Of nice dreams-- part II

In the good old days, when I took better care of this blog and was more considerate towards the readers, I would've posted this as a ps to the last post. However, now that I post so rarely, and almost always about Pari, unintentionally reducing this blog to a mommy blog, I think I can write a sequel-'separately' to the previous post.

Alright, so yesterday, the husband came home from work, and as we discussed our respective day's,  I related Pari's nice dream to him. Pari, like most other kids, is most attentive towards us when we are talking to each other, and trying to keep her out of the conversation or ignoring her. Even before I could finish, and the husband could have his share of amusement, she jumped in protesting that she had had a different dream.

Husband: What did you see?
Pari: I dreamt that we are shopping in a mall, you've got me a very pretty necklace. Then we return home, there is a party going on at home, and I am wearing the new necklace..
H: But you told mumma an altogether different story?
P: Yeah.. because I didn't want to tell mumma my dream.. and she would've continued to 'bore' and 'trouble' me by asking about it. So I told her something else.

Yes.. this is the child I had missed my office for and stayed back home. And this is the child I took to a picnic on Saturday, to a very far-off and irritating water park/resort, only so that she doesn't feel left out when the rest of the class had fun. Again, this is the child I accompanied to a very boring birthday party on Sunday, giving up my afternoon sleep, despite being very tired from the resort trip the day before, and having never met the mom/family of the birthday child.

This is also the child who likes spending her days hibernating at home, and doesn't want to go anywhere except the malls. Like the other day, I asked her--
Me: Pari, would you like to join a dance class?
Pari: No, I already know dance.
M: What about a music class?
P: I don't want to go.
M: Drawing class perhaps? What do you want to do as an extra-curricular-- after you return from school?
P: I want to go shopping..

So shopping it is! I can almost visualise a resume, a decade and a half from now, with some educational qualifications on the top(hopefully a few), and the bottom section with 'SHOPPING' as the extra curricular activity. Not bad, me thinks. It may not put off the potential employers so much but we will certainly scare off the prospective grooms..

Pari'ism 11-12-2012: Of nice dreams

Pari is unwell and sleeping. I am working from home. I wrap up my work, and try to wake up her up, anticipating a very cranky child in my hands. She opens her eyes slowly, and most unexpectedly- smiles. I am very surprised, but still manage to smile back.

Pari --'I had such a nice dream'.
Moi -- 'Oh really.. can I also have that dream?'
P -- 'You sleep with me, then we will dream together.'
M -- 'Sure baby, but why don't you tell me about it first?'
P -- 'I saw a cat doing potty and susu on a dog(looks very very pleased). Mumma, now come sleep with me.'

I don't want to sleep.. I think I'll just skip that nightmare.. dream.. whatever!!

Some Observations..

 1. The quickest way to get a child hungry--

Ask her to study. Instant hunger pangs guaranteed!

2. The easiest way to get a child like her food--

Ask her to study. She will show the willingness to eat just about anything.. khichdi will be consumed@frenchfries.

3.The surest way to make a hyperactive child sober down--

Ask her to study. She will grow unusually quiet, appear betrayed and completely miserable.

4. The simplest way to get a clingy child off your back--

Ask her to study. The child will disappear promptly, and you will not get to see her for the next couple of hours.

5. The fastest way to put a wide-awake child to bed--

Ask her to study. The wide-open eyes would begin to droop with immediate effect.

ps. The above advice is based on my experience with a certain specimen I just happen to know. The subject under observation experienced huge variations in temperatures, unexplained tiredness, crankiness and significant discomfort coupled with uncontrollable bouts of yawning under the test conditions-- i.e. when asked to study. Also evident was her heightened interest in the surroundings --eraser/crayons/insects/fan/street lights and such.. again under the test conditions. Other side effects noticed were increased incidences of thirst and the repeated use of toilet. Because of the small sample size and completely random sampling, individual experiences my differ slightly or...  hugely.

