Goofed Up !

Hello December.
I was just waiting for this month and yet I goofed up on the very first day of this month.
L is having her exams this week, a continuation of last week. Due to some mistake in my preparation of her timetable, I made her study EVS (Environmental Science) today early morning, instead of Hindi. Although she did revise a little during the weekend, yesterday the whole day we had gone out, only to return by Midnight.

The funniest part of it , is that I realized it only after L came from school today evening. My heart stopped for a second,when L told me it was Hindi and not EVS. I was sad that I couldn't prepare her well because L had always found Hindi, a little more difficult than the other subjects. I called up my friends to confirm and I discovered that my timetable with the dates ( which i had proudly stuck and displayed on the wall ) written, were all wrong. On top of it, because of VP Singh's death last week, Friday was a holiday here . That was the day of her EVS exam. So somehow, it caught on me , that only after EVS, were the rest of the exams.

This is the second time that it has happened to me. A similar situation had happened last year too. Thought I would learn from that incident, but seems like this is a part of me, that makes me "ME"....hahaha. Since L had revised Hindi a few times at home and in class, I was a little releived. My friends too comforted me, saying that after all, it was only a small exam.

G too was very cranky today and she was spitting a lot in her anger, trying to irritate us to the maximum. But we pretended not to pay her too much attention, as she would be stuck to that habit forever. I've never seen her like this.

The good thing that happened today, was that a very old friend of mine got in touch with me, after many many years. So it ended as a happy day after all. :)

Salutations

I salute all those Heroes who fought the War on Terror and help save the lives of many and in return gave up their own lives. May God be with their families and be a source of comfort to them during this Difficult time. We r proud to have such heroes.

Mixed Emotions

It was a hot Summer. I was returning after my Grocery Shopping from the Local Nilgiris Supermarket. I was in a hurry to reach home and so was walking very fast. Some parts of the leftmost side(where I was walking) of the road, was under construction on approaching the main road. One had to be careful to walk on this road. While thinking about various chores I had to do for the day, from the corner of my eye, I got a glimpse of a fluorescent pink Saree lady with jingling bangles trying to overtake me in my stride. I didn't want to make way, as I too was in a hurry. Suddenly this lady gasps out loudly "Hai Rey". We had reached that part of the road which had been dug up deeply. I turned to help the lady just in case she needed any help.

As I glanced at her face, to my horror I find it wasn't a lady, but a man dressed up as a lady. One of those kind of people with peculiar expressions and mannerisms. He held his bangle filled hands to his face in terror. It was one of those strange moments in life where I didn't know whether to speak, smile or laugh ...or to cry ...or run off. My mind was laughing to see this strange person but I had to control my wicked feelings. For a moment I froze (tho my heart was beating very fast), not knowing what to do, as I didn't want to offend those Kind of people in anyway whatsoever. I looked in front of him if there was anything terrifying that he should gasp out loudly. But there was only a deep dug up ditch in the ground. To my relief he said "Madam Jaa" (almost angry that I was staring at him) with a peculiar expression of the hand pointing me the way in front of me. Thankfully, I walked off. Up to this day, I still don't know what terrified him/her but it remains a funny moment in life.

Mobile - A Moms' Stress Buster

Before the onset of mobiles, we would see moms chilling out with a cup of tea or coffee in the evenings. But with the mobile revolution here, moms don't feel lonely again,...forget the rest of the world.

I have been observing a lot of moms lately. U'll find them in the park gently leading their child to play, and then take out their de-stress weapon and start their verbal outpour. In between, she may forget to glance at her toddler, probably on the verge of falling. Can't blame the Mom too. She works hard the entire day, looking into every minute detail of her child and home. Its only when she gets her child out(or distracted for a while) that she gets a few minutes to pour out her heart. Some moms are found in their balconies, maybe coz they want some privacy from the home members or maybe some fresh air. Balconies are a place to relax, after all. But they must be aware of Birdwatchers like me.

Sometimes I get too inquisitive, to know who these moms would be talking to and what they are discussing.... the main reason being, that I don't possess this De-stress machine. In a way, it saves the lazy me, mobile maintainence and bills. Also me happy that I don't have to carry it along with my house keys and again, not to forget, I already have a landline. Some days I like being the odd one out, the other days I would be a little J (jealous), on watching moms chilling out on mobiles. Ask my friends their phone number and "Fattafatt" comes instant replies of 10 digit numbers. As for me I am trying to be content with Dad's 10 digits.

