My Doll and ME

Somebody creates me,

And gives me head and body,

Dresses and decorates me,

And I am passed on to somebody.

And then I land,

On a small baby's lap,

Who cuddles me, shakes my hand,

Sometimes kicks me and gives me a tap.

Thus continues my life,

Being tossed and cuddled.

In the hands of kids I thrive,

Once they get bored in the showcase I am settled.

I rest for sometime there,

And be played with,

When kids remember,

Again back to showcase I sit.

As time passes by,

I get old and torn,

No one remembers thy,

And finally to the recycle bin I am thrown.

As I hear my doll's tale,

Me too old and abandoned,

I think back and reflect,

I have been also cuddled, patted, used and discarded.

Hence my doll, you and me,

Are in no ways different,

Just the make differs you see

Rest all is the same, beginning to end.

Think past ... Think beyond

He lay on the bed,
suffering and death was near.
And the almighty asked
"Do you want to go to HELL or HEAVEN or stay here?
You are your own judge. 
The verdict is up to you."

Surprised he thought
"Why did he question ?
In confusion I am caught
He knows where is my destination."

I have beaten so many kids in my childhood.
I have cheated in my exams.
I have bribed to get my job.
I have hurt people to grow in my career.
I have abandoned my love for money.
I have hurt my wife for dowry.
I have not cared for my daughters as I wanted a son.
And now I am alone, nobody is with me.

He confessed,
"I want to go to HELL.",
and died,
and all was still.

God sent him to heaven.
Self Realization liberates thy soul...

Pen....Destiny

He walked fast down the lane,
His heart pounding,
He felt people around could hear it,
he walked faster, holding the pounding.

He had his favorite pen,
shining in his pocket.
He got it from his father,
when he was in school.

But now he was going to loose it.
He did not feel sad though.
He was using it for a cause
He thought..

He walked fast, till he reached a crowded place.
He looked around the place,
When no one was looking he dropped the pen,
and escaped briskly to office.

Now he was relaxed.
The work was done.
The pen utilized in effectively he thought.
He had gained more not by writing with the pen

Then someone knocked.
Oh! it was the delivery man.
"Sir, parcel for you", he said.
To sign receipt he gave a pen.

Lo and behold!
It was the same pen.
He got a shock.
And he saw the clock.

Next moment, every thing was destryoed.
The office, he, the delivery man.
All burnt to ashes
And the office turned to a ruin

Oh! dear.
His pen formed ... his destiny.
But not by writing,
His cause destroyed him.

Best travel spot - my village

“A wise traveler never despises his own country.” – Carlo Goldoni

How true...

Sharing my experience of traveling to a village near my home town Bhubaneshwar in India

When we started for the village, I hadn't quite imagined the feeling, as I had never been to such a place.

As was the case with my daughter too, every paddy field, playgrounds, that she saw on the way, she kept asking, "Mom, is this the farmland that we are going to."

We started in the afternoon, and it was almost sunset when we reached.

Crossed a small village, and lo and behold, our car was parked in between of a huge farmland. I could see the blue mountain from far. Very few staggered big trees in the middle of the fields. It was full empty as the harvesting  had just been over.

Actually the big trees reminded me of the movie clips, where the farmer and his wife/girlfriend would have their food and there would be a song following...

The kids were having a jolly time running on the small pathway in between of the fields.

And then the sun set, and hid behind one of the trees. The experience was awesome.

So travel lovers, don't you think as you go around to all the resorts, beaches, jungles, spas.... you should have a look at you own village too and feel the serenity and enjoy this nature's creation too ?

Melancholy unfolded

The dark shadow creeps over me,
and tries to engulf me,
as much as i succumb,
as much as i give in.

I am submerged in thoughts,
of nothing in particular.
I feel that all the humans around,
are aware of all the thoughts inside me.

And that makes me,
feel even more burdened.
And that makes me,
feel even more fearful.

I am full of self-doubt,
getting deep into the dark well.
Lost complete self-confidence,
getting always in the wrong.

O Lord, help me get out of darkness,
Show me the thin ray of light,
I can hence find my way out,
beating the shadow of melancholy.

