:00

And he will rue the day! Recently I posted a picture on my facebook account of the crib that is apparently not to be slept in! Many laughed at my plight! I have read all the children books, and listened very closely to the pediatricians.. who tell you to put the baby in the crib and walk away! My baby thinks that is a cue to

1. Start screaming the house down

2. Join me in a game of throwing her teddy bear out and me pick it up

3. Bounce in the crib in sheer glee, till she goes back to step 1

As a result the crib is never slept in! And the devilish Dad does not fail to remind me how I ordered the crib and assembled it all in 1 hour because my daughter absolutely needed it.

To tell this story right I must start at the very beginning. Lets go back a couple of years.. to a time when we had one kid who had ordered a bed of his own in his own room and promised to spend his night sleeping (or as he most likely was.. bouncing) in his own bed! The parents decided it was time to buy a new bed for themselves! And why stop short.. so they went to the store got greedy and bought a giant king sized mattress! After all we were promised sleep after 5 years of kicks and prods! Well 2 hrs of it anyway, after that the brand new bunk bed in Cheeky's room got too lumpy and the room was just too cold to be slept in! Who could blame him eh?

Anyway, we were so pleased with ourselves! What with our king bed and all! And then we moved to California! And rented a match box to live in! And decided to have baby 2. Now where would baby sleep in? Hey we could not be expected to share right? So we bought her a little travel crib with a cute bassinet, and settled for sliding in sideways in and out of the room! But the bassinet was just not right.... so right from the start Tootsie knew just what to do when she was asked to sleep.. climb into mommy's bed!

Months later, we moved into a bigger house with more room, and decided (OK I Decided, it was time for a crib). So I made this big story about my daughter waking up and rolling off the 4 ft tall bed (really what were we thinking huh?).. and bought and assembled the crib! Since then it stands there in our bedroom a silent reminder of my folly! The hubs just bursts into hysterical mirth.. especially in the wee hours of the morning when Cheeky finds his lumps and climbs in next to mommy!

So I decided on a quiet night when the hubs was out of town I will work a miracle.. I lulled the little minx to sleep and quietly put her in her crib and tip toed all the way to the family room, and curled up in front of the television! Lo behold the screams arrived (in about 30 seconds!).. feeling sorry for the little one, and silently admonishing my maternal instincts I put her next to me and started to curl up next to her! Only to be kicked away! That is the rule of climbing into mommy's bed.. if you did not know that.. kick her out! I must admit though, after 7 years of this, without that kick to my spine.. I would hardly wake up rejuvinated from my sleep!

Now I ask you.. what are those good books and pediatricians talking about? And the inventor of cribs .. well he (for only a guy could have done this) for sure did not have any children!

Job Profile: Model/Actress (in training!)

2011-08-07T21:09:00.003-04:00

It dawned upon me a couple of days back! My daughter is growing to be an actress.. for sure! All the sign were there... but my dim witted self needed some prodding before enlightenment dawned for sure!

At 3 months her doctor told me "She is a strong personality" .. while I knew that meant in mommy-ese, she is a stubborn, hard headed little girl, it did not occur to me that this was a sign, a signal .... telling me her life direction!

But lately, the cloud is clearing up, and I can see the future! You think I am kidding?

Carbs are the enemy - Tootsie hates carbs, and make sure she does not have too much of them! On any given day, she nibbles on her food. She hates carbs of any kind, I have tried rice, pasta, wheat, quinoa, you name it! She prefers to nibble on little bites, and stay focussed on her diet! Her doctor told me that she was "really skinny" for a baby! And she wasnt even walking yet!

A strict regime is essential - She is always on the move, getting her tummy crunches, cardio and other exercises in! If it means, mommy has to be kept in shape too.. so be it (My body however cares less, after all the running behind the little pixie, my BMI stays put!)

Less is More - She believes in a co-ordinated wardrobe, but less is the operative word! Earlier this week, I had dressed her in stockings and skirt. While I was otherwise occupied doing diaper changes, she lost the stockings and insisted it was to be just the short skirt.. Showing legs are a good thing apparently!! That night we were at a block party on our street, she proved her point by taking of her socks and slamming it to the ground!

Show me the Money - She loves her Dad's wallet, and does not give it up! EVER!

Walk the talk - She also loves the phone and continues to hoard that too!

Center of Attention - Always the show girl, she socialises wherever we set foot! She proved this at the same block party,as we laughed to some joke, we heard a pronounced "hahaha".. all eyes turned to our very own Show girl! Guess who the Center of Attention is now? (Fist in air)

Prettiest of All - We cant talk much, but can definitely stroke our own cheeks and say "Pyaara Pyaara" (Lovely). And ask her who the pretty princess is? Guess who that would be?

The actress - And she can act.. not that that is essential.. but she walked around the room this afternoon (strutted should I say?) .. as much as she could.. we are now mastering the penguin walk, but it is the cat walk next for sure! Every once in a while she would stop and put her head down on the ground and say "Thaachi" (Lie down.. short hand for sleep), and close her eyes! Apparently she knows the importance of beauty nap.. even if she is only acting!

Charming is the magic word - Tootsie knows that the way to get her way is being charming! She woos us with her kisses and sweet talks! And if nothing else works, turn on the magic tantrums... just cry like a baby!!

And I rest my case (as always)! I guess now dad needs to start worrying! Martial arts and Gun shopping?

6 yr old obsessions - Money and Dogs!

2011-07-29T20:14:00.000-04:00

My 6 yr old is obsessed with 2 things. Money and Dogs.. and not necessarily in that order!

First the Money Obsession

If you read my previous post, you would not be surprised! His biggest role models now are Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Cheeky and my retired dad have some very scintillating conversations apparently. And in a weak moment my dad has told him about his ex-boss (VM), who apparently followed Jack Welch a lot! So Cheeky had a brain wave one afternoon as we navigated Chennai traffic!

He said "I think J Thatha (Granddad) should hire VM to work for him"

"Or better yet may be he could hire Bill Gates, or maybe both of them" (Each statement kept getting higher in pitch as the excitement grew)

"Then" He paused for effect "They can both make money for him and thatha can give all the money to me"! What a plan!

More recently.. on one of those couped up car rides, I figured I would use Cheeky's strategy of talking to him while I had his attention! So I told him about a friend who works for Microsoft! And Cheeky was impressed "Wow, so he makes Bill Gates richer?" he asked.

I said "Not for free you know, V gets a salary out of it"

Cheeky says "Thats not very smart of Bill Gates.. why is he giving his money away?"

Yeah what we want is Slavery to be re-established! If Cheeky became Bill Gates' financial advisors, Microsoft employees will sure rue the day!!

And now to the Doggie problem!

Ever since Cheeky found out at the age of 4, that having a twin sibling is out of the question, he has wanted a pet dog! Even producing him with a sibling has not solved matters! On the same car ride, he switched topics so fast, my head was reeling! I think he was trying to con me into acceptance!

"And I need a dog" he said!

But I have had proactice being Cheeky's mom! So I said "No way"

"But mom thats so unfair"

"You know dogs chew on carpeting and furniture"

"No they Dont!"

"Yes when you leave them alone at home.. they get lonely and they chew on furniture" I sure know how to goad Cheeky on!

"But I am not going to leave him alone! I will keep him with me at all times" It has been established the dog is a boy!

"What about when you go to school?"

"You can take care of him amma!"

"What about when I need to pick you up at school?"

"I am sure you can bring him to school then, its not like he will enter classrooms"

"But Cheeky I need to get a job and go to work" I am not being stuck with a dog at home all day!!

After a lot of thought

Cheeky asked "Amma does J thatha like being retired?"

"Yes"

"Do you think he will ever want to go back to work?"

"No"

"Perfect, then he can take care of the dog"

Apparently retired grand dads have a lot of uses!!

What would you rather be Rich or Famous?

2011-07-27T17:52:00.001-04:00

What is it about being cooped up in a car that makes the kids think that this is the time to wax eloquent about anything and everything on their mind? The fact that I cant jump out, tune out or even glare at them... glaring at the rear view mirror does not count, makes it all the more easier! It is at times like these that I have life breaking insights into my 6 yr old's mind.

Cheeky has always been curious... like this morning at the doctors he had to know why the doctor's office was not marked "Employees Only" while one of the restroom's was! Why there were pictures of scary skeletons on the wall.. did they want to scare people away? But it was the ride back that was very amusing!

As always having me in the hot seat is the best part of Cheeky's day! He had me talking about Bill Gates and Warren Buffet! How do they make their money he wanted to know. After a long winded conversation about Stocks and Investments ... Cheeky asked me "So what would you rather be Rich or Famous?". Hey I just spent the past 10 minutes talking to you about stock and this is the return on investment I get?

Anyway Cheeky's questions as you all know are not to be taken lightly! So I answered almost immediately "Rich". Apparently I got it right!

"It is good to be rich right, especially in times of emergency" He said!

Emergency? Thinking about natural disasters, not being able to get to work becuase I have 2 demanding kids, emergency shopping trips I asked him "What kind of emergencies?"

"Like wanting a Finn Mc Missile". At our trip to the grocery store this week, he had badly wanted the latest Cars character (from the Cars 2 movie) and I had refused!

Remind me to hide my winning lottery from this guy!

[Edited to Add: A friend asked me "Whats it with kids and money?" and reminded me of a conversation we had a little while ago!

"Mommy how much money do you have in the bank? A million dollars?"

"No!"

"So do we have less or more?"

"Less.. definitely less!"

"A little less than a million?"

A couple of weeks later we visited India.. My son was found telling his Aunt "You know I wish my Dad has a million dollars.. he doesnt!" Sad face!

W-H-A-T?

And a couple more days later at the ATM.

The Non-Millionaire Dad went in to withdraw money while we waited in the car!

"Amma.. where does the money come to the ATM from?"

"Why doesnt Daddy just take all the money in the ATM?"

"Cheeky he can only take the money he has in his account".. that led to a long conversation about how money gets into the bank and how the money stays in the bank, and how saving the money was a good idea!

"I am not at all sure it is safe to leave all the money in the bank. I think we should just keep the money ourselves and not give any to the bank"

"But Cheeky they keep it safe for us"

"But Amma what if the bank gets robbed? There are so many bank robberies you know"

Someone has been reading one too many mystery novels! What did I do? What would I do... I put my head out the window and yelled to the Poor Dad "Can we go yet?"

And like Cheeky often says "I rest my case!"!!]

Trading on cute?

2011-07-21T18:25:00.001-04:00

I am dropping off the radar everywhere.... Blogging and Social networking included. And not many have noticed! I am surprised some handful noticed at all... What with friend lists running in multiples of 100, it's a miracle people notice my quiet existence! Why am I quiet? What with a pixie and a monkey at home all the time... One getting in trouble from being her pixie self, and the other from boredom... As you can imagine I have my hands pretty full!
The pixie is giving a new meaning to the word parenthood...this 1 yr old minx pretends to sleep..she will tightly scrunch her eyes closed...but forgets to stop grinning, so we figure her out anyway...and then she is bounding again! A couple of days ago..she was found giving her dad heart flutters as she repeatedly pretended to fall! Since when did 1 year olds learn to mock and tease?
She is in her terrible 2's already..she throws open every cupboard and drawer and raids them...repeatedly..multiple times a day. Why I bother cleaning up is a mystery I am yet to answer! A few months back we moved to a bigger place, so the kids will have more room to roam and grow! Big mistake...now they have more room to mess up! A friend who lives in a similar home gave me some money saving tips..she fashioned a gate for the stairway out of a folded cardboard box! Her 1.5 yr old stays out of it. My pixie figured out in 2 days how to slide at out and get in!! Now I ask you where is the time to blog?

And she is a true pixie..she gets away with a cute smile and grin..laughing silently at my frustration! Her brother summed it up for me this morning! She tried to con him out of his toy car ..she gave him a big smacky kiss and a cute smile. He is Cheeky..wiser than me... So he responded "Tootsie you can't always trade on cute you know" and walked away with his car!

Technologically Challenged

2011-03-16T14:29:00.001-04:00

The following post was in my drafts and I decided since it makes perfect sense even after all these months... my brain is still not back, I am still as technologically challenged as ever.. so here you go!!

I have it from good nay dubious authority that my post on my sleeplessness was boring! I claim exception due to the fact clearly stated in the post, my brain is on vacation... while on that, it is still not back! If you do find it tell it not to bother returning.. I am kind of enjoying this state I am in! Why you ask? In all honesty.. now I have something to blame for my stupidity ! :D

Its not like I have to try hard though... this generation is heading there.. there is an appliance for everything.. and for everything else there is an app on ipad! You never will have to think again so why bother carrying all that extra weight around!

And we are technologically challenged.. how you ask. We have 3 - now 4 people in our household - 5 computers, 2 pdas and 4 phones! A friend on hearing this asked "how many televisions?".. and I had to reply just 1.. however we have a computer that is capable of converting into a television.. so I guess that makes it 2? Not to mention just to turn on that one television you have to go through the receiver, change sources and use so much brain power you will be dizzy enough not to watch any program. Not to mention all the s-video and vga cables, audio and hd conversion cables we lug around so all our computers and other devices can be connected to this complicated array of equipment! Now I ask you between trips to best buy and best buy (we are like their vip customers.. they are considering giving us a room in there considering we practically live there), where is the time to watch tv and use all this equipment... we spend our time going to the store to buy more!! And that my friends is how we have come to be technologically challenged!

Deja vu.. I am talking too!

2011-03-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

Tootsie the little pixie learnt to do the princess wave! Yay!! Right? Think again... learning to talk and express only means one thing, soon the world will begin to understand her motives! The princess would wave every time we put her in her car seat and we were delighted! Yes.. now the little girl can say bye bye! So we showed off.. every time we met up with friends we would ask for a demonstration! And then I noticed something.. the hand wave was brought on the minute we met them... without prompting! I had a feeling of Deja vu.. and the sinking fear that my suspicions might be right! I will tell you why!

A few years back when Cheeky was a little baby he had no stranger anxiety. He loved to meet people and regale them with long winding tales, even before he could talk! My aunt sighed in relief and went on to tell me about the shy sister and cousin I have! When she was talking about our childhood stories, she told me this particular one about my sister. Apparently her stranger anxiety continued well into her toddler hood and this meant she could voice opinion. So the minute someone walked in the door, she would walk up to my aunt and ask "Iva eppo kalambuva" - "When will they leave?" and embarrass her!

So sure enough when my daughter started waving the minute she saw someone.. I knew it cannot be a coincidence. But I am a clever mom, so I started telling people "She waves for both Hi and Bye... confused girl!!", bear that smile and tell the pixie "Hi chollu" - "Say Hi". Now Tootsie is not called the pixie without reason! She figured she had to make her intentions clear! So now she accompanies her wave with a resound "Ba Ba" (Bye Bye)! Sigh.. history has a way of repeating itself! My only thanks to her is for sporting a smile while doing it.. maybe people can still be tricked!! And now I rush off to knock on wood!

First Words and Temper Flares

2011-02-14T22:32:00.000-05:00

Cheeky has always been true to his name.. Cheeky the monkey.. He claims he was even born in the year of the Monkey. However with Tootsie we miscalculated... when we named her Tootsie the Chipmunk, I am not sure what we were hoping for. A meek little follower of the monkey? But no, Tootsie has a personality and likes to assert that time and again. She is Tootsie the Pixie princess! Cheeky checked and has made a discovery... Tootsie was born in the year of the Tiger and a little tigeress she is.

Last night we waited outside the Pharmacy in the dark.. mom and son sniffling with a bad cold while Dad went in to get some re-inforcements. While I tried to scare Cheeky with tales of the bandits after dark and he fretted about guns and bullets and formed strategies to tacklen the bad guys with locks and phones. Tootsie yelled and screamed and growled like a little tiger decidedly scaring the bandits away!

Meanwhile it is a month of firsts in Tootsieville... first the rolling, then the creeping, the sitting and now the talking ! While we waited for the first word in eager anticipation.. and tried to prompt amma and dada out of her mouth in competition. Cheeky had made me proud and uttered Amma first.. what would Tootsie's first word be? Turns out it was neither.. her first word is mammam (as in food)! M thinks it is a testimony to my parenting skills that a 7 month old has to ask for her food. Well the tigeress that she is it comes intersperced with shouts of "AAAAA".... "AAAAAAA...mammam-mammam .... AAAAAAAA ...mammam-mammam" it goes! Well in any case, I am proud of the Pixie who is the only infant I know that hates milk. But alteast she knows her hunger!! ?? Even if she eats about 2 spoons full after all the frantic screaming and proceeds to observe the world and ignore mom and the spoon!

As for the temper.. we recently went for a vaccination. Well both my kids are talkers and love an audience. Tootsie hates for us to close the stroller canopy... she will punch it and yell tarzan noises till we open it out.. Then she will coo and smile for perfect strangers.. but if anyone tries to pick her up, beware, the pixie can pucker up and cry like she is badly hurt in the matter of milli seconds!!

Anyway about the vaccination.. the pixie befriended the nurse with her smiles and was all geared up to play! But in went the shots.. Bham and Bham! The pixie cried for like a second, but was so mad.. I handed her the rattler she loves and the furious princess flung it right out while yelling at the nurse "nainainainainai".. oh well that was probably her first word.. whatever it will turn into, it is a perfect expression of our anger!! :P

Between the Cheeky Monkey who wont stop talking and Tootsie the Tigeress Pixie who wont stop moving, tumbling, yelling and getting under all impossible places.. I have my hands full.. So I will sign off for now from Mayhem-ville...till later!

I tell you being a baby is hard work!!

2011-01-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

While friends and other 6 month olds are trying hard to crawl.. we decided to try a different tact. Lets try talking and co-ercing the object to us.. Maybe that orange balloon wants to come to me as badly as I want to get to it.
So while others will crawl the unique pixie princess, true to her name beckons to the orange balloon. After about 5 minutes of negotiation she decided to take matters to higher authorities.. She complained to mamma. But this mamma was of no help.. so she went back to pleading with the balloon. Finally she gave up and moved the 2 inches to get to the balloon. And after all the hard work, she touched the balloon and it dared to roll away! How maddenning.. so she yelled at the balloon ..."Memememememe" and rolled over to the next available object! The laptop.. now that looks like fun!!

I tell you being a baby is hard work!!

The tooth that got away...

2011-01-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

Many people think I am fearless... No I am not fantasizing, they have told me so! So unless they are laughing behind my back, I really do believe they think I am fearless. Now that I have you confused, time for the big confession... I fear dentists! I absolutely fear them.. But pretend not to. So when the questionnaire at the dentist's asked me "Do you fear dentists", I had to say no!! Nevertheless I hate going to the dentist.. My 6 year old assures me that dentists are here to help us and not hurt us.

However I finally decided to face the fear and stepped into the dentist's a few days back. Now it is common lore that dentist love your teeth and want to keep it. Also dentist love to have you back... Again and again and again. Let's face it you represent money! The love the dentist has in seeing my rotten teeth again and yet again, surpases my love for anything sweet. So I walked through the dreaded doors yet again today. Now extracting tooth is cake walk.. The difficult part is cleaning.. Keeping your mouth open for the duration and hoping you are not ingesting any chemicals! Eew!

So what would I do for 45 minutes I thought... Maybe write a blog in my head.. For I am going to blog about this monumental episode for sure! I had initially contemplated a facebook status message.. For isn't that the fashion these days.. Sharing of the pain I think it is called!
"stepping into the dentists office" I would say..about 10 people would "like" that comment.
"Boy do I hate keeping my mouth open for 45 minutes" I would say next.. If I am lucky 4 of those likers will comment to say "lol"

You get the idea... But then I decided why waste a wonderful opportunity.. Better yet I will blog about it and post the link on facebook! Then I will have 4 likes and if I am really lucky maybe someone will actually read my monologue? Now if you are one of those people who read before "like" ... Thank you so much.. You just made my day!

Anyway... Back to the dentist's the blog got written in about 5 minutes.. So what about the rest 40? Well 5 were spent in hyperventilating.. And trying hard to breathe through the nose. Because the good lady who propped open my mouth told me to! Another 5 went in wondering why she said that.. Did I walk in panting? I vividly recall breathing through my nose all my life... Are you sure I heard that right and so on.. Now lest I start hyperventilating again, I had to find another diversion... So for the rest half hour I applauded myself for not having become a dentist! All my dentist friends should forgive me... But I spent that half hour. Tin king of these poor souls who had to peer into other people's mouth and look at rotten teeth all day. Suddenly it was not so hard to keep that mouth propped open.. I had a muse!

The truth about Santa

2010-12-28T16:11:00.001-05:00

The Geeky Dad always had trouble with acceptance. He always tended to put a spoke in the wheels come Christmas. No it has nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas or anything.. He just wants credit when it is due. And he was upset about some fat guy taking all the credit when he worked so hard, bought the dear, coveted and pricey gifts (Seriously whats with these kids and their gifts? The Price tag seems to grow with them)... and hid them well! So this year he had been threatening me with not going a hunting for the perfect gift.. "Not if I cant take credit" said He!

Meanwhile Cheeky has always been a practical kid.. He has never wanted to sit on Santa's lap.. thinks its too "Cheesy". Yet a Santa picture adorns our mantle this year. Thanks to his friends, who wanted to see Santa. Cheeky sported a Sly grin and said "Yay! Lets go see the real Santa and take pictures" and went off with his Friend's family! Earlier when we were in Disneyland, he spotted some kids getting autographs from the Characters and asked me "Whats with these kids? Don't they know that is someone in a costume?". I knew then that this cant be the guy who claims to believe in Santa Claus.. there was something fishy.

Yet my son never failed to remind me that Santa would come on his shining sleigh on Christmas Eve. I asked him so what about the guy you took the picture with.. "Oh that guy is fake, the real Santa doesn't have time to sit around and take pictures" said Mr. Know-It-All.

"Where does Santa live?" I asked

"In the milky way galaxy" came the reply

"Huh.. that's pretty huge" Said I.

"I don't have to go looking for him, he will find me" came the reply

But he never failed to tell me what he wanted for Christmas. He would remind me 4 times a day "I am going to ask Santa for a Nintendo DS.. Because (Here is when the voice gets a bit louder and obvious) .. my mom wont let me have it". At this point I knew my 6-Going on 16 year old son was faking it big time! So a few days before Christmas I said "Look I am too busy to go Christmas shopping this year, so we are going to have to hope that Santa remembers ". And I looked pretty serious too.. so that prompted the cat out of the bag.

"Oh alright mom, I know" said the Cheeky Monster!

"Know what" I asked innocently

"That there is no real Santa, you guys are my Santa"

"Really, what about the milky way galaxy"

"You know I was making that up" Said he with a grin

"How did you find out?" asked I

"Oh I have known for a couple of years" said he

Now that was a shocker, and I thought my son was innocent.. at least when he was 4. And he revealed the big truth

"Well 2 years back I saw you buy a King toy at the store, a few days later it turned up on Christmas with a note from Santa. And I guessed the truth"

Whats more shocking than this is the fact that my son has actually been hiding the fact from me for the past 2 years and playing along.. talk about Cheeky!! But I have known all along too.. the whole charade seemed a bit too forced, so I suspected that my son was pretending too!!

Like friends remind me time and again.. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.. we are a matched pair!" And whats more this year we went Christmas shopping together, and pulled everything out 2 days early. When I admonished him, Cheeky declared "How does it matter?" .. and I agreed. Nevertheless old habits die hard, so on Christmas there were a couple of gifts waiting at the fire place. But this time there were no notes from Santa.

And there is always a lesson in there, so we are sending some money to charity this year. We have redefined Santa and are playing Secret Santa to some deserving kids in a remote village in Southern India. If any of you are interested, let me know and I will send you the details.

Thrills of Parenting - Cheeky Tales

2010-11-15T13:43:00.005-05:00

Every year the schools we go to (yeah so far we have kept the record.. we do not stay in a house for more than a year and that applies to the schools too)! Anyway.. the schools we go to have this lovely concept called “Star Student of the week” which they claim makes the selected kid feel special all of that week. However what it is really aimed at is making the parents sweat some. The arguments about favorite toys and books does not end and what’s more leads on to demands for fav toys and books. Now if we had to go shopping every time someone asked you for your favorite things I wouldn’t be a mom! So we argue through the week and the weekend we make and unmake our mind. But that’s not all.. we have to do things with Curious George and take pictures!! Sigh… and there is more!! Mommy (because Daddy won’t do it) has to write a letter or a poem about Cheeky!

Last year Mommy wrote this poem that made the kids laugh (Mind you I scribbled it in 5 mins that morning and did not intend for it to be funny.. but when I try to get sentimental apparently even Kindergartners have a good laugh!). This year we re-used the pictures and were about to re-use the poem when Cheeky declared he wanted neither a letter or a poem this year. He wanted funny stories! So this mommy sat slaving over the computer to come up with this. After all the effort I need to share it here! Who knows what the 6 yr olds will think of it.. let’s see what you think! (Remember this is addressed to 6 yr olds.. I am hard trying to make them laugh. I will have to find out what the verdict is!)