GREED DOESNT PAY, DATED: 2-11-12

One day, Fina fox saw Rafisa Rabbit dozing in the meadow. Wow! She'll be my next meal. Suddenly, Fina saw Kafisa Crow with Minna Mouse in her beak. I'll eat Minna first she thout(sic). She growled at Kafisa and a fritened(sic) Kafisa dropped Minna and flew away. Minna fel over sleeping Rafisa and woke her up. Rafisa and Minna ran into a burrow. Fina dug outside the burrow but contn catch them. I lost everything because of my greed.

Pari has written this story in her drawing book with illustrations. Though she has written it sitting before us all through, and so we know that it isn't copied, we obviously don't expect the plot to be an original.. and it isn't.. which is actually good, else I would've seriously fainted!  The good child is still baby enough to admit very candidly-- 'I've read this story in a magazine. But all the names are my own.' Not bad, I would say.. Fina, Rafisa, Kafisa -- boy.. it almost feels like sitting through a mushaira.

As you can guess, the poor child is bored beyond limits, courtesy the month long school holidays.. for Diwali.. what else! And this boredom has led to an unprecedented surge of creativity-- she makes greeting cards, several in number for each member of the extended family to cover every possible occasion-- birthdays, new yr, diwali, and such. We may need to rent a warehouse to store all these cards. And then the drawing book gets over, which means all the pages have been torn and folded into half to resemble greeting cards, with every corner filled with either art-work or loving messages, and not to forget-- her 'signature' which depends on the name she has chosen for the day.. the current favourite being 'Nisha/Missika'. Yes, Pari is very dissatisfied with her given name, and keeps renaming herself. The way she chooses her names is pretty interesting and warrants a separate post in itself. Alright.. where were we? Yes, when the drawing book gets over, she writes stories. This one was written almost a month back, and as I mentioned-- plagiarised. However, she has written some original stories since, very evident from the 'maturity' of the plot and the completely unrelated moral of the said story. Mind you-- all stories always have morals at the end. We usually lose most stories, because she writes them on the slate, and clears it off to make way for the new story. At times, she writes on some loose sheets, which get lost. I currently have just 2 saved on me, and am very determined to put down both of them here. Well.. losing them is not a great loss to humanity, but to my motherhood, it is.

Pari'ism 9/11/2012

In the one year that she has spent away from us, Pari has developed some really good communication skills-- too good for her age if you ask me. I mean --I left a baby, and received a teenager -- what happened to the wonder years? Actually, it is not all that bad, and I should be grateful for my parents, my grandmom and my two young sisters for nurturing her so well, that she picked up significantly from each of them. She uses phrases that nobody but my grandmother uses, her vocabulary has grown manifold thanks to my mom, and my sisters-- well, the engineering college lingo is their contribution to her vocab. And let us not even get started on my Dad  -- she is rhyming words, and can come up with really mean limericks, sigh! Alright, so this post is devoted to Pari's current way of talking -- sentences/statements perfectly fine for an adult, but which sound overly preposterous when pouring out of a small pink mouth.. which has just shed its first baby tooth.

1. Pari is irritated with the maid -- the lady is actually quite dull and cannot understand most things that Pari tries to tell her. So I attempt to mediate and reason out with her.

Me -- Pari, Auntie doesn't understand in one go. You need to say it slowly and repeat it for her to understand.
Pari -- Mumma, I am TIRED of explaining things to her.

Tired?? Already?? The maid has been here for less than 3 weeks!

2. We go for a PTM to her school, where the staff hands out a feedback form to me. Since the other parents show no inclination of letting go of the teacher anytime soon, and I really have no big concerns.. I just fill in whatever little I have in the form. Pari asks for it, and I am very sure she doesn't read much of it, since she returns it to Papa soon, and whispers in his ear--
'Papa, Mumma has written all rubbish..'

The husband, being the husband, doesn't chide the child for her insolence.. Just continues to smile ear-to-ear. I swear, if I ever go to a PTM again..

3. Well, to be fair to her, not all of her talk is negative, but honestly, I can't remember the good ones now. A recent was the usage of 'rather' -- I ask her to show me her broken tooth and she says--
'Don't look at it Mumma, it is rather scary..'
Also, she said something like -- 'I would rather go to sleep than do this'.

