Box of Colours

It was vacation time. Mini went with her parents to the village after a very long time, to visit Grandma .Grandma gave Mini a Box, as a welcome gift, as she heard from her parents that she draws well. It didn't look extraordinary to Mini. She just took it from Grandma, without saying a "Thank You' and gave it to her Mama to keep them safe.

It was known that Grandma was sick and won't be there for Long. But Mini did not know what her sickness was. Mama told her that Grandma was suffering from Cancer."What is Cancer?", she asked her Mama. Mama said that it is a life endangering disease. But somehow Mini was too small to understand.

Grandma was always on bed,sitting and praying most of the time or doing some painting on small wooden boxes. There was a maid who used to help Grandma from her bed and give her food,medicines,make her sit in her wheelchair and take her out etc. Mini didn't know how to approach Grandma as she always looked serious.Grandma never showed her feelings outside.

One day Mini and Grandma were alone at home. Her parents had gone for a function nearby. Grandma saw Mini playing in her room. She called Mini close to her and asked her if she liked the gift Grandma gave her. Mini had forgotten about it. She ran to her room and opened Mama's cubboard and brought the Box to Grandma's room. Grandma asked Mini to open the Box and see if she liked what was inside. It was Wooden Box with some handpainting on it. THe painting was done by Grandma herself. Mini opened the Box and saw there were 20 Pencils ,all of different shades in colour. They were colour pencils. She smiled and told Grandma a "Thank You". Grandma asked her to draw and colour a kite, Mini loved to draw. She drew a kite and it looked so beautiful with the new colours. From that day onwards Mini wud sit with Grandma and draw a picture a day. Grandma would feel better when she was with Mini. She would guide her in drawing as she herself was a skilled artist.

As her vacation was drawing to an end, Mini saw Grandma getting weaker but she didn't know what was happening to her friend. Her colour pencils had grown shorter and it was getting near to impossible to colour with those short pencils. Grandma noticed her pencils had grown short.
Mini's vacation was over. She was leaving that evening to go back home and her school would open the following week. She was excited to go back,at the same time, she was feeling sad to leave Grandma. Grandma had a surprise for Mini. SHe handed Mini with a bigger box .It didn't look extraordinary but since Grandma gave it to her, she felt soo happy. She jumped and hugged Grandma and gave her a kiss and said "Thank You". Grandma's eyes filled with tears at the the thought of Mini leaving. She told Mini to open the box after she reached home. She told her to send new pictures that she wud draw by post. Mini agreed.

They reached home the next morning. She was all excited to open the Bigger gift Box. Her Mama unpacked their luggage and gave it to her. Inside she found many gifts. There was a small pack of watercolours with a paint brush, a small hand painted wooden box, a pack of colour pencils. She was so happy to see all those small gifts. Whenever she used to draw ,she would be reminded of Grandma. She would draw new pictures and post it to Grandma. A month later, Mini was told that Grandma died. They went for her funeral. She saw her parents crying but she couldn't understand why Grandma was lying still,as she was small. But Grandma remained in her memory forever and she wud never forget that Box of Colours. Whenever she would see the hand painted Box she would be reminded of the good times she had with Grandma. That was Grandma's greatest gift to her.

Birthday Parties

Mama(sounding excited): Its my Birthday next week,girlies!

My yunger girl : Mama,u shud call me for ur birthday, ok?
Kids get so excited at the mention of the word Birthday. For them, a Birthday is party time. Here in our apartment, kids just long to attend a birthday party. We usually have budget Birthday Parties here, lasting for not more than 2 hours or so. Parties begin with kids coming in one by one and giving gifts to the Birthday girl....there will be lots of whistles and balloons and party hats. Then comes the cake cutting accompanied by singing the Birthday Song and popping of a big balloon. As soon as the balloon pops the children start picking up all the thermocol balls and sequins that come out of it(my kids do that all the time, tho they have attended so many parties)...its like mad rush. Few kids don't bother picking them up. Another thing they enjoy is the Snow spray...it can be messy, but its fun to watch the kids screeching and squealing in excitement....Now comes the eating part...kids r served their fav food....cake chips juice and some snaks. They eat to their hearts content and become all eager for the most exciting event of the party that is "Receiving the Return Gift Goodie bag ". My kids not only need the goody bag but also a few balloons too. All of them collect their goodie bags and then start comparing. If there's a something they don't like and if its a colour they don't like, they ask for an exchange. Its embarassing for their moms but then Kids r kids.