Our Son A
We have a nick name for A. We call him Cheeky. He is a funny guy sometimes and keeps us laughing.

When Cheeky was 10 months old his favorite toy was Pooh Bear. One day we went to a store and there was a huge pooh bear which was as tall as an adult. Little Cheeky loved this toy and kept looking at it. At that time he had begun saying his first words. He would say “baa” for come. So as we started leaving the store Cheeky started screaming “Poo baa Poo baa” at the top of his voice. And was very upset when Pooh wouldn’t come!

When Cheeky was 2 yrs old I had a broken thumb and had to go to the doctor every week to fix it. One day 2 ladies came in and started talking to Cheeky. They kept calling him “Ronak”. So I thought they had got his name wrong, or maybe they thought he was someone else. But they told me that Cheeky had told them his name was Ronak. I was confused. On asking him Cheeky said “But Mama I like the name Ronak and am going to be called that”. We had to plead with him to be called Cheeky.

When he was 2, Cheeky went to school one day and his teacher was talking about different occupations. The kind of jobs parents do. All the kids were telling the teacher that their mom was a doctor, nurse, teacher, manager and so on. It was Cheeky’s turn. Teacher asked him “What does your Daddy do Cheeky?”

Cheeky replied “My daddy hugs”

The note from school said "We discussed what we want to be when we grow up"

Mom: Cheeky did your teacher ask you what you wanted to be when you grow up?

Cheeky: Yes I said I want to be a firefighter.

Dad: Do you know you have to go into a fire and rescue people?

Cheeky: Yes. But I won’t go.Dad: But that’s what a firefighter does.

Mom: So what will you do when there is a fire?

Cheeky: I will be a NASCAR Driver.

I asked Cheeky one day “Do you want to write a letter?”

Cheeky who was almost 3 replied “Yes mommy can I write it on my laptop?”

I asked him “So what will you write”

Cheeky replied “The letter L”

When Cheeky was 3 he came to me one day and asked “Mama can we break the roof of our car?”

I asked “Why?”

So he said “Because then we will have a convertible”

We went to a friend’s place for lunch and she had made some yummy food. Cheeky was not much of an eater, he wanted to play. So our friend asked him “What do you like Cheeky, you can eat whatever you like”

Cheeky replied “I like the plate, can I eat that?”

Do you remember the nursery rhyme?

“Piggy on the railway picking up stones, Down came the engine and broke piggy’s bones”

Cheeky did not like Piggy being hurt so he would sing it like this

“Piggy on the railway picking up stones,Down came the engine and piggy not there”

Recently Cheeky’s aunt called him over the phone and told him she had bought him a piggy bank and would send it to him. Cheeky thought this over and then said “But aunty can you buy me an ATM instead?”

I hope you had fun laughing to these stories about Cheeky. We sure had a good time with our buddy Cheeky.

The little pixie called Tootsie

2010-11-10T15:14:00.003-05:00

"Don't pick her up so much you will regret it" I told my friends. "Don't give in, be strong" I advised them. "Stick to the rules" I gloated. Little did I know that I had gotten lucky. The little guy did not want to be picked up, he could stay entertained looking at little hands and feet. The light, the fan, the curtains and even the toys were his friends. Rules were not questioned.. And then he turned 6 and all hell broke loose. Because along came a little itty bitty girl named Tootsie and Mommy had to eat her words!
At 4 months the little chipmunk has a mind of her own. She has decided she loves to sit up and hates lying down. She wants to watch mommy work from the royal seat.. mommy's lap! She wants Mommy and Daddy to talk to her not into the phone! She voices her opinion to the doctor and the nurse. SO much the doctor turned to Mommy and said "She is a strong personality already".. A nice way of saying "Boy is she stubborn?" The little one who is lying next to mommy as she types this and stirring in her sleep! She is the little one we call Tootsie!
Now I will no longer hand out free advise to friends will I? Reality bites!! Tootsie is not a cry baby though.. she is a talker. So when she doesn't get her way she whines, coos, calls and finally shifts to a loud baritone so no one else can be heard! Aaaha now I got your attention pick me up smiles the little pixie. And everyone (Cheeky not excluding) dance to her tunes!

In other news..
Halloween was a hit. Like all 6 year olds, Cheeky had a full social calendar and celebrated Halloween for the entire weekend, starting that Friday. As we hopped from Parades to Carnivals to Haunted Houses, Dad spent some quality time with the lady bug. Mom watched as the Transformer along with a few other super heroes were turned loose on the streets on Halloween night. Among Pirates, Skeletons and Dracula's (Apparently the Princesses and Fairies and even the Witches did not want to have anything to do with this assortment of characters and took another route). No house was left unknocked. No alleyway was left unexplored. At the end of the night the little imps were already discussing their costumes for the next year and planning their next Halloween. The tired parent chaperons were just glad to drag our feet home behind the super heroes high with just the sight of all that Candy. And we planned how to hide the stash away from prying eyes and hands.
Cheeky is becoming a gangsta. While they don't call themselves a "gang", they call themselves "group". "They" are a group of 4 friends. They were 5 and one kid moved away... so now they are trying out different kids to initiate them into the gang! These kids plot and plan how to trick parents. Every afternoon they would sit and talk, and throw out their lunch so the unsuspecting parents would think they had actually eaten it! But we are not parents if we don't know that history repeats itself!! Every afternoon when I saw the clean box I kept getting flashes of the sand I threw in my box every afternoon to fool my mom and the milk that was drained into the sink every morning. But Geeky Dad was the one who wormed the truth out of the clever Cheeky's mouth.. So now he just brings the box home with all the food intact! Seriously where do these kids get their energy?
Meanwhile, I have been invited to lunch by "the gang" next week. Only if I bring cup cakes.. so I will take me and the cup cakes and meet the privileged 5! I heard from a reliable source (another unsuspecting parent of the gangsta's) that I would be ignored, but would get to listen in on some very interesting conversation. I must say I am looking forward to meet the gang in their setting!

This bedraggled mom has a messy house to turn her attention to.. but wait hear that? The silence.. the little pixie is asleep, maybe I will rest my head for a few before we have to do the pixie dance again!!!

Cheeky's new avatar - Courtship Counsellor

2010-10-25T13:13:00.005-04:00

Before I begin I must thank S for picking the topic :)

I have often thought this courtship thing keeps seeping down the ages .. but I would never have thought I would hear it from the mouth of the babes.

At 2.5 years Cheeky came home one afternoon and asked me "Amma what is Sexy? Caiden thinks my cold is sexy". And that was just the beginning.. ever since then I have been handling, batting away, skirting around questions along these lines!

Last year Cheeky the Kindergartner came home telling me how 2 boys from his class cornered a girl and moved her stealthily to the corner of the playground for a kiss. My jaw fell. The school woke up to this and introduced a no-touching policy!

A week back Cheeky came home with the day's hottest news. Rob and Kate were boy friend and girl friend. But you know what they broke up!

I asked "Cheeky why do you think they are boy friend and girl friend?"

Cheeky replies "Because Chris says so"

Me: "But maybe Chris is mistaken, maybe they are just friends"

Cheeky "No amma he is sure. I asked him and he said they were falling in love"

At this point I decided to stop the interrogation.. but that was not the end of it. Cheeky was asked the same questions by different members of the family and he repeated the tale with an all important look!

This friday he got into the car excited "Amma do you know the latest news? Rob and Kate got back together"

Me "Really"

Cheeky "Yes I think they kissed"!!

Now for those of you who dont know me.. I must tell you that I am Indian (Asian). We think dating comes after wedded bliss.. or well atleast that dating is followed by wedded bliss? Even f I do not fool myself thinking my son will think along these lines, I do think my son is 6!! So I sported that wide eyed look as I drove home and explained to Cheeky why he must wait till he is an adult before he can have a girl friend. So far he does not like "the girl germs" .. but there might come along a girl that will break that barrier.. what do you think?

My friend's 13 yr old daughter thinks it is unfair that 6 yr olds have boy friends and she can't go to the school dance.. About that, I will just have to lock Tootsie up for the next 20 years wont I?

The talker and the manipulator

2010-09-24T15:43:00.004-04:00

All is well in the Cheeky-Tootsie household. Cheeky and Tootsie are managing to keep Mommy on her toes. Tootsie is proving to be quite a talker and keeps cooing to anyone that will listen. And God forbid she is left alone for a minute.. she protests and screams like she is hurt.. and the minute she is picked up her real intent is made clear!! The picker upper gets a toothless grin and that I guess is supposed to make the heart pounding worth it!!
Its when Cheeky gets back from school that the fun starts.. while he narrates his day's stories.. tootsie talks non-stop. Cheeky is heard complaining "Amma ask her to stop interrupting me"
"Cheeky she is telling you what she did all day.. "
Cheeky: "But Tootsie you just ate and slept all day... how long will you tell me that? You have nothing interesting to say, let me talk"
He does have a point there..
Every afternoon we have a ritual. Cheeky gets home, takes his piggy bank (The fantasy aunt is responsible for this contraption) and counts his life's savings. He reminds me of my grand-dad who would count his money every day! Anyway Cheeky gets all left over dimes and cents lying around the house! So when he counted out the big pile of coins in his piggy bank he found he has the fortune of one dollar and 21 cents. And he went around proclaiming this to everyone that will listen. Then he came to me one afternoon and said, "Amma I want to buy myself a toy with my money".
Amma: "Yeah sure you can buy whatever 1$ will buy you"
Cheeky: "Ok I want a nintendo Ds"
Amma:" But that costs 200$"
Cheeky: " So what you give me the rest of the money for it"
Amma: "Do you even know how much the rest of the money is?"
Cheeky: " Yes 199 dollars"
Amma: "But Cheeky you need to earn your money"
Cheeky rolling his eyes: "Amma adults earn money, kids get it from their parents"
At this point I decided to withdraw from my losing argument and maintain status quo.. So I did the wisest thing and walked away. However the conversation was far from over. The next day Cheeky began negotiating when he would get Nintendo DS.. Next week moved on to this summer to when he turns 7. Meanwhile Geeky Dad was blissfully unaware of this whole ruckus. He arrived from an out of town trip a few days later and was waylaid.
Cheeky: "Daddy what did you get me from your trip?"
Dad: "Nothing"
Cheeky: "Daddy are you kidding me"
Dad: "No Cheeky I was on a business trip I did not buy you anything"
Cheeky: "Maybe I should check your bag"
Meanwhile mom thought she was being clever and told dad "Give him a coin for his piggy bank". Dad handed Cheeky a dime. Cheeky perked up "Daddy I need some money for a toy... I am short of a few dollars".
Daddy rummaging through his wallet looks up: "How much?"
Cheeky: "199 dollars"
Sigh!! When fantasy aunt gifted him a piggy bank, Cheeky told her he wanted an ATM instead. Why couldnt she listen??

And then she smiled...

2010-08-10T00:40:00.007-04:00

I sit here night after night asking the same question.. will tonight be the night? Will it be tonight that miracles happen.. the earth and the sky move, my stars align and my daughter chooses to sleep! And night after night she assures me that it is not time yet!! Every time I glance at the clock I calculate.. I am so thankful for my math .. if she sleeps for 3 hrs from now (like she is supposed to) .. then she will get up at x hrs and I will get oh wait where is my notepad.. x - the time now.. oh right that is 3 hrs of sleep.. but the hours tick away and she is not dozing off!! Instead I sit upright holding her against me so she can sleep in fits and spurts and I can live in constant fear of dozing off and dropping the precious bundle!! Sigh!! Like she will let me, a slight slip of the arm and I am reminded with a squeal.. and I am on high alert yet again (as alert as I can possibly be...)

Don't believe me? Come meet me and you will figure out like my neighbor did.. that my brain is out on vacation! I realised this the other day.. I stood breathing some fresh air for the precious minutes my daughter would deign to sleep.. baby monitor in hand. Meanwhile the imp zoomed past on his scooter.. keeping up his vigil on mommy! Between them they have a pact, when one rests the other takes over! So as I stood there (trying) to talk to my neighbor and the words eluded me. I seemed to have forgotten english and stood there grappling for my vocabulary! And that is when it occured to me, my brain must be on a vacation.

The next day I called my friend who is a new mom herself to check if my theory was right.. and as we spoke for an hour about diapers and baby poop, we were certain that we had lost it completely! M came home that evening and as I started telling him my woes I forgot what I was going to talk about. Now if I did not have enough signs here was one sure one! So I decided I needed a break and a hobby! Now blogging is a good enough hobby so is mindless surfing of the net, if I could get to a computer!

Now what kind of hobby can you pursue with a baby who refuses to leave your lap and arms? I got myself a netbook.. the hubs thinks I just needed an excuse to go get a mini laptop.. after all I have been angling for one for a long time now. And now I have been able to build a perfect case! Hey it is not like I got an IPad right... I could not build a strong enough case for 2 of those in the household! Sigh! The woes of my life!! M if you are reading this.. remember what I told you "Sharing is a good habit" .. so when can we swap and share? After all you need to go earn the bread and butter.. now hand it over!

And as I sat there in this woe begone state of mine contemplating my lost sleep (I talk about sleep day in and day out!! I am beginning to think people are running away from me! I wonder why!!) .. anyway as I sat there one morning at 5 am she smiled! The sleep melted away and incredulity stepped in. Here I was sitting fatigued after an all nighter... mentally cursing M who was travelling again.. who had the audacity to choose crowded airports, skipping timezones, untimely meals and strange hotels over a pleasant time with his family of sleepless women and bouncing imps! And she smiled.. her first ever smile on the dawn of her first month bday.. I gaped mouth open! Later that day the doctor asked me if she had smiled yet.. I was still dazed as I answered that yes indeed she had. And needless to say bored her with a monolgue of sleepless nights and mocking smiles!! The doctor now has a restraining order against me.. (puzzled expression!!) As for me, I sit today yet again sleepless and I await the second toothless grin!!

P.S. A friend told me sometime back (when I was pregnant actually.. why he chose that time to break the news to me is beyond comprehension.. but still as a true friend I think he was enlightening me!!?? Or as my luck seems to be lately.. he was mocking me as well I guess).. anyway he said "when you have 2 kids that is when true parenting starts". At that time I brushed off the comment with an intelligent blank look and a knowing fake smile.. but today I look back at those words and the meaning is beginning to dawn on me!! Oh my we are in for some interesting years ahead I say!

Letting Cheeky in on the little big secret

2010-07-28T20:51:00.004-04:00

We toyed with the idea of telling Cheeky after the 3 months had passed.. but we had to visit the doctor with Cheeky in tow.. and there was all the barfing he would end up watching! Either he would “ew” it or maybe just maybe worry (who am I kidding uh?) about why his mother was trying to throw her insides out every morning! Not to mention the fact that she was always found languishing on the couch! So we decided to tell him.. and went about it all wrong!
“Cheeky guess what we are going to have a baby join our family” we said
Silence.. more silence
“Cheeky?”
“Oh No” he exclaims
“When ?” he says with such a pained look on his face I thought I was going to cry (well between my mood swings Cheeky could hardly be blamed for that)!
“It will be sometime in July 2010 Honey” say we!
“And that is going to be the worst day of my life in 2010″ says he?
“Cheeky” we say in unison in absolute horror!
He explains “But Mommy I am too young to have a baby yet!”
Sigh! “Cheeky not you, mommy is going to have the baby, you are going to have a brother or a sister”
Then he sighed.. a huge sigh of relief! The funny guy “Then let it be a brother” he beamed!
“But God will decide hon” say we and before he loses the smile ask him “So what do you think we should name it?”
“If it is a boy – Jack” he says
“And if it is a girl?”
“Lets name her Shreya” says Dad
“Or Asin or Trisha or Priya Mani” chimes Cheeky belting out the names of all tamil lead female actors! My oh my.. at 5 if he does this I wonder what he would do at 25!!

If you expect a happily ever after, think again. We sat at the doctor’s office a few days later and the doctor was busy talking to Mama. Cheeky whispers to his Dad “So you going to marry mom again?”
Dad bewildered “No why?”
“Then how do you have that second kid now?”
“Shush Cheeky lets talk about it later ok” says a red faced Dad!
And later.. Mom was posed the same question, but she was now ready and armed “We ask God Sweety and he decides when to give us the next baby”!
“Remember how you prayed to God for a brother or sister last year?” I said congratulating myself on my quick thinking...
“But then I told God not to bother and that I would like a pet instead” he says eyeing the tummy!

Despite the ultrasounds and weekly pictures from parenting website I am sure the arrival of Tootsie was what convinced Cheeky. Now Tootsie has a tough act to beat.. following the Cheeky Brat and I sure have my work cut out for the next 20 + years! So how did you break the news to your first born and how did he/ she react? Do Share ,...

(Image source: http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/16/1650/N1ZGD00Z/laura-monahan-hope-baby-hands-and-feet.jpg)
[p.s. The flip side of blogging - The out of town hubs and friends gathers updates from my blog rather than hearing my long winding tales on the phone!!! Sigh!!]

What's it with me and the flooding!

2010-07-26T20:31:00.005-04:00

A few months back in good old Charlotte I donned my slacks and crisp shirt one morning. Packed 3 full bags - One the most important Lunch, the other what my work people forced me to lug along my laptop and the third my make up and candy stash with my wallet in my purse (quite as important I would say). I was ready to get on the commuter train to downtown and pretend to be an all important person in the corporate world! Meanwhile I had to keep my part of hte morning deal, wake Cheeky. The hubs had the harder part getting him ready for school.. As we stood 2 sleepy heads, one straight out of bed and the other all set for work but still sleepy and quite pregnant too.. We stood there in front of the sink and opened the tap and gush we were both drenched and the water kept gushing out while I watched in horror without any understanding. A pipe had burst on us.. A few precious minutes later sense prevailed and the hubs and I managed to turn off the water valves.. but the damage was done! That was quite an adventure you would say right?

But little did I know that the phrase "History repeats itself" would hold so true in my life! Last afternoon the hubs took off on a trip (carefree that he is)... and I struggled with my 2 little imps. The minute I rested my back one or the other one would pipe up!! And on one such occassion I noticed some water in the kitchen. Investigation proved the forbidden door was leaking (we have 2 forbidden doors in our tiny little apartment.. 2 forbidden doors and no storage!). This door housed the water heater which had sprung a leak. A call to maintenance later we found the heater had to replaced. That took the better part of my afternoon and I sighed and accepted a ruined rest time!

Later that evening I switched on the washer and my dad (who is visiting by the way) got ready to take an evening stroll) and lo behold he walked into a big pool of water in what used to be the kitchen! It was the washer this time. Tootsie began to scream right this instant and Cheeky thought this was splash planet and decided to play in the "big puddle" as he called it! I screamed like a banshee at the emergency maintenance call center ("We have paged maintenance ma'am there is nothing more we can do"! I am going to call 9-1-1 screamed the crazy woman!). My dad tried hard to keep the water from the carpet. And then sense prevailed. I twisted myself into a boomerang shaped spring toy while I groped in the dark behind the immovable washer for the valves. It was the wet kitchen with water steadily seeping into the carpets that bounced me back in shape.. or it would have taken an entire army to straighten me up! An hour and a half later maintenance arrived to tell me they would be back in the morning as I seemed to have everything under control. But you have seen no wrath as that of the mom of 2... "You will do no such thing.. you will clear the mess in the carpets right now" said I.. and the guy rushed to get a vaccum, rip out the carpets and run a blower to dry the place! While I settled to a night of owl-hood with my little infant!

And M is frolicking on his "business" trip! Now just you wait mister.. this aint funny!! You better have a good story!! Now what are the odds that this happen to me not once, not twice but thrice (and 2 times on the same day?) .. some one out there has some sense of humor I say!

(Img: http://www.porthuron.org)

(DISCLAIMER: THESE BLOGS COME UN-EDITED... I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MISTAKES.. SIGNED FROM ZOMBIE LAND)

Introducing Tootsie the Chipmunk!

2010-07-22T22:38:00.005-04:00

Not so long ago I talked about mid life crisis... apparently when crisis strikes you take action! And boy has my past year been eventful.. granted I have not been blogging quite as much, but I have a story I promise ya!

It all started not too long ago when I was trying to figure out the direction my life was going.. I was tired of just floating along being superfluous and drinking off the margarita cup all day while watching daytime soap operas and turning from a potato to a pumpkin! So I decided to introspect and discovered a mid life crisis!

Then I hit the gym, became a model and lived happily ever after... you wish! Oh yes I hit the gym and got back into my pre-Cheeky clothes (finally!!) and took a long vacation to recuperate from doing nothing :) Back home from my long holiday I took up creative writing as a career.. after all I spent so much time online might as well make it lucrative right? I found that the more creative I get, people did not want to pay me.. just wanted me to write for nothing. However if I wrote boring monlogues on things that I had no knowledge off, I was paid a decent sum! Go figure! So finally I bit the bullet and returned to my IT Career and was all set to become a career woman! But remember the guy up there who needs to have the last laugh! After years and years of contemplation and procrasination, I decided to take the plunge into motherhood part 2. So here I was fighting nausea and commuting to work on the local train!

But there is more, our itchy restless feet put on its act again and we did a coast to coast move in April.. About 6 months pregnant and working full time with a 5 yr old kid who has a wild independent streak, that was bound to be fun! Now I was a work at home mom and all I needed to complete the picture was a mini van. So we did that too.. bought a mini van that I could drive around to complete the mommy image! And Cheeky never fails to remind me that it is "Mommy like"

An accident with a knife, slitting open a thumb; a mini surgery on Cheeky and a grand tour of the mountains on my first drive around in the mini van (call for details... ) later I was ready to pop... 38 weeks preggers I stopped working and started fretting about getting prepared for the baby. Two days later Tootsie was born!

True to our image Cheeky the monkey is now followed by Tootsie the Chipmunk... The family like others say is complete with a boy and a girl.. but by no way regular .. so join us for our next round on the parenting roller coaster as we raise the Chipmunk and the Monkey in our role as zoo keepers :)

(pic courtesy: http://susty.com)

Up and Away....

2010-04-04T17:33:00.005-04:00

Oh well... it is no longer a shock or a surprise when I announce a move. It has become a way of life for us and a matter of fact news for my friends. "Oh well .. the Cheeky's are moving again" I can hear them say! So yes we are moving... again! There was a time in my life when a move meant I would get all flustered, call family and friends, make lists, start packing .... and do a myriad other things including having mega sized meltdowns.

This time I know somehow everything will get done. I will wave a magic wand and everything will disappear into that semi truck... I will fret and worry as much as I want... it will get there only when the moving company wants it to (in other words in their own sweet time). The house can be cleaned a dozen times now, but when the moving company loads up; it will look like a hurricane just swept through! So why bother? Right? So I decided to sit down, relax and blog!! In fact in a long time in months, I am at a loss for things to do.. no laundry to do, no ironing to do, no cooking and no grocery shopping.. we will all just sit around in limbo and savor our last few days in Charlotte!

While in this self imposed limbo, when we try and close our eyes to the messy pig sty we call home now; we tell ourselves "In the new place.. we will be nothing short of perfect!" Yeah right we know that ain't happening!! So we decided to explore the still unexplored parts of Charlotte. And we headed to the much talked off "old money" zone of Charlotte. This is where they have gianormous brick buildings enclosed behind massive gates. Where the pride of the "South" runs deep, and the families can trace lineage back to centuries. Amidst this little fairy tale world is a mall called South Park Mall... where you wil find Burberry and louis Vitton (Names I can't even pronounce right). We walked into Sunglass hut and found Prada and Gucci and all other big names ... sun glasses that cost a mini fortune. Ermenegildo Zegna and other such names that will never make its way out my mouth!

So anyway... we went to this mall, surfed the stores and the hubs bought a ridiculously expensive designer sunglass of unpronouncable name and undeterminable value ... now for the sake of our southern pride we will leave the cost undisclosed! Meanwhile Cheeky and I true to our spirits walked to a book store and rummaged the bargain aisle where I worried over spending 6$ on a bargain book and the hubs gave me a hard time about carrying my "books" to California. A hard look at the sunglass later I won my way and Cheeky added a $2 elastic band to our loot... "$2.25 for elastic bands? this better be good mister" I told him! Apparently this is the latest rage in kindergarten world.. silly bands they are called! I call it scamming! A brownie and french fries later Cheeky and I wore a big satisfied smile on our faces as we trodded along side the big guy! My are we easy to please... the swaroski's and tiffany's did not even get a sideways glance from me! tch tch!!

