Not just another home...mind you..

This is the bachelor pad of my good friend Jeevan.
Jeevan is an Enginner from PICT and an MBA from SIBM. He currently lives in Bangalore, and has recently taken it upon himself to making his home his shrine.
When he told me this, I was not expecting what I saw in the photographs that he sent me. I was/am super impressed at his neatness, his choice of colours, his attention to detail.
Don't believe me? Well see for yourself...

This is the living room. Notice the colour coordinated sheet and cushion covers, the brown sofa and rug goes so well with the orange. It looks warm and inviting to me.





Here is his bedroom. It is neat, can you actually believe the guys' shelf being so nicely stacked? Mine starts off like that and ends up all topsy-turvey!! Well getting back to Jeevan's home. I loves the green pillow & the matching sheets. Also notice the nicely folded blanket at the foot of the bed.





Jeevan is a health conscious guy, so you get to see the gym-ball near the bed and the white board.
I wonder what he writes on the white board though .....


In this photo you get the full view of the shelf area. You can also see the curtain at the entrance to this room....green ain't it? How cool is that!!! And I could get used to man who can make a bed that nice ;) I meant the crease-less bed sheet ladies.....how naughty are we!!





The room with a view... That is somehow very common to anyone from the green (well it used to be) city of Pune. We (from Pune) need our greenery, and some view. Again the window curtain is also green. I just love this tinge of green, it's just so fresh and cool.


Way to go Jeevan boy!!!

For all those who want details of Jeevan, you know where to mail me. If there is enough demand, I will put up a photo of Jeevan, and let me warn you he is GOOD LOOKING!!
So all you married girls will have to send off husband darlings to office and then drool over my friend ;)

Steps to Finding Your Passion

I was browsing the Oprah website and came across this. I have been following Oprah closely for quite some time now, and am very impressed. I have discovered things about myself, that I never knew you can even think about !!

Some months back, I started working on myself. I started thinking about "what is my passion?"

I'll tell you why I started this quest.
Through a lot of reading, and numerous Oprah Shows later, I came to the understanding that if you do what you are passionate about, first of all the work becomes an amazing experience every day, you are self-driven to do it, you just love everything about it; and best part is that success comes and it comes BIG time !!

There are lots of examples around of people who followed their passion and are successful in their endeavour. There are people who love cooking and they followed it up and became super chefs, there are people who like acting and are great actors...you pick any field, famous or not famous and you will see examples of people who just followed their passion.

Being brought up in a typical middle-class family in India, I never was told about knowing your passion or taking up subjects that really interest you. I today can tell you all that I would have loved to study Architecture, Arts, Archeology or even loved to be a Doctor. I have missed out on all these things as an education, but I do follow each one on my own level. One decision A and I have made about our son (and future children) is that we will help him/them to discover their passion, and help in every way to follow it.

OK, now back to discovering my passion. I found this article by life coach Cheryl Rishardson, and was amazed at how simply she has explained the discovery process in easy steps. I have to share these with you all, so that it helps you in discovering your true passions.

Step One: Get Quiet.
For most people, the road to connecting with passion begins with practicing good self-care. This means slowing down, spending time with yourself, taking good care of your body and mind, nurturing your spirit, and engaging in activities that will move you out of your head and into your body. Once you become passionate about your self-care, you'll know you're on the right track.
This step is about, first of all appreciating yourself, realising your self-worth and discovering the little joys that are hidden in a manicure, or a new hair cut. Get to know your body, what creams you like, what scent puts you in what mood, etc. Don't you come across some people who know themselves so well that they can absolutely pick up the most accurate lipstick shade, give clear instructions to the hair stylist. These people are in-tune with themselves and know things about the self. The bottom line is that you have to love yourself first in order to do something that you love.

Step Two: Become Sensitive to Your Environment.
Once you're more connected to your feelings, you'll be ready to do a little exploring to discover the specific, personal things that best ignite your passions. Spend one week paying close attention to what excites you, touches you, inspires you to think in a whole new way, or even frustrates you. Watch for clues. Stories in newspapers, programs on television or conversations with friends may give you an indication of those things that will lead you to your passions

Often times, you maybe reading the same kind of blogs, news, like reading about the latest trend in furniture, the tiger conservation project in your country, the political scenario in the country or elsewhere etc. Gather such information about yourself, better still write it down.

Step Three: Answer a Series of Questions.