All in the Genes

My Elder girl had(now getting better with age) this habit of watching TV, upside down from the time she was almost 3. I used to wonder what made her do such acrobatics...her head would be down on the sofa watching her favourite cartoon and her legs up in the air leaned against the back of the sofa. No matter how much I scolded her or spoke to her with love ,she wudn't budge. I even used to explain to her the bad after-affects specially after any ,meal. She just wudn't listen. I as a mom, wud think if she had any problem scientifically, but found no answers.

Some time ago when we went to Kerala for vacation. We went to visit my Sister-in Laws home after a long time. Lo and Behold, I see her elder daughter watching TV in the same position as my daughter does. For a moment I was surprised to see her do that and then we all were amused by the similarity. When I asked my SIL, she said thats her usual style. I also came to know that somebody else had these same characteristics as a child(TOP SECRET, else I will be strangulated). It was a releif for me ,as now I got the answer. Its all in the Genes.

Importance of God

Today is a Sunday.Every working person longs for Sundays to get a break from their Routine work.But we Moms never get rest even on SUndays, as our kids have them as Holidays . One releif is that we can get up late as we don't need to send our kids to school. Sundays are family days. Most of us go out out to take a break with our children. A day to think over the past week and prepare for the coming week.

I feel Sunday's also a day of prayer ( for Christians Mostly). Our children need to know the Importance of God and that God is able to do miracles and is much much powerful than man. They need to know that they can depend on God incase theres' nobody around. They need to know that God watches over them all the time and that they r never alone.I like this Verse from the Bible very much. I just go thru this verse when i feel my child is getting out of control.

It is from Isaiah 54:13,14

All your Children shall be taught by the Lord,And great shall be the peace of your children.

ScrapBook

ScrapBook or Sticker Books can be fun for Kids. You can always buy even a blank notebook and ur child can fill them with Stickers that u give them as a reward, for being good or whenever u feel like pleasing them. They can even cut out their favourite pictures or cartoons from magazines and fill it with them. Its fun to watch kids do such Creative activities. You will also get to learn ur child's interests and tastes.

When I was small I used to keep a file and fill it with the latest News articles that wud interest me. I still am interested in Reading News papers and Current Events.

Children not only become more Creative but they will learn to take care of their stuff and improve their observation power .

No Junk Food

Like many moms, I too worry bout my kids getting addicted to Junk Food. Kids are so fond of Lays,Burgers,Pizza,Bicuits, Fries etc. HAving them once in a while isn't harmful, but having them regularly over a period of time, make them addicted to such stuff. It is the responsibilty of us parents, to keep our these habits from invading our kids. Initially I would pack my kids snacks with all these ready-to-eat food but these days we try our best to avoid such snacks, as we found that our kids keep asking for such snacks all the time. With many lifestyle diseases prevalent, its better that we teach our kids from childhood the importance of including fruits and vegetables into our daily diet to remain healthy. Thankfully my kids' school has a snack chart and they have strictly DISallowed Junk Food from class 1 onwards, during snak time and lunch time. Their weekly chart is as follows:

Monday-fruits

Tuesday-sprouts

wednesday-vegetables(grated carrot)

Thursday -dry fruits

Friday-Fruit salad

This method help parents too .

One Snack which my kids have begun to like is this simple Easy-to- make Veg Sandwich.

It needs the following:

2 slices of Brown Bread

Butter to be spread on one side

Very thins slices of cucumber and tomato just enuff to fill in the 2 slices

A little salt and a little pepper.

Baby Charm

My Little Angel,

Oh how u've grown!

Tho I prayed that,

You'd grow big and strong,

I wish u'd remain,

Small like a babe.

So that I cud hold u,

Gently to my heart.