We spent some time geekishly gawking at the cool IPad though and decided to call it a day! For a long time I have been intrigued by the Abercrombie and Fitch stores and their likes. The dingy interiors and the stylish manequins have me intrigued. So we walked in and looked at the highly priced torn pairs of jeans and I thought of my grandmom. I walked to what they call "Betty's" section and found these pair of cute looking really short shorts... my son naively asked "Are these for kids?" .. No hon "They are for mommy". He took a good look and declared "And they are ripped up.. its not even funny! Don't you buy them!" you bet! The sales guy was giving me a funny look I couldnt resist telling him "I know what you are thinking.. they dont make clothes my size do they?" as I walked out. He had a good laugh for sure!! As for me.. I dream on, I told the hubs I will go back and buy those shorts and skirts if only for spite! I will make myself fit into them even if it kills me! "Ofcourse you will hon" he said .. the smart guy knows when to let things be!

And I am back.. with more Cheeky-isms!

2010-02-24T08:56:00.001-05:00

First let’s do away with the pleasantries and get that over with… and then we will move on to what everyone has really been waiting for ... Cheeky Tales!
But first, why has this blog been in hibernation for so long? Because I decided to join corporate America, get off my behind and get a real job! So here I am working a full time job and handling a cheeky imp at home... and between that and homework (no I don’t mean doing the dishes... I mean good old homework my kindergartner brings home), I am left gasping for breath!! So what does being part of the corporate world entail? Getting up at 5:30 AM every morning to don stiff looking clothes, the long train ride to downtown where all the action is... a quick nap on this train ride that almost has me shunting up and down the commuter corridor every morning! Almost but not quite, for miraculously I have managed to shoot up at my destination every morning and hurry out into the cold wintry day for another fun day lost in meetings and staring at the PC! But enough of that right? Who wants to hear about my work place? Let’s move on to the entertainment for today – Cheeky Tales!
A few weeks back we were checking out some new development in a nearby community… no we are not buying a home, we were just pretending we are adults and looking at some! Anyway, Cheeky was being himself and was on a roll! So while he argued with us why he had to have the biggest room of the house and so forth, the sales lady looked on. And started having a conversation with him… After he told her how OLD he was, she asked him “My you are so smart, do you want to come work for me?” Immediately the imp retorted “So what happens if I don’t know where a piece goes?” As you can imagine, I am a little slow on the uptake and so was this lady, so together we chimed “What was that sweetie?” And he says “So what will you do if I don’t know where a piece of the house goes? Will you fire me?” Ouch! The recession is really catching on if a 5 yr old is worrying about job security!
The Cheeky tales go on and on... but more on that later! I do need to get to work, and before I go here is this morning’s conversation for you! A sleepy Cheeky walks over complaining about being hauled out of bed at 7 am again! Just who asked you to romp about in bed after you were tucked in last night? Anyway, the hubs tries to cheer him up saying “Guess what, they said on the news that it was going to snow today!” That usually perks the imp up, and as expected it worked! An excited imp made a bee line for the patio… and saw the drizzle outside! And asked “But it is only raining, did the weatherman tell you it was going to snow?” “But how does he know, does he Google it up?” He might as well be, for he never does get it right does he? So with these life truths, I am going to be signing off for the day. More fun tales to come… watch this space!

What's with the brag -fest?

2009-11-30T18:10:00.002-05:00

I am often encountered by parents who ask me why my son is not in Kumon or Abacus or some such thing! I want to say "He is in school you know?" and sometimes do try to explain to them why! All parents want the best for their kids. And we know that the first few years of the child's life is when the brain grows the fastest. And this is why some parents think it is absolutely essential to make sure their kid is "2 grades ahead" like a friend said!
I must admit that the thought crossed my head too. My son was 3 and people all around me where teaching their kid new tricks while I was struggling to let my neighbor understand why I did not care if he did not color between the lines! Then it occured to me, that my son would probably be behind in the "rat race" as Sumana put it. Noon also talked about this in her blog post and brought back memories of this time. So I picked up the phone one day and called the Kumon center and almost went to look it up! Meanwhile I spoke to a few people and they told me Kumon was about repetitive learning.. now I have no clue if this is true or not or what they really teach at Kumon. But while I was researching all this, I got thinking. If my son's brain is developing so fast in these years then so is his personality right? Would I rather he be academically strong or be a more rounded individual? I never got around to the Kumon classes.
A friend asked me a year back when she was choosing a school for her kid what I would reccomend? I said "I would look for a place that has the most toys, that gives the kids the freedom to explore and have fun and that is very secure"! "But what about the curriculum" she asked! "Your kid is 3 for heaven's sake, let her learn to love school before worrying about academics and grades" I advised. Well I was probably the only one who told her that, later she said she actually gave it a lot of thought and followed my advice. My son started full time school only this year.. till last year he would go only 3 days a week.
This year he started Kindergarten and I was really finding the homeworks he lugged home rather strange and amusing, but learning to live with it! Till one day he brought back a paper home with a grade on it. It said A+. I smiled and put the paper away, soon this became a routine thing. They had graded tests in school and I was starting to get mildly annoyed. Still I assumed that they probably just gave all the kids an A+. Then one afternoon my son came home very upset and worried. He was worried that he had not drawn a zebra right and would not get an A+ in his paper. I was so incredulous.. what now they are grading zebras? After assuring him I did not care what his grades where as long as he was having fun I had a talk with the teacher. Turns out they never did grade the zebra. After a lot of thought I gave my feedback to the teacher and then the director that they should stop grading these children and guess what they agreed with me! Some kids had got B- and D's and had been so upset over that! Like I said "This is a pressure they can live without.. atleast not at 5!".
So back to the Kumon classes. Recently a friend asked me why I was not sending my son to Kumon and lectured me about how the brain develops at lightning pace these years! I asked her, "So tell me if that is true then by sending him to school and Kumon and focussing so much energy for academics you are letting only one part of that brain develop arent you?" Cheeky is a sports fan and goes to a sport camp once a week. We are waiting for the dawn of the new year to start him on Taekwondo (that earned me a snigger from some parents too.. you want to teach your son to fight?)! And in summer I want him to join a music class and swimming lessons. Maybe some tennis too if he can fit it in.. however, I take the cue from my son and these are all the activities he has chosen for himself! At this age I want him to have maximum exposure to all aspects of personality and physical development. There are somethings you can't leave till too late and personality is one such thing!
Meanwhile I must say that Cheeky does work on some workbooks at home. He is also encouraged to do puzzles and mazes, word search, and word puzzles. He has learnt to handle money and tell time, read fluently and do advanced math problems for his age. However he does all this because he enjoys it and has fun while doing it.. it is not another exercise to do, it is a fun activity to do! We miss our afternoon soujourns to the park (what with more long school hours) but we love to get out on weekends and give our legs a stretch!
This post is to all those parents out there who have to ask "So why is your son not in Kumon?" I am sure they have their reasons too.. and I am sure their kids have enough fun too.. atleast I hope they do! Mine is having a blast! What say?

That shoe fetish!

2009-11-26T16:07:00.003-05:00

I have written many posts about shoes.. so much you must be thinking it is an obsession with me! Well shoes has always been a pet peeve with me! I have always felt my legs were oddly shaped and that it is so hard to find the perfect shoes for me! Not to mention, I like the shoes to be just perfect too.. I hate broad shoes, I hate those that are too narrow, I hate stilettos but would like to leave behind the flat shoes (remember the height difference between the hubs and me). So the quest has been on for finding the perfect shoes!

When I was foot loose and fancy free (naah not literally, I mean when I was not married), I went home one weekend to spend the time with my parents. My room mate of those days had a shoe fetish and literally hoarded shoes. I on the other hand had landed with one pair of sandals on my foot that broke on the very first day! We had spent the next day hunting down the perfect pair of sandals in a new town! We had ended up finding some really cool places (This was in Jayanagar 4th block - Bangalore.. for those of you who have been there, you know why I did not at all regret hobbling around with one broken shoe)!

I went home one weekend with a re-awakening. I needed shoes! I dragged my dad to one shoe store after another in the hunt! I wanted to get 5 pairs of shoes. I don't really remember what else I got, but one of them would continue to remain with me for years. I wore that lovely pair of high heels to my wedding reception (so I could atleast match the Hubs height). Year later I had lost track of that favorite shoe! This year on my vacation my heel fetish hit me again and I was found shopping at shoe sales to find some shoes I could bring back with me! Nostalgia struck and I began the hunt for that favorite heels. After much searching my uncle told me it was probably hidden somewhere in my grandmom's home as he had heard my grand father complaining about all my shoes taking up so much space!

So one afternoon I made my uncle hunt the shoe down and bring it to me. To his credit he did warn me "I am sure you really weren't expecting this" he said as he handed me the bag of shoes. And there in the heap lay my precious pair with its sole peeling off! I wonder if my grandmom used it to hit something? Maybe it made a good hammer? The heel was broken in two!

My grandmom was capable I tell you. Remember the time long ago when Stone wash jeans came into fashion. My mom would mumble about these ridiculous looking jeans that looked like they were a million years old. But who listened? I got a pair and treasured them. About a month later they went missing and how! I went home to a beaming grandmom! I am not sure if this is possible now, but in those days (God do I feel old) you could give your old clothes to the plastic vendor and he would give you plastic goods in exchange for the clothes. So my beaming grandmom told me "Remember your old jeans that were so faded? I gave them to the guy and got a bucket (pail)" You've got to be kidding me I thought but just ran in to check and confirm my suspicion. I couldn't crush her bouyant mood, so I said "Wow that must be worth 20 bucks.. congratulations" while inside I cried!

Now back to the shoes! Remember how I wrote about the made to order shoes for kids that were available on this website? I wish I could get those! I need some made to order shoes this instant. The 10 or so pairs in my closet do not suffice! Meanwhile Cheeky wants yet another pair of shoes.. he claims his feet have grown again. I think it is just a ploy to get shoes that tie up. He has been caught chanting "Loop, Sloop (whatever that means) and pull" and he just now told me he is going to practice on my shoes. I better be off to extricate my fav sport shoes from the imp's hands!

Girls! Jewellery! Princesses! Sigh!

2009-11-25T10:09:00.007-05:00

Sigh! I was looking at all the black friday ads and they have so much fun stuff for girls this year! However we will be spending another year looking for deals on car toys and adding to the never ending, unmanageable pile in the closet! Not to sound like an ungrateful mother (I do adore Cheeky and his retorts), I would have loved to have a girl! Considering that I got a pink cradle for my little one (Cheeky is never going to forgive me for that) should tell you something! We only found out the sex of the baby when he was born, till then I was sure it was a girl and the Hubs was definite it was a boy. So we avoided the pinks and the blues and got the yellows and the greens! However when it came to the cradle, there was only one option available on that day! PINK! And the hubs had chosen to leave me to it while he caught up on work {wink}, so I made the monumental decision and dragged a pink cradle home.. and jinxed fate I think!

Ever since I have been trying to fulfill my shopping desires by shopping for my niece! It is rather strange the amount of time I spend at a store looking at girly stuff! As I looked longingly at the Princess paranephelia in the black friday ad and told the Hubs, maybe we should buy some of those. He looked at me like I had lost my mind (but of course) and said "You aren't going to be seeing S (my niece) anytime soon and most of our friends do have boys"! Very true! Sigh!

This year I went to India on a vacation and was seen scouring the streets of Delhi for costume jewellery. My son came along to every store I stopped at and rolled his eyes while he chatted with his grand dad on why his mom seemed to have lost her mind (or some such thing!). He seemed to just barely tolerate my penchant for jewellery. I tried to model some for him.. after the first 2 were met with "Mommy you look very pretty", the next time I modelled he declared "Dont you have enough already, lets go and look at some toy fighter jets"! Sigh!

I did not stop of course! Later in Chennai I went shopping for my niece and got her some awesome girl jewellery! She absolutely loved them and wore them to a wedding we attended. In 5 minutes of dressing them, my son had grease on his sleeves while my niece sat there like a doll in all her finery! Now I have been admiring the Girl's Jewellery on this website. Their assortment of pearls and jelly bean necklaces, the cutest charms and bangles have me sighing yet again!

Meanwhile it has earned me yet another exasperated look from my son! But what does he know... maybe my niece will like more gifts! Or maybe I can wear some of those jelly beans myself! What say?

Guns in Schools - God Bless America

2009-11-13T12:18:00.006-05:00

I have not been that active on blogger these days... have been trying multiple stuff to see how much the writing world will tolerate me! Meanwhile Cheeky is having fun turning me around in circles! He is celebrating 40 yrs of Sesame Street today with a trip to Sesame street live program. I meanwhile have been twiddling my thumbs today.. and decided to come online and share with you an article I wrote for Momaroo this week. I would like to hear from you what you think!

Image Source

I was shocked to see the headline that made its way to my inbox this morning " Gunman holds school principal hostage in NY". After a week of horror with the Fort Hood shootings followed the very next day by the shootings in Orlando, I was very upset to read this news. I have often wondered how I would feel when I have to pack my son off to public school next year. And the one thing I have not been able to get over is the possibility that someone might get there with a gun in hand.
Earlier this year I watched the news incredulously as they showed a story about a 6 yr old first grader who had brought a loaded gun to school. The little boy had taken the gun from his father's verhicle. The father was arrested and the kid was expelled from school. Later the kid's punshment was reduced to a suspension and he was accepted back in school after a week's suspension. Thankfully no one was hurt!
However, this is not the case in most scenarios. I was looking up the statistics and stumbled across the Brady Campaign. Here is a list of school shootings in the recent past. Be it 15 and 16 yr old teenagers who just shot out in the parking lot, random drive by shootings, or younger kids who simply wanted to show off a gun to a friend. The very fact that these episodes happen show us that guns are easily available and accessible to children.
And why not? 31 states have legal right to carry laws. Anyone in the United States over 18 and without a criminal record can own a gun! Why would I not be worried to send my 5 yr old to school next year? Why would I step out of my house without the dread clutching my heart? Why don't we get tighter gun laws?
Meanwhile, the gunman in NY was apprehended and found to be a 40 yr old former student of the school. No one was injured.
Please share your thoughts on gun control and how you think we can lead a safer life in this free country?
You can find the original on www.momaroo.com. I would also like to invite all you mommy bloggers and others out there to share your stories and experiences on momaroo. Just go to submit post tab abd submit your post and if we like it (yeah right.. see how I am showing off :P.. I am sure I will love it, I love all your wonderful writings!), you can be on the front page on Momaroo. And whats more you can link to your own website too! Isnt that great? See you soon

A big hearty southern breakfast

2009-11-01T15:43:00.002-05:00

I recall the movie My Cousin Vinny. Set in Alabama, Vinny is shocked when he sees the guy in the restaurant making breakfast with a huge laddle full of butter “Haven’t you heard of the ongoing cholesterol problem in the country” he asks. I got to experience this in reality this weekend!

I have always known that southerners are fabled to eat hearty meals. I have seen it in the movies read about it in the books but was yet to experience it! I am a light eater in the morning. Coming from a culture where the mid day meal is the heartiest packed with loads of carbs and centered around eating a lot of white rice, I have followed this all my life. I start my day with a glass of water and then rush through a small tiny bowl of cereal after an hour or maybe 1 banana and a coffee! I have never been able to eat more than that. Now my lunch is bound to have bowl after bowl of white rice with spicy concoctions and a side of vegetables. I am a vegetarian, so I have to fill up on this to survive, that is my excuse!

This Saturday however I had to make another trip on the quest for “that elusive flu vaccine ” (more on that later) and couldn’t fit a breakfast into my schedule. So after struggling with my 5 year old and that flu vaccine, we made a trip to a diner for we were famished! We were handed a 4 page bound menu for breakfast! I looked incredulously at the hubs who was struggling to understand the multitude of combo’s and sides that we could possibly have. I never knew there were so many options for breakfast trust me! The hubs likes to have a hot breakfast and it usually comprises of toast and maybe if we have the energy a couple of scrambled eggs! This is our idea of hot breakfast. On weekends I make the exception and make some rice pancakes a la Indian style and I think I have excelled myself. And here I was staring at at least a 2 dozen options for breakfast and was almost having a dizzying fit! My 5 yr old however was unfazed as he decided to have an egg and some fresh fruit!

I on the other hand ordered a combo and if I was a camel I wouldn’t have had to eat for the next 15 days. There were the grits resting in enough butter to coat all my stomach and intestine I assure you. Haven’t heard of grits? Its a porridge made of corn! Looking at the butter I raised an eyebrow at the hubs and asked if we better call emergency before we have that heart attack? This was followed by a plate of roasted potatoes that oozed oil, 3 scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach, cheese and grease, some buttered toast that literally melted in my mouth and a big bowl of fruits followed by a large glass of juice to help drown all that cholesterol! I refused the ham, or I would have had that resting on my plate too! And now I know what a big hearty southern breakfast is! I was left looking around in amazement at all the people who sat around me and ate that meal unfazed! I was seen peering into a lady’s plate to make sure she got all that butter too.. but I am sure they all ran home from the diner. Me, I sat in my car and went home to stretch in front of the television and try to ingest those 2000 calories of breakfast, while my rice cooker was cooking up a big bowl of rice for lunch! Sigh!

(Note: The picture courtesy of google images does not describe my hearty southern meal as the egg portion is a lot smaller as are the bread. The fruits are missing too.. ) Makes you want to try a big hearty southern meal doesn’t it? For all the cholesterol I assure you the meal tastes absolutely heavenly even if it left me with a pounding headache as my stomach tried to process all that fat for the rest of the day!

[This post has been cross posted on WorldNewsVine. Please go to my post and vote for me! Thanks for your wonderful support]

Outrageous Halloween?

2009-10-25T15:19:00.000-04:00

Many of you have been reading my blog the past years.. and some of you have told me you liked it while others have thought I was way out of your realm talking about kids and parenting!;) I am now doing a lot of freelance writing.. writing some exciting and some other run of the mill articles! One very exciting thing I have been doing is writing some articles as a columnist on Worldnewsvine. The next couple of weeks, we are running a contest among the authors. I am going to be posting many articles hopefully.. unless my brain goes blank (that is something I am dreading honestly!). Anyway, today I wrote an article about Halloween and the outrageous costumes out there. Is halloween losing its true meaning? Are we encouraging our kids to dress more outrageously every year? Sometimes I do thank god I dont have a daughter when I see these costumes. Please read my article at http://worldnewsvine.net/blog/2009/10/outrageous-halloween/ and vote to say what you think about it. Please do leave comments to tell me what you think.

Have a great day! Cheers!

Getting glassy eyed about shoes!

2009-10-15T10:44:00.006-04:00

Is it just me or is it true of all you mommies out there? It takes very little to send me oohing and aahing down the nostalgia lane! M of course snigger's on my crazy ways.. but then he is not a Mommy, so who is he to talk? Even imperfect mommy's like me take that trip down the memory lane once too often and fret about their kids growing up way too fast! I already have a kindergartner on my hands, can you believe that? I can't!

I bet you are wondering what caused this misty eyed look? We were visiting family in India and a little kid just over an year old toddled up the street and to our house. As I was yapping with his mommy (M's cousin) the kid refused to stay still! He kept hopping up and down the little step in front of our house! While little Mr. Cutie's penguin like trot was very reminiscent of Cheeky, it was the shoes that did me in and that made him keep hopping! They were light up shoes!

When he was a toddler, Cheeky would walk with his hand out on the side balancing his unsteady trot with his hands extending away from his body. Cheeky had taken his time walking.. he walked at about 14 months.. but then I have wondered it that was a ploy too. He had just upped and walked one day after making us wait for him to take those little steps! No holding furniture and trotting about mind you, just one fine day he got up and walked! Meanwhile as we waited, friends and family seemed to have a fascination for shoes! Even before he was born a friend of mine got him 4 pairs of shoes. Apparently she had gone shopping and had fallen for the tiny shoes.. so the unborn Cheeky got lucky. That had kind of set the precedent, everyone would get him shoes, from around the world too! He had shoes from UK, US, Nepal and so on. He had little squeaky ones, ones with floppy ears, ones with trucks and cars, canvas ones, cloth ones, woolen shoes and shiny mirrored shoes (like that of an Indian Prince). However the ones that he loved where the ones that lit up. I am sure each one of you got that for your kids.. The Laser light shoes - like this one. Little Mr. Cutie had one such on, and it even prompted a comment from the Big Cheeky Imp about how cute that looked.

I of course got misty eyed.. and made the mistake of asking the cool dude if he wanted one. I was immediately admonished "Amma, I need tie shoes not those baby ones" he said! In case you are wondering what tie shoes are.. they are the lace up ones! Cheeky has been asking me for one for such a long time now.. while I have been getting him all the rip tape ones!

I have always worried about shoes. It is so difficult to make sure that the shoes fit the little feet perfectly. That they are not going to trip and fall from shoes that are bigger or get blisters from smaller shoes! Talking of which, we all have unique feet and sometimes when we pick the shoe of a rack it just isn't perfect is it? I have always wondered why they no longer made custom shoes like olden days! I would love to have custom shoes just for me! And then I found this site online - Boys shoes. They have detailed instructions on how you can take a pic of the little feet on a grid and upload it, so they can make custom shoes just for your little one's feet. They also tell you how to make sure the shoes fit just right! Seems like an answer to my prayers, eh? Moreover they have a nice parenting community too that you can check out! Do check them out! They do deliver across UK and to some countries outside the UK too. Check out their store locator and see if you are lucky to be in one of those locations!
As for me.. I am going to go dream some more about shoes!

Walking Cheeky!

2009-10-13T09:34:00.006-04:00

I have been writing some posts for WorldNewsVine.com and last evening I made this post A day out with Cheeky. It is about the woes and trials of walking a toddler. Also about leashes!

Wonder what I am talking about do you?

Remember I wrote about taking Cheeky to the Day out with Thomas? Thomas the train and Bob the builder made an appearance at a town a good hour and a half away from where I live. And like every parent of a 5 yr old we are suckers for the sweet smile and incessant polite requests of "please can we go mommy?". And so we got sucked into doing this for our son as well. I am sure the little imp punched in air "Yes! Got them again!".

However we settled in for a week and a half of incessant bouncing in anticipation. For that entire week all conversations in our home revolved around Thomas. From counting down the days in anticipation to threats of cancellation if that meal was not eaten or the toy not picked up! So having milked that anticipation to the fullest, mom and son and of course the dad settled in for a hour and a half drive. While for us it was an hour and a half of incessant chatter and no amount of favorite songs would give that a pause, for Cheeky it was a worrying hour and a half! Especially when the traffic piled up and we started inching our way down the freeway! Even if it was for a couple of miles, it seemed like eternity to the little imp! Anyway that is not what my post was about. Remember we were talking about leashes?

Alright once at the arena we were dragged from one amusement to the other. Our little imp skipped and hopped, jumped and pranced through the exhibits and tattoos and percussion music, not to mention the gift store while we struggled to keep up! At the end of the day, we the exhausted parents dragged the reluctant imp home. While we headed to the car we saw parents holding a leash. M gave me the look and I took notice. The leash was not on a dog! It was on a kid! I have seen this before .. at zoos and parks where the parents put their kids on a short leash! I thought back to the dog walker I see every morning.. She is always being walked by her dogs! And here were some parents who hoped they had had pets instead?

With my mind reeling with possibilities I headed back home and stowed the memory to a corner in my brain. A few days later Cheeky and I were at a mall and a lady talked non stop on her phone while she held a leash! The kid on harness (no backpack mind you, it was a harness), was on all fours! I had to rub my eyes and look again.. was I hallucinating? But no it was a child.. about 3 yrs of age. He was of course looking for a ball or something under a bench.. but still that was uncanny! Again I started wondering if the child would need therapy when he grows up?

Then I remembered an old Indian grand mom telling me of how she had to keep her son tied to the bed post while she cooked for her big family. She went on to have 7 children all of whom are well balanced adults! So what was I to make of it?

As I wrote this article for World News Vine, I started googling to find out more about leashes. I found people like me expressing shock at what they called lazy parenting... and others giving the reason. Parents of autistic kids, kids with ADHD and hyperactive kids. And suddenly it started making sense! Still I would presume a stroller might be more effective? For all other moms out there who are fond of the telephone, put that phone down for a minute and hold his hand.. that really works you know? Look at the picture.. the leashes are out of stock! So tell me am I missing something here?

(Images courtesy: http://www.babble.com/, http://bigrobby.com/)

Ever heard of the Wife Carrying Contest. No I am not kidding you.. read about it at my post - http://worldnewsvine.com/blog/2009/10/wife-carrying-contest/

Happy Birthday Cheeky!

2009-10-07T10:30:00.004-04:00

Oh yeah its that day of the year again.. Cheeky turns 5 now.. more on the day and the fuss we are making to come.. but for now like a nice little mommy, I am going to wish my little darling (if Cheeky) son a very happy birthday!!