• What interest, passion or desire are you most afraid of admitting to yourself and others?
• What do you love about yourself?
• Who do you know that's doing something you'd like to do? Describe yourself doing it.
• How could you make the world a better place for yourself and others?
• What's stopping you from moving forward with exploring your passion?

Believe me the above questions are not simple. You have to dig DEEP to answer them truthfully. You could have some sobby moments, you could need to talk to your friend, your mom who ever you think can understand what you are trying to achieve, and someone who can help you find those dots to join in to make the picture perfect.

Step Four: Go on a Treasure Hunt.
Go on a treasure hunt in your own home. The things you hold onto can provide clues to your interests and passions.Do you make connections to old pictures? A special memento from a memory that means something to you? How does what you find make you feel about yourself and your dreams?

Oh this was fun for me, because I realised that I love collecting artifacts, quaint pieces and put them together. I often get compliments on the little collections I have in my home. I love small pottery items, older the better. I love books, reading them. I love stationary items, pens, pencils of every kind. I love cooking the 'not-everyday-stuff' like paav-bhaji, chole, biryani, cakes, etc. I love being 'in-touch' with friends, knowing what is going on at their end. I love giving advice!! ha ha ha I know a lot of times it may seem like an unwanted or un-solicited advice; but hey I'm working on it; coz I've now learnt that 'knowledge speaks and wisdom listens' !!
I have also realised that I love to write, and it brings back memories from school days when my teachers would love all my essays and biographies. I remember once I had done a biography of a road !! Gosh my imagination sure was running wild on the road !! But you know what, I love that about myself, being able to imagine, empathise, and actually put it down on paper. One big Muaaahhhh to myself !!

Step Five: Take a Risk.
Stop thinking about your passions and start doing something. Take a risk, and step out to try something new. By challenging your fear with action, you'll not only raise your self-esteem, you'll expand your comfort zone. If you're not sure of what to do, ask a trusted friend or partner for ideas. Remember that good luck happens when you're in action. And, if you try something new (even if you're not sure of the outcome), you may discover a passionate interest by accident!

I have yet to do something drastic or not-in-my-comfort-zone kind of activity. But will keep you all posted.

Happy discovery!!

Do let me know when you find your passion, and if you need any help along the way, just drop me a line at: neelum@gmail.com

Where is my green hill?

The above photo is of the construction work going on on my living-room side.

This used to be a lovely green hill.

This photo just shows 1/3rd of the ex-hill. It used to be so nice, full of birds of different kinds flying by so often. It was much cooler also, least of all or rather the most important feature of all was that the green hill was a soothing sight.

Now since the construction is ON, there is noise from 8 in the morning up to 5 or at times 6 in the evening, Monday- to Saturday!! There is just no escaping the noise.
It has become quite hot, and we can actually experience heat-waves when it has not rained for a couple of days.

They are building luxury homes here, individual units, each costing around 3.5 Million RM.
Talking of recession, I was thinking that maybe...just maybe they would halt or go slow on the construction, but No !! they seem to have enough funds to keep it going !! Actually I heard that this project was sold out in the first 3 months itself !!

One more thing I discovered about myself from this episode is that I love greenery, hills and peace & quiet. This has also strengthened my resolve for environment conservation.

Vegetable Pattice

I made some Vegetable Pattice:
What you basically need: puff-pastry sheets (frozen), vegetable filling of your choice, a little butter and you are ready to go.
What I did for the filling was: boiled some potatoes, and made a basic potato-bhaji (dry vegetable) with some boiled peas, and a bit of Chaat Masala to add that surprise element.
Then you have to cut squares out of the pastry sheets, and then mark the diagonal, then place the filling close to the diagonal, then close in the square, forming a triangle. You may need to brush a little water along the edges just to seal off the Pattice. (I did not as I wanted a closed and open kind of pattice).

Bake it in the oven at 200 C for 25-30 minutes (go according to the temperature stated on your frozen puff-pastry sheet box). You may want to brush some butter on to the pattice before you set them in the oven. I did not do this as I was trying to not add more calories!!
But my pattice were quite nice on top, crisp, crunchy, actually just nice.