And Whisper softly,

In ur tiny ears,

Sweet lullabys.

And while u grow,

I'd miss the times ,

That i rocked u,

In my swinging arms.

And while u slept,

In peace and calm,

I'd love to watch,

Your baby charm.

And when u woke up ,

In bitter tears,

My heart wud sink,

In unknown fears,

On why u cry often,

Tho its very common.

And tho U have grown big now,

You'll always remain,

A Small babe to me,

Forever .

Fun with Sand

These days there are Short Evening Showers in bangalore . After the rain, when i take my kids to play in the park,we take the Sand Toys coz my gurlz love playing in the sand. I have been coming to the same park for 3 year and more, but my kiddos r never fed up of this Messy Activity. If there is any toy that these girls have fully used , those are their sand toys. I suggest every Mommy to Get these Toys for ur kiddos.

Cherai Beach

It was a Sunday. Our (2 month)vacation in kerala was coming to an end. WE were planning a trip to Cherai Beach(jst 12 KMs from our place in Aluva) at 4 o'clock in the evening, with my Sis,who was longing for a trip to any end of the world,coz she's hardly travelled anywhere for ages. Her Boss's marriage happened to be on that same day. A 'pick and drop facility' had been arranged from her office for attending the function. And so we were all waiting for that evening.

Kids were excited to go. Me too. I am a fan of Beaches and this was the only chance for me to visit before we left for bangalore. Time passed. All of us were sleeping and waking up in turns from our afternoon nap, jst to see if my sis was back from the function. 3 o'clock passed, 4 o'clock passed...by 5 o'clock we all started getting desperate. We noticed that she left her bag and mobile where she usually keeps her stuff. She obviuosly had taken her bigger bag which she had bought recently.

We were wondering,how cud she leave the mobile and go to a faroff place without informing us that she's gonna be late. We started calling her colleagues and even her Boss(Poor Fellow got tensed on the day of his marriage!) and all of them were surprised that ,she hadn't reached home. Infact a few of them mentioned that she was the first one to get off the bus at 2:30. Then we started assuming that she wud have gone for shopping to cochin,as she was mentioning about it the other day. My dad was ready to burst with anger and was waiting to fire her if he got her in his sight. By 6:30 PM we assumed that she had run away from home.

I went off upstairs to see if she has taken her clothes, and left a note or any clue to her disappearance. I opened her bedroom door and Lo and Behold, I see her lying on the bed, snoring away to Glory. I rubbed my eyes to chk if I were hallucinating. For a moment I thot she was there the whole day,as we were in Church when she had left home for the marriage . I burst open my emotions at her (tho it took some time for her to realise what i was saying) and she too at me. She hadn't known what commotion she had created by not just letting us know where she is.

What happend was that she had reached home at 2:45 and it seems the front door was open and all of us were in deep sleep . My dad was somewhere outside and he didn't hear too. My sis was too tired to let us know that she had come and she didn't want to disturb our sleep. She left her bag and mobile down(which was what we saw while we were enquiring bout her). From the time she hit her room and closed her door,she knew nothing that happend at home nor did we know that she was in the house all the while. Another round of phonecalls were made, to let everyone know that she was home afterall. It was embarassing for her, that all her colleagues were dragged on for her whereabouts.

Even tho we had many arguments ...we were glad to see her but sad that we cudn't make it to Cherai Beach.

Bubbles

Kids these days r fascinated by a lot of things. For the past few days, my kids ask their dad to make them a soap solution for Blowing Bubbles. DAd makes a mixture of Soap, water and oil in the right proportion and gives it to them. From then on, kids r in their own world of fun and frolic.

Magic Potion

I have been using this home remedy for almost 3 years and beleive me, it works. If my girls get cough ,specially dry cough, i don't give them any coff syrups. Instead I give them a spoon of honey with a pinch of turmeric powder mixed to it, 3 times daily. If given continously for 3 days the cough subsides.