The wishes started pouring in last night.. as it turned 7th around the world.. Cheeky checked his email and responded to the emails promptly... here are some samples!

Dear V patti and R thatha,

Thank you for the email. I am not in preschool anymore. I am in kindergarden. I have a lot of friends. My school's name is Shining stars. Are you going anywhere out?In America my birthday is only tomorrow. Mommy got me cup cakes to pass out to my friends. I also goodie bags for them. I bought them Tootsie pops, stickers and pencils and a lot of candy.Daddy is in LA. We will celebrate my birthday on 10th with Daddy and his friends.

Love you,

Cheeky

Dear Naani

Thank you for your email. We are celebrating my birthday on Oct 10th because my Daddy is not in Charlotte. He is in LA. LA is in California.Tomorrow Daddy will still not be here, but it is my birthday in America. I am going to take cup cakes with rings on it to school. I will pass it out to my friends.For my Oct 10th party I am going to get a big big birthday cake with Lightning Mcqueen on it.

Love you,

Cheeky

Please note that the letter has been drafted by little Cheeky to the last full stop!! See how he opens it with "Thank you for the email". And his signature end "Love you, "... I am still reeling from the fact that my little baby has grown up so much that he can write such a mature letter.. well almost.. he keeps talking about Dad being in LA.. just to set the records straight.. Dad is having the guilt trip.. he had to go to LA for a conference! And has been feeling so bad.. Cheeky is ofcourse milking it.. he got to ride on Thomas (Day out with Thomas was in NC these past couple of weeks) last weekend. Next weekend, he gets to have a party, go shopping as well as take the day off on Monday to spend it with Daddy !! Might as well spoil him proper.. what say?

Getting hitched.. the Tam Bram way!

2009-10-01T18:05:00.003-04:00

I will chronicle the final part of our adventures in my next post.. for now just a news flash! We are back to boring old routine!! Now to the rest of my post.

A couple of things before I start.. no I am not getting hitched.. that happened 7 years ago.. (no I am not even going to give you a historical recap.. pulease!) However, I am urging my sister "The fantasy girl" to repeat history and get hitched.. but then she lives in a fantasy world and dreams of the knight in shining armor on a tall white horse sweeping her off her feet and riding off into sunset.. (with dust getting into their eyes?) So here is how I am helping her figure out that ain't happening in a household like ours! With a blog post!
Secondly, a little dive into what qualifies as a "household like ours"... A Tamil Brahman (Tam-Bram) household like every other with its own set of idiosyncrasies! This is what transpires in a Tam Bram (Tamil Brahman) household as a girl comes of the "Marriageable" age... which starts at 21.. in the final year of college!

Coming from a Tam-Bram household that struggles between being traditional and modern... as you can imagine groom hunting is quite an involved task in our household! While under usual circumstances the family treats everyone under the age of 40 as kids (Kolundhaikku edhavadhu kuduthaya - Did you give anything to the baby?), they are quick to notice when you turn 21 and are waiting to pounce on you! And if you as much demur, it is decided that you are in love with someone!

At least if you are living with your parents you are saved from further speculation. A friend lives across seas and is yet to make the plunge.. he is speculated to be married to a "Velakari oo Karupiyo" - foreigner, and have "Kolandhai Kutti" - roughly translated means kids/young ones; whatever that means! The poor guy apparently is making ends meet in his part of the world and just enjoying being single... while his relatives plot to reign in the net and get him hitched!!

Anyway, more on the struggles of the Tam Bram confused household! Traditionally the horoscopes are matched , parents are met and the marriage is fixed.. whatever happened to the bride and groom you ask? Here is where the (so called) modern outlook come in. With educated city bred foreign aspiring/living boys and girls, that is so not enough! So now they want to talk to each other and air out their views.. while the parents ask every night and day "So do you like the boy/girl?"..
"Ahem I need more time"..
"What do you need more time for, he is well educated, kai naraya sambadhikaran (earns a hand full... that's it?) and comes from a good family background what more do you want?" or "she is beautiful, adaka odukama iruka ( I have no clue how to translate this.. but roughly means she is timid and shy?) and comes from a good family background what more do you want?"
"Maybe I should meet him/her?"
"Sure get engaged first"
Whoa??
Meanwhile somehow the girl has convinced her parents and the boy has put his foot down and they get to exchange emails and have that phone call.. amidst daily enquiry from parents "What did you talk? What do you think? How long did you talk today?". And then the girl and boy now want to meet! If you think that will buy some time, you are grossly mistaken!
Sure say the parents with all magnanimity ... and then the parents of the boy along with a couple of well meaning, loud talking relatives, their boisterous kids and a few other tag along's arrive along with the boy! The boy and his retinue are greeted, fed and filled and the "Pon pakara padalam" - (Girl meeting ordeal) is on the way! (In the background.. the girl and her parents have a tiff about what she should wear.

"I will show up in jeans" she says "thats what I wear everyday, lets not fool them into thinking I am someone I am not"

"Wear saree" say the parents and they both settle for a salwar kameez "with sleeves!!!"... anyway moving on...the retinue has now been fed and all inappropriate questions have been asked by either sides!

"How much do you earn" someone asks the boy

"So do you cook?" the girl is asked.. and they are both perspiring from an attack of the heart and the nerves! Finally someone suggests that the boy and girl go away and talk in private! So they are off to some cramped quarters to talk to each other for about 45 minutes. If as they come out there is a smile plastered on their faces, and they did not walk out in less than 5 minutes.. someone inevitably asks "appo eppo nichyadartham?".. "so when can we have the engagement".. Excuse me?
Some Tam Bram households have crossed this stage and now let the girl and boy meet without subjecting them to this mayhem.. however not for long. The very first meeting comes with a deadline.. "so when will you have an answer?"... ever tried responding to that with "When I am ready?" you are bound to hear a full length lecture on how the western world has spoilt these children!!

If you are Tam Bram and single, it is advisable to avoid all kinds of big gatherings especially weddings (for that seems to set the tone to the hope that every single being is paired off)! Or have relatives who can fend off inquiries! However the relatives don't, the well meaning close ones walk around with a copy of your horoscope that is readily produced on even the subtlest of inquiries, while others are ready to pounce on you and get you hitched right there! And God forbid that the boy/girl happen to be available in the same venue! You are in for some big time match making!
And if you do give your consent to marry some dude, your journey has just begun.. there is the engagement and the endless stream of relatives and friends with their free advice to endure! Everyone you meet.. Tam Bram or otherwise will prod/ tease/ mock/advice on the only topic that occurs to them now.. your wedding! It is almost as though the rest of the world ceases to exist now! Everyone will ask you ..if you are excited? If you talk to him/her every day/night? How many times in a day? If you visit each other every weekend? If you talk to the parents too? If you are learning cooking? If you are doing the wedding shopping? If you are going crazy? (no that last one is common knowledge right? So why ask?)
Well at least most brides have the good sense to hire a parlor to do hair and make up (unlike me) and don't have to endure dozens of relatives getting creative! And most parents have given up their struggle against their kids independence and just let them be! Not to mention in this day and age, there are a lot of cafes (and pubs) across the town that you can skunk off too. Besides, expectations have almost hit rock bottom... as long as you are not eloping with some guy off the street and have consented to marry the guy picked/ approved (even if he barely meets the approval guidelines) by your parents.. they let you get away with anything! Some parents are learning to live with even lower expectations, as long as they are invited to the wedding they will live with it! But my Tam-Bram household is yet to get there!
And once you are married the next question arrives.. "So any good news?" ... yeah right, I got hitched isn't that news enough? But no.. the next step is to now produce a bundle of joy.. and then the next.. and then they can start plotting your kids wedding!! And the journey goes on...

Multilingual or linguistically challenged?

2009-08-24T05:10:00.003-04:00

Uncharacteristically I have been writing some travel posts on this blog! As everyone who knows/ has been exposed to (yes I am the human equivalent of a virus.. and beware very contagious) would agree I find it very difficult to get serious! All my pictures have these big Cheshire cat grins which not only shows off my yellowing teeth (come on.. they are growing old with chocolates and candies.. and my culinary escapades have left their mark) but also my gum's! If I ever tried a serious expression in a picture I end up looking ridiculous and the picture is object of further hilarity. Like the time my sister-in-law (sil) told me not to grin at least in one picture.. I actually have a huge pout and look about to cry.. maybe now people would believe stories about the tortures of my sil.. As of now, no one believes a word of it and declare ~~rightly so~~ that it must be the other way around!

Back to the point, I have been writing travel posts on this blog (and the reason I keep repeating that statement is) in case you haven't noticed! However I did notice that my readership has gone down drastically.. and I am mourning the loss! Some well meaning critics of mine told me.. my travel posts aren't half as interesting as my regular programming (that is considering that people actually do want to read my blog in the first place and don't have to be prodded/ pushed/ bashed up/ tied down to read it)... While the comments stood silent testimony to the fact that I was getting {yawn} boring (and am still unable to snap out of it.. someone stop me from going on and on and on) I kept at it with the determination that I would put down into words my travel escapades for the sake of posterity (most likely it would be only me reading it.. but why admit to that?)

Back to regular Cheeky programming! Cheeky has been having a blast in India.. he declared to a friend of mine a week ago that he now knows 5 languages officially.. them being Tamil, Spanish, French, Russian and Hindi.. On being reminded the fact that he seemed to know English too for he was talking in that one he declared "Oh yes I can speak 2 accents of English - American and Indian so now I know 7 languages" thank goodness he did not add the different accents in America "Yankee, Californian, Southern.....Confused (like Mommy's!) ..."! Now does he really know all these languages? Oh yes he does!

He can speak a decent Tamil.. except sometimes it ends up sounding like unintelligible English..but most of the time he gets it right and Mommy bears a proud accomplished grin as a result!

Spanish.. if you utter the word Spanish to Cheeky he will talk in length (in English I must add) about how he can speak in Spanish and somewhere along the line you are bound to hear the word "Mayo". Then you know you have encountered the lengths of his knowledge in Spanish. At school they made the mistake of teaching Cheeky the months in Spanish.. and ever since we hear the months all consistently pronounced wrongly at least once a day with the declaration that "I can speak Spanish, you know May in Spanish is Mayo"

Lets now move on to French... I learnt french for a couple of years in school. Let alone the Frenchmen, if a person learning french .. be it Rosetta stone or Alliance francais hears me they would be prompted to either
a. Hang themselves
b. Push me off the edge of a cliff!
For the records, I would prefer the former!
Anyway, back to French; M was planning a trip to Cannes, France a few months back. Having gathered that many people around there don't speak English, I (and all of my linguistically challenged self) took it upon myself to teach M french! So I would translate everything into french for a while. It was a good thing that M ended up not going, for if he had gone, he and his french would have been packed off back to the land of the confused accents (America!!) on the next flight! However as a result of all my toils, Cheeky now claims he knows French.. Ask him to talk and he will reply "Merci" - Thank you!

As for Russian. Cheeky had a friend in school whose parents were natives of Russia. Even though the mom (don't know about the dad) hasn't lived in Russia for many years, I gather she speaks Russian at home. I am not sure if this prompted Cheeky, or just that Russia is a mysteriously charming place for him.. he asked his aunt to "Google up I love you in Russian" ever since he has been telling us every once in a while "Ya tabeya liyo bleu".. whether that's Russian or not.. that's his idea of Russian and as of now (till we prompt a Russian to push us off the cliff) mine too..!

Hindi... when Cheeky was a kid I would turn on some Hindi movies and Cheeky would go stomping mad "mommy make them stop that olaral" (gibberish) he would plead! Since then he has become a lot more accommodating even if his knowledge of Hindi has not improved in the least. And I prefer to keep it that way, we do need some mode of un-cheeky-telligible communication between us adults right? We have progressed from Tamil, to English, to Spelling words to now Hindi! And now I am at the risk of losing that too ... As you have gathered by now, Cheeky loves to talk and is always waiting for yet another person (stranger or otherwise) that he can talk to. So my cousin asked me what Cheeky did in Delhi and the other places we visited.. and I said "Oh he talked".. She looked at me surprised.. I must say that for a little person with such a meager vocabulary of Hindi (His Hindi vocabulary includes his favorite word Nahin - no and a few others Acha - ok, Haan- yes, Teek hein - ok), he managed to keep rambling pretty well.. oh and he also knows Mein and Tu (me and you). So his sentence would sound like this "Auto haan mein haan tu nahin photo teek hein?" And the result.. a picture of him sitting in the driver seat of the auto.. and the auto driver dude standing and looking cheerfully after having relinquished his throne!

Now to English and the accents.. this is something I am really having a tough time coping with. In an attempt to talk Indian English, the Cheeky Imp has been saying "Darive" and "Stareet", "Charuchu" - That's Church in case you are wondering and "tirubbbleu" - trouble! Although no one around him quite speaks in such a terrible accent (leave alone the fact that he mocks even(!!) my accent), Cheeky has taken it upon himself as he describes " to help people in India understand his English". If I correct him I am reprimanded "Amma if I talk in American accent no one will get it" Sigh! I just hope the terribbbleee-u accent-u is not herrre to stayyy!

With that note and the hope that my readership will improve with a Cheeky post.. signing off!
(images: http://www.building-blocks-nursery.co.uk, http://blogs.davenportlibrary.com, http://3.bp.blogspot.com, http://www.louielouie.net)

[EDITED TO ADD: I narrated the story of this post to M this afternoon as he resolutely refused to read my post and I incessantly kept pushing it down his ears.. Cheeky on hearing it declared.. "Amma its not 7 languages, its 6 languages and 2 accents". The exasperated look that accompanied this statement, said the rest! I promised him that I would add a "Edited to Add" section for which he replied "Why Amma, just press backspace and delete it!" Phew why do I never learn ?]

Home bound!

2009-08-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

After the debacle at Mathura.. we headed to the railway station to wait for the Taj Express which ended up being more than an hour late.. Tired, hungry, dirty and sweating we waited for the train while Cheeky tried to avoid the dogs and cows (oh yes there were cows too) wandering on the platform!

Finally back at Delhi, we proceeded to do what would undoubtedly remain the highlight of our trip... shopping. After raiding the markets of Karol Bhag and Sarojini Nagar you would except us to be satiated with our loot which required us to get a huge (hiking style) backpack.. however we wanted to go back and buy more of the rs. 50 skirts and Capris, the Rs 75 pants, 100 rupee shirts and 200 rupee jeans! Like a friend said, we would have to wait and see if the sleeve falls off that shirt.. however while it lasts we are sure to enjoy it!

As we sat on the plane to head back home to Chennai.. the past week ran in my mind and the images swarmed my head! After all the excitement it was difficult to shut my eye and relax.. Instead I flipped out a pen and my e-ticket and started to write with fervent ardor!

The Miracle called Taj!
In the labyrinths of a city so warm,
Finally some breeze rises hither;
The colors of brick and mortar left far behind,
The cool green of the trees rushes to welcome!

As we traverse the bushes, down the pebbled path,
The urchins look at us in wonder;
And we at them, for they own this gorgeous place!
Their eyes ask, who are these camera laden nomads,
Trespassing our blissful haven?

And lo behold the miracle in white...
The surroundings have now been forgotten!
There she stands gleaming a creamy hue now..
As the sun gently lights her while it prepares for bed!

My eyes refuse to blink for fear,
lest the vision where to (even momentarily) disappear!
We linger long and cant take our eyes away...
But the night begins to engulf the less trodden paths...

With a sorry heart and a heavy tread..
We slowly turn and leave her there!
For we leave a part of us behind!
But we can rest assured, that when we go back;
she will stand tall and beckon us in her splendor!

The view of Taj from Mehtab Bagh is one that will stay in my mind's eye forever.. it is a must see in Agra.. At dusk this view is so much better and gorgeous than even seeing Taj up close!

Beyond the ages

There they stand unshakable and tall,
Having seen men rise and fall!
Stories told and those untold,
They mutely watched them all unfold!

And after all these eons have passed,
I walk through the same old paths!
I press my ears on the tall red walls,
And peer down the depths of the dark corridors!

I urge them to tell me the forgotten tales,
Of valor, of conspiracy, yet the mystery prevails!
Was that a whisper from centuries beyond?
Was that a wisp of a figure long gone?

As I walk on through the enormous corridors,
The mystery and lore swirl and engulf!
The walls whisper to me their muted secrets,
And the paintings show me a window to the past!

I am torn and let the stories swirl..
I am torn, do I return to today's world?

If you guessed that I am going to bore you with a recap.. you were right!! These poems have been cross posted at Creative Outbursts

Hare Krishna!

2009-08-21T00:37:00.001-04:00

After the trek through the desert and the walks through the labyrinths of Rajput and Mughal architecture.. not to mention all the sites we missed due to the incessant heat.. Bharatpur, Fatehpur sikri and Ajmer/Pushkar to name a few... we had planned all these in our itinerary but just couldn't step out of the hotel room during the mid day heat.. so ended up missing all these places.. Anyway after all these escapades we finally had one last stop before heading back to base Delhi.

However unfortunately we had only about 4 hrs in Mathura before we had to head to the railway station and wait for our train to Delhi. And although we thought that was ample time.. it wasnt.. especially because we tend to linger and take our time.. the worst characteristic if you are tourists who want to see loads of places. But I like to think of myself as a leisurely tourist. I have more fun if I am not rushed (just a nice way of saying I am lazy )...

At Mathura we found this guide to take us through Vrndavan. After having avoided the fast talking types like plague.. we uncharacteristically took this guy with us to see Vrndavan. He turned out to be a student of commerce who was doing this as a social service, and did not even want to be paid. We of course paid him with money as well as a glass of cool maakan lassi (buttered yoghurt drink) a speciality of Mathura. I havent had such yummy lassi anywhere ever!

I digress back to Vrndavan, I had imagined Vrndavan to be this huge garden where Krishna comes to play ras-leela (dance with the gopikas) every night. However all that is left of Vrndavan is a small patch of tulsi garden and I was told they hear sounds of the flute and anklets every night emanating from this little garden. The main deity of Vrndavan looks absolutely breathtaking.. however the preist tries to fleece you of money in the name of donation. There were huge groups of widows doing Krishna bajan and I wanted to donate something for the cause. But the preist at Vrndavan actually put me off with his commercial smart mouthed talk! As we left I gave Rs 200 to Cheeky and asked him to put it on the puja plate (apparently this goes to the preist and not the temple!)... so the preist guy gave Nantu a piece of yellow cloth adorned by the residing deity.. The 2000 and more bucks we donated to the cause did not prompt him to give us that.. it was the 200 that went to his kitty that gave him that nudge.

Needless to say I was very disillusioned as I left Vrndavan. One captivating thing about Vrndavan are the monkeys.. they steal your eye glasses and food.. just about anything they can get their hands on! I found them so cute and cheeky and they brought the smile back on my face! Next we went to Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.. flanked by a mosque which rises just above the prison cell where Krishna is believed to have been born, it is a place of much controversy. The mosque is supposed to have been built by destroying the temple at Vrndavan.. Aurangazeb was supposed to have used the red stones from the Govind Deb temple to built this mosque. While the hindus say this, the muslims claim the mosque existed first! And like every other place in India the controversy continues and casts a shadow on these historic sites! The security as you can imagine is supposed to be tight.. but I am not so sure! The shops inside this temple piqued Cheeky's interest and he was found hoarding on all the inexpensive toys.. a flute here, a shehnai (trumpet) there, a set of drums and what not... he was very excited while we would live to rue this as we were then subjected to loud noises termed music.

To be honest after the trip.. Mathura was a bit of a let down.. I expected to be swayed and moved by the birth place of Krishna.. Krishna after all is our favorite God and I am a strong believer in God.. but the controversies and commercialization dimmed my spirit and I was ready to move on! The temple in my (my husband's) hometown relatively unknown holds me in more awe as it is unblemished by controversy and commercial gains.. and the only thing that stands out is the powerful presence of God. Unfortunately, Mathura the birth place of God dims in comparison! That is very sad indeed!

Wah Taj!

2009-08-20T01:50:00.000-04:00

Enough of all the talk about struggles with appearances, now back to the greenery of envy!! :) So after the pink city we were off to Agra. Agra hotels seem to have the worst reputation, we couldn't find a single one with good reviews.. after a lot of effort we found one but then I think it was because the hotel (Siris 18) was relatively new and unknown that the reviews weren't so bad! However all the air conditioning in the world seemed to be against us on this day! The car we took from Jaipur to Agra lost its a/c mid way.. and we had to roll down the windows and let the hot hot air in. The room we were given in the hotel had a faulty a/c and we had to change rooms! While that was conceded to with very less resistance, it was the case of the open bottle that had me furious!

The room had a fridge with an open alcohol-less bar. I took out a bottle of mineral water only to find the seal was already broken. However my son insisted on having water and I opened the second bottle and gave it to him! In true 4 yr old spirit he left the bottles near each other and we tackled the next issue of moving rooms. When I asked the obnoxious bell boy who helped us with the move to get the water he brought the wrong bottle. So I told him very nicely that I wanted my bottle and not this one. He argued that it was just the same and turned my nice demenaor into a hopping madness! Finally peace was restored when my bottle was brought back.. but I am not so sure anymore! If you need to stay in Agra, this hotel will work alright but dont eat there.. the food was very bad and salty. Dasaprakash is a good option for vegetarian meals and serves really tasty food amidst a pleasant ambience.

Anyway enough about the food and water.. and now on to Agra.. we could see the view of Taj from our hotel rooftop and even that was splendid. Agra is all about the Taj.. everything else only pales in comparison and I was left wanting to go back again and again to see Taj. I ended up not seeing Fatehpur Sikri due to this obsession with Taj.. but no regrets! We visited Taj early the next morning.. at 8 Am. This apparently is the time with the least crowds.. Taj opens at 7 am and early in the day there is no queue and you get to see Taj without the million heads blocking your view.. still there are a couple of hundreds but that you can live with!

We were at Agra on a full moon night and wanted to see Taj at night. But the guards at Taj advised us against it. Instead that evening we took a ride to Mehtab Bagh.. This is across the yamuna, behind Taj.. The garden was almost empty besides a few urchins who looked us like we had lost our mind! But the view of Taj was just splendid from here.. The light of the setting sun shining on this marvel in marble gave it a creamy hue! We enjoyed our solitude with this awe inspiring sight. I wonder why this place is not popular We hated to leave, but we had an auto guy waiting to take us shopping to the galis of Agra market where tourists seldom venture. Where you get lovely Kundan and other jewellery for a few hundred bucks (the same piece costs a few thousands in the cities) and you get lovely inexpensive earrings that look so pricey! We went crazy ofcourse, and the shop owner loved us! He asked us to go see Dhayal Wag on the next day, he and a few others told us it was a must see in Agra. Wrongly assuming to be a temple of Krishna we went to the Radhasaomi mandir at Dhayal Wag (It is actually a samadhi of Radhasaomi the founder of a cult/ religion by his name). Unfortunately we were very diasppointed.. and except for the fact that we found tender coconut (nariyal paani) just outside this place, we found nothing of interest there!

Another interesting sight in Agra was that of the Baby Taj. The site of Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb is said to have been in Noor Jahan's (Mother of Shah Jahan - who built Taj) family for years. The Baby Taj looked like it was an inspiration for Taj.. or like some write ups say it was a draft for Taj?! We also visited the Agra fort with its rich carvings and marvellous architecture, however we again ended up peering at Taj from the fort as Shah Jahan must have done when he was confined there by his son Aurangazeb! We can imagine why it is very difficult to take your eyes off that marvel. But we had to peel our eyes and selves away from Taj and Agra to head towards Mathura.. the birth place of Lord Krishna!

The perfect heels!

2009-08-19T01:07:00.007-04:00

This blog is taking a break from regular programming to say this...

I have been catching up on fellow bloggers lately and I read so many of their honest, sweet posts filled with love and affection for their kids! And I wondered why I cant write like that.. And I decided I would do a post on all the wonderful things about Cheeky.. after all the only facet people know of him is the talkative, naughty little imp! Right? (Now if only I could remember them while he is jumping around me!) Anyway, as I was making up my mind, I read another blog and read a line about high heels there and my mind was unmade again! So now I will write to you an honest and sweet (oh well, I will attempt to make this as sweet as possible with mentions of chocolates and jelabis.. what say?) as possible!

As I was growing up, I was always among the tallest in my class. While Cheeky is so proud about being tall, and dreams of being taller than Daddy some day.. I was not so thirlled about being tall. I wanted to be petite and small built. I wanted to be cute and chubby too.. Instead I was reed thin and tall.. This would haunt me through my teen years, although I am not one that can be easily haunted! So while I bore my tall thin looks with a cheshire cat grin and a cheeky spirit, I continued to fret about it! (I hated looking down on people you see!)