A Recipe for children

The recipes good for kids who have constipation problems as it has loads of fibre.


BANANA APPLE PORRIDGE
--------------------------

------
Ingredients

¼ cup broken wheat
¼ cup quick cooking rolled oats
1 cup low fat milk
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
1½ cups apple, diced
3 cups bananas, sliced
4 teaspoons low fat butter

Method
1. Clean, wash and drain the broken wheat.
2. Heat the butter in a pressure cooker, add the broken wheat and saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add the oats and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the milk and 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.
5. Mix in the sugar and cinnamon powder. Cool in the refrigerator.
6. Add the apples and bananas. Mix well.
7. You can serve it hot too or try other fruits like peaches, strawberry, etc.

A Womans' Prayer for her family

I came across this wonderful prayer and thot of sharing this with all of u!

FAMILY

Lord I Pray /Praise you for...

1. God will be the centre and head of our family
2. Intimacy, love and good understanding between me and my husband
3. Peace, Joy and Unity within our family always
4. Both me and my husband will always remain absolutely faithful to each other
5. Prosperity, abundance & profit in our family and no lack, debt or loss
6. Good Health and no sicknesses or diseases
7. God’s canopy of protection through his blood, angels, word of God and no evil will enter
8. Model family to our neighbours, relatives and friends
9. Peaceful and loving relationship with both our in-laws
10. God’s favour, anointing, blessings, goodness and mercy in our lives everyday


HUSBAND

Lord I Pray for my husband for...

11. his work, his finances that God will give him the strength to go higher and prosper
12. his purposes, his choices, his decisions that God will give him wisdom to pursue the
right ones
13. his mind, his affections, his emotions that God will rule them all
14. his integrity, his reputation, his self-image that God will guard them all
15. his priorities, his relationships, Role as a Husband & Father God will guide him to be the
best
16. his faith, his walk with God that God will give him mercy and grace to be a son that he
can trust

WIFE

Lord I Pray for myself that I will ...

17. A Proverbs 31 Woman of Virtue...
18. A good wife, good mother and extend good influences over them
19. Have wisdom & strength to prioritize and manage well my family, house, work, ministry,
(Studies)
20. Bring my family to the Lord’s feet through Family Prayer everyday
21. Build my family in every way and not break it down in anyway
22. Have humility and respect my husband and care for him
23. Teach my children the ways of God, when we are sitting, eating, sleeping and waking up


CHILDREN

Lord I Pray for my children that they ...

24. Will grow in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and Man
25. That they will obey us parents, and be disciplined and well-mannered
26. They will be like fresh olive shoots around our family table
27. Love the Lord, Walk in is ways, and not deviate from them even when they are old
28. Be filled with talents and abilities and will use them for God

My Angel

I bought a T-shirt for L and it had beautiful lines written over it, right in the front. It goes like this."I have an angel watching over me. I call her mom."
I read this to L and explained the meaning to her. Papa asked her the meaning of those words again and u could guess what she told.
L: There's an angel watching over me and and I call it mom.

Call of my land

Hello Bloggy,
Feel like ages since i've written. Hardly knew that October went by so fast.
Hello to November. The feeling of November is exciting for me coz I know Christmas time is soming soon....Wow!!...Goosebumps when i think of it!

The Month of October went by traveling a lot and to tell u the truth , its more often to my native place , Kerala. And every time I go there , I long to be there more. Its like the rootsof my native are calling to my inner self, to go and settle there. Strange that me, who likes more of a fast townlife, is wanting more to go back and live a more peaceful village life. The feeling was more this time as I fell in love with the nature there. More vegetation, pollution free air (as my dear husband tells often), fresh fruits and vegetables from ur own land. Being near our loved ones and paying visits to relatives,etc.

The love of the hens being raised (hehe, seen them since they were chickens), that come to be fed all the time, was so endearing. L and G spent a great deal of time chasing and feeding them, learning to look after them and watching the hens way of living. The hens used to go to sleep up on a tree at night for protection, as there were no coops built for them. Collecting the eggs laid by them and making the laying of eggs comfortable for the mother hens in rag- filled baskets kept here and there. There was one particular basket placed in an old store room full of old wornout stuff.