Here are some pictures to make you drool ;)

Finally writing in

Just thought i would write a list of things that i have been upto while i havent been writing:
1. reading the blogs regularly - must say just love all the stuff Neelum writes about - i want to so meet up - hopefully it will be soon... and yes those paper clips are gorgeous.
2. taking driving lessons - the pass rate in London is the lowest in the country - so trying to get as many lessons before the test day.
3. managed to take on a part-time job - i just got a payslip in the mail - after three years it felt really nice to find something else other than bills in the mail - and ofcourse promptly spent some of my earnings on some interesting new toys for Mihir.
4. trying to play badminton - i must say i am finding it harder to get into the swing of things - have been battling stiff muscles - and well participated in the local badminton tournament and lost (so was disappointed in myself - not practising enough and zero fitness levels can only mean one thing).
5. had a long vacation in India - seven weeks - attended two weddings - that was pretty special - so now trying to shift all those extra kilos off my waist.
6. Trying to sort out various child care options - like baby sitters, nursery, friends, and hopefully i will manage to sort it all out.
Well it feels good to finally write in - the weather is getting better and i have finally got a well deserved night-in with Shrirang out to participate in a quiz and Mihir in his bed and work out of the way. Now i am just going to sip on some refreshing cool water and read a magazine and have an early night. And hope to write in more regularly now that i have got some elements of daily routine sorted out.

Some old promised stuff

I had told you about our past Sunday when we were mall hopping etc etc.
Well to begin with we parked at Tesco, then hopped into The Curve and then to Ikea and back to Tesco. All are located in Mutiara Damansara and are linked so one is not zipping in and out, it's more like gliding from one to the other !!

Here is what we did:
Tesco 1: only parked the car, then went into The Curve.
The Curve: we checked out Daiso (I have written about this already, click here to read it again). At Daiso Aadu picked up a very cute red bucket, he wants to fill it with sand !!
After Daiso we went into the Yamaha Music Store to get some Guitar string for A's guitar (funny thing is we could not remember if it was the second string from top or from the bottom!!) so we did not buy any !!

Ikea: first stop was the restaurant, where we ate, drank, and rested our tired feet. Then we were off to the Children's Section, where the little brat that is my son, picked up a sheep/dog (soft toy), and a shovel. A picked up some white board markers for Aadu's board. Someone has to help me out on this one, my son always forgets to cap the pens, hence within a week we are left with dry markers..
Then it was off to some wandering in the show-area, where Aadu admired the kitchens, living rooms, some kiddy furniture, and let out exclamations like 'wow'..'so cool na' etc. I was pretty amazed at how he liked and soaked in the designs and I was more amazed at his taste. I predict here and now that my son is going to have one amazing house.
We then cut short the route to enter the 'market-place'. Glanced around, and I remember picking up an ice cream scooper but it was not there in the cart by the time we were at the check-out counter. Oh yes below is the picture of my the 18-piece dinner set I picked up. I love the blue colour ...




Then we re-traced our steps to The Curve to get back to Tesco. On the way Aadu found these battery operated animal rides, so we enjoyed ourselves on this Elephant-cum-dog ride.



Then I saw some stuff put out by Metrojaya, so stopped to check it out, and ended up buying two night dresses, what I liked about them (besides the price ;)) was the soft hosiery-cotton material and amazing softness. Both pieces were very well priced at 20 and 24 Ringgit.

Tesco 2: this was majorly grocery-shopping, so our cart was full of vegetables and fruits. I also picked up some 'potato bread' this time, as I have always seen locals buy this hot off the shelf. I must say when we came home and tried it...I was amazed at how yummm it was..it was very-slightly sweet, and had the texture of a 'paav' from back in India.

At last

I have been planning to put up some art-work, and a few picture frames for more than 3 weeks, or shall we say weekends..
Well today I finally got A to get going and help put them all up.
Here is proof:

This is my bathroom mirror, I stuck some jelly-stars on it to just spice up the white and bland canvas.




Here is a close up of the same mirror



This was something we had bought in Singapore from Ikea, and had not put this up in this house yet. I put this in the master bedroom, facing the bed...so before I doze off and when I wake up I can see this picture with the cool blue colours.



This is another corner of the master bedroom, The big one with three photographs was clicked at a professional photo studio, again in SG, and we had not put it up yet. The two picture on the adjacent wall are kind of motivational (more of that later in another post). The two smaller ones are of my in-laws on the left and my family on the right.



This art work is actually a Warli-painting done by my Mom, I love the green, red and the white figures on it. This I put up in the guest room. This piece we placed according to the center of the bed, we could not go by the position of the lamp because the lamp's position defies all logic. Below the lamp, you notice a brown frame like thing....that is a long mirror (not ours) so we have not touched it.



