8 New lives in our abode

A small house in a big house

Wait, wait before anyone starts guessing -guest or new babies--babies they are but of fishes. Oh! Yes we bought an aquarium with 8 fishes. One pair of course is the very common & always ravenous Gold fish, 2nd is the angel(the laziest one) & the other 2 are the butterfly & molly who seem to be the most naughty ones. They are always after the fins of the angel & gold fish.
My son wanted to have a pet, but living in an apartment dogs & cats were just out of my list. With 2 kids I don’t have time & energy left to attend them plus I am not very dog friendly, so fishes seemed to be good option with minimum care required.

They keep on moving the entire day, you sit to
observe them & time just passes by. One thing is for sure, they will not let you get bored. Believe me they are real stress busters. To see them swim, the way they go after the food, the way they go after each other its amazing to watch them. It gives you such a satisfied feeling, it just enlightens  your mood. Whenever anyone comes from outside be it my husband or my son they change & go directly to them. Even my 2and half year old wakes up & after the normal mama-milk needed, next she goes to the fishes. My son has given them his own names --Rocky, Angel, Petu & I forget the rest of them. I will have to ask him again. Feeding fish  has become a bonding moment--all of us sit down when its their food time to observe their reactions. They are the new family members.

A day that seemed so long

Some days seem to be so loo…ng. Actually it all started on a Saturday afternoon., hubby was out of town. After lunch my son insisted we go to club for  badminton game & so I did. Fine till now we came back & door was just not opening with the keys. Rushed to the office- the maintenance  & again the office (with 2 kids clinging on to me) and after half an hour finally managed to get the door opened ( some adjustment problem) & repaired. Went to sleep-we get up & the cable is gone-called up my friend just to find out that it was only ours. So again called up cable service operator got it done & then started the wheezing & cough. By night it just started getting bad- I took some medicine, some home remedies & went to sleep thinking it would be better by morning, but by morning it just got worse & soon breathing was becoming a task. My daughter’s too small to understand but my son seemed worried, finally I called my friend who is also a dentist, she took me to hospital and I was given nebulisation & was fine & discharged by afternoon. By night my husband returned( had informed him as well). Just 24 hours & so much had happened it seemed the day would never end till he came back. One day in hospital you get to see so much. I had gone to the emergency ward & saw people literally on the death bed, relatives in stress, attitude of doctors & nurses. One thing I observed was that male nurses were much much more sensitive, polite & caring then the female. I saw female nurses shouting at the relatives of patients who were unconscious. They seemed to be emotionless & rude. The scene & the environment is really very disheartening & all of sudden you start feeling more & more love for your loved & dear ones. You just want to be with them & spend more & more time with them, you start valuing them more. It makes you think what are people really running after money, power & what for. In the end nothing counts its only how much you invested in your relationships, your friends.
A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else.
And this was so true in my case, my friend who took me to hospital had kids, husband & guest at home to attend to when she was there with me.

Life has changed -good or bad?

This made me think

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

A day at Lalbagh

Kempe Gowda

  Been in Bangalore for last 2 years and still haven’t seen the places for which people come from outside. My parents were here & we decided to visit  the local places. So we got ready to start our venture in Bangalore with Lalbagh--the famous Botanical garden. Bangalore is known to be the city of gardens &  it is said Lalbagh can be the pendant in the necklace of gardens.

The kids were soaring in excitement, vacation after a long time so what even if it was just for one day. Aanya didn’t understand much but in any case she was equally excited to see his brother in that form, though that’s another thing that he would be equally excited to go out even if it’s a nearby mall. Packed badminton rackets, cricket stuff etc. not to forget some munches & cold drinks. We parked our car got the tickets (very nominal-10 bucks per person only). We noticed a nursery in the very beginning  & decided the shopping part would be done on the way back.

The foundation of the garden was laid by Hyder Ali  in 1760 & was also known as ‘The fruit trees jungle. Starting from a 40 acre patch the gardens now sprawls across 240 acres & is every botanist’s & horticulturist’s delight. It has some 1854 species of plants & a tree fossil which is believed to be more than 20 million years old. Paddy & sugar varieties now grown in south India were first experimented over here.

In the starting is the Kempa Gowda’s tower on a rock mound. We all enjoyed the small tracking on the rocks. The rock mound dates back to 3000 million years. Then came the jewel of Lalbagh the centrestage for the famous flower shows that are held there annually-the glass house which was built in1890 at a cost of Rs75000.