Even when Meenakshi Sheshadri (I am not kidding you, I went to her house once with a friend who was in a dance program with her), commented on my model like height and posture (haha, I know that is way too funny.. to write an honest post about). Well to be honest, even though she commented about that she followed it up with a request for a massage! As you can imagine she was rebuffed and my friend got an earful for taking me to places with all these "I am the queen of the world" types! So anyway, I brushed that comment off with a flick off my shoulder.. however the chip remained!

So when my mom introduced me (via email, hadn't met him yet) to this guy all of 6'2", I thought he would be just a wee bit taller than me. For while I was 5'5" in reality, in my mind I was well over 6 ft. And then reality struck.. I was found running around days before my wedding hunting for the perfect heels.. I had worn flat shoes till then and had no clue how to walk in a stilleto.. so I needed heels that were not stilletos but big enough so I did not look funny standing next to this tall creature! The tall creature who still mocks me about our engagement photos. Let alone the fact that I was looking really weird with the funny hairdo done by relatives (punished for not booking a parlor.. my hair was an experimental piece for all relatives and ended up looking just awful!). Besides that I was standing there shoeless, while the tall dude stood next to me sneakers and all looking taller than ever!

At the wedding reception I finally managed to get some heels and still ended up looking short. And ever since my quest has been to find the perfect heels that will make me look at least a wee bit taller! My dream has finally been answered now and I feel so short all the time.. not to mention with all the love handles .. now I am (way too) chubby too (but we will leave that tale for another day, or we will just stove that story in the closet shall we?) but whoever said that the other side of the grass is green has to be crazy.. I want to feel tall again.. boohoo!! (Images: http://www.carthage.ed, http://webpages.scu.edu, https://www.btowstore.com)

(I will soon be back to complete my long winding, boring, pictersque travel posts)

The Pink City!

2009-08-18T00:24:00.001-04:00

After Jaisalmer.. the big city was bound to fade in glory.. the hotel guy asked us to "just get a prepaid taxi" when we asked for pick up at the railway station! The city has roads overflowing with traffic, and urchins. It was a very sorry sight, a couple of times we gave away our packed dinner and unopened soda bottles to these kids who seemed to turn up everywhere!

I was ready to be disappointed.. the hotel was next to a Mc D.. so at least Cheeky finally would have a good meal.. (whats it with these kids and happy meals?) Finding a ride seemed to be herculean! We had to haggle with a bunch of taxi operators till we found a guy who would take us around for what seemed like a reasonable rate.. come the car we found the reason .. it was a non a/c mini van! Ouch! However we let ourselves be convinced that everything was so close together in Jaipur that the car hardly mattered! But trust me it does.. the heat was absolutely awful!

So with this rocky start, we headed off to old Jaipur.. the pink city! And now I know why Rajasthan is known to have the richest architecture in Asia if not the world. For there within the walls of the old city, Jaipur retains its ancient charm! The markets are so quaint and colorful.. the palaces are so rich in heritage and well preserved. It is hard to believe that Hawa Mahal is just a facade! Jantar Mantar with its fourteen huge geometric devices is awe inspiring. So much that despite the heat beating down on us, we stood around and found it hard to leave. Ofcourse, part of the reason was that Cheeky kept climbing up the steps of each device and calling it his royal throne!

At Birla mandir, this mom and son took pictures dressed in Rajastani clothes. The guy refused to give me soft copies, and also refused to let me take a picture. I managed to take one of Cheeky though after putting up a fight and gathering a group of onlookers! Following that we made some very bad deals in the stores just outside Birla Mandir and headed off! After the sweltering heat we decided to cool off with some shopping and that was good fun ofcourse!

The next day had us heading for the Amber fort, and although Rough guide says that Amber is not as beautiful as the City Palace or Albert Hall (with its victorian-rajput architecture, which is lovely but fails to compare to Amber), I thought Amber was the best piece of architecture I saw on this trip, perhaps next only to Taj. The gayily colored elephants carrying the hoardes of tourists and the drummers in colorful costumes only add to the charm of the place. For the rest, I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

The verdict.. even if it has been hit by mordernisation and is densely populated! The traffic and the poverty might strive to put you off, however the pink city is a charm in itself, and although the pollution adds to the sweltering heat, I would suggest you put up with it and explore this city, for it does not disappoint!

The Golden City...

2009-08-12T01:00:00.002-04:00

The golden sands, the sandstone lined walls and homes, the glistening sun bouncing off the lake, the glowing fort walls as the night sets in... Jaisalmer does live up to its name "The Golden City"! The rustic charm of Jaisalmer left us wanting more of it! Considering it is in the middle of the desert, there is a lovely breeze greeting you through the day that almost dissipates the heat (almost but not quite). The evenings and early mornings are actually very cool and our sojourns at these times (we reserved the mid afternoon for languishing in our air conditioned rooms) were absolutely wonderful. The people are so warm and hospitable.. as you can probably gather, I fell in love with this quaint little place!

We stayed at this charming hotel called "Shahi Palace" that has a great view of the fort from its very inviting roof garden! Owned by 5 siblings/cousins, it feels so much like home! Their warm hospitality and yummy home cooked meals, helped us to fall in love with Jaislamer.. and when we had to leave, it was with the resolve that we would come back and stay longer! They were really sweet, on the first night as we hung around on the roof top, one of the brothers kept us company, relegating tales and imitating accents from around the world. Another, cooked up some desert mushrooms (he had picked just that day) and gave it to us for a taste. It was almost like the way your mom/ grandmom tells you.. taste this,this is so yum! If you do go to Jaisalmer, this is a good place to stay!

While the fort and the numerous havelis with their intricate craftsmanship holds a unique charm that only those ancient relics can hold! And the glistening lake where we pedaled a boat was simply a wonderful find in the desert, the highlight of our visit was the desert safari! But before we go down that lane, I must stop to talk about the lake. We were very excited about the prospect of getting on the lake.. and with child like delight naively looked forward to exercising our legs! However as we endeavored to get some pictures of birds flocked on the banks we hit something and could not move!

We were a good 20 feet from the banks, and so we were really bewildered! Trying not to panic we called out to a guy rowing a oat nearby with a dozen passengers! He quickly reached us and took off his footwear, rolled up his sleeves and I had visions of him diving under the boat and laboriously extricating us from whatever tangle we had got ourselves in! Instead the guy got off the boat into ankle deep water and pushed our boat off from where we had struck land! As you can imagine, all of us, including the passengers of the other boat had a good laugh!!

The next day saw us pottering about in the wee hours of the morning as we prepared for a early start to the deep deserts! We drove off to witness the sunrise among the sand dunes.. but we fell short by a few minutes.. so had to watch the sunrise well before our rides arrived.. still it was an awesome sight!! And then we saw them at a distance.. our majestic rides... as we straddled the camels and rode off into the dawn a thrill went down my spine! We had a breakfast of toast and tea in the wilderness... sitting on a colorful mat.. on the glistening dunes, camels chewing off the desert plants on one side! It was absolutely exhilarating! And at this time of the day it was nice and cool! We were joined by a group of European tourists who had spent the night under the stars in the middle of the desert! Wish I could have done that!! Except I would have not had a wink of sleep... the images of dung beetles (they feast on the camel dung.. hence the name) a la matrix style kept interrupting the pleasant images of solitude on the Desert!

After a trek on the sand dunes.. did you know that Jaisalmer was once a sea? They have fossil stones of sea creatures! And here is what we found in the middle of the arid desert .. yes shells! Anyway after a trek on the dunes, we hopped on our rides to head back to the village! The nice camel caretaker, invited us to see his home and village. We bid goodbye to our fellow tourists and headed back (oh yes this was a special privilege he said.. because we were the only Indians he had seen in months... that was surprising!). Although our camel "Tola" insisted on brushing against every shrub and thorn bush along the way.. not to mention backs of other camels, this was an experience we will carry with us for the rest of our lives! Cheeky was sad to leave his friend "Tola" behind.. and promised to come back soon with Daddy!

We left Tola in good company though. The gaily dressed village folks in their cool sandstone homes, celebrate everyday with music and dance! They take good care of the camels. The village children skip school and hang around the village. A few of them followed us around and even took some pictures with us! As we left we handed out our stash of Candy and Cookies.. they only wanted more!! Growing up in a land surrounded for miles by arid desert must be hard! I was told the kids don't even get to see candy and cookies for months! The land had not seen rain in 3 years and even food was hard to come by! So luxuries were unheard of! Their only snack is husk from the grains.. We wished we had known.. we could have taken more goodies for the cheerful, smiling little friends we made!

After taking a stroll in the fort, seeing the palaces and the city views.. not to mention shopping for souvenirs it was time to leave! And we hoped we had planned to stay longer! I am sure the pictures speak for themselves and my ramblings in this post are superfluous! Jaisalmer with its rustic appeal is a must see.. As we left I promised myself, I will be back to stay for a week or two and experience the rustic charm yet again! But for now we were off to the Pink City!

Are we there yet?

2009-08-11T02:00:00.001-04:00

I have this annoying habit, I like to get to every airport/ railway station/ bus depot ... (you get the drift) well ahead of time! In the same habit.. I dragged everyone to the station a full hour and a half ahead of time! The train did not seem to care to arrive till it was almost time to leave, and then it left in its own leisurely pace about 30 minutes late!! While the train took its time.. we stood at the railway station under a precious spot we had grabbed.. so while others jostled us to look up the waiting list for the train.. we stood our ground.. surrounded by our baggage's and looked longingly at the fan above us that ran in full speed! Yet the rivulets of sweat flowed down our faces and backs.. and we downed bottles of ice cold water... that seemed to just evaporate from inside our body!!

We spotted a peddler adorned in chains and padlocks.. Suddenly struck by paranoia and visions of men in masks taking away my bags of clothes.. I insisted we buy a padlock and chain from the guy! While a German couple haggled with the guy... without speaking a word of Hindi .. they got the chain and padlock for Rs. 25. While we the big Hindi speaking peasants.. paid Rs. 40 for the exact same thing!!!

After a night of restless sleep, we were up bright and early in eager anticipation. However, there was more ground to cover! The journey now seemed endless... after stopping at every inert village on the way, where throngs of villagers dressed in white clothes and colorful turbans, while the women dressed in rich colors, covered their head and face with the colorful dupattas; and stood around without a care in the world! The sole purpose of their rendezvous seemed to be to watch the trains go by.. considering that there seemed to be only fields nearby.. it must have been quite a hike! We on the other hand sat in drab railway boxes, wore dirty stinky boring clothes and wondered why the throngs existed.. looking around for a reason.. maybe a festival? a fete? a carnival? a temple.. anything? No? All this hike and finery just to see us? Really?

After acres and acres of arid desert that seemed to go on forever! At least half a dozen people in our railway car trying to keep us entertained with loud music from their mobiles! Did any of us tell them that they were all causing our heads to split and ears to cry.. playing 6 different songs on their mobiles? No!! We just put up with it and lamented about it to each other! While at it.. we tried the subtle glances, the pointed piercing looks, the threatening glares.. anything but open our mouth and say something!! The noise continued! Not to mention, there was a 4 yr old spider man jumping around on our feet, backs, laps, hands and heads! As long as it belongs to one of the Cheeky family, it was fair game I suppose! Given all this, we were just about ready to jump out the train!! Really!! However we stay put in our a/c chariots and worried about stepping into the heat of the arid desert outside while the train still rode on stopping every few minutes.. and one imp whined " I don't want to be a passenger anymore!!" At least it was a relief from "Are we there yet?"

Remember the story about the padlock peddler? When we finally after having fought every instinct to unlock the chains early.. remember the masked bandits? .. well we finally decided, might as well unlock, for we would have to take the baggage with us after all eh? {ding!} We found that the lock and key having dispensed their duty were now headed to the after world..
However we had more adventures in store for us.. We had arrived at the Golden City!
Disclaimer: I am not whining about India.. I absolutely love India even with its little idiosyncrasies.. but I also was born with a sarcastic tongue!! :P

The Golden Triangle and some...

2009-08-10T05:46:00.019-04:00

Last year when we were on our vacation to India.. we had only one agenda, to meet people and introduce Cheeky to his myriad relatives.. a vacation from the vacation did not seem necessary.. and we were happy enough to spend a couple of days in Ooty.. and kid ourselves that we had spent the best part of our vacation there!

However this year we were fore-warned.. so we started planning the break well in advance! My sister was longing for a break from the Chennai heat.. and we were not really prepared for another Indian summer.. so we chose to go north.. We decided to go to Himachal Pradesh.. and head to the Himalayas. After scary stories of the monsoon rains and land slides, that plan was dropped and instead Rajasthan was picked! Yeah I know more fool we.. we were hoping that with the monsoon rains Delhi and Rajasthan would be cooler than usual. The dates were decided and tickets were booked.. and the wait began!

On the day of the travel.. everyone was rushed.. bags packed, tickets printed, doors locked.. check check check.. we were off to the airport to board Indigo airlines to Delhi! On the flight, as we took off, I could be heard praying fervently.. I always knew that Indigo had cheap tickets and they saved by not serving you any food! However as we took off, the rickety plane made creaking noises.. the engine roared while the plane did not soar.. vroom vroom the sound said as the flight made its slow ascent!! It seemed like going in an auto rickshaw as against a BMW 5 series!!

However the flight was smooth and we made it in time (well just over time) to Delhi. And we were hit by a blast of heat.. coming from Chennai it seemed even more hot and humid.. we were so surprised.. and we thought it was monsoon season! So now none of our clothes in the 3 jam packed suitcases could work.. we needed more clothes!! yay!!

Early the next morning (that is if you will let me consider 9 am early), we hit the roads to explore Delhi.. We were awed by the Parliament, the Presidential Palace - Rashtrapathi Bhavan, India gate and Janpath... as much as we were in awe of the structures, the roads were duly admired too.. Despite the facts that no lane rules were followed on the wide roads, let alone the fact that sometimes there were no lanes even marked on the roads.. Still Delhi has the infrastructure to implement roads of international standards! We then headed to the highlight of our Delhi tour.. Qutab Minar! While the minar itself is awesome.. it is surrounded by some really awe inspiring pillars and statues that are breathtakingly awesome! I seemed to be transported in time to the 1100's... as I traversed the walkways and admired the workmanship!!

By mid afternoon though, after lunch at some obscure place suggested by the taxi driver; we headed to red fort.. the long lines and the heat had us rushing back to the car after taking some customary snaps of red fort and us in front of it.. Now we can say we have been there! Soon it was time to head to the railway station.. we were going to begin our soujourn in Rajasthan! So with eager anticipation we headed in the heat of the day to the railway station! How did that turn out? Come back and read the next part of the Adventures of Cheeky and Mommy!! Meanwhile I leave you with some pictures from Delhi...

M and the laddle!

2009-08-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

VJ tagged me (of all people) to write about M (M the Hubby dearest for the unintiated) ... If I could really get sentimental ... I would probably wax long about how much he means to me or how much I owe him for putting up with my scatter brained self! But I probably couldn't keep a straight face while I wrote such stories.. for if this is true, then the reverse is the harder truth (my putting up with him of course!!)... so in the true spirit of this blog let me tell you a story..

About The Man and the ladle!
I had heard stories about how in the "Bachelor days" in a remote corner of Arizona 2 roomies would make a mean rasam and aloo fry sabji and actually have lunch from home everyday! And I chose to believe this tale! So when after boring each other to death with emails, one of which relegated the tale of this culinary hero making Payasam (Kheer, a milky relish) on his birthday! We finally met each other.. and I (so naively) asked about his culinary proficiency and decided from the stories I would never have to learn the elusive art of cooking! The first few months were actually close(r) to what should have been reality.. while the self proclaimed Chef did not cook everyday.. he did party catering and provided tips and advice... and I held that stupid sweet smile of the new bride in denial!!
But on this day 7 years later I have decided to finally bury that feminism hatchet, heave a big sigh of despair and declare that the man and the ladle don't go hand in hand.. and the Culinary hero of the yester years and his tallest tales remain a distant dream! Maybe for this vacation I could pack this man and his ladle to a culinary camp!! What say? (Images courtesy: http://www.cksinfo.com/cartoons/miscellaneous/education/index.html, http://www.reverendfun.com/?date=20000724)

Keeping it real!
As many of you know it is very hard for me to write sentimental tales.. when my friends would narrate stories of sentimental trysts with boy friends/ finaces/ husbands.. I would supress an involuntary laugh and wonder if that would ever change.. Maybe when I got engaged I would sprout two angelic wings and a angelic halo and start cooing and blushing!! But unfortunately.. I waited and waited and the change never came.. I remained the tom boy that I always have been!! But then M takes it a step further.. if you think I am funny (alright I am fishing for compliments now.. come come on.. do your bloggerly duty and pour them in) , you should see him!! Between us we have never been able to hold a serious conversation for more than a few minutes... but then life has been all about laughter and fun!! Having said that I am gifted with the guy who keeps me real and doesnt take me too seriously.. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I wonder!! With that note I am on the verge of losing my edge and actually those wings seem to be sprouting.. hush hush Preethi.. get a grip!!

Cheeky.. the true story!
While M's family choses to think that I am the one Cheeky gets his bratiness from and my family rushes in to confirm (what an ungrateful family I have.. after all that I have done for them!!.. As if being born in this family and gracing them with my presence was not enough...) Anyway, having said that, the true story behind His Cheekiness is the Papa bear with the innocent face lurking in the picture.. while it appears to the rest of the world that it is this silly momma who does all the talking and has the claim to blame for the Cheekiness.. today let us set the records straight and let them show that it is the Cheeky dad to blame!

The Blog Patron!
I work hard to write this blog.. that I borrow from the stories of my life.. and go on to add spice to reality.. not to mention chronicle the life and talks of our joint venture.. The Cheeky Brat; is immaterial! There is a lurker here who comes to see what else I have blabbed about.. and who seems to take pride in my writing and tell the rest of the world about my blog!! But I have this inkling of doubt.. are you trying to tell them "Look what I have to live with?" that is the question!!

Considering...
I actually seem to have run out of sarcasm.. I need to check with magnifying lens.. is that a halo over your head? Is it possible or have the 7 years of blissful ignorance dulled my otherwise razor sharp perception? Or have I sprouted 'em wings?! (image courtesy: http://images.clipartof.com)

The Indian Journey.. so far!

2009-07-27T21:48:00.013-04:00

While the fear of the wet bathrooms seem to have only aggravated over time.. they have been temporarily suspended with a pair of bathroom slippers/ flip flops... that cost me a headache. The guy at the store insisted on showing Cheeky pink slippers, and when the guy was told that pink was big NO.. he went on to blue and green with shiny tassels/ pink flowers/ barbies and princesses! Seriously I am not sure what was with that guy... finally we found a boring gray and black one for 200 bucks (an average flip flop costs about 40-50 bucks!) and received an exasperated look from the bewildered guy!! Later that day I spied a kids tooth paste pack with princess on the top cover and spider man inside!! I had to suppress a laugh!! I can't remember how it was when we were kids.. were we equally confused?

The lizards are back too... while visiting family recently, I spied Cheeky looking intently at a point in the wall above the television.. while the rest of the household watched yet another soap on the TV. Confused I asked him what he was looking at .. there it was a huge giant lizard!! Cheeky was curious "Why do they grow lizards in India?" Try as I may I just couldn't explain to him why they did not voluntarily grow these lizards, or why the lizard and his friend did not really care about migrating to California (I wonder where that came from!!??)

Meanwhile the flip flops have been bought and we have been exploring the fantasies of Indian Railways, Spluttering Autos, and bumpy roads! Everything is met with the same aura of surprise and awe. For example on our third train journey, I asked Cheeky to go to the restroom before he went to bed. He was heard loudly declaring to anyone that would care to tune in "You know mommy, in the train when I pee, the pee pee falls on the tracks! That is so eewie!!" Oh well.. I could send him to pick a bone with the railway minister! That should be fun!

The next morning we took a ride in our yellow chariot.. down the beach road in Chennai! It was 6 am and there were people strolling/ jogging and amidst them a couple holding hands and sharing a cup of corn! I looked closely and they seemed to be married! I wonder what the story is.. {wink} The beach beckoned to me that early in the day... try going there in the evening and it drives you away with the stench and the crowd!

Last week, we went on a trip around south India.. and it was there in a small village that Cheeky grew enamored with India.! A few months back we had been to a place in Charlotte, called Lazy 5 Ranch.. as we drove through the park, deers and ostriches, zebras and emus walked up to our car and greeted us while they searched us for food! Now in a small village in south India, the goats and cows arrived at our doorstep in the same quest! And Cheeky just fell in love with the place! A mahout with his elephant had me take a picture and promise to send him a copy! Watch him stand there in all splendor with his dear friend the tusked beauty!

Still later in Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India we experienced the Indian Carosels while I devoured on the yummy mangoes in its raw splendour with just a sprinkling of salt and chilli powder.. mmmm yumm!! The Mango vendor and the peanut vendor pose for the pictures like that is part of their daily routine! Judging by the throngs of tourist, I bet it really is!! As the waves beat up the rocks and the winds blew our hair around, we sat on a ledge and watched rich colorful shops with the bustling melee of people .. we were experiencing the true spirit of India!

As I don my wings...

2009-07-12T21:40:00.012-04:00

We are now officially in the land of the wet bathrooms (gasp!! there is one little irate 4 yr old who is so annoyed and goes around policing/ educating his aunt on how to keep the bathroom dry... aah the worries we have!). Why officially you ask? Because the days of the jet lag (zombie-land) are finally over.. and we have learnt to deal with the rivulets of sweat with a nonchalant dab and the flies and mossies with a casual (almost absentminded) swish of the hand.. However this land has its own surprises for the (not so) little Cheeky... the lizards for one.. for some reason he thinks they are stationary, and wants to show them off looking sneakingly in their hiding place ..behind the couch. But (surprise) they are gone!!

So how was the long trip some might ask (I would have added home, but for now I am so confused on where home is.. sometimes referring to India as my home and sometimes to my actual home in Charlotte.. that I am ready to reserve judgment for now!!). Its no longer a shock/ surprise .. my trip! It is just my very matter of fact expectation that my every trans-Atlantic, across the world trip would be adventurous and exciting! But shouldn't I actually feel frustrated or worried or something? Instead I had an our of the body experience where I looked at myself as I levitated above (who am I? really?)... and I actually had the audacity to laugh!! Just think about it.. once is a mishap, twice is a freak coincidence.. but thrice? Are you kidding me? You would think I would freak out and go berserk.. but not me, I sat stoically and experienced the moment that brought me closer to my God (remember his comic relief?) .. also look at the bright side, I have yet another story to tell!! So the day dawned perfect in Charlotte, contrary to my expectation there were no thunder storms or other freak weather conditions, nor did the alarm malfunction. I actually got to the airport well ahead of time .. the check in happened without mishap, no messed up tickets this time! The line at the security check in was short and my flight was on time too! Except for the case of the breakfast that tasted like sand paper and lumps.. (to those of you who want to know.. it was toast and eggs from SBARRO.. but the eggs were like nothing I have ever tasted.. there were lumps of dry yellow tasteless thing.. wonder what it was!). Anyway, so far so good.. and now I was worried! Whats it going to be this time? The anticipation was killing me...

But I did not have long to wait.. the flight landed a good 45 minutes early at New york (or New york, New york like Cheeky likes to call it.. how fascinating!). This was when I had my deja vu... I had to change terminals to take my next flight.. and my flight was hours and hours away... so I wondered if I should just hang in there and experience the terminal 7.. which was bustling and had some cool fun things to do (read foot massage and shopping options!). But then that niggling in my brain was put to rest by a quenching need for a tryst with fate.. so I left the airport took the air train and went to the international terminal.

And there I was no boarding pass, closed airline counters, a couple of benches and all the fun stuff to do beyond a security checkpoint (that needed a boarding pass to cross)! A few minutes and a bag of Cheetos later.. Cheeky joined the list. with his incessant questions.. Mommy when will we go in? Mommy when will we go to Chennai? Mommy when will we get on the plane? and the list as you can imagine just wouldn't end!! A few hours later, a tired mommy, a frustrated Cheeky, two hungry tummies and two darned boarding passes crossed the security checkpoint.. and off to the food court.. but of course, Cheeky and mommy wouldn't eat the same thing, or even at the same restaurant ( don't you think gourmet, I am just making fast junk food sound like it was served on a silver platter in a 5 star restaurant!). Anyway, with bags in tow, food bags to carry, not to mention a tray that fit next to nothing and 2 drinks, the credit card was stowed into the pant's pocket and all but forgotten! A hurried lunch and a pouted lip (how dare Mc D give the little dreamer a squirrel toy of all things.. we were anticipating the ice age toys and wanted a mammoth or a saber tooth cat, or a dinosaur.. hell we would have settled for a sloth too.. but Scrat the squirrel? you got to be kidding me.. the pout said!)