Finally this one is the Living room, this is the dining area.



Now that the photos, and art-work is up on the walls, I have realised that I don't like bare walls. Some personal artifacts do warm up the place and make it really feel like home :)

I have been to many expat homes and was often appalled by the bare walls, their reason being that they did not want to have nails on the walls and spoil the house...the landlord may create a scene while checking out.
My reason for bare walls (in this house) till now was laziness.

Hey but I did not put a single nail through any of the walls, I used the wall hooks by 3M, and also a new product called 'Picture Hanging Strips'. This is an amazing product, and what it basically is that it has pairs of strips, that are coated on one side by a plastic-Velcro and on the other side by the adhesive. So when you stick one strip to the wall, and the other strip matching the position onto the frame, you later just Velcro the two strips together. And BINGO !! you have frames on the wall minus the nails.

random thoughts

something got me thinking...some great movies that I see with Aadu are all about father & son; the mother is often 'just another' character. The movies in point are 'The Lion King', 'Finding Nemo', 'Madagaskar'.
They focus on the father-son bond, the way their relationship matures, seasons, and finally they come up as a winning team !! All very fantastic, but my point is 'what about the mother?'
In Finding Nemo, the mother dies when Nemo was just an egg, so fine there is no scope for a mom-figure. But in the other two, it is too obvious that it is a father-son movie.
I have no issues that they are so; I am just concerned that they happen to be my son's favorite movies; and do not wish him to have an impression that father-son only matters. Well I may be going a bit too far with that...but hey .....these are random thoughts !!

I was reading to Aadu one of his 'I wonder why' series books about Mothers & babies, and found some very interesting stuff there. Here are some for you:

• Best mother: A baby Gorilla has one of the best mums, the mother may look frightening to us, but she is loving and gentle to her baby. She grooms her baby and feeds it for upto three years and protects & helps it for longer still.
• Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Gibbons & Orang Utans all make good moms.
• Tree Shrews are part-time moms. They leave their babies in the nest, only popping in to feed them every other day.
• A baby Elephant has lots of aunts: that's because Elephants love in large family groups of up to 50 animals. In fact a new calf has plenty of aunts, grannies, sisters and cousins too.
• When a Hippo mother goes off to feed, she leaves her calf with a baby sitter !!
• A mother giant Panda gives her cub so much love and attention that she can only cope with one at a time. By looking after her cub for a year or more, she is helping to make sure that her baby survives.
• If a hungry hunter threatens a Plover's nest, the mother pretends to be wounded. She flaps a wing as if it were broken, and flutters weakly along the ground moving away from the nest. She wants the enemy to think that she is injured and would be easy to capture. That way the enemy will go after her and not her babies.
• The badger is known for the cleanest nest that is provides to its babies. The parents regularly line their burrows with fresh dried grass & leaves. They even dig special holes well away from the burrow, which the entire family uses as toilets !!
• One more about Elephants: when a baby Elephant is being naughty, it's mother whacks it with her trunk !!

I feel I am becoming a Panda !!!
Which Animal Mom do you most identify with? Send me your answers....

Paper clips

This Sunday (I know I have to do a write up about the entire day and the mall-hopping) we went to 'The Curve'; and specifically to the 'Daiso' store located on the 2nd floor. First of all let me just tell you that I like this mall, because it is spacious, not too crowded, has plenty of seating to plonk onto when one is tired from all the window gazing.
Well now back to Daiso, the store is a 5 RM store; meaning that all products are priced the same at 5 RM. The Daiso stores in Singapore have a flat rate of 2 SGD; which means that the Malaysian store-products turn out to be slightly expensive than the Singapore ones.
The store is also much smaller compared to the Daiso in IMM Mall @ Jurong in SG. Product wise also SG stock is more.
But none the less, Daiso is Daiso...I enjoyed myself in the store. It is stocked with amazing goodies, stationary, car-stuff, gardening, photo frames, tools, cleaning tools, brushes, sponges, cleaning liquids, laundry bags for every kind of clothing imaginable, hangers, beauty products, kitchen ware, crockery, plates, neck ties, belts, etc. etc.
As you may know I have a fetish for stationary, and can not leave a stationary store without buying something. So the same thing happened at Daiso, where I saw these amazing paper clips, more like small wooden clasps or clamps or pegs, like the one we use for holding the laundry in place when we put it out to dry.
These are made of wood, and have cute animal faces on the front side. I loved them immediately, and had to buy them. I am going to use it to clamp together some sheets of paper. I love them...I love them.....