There are lots of benches at short intervals. We would sit & take some chocolates & wafer breaks. My parents got exhausted after some time so they decided to wait for us on a bench, we went till the lake & then decided to move back. We had quite a walk, even my 2 year girl was so thrilled that she covered most of the part by herself. But my son still insisted with the picnic thing so we went back & laid down our mat, had some simmering hot coffee & biscuits to recharge our batteries. Though exhausted everyone gave in to my son’s orders & so we played badminton, cricket & of course all the time our photography session was full on-- u see we are a very camera friendly family, be it the 2 year old or the nana-nani(grand-parents) everyone is always ready with a pose for the camera. My son had maximum fun when his shuttlecock went up on the tree. My husband aimed the racket at it & it was up there as well to give company to the lonely shuttle resting there, so he aimed another one & this time both of them came down. People passing by specially stopped there to see & we all laughed till our stomachs ached.

Time to go back home, had great fun. The only regret on the way back home came when we remembered we had forgot to visit the nursery, but that’s O.k. there is always a next time.

Marriage Anniversary

Our 7 yr old son made our 10th Marriage Anniversary(M.A) as memorable  as our wedding day. A day before he bought a couple of  gifts from the shop in our society. Then he asked my husband what time will your M.A start --got the answer 12 midnight. He tried waiting patiently  but by 10 his excitement had reached his peak, unable to keep it under wraps- out of innocence he came again & again to me & kept telling me, --“I have a surprise for you. Do you remember what is tomorrow,” seeing his spirit  I behaved as  if I didn’t no what he was talking about --“Oh mama you guys don’t remember anything, I will have to  teach you so many things.”
So at 12 he asked us to sit together & close our eyes & then came the big surprise--- Happy Wedding Anniversary Mama Papa. He got a pack of cakes, wafers, chocolates, Hippo and most of all came the Maggie Romantica Capsica which he had specially selected for us. Though we kind of presumed  it, he was upto something but this Romantica Capsica turned out to be a real surprise.
It felt so nice - the feelings were so mixed- amazed ( at how he could link romance & marriage), delighted (to see he cared for us & tried to do something to make us happy), contentment (to see him grow as  a person who is caring & loving) & of course love on his cute cute innocence. So at 12 in the night we & our kids cooked our Romantic Maggie with the Hippo & Chocolates did  Cheers with a glass of apple juice. My day had already been made but there was still more to come -- hubby dear got me a bouquet of roses with a set of necklace & of course a dinner date along with our kids.
At the end of the day I could just feel how time is passing by so quickly just want to hold it still, I know its not possible so I have clicked my moments & treasured them in my memories & of course my album.

Kiddy Advise

My 3 kids--(2 kids and 1 their daddy- who is rather the smallest one) have this penchant to buy toys, toys & more toys. Initially when my first baby was small (hardly 3 months) I was also quite enthu about it & we would religiously pay our local toy shop  a monthly visit searching -The New Toy in Town. With the coming of the 2nd baby it just added on to it- Result- over the years we have developed a huge collection of toys (could be converted into a mini toy shop of our own-actually a good idea-isn’t it) so much so that one full room has been devoted to them & we are still running short of space.
I finally decided someone has to put a control on this, so who is going to take this unpopular job-- no one else but of course me. So now I have the tag of this grumpy mama as I try  to curtail the toy shop visits & at times also try to edify them to save money.

Now it just happened that last weekend I bought some artificial jewellery from the Lifestyle sale. When we reached home my son was sharp enough to return the lecture back to me." See mama you have wasted so much money. You have enough jewellery in the cupboard which you rarely use and this you are just going to stack up along with them. We could have saved the money  or at least bought something more useful." Not knowing what to say, it was  now my chance to listen quietly.

Parents & Me

After  yrs of marriage  my parents for the first time stayed with me at a stretch of some 15 days. Earlier their visit would be restricted  to 4-5 days at a max, but this time I managed to hold them for a slight longer period. I was kind of  a very pampered girl  before marriage. I never cooked much, I would cook or clean only when my mood wanted me to. Though my mom would be after me saying that typical Indian thing---what would you do after marriage?-- but it was my daddy who would always help me out from my mother’s grip.-- who would be after me to teach me some household chores(of course for my benefit only which I now realize)

I remember once when I was in 12th grade my mother had  a slight fever, she asked me to try & learn to make chappaties--thinking I would not be able to excuse myself now,, but but but here was my superman dad to help me out from her desire to entrap me. He came with a brand idea & declared---I don’t feel like having chappaties, I think I want to go for bread  & so once again I was saved or at least that’s what I  felt at that point of time-- their are innumerous instances & I will go on & on. Coming back to my present, they were surprised & quite pleased to see me taking care of my home, cooking  & other household chores. They couldn’t believe  I was the same little girl who always tried to escape work. They were quite impressed seeing me mange my roles of a wife, mother, cook, homemaker quite well, at least that’s what they felt--Our Daughter The Best-- that might be an exaggeration but parents will be parents. For them I am & will always be the best in the whole world & this I realize  now after being mother myself. I know for me my kids are the best.