Stammering Problem

When my yunger girl was born around 4 years ago,my elder girl was subject to so many changes in life. She was going to a day time Creche then. I too was going thru my Postpartum Blues as well. During this time,i put pressure on my elder girl to start writing. I bought her a new 4 line book and then felt she shud learn writing those days. She was 3 and a half years old. I wud have been really tuff on her, coz after a few days ,she started stammering. At first i thot it was just my imagination coz it was only a few words she was repeating. But then it was confirmed by her Teacher in her Creche that she noticed the new changes in her pattern of talking. I was shattered for a few days. I kept crying thinking what has happened. I went thru some articles that made me realise my mistake. My girl was going thru a lot of stress including the birth of a new sibling. I then devoted a whole 2 weeks to be with my child continously and listening to her every need and feelings. Showering her with all my love and affection and even bought her things she wanted. My yunger one was too small to notice my lack of attention for her ,moreover it was helpful for me , being with my parents. My Elder girl got completely free of that stammering problem. And Of course, I need to mention that its also by the Grace of God that she got well!

Modern Maids

We live in Apartment Complex here, and its is really amusing to watch maids bringing kids, to the park in the evenings. U must be wondering why can't they?! Well!(Gulp!!)its difficult for moms like me, to be found as the odd one out, among these modern maids. Enter the apartment parks in Bangalore(or for that matter any Cosmopoliton City) and its difficult to distinguish Moms from Maids. Why ??? Coz these gals r truly Accessorised and fully loaded with the latest Gadgets in town. They come in all shapes and sizes but all in all ,I must say, they follow the latest Fashion trends. Why shud I mention this ?? I shud say Hats off to these Modern maids!! who take in the place of the Child's Real Mom. The Child's Mommy and Daddy are high salaried IT professionals, who wud pay any amout jst to get their Precious kid all the earthly blessings...(which parents wudn't??). They Shower these modern maids with stuff from Mobiles to the latest Salwar Suits. And few of these maids own even a two-wheeler......
The other day a maid from Hyderabad came to Converse with me!...she shocked me by speaking very fluent English!! ..and to add to my "Shock of the century" she asked me if I were a maid or a mom!!....but i must say,I can't blame her cos "Moms in the Park" aren't Trendy any more.

Trip to Vavrath

Dear Friends...
A few days bk,in the month of Feb,we went for a visit to Pune for a few days and happened to visit a wonderful place on the way...I would like to share my experiences during this trip with all of u...
We went to this place called Vavarath...It is a tiny village in the
middle of (u can almost call) a desert....it is around 55 Kms from
Ahmed Nagar(maharashtra)....the reason for our visit was that one of
my Hubby's Aunt, Sr. Eugene (she's a nun) lives there. She along with
Father Thomas and 3 other sisters run a boarding cum school for the
Adivasi and Village children,the poor and less fortunate....all for
free. It is a MArathi medium school.They have been staying there for
the past 7 yrs and they have transformed that place into a Paradise.
They have absolutely no funds whatsoever to run that place. Each day
there passes by only with the Lords Provision. The vegetables they
have, r provided free of cost, by a very kindhearted grocer from
Ahmednagar every week and that too compeltely for the whole week...(for
example..onions,he provides 10 kg.. a whole sack of it for every week
and so on for other vegetables too) he says eversince he has been
providing them he has been blessed and has recovered a majority of
debts...isn't that wonderful??.....
the 55kms that they travel to get their provisions from town, was only
recently tarred, around 8 months bk, due to a promise made a local
politician, who happend to win the election...we were fortunate to vist
them only coz the roads were tarred by God's Grace...till then it was
tuff to get travel to the village the past 6 yrs or so..the way to
vavrath is alsmost like a desrt with few withering trees,sand and
rocks...in the early hours of morning or towards the evenings we get to
see a few wild animals on the way...deers,porcupines,rabbits,peacocks,pigs
etc....even tigers have been caught from those areas...intitally there were