Well.. I am 'rather' impressed, haha.  BTW, that is also one word I  have heard her using recently, that being 'impressed' :D

And then there are phrases that really crack me up.. like when I ask her something.. she pauses, pretends to think and says.. "Well... I don't think I know this.." This leaves me frothing --"Why do you have to think, you either know it or you don't.. bah..". Tell me, since when have 5  yo's started thinking, and using 'Well..' with a pause, in a grandmotherly fashion??

Pari'ism 13-08-2012

The work-week has just started, and I have tons of things to do. So this is going to be a really quick one. Before we start on Pari, I have a strong urge to share this with you -- After 4 months in the city, I have finally managed to locate a VLCC parlour in Mumbai, and also made time to visit it for a quick facial. The sense of achievement & accomplishment is overwhelming, and I am completely OTT. My mom says that I look the same as before- only greasier, after the facial. It really doesn't ruffle me. I am a girl who believes in trying irrespective of how bleak things look.. and then, I look at parlour visits as a strategic thing, with little immediate gratification -- just an hour of complete inactivity/relaxation perhaps. I hope to reap the benefits in my old age, when my comtemporaries have 250 wrinkles, I would hopefully have just 245..

Coming to Pari, she is reading an animal encyclopedia these days, and is totally fascinated with monkeys, fishes and birds. Just yesterday, she draped a plain 'white' sheet on her shoulders, stretched her arms and flapped them to become a bird. She declared that she is a peacock, and the following conversation ensued--

P. -- Nani, look at me.. how do I look?
Nani -- Oh yes, you look like a very colorful?? peacock.
P. -- And look --what are these..
N. -- (can't see anything..) I am trying to see..
P. -- I have laid 4 eggs.
N. -- Hmm.. okie.
P. -- It is a very important time, my eggs are hatching.. I have to go..
N. -- Hmm..

Pari returns after a couple of minutes..

P. -- Nani, look -- I have 4 beautiful peahens -- all girls.
N. -- (not sure what to say..) yes, they are nice..

I somehow couldn't resist the temptation anymore.. and jumped into the conversation--

Me -- Pari, Can I have 2 of your eggs?
P -- Why do you want them
M -- To make omelette for Papa.
P -- (Aghast..) Nooooooo.. they are my babies. You can't break my eggs (forgetting that they have already hatched.)
M --Alright,  I won't break them, perhaps I can just boil them for Papa..
P -- No.. how can you be so wicked Mumma..

She continued to play her with chicks/peahens whatever.. when I made the last ditch effort.

M -- Pari, can you give me your chicks?
P -- now why?
M -- I can make some curry for Papa..
P -- (Overcome with emotion, screaming) Nooooo.. you cannot eat my babies. You are a wicked mumma..

By then, my mom was already screaming at me for making Pari scream, and I just left it there.

Don't hate me please, I wouldn't eat them if they were real chicks. I am anyways a lamb person..

Pari'ism 8/6/2012

I have been thinking of starting this series for a long time now, mostly because --

1. Pari is back with us, and I can share on this blog, the pearls of wisdoms that she so generously tosses at us.. each of which keeps us smiling for a couple of days, and then gets lost, like it never happened..  As I always say, the posts on her are mostly to remind us of her childhood, which will become a thing of past sooner than we think. Ofcos', all those who find joy in these anecdotes, are most welcome to the blog, I really like it when I get comments from you :)

2. I am really pressed for time, and it is a tough call to spend it writing about her, instead of actually being with her. With this series, like the Joka series, I spend no time thinking about the title, or even providing a background.. I can just get down to business..

Alright. So here are the most recent ones. There are others which my mom keeps mentioning offhandedly whenever we talk about her stay in Alld., shall try to put them down when I see you next.

After a particularly bad day of misbehaviour, cheekiness and such, we have the following conversation--
Mumma -- Pari, you have been misbehaving so much. You have broken my heart today..
Pari -- Hmm.. (looks intently at me for say 15 secs.. ) But is it still pumping blood?!!

