Hai tujhhe bhi ijazat....

Day before yesterday I paused and thought...do I really have to do the mad rush routine now that the kids have holidays? NOOO was the answer, so I let go...I did not cook, I spent a leisurely morning at the net. Then took a leisurely bath and leisurely put nail polish on my toes (something I was meaning to do for ages)...and took the kids out for lunch! Nothing happened, the earth did not stop rotating, the sun did not set in the east and the Mahabharat did not become impure ( direct translation of Bengali saying 'Mahabharat oshudhho hoye jabe'). The result- happy me happy kids! Yesterday was also different, the brat went to Nimmi's house (our ex-neighbour who is still great pals with my kids) to spend the day. I went to buy prawns and cooked them for dinner. The mite and I went to Nimmi's house for dinner- she made lemon rice, gulab jamun and pepper rasam and I took the prawns. We had a good time on her terrece. Now I have decided that I will do minimal cooking and maximal enjoying!
This morning, the brat I had the mandatory fight in the morning regarding her attitude...however things have become better now when i fed her the watermelon that e had bought the other day. Looking forward to another peaceful day....jai ho!

Sunday Splash!

I do not know how to swim properly, and I did not learn to cycle either, so i was determined that my children should learn these things at the proper time. The brat has shown a lot of promise in this matter. She learnt cycling pretty much on her own because I was pregnant at the time and could not help her and the Mr was too impatient. All I did was insist on removing the balance wheels in the face of stiff opposition from the entire family. Now it is the turn of swimming. I was determined to start her off this summer. The classes start in April- but the kids are allowed to splash around before that. We spent a refreshing Sunday morning at the pool side while the brat tried to float and the mite skipped about on the lawns. Aaaaah bliss.

The Mite's New Game

A month ago the mite chanced to hear the song "mera naam chin chin choo" and since then he seems to think that he can rename himself as and when he feels like it. After hearing the Chin chin choo song he was 'Chin chin choo' for some time. So if we called him by his name he'd say "Nooooo....I am Chin Chin Choo". Now matters have turned to such a head that he changes his name everyday according to the dress and he expects everyone to call him by that name and takes offence if we don't. Now if I am admonishing him I can't remember the latest name he is going by so I say " Dark Blue Pajamas why are you digging your nose?" to be answered by " Nooooooooo... my name is pink pajamas" ! in dismay I realized that his pajama has been changed after his bath and therefore his name. Then he comes up and says stuff like "Mamma didda(his sis) is not calling me White Pajamas" ! To which the Brat says "I will not call him White Pajamas, then he is calling me Red Pajamas"! Thereafter all hell breaks loose! Finally I have made it clear to the little chap that he cannot expect his sister to remember his name changes so he better be happy with my efforts to call him what he wants. Today I had to inform his grandfather that he would have to call him 'Face face' if he wants any response from him on the phone! His t-shirt has many cat and rat faces so he named himself that this morning. I hope he grows out of this phase soon for the sake of my sanity!

So, who is listening?

Women's groups have put forward a charter on women's concerns to all political parties. First and fore most these groups have urged that women's reservation bill should be passed. Ha...women are clamouring for the this bill for at least a decade now, parties are not even ready to file women candidates, leave alone reserve seats for them. A few days ago there was another report where a BJP minister, who is herself a woman is giving an excuse for not filing woimen candidates "What can we do", she says,"no party is willing to file women candidates", what an excuse! What is the outcome of such charters which are "appeals" to the political parties. No political party attaches the slightest bit of importance to these appeals- these should be demands based upon women's constitutional rights. It would be better if these women's groups develop a cadre of women leaders who can be worthy of getting a ticket. We do not want horrors like Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalitha, Vasundhara Raje etc they make our insides churn. Can you imagine Mayawati as our prime minister- that will be a good time to immigrate! Is there no learned, sincere , socially conscious and competent dalit woman in our country? Men have made a complete mess of our political system, it is time for them to step back and allow real deserving women to take over, we do not want bizzare creations of males, we want self made and socially conscious women, otherwise no reservation bill can save this country. There are countries where the 33% reservation of seats for women is in effect in the Central legislature. Finland is a case in point, and the country is doing pretty well in every sector and specially in the social sector of the welfare and health of the family. I shudder to think what the outcome of the elections are going to be, but one thing I am sure of- the number of women in the legislature will be as small as ever.

The Brat's Art/craft attak!

The Brat Girl gets this attack around the time of her exams, when there are a million spellings to learn! Her room is in a mess- small pieces of craft paper strewn everywhere, fevicol tube oozing the stuff, also lying on the floor, scissors also dumped in the midst of it all. "Look, mamma, I made this for Dadu bhai thamma/Dadan-Didan/my friend/baba/you/mite/the auntie nextdoor/the uncle who smiled at me yesterday/what have you!" -that is the time that I blow the fuse because all this while I have not been able to tear my eyes away from the messed up floor! Anyhow, you might call me a cruel mother who does not let the imagination of her baby take wing, but that's how it is! Unless the brat learns how to clear up afterwards I will remain my unappreciative self, heck, I deserve a clean floor at the end of this. Moreover, her 'creations' are found all over the place from the next day onwards-I have to rescue them from being swept away by Rajamma, torn apart by the mite, sat on by big daddy and sundry other accidents-and I hate wastage of art paper and cellotape. Finally the unappreciated brat took matters into her own hands and took some pictures of her handiwork and now wants me to put it in my blog! Ah well, at least there will be some proof of her destructive and creative powers for posterity. Here she has cut up a few of her socks, used up half the electrical repair black tape and cut up some wool to produce these things which she promises will be given away and not be found being swept away by Rajamma! The pom poms are the same stuff on different back grounds, she is experimenting with photography too!