lot of snakes in the place they were living but by God's grace they r seeing only very
few these past few months.
the climate there r in the extremes ...its either too hot or too
cold...electricity is provided for 12 hrs a day...but then they get
only 6 hrs a day on and off,even the phone connection to that place is
tuff to get....during the days we stayed there, there wasn't
electricity for a whole day(24 hrs)...the sisters there have made a
small farm with lots of hens,ducks swans, pigeons,fish and a few cows,a
dog too.they have a beautiful garden and lots of fruitful trees and
plants, Each child there has a duty...some have to water the plants,some cut
vegetables,some do the cleaning,even help in cooking if they have free
time...even serving breakfast,lunch,snack and dinner r done by them....
letting the animals inside the cage and outside..keeping their
classrooms and premises clean...
the sisters have prayer time and these children love praying and attend
whatever prayers r there(even tho not compulsory)...always sharp to
rise early morning and on time....its amazing to see their discipline
and wholeheartedness in every thing they do..they r always doing some
work or the other but with pleasure too...they have their own free time
too..
the food those kids have is a special kind of dry hard roti which
poeple like us cannot eat...there is local cook who cooks food for them
according to their taste...they eat raw carrots and beetroots...so
mostly for evening snacks they have those fruits sometimes....the
sisters stay in a kitchen cum bedroom cum dining room....in a few
months they will shift to a seperate small building which is under
construction.....the sisters r on the run the whole time....
i knew that Sr. Eugene is old but when we met her face to face, she
looked so yung...even tho she is 68 she looked only 40....i even told
her that...the sisters here have a lot of work...they juggle btwn
cooking, teaching and supervising too.....even tho we took rest with
our kids,it was amazing to see how they all did all their work without
much rest.....Really God's touch is upon those toiling there...
Right now there r around 184 children,out of these
33 girls and 70 boys live in the boarding school there.....they
all have twinkling eyes,eager to learn and are very disciplined
children much to the awe of everyone.....they kept entertaining Leah
and Grace...they were always greeting us with a handshake(Jai Christh)
and were teaching us a few marathi words too....while visiting them
during their meals every child invited us to sit with them to
eat...these children haven't seen much of the outside world and long to
see poeple different from them....last month they got a chance to visit
Bombay by Gods Grace who provided for all their needs...navneet
publications arranged a nice big bus for sightseeing...oriental home
publications poeple arranged their stay and provided each child with a
bed and blanket...so nice isn't it??......
inspite of all their good times, one sad thing about these children is
that their parents get them married of by the age of 10(boys and
girls)...there was one girl who kept crying all the time that she
didn't want to get married....she even told she will sign a statement
which can be given to the police that it is against her wish... the
Sisters or Father Thomas cannot do anything but advise their
parents....they don't encourage parents when it comes to marriage..
there are tutors who stay there with their families....these tutors r
paid too , few of them r dedicated but some of them come to teach in
that village only coz of the money and they do not stay long...Sister
Gloria is the principal of that small school..the uniform those
children wear to school was sponsored by a bike agency..they took their
measurement and got them stitched specially for the kids...the other
sister there is in charge of the medical needs of that village...she
sits in a small clinic...they run a small stationary shop too....we saw
some small local village children come running with 5 RS to the shop to
buy a small packet of parle G biscuit...hehe...its very cute to see
them....
inspite of all the hardships they face, Father Thomas and the Sisters
there r just thankful and grateful to all those who extended their
helping hands and keep telling of all the blessings they have
received...they treated us like king and queens while we stayed there
for 2 days....they made duck(their own duck caught by the boys there)
curry and fish(their own) fry ......it was just wonderful and
touching...they even packed snaks for us for our return..
i can go on bout this place..ther's so much to write about....i think i
haven't organised my writing properly..
if u guys can make it u shud
really visit this place and see for urself...I was soo happy to see
those joyful kids...my kiddos were not well during those
days...G was having fever too....but still they fell in love with
those kids and that place, specially FAther Thomas and all the
sisters...forgot to mention there was a nun and another brother who
were staying there as a part of their service...they get to stay ther
for a year and then leave the place after a wonderful time....
if there's anybody who wants to sponser a kid from this place or wud
like to help them in any way orplanning to visit...do lemme know...i
will give u their complete address and phone number too...