She takes everything literally.. so much that when I tell her to stop dreaming(when she isn't paying attention to what I am saying), she is outraged --'I am not dreaming. I am not even sleeping, then how can I dream??'

Someone needs training in metaphors, proverbs & figures of speech. And some other people need to be trained in talking to 5 yo's -- in a way they would understand.

Of taking 'inatives' and arrythmia

If I were still a student with just myself to take care of, no household responsibilities and endless time on my hands, I would have probably just rambled on about whatever I felt like. But as you might be already aware.. I am not a student anymore. I am a working mom and wife, and a professional who thinks she does earth shaking stuff everyday(disclaimer: my perception, not necessarily the organisation's), and so I choose to behave more responsible, especially while churning out posts during my supposedly working hours. I have decided to begin each post with a set agenda in mind, and sign off as soon as the items therein are checked off. This post has a twin agenda--

1. Taking Inative-- Not everyone takes 'inatives', or initiatives as folks over the age of 5 yrs may call. I am unreasonably proud to report that my little Pari has taken some serious initiative in her school and has been awarded a certificate for the same. This is the first ever certificate of achievement/merit for my little girl, so please pardon the chuffed mumma. However, the exact initiative taken by the child remains a mystery, which can only be revealed by her teacher/principal. Pari has absolutely no idea of her reward-worthy initiative, but she is happy and proud all the same.

2. Arrythmia aka 'Fluttering of heart'-- It is really not a rare phenomenon, not for me atleast. My heart skips a beat or two quite often-- the sight of adorable children: Pari/Chia/Akshat.. not necessarily in that order, Chia is 1.5 yrs old and currently tops the cuteness quotient, or of drool-worthy adults like Jude Law and Hugh Grant, the rentals in Mumbai, the apartments available at those prices and such. Then what makes this one mention-worthy? Well.. it was caused by my husband of the last 6 years, something not experienced in the last 5 years. Last night, we were playing cards, me, husband, bua-phuphaji, and a couple of other relatives. The husband dealt the cards, and somehow won the game. Now, this is an unusual situation, if we play cards, there is only one-in-a-million probability of him winning the game.. and so when it happens, he is obviously look at with suspicion. He was accused of cheating and the man retorted with a very mischievous look. I don't know.. he wasn't even looking at me, but I had this abrupt twinge in my heart, and a sudden conviction --'Lord.. I so love this man'. I am not sure if it makes any sense at all.. to feel this way for a man you have been with, since like forever. But I did feel that, and it felt really good to feel that way. What would I not give to feel like that perhaps just once a month.. it would keep us together, going strong and good for the next 100 years.

Joka Diary : 11

It is late, very very late for this post. I am writing it only because I am a woman true to her word, and one who keeps her promises. Plenty of water has flown under bridges across the world, since we last met. I somehow scraped through the last term, left for Alld. on 15th, the day the exams got over-- missing the farewell party, spent a glorious fortnight eating, sleeping and eating again, returned to Joka on 30th for the convocation rehearsal and finally convocated on April 2nd, in the august presence of my mom,daughter, husband and his grandparents. It was rather heartening -- 4 generations gathered to witness my 5 secs claim to glory. We left for Delhi the following day after some frantic last minute packing and couriering of stuff. Delhi was fun, with Pari not being around I could cuddle, kiss and play with our very amiable Chia to my heart's content. All good things come to an end, and so did my days of being totally jobless when I landed in Mumbai on 8th to join my new workplace. Yes.. all my Mumbai readers, friends and fans-- please do a chicken dance to celebrate my arrival! I am sure you are all elated and finding it hard to believe your good fortune. Also, if any of you could host us for a week or two, till we find an affordable, decent accomodation, please do not hesitate in approaching us. In case you haven't guessed till now-- WE ARE DESPERATE!!
This post is slated to be my last post under the title, and so, now on we shall talk about and only about my experience in Joka. It has been an enriching and meaningful year for me. I have enjoyed every single day that I have spent there. My only regret is that it passed just too soon. I enjoyed my stay there, in our lush green, pollution-free campus, and my bicycle rides to the college. I enjoyed the food in Bapi Da's mess except for when they made the rajma-parantha-baigan combo. I enjoyed the classes, the animated discussions, lectures, presentations and even the exams. I enjoyed our late evening excursions to Behala, Thakurpukur and Gennex. Probably because I was so out-of-touch with the real world for the last 5 years or so, I found tremendous value in the course, and I think I got my money's worth better than the others, only because I was so clueless and ignorant to begin with! The rest of the class was already quite knowledgable and well-read, and I think I am extremely privileged to have shared a classroom with them. Yes, most of all, I enjoyed the terrific classmates that I had, such bright and sharp people. Initially I did feel uncomfortable as the only person who knew nothing of the world around, but slowly we accepted each other-- I accepted their brilliance, and they, my lack of it. Overall, it was a great group and I think I learnt even more from my peers than my profs. So long Joka, I am going to miss you!