Later the Cheeky imp was hurried out of one store after another while the mom and imp took the long hike to the gate. Mommy went to the phone banks to call Daddy and complain and whisked out her credit card, only to find it gone.. a hurried run back to the food court an irate Cheeky in tow, revealed the adventure had not just begun it was in full swing!! But I know better than to be worried, I used CC 2, called M and declared "just cancel my Visa card.. ".. as simple as that? yeah ... who are we kidding.. we knew this would happen right? A coloring book and a very expensive toy watch later (let the records show that the watch was subsequently broken on the flight)... Cheeky was convinced to let the Mc D people rest assured that there will be no small claims court that would subpoena them!

While on the phone yet again to M to make sure that the CC had been canceled, some rain droplets were observed, discussed and pushed away with a stylish flick of the wrist (as if!).. but those very droplets would come back to haunt us.. We boarded the international flight, and found our very uncomfortable seats and had a huge discussion of when we should sleep.. while mommy reconciled herself to the fact that it would still be a while the PA spoke up "There is a long queue of flights to take off, this might be a while, there is a lot of chaos because of the thunderstorm" What thunderstorm, that light drizzle you mean? I swear I looked up at the sky and I could see a smile! While I quickly fed Cheeky his dinner but refused to take off his shoes for I was getting ready to disembark and go spend the night in a hotel in New york, when they eventually announce that the flight was canceled, the flight actually took off a good 3 hrs later by which time the imp was well fed and fast asleep. Dinner and a movie later, I closed my eyes to get a shut eye when I heard the little voice "mommy time to get up.. lets play now!" and a few seconds later two little fingers pried my eyes open and a little face pushed up close!! I gave in to the inevitable.. a sleepless 19 hr flight!

Kids and travel never go hand in hand.. kids traveling for long.. tired and hungry will drive any parent crazy, let alone a ~~inept~~ super mom like me! When faced with that, laughter is the best medicine.. and when that doesn't work, there is always Prozac!

The rest as they say is history.. we did get to Chennai not too worse for wear, and only a few hours delayed while my dad paced the outside of the airport worried sick, and the airline information system read that the flight was on time!! But now we are here and you better get yourself geared up for stories about eewie play areas (read the bouncing castle at Planet yum, Besant nagar which we visited last night.. while a friend's 3 yr old squeezed among the dozens of kids wying for a spot on the bouncy slide, my 4.5 yr old declared "I am not going there"..while other kids jumped up and down amongst the plastic balls.. my kid declared "eew.. dirty" and quickly put on his shoes again") and scary bugs (read lizards and house flies), not to mention the wet bathrooms! All this from a guy who loves sticky hands and seems to have a consistently gooey face!!

Party time!!

2009-06-25T10:16:00.002-04:00

Prats tagged me on FB a few days back and in true scatter brained fashion I forgot all about it. She now is following up and making sure that I keep my word. Aah.. talk about a task master! And what does she want me to do.. write any 5 things about myself. Haa that's easy -
1. I am Preethi - See my profile if you don't believe me that's what it says!
2. I am a scatterbrain who is still figuring out what to do when she grows up, besides pondering the nuances of everyday life!
3. I am in possession of the most greasy butter fingers
4. My life is ruled by a little imp called Cheeky who rules the roost and this blog
5. I am God's idea of a comic relief!
(img courtesy: http://www.whataboutclients.com)

Prats I am sure after reading this you are ready hand on hip and belan (roll pin) in hand to plonk on my head. I am going to wait till the crimson wave passes to come by your vicinity {grin}. Having said that I must say my life is pretty much a Hodge Podge of crazy events like you would see in all the links I have posted here. If you think this is my way of making you read more of my posts, you are absolutely right!

This past weekend was proof enough for the craziness in my life. And its not just me, its all in the family. On Father's day we went to a huge work party (M's of course, no one is willing to give me a job.. I must be pretty scary with my incessant baby talk and all, but more on that later). The party was held in a park packed with lot of events for all ages and genders. While the children had a drawing competition the adults had to do more, they had to take part in a tug of war. But first the drawing competition. Cheeky had been told about this on the drive to the party.. and he pondered for a while on what would be the perfect picture. As we got off the car and headed to the shelter where the party seemed to be missing (We actually turned up on time.. who does that? we have to be the most boring people right? And that too on a Sunday morning.. yawn!). Anyway as we approached the handful of people who seemed to be saving us the embarrassment of being the absolute first (turns out they were the organizers... so we were the first guests after all.. at the very least we should have had a big gift to show for that.. but I suppose it doesn't pay to be "those freaks who got here on time"!). I have digressed so much now, that I have actually forgotten (as I am sure so have you ) what I was going to say!

So let me trace back and start at the beginning.. we told Cheeky about the drawing competition and Cheeky sat pondering on what he could draw. I was determined not to offer advice like I was itching too...so I tampered down that inherent competitiveness and said "You draw whatever you want to". To which Cheeky replied "I know, I will draw bubbles"... so we trotted off all set to see a paper full of circles! However good sense prevailed amongst the organizers and they actually had a topic for the kids to draw based on. More on the inherent competitiveness, scores of parents sat next to their kids pushing, prodding,helping and actually drawing for them while I abandoned Cheeky and went off to lose the tug of war (so much for trying to walk off with the mommy award.. but then who's to know?) ! And when Cheeky got the third place I sent him off all alone to receive the award while I sat and polished off my lunch. The other kids of course had parents accompany them and get the award! So while the other kids got their gift and walked off stage, Cheeky stood there posing for pictures! He topped the act too.. He unrolled his painting and held it up for the camera to see so there could be a clear picture of the proud beaming cheeky and his winning drawing! So much for my parenting.. my only defense is I am trying to make him independent. That part was very evident when Cheeky actually went around introducing himself to all parents with kids and asking them their kids names and ages! Not to mention when one of the organizers had the audacity to announce "Please don't leave the water bottles lying around throw them in the trash can", Cheeky had to intervene and say "Don't you mean recycle bin, if you throw it in the trash can it will remain for tens of thousands of years on the ground!" Phew.. they got a taste what I have to live with!

While Cheeky was cementing his claim to fame with his work of art, M was flexing muscles and pulling at the rope while he dragged entire teams down to dust! Well he and his well picked team! Then M belted out a nursery rhyme for father's day.. yes you read that right M and not Cheeky! While the other father's were being shy and timid.. M sang "Baa baa black sheep" like it was a rock rendition with clapping hands and tapping feet, and actually won the first place for that! Look at what I am surrounded by? Do you blame me for blogging? After all I need a vent for belonging to this revved up household don't I!

And just so you know.. my mid life crisis is back.. and if I survive you will hear about it soon!

Chicken Monkey Shoes

2009-06-18T13:10:00.011-04:00

I was randomly whiling away time while I sat rooted to my PC. Looking to the rest of the world like I had something important to do. The glasses perched precariously on my nose and the slight crinkle on my forehead, not to mention the grim faced mouth and the straight back completed the picture! As I checked my emails (yeah I have not 1, not 2 but 3 email accounts.. the rest I am not revealing), checked face book and orkut again for the non existent messages. Do these people know I exist? When all the status messages scream for attention and no one bothers to respond, you are in big trouble! Maybe I should say I am hanging off a cliff and see if people care to respond to that?

Anyway, so there is not much to do on the social networking sites if your 164 + 87 (account for some repeats) and counting friends do not respond to your desperate call for attention. And I am so tired of playing all the word games that FB (aah I am learning the lingo...) has to offer! So I decided to read my blog yet again. I installed the Feedjit live traffic feed and look red faced when it keeps popping up Charlotte NC for every other entry!! But if I don't go back and read my blog (at least 20 times a day) then who else would right? So I unabashedly was back again reading the old entries.

For those of you who read me know that very I can be found often on the periphery of sanity.. what with my overactive imagination and a God who (I am often found asking "Are you mocking me?" ) uses me for comic relief! I might have mentioned it in the past, but if I haven't here are a few samples!

I was the chosen one.. I cut my tendon on a regular kitchen knife which every woman (and the occasional man.. I mention that so I am not accused of being chauvinist.. but if you are married and live in the real world, you sure have a touch with reality.. anyway that is the topic for another day) across the world uses everyday. While many of you would recognize this as yet another testimony to my culinary expertise, I was merely surprised (or like M would put it I had the audacity to be "surprised" after cutting my left thumb inches deep). Anyway, the point of this story is I was the one the big Almighty chose to bestow this blessing on. And the icing on the cake, M was having (or at least pretending very convincingly to have) a crisis at work which took him away at 6 AM only to return at 11 PM.. maybe he was just avoiding his "disabled" wife? I will never know. (just wait till he comes home tonight.. something is about to explode... and that something may be my head!) But there was cherry on the icing too a 1.5 yr old toddler who had to stop to talk to every moving thing on the road be it a human or a dog or a car! And every stranger was updated on my entire life history starting from my already forgotten profession to my butter fingers accident! And I must mention that all this transpired when he hardly knew a word of English. Where was I? In the background of course trying to renounce all knowledge of this little imp who was aiming to make me squirm, looking on helplessly with blue casing wrapped hand "Slightly raised above chest level"!

And then there was the time when I decided to take the toddler half way across the world, I reached half point of my journey and promptly got stranded.. and the airline clerk when I reached him through the "lines are busy" message had the audacity to tell me a mother no less that I would have to remain stranded for 3 days and explore London. If this had come at me a couple of years before, I would have said oh well what the heck and toured London.. but I was not willing to do that toddler in tow! No even I am not that brave (I can hear the sniggers at the "even I".. I will choose to ignore that!). The airline clerk and the rest of his colleagues had to face the wrath of the stranded mother when she walked in demanding she be let out of their beautiful city. They packed her and the talkative toddler on the next flight out, let alone the fact that it was not going to their destination country. Who cares, as long as the lady was out of sight they were safe...

And then there was the time I decided to do the journey in reverse this time with a 3 year old. Billions of travelers, millions of travel agents and I had to be the chosen one again. My competent travel agent messed up the tickets so that Cheeky had 2 tickets (while I can understand the reasoning behind that.. after all imps have to jump from one seat to another you see) and I had none. And when did I have to find out, already miles away from home, 30 minutes before boarding the international flight at the check in counter OF COURSE! And wait there is the icing of course.. and that is a backpack of toys the only possessions in hand, light summer clothes on us, the wind swirling up the snow outside and the clock strikes "MIDNIGHT"!

And what was my friend GOD doing on all these different occasions? Laughing I am sure.. remember I told you I was his comic relief? This is not Blasphemy.. the God and I have a good thing going.. he toys with me and I call him out!! Where is your sense of humor?

Anyway... I can see you going.. "Will you get to it already?" yeah I know I have a tendency to run off with my words.. So back to why I have bored you with my long narration. If you remember I was talking about my attempt to while away time. And how that led me to blogger , only this time instead of reading my old posts as always, I popped into my profile and asked blogger to give me a question that I could answer. While many bloggers get decent questions like

"What spells can you cast on a magic marker?"

"Your hand has been replaced by a rubber stamp, what does it say?"

or even

"Never mind the turtle, don't you think you are sure to win?"

But when I requested a question I had to get "Chicken Monkey Shoes", and its not even a real sentence! And oh just wait.. here comes the icing.. I am supposed to write the answer in just 400 words.. Chicken Monkey Shoes indeed! Needless to say my blogger profile still appears question-less! I am sure you wil now agree with me when I say... I AM COMIC RELIEF to a guy up there for sure! But my mission has been accomplished, I have spent a good part of my morning typing up this rant looking for the rest of the world like I am rapidly racing against a deadline! HAHAHA! (that was my sinister last laugh)

Hijacked!

2009-06-15T13:46:00.010-04:00

The word hijacked has taken a new and more personal meaning today. I will not say that I have not seen the signs of the coming era.. just that I did not expect it so soon. A couple of years back, I would drag a toddler down to the local library. While other kids tapped on the mouse and keyboard this one would look on with avid interest. The minute he found an empty spot he would toddle up to the chair, pull himself up and rapidly proceed to strike on the keys of the keyboard humming to himself for lack of anything to do.

However the computer at home was still off limits! Then I succumbed and bought him one of those toddler laptops.. but after a few half hearted attempts at playing with it that was relegated to a quiet corner, only to be brought out for pretend play. The little computer engineer brings it out to type status reports for his boss!!

Friends however were plotting to destroy this peace in my household. They got him a computer game last year.. but again mommy has managed to lose that in the move. Not that the game was a regular thing.. it was more like a special treat. However despite these precautions the results have been imminent.

The fact that I am yet to listen to a single song of my choice in my IPod must have meant something. The fact that I am yet to sit undisturbed in my couch or sleep un-kicked for one night must have warned me.. but the slow poke that I am I failed to notice the signs...

The little imp is now a rookie reader and in my enthusiasm to encourage the reading, I might have let the grip slip.... What grip you ask? the grip on my life line the computer.. and now I have competition! I have a 4 year old who has an email ID and has email conversations with his aunts and grand dads. I have a 4 year old who can get on skype and make video calls, who can turn on the chat window and type things to them. He can get on yahoo messenger and doodle and was found experimenting with audibles and emoticons last evening.

This afternoon DH asked Cheeky "Whats your email ID"
He not only rattled it off "cheeky.nantu@gmail.com" but then went on to say "I need to go on orkut". (for those of you who haven't heard of it, its google's version of facebook - social networking!!)
DH was shocked.. "You have an orkut account?"
My eyes were falling off my head..
Cheeky "Yeah .. I like to click on the photos and check all the pictures"
No he doesn't have an orkut account and I intend locking up my computer in a safe safe place till he turns 18. Just tell me please what happened to my blissful little toddler who was content to be swinging off furniture? For all you know Cheeky might start blogging soon!

The votes are in...

2009-06-08T17:38:00.004-04:00

Summer is here and so is the season of bathing suits. With that comes the sudden urge to lose weight. I have tried to find an easy way... I tried green tea and benefiber. I tried sweet n low and brown rice. I tried the waist belt and the tummy trimmers. Anything that would do the work for me.. but I haven't had the chance to verify their real capability .. for on the side I also gorged on the muffins and doughnuts, the ice creams and chocolates, the samosas and fries. Not to mention a sedentary life style of adorning the couch!

Not that I ever intend wearing a bathing suit.. yikes who wants to swim really? (the case of the sour grapes?) But still I would give anything for some killer abs... except maybe give it some pain! Like I say if you need me to choose between the fat and the pain, I choose the fat of course! For who would have a sore tummy all the time from all the crunches, or hurting muscles from all the running. If anything can be solved from a stroll down the treadmill, count me in!!

For years I was the thin one.. and I looked like I had been rescued from a famine stricken land.. then America happened and with that arrived a plump Preethi. Following that Cheeky happened, and with that whatever else remained of the thin mirage disappeared! Since then I have been the butt of every heavy weight joke in my never forgiving family! I have threatened with force and tears each equally powerful weapons but they are undettered!

Finally I decided to take action and stopped eating out.. while M and Cheeky seemed to evaporate in front of my eyes, I seemed to be inhaling all the weight they were losing and only seemed to get worse. That this was a testament to my culinary skills is no doubt, but lets leave that discussion to another day!

At the end of the day here are the tallies
Weight Lost - nada, zilch
Weight gained - ahem ahem.. lets just say that is a secret
The pleasure of eating what you want and doing what you do best - lie around - PRICELESS!

I have a new excuse now.. settling down in the new house.. never mind that our friends put everything in place and all the boxes and bags have now gone missing, and the place has a semblance of a home. I still have the audacity to claim that all the settling in chores are keeping me from the gym! And with that note.. let me go try that new flavor of ice cream... slurp! slurp!

Here we go again!

2009-05-26T08:36:00.014-04:00

Its that time of the year again. Call it a very late case of spring cleaning.. or the recurrence of restless feet! And when everyone thought that we were finally ready to settle down. Some of our all knowing friends have even been suggesting that we finally put down some roots and buy some real estate... "Where" I had to ask them.."in this city or the next?". Anyway the good news is we are not moving very far this time... just from one end of the town to the other! So technically I am not sure if this can be accounted for as a move move or just some minor displacement!!

So now I have a legitimate reason for the mess in the house (like I need it)... and am beginning to despair at the amount of crap I have accumulated.. and we have begun the debate yet again on whats best.. more square footage, or the drive to a dumpster.. but we know where that will lead.. the moment we de-clutter we just seem to be opening doors for more shopping, and more unwanted junk! Phew.. who will save us from ourselves?!!

We have nabbed a few of our unsuspecting friends to help us with the move.. now if only we can blindside them so they do not faint and fall on stepping foot in our house. My house is beginning to take the looks of a railway station boxes littered everywhere.. not that it was any better a few weeks back, but now that there are boxes I can claim that it is the move causing the mess.

Like I said many friends think this is the time to actually spawn some roots and buy a house! GASP!! What about my plans of moving to Europe in a couple of years.. and to China and then Australia four years hence!? Should we tell them and shock them? Is it not enough that M is often found shaking his head at being tied to this delusional woman? I am sure friends would only hurry to remind me ... of the fact that I am not single and footloose any more! Sigh!! Not to mention that little imp running in circles and getting into all the boxes! Boy am I really delusional.. I am not allowed to forget, after all sometimes being a mom seems to be my sole identity... The little imp is on summer break for good and throwing a spoke in the wheels by declaring that he just wont move and leave his friends behind!! Should I ask their parents if I can leave the imp behind?

It has finally dawned on the imp that there is that lady who keeps getting underfoot. That lady he can no longer forget all about when he steps into the fascinating realm called school. That lady he attempted to make amends with not too long ago in the recent past. After a whole year of ignoring her, he invited her to go on the "last field trip" with him. I do think this has something to do with the fact that he overheard the lady say the other day "If I can't manage to go with him, I just wont send him this time". This year has seen many field trips where different parents volunteer to accompany the class. The imp has been waltzing off with anyone that can take him. While his friends have been begging their respective parents to volunteer, the imp can't care any less! But now all of a sudden he cared "Mommy can you please go with me... this is the last field trip you know"! Even when mommy knew fully well what triggered this sudden affection, she tagged along. Only to be promptly ignored! While other kids needed their moms to get them snow cones and a turn on the swing, the imp just did it all by himself... Mommy did her share of duty at the tattoo booth which by the way the imp avoided! His friends got tattoos on their hands and face and every other part of the body they could pull off, the imp refused to acknowledge the tattoo booth! But now is the time for sweet revenge.. mommy can no longer be ignored and has to be depended on for any entertainment that is going to happen the next couple of months!!! Time for my sinister laugh "HAHAHA"!! Now its my turn mister!
[Edited to add: In response to Pavi's comment - No we did not buy a house... we need to put an end to our nomadic life style to do that.. and I can't see that happening ... can you?]

Being Mom....

2009-05-20T09:57:00.010-04:00

Its been an eternity since I blogged.. I would love to say I have been busy.. however I still haven't gone and gotten a life, I still haven't lost any weight, I still haven't found any answers for Cheeky's endless questions and I still haven't dealt with the cobwebs in my head.

So what have I been doing? Lets paint a picture.. Its getting dark outside (its almost summer here... so its start getting dark at 8 pm).. the hubs returns home looking like he has actually done something all day (not played scramble and hangman all day on the comp.. ). I am lying on the couch watching some rerun or the other.. a bag of chips in hand.. He plonks on the recliner next to me... and says "Boy am I HUNGRY".. I offer the bag of chips.. and if he as much as moves to take it from my hand, I ask "Can I have it back?" and launch into how tired I am and how I have had a long day.. Th hubs looks around at the mess.. at the kid entertaining himself.. but knows better than to utter a word!

So there atleast I can be honest about it :) Moving on.. VJ tagged me ages ago to write about what I love about being a mom...Its taken me so long to come up with something... so here goes...

1. I love the fact that I am constantly reminded how old I am .. not just by my kid but other desi kids I happen to meet.. I am called "Aunty....." (I have tried teaching these kids that my name is not that.. it is Preethi.. but the moms give me glares or worse still constantly correct the kids!! uhuh!). Atleast Cheeky's friends from school call me Ms. Preethi and not "Aunty"!

2. I love the fact that I can never get a word edge ways.. The hubs and I have to stay up till past midnight to have a decent conversation. If we tell Cheeky that he has to wait for his turn, he jumps up in front of our faces waving his hand.. if we stop to ask him what he wants, heaven help us... it always starts with "Its my turn now..."

3. Every person we have ever met knows my age and worse still my weight.. these are the most publicised things in the whole world!!

4. I get to watch only G rated movies and even then I have to strain to hear a single word!!

5. I have a little head in my reader's digest reading words like hapless or valedictory and asking me "Mommy whats hapless?", "mommy whats ...."... and it never ends!

6. Not to mention I am expected to be a walking talking encyclopedia/ dictionary.. and when I am on that couch spending some time with my remote and a bag of chips I am asked to "Google it up"!

7. Even after 4.5 yrs I still have sleepless nights and am awakened by a kick in the middle of the back almost every night !!

8. I used to have an obsessive compulsive disorder of having a clean house.. I have since been cured.. now I have a pile of clothes in my bedroom, toys in the living room, books on my dining table, and crayons strewn just wear I can slip on them... and I dont bother picking them up anymore.. I have learnt my lesson!! They will just appear back there in a few seconds.. so why bother?

9. 4.5 yrs later I am not one pound lighter.. no amount of dieting or excercising will let me into the pre maternity clothes... which I still havent thrown away and look at wistfully every once in a while! phew!!

10. My idea of a fun outing is a trip to the playground or an inflatable play center!

Enough of the sarcasm eh? Now I am going to talk about something I really enjoy about being a mom.. the entertainment!!!!

Last week we were at a spring fling at a nearby park courtesy of Cheeky's school. There were kids from 3 different classes. Each class has a specific shirt they wear on field trips.. Cheeky's class wears a red shirt. We have been talking lately about how we always have a choice.. to be good or bad and we should always choose to be good. As I was watching the kids play, a fight erupted between the red and yellow shirt "groups"! These are 4 yr olds and already they do this!! Anyway, one of the boys in the yellow shirt pushed down 2 kids in the red shirt from a ledge.. both Cheeky's friends.. so this little firebrand of mine walks up to the boy in the yellow shirt both hands on his hips with an ominous look, shouting "What did you just do?" I destroyed his moment by calling out to him "Cheeky".. he walked up to me wit the same furious expression "But mommy that boy is making all the bad choices.. " I tried reasoning "You know what you do then .. you ignore him".. I got a reply in full volume "But someone needs to tell him or GOD is going to be very mad"!! Unfortunately it is very difficult to keep a straight face when you see a 4 yr old so furious and itching to do some moral policing.. thankfully a teacher stepped in and took the yellow shirted boy away for some pep talk.. The rest of us had a good laugh!!

We are vegetarians.. but I am not sure for how long Cheeky will keep that way.. He came home the other day looking very thoughtful.
"Mommy does corn dog have a hot dog in it?"
"Yes dear"
"But whats on the outside is not meat is it?"
"No dear"
"So mommy can you buy me one?"
I just stuck to my puzzled expression which seems a fixture on my face these days!
"I will just eat the outside and leave the hot dog!"
"Why not eat that too?" I ask
"But that is a cow isnt it?"
Cheeky got rewarded with a veggie corn dog this weekend :P

A week before mother's day the school was planning a surprise for the mother's. But they couldn't keep it a surprise from me unfortunately.. they were stumped by the logic of one 4 yr old!
The gift was supposed to be a tile with the hand print of the kid.. when Cheeky was asked to do that he refused.
"My hand would get messy" he declared...
"But this is a gift for your mom" the teacher told him
"I am sure my mom would not like messy hands for a gift" was the answer!
hahaha
A very tired looking teacher approached me that afternoon.. "Can you please tell Cheeky you would like that for a gift?"
So I had my talk with Cheeky and send him off to school. He came back looking stoic. With playdoh in his hair and paint all over his clothes. This is a first.. I asked him what had happened.
"You told me you liked me to get messy.. so this is my gift for you"!
Ever since I have been washing off the mess in his hair and clothes every day!! I really could have lived without the mother's day gift!

I bet many of you mom's out there have done this tag already.. if you haven't you are welcome to take it up.. so are all the dads, aunts, uncles and grand parents.. meanwhile let me go summer proof my house... the vacations are here!!

Abracadabara...

2009-03-30T11:15:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine called me with "some parenting dilemma"... Does she even know me? That was one of M's first questions too... but anyway I take this as a tribute to having survived 4 years of baby mayhem at the Cheeky household! Finally some recognition after years of being snubbed by fellow mom's who would call me about all kinds of things, but never any parental advice!

Anyway when this friend called me I was so happy... rubbed my hands in delight and plotted.. what can I say? So I directed her to my blog "You should find answers to all your questions here".. serves her right for not reading my blog what do you say?