Our Saturday

(Aadu at 'our-spot' at the Lake Gardens)



Plan for this weekend was to do the outings on Saturday and then chill at home on Sunday. But we did the exact opposite !!
On Saturday, we did our usual ritualistic visit to the lake gardens, where Aadu and Papa had a game of cricket (now wait...they tried to would be more apt) ...Aadu got some pearls of cricket-wisdom from his dad. I plonked myself on the mat and drove my hands down the bag and fished out my neatly packed bottle of nail-polish-remover and cotton squares !!! Amol was so shocked when he saw this...he was like 'did u come here to do THISSS?' well 'yes' I said and continued to rub my nails ;)
I also had my February issue of O Magazine, and just when I was thinking of getting it out, the grass-cutters decided to make it more noisier for us !! Can you imagine, chopping off grass with those noisy chopper on a Saturday morning when there are a lot of families at the lake gardens to relax, play and chill??? It drove me MAD. We decided to go to take our butts to another green spot, but decided against it and just went to the car and drove off to Amol's office, he had to pick up his laptop, and some other stuff.
While at his office, I noticed that his cabin looked pretty shabby, so the "good girl" in me voiced herself, by offering to straighten-up his work place !! He obviously was overjoyed with the God-sent offer and accepted at once. I got to work, threw off some very old magazines, calendars etc and stacked things in 3 categories. Then explained to him what the stacks were (Don't want him calling me on Monday morning..'where the hell did you keep xyz?') !!
After office, it was time to drop off our Singapore bus/train cards etc at Anand's place in Taman Desa. Aadu and I stayed in the car coz the little one decided to take a nap.
Back home, very hungry, cooked some palak-daal and rice and sat back and saw a couple of episodes from Monk's second season.
We did not yet again put up the photos on the walls !!
I was pestering the two A's to go to Ikea, but they did not budge !!
So Sunday had a lot of carry-over activities.
All of our Sunday in the next post with photos !! Coming up by evening....

online stores for Bento goodies

Taking my Bento fascination further, I looked around for online stores that sell Bento products.
Some of them are:

http://www.japancentre.com

http://www.jbox.com

From all the blogs that I read about Bento, one store being mentioned throughout is 'Daiso'. It is a Japanese company, and they have stores in lot of countries, the link below shows the countries where they are present and once you click on the country, it gives you information about the store address in that country.

http://www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english/storeinfo/storeinfo03.html

I found another interesting blog, this lady has taken the pains to explaining all the equipment, why it is needed, what you can do with it etc. Do visit it.

http://www.cookingcute.com/bento_equipment.htm

Then there is always the good old Ebay, for purchasing any Bento product/equipment.

www.ebay.com

Finally Aaditya's blog !!

As promised the much talked about and much awaited blog is here.
The title: 'Fruit of my labour'

The link:http://aaditya-my-son.blogspot.com/

Please do visit it. It is just the basic blog, and I have still to add any features. I will do that eventually.

I will write a post of the relevant day in the past (remember this blog is about Aaditya's journey through his Open Heart Surgery); and also do a parallel post about his progress on the present date.
Sounds cool?

Do let me know and also tell me all your suggestions. I am Listening !!

Oh what a day and what a night.....

Yesterday the 14th of Feb

While most people were celebrating V-day, we three were heading to Pantai Medical Center just to say Hi to Aaditya's doc, and have a general check up. It was a good hour and half before our turn came, and even though we had a mental list of what we had to discuss with the doc, we ended up missing out 2 points !!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
OK the good news is that all's well with Aadi and the doc told us not to fuss about his weight and instruction to be given to school as it might lead to a situation where the teachers get too careful with Aadi and restrict his play etc. Now that his 6-month total recovery period has passed, he is as fit as any other kid his age; and has no restriction what so ever now. We agreed with the doc on this account and decided not to tell too caution the teachers again and again, we have spoken to the vice principal and he said we should speak to the class teachers on day-1 of school. So that will happen only in April.

After Pantai we went hunting for the '100 yens' store in PJ, we had to do a bit of looping around the same roads to locate it but once we got there it seemed to be an easy location to find. It is a very small shop compared to the 'Daiso' in SG, but it had some Bento stuff which I bought.

We came home around 2 PM, then lunched, watched some episodes of the 'Monk' series-1.