Joka Diary - 10

One week. That is all the time I have left in Joka. Come Thursday and I'll be packing my bags to leave for home. It is a strange feeling. Actually, I should be able to identify with it now, I always feel this way when it is time to say my good-byes. Most people here are extremely thrilled about being reunited with their families, or going back to the corporate world if they are already placed. Others are busy hunting for jobs. I am also looking forward to seeing Pari and being with my family once again. But at the same time, I feel I am going to miss this place and my student life. The uncertainties ahead do nothing to ease my anxiety. And so, I am trying not to think of my life after IIM. But then, what do I think about? The last term is almost over, we had our first exam today. Nobody cares for studies anymore and even less for exams.. I am no different. For now, we are all doing what we enjoy the most. The men are playing cricket, football, running and partying like there is no tomorrow. I am happily idling away my time downloading and watching loads of movies -- old, new, Hindi, English-- all kinds. The song in the last post is a testimony to that. I particularly like watching old, weepy, tragic movies, that suit my current disposition. When I get tired of movies and my eyes and head start hurting, I sleep. I call up home, friends and chat for long. At times, I even attend the classes. And of course, I intend to appear for all the exams. To me, this last lap appears really weird and lackadaisical. That is just not me. How I wish we could finish the race in style, on a high note!
p.s. In this post, I haven't ruminated on my life in Joka during the last 11 months. The last post in this diary, whenever it is done, is reserved for that!

निकले थे कहाँ जाने के लिए..

पहुंचे हैं कहाँ मालूम नहीं
अब अपने भटकते क़दमों को
मंजिल का निशां मालूम नहीं

हमने भी कभी इस गुलशन में
एक ख्वाबे बहारा देखा था
कब फूल झडे कब गर्द उडी
कब आई खिज़ा मालूम नहीं

बर्बाद वफ़ा का अफसाना
हम किससे कहें और कैसे कहें
खामोश हैं लब और दुनिया को
अश्कों की जुबां मालूम नहीं

My whole life flashed before me..

..just about 10 minutes back. And I had stopped breathing for close to 8 minutes. It is a miracle that I have survived to share the story and so share I will. I have to fill up a form as part of a job application where the compensations details for the previous job are required. So I go over to my drawer, pull out my files and start looking for the old salary slips, if there are any. I anyways, hopefully, have them in the emails, so not a big worry really. As I go through the 3 files, I do not see the salary slips.. more importantly, I do not see any work-experience related documents. No relieving/joining/appraisal letters! I go through the files again and then again. I start going through the huge stack of papers in the lower cabinet. My study table has 2 drawers, which I use to keep my files of important papers(certificates, mark sheets, IT returns), passport, money, spectacles, pencils, chocolate wrappers, boarding passes, receipts for parlor visits, pizza deliveries & shopping, credit card/electricity bills, check-books, passbooks.. basically only the most important and the most useless stuff that I have. The lower half of the table has a cabinet, where I dump my old books, broken umbrella, camera, polythene bags and.. you get the drift. That is just about how organized and careful I am. Alright, my work-related documents-- I can't find them. And I kid you not, I feel so giddy and light-headed. I have already lost a couple of extra-curricular certificates after coming to Joka, probably during the verification process, and had to remove those from my as-it-is meager list of achievements. And now this.. it had to be a sabotage. Somebody is stealing my papers and trying to kill me slowly. I immediately feel like picking the phone and bawling off to the husband. However, I decide to sort through my papers again. This time by taking everything out of the files and thumbing through each leaf. After what looks like an eternity, I do find my relieving letters etc, but this short experience leaves me shaken and pensive. I think I am going to take multiple photocopies of all my stuff, and keep the originals in a nuclear-attack-resistant vault. Anybody who wishes to go through the originals will be taken to the vault, where he can stare at my papers for the longest time to his heart's content. But the certificates are not coming out of the vault, like ever.