Journey in indian train

As i read the news "Anna plans all-India rail tour to thank people.", I felt like sharing my recent journey to bhubaneshwar.
We were 2 families with 3 kids, perfect for a long train travel. Got into the train packed with lots of food, snacks, water, milk etc.
Kids had enough space to play as it was a 2-tier AC and not many outside vendors intruding.
Time passed by gossipping and eating, we also managed to watch movie on a laptop. Pulled all screens and it actually had a theater ambience, with chips and coke.
Then there was an aunty who came by just to chat, nice way to spend time.
Awesome were the views of fields, farms, ponds wih lotuses, chilka lake, grazing animals which are treat to eyes of kids living in a city like bangalore.
Thanks to the great indian railways for making my journey to home a pleasure.

To Office on a Weekend

To office on a weekend,
With my daughter to b’lore dead-end.
Had to finish work backlog,
Not that I always works cats and dogs.
My friend also came down,
With her kid in a gown.
While Moms got busy with work,
Kids ran around block to block.

Had lunch packed from McDees,
Coke, chips, burgers full of cheese.
Very few people had come,
To work ambiance was awesome.
Kids were very happy playing with each other,
While we finished one task after another.
This was actual Kid’s day to office,
They got to know what moms really do, to be precise.
All office days are not like kids day,
When all they do is have fun and play.
Finally our work was done,
And kids were full of sleep and yawn.
We left office in the evening,
And it had started raining.
On the way had samosas and kachoris,
And thus ends the day’s story.
To office on a weekend,
With my daughter to b’lore dead-end.

Exam fever

I remember when I was studying, my MOM, used to be more tensed than me. She would be standing at the gate waiting for me on the exam days. I used to be really annoyed with her.

 

“Why are you tensed when I am writing the tests?”, I used to ask her. And she would say, “You will understand my anxiety when you become a MOM yourself.”

HOW TRUE!!!

Now a day’s my daughter’s exams are going on. She’s only in kindergarten. And even though I am in office, I anxiously wait for the time when she would come home. I eagerly call her and ask her how she’s written her tests.

She asks me, “MOM, I write the test, I am not worried, then why are you?”.

And I end up giving her the same reply which my MOM used to tell me

It happened one night

It was a cold dreary night,
When a young lad shivering and lonely,
Saw an old lady sleeping on the roadside,
with a rug covered tightly.

He was tired and hungry,
And it was very cold too.
He thought,”Lemme sleep beside,
and share the rug too."

He tried to wake up the lady,
But she would not budge.
So the covered himself and felt happy,
And he was fast asleep as if in a lodge.

Morning he got up and was fresh awake,
The old lady was still asleep.
He whispered a thanks, gave a shake,
and went off in search of work.

Late in the afternoon,
as he wandered back,
hoping to get any odd  job soon,
he saw a crowd and was taken aback.

It was the same place,
where he slept that night.
He went closer and asked, "What happened in this place?"
Somebody told, "An old woman died, looks like from yesterday night." 

Summer vacation activities Part-I

Exams are getting over, and vacations are coming up. Its time for mommies to worry what the kids will do in the vacation. So I thought being a MOM myself, why not share few fun and learning activities with you.

Will be posting at least one activity a week. So keep following and happy vacations. :)

This is one interesting activity which I learned when I was going to school.

Steps:

1. Take some oil paint of different colors. I have even tried with colors used to paint wood, basically any color that does not dissolve in water and floats on water.

2. Now take a tub half filled with water.

3. Now sprinkle drops of the colors on the water. As many shades the better.

4. Use a toothpick, or even fingers to spread the colors.

Colors floating in water

5. Now take a cardboard, thick paper, cloth , box, anything that u want to color and touch the colored water.

And lo and behold, you will find so many colors around you. Happy coloring !

My inspiration for blogging

Minu - the Koffeereader :)

Thx a lot for inspiring to write.

And furthermore, my dear readers, you keep me going.

Please follow , comment , so that I can improve..

Last but not the least, the Bangalore traffic, in the midst of which I write my posts.

Burger, Pizza, Coke, KFC...

My daughter( on a Friday evening): "Mama, tomorrow is Saturday.Where are we going?", my daughter says on a Friday evening.

Me: "Lets' go to park".

My daughter: "Oh no MOM, I will be so hungry tomorrow".

Me: "Tell me, what do u want to eat, i will make for u",

My daughter: "Oh no, why not have food outside"

Me: Hmmm, so that's what u wanted to say. So where do u want to go ?

My daughter: "Pizza or Burger or KFC...?".