I put Amol with the task of finding a good layout for Aadi's blog, I din't like any of the blogspot themes and switching to wordpress is like being a traitor to google...which I am not going to do!!
So he searched the WWW for free templates, but we still din't find anything that we like!!

Late evening we watched 'Hidalgo' a movie that Amol wanted us to see together, he loved it when he saw it so wanted us to see too. We liked it a lot, and while the movie was on, I was trying to write a blog-post with very little progress.

I knew I had to do my daily post and also start my blog about Aaditya. But the laptop and Internet were both not on my side. I stayed up till 2:30 AM trying frantically to get my laptop to run FASSSTTT but it was just now budging, coz for two days it's been busy burning some DVDs!! poor thing must have been exhausted ;)
Amol's laptop is so slowwwwwwwwwwwww that you can start explorer, enter your website name, and go and have a stroll around the house, but still it will not load the site fully. It's not THAT bad, but yesterday it seemed to be on 'vacation'.

Anyways, Aaditya's blog will be up today for sure.

My new found fantasy...hobby to be

Bento - this is my new found wonderful world of creative food preparation and presentation.
Bento is a Japanese term, which roughly means a single-serving of multiple course meal. The Japanese have these special Bento-boxes, which are compartmentalized to hold each course of the meal.
Some photos to help you see.















I came across Bento while following some mom-blogs and they use the Bento concept to create wonderful, healthy, nutritious, beautifully presented lunch food.
Again some photographs to enthrall you.











Once I had seen and read about Bento, I was immediately hooked on, as it is an amazing way to present food to the little ones and it actually entices them to eat the food while in school or day care.

Making Bento requires some basic equipment, like cutters, rice-shapers, sushi rolling mat (we can use this to roll rice or even sheera or upma), there are tiny pans in all cute shapes for shaping those pancakes (think Dosa, Uttapa here), there are some egg-moulds, I think one has to put in a boiled egg inside the mould. The orange and green paper you see in the first photo is actually edible, and is used to make leaves/flowers, animal ears etc.

Once you have some basic equipment one can experiment and come up with ideas for lovely creations. I went to the '100 yens' store in SS2 section of PJ and got myself some. In Singapore you can get it at 'Daiso'. I hear there is a 'Daiso' at 'The Curve', but I have to check it out to confirm. Basically any store where you can get Japanese stuff. Isetan is also a good option.
These equipments are not at all expensive, and the good thing is that they can be used for a really long time so your cost is actually just one time.

The above photographs are from some of the Bento blogs that I follow. These are moms who take all the trouble to make these amazing meals for the kids, and most importantly never forget to photograph them. One needs creativity, enthusiasm, whimsical, patient to do Bento. But at the end its great fun.

Some blog links for you to look up more Bento:
allthingspurple.blogspot.com
babieslz.blogspot.com
montessorimum.com

Do visit them for endless inspiration!!
I've got mine, and with the newly acquired Bento equipment in hand, I am ready to try and brush up those creative skills of mine !!!

My to-do list

Today was a stick to to-do-list-day. I have to get these things done TODAY !!
Well it's not too big a list but still it is a 9-item to-do list.
1. Write to FIL for A's medicines
2. Pay water bill
3. Fix date for Astro installation
(It's got nothing to do with astrology !! the sole cable company here is called Astro)
4. Check payment transfer status
5. Find Camera USB cable and Sony phone charger
6. Work on list
(I am trying to help A with some of his mountain of work)
7. Email for Mangala
(Mangala is my maid, and she is a refugee here, and wants me to write to my friends in other countries to hire her through the UN Refugee office)
8. Email a friend who is supposed to come home for lunch/dinner tomorrow that we should postpone it coz it struck me only today that tomorrow is the 14th !!!
9. Call Aadu's Paediatric for tomorrow's appointment.
Tomorrow marks the 6-months to Aadu's OHS, so just want to show him to the Doc and get his opinion on his weight!! And most importantly instructions for school etc.

Out of all the above I have done all except two. Number 5 and 6.
I wasted my entire morning working through drawers and cupboards in every room, at the same time using this opportunity to tidy them as well. But those two things are no where to be seen !! The camera USB should be in Aadu's toy room that's the only room that has not gone under the radar; and the Sony Hand phone charger...well the phone first of all is 5 years old, what's worse is that it's not working !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The last time I must have used the charger was more than 4 years ago !! How am I expected to know where it is?? I know I keep my things in order and know where most of my stuff is, but 4 years of "Out of sight" has definitely made it "out of mind". And I have zero hopes of retrieving it.