Gender education for 4 year olds

I am a dinosaur, one who prefers to live in the good old world of denial. I zealously guard Pari against any kind of gender related education. It helps that almost all of our friends have baby-girls, and the only cousin that Pari really gets to spend time with, our little Chia is a also a girl. So usually it is a cakewalk for me. And at times when it is not, I transform into the wicked mumma, who deprives the child of the slightest opportunity to gain any worldly wisdom. For instance, Chia is a baby and exclusively breast-fed, so at her meal-times, I fiercely grab Pari by the neck and ensure her prompt removal from the scene, lest she gets scandalized. It is not that I am afraid of her asking me difficult questions, but I somehow feel that she is too young to be exposed to this stuff, and it might just confuse her. And she will eventually get to learn all of it, it is just delaying the imminent. I think it is easier to shield the less-observant kids though, I for one was a totally absent-minded child. I hardly ever noticed anything and tough as it might be to believe, learned about most adult stuff much later than my contemporaries, usually through experience. Any wonder we celebrated our first anniversary with the baby in our arms, ha! However, I always felt that Pari is far smarter than me, and would pick up things on her own.. till this incident happened.

The husband and me are both big-time foodies, and watch all shows related to food with great interest, with a bucket under our respective chins to collect the drool. I think we were watching 'Highway on my plate' on NDTV Good Times, and just watching the duo eat made us both terribly hungry. That it was 10.30 pm might have also had something to do with it. Anyways, both of us left the living room in search of food, while the TV was still on with the child planted firmly on the sofa. We returned after what appeared like a short while to find her enjoying the making of the Kingfisher calendar. Now, how do I know if she 'enjoyed' it? For one, she had lifted her pretty little arse from the sofa and had moved closer to the TV, close enough for her nose to blot the screen. Now, not very often, but sometimes, I pretend to be a cool mumma, and think it is perfectly fine and normal for a 4 yo to watch shows featuring full-grown, at times over-grown women dressed in clothes belonging to 4 yo's. I know I am exaggerating, their swimsuits typically require lesser cloth than we need to clad our 4 yo. In any case, out of sheer curiosity, I asked Pari- 'What are you watching baby?'. Pari retorted with a profound question, without of course turning away from the TV lest she missed out on one moment of pure fun - 'Mumma, are these girls or boys?'. Both me and the husband felt totally confused. Pari is usually able to tell boys from girls, and quite accurately too. Why isn't she able to distinguish here, where almost everything is on display? Shouldn't it be easier in this case? Have we failed at parenting? Such questions immediately came to haunt us.. till it finally dawned on me. The child identifies the gender of the person by his/her clothes. She was unable to use the thumb-rule here since these women weren't wearing any!

PS1. This was observed an year ago, when we were in Bangalore, had a house for ourselves, and lived as a family, not as disillusioned individuals. Pari has grown up since, though I am not sure if her sense of gender has improved.

PS2. I was chatting with the husband the other day, when this incident came back to me, and I asked him if we should begin some 'sex-education' for Pari. The poor man nearly fell off his chair, and could resume breathing only after I rephrased it to 'gender-education'!

Joka Diary - 9

In case you didn't notice, I am back from the Europe trip.. alive and kicking! And into my 6th term now. There is so much to talk about the trip, but I sadly lack both the time and patience to write it now. But I promise, we will talk about it at length, sometime.. it might be next month, next year or next life(for me/for you/for both).. but talk we will. And those who are in a hurry, are cordially invited to look at the pics posted on Picasa (link available on request!). I have wasted an enormous time uploading them- an entire afternoon, and my labor of love shall remain unrequited till some kind soul wastes a couple of hours going through them. You see, that is how we usually compensate for the time wasted-- by wasting more time.