Yeah I know.. with that I am sure I have killed it.. no one is ever going to pose me with a parenting question ever again are they? So my dearest N if you happened to trust me enough to read my blog "GOTCHA"... As a bonus I leave you with this tale....

The other afternoon.. after being reprimanded time and again for "not spending time with him, I escorted Cheeky to the patio and there we sat Cheesecake in hand (now you know where I get them love handles?) contemplating the world at large! When Cheeky declared
"I don't think Daddy does any work at office"
I have suspected this all along.. I think it is just his ploy to go away and get some me time! So it was very interesting that this imp of mine thought the same...
"I think he plays baseball.. no .. no.. I think he plays cricket, and then sits and talks to his friends about cricket"
Sounds very plausible.. but I had to get some doubts clarified "So do you think they pay him for that?" I could do that you know talk about cricket with friends, I could even run around the field dropping catches if I could only get paid for it!
"No they don't pay him for that" declared Cheeky bringing my dreams crashing down
"So where do we get the rent money from" ask I.. time to get my finances straight at the very least?
"I think that money is just magicked here" Magic? You can get money by magic? How come I knew nothing of this?
"Daddy knows magic?"
"No amma, Daddy can't do magic" looking exasperated.. he even put me to test pointing to the patio railing," see if you can make that go away... just point and do shush"
Of course nothing would budge, next the imp tried ... nothing!! Nada! Zilch!
"See we can't do magic" he declared. I did not know this was part of the plan.. I sat there completely speechless...
"But my uncle can do magic"
"Your uncle? you don't even have an uncle" I declare!
"Sure I do, B Chitappa " (my husband's cousin)
By this time I am giving him a hypnotic stare....
"When I was in India he used magic to make something go away and then he made it come right back" aahaa.. now my brain is sinking below the ground.. can you help me get it?
"I will tell him. He will magic some money and send it flying here.. then we can hold out our hands and get some money" demonstrating.. the money was dumped in a pile and the pile grew and grew and grew till we never have to move again.. for the door now lay hidden behind the mountain of money..
Serves me right for having spent the better part of the evening with a 4 yr old hyper imaginative imp! I went in to turn on the TV.. I would have watched anything.. even the saans bahu madness on Indian TV.. Anything to return back from my hypnotic state...

Cheeky followed me in and declared
"When I grow up I will be a king, then I don't have to do any work I will just magic all the money" We can have M give up all the pretense of work too!! What fun!!

And N you ask me about a parenting dilemma? I have a son who dreams of being a couch potato!! Oh well, like mom like son!

And there's more .... after spending the better part of the weekend with the imp. Not to mention chauffeuring him around to the science museum, planetarium and the toy store. After this, M had the audacity to turn on the computer and claim to work! Cheeky walked up to him and declared "You need to get another job!"
M asked "Why?"
Cheeky "You don't get any time to play with me on this job"
Maybe another job will let him stay at home with Cheeky and play. And there is always magic.

And thats why I am called Mom!

2009-03-18T11:45:00.007-04:00

VJ very naively tagged me to do this... Now every one who reads my blog knows I am a far from perfect mom! But Cheeky being Cheeky, has accepted me for what I am (like he had a choice)... and I have accepted that my son is going to be His Cheekiness (like they say its all in the genes...).. I wrote his birth story here ages back...but still here is a recap, if this is less from perfect don't tell me I did not warn you!! (img: www.allposters.com)

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED? If you call bull dozing the hub into stoic compliance.. oh yes it was planned {wink}

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Very much.... in every sense of the word.. we had even crossed all stages of marital bliss to a place where we are adept at throwing and warding off daggers!!

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Looked up at the sky (because I still believe God lives there, Neptune is somewhere about there isn't it?).... and declared "About time!"

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? What part of 1 did you not get?

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? You think I am giving that away.. lets just say I was old enough to have a kid OK?

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? How does everyone? Peeing on a stick!! No dizzy vomiting in the middle of the house.. movie style! Alas!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Despite all warnings on the box, I tested at midnight ("just because I was up" I later told the hubs). Woke him up in the middle of the night to declare "You really better get used to being rudely woken up in the middle of the night mister, because that's what is going to happen in 9 months". The guy mumbled and fell back asleep and woke me up in the morning to ask "Did you talk to me last night?".. So technically you could say it was the Hubs!

8. DUE DATE? My son was 4 days late.. he took his own sweet time the little imp.. so don't get me started on the due date!

9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?I had all kinds of sicknesses.. all day!! eeww!!

10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? I pretended to crave everything Ice creams, Chocolates and what not.. but my Doc was not buying it .. so sadly I was required to diet and eat healthy... but then since she did not have a spy cam, you could say I followed every diet she put me on!! ;)

11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Surprisingly what bugged me was the way people thought I was an invalid.. I was known to declare to people.. want to race I bet I will beat you hands down!! (People thought I was raving mad and ran at the sight of me!)

12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy!

13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Of course I did.. imagine the fun I would have had shopping. But instead for the first year I shopped for my niece every time I went out to buy something for my son!!

14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Lets just leave it at enough to have a big fat tummy.. seriously who formulated these questions? I am sure that person is out to get me!

15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Traditional Southie style baby shower

16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? Surprise not for me, for I helped plan it.. but for others, who were really surprised to see defiant rebellious me go through with something like that!!

17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? No it was all hunky dory.. do you think God was out to get us women when he designed this child birth thingy? And you dare ask me if it was complicated? I bet the person who wrote these questions is a guy! I spent 9 months looking and feeling like a beached whale.. not to mention the pushing of the football.. and I get asked if it was complicated? Pregnancy is complicated mister!!

18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? At a hospital of course.. For all my talk of independence I am really not into home birthing! Lets just leave that to the more adventurous ancestors!

19 HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? You really want all the gory details? How about 22 hrs? Beat that!!

20. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? The Hubs of course.. let me see him get out of that one!!

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? A jam packed room of nurses, doctors and 1 poor lost soul - Hubby Dear! But I am sure they all wished they were somewhere else ... I am sure the Hubs wished he was watching a cricket match instead.. hell so did I :)

22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Just about anything I could get my hands on! Including an epidural!

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? Normal?

25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? One cold October night with the winds bellowing outside and the rains beating against the window shutters!

26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Amongst other names he is going to hold me accountable for when he grows up... Cheeky! But then I have met my match, the imp first renamed himself when he was 2 and continues to do that every few months.. now he goes by Max (I think).. when he settles on a name I will make sure to tell ya!

27. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN? He is 4 going on 14 going on 40!!

28. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN THE DOCTOR ANNOUNCED THE SEX OF THE BABY? Whatever!! As long as there was a healthy human baby I was past caring!

29. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST REACTION ON SEEING THE BABY? Sleep!! So I am not perfect, let all the others gush over the baby, I will have my turn when I have more energy right?

30. DID YOU CRY? No! I was too tired to think let alone cry!! I might have cried when they brought in a stretcher.. I distinctly remember exclaiming to the nurse "What Now you tell me I cant walk?"

So there you go... don't tell me I did not warn you!! But at the end of the day, my life is ruled by the little Cheeky Imp who reads me my rights every day!! Not to mention the fact that I get to share my computer chair with Cheeky.. he can't get off because we are in a boat and there is an angry river in the carpet below!! So while I hang to the edge of my life saving boat, I type this!! Sweet revenge you think?

To black holes and back...

2009-03-16T12:05:00.004-04:00

Anyone who has read my posts long enough know of my fascination with Calvin and Hobbes.. Friends have compared this mom-son duo to Hobbes and Calvin in the past. I don't know about the former, but the latter is true! There is a Calvin in Cheeky! But there is a Calvin in each one of us.. isn't there? Who wouldn't like someone who can say this...

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.

I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life ... Procrastinating and rationalizing.

I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information

well I could go on and on.. I just love that little guy!! But, here is where I draw the line... buying the complete series of Calvin Hobbes for an atrocious price. I cant sleep at night these days! No it wasn't me, but a silly girl who has a lost looking fiance who would buy her anything! Me? I have to live with reading Calvin and Hobbes on the internet.. just you wait Missy.. I will be there soon and then you will never see the books again {wink}

Back to regular programming - Cheeky Tales!
My little imp has his teacher's bewildered, let alone me! In a parent conference, his teacher discussed his antics at school with me. She seemed really worried that she just cant get him to eat... "I have to keep reminding him to eat" she told me "he just wants to keep talking"! After a lot of screaming and shouting and warning him that I would just stop giving him food, I seemed to have got him to eat the other morning, when I sat him down for a snack. I left the room lest he start talking to me! A few minutes later I heard some voices and rushed to see who was the impostor. My son sat there with some animal crackers and cheese.. talking to his food! I give up!!

You teach them things that's supposed to make them smarter and wiser and you get this from them later in the day "Amma my brain is asking my face to be angry".!! I have been getting a lot of these "Its not me, just my brain" excuses these days! Sigh!

And then there is the most recent fascination of all.. outer space! My son has been devouring on any information he can get on space, planets, the solar system and the milky way galaxy! So much this is our topic of discussion every day - day in and day out! However he seemed very upset one morning..

"Amma God created the universe right?"
"He created Jupiter so the meteors would stop hitting Earth right?"
"So why did he create black holes?"
After a lot of explanations and (what seemed more like) negotiations
"I know! Black holes are like Vacuum cleaners, they clean up the mess in space"! Huh? I bet there is no Cheeky in space though, to create the mess! (img: http://www.mobiriot.com)

While space is very fascinating we find it interfering with every theory about God... So..
"Amma where does God live"
An unsuspecting mom answers "Heaven!" (You think you are so smart don't you? Take this...)
"Is Heaven on Earth? I don't think so!"
"Heaven is somewhere in space Sweety"
"You think God is floating around in space?" (The expression on his face clearly says Whats wrong with her?)
I see an image of my reputation falling down to the ground and some...
"Where do you think heaven is?"
"I think it is in Neptune!"
So if you are ever need God, now you know where to look! (img: www.astro.virginia.edu)

Or you could listen to Calvin and let things be....

" I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
-- Calvin "

AMEN!

Diaries of a sleep deprived mom!

2009-03-09T14:16:00.003-04:00

There was an era ages ago when I could go to sleep and stay asleep through the night.. undisturbed, unruffled, unpushed and my comforter stayed on me till I chose to toss it in the morning.. the day is long gone! My sleepless nights began when I decided to have a kid.. I struggled with insomnia through my pregnancy while I pushed M to the limits as well.. when I turned the air conditioning to dangerously low temperatures and he wore layered clothes and stayed wrapped in blankets in the heat of good old Chennai! Still I found it too warm to sleep.. and kept loitering about the house mumbling to myself and the little thing playing football in my tummy! "How many times do I have to tell you.. that is not a football field.. now do you mind coming out just yet?" No wonder men hold babies like they would a football (I mean American football.. God forbid they started holding it like Indian football aka soccer!)

But I soon found out that the bundle of joy meant more sleepless nights.. only now I wanted to sleep! So I tried to tackle hunger and the loud wails in my sleep .. as a result many a days the water ended up in the box of formula and the box needed to be thrown out the next morning! Finally M started mixing the formula just so he could save some money! I weaned the imp off the night bottle as early as I possibly could.. without seeming inhumane and un-motherly (after all the Indian mothers and grand mom's already eyed me with barely concealed disgust at my mothering skills/ debacles). Anyway, once the imp was weaned I was so ready to have my sleep back.. only he wanted to wake up every time he wet his diaper.. wailing loudly in disgust and anger! At a little over 1, he decided he no longer liked his crib and our nights were intercepted with wailing and crying trips to our bed and back.. till we finally gave up and exiled the crib for good! But that did not solve our sleep deprivation! For even tiny feet can hurt when they kick you in the rib incessantly.. and the tiny hands can haul off the comforter on a cold night!

The toddler bed arrived. There were nights when we would hear loud screams because the blanket had been kicked off and a furious little thing yelled because he was cold! Or one of the dozen stuffed toys in the bed had gone missing.. I would be frantically hunting for a minuscule toy in the dark of the night! 4 years later, you would think I can finally sleep through the night!

But no such luck... I am woken up because of many reasons...
Because someone realized he preferred Sheriff jatti (briefs) to King jatti.. so he wanted to return the Lightning McQueen jatti and get the Sheriff one instead! (Whaa??.. )
Because he decided he doesn't like mommy anymore.. and wants to know why she was being so mean to him in his dream? (Maybe because she hasn't slept in 4 years?)
Because there is no room in his bed! (But we would never consider hauling less than a dozen stuffed toys to our bed would we? Now they have taken over!)
Because there is a cold spot in the comforter!
Because someone no longer likes the much craved for car toddler bed anymore! "I want a bunk bed instead"
Because we wanted GM cereal boxes to have Madagascar toys, but they are no longer available!
Because Mc D stopped giving out Kungfu panda toys!

and the list goes on..

And then there is the crawling into Mommy's bed because of these various reasons... and whispering loudly in her ears.. and if she manages to turn around.. kneeing her in the back! And then when he has finally been successful in kicking mom off the bed, he lets out a sigh and spreads himself.. eagle like and falls asleep! While mommy just has to get herself an extra strong cup of coffee and greet the bright day with her sore back!!
But this mommy has a plan.. tonight, she is going to slip out to the car and curl up in there! Maybe I will even drive to a remote corner and park.. no point in getting busted by the toddler is there?

Dreaming big...

2009-03-01T18:00:00.007-05:00

For the past week I have been conjuring up images of my historic come back into the blogging world. I was supposed to have lost weight with my gym routine and staged a come back where I proudly announce the loss of all those love handles.. and at least 20 pounds.. but instead all I have to announce is the sweet taste of chocolate cake and the gain of a few more pounds! Well what the heck, its not like I will be needing the weight loss.. my valentine has no choice but to take me out and get me an obese looking chocolate cake and manicotti and EggPlant Parmesan with extra cheese. Might as well bury the guilt and enjoy the meal.

I also wanted to talk about an upcoming book, article.. anything which tells me that I have been useful this past year when I spent hours every day on the blogger. But lets face it, who would buy a book of my rants and raves. At least I am realistic enough to see it for what it is.

So while some of you have been speculating with finger tapping restlessness and evil grins (Suma I have been reading the comments you know!), I have been lolling around and nursing my self infested writer's block.. not to mention the martinis and vodkatinis that I drown down when I look at the abysmal CNN every night. Just kidding... I have never touched alcohol ever in my life.. wish I could drown them though... but boy are cosmopolitan's out of reach!! (I mean that literally)

Meanwhile Cheeky has been his old cheekish self.. sending us to duck under the table and find new places to hide every day.. with his endless questions! 4 years back, little did I think that I would be on the Internet every day hunting up answers for all the endless questions!! He has big dreams though... just yesterday this conversation (or rather monologue) ensued..

I am going to build a castle.. with 7 floors and an elevator to go up and down in. Then we will go live there...

The first floor will have a living room with a movie theater.. I will grow this TV (pointing to my 50" plasma.. not big enough for the imp?) and have lots of seats..

Me: can we have a movie theater room?

No no we will have the movie theater in the living room. And in the other room we will have a monkey joes! (yeah that makes a lot of sense, after sitting for long we will go uncramp our legs by bouncing!). And we will go out of the movie theater and get some popcorn (Me: I am not making popcorn). that's okay someone else will make popcorn ...

On the second floor (yes the first floor just has 2 rooms)... we will have 3 working rooms, one for you, one for daddy and one for me. And then we will have a bus? (A bus?) one made of bricks amma, it will be a fun bus! I will be the driver, daddy the conductor and you will be the passenger! (yes I am always that.. the passenger.. but conductor? I am not sure where that comes from.. I don't think he has seen the fun guys handing out the tickets in India.. I always wanted to be a conductor as a kid...)

On the third floor we will have a restaurant.. (I am not cooking I scream), that's OK Daddy and I will be the chef. He will cook and I will help him (this from a guy who adds salt and eggs to hot chocolate and another who needs a route map to the kitchen, imagine what I would be eating.. apparently hiring a chef is out of question too.. I must consider moving out of the castle.. which is now beginning to sound like a death trap.. but wait the best is yet to come)... there would also be 2 more working rooms on this floor.. (why I ask) for us to work together.

On the fourth floor there would be some lions and giraffes and tigers and basically the entire cast of Madagascar. I and my rabbits are not allowed on this floor unless the rabbits want to be the lions meal.. And I am supposed to lock the rabbits in the cage when the lions visit the movie theater to see a movie (boy are we thorough). (Can I please move out?)

On the fifth floor there is a football field. The sixth floor has a basket ball and tennis court

The seventh floor has 4 bedrooms. One for you amma, one for daddy (yeah he wont listen to reason... ), one for me and the fourth for Salty (his dog)! (What about when thatha and chitti come to visit I ask?) I will have a living room in the seventh floor where they can sleep. (They need a room I answer.. he considers letting them sleep with salty oh yes let them sleep with the dogs).. but then no salty needs his room they can go pet him but cant sleep there! (Thank goodness, the living room sounds much better... but then I cant let that go),.. so we have 2 more bedrooms installed in the seventh floor. There is also a patio in the seventh floor where when Daddy and Cheeky go they turn into super heroes.. Cheeky is batman and Dad is superman. Mom could be super girl but she cant fly :(. (I am curious, what does batman do?) His job is to fix bats. You know amma batman has a very sad face. I think its because he doesn't like fixing bats. So he is going to be Superman's helper. And superman is hawk's helper. Amma you can be hawk. Hawk is batman's helper.. (that makes a lot of sense.. we will all help each other...). And they fly down from the patio to the playground with a sandpit. And play there.. they also play soccer in the soccer field and ride on the trains Gordon and Thomas and the list goes on to include every engine in Island of Sodor!

I finally had to send him to bed with promises that the castle would appear in his dream.. by this time I had listened to the monologue for 2 hours straight.. I curled up on the couch and put a hot pack to my head and turned on the dark looking CNN, anything to drive away images of me dropping to the ground from the seventh floor after having been chased by lions and tigers, not to mention 4 dogs, and oh yes the food! God I am shaking!

I think this story should be enough to entitle me a break from everything.. but for now.. I am just going to go rest my head for a while before Cheeky wants to share more tales!

A huff and a puff

2009-01-05T10:21:00.007-05:00

It has been a long month... what with the christmas parties and the rush to bring Santa home. While wishing that Santa would send me a gift in the form of maybe a lottery or a sweepstake.. maybe millions of dollars or a big bad car... anything would be welcome! But ofcourse Santa fooled me this year too!! huff!
However the holidays have been fun.. and I have been catching up on movies.. I even fit in a mini vacation where I managed to drag myself off the couch long enough to visit a city 4 hrs away and eat loads of Indian food, as well as treat Cheeky to a trip to the Nation's largest aquarium!
Managed to avert that trip to Pet smart... so far! And have been spooking myself with tales of dogs gone bonkers.. on Discovery!!
As you can see all this busy schedule has left me with no bloggable material.. not to mention a house looking like a hurricane hit it. So I might be gone for a wee bit longer.. while I get my life in order :P And while at it get my brain in some semblance of order too.. at least to answer the million questions Cheeky asks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you...

And thanks a lot to Hip Hop Grandmom, PG and Just another mommy for the wonderful award they gave me
[This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.]

I pass this on to
Rayshma, Pavi, Gladriel, Prats, Suma, Mama Mia, K3 and Vish

Happy New Year.. and adieu for a while.. I will be back soon.. till then take care and stay safe!

The Christmas Jinx!

2008-12-19T16:39:00.002-05:00

I have probably mentioned this before.. but I am a very confused person. I celebrate just too many things to stay sane! Now its Christmas.. I put up Christmas decor in the form of snowmen and santa figurines around the living room and lit up the lamps for karthigai (festival of lights in South India). While I was thus balancing both cultures I made the biggest blunder.. I might have accidentally let slip to His Cheekiness that "Santa is imaginary".. GASP!!

Maybe the reason was to get credit for all the gifts Santa brings him.. I don't even get a hug or a thank you!! Or to make him tell me the gifts he wants Santa to bring No "secrets between Santa and me!" or maybe I was just tired about all the hush and secrecy of buying gift, hiding them, holding in the secret for what seems like eternity... Anyway, I tried to remedy by saying we were his secret Santa and would be the actual people buying the gifts.. So maybe it was just for some brownie points after all!

But Cheeky being Cheeky.. has made it a point to prove to me that Santa is real.. so now we have been talking about Santa every day for the past month! I have gone on my knees and pleaded to the All Mighty Cheeky that I agree now that Santa is real.. but that does not stop him from going on and on!! I took him to the mall..and even offered to stand in line so he could go through the snow globe (glittering eyes) and sit on Santa's lap (bored expression).. But the imp thinks sitting on Santa's lap is "Too Silly" and wants to stand in line, go through the snow globe and walk out.. poor Santa would be crushed.. so I had to convince Cheeky to settle for a happy meal instead!

Anyway, like the troubles in my home was not enough, I took on more.. I was going to help host the Christmas party at school.. for his class! Phew! I had signed up for this in the beginning of the year.. and as you can imagine forgot all about it till I was idly looking at the notice board last week. After a complete melt down, I rushed to the Arts Store and got some lovely crafts for the kids to do (some great sun catcher kits with paints and brushes)... and the other parent organized the food. And then the day before the party a couple of parents reminded me about the teacher's gift.. at least I had a day to rush and get something together! Whew!

But wait, this story is not yet over.. far from it ... Come the day of the party, I realized I forgot to send invites out or at least put a note up on the notice board announcing the party and inviting the parents! While I was freaking out, Cheeky's teacher assured me that most people seemed to have remembered on their own as 2 parents had sent lunches.!! Fingers crossed we got geared up for the party!

And sure enough the turn out was pretty good.. the kids enjoyed the food and had a blast with the painting.. and the parents loved the new sun catchers! But then it was too soon to rejoice! We stepped out of the class and saw that Cheeky had gifts from some of his friends! Cheeky declared "How come I did not get gifts for my friends.. that was too mean amma". A frantic call to dad and we were headed again to the store again, now to get gifts for all his friends now.. phew!!

I decided to be smart and get Cheeky's christmas gifts too.. so I don't have to be back at the store again.. "Yeah he is gonna be pleased" I told myself as I got the car and the train and the tracks.. the Sneaky Cheeky spied the gifts and let out a big whoop! So much for Christmas surprise!

Later that night as I was putting together the little gift bags for his friends..
He told me "Amma give C a red car. C is my best friend and he likes red".
Raised eyebrows.. I continued with my task.. as I was not marking the bags there was no saying who would get what color.
Later Cheeky asked "So what did C give me?"
I responded "I don't think he gave you anything sweetheart".
Cheeky replies "That's okay, best friends don't need to give anything" uh?
After such declaration of friendship, I peeked in every bag till I found the one with a red car and left that for Mr. C!

Now, the gifts have been given and school has been closed for the holidays! You would think the worst is over? Cheeky now has a new set of demands for Christmas! Tell me where I can crawl under, will you?
Happy Holidays folks!! (pic courtesy: http://i-love-cartoons.com, http://disney-clipart.com)

Cheeky Tales

2008-12-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

As the time flies by and I keep floundering with no topics to blog about.. Cheeky is growing up too fast. He is becoming street smart and quite the negotiator.

Street Smart?

Cheeky seems to have inherited our genes after all.. and can be unbelievably lazy at times.. but his laziness does not impede him.. instead he can be very sly. At soccer class every week after giving the kids instructions the coach would ask them to get a ball each from around the field. Cheeky being Cheeky would nonchalantly look around him while his friends ran around to get a ball each. True to my momma status I would fret from the sidelines at him not getting a ball .. Cheeky would sweetly declare to the coach "I don't have a ball" and end up getting the coach's ball!

Every afternoon I get to his school a few minutes early as all the kids are finishing up lunch... Cheeky always fumbles with his lunch bag and box.. at the last minute when till the minute before that he has been chatting with friends while ignoring the teacher's calls to pack up.. so the teacher helps him every day to pack up.. while Cheeky watches! One afternoon though Cheeky was as far away from the tables as he could be, with his lunch box resting snugly in his backpack (something that has never happened before).. I figured out why.. my son has learnt a new trick.. he tells his teacher "I am not feeling too good" and his teacher tells him he does not need to eat! Needless to say this trick did not work at home!

For a kid who used to write every letter of the alphabet with fervent enthusiasm at 3, Cheeky has turned into this imp who hates picking up a pencil now. He has suddenly developed a dislike to anything to do with putting a pen on a book, including coloring. While I am wondering how to re-entice him, he has figured out how to stay away. Apparently he tells his teacher "My hands are tired" every time he is asked to write and his teacher responds with "You can stop now". Ahaa!!

And there is more.. A Cheeky Cheeky came up to me the other day and whispered "Amma guess what I did at clean up time?" With great reluctance I asked "What?" ..

"When my friends cleaned up I hid amma".