Well it's now 4:45 PM and I have enough time to do Item no. 6.

When we went down to the management office to complete items 2 & 3, we carried some juice to sip by the poolside...good idea? NO VERY BAD IDEA !!
Here's what happened: While I was paying up and fixing up the date, Aadu decides to peel off the plastic from the straw that is attached to the juice tetra pack. In doing so he a small piece of that plastic gets stuck in his throat and we leave the office in a hurry, to the passage leading up to the pool, he is coughing, throwing up a bit...I am trying to ease his agony...and finally it is out, and Aadu manages a weak "Mamma I am OK".......
Then knowing the clean-bean that I am (well of sorts) I ask the man (he is the owner of the small shop that is near the office) to help me find some water, and he runs off to find me a bucket. OK Bucket in hand...but water? He says "water in bathroom madam"...well I may be living here but I don't know the bathroom near the management office!! So he offers to fetch it for me (Bless his soul). So now water in bucket and bucket in hand I get to cleaning the little mess as best as I can. That done, and suddenly Aadu spots his favourite Milo in the shop. So we go in and buy it along with a small (est) pack of Cheezels.
So now after the drama mom and son are relaxing on by the pool-side, and sipping on Milo etc. After some Milo has entered his system son is in a mood to pose and asks me to click, so we got some cute and funny shots !! Shall upload on facebook !!

Proud moment ...way to go India !!

Can you believe it...The Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://www.pgportal.gov.in

I AM SO PROUD TODAY !!!!

Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA ?...our India???

The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they
faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like

1) Railways

2) Posts

3) Telecom (incl. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) &
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)

4) Urban Development (Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Land &
Development Office (L&DO), Central Public Works Department (CPWD),
etc)

5) Petroleum & Natural Gas

6) Civil Aviation (Air India, Airports Authority of India, etc)

7) Shipping, Road Transport & Highways

8) Tourism

9) Public Sector Banks

Allahabad Bank Andhra Bank Bank of Baroda Bank of India Bank of
Maharashtra Canara Bank Central Bank of India Corporation Bank Dena
Bank Indian Bank Indian Overseas Bank Industrial Development Bank of
India Ltd National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Oriental
Bank of Commerce Punjab & Sind Bank Punjab National Bank Small
Industries Development Bank of India State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur
State Bank of Hyderabad State Bank of India State Bank of Indore State
Bank of Mysore State Bank of Patiala State Bank of Travancore
Syndicate Bank UCO Bank Union Bank of India United Bank of India
Vijaya Bank

10) Public Sector Insurance Companies

GIC of India Life Insurance Corporation of India National Insurance
Company Ltd. The New India Assurance Company Ltd. The Oriental
Insurance Company Ltd. United India Insurance Company Ltd.

11) National Saving Scheme of Ministry of Finance

12) Employees' Provident Fund Organization

13) Regional Passport Authorities

Regional Passport Office, Ahemadabad Regional Passport Office,
Amritsar Regional Passport Office, Bangalore Regional Passport Office,
Bareilly Regional Passport Office, Bhopal Regional Passport Office,
Bhubaneswar Regional Passport Office, Chandigarh Regional Passport
Office, Chennai Regional Passport Office, Cochin Regional Passport
Office, Coimbatore Regional Passport Office, Dehradun Regional
Passport Office, Delhi Regional Passport Office, Ghaziabad Regional
Passport Office, Goa Regional Passport Office, Guwahati Regional
Passport Office, Hyderabad Regional Passport Office, Jaipur Regional
Passport Office, Jalandhar Regional Passport Office, Jammu Regional
Passport Office, Kolkata Regional Passport Office, Kozhikode Regional
Passport Office, Lucknow Regional Passport Office, Madurai Regional
Passport Office, Malappuram Regional Passport Office, Mumbai Regional
Passport Office, Nagpur Regional Passport Office, Patna Regional
Passport Office, Pune Regional Passport Office, Raipur Regional
Passport Office, Ranchi Regional Passport Office, Shimla Regional
Passport Office, Srinagar Regional Passport Office, Surat Regional
Passport Office, Thane Regional Passport Office, Trichy Regional
Passport Office, Trivandrum Regional Passport Office, Visakhapatnam

14) Central Government Health Scheme

15) Central