Then we have small pond there too where they had put in some aquarium fish which have mulitplied over time. It was fun to watch and study the different types and feed them too. Close to it ,we have a nice big cage with a few Love birds were bought a month ago. The cage is almost like a palace with swings for them and food and water kept for them in plenty. Recently it had four new additions and it was so cute to watch them grow and see the way the moms were feeding the young ones. They would eat the leaves of a medicinal plant which L and G loved to pluck and give.
We were there only a week but were so happy to be there. Probably its more exciting now as we go there once in a while, don't know how it will be ,if by chance we plan to settle there, once for all.

Sorrow and Joy

There wudn't be

Ups In life

If there weren't Downs.

Beauty is more

When the Ripples form

In Still Waters.

Scars in life may appear

Its the inevitable price

U pay, to get Scepters.

The hours before Dawn

Are the darkest of day.

But its only coz of that,

That we Thirst to see

The Break of Day.

Sorrow and Joy,

Complement each other.

They make life special

Like Sugar and Spice.

A Sad Toddler

The Loud cries of a 2 year old toddler have been ringing throuout my Apartment corridor. Our front door neighbours(A grandpa and a Grandma) runs a creche and so we guessed that the new child's mom would have started working and wants her child to get accustomed to the creche for the first time in its life.
2 weeks back the mom just dropped the child just for 1 hour to check out her toddler's reaction. Since the owners of the creche did not want the rest of the kidsin their creche to get disturbed, they thought the new child could walk in the corridor with a caretaker while they keep their door closed to the cries of the new child. After hearing bouts of loud cries, I opened my door to see the sad child and thought of ways of comforting her but she just refused to be comforted. I noticed that the caretaker(a young woman) was making the child walk to and fro in the long corridor. The child would be murmuring some unknown language as (it was obvious that) she hasn't learned to talk yet and in between she would burst out loudly and cry. It even seemed that she had only recently learned to walk. I was wondering how a mother could do this to a young child. A few moments later the mom comes and takes her child home. It was releif that now the babe was with its mom. I didn't see her after that day.Yesterday I was returning after my daily swim and saw the same child in my corridor. This time the child was lying down in the caretakers lap in a sleeping positon almost tired of crying and also half sleepy. She would scream and cry in between after restoring some of her baby energy. I told the babe a Hi but she was not in a mood to acknowledge. Poor thing! In the past 4 years,I haven't seen kid crying so much like this child . Today too I heard cries, but with lesser intensity. Probabaly she'll get used to it and who knows even her Mom mst be feeling sad to drop the child the first few days. But its heartbreaking to see a 2 yr old baby cry loudly througout helplessly.

I'm a Diehard fan of Agatha Christie !

Like I told u in my previous blog that I read the Autobiography of Agatha Christie during the time I went for a Holiday to my native. I have always been her fan ever since I read her first mystery book.
My Love for Mysteries goes way back to the time when I was in the 4th Std. My favourite then was (U guessed it right!) Nancy Drew. Even Now I feel the excitement I used to have then, whenever I used get a Nancy Drew Mystery book. We still have a collection of Mystery Books at my parents house. I remember those days when the bell used to ring for the Library period in school, I used to run fast in order to reach first to get a Mystery book before anybody else laid hands on what I had not read. Then I came to know of many more books of the same category like The 3 Investigators, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven.....wow!! i used to be lost in the world of investigating and solving puzzles, reading those books..

Sometimes I used to put a story book inbetween my text books half-folded and pretend to study when infact I was reading a mystery. Then when the lights used to be out to sleep ,I would strain to read the book in the faroff streetlight that would slightly light up our room through the window at night. I was too crazy about such books then. When i got to college I would still read Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. As time passed I got lesser access to books and I stopped reading until now. I have revived my reading habits now as I am making ways of finding time to read .

After reading Agatha Christie's Autobiography , I feel even more impressed about her. She has mentioned every tiny detail of her exciting life even from her childhood, with absolute sincerity and humility. She's even given tips on how to write detective stories which I am planning to follow shortly ;) ;)...jst kidding! I took my own time and read it without taking much breaks coz I was so engrossed in it. Inbetween I would imagine about writing my own autobiography probably naming it as "The Autobiography of a Nobody "!....I am sure it wud be a hit. ;)

Agatha has written on every aspect of her life in her book, even on her marriage, her experiences as a nurse, her relationships with every member of her family, as a mother etc with such dignity and poise. She had such great respect for everbody. Sometimes I wish if I could meet her face to face. Even though she's no more now, I salute this great Lady of the Detective World. Her books r a must read.