Golden Triangle Trip

We made this Golden Triangle trip a year back in February. And i wud like to share this with u all.
Throughout our 5 day trip to delhi,agra,jaipur.....it was cold and cloudy there ..but still all of u enjoyed thoroughly including my kiddos and we returned back in perfect health....
let me give u a brief of what all we visited....
Day 1
we got up at 4 in the morning.... landed in delhi by flight(2hrs 15 minutes from bangalore).. .it was cold and raining in delhi...we took a volvo bus to jaipur...took bout 6 hrs ...saw lots of camels on thewasy....the whole day was spent in travelling.. ..we stayed at a guest house where they served home cooked north indian food which was really good...
Day 2
We visited Amber fort...we took an elephant ride there(pretty expensive 550 bucks one way for afamily) .....Leah was screaming thruout the ride...:-)on the way to jaigarh fort we saw lot of peacocks andpeahens...so pretty ...! grey monkeys and green parrots too were there in plenty....it was cloudy that day too...we came back, had food and in the evening went to this ethnic village called Choki Dani.....they open from 6 in the evening to 11 at night....they will serve the traditonal rajasthani food,plus there r lotsof ethnic dances,magic show,puppet show ,elephant rides and camel ride..u can also shop inside....its250 bucks for a person and half the rate for the kid above 3 but its worth it.... it was drizzling by thetime we finished seeing thru the entire place but itwas real treat...
Day 3
had break fast in our guest house...on the way to the bus station we saw hawa mahal,city place and Jantar Mantar from outside in an autorickshaw as we had no time.....just before we took a bus to agra, we happened to see some beautiful glass bangles and bought some for the kids ...really pretty and very cheap...5 bucks for a dozen...that whole day too we spent in travelling.. ..6 hrs almost to agra by bus.....by then we chked in at a hotel near the TajMahal....had dinner and went off to sleep....jaipur is more clean than agra.....
Day 4
We got up at 6 in the morning and by 7 we took a walk to see the Taj Mahal....it was very cloudy but the TajMahal still looked beautiful... it just a 10 min walk from our hotel......kids were really cranky that daybut somehow we managed tho there were outbreaks of anger from both hubby's and my side.....we then took a taxi and visited Fatehpur Sikhri , Agra fort and babyTaj.....this place was soo full of history...we had tour guides in these places who would explain to us the history..... i don't think there is a proper sewage system in agra coz altho the monuments r maintained well, the roads r full of dirt and muddy water....we had to travel the next day so we came back early..had an early dinner and went off to sleep
Day 5
We got up at 4 in the morning to catch a train to delhi which was it 6...it was raining and very cold....somehow coverd up the kids well and left the hotel ....just 4 hrs by train from agra....it was raining again in delhi...but by the time we reached the hotel the sky cleared up...it became sunny...we freshened up...took a taxi to go around delhi...we were really impressed by the museum and house of Indira Gandhi(a must see)...we went to see the Qutubminar, India gate,Rashtrapati bhavan and premises,where the republic day parade takes place...verybeautiful and well maintained.. .by evening ething got closed for visit and so we couldn't see all of delhi ...but there is always a next time...we came to the hotel had dinner and went of to sleep...
Day 6
We got up at 6 to reach the airport and take the return flight to bangalore... .
Wow! home sweet home!.....but loads of clothes to wash....Grace had to be in diapers throut ....
And I have to praise my kids,who really cooperated in dressing up every time for making this travel trip a success.

First time to School

School time can be no fun, specially if the child is attending it the first time. The past 10 days were tearful times for my yunger child. She intially wanted very badly to go to school like her elder sis, but when her time came, she cudn't handle it as we(her parents ) thought. These past days, she wud be crying really badly, when i would be dressing her up in her uniform.But today, on the 9th day of her school, she finally has settled. Today she went happily and we as parents were so happy to see her going joyfully. Basically, its easy to know in what mood she is in ,every time. When she's really happy ,she hums a tune to herself and her joy is contagious. Well! today thats what she did. And I, as a mom is very proud of her.

I Wonder

If our thots had a loudspeaker attatched to it, then don't u think it wud be too embarassing to even think , about anything at all.