"That's not right Cheeky, you need to help clean up.. you know that"

Still giggling "I hid under the table and no one found me" haha!!

Ouch.. the teen years are really going to hurt aren't they?

And whats more I have a nifty negotiator on my hands!

"Go to bed"

"I am not going, and that is it" is usually the reply! No tears, no fuss.. just no nonsense!

He has been asking me for a dog for months now! I told him he could have one when he was 10.. every day he re-negotiates the time frame.. its down to age 7 now.. and I have no clue how I let that slip!!

And the negotiations are on for a twin brother. How on earth am I supposed to produce that.. he misses no opportunity to point out how life would be easier if he had a twin. Like when he wants me to play with him (even after I have rolled the toy car yet again for another hour).. Amma, see if I had a brother I would not ask you to play with me.. Yeah right.. like I don't have my hands full with one boy! But the catch is the brother has to be a twin.. a 4 yr old brother is what he wants and "That's it"!

Now I am off to go worry about my pitiful state ... in a few years I will even have a teen on my hands!! boohoo!!

The buzz word is Change!

2008-12-03T11:50:00.004-05:00

Would you step out of your house today without a glimmer of fear today? Would you walk across the street without a care? Would you vacation with complete abandon or admire the beauty of India with a light heart? If your answer is no to all this, I ask you how much longer? Are we prepared to life in constant fear? Are we prepared to let the terrorists rule our lives and our earth?

So then how can we change this? How can we sweep our Indian political system clean.. for that seems to be the root cause of most of the mishaps that occur in our country.. Every morning as you turn on the news channel in India you hear about some act of terror in some part of the country.. then why aren't those acts openly condemned or spoken about by our politicians.. they are brushed away as yet another act of terrorism! For that has become a way of life... is that the value we place for lives?

I along with many others are beginning to ask this question today.. How can we change the world we live in? And more importantly how can we change our country and make it a safer place to live in? Lets not allow this date 26/11 to become yet another statistic.. let this be the day India starts her quest for greater good! Let all the martyrs of this day and all the fights against terror in the past not have laid their lives down in waste! Let their deaths inspire us to do something that can help our country! I am thinking hard.. and I urge you to do the same!

For those of you that want to help Mumbai victims ... Kiran from KarmicKids is spear heading a wonderful effort to help Mumbai. Lend your support - http://www.mumbaihelps.blogspot.com/

ENOUGH!

2008-12-02T11:07:00.007-05:00

As you can see regular programming has been interrupted on this site as I continue to obsess with the Mumbai Terror Attacks. I am unable to resume life as usual in the aftermath.. as I am sure many of you are too!

While I wish to focus on the positive, I am appalled by the state of the Indian Government.. what front are we posing to the world? Today the entire world is watching and pointing at our inefficiencies. Warnings months before from intelligence went unheeded... A week before satellite calls intercepted where the leader of LET was heard to be saying “cargo is on its way”. The Indian Navy increased security on the coast but relaxed it in a week's time?

“We also removed the additional security,” a police source said, “because our manpower was stretched to the limit and the personnel we had did not, in any case, have the specially-trained personnel needed to avert a suicide-squad attack.” So where is all the man power? Providing security to the politicians in Delhi?

I wonder why the police aren't well trained with firing ammunition.. Why Mumbai does not have an anti-terror force especially in light of all the attacks in the past years on this city? There were no commandos stationed at Mumbai. There were 200 at Delhi but the aircraft to transport them was in Chandigarh? I would imagine at least that would be kept handy at all times? And from Mumbai Airport the Commandos used BEST buses to arrive on scene.. Overall it took them almost 12 hours to respond while the police force most untrained to even wield the rifles with any finesse, without bullet proof jackets stood guard?

After public outcry and media frenzy, the Home minister and other officials have offered to resign. But is this enough? What about the new team that comes in? If you are an Indian who has witnessed first hand the Indian political system.. you know there is a lot of sweeping and cleaning to be done in our political parties!

After all this.. only one hard fact remains.. hundreds of lives have been lost! Hundreds of families lose their income. And we talk of the resilience of Mumbaikar's.. for after all what other choice to they have? For life must go on! But it is time we say ENOUGH! It is time for India to speak out.. this coming elections use your right to vote.. and make a wise choice! Speak Up and Be Heard! In this era of electronic media.. it is easy to raise your voice! Join the millions of Indians who are raising their voice today to say ENOUGH!
[Img Courtesy: http://www.gmba.uwosh.edu/currentstudents/india/about.php]

[Edited to add: For all of you out there wondering what are our choices.. and how to choose best among the worst, here is Sumana's suggestion

Sumana said...
We definitely need to have our choices right. You know indian constitution has something call null vote or I Vote Nobody!!! Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called "49-O". Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way; of our whole political system... it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public....

Thanks you Sumana]

I salute thee!

2008-11-28T17:31:00.004-05:00

In every place where terror strikes, heroes come through! The hotel staff at Taj and Oberoi some of whom are said to have literally put themselves in the line of fire to save the guests. The Police, Special Task Force, Army who put themselves at risk while they meticulously saved the innocent victims one by one.

As I sit here watching the news.. the seige goes on, people are expressing displeasure against the Commandos for not ending this faster! But the intensity is unimaginable! Crazed Killers, Brutal killers who hold no value for life sit there with weapons and explosives. Lives of innocent hostages lie in balance. If you need to detonate this with as less damage as possible, it does take time! You can't really expect them to run in guns blazing and take them down!!
(img: http://www.timesrelieffund.com/)
I am proud that I belong to a country of such heroes. A country that refuses to bow down in the face of terror. And I hope this episode only makes us more resilient and urges all Indians around the world to look at your nation with pride at their armed forces and execution in such a tense situation! I am aware that there is a faul finding exercise going on.... about how the Indian Intelligence failed. But lets focus on the positive and grow stronger for this experience!

Even in the face of terror, life goes on.. and such episodes only show us the value of life and the need to shed fear and fight back!

Indian Security Personnel and all the unsung heroes of the past 2 days... I salute each one of you!

Why? Seige of terror!

2008-11-27T17:07:00.009-05:00

All it takes is one moment, one gun and one crazed killer.. and the world can go berserk for many... Throw in months of planning, loads of ammunition, 2 dozen trained killers and a busy city...what ensues is complete chaos. And 24 hours later the stand off continues.

I turned on my computer last afternoon randomly surfing the net when MSNBC sent me a note.. Breaking News they proclaimed... Terrorist shootings, bombings reported in Mumbai, India. I was unable to find much information over the net.. but as the story unfolded and CNN kept at it all night I was shocked and at loss for words to describe what I was feeling. I called my dad in South India at 6 am and asked him to turn on the television. Although my family does not live in Bombay I felt the need to connect to them.. the need to bond with them! I can only imagine what people on the ground are going through. As I watched the news late into the night and turned it on again early this morning.. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of utter helplessness.. what use is security measures and elaborate screening mechanisms in airports.. the terrorists continue to meticulously plan and execute their attacks!

Many movies have been made about how the Islamic militia recruit young kids and brain wash them to make them believers in a so called ideology that calls for the blood of innocent bystanders. These kids whether or not they have sight of any purpose have turned into crazed killers.. attacked by what seems like a permanent case of insanity. I was only reminded again as the TV flashed images of this boy with a crazed/glazed look who is believed to be one of the terrorists!

Not so long back I wrote a note on the world being in wrong hands. It still stays posted on my blog Creative Outbursts as the last piece written by me. Maybe a Deja Vu? I have always been at loss to understand what motivates these guys? Religion? Politics? Quest for World Power?Thirst for blood? How can they live with themselves at the end of the day? I know I am joined by millions others who are also trying to make sense of this crazed world we seem to live in! If you havent already read my poem, do read it and tell me what you think?

CNN reports that many bloggers have been expressing concern and fear about living in Mumbai which has lately turned into a volatile city. I wonder, where is it safe to live in the whole world? And this makes me ask how can I help? How can I help making this world safe for my children and grand children? Is this the legacy we want to leave behind for them? If not then how can you and I change it? For now all I can do is watch with a growing sense of panic and helplessness while many live through this nightmare! All I can do is pray that justice be served!

[CNN reported almost as an after thought the seige on Thailand Bangkok airport where a group of political protesters have taken over the control room. Again, what is the world coming to?]Images - from CNN.com

Life's like that!

2008-11-22T17:08:00.001-05:00

I seem to be having frequent bouts of writer's block. And when I have them bouts I wear it proudly on my sleeve claiming with audacity .. for now I can call myself a writer.. not on days that I actually write but on those that I don't or rather cannot! While being so audacious, I decided to try a few other things.

Reading - Its been a while since I read a book.. I seem to even have developed the habit of falling asleep over books.. something I have never done in the past (at least not over fiction).. this is either the mid life crisis hitting me, or a contagious disease from M who has never been known to read a work of fiction! While I have not been able to figure this out, I have been relentless. I pulled out a book by RK Narayanan last night.. his selected essays! What was I thinking? I was only reminded why I never could be a writer (at least not as good.. for good or not I seem to have taken it on myself to torment unsuspecting souls on this blog unleashing my paltry writing skills.. even when marred by a big block in the brain!!) Back to RK Narayanan, the man is truly amazing!

Higher Mathematics - RK Narayanan wrote about his abhorrence/ intolerance for mathematics... higher or otherwise! My nemesis in school was chemistry - the equations kept doing a silly jig in front of my eyes and for the life of me I never could recall anything when the question paper was handed out. And whats more I had crammed for 3 days straight without much sleep, and still could not get my chemically challenged brain to focus! My friends talked about balancing and valencies and I looked at them with that blank look while I nodded my head fiercely to seem intelligent. At the end of the school I was so glad I never had to see those books again! I did do chemistry yet again in the first year of my bachelors degree.. but thanks to certain friends who drilled me enough but never shared their answer sheets with me .I have to seriously question their friendship right.. I wonder why they were so possessive about their answer sheets.. a peek here and there.. well a rather long peek would have helped my grades! However, thanks to them I only did barely make it through!

Gadget hoarders - Even though I am not geek-ish enough to love Chemistry, I am geek enough to have an inane love of gadgets! I am not geekishly oriented enough to understand the science behind the gadgets .. unlike M who talks in terms of high school physics with such vividity that he scares me! But still I am attracted enough to all gadgets thanks to his highness's influence! We own all those highly regarded gadgets that go out of fashion very soon... In this race we once bought a palm computer. If you haven't heard of these things, you have been saved! They are the most useless things which hold your appointments and contacts and such things, but cannot connect to the Internet without a wire! (I hate to mention it, but it is a very expensive digital diary actually) We have never used this useless contraption we spent 100's of $'s on.. and it still lies in one dark corner of our home! Till recently it was kept charged but never used till I pulled the plug one day out of sheer frustration. So this reminder of our frivolous waste on gadgets has been put out of direct line of sight!

The idiot is home - After months of arguments, the 50" plasma has finally arrived and we have not been able to take our eyes off it. 1000's of $ later there is still nothing to watch on TV!! click click click! But that does not stop us at all..

De clutter the house - It has finally dawned on us that while these contraptions keep coming in, nothing goes out. So we are hoarding more and more stuff everyday. No wonder we keep tripping over furniture and toys in our house. I do agree that this test of agility is very healthy and keeps us fit, but maybe it might help to have a place to sit without bumping on an entertainment unit, a table or sitting on a few hundred remotes! So then I thought of the most dreaded thing, how do I get rid of stuff. In India I just call the Kabadiwala (who by the way is one of Cheeky's favorite people.. he thinks a kabadiwala is a termite... maybe because of the disappearing furniture?) . Here I thought of the dreaded craiglist.. but my paranoid mind kept drawing up images of people turning up with a gun and holding me at gunpoint to take away the stuff! Do I really want to give away all my stuff to charity or worse still the trash can and not gain a penny out of it? If I had the penny wouldn't it be easier to spend? The clutter still adorns my house.. let me know if you are visiting! I might be able to make some space for you to sit as well.. but no promises! (img: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com)

Gaming solutions - While the house is in such shape what other better way to avoid the clutter than leave it behind? In the quest to do that we went to an NBA basketball game this weekend. I don't follow basketball so had no clue that the Charlotte Bobcats were not a great team.. So we cheered and watched our team lose! While Cheeky got tired of cheering and yelling for the BOBCATS who were not even wearing the blue jersey. Also he was very annoyed with the camera man who would not take his video.. so he decided to switch teams. The blue team is mine now.. so he was the only one in the stadium yelling MAGIC!! Unable to put up with the dirty looks from fellow fans we left the game for our cluttered home in the 3rd quarter!

When the guys leave - When the guys in my house leave I would love to lie on the couch and sip a margarita while watching my big screen TV in absolute peace. You would think! But every few days I get tired of my couch potato demeanor and claim to hit the gym! While those immediately around me know that this is a complete hogwash.. as I remain yours truly XL sized self.. others who I make sure to meet only on chat keep imagining my bikini clad image when I claim to hit the gym! A couple of friends found out the true story a couple of weeks back. I went to the gym one morning to find it occupied.. to save my face, I actually attempted to jog on the treadmill when it was running.. who does that? While I managed to stay on it for a full 5 Min's without falling flat on my face, while holding on to my dear life.. what I did on it can only be described as a stroll. The other occupant a lady much to my dismay went on to pick heavy 20 pound dumbbells and exercise. Not to be outdone, I picked up a single dumbbell with both hands and hefted it while trying to lift my hand in the process. Lunges and squats later the lady left and I actually saw the reading on my dumbbell.. It read 2
Despite this, I was found limping and walking like a duck for a full 3 days after this mishap! I have avoided the gym since!

Time to move - Not to be outdone by some clutter and a writer's block I decided it was time to move again! Lets just move apartments I thought! After the reports of vandalism's and thefts in the area I have been shaking on my feet after all.. so lets move miles away to a quieter locality and a bigger home (aha will solve my clutter and now I would have something to write about.. perfect solution you would think?) But no.. my apartment people no matter how nicely I tell them are out to get me.. they want me to pay 4 months worth of rent just to get out of the lease.. you would think they are kidding? But no when I laughed they only glared at me.. the gun point images came rushing back and I rushed back home.. too fast and bumped into my couch! At least I could fall back on the remote and effortlessly switch on the idiot box!!

Back to my writer's block.. any suggestions how to conquer it? Or better still how to get a life interesting enough to conquer it?

And History is made!

2008-11-06T17:25:00.004-05:00

Should I? Shouldn't I? Write about the elections?

Yes I am thrilled that history has been made, yes Obama's acceptance speech was inspiring and touching.. especially the promise of the puppy. Except that if Cheeky ever finds out, I am going to have to run for President now! (What you think that can't happen... maybe in about 16-20 years? I will be old enough to run for President then!! wink! And for those of you who dare to point out that it is constitutionally impossible... Change is the buzz word!) (img courtesy: http://threebrothersandasister.blogspot.com)

After his constant requests for pets - first a fish tank, then a cat, then a hamster and then a puppy were rejected. Even his request to go ask the neighbor if she would let him take her puppy was only admonished! Cheeky tried a different tact. Mommy lets buy a baby.. considering that mommy had a son maybe she will like a pet of the human kind! It was only later that I found out.. when my sister wisely asked him why he wanted a baby was that he wanted the baby for a pet! I must be such a hit as a mom eh?! But when he was told that the baby would share his parents, toys and room.. (I seem to have put that in ascending order of importance!) the notion was immediately dropped! We are back to wanting a puppy dog now! (img courtesy : http://www.schools.pinellas.k12.fl.us)

Alright I have digressed enough... back to the elections. I called my dad in the middle of the night.. Mid day for him and yelled "OBAMA won the elections! And he is making his acceptance speech now".. My dad responded "I get CNN here you know?" .. So much for sharing my excitement! But really so did the rest of the world apparently... the support for Obama seem to go across national borders.

I have never followed any election with equal fervor! My interest in elections in India are limited to turning off the TV every time a politician comes on.. or avoiding all areas in the city where rally's were planned (Can't end up being blown up by a bomb can I, then who would write these blogs?!). This year I watched the elections here as the mud slinging happened across the aisles in this part of the world.

With an almost nonchalant attitude I would turn on the TV and watch the drama. And what I saw was this intelligent guy making a calm point even when he was playing the blame game. And it was easy to believe him. But that is enough about Obama, what I am really here to talk about is someone else! Tricked ya didn't I?

I am talking about this cute lady with her wink and snap, her "Maverick" talks tickled me to no end! So at the end of this election furor, I am actually sorry. While Mrs. Palin packs her bags and heads back to Alaska, I must say I am going to miss this hockey mom who wanted to sit at my kitchen table and talk to me! And I am going to miss SNL (Saturday Night Live... Live from Newyork!) and Tina Fey most of all! I am going to miss the cute wink and the "I will have to get back to ya" snap! I am going to miss all the digs people took at her! But most of all I am going to miss her sense of humor by coming right there at SNL and taking a dig at herself! (img courtesy: http://www.capitolhillblue.com)

So for more of Mrs Sarah Palin do we tune in to Elections 2012?

As I sign off.. I leave you with the link to Obama's inspirational acceptance speech . Which made even self proclaimed cynics like me to sit up and take notice. It is definitely just the beginning.. the road ahead is steep and it is going to be an uphill battle. But America and the world have been energized with the chant "YES WE CAN!". So anything is possible.. just wait and watch!

Pumpkin head and other stories!

2008-11-04T11:26:00.004-05:00

Before I go to tonight's top story.. The Pumpkin head.. here are some Cheeky Tales for you

Knock and Run
Halloween night was upon us again this year.. for those of you who were following this blog last year, you know about all the sleepless nights we had in lieu of Halloween. This year though, we waited till the last minute to break the news to the imp
However on 31st afternoon an excited Cheeky came home and declared "I am going to be a clown tonight, that's what I told my teacher"
Momma "You can not be a clown"
Cheeky "Yes I can" proceeded to do some high kicks (??) and somersaults!
Alright said I and brought out my lipstick.. "let me paint your face now". And so the imp decided to do a repeat performance of Spider man this year and Halloween was salvaged. ALMOST! Cheeky dressed up as spider man and went trick or treating..
The sequence of events went like this
1. Cheeky knocks at doors with no pumpkins.. they don't open (Thank God!)
2. I threaten returning back and Cheeky promises to behave!
3. I knock at the door and move back letting Cheeky take position
4. Cheeky yells trick or treat.. door has still not opened!
5. Cheeky runs!
6. Mommy runs behind him hair flying in all directions(more on that to follow)...
The resident of the house looks out and yells in horror and quickly shuts the door.. and that was how Cheeky had an empty pumpkin at the end of the day! I had prepared a couple of friends.. who had got him bags of goodies thus saving the day yet again!

Negotiations!
Cheeky's school has come up with a service project.. Operation Christmas Child. Cheeky is expected to help around home and get paid for doing his chores. At the end of the month he uses his earnings to get gifts for the needy! And his teachers help ship it out!
If I started to pay him for each chore.. that would make my life very complicated.. so I told him I would pay him 10 bucks at the end of the month if he helps me out with all his designated chores through the month! Cheeky.. always the negotiator retorted "30 dollars"! So while I continue to do the chores, Cheeky continues to negotiate his wages.. soon it will be end of the month and I will be poorer by $10 (or 30) with nothing to show for it! SIGH!

Last year Santa got him Lightning McQueen. This year he has been instructed to get him a list of engines from Thomas the tank engine series! I told him "Maybe Santa will get you one engine, your favorite" (which by the way keeps changing.. once he got Thomas, Henry was his favorite, he got that for his birth day and the favorite has changed again)
"Remember Santa got you lightning McQueen last year"
Cheeky "Yeah I remember, but no King or Mater"

For Diwali on my sister's insistence I gave him some books as a gift from God Krishna.. So he was asked to go thank the God. Cheeky was found having a heart to heart with God "I would like James and Toby, a train table, a bunk bed...."! CUT IT OUT?!!

Now to today's top story ...
The Pumpkin head
My hair has always been the rue of my life!! Oh well, one of the rues.. like many other things in my life my hair is out to get me! I can see pictures of sporty bobs which they called boy-cuts (yikes) as a child.. so the phenomenon apparently started later than that!

I never did much about it although I would stand in front of the mirror and contemplate my ill luck that I had this unmanageable hair! Till one post natal afternoon in all my hormones-going-haywire splendor I decided to get a make over "So I would stop feeling so frumpy!". Cheeky all of 2 months was thrust into the novice hands of M while I hit the parlor, may I add one of the more famous ones in Chennai.

A few hours of pruning and preening later, I decided on a step cut for my hair.. a few more hours when the lady cut and tossed and turned my hair about while I was dreaming about making an appearance at work with my new look a week later!! Later that evening got home with my hair looking exactly the same as I had left and M received a bill for thousands of rupees!! Relatives arrived over the week to look at my expensive non-haircut!

Since then I have had many haircuts experimenting with layers,razors and what not! And now there are those days when my hair looks "almost" nice and we take loads of pictures of it! So this weekend I went for yet another haircut! The lady cut my hair in layers teased it, prodded it, razored the ends and my hair looked shorter and felt lighter! I was so pleased with the result I came home with an attitude, tossing my hair in pride! A short nap and an hour later, my hair had suddenly grown in volume and looked like an evil looking pumpkin! I tried washing it, it grew even bigger.. I dunked it in hair spray and it lay limp plastered to my head making matters worse!

So I hunted out my geeky glasses and sported it to take the attention off my pumpkin head!

(image courtesy: http://www.kairos2.com, http://www.catfactoryonline.com)

So you think you can drive?

2008-10-31T15:20:00.006-04:00

I told all of you about my butter fingers..or just my buttered self.. for it seems that my entire body works in tandem to cause some mishap or the other. What about my adept brain.. the power house.. you would like to ask wouldn't you?

My power house has an acute case of Extended ADD. Why extended you ask... because it continues for lengths of time.. unlike typical ADD which has kids bouncing from one task to another. I am cleaning the room, cooking, washing the dishes and blogging at the same time.. As a result.. the room get messier, the food gets burnt, the sink overflows and the blogs never get written... so now you know why I have been practicing abstinence from my blog.. its not because my butter fingers acted up again.. like you thought! So you can surmise that I suck at multi-tasking!! BIG TIME!!

Now imagine someone like me driving.. with this symptom... I am driving along on the road when Cheeky lets out a shriek "Mamma switch on the music"... so now I have to pull over and stop the car and turn on the music and then get back on the road again.. (despite the fact that the controls for the audio are on my steering wheel). If I attempted both at the same time.. driving and turning on the music can just not be done without swerving off the lane now can it...You get the drift?

But I have a thankless, thoughtless son who is my worst nightmare when I decide to sit behind a steering wheel... I have to listen to comments about how Daddy would turn the music on, the rumbly road is suddenly my fault, the slamming brakes (Amma pichaku pichaku break podadhey), not to mention the reading out of the speed limits and the rest of my rights every couple of minutes.. Now how am I supposed to listen and drive at the same time?

Wondering why I am waxing eloquent about driving? After a complete twist of fate when some clueless instructor gave me a license a year and a half back (I tell you getting a licence in Colorado is far too easy)... not to mention the many attempts and mishaps of the past. After that, I drove my car esconed in a night mare for a month. I would dread taking the car out, dread hitting the highway, and heart in hand would complete every ride with a thanks to the lord that yet again I survived it. Then the excuses began - Its night, we are late already, there is road work about a mile away, snow is here, roads are slippery.. and it went on and on till recently. One of my more demure friends started driving and taunted me into saying one morning.."I am going to drive". Cheeky and M looked agape as I adjusted the seats and started the burly red thing!

Since that morning I have made many more attempts at driving but there is no convincing my biggest critic. Everyone I brag to (I won those bragging rights fair and square.. was I not clear enough.. I drove the monster)... hears another version of the story from Mr. Cheeky... about mommy's death grip on the steering wheel, the gritted teeth, the squealing brakes and the ominous speed limit (I dont know why he has to keep mentioning that)! So this weekend I loosened the grip on the wheel and even let go of one hand to wave at the little imp and drink some water (aah my heart!!) while I went hurtling down the highway. At the end of the ride I had the audacity to ask Cheeky how it had gone.. "Who does that, everyone knows you have to hold the sterring with both hands" was the reply!! I think I am going back to my excuses again!

So while you can all relax that the terror on the road is gone again.. here are some fall pictures from our trip to the mountains last week.

(c) Preethi @ Incessant Musings, October 2008

And before I sign off... HAPPY DIWALI. Diwali at the Cheeky household came and went without much notice... let me put it this way.. we tried not to notice the burnt smelling, high sugar contraption mom had called thenga (coconut) burfi but looked like a gooey mass lying in the trash can sticking to everything! Other than that we had a lovely Diwali thank you!

[Thanks to all of you who checked in to see if I was okay... you guys are wonderful!! ]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS.. STAY SPOOKY!