Alright, where were we? In the sixth term? Right! We have a lot of visiting faculty teaching the courses in the second half of the program. And, the students are usually very enthusiastic about the courses taught by the foreign Profs. Not because they are better than our IIM Profs, but because they are perceived as 'chilled out' and easy-to-please. Their expectations from students are usually lower than that of the resident faculty. The visiting faculty almost always finds us exceeding their expectations, and shower us with praise. Also, their evaluation system is pretty lenient, which means that they do not derive the-typical-to-IIMC pleasure by giving us bad grades. And so, we lap up their courses. We means the lazy, hungry-for-appreciation mortals like yours truly. I have taken up almost all the courses offered by VFF. Business valuation is one such course, the prof comes from NY. He has a very heavy American accent, and frequently talks about us falling 'bahind' if we don't put sufficient effort. Now this reminds me of a childhood incident, which I can't resist sharing. I have a motley set of cousins - funny, innocent, bumbling and very lovable. One of them, cousin Y had this habit of saying 'bahind' for 'behind'. His Dad tried to correct him --'It is behind, not bahind'. Now, cousin Y was already 6 yo by then, and at his advanced age, obviously knew better than to put too much trust in his merely IIT graduate father. He replied with loads of spunk-- 'I don't 'balieve' you!'. The preaching father was appropriately quietened, more like stunned into silence, while the rest of the family struggled to stifle laughter till we were out of his earshot. I wonder how long will it be before Pari stops believing me!

I just have to write this..

..to make it bearable! My little Pari turns 5 today. Yes you heard it right - Pari is 5 years old now. I am mom to a 5 yo. Now, can you imagine that I am not with her for our big day? I feel miserable, have been feeling that way for almost a week now, and the miserableness doesn't appear to be wearing off at all. If anything, it continues to grow on me, hopefully it will peak today and start waning from the day after. For now, lets just wish my little girl a very happy 5th. The last year has been tough for her, spent away from parents. She does have the most wonderful set of grandparents and an awesome pair of Mausi's, but in my heart, I can always feel her craving for us as much as we crave for her. I hope this year brings us back together as a family. Now, this is what I have to say to my darling daughter. I have missed you my little baby, but I must say I am very very proud of the way you have conducted yourself. Despite being totally uprooted, you have spread so much laughter and joy in the family. You have adjusted so well to the new place, new way of life, new school and new family. And you have learned so much in the last 9 months, much more than I can even hope to touch upon during my MBA course. In fact, I don't think I really need to wait for you to grow up to read this post, you can probably read and understand some 70% of it already, and copy this in your notebook in under half-an-hour. This when you couldn't as much as hold a pencil this time last year. Now, I see you copying sentences from Mausi's Electronics textbook. Can't say how relieved and assured I feel, it is not just my spine that you have inherited! My heart swells with pride when I hear you using words like 'Lahuluhaan' and 'khoobsoorat'. And you have evolved into such a granny.. always worried about the rest of us. Be it Nani who you forced into a strict exercise regime within days of your arrival--'I don't want my Nani to be so fat!', or Mausi E, who won your sympathy as soon as she moved in with you. The fact that she is away from her parents, just the way you are, meant you could connect with her in no time. The 15 yrs between the two of you not withstanding! Your concern for people knows no limits, as you worry about whether 'Chachi is taking good care of Chia' or 'is Dadi taking care of herself'. When it comes to Mumma, you have different concerns, mostly whether Mumma is studying well, and if her teacher scolds Mumma. You always try to make life simple for us. For instance, on Chia's birthday, you very generously made the suggestion-'Mumma, get me my birthday gift too, baad me easy rahega'. Too bad we did not avail the offer! Though I did get you a gift for you birthday, it is still not easy being away from you on this day. Here is Mumma wishing you all the health, happiness and peace on your special day. With all her love.