And the moment my younger daughter( she's just 2 years old) hears this, she takes a chair and starts virtually selling pizza, shouting, "PIZZAAAAAA, PIZZAAAAAAAAA...".

My god, how obsessed these kids are with these things !

Burger, Pizza, Coke, KFC... have kinda become indispensable now.

Looks like "My kids' body is a temple where junk food goes to worship”.

Beauty lies in the eyes of my daughter

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Who's the fairest of them all?"

I don't need a mirror at all to find the answer(for myself). I just need to ask my daughter.

Yesterday my hubby asked her, "Adi, who's more beautiful, mama or papa?"
My daughter told,"Mama".

Hubby: who's more beautiful, mama or Adi?
Adi: Mama

Hubby: who's more beautiful, mama or granny(my mother)?
Adi: Mama

Hubby: who's more beautiful, mama or grandma(my mother-in-law)?
Adi: Mama

My hubby( really upset and truly jealous of me): Look at her she idolizes you. You are really lucky.

Me: Beauty lies in the eyes of my daughter.

Earthquake in Japan and Cricket World Cup

Earthquake in Japan v/s Cricket World Cup

Who won ?

"Three days after a record 8.9-magnitude temblor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is flushing three reactors at its Fukushima plant with water...
After the earthquake and tsunami, entire towns in Japan are impossible to reach. But search-and-rescue teams are fanning out in what will be a lengthy, complex endeavor..." and the news goes for some time

and then the news reader immediately changes expression.

"India's loss to South Africa was the first defeat in this edition of the World Cup. And despite this bad hair day, India still top Group B..." and the news goes on and on and on.

The moment India lost the cricket match this news seemed to be more important than the earthquake in japan.
Be it news paper, be it news in TV , be it face book comments, everywhere people were overwhelmed with cricket.

Is the defeat in a game more agonizing than destruction and death of thousands of people ?

How insensitive !

My maid goes OOO ( Out of Office)

Exactly 7 days back my maid called me at an unusual hour, and my heart missed a beat. It wasn't a false alarm. Somebody had passed away in her family and she told that she will not come for 11 days;.

And then started my search for a temporary maid, planning for optimal cooking, ordering food from outside..., anything and everything I could think of to reduce my effort.

But to my bad luck nothing worked out. I ended up doing all the household chores.

Obviously I could not manage house and office, and two kids alone. After six days of hard work I fell sick and ended up in front of the doc yesterday. As the doc's known to me, I told him the whole story.

He told,''You don't need medicine, u need a maid."

I  can bet "A MAID EVERYDAY KEEPS A DOCTOR AWAY."

Oh! You have no son?

I will never forget the moment when i first saw my baby. Oh! How i felt. Such a beautiful girl I have got. I am a MOM.

Then the whole lot of remarks that followed day by day hazed the excitement of becoming a mother.

A (some relative): Oh! Such a beautiful baby! Don’t worry next time it will be a boy.

I thought, "Why the damn should I worry?"

B(temple priest): May God bless you with a son next time.

I thought, "Why can’t you bless my daughter, damn it? She's right in front of you"

And so on and so forth.

I quietly went on to bring up my daughter. Somehow felt futile to argue on such notes.

Then after three years I gave birth to another daughter. And it was like a shower of comments on my family members.

C(my hubby's friend who also has a daughter): Heh heh, now u have to spend for two dowries. I have to spend for only one.

I thought, "Dowry? Which generation are you in?"

D (a lady in bank, who chats with me): Oh! Both are daughters? ... (Rest very loud even though unsaid)

I thought, "You urself are a lady and you too...”

E ( a relative to my mom-in-law): Your daughter in law should go for another kid, hopefully it will be a son next time.

I didn't think anything this time.

And as time passes, I have got used to such statements. As my daughters are growing up, sometime back I got to hear something very interesting

F (my mom-in-law's friend to my mom-in-law): Who the hell tells you have 2 grand daughters. My god, they are so cute, so well mannered... They are going to surpass all your three sons.

Am I happy with this? No, I wouldn't say that. That's still a comparison.

I just hope a time will come when will stop comparing between GIRLS and BOYS. I am doing my bit by nurturing my KIDS, who will shape our future.

Are you doing your BIT?

Do i justify my name ?

When you see me from the closet of a window
I am very hazy.
The more closer you come
The more I open up.
As the drop of dew on a petal
I jovially freshen up my surroundings.
I am Shabnam
and Shabnam is me.
Justifiable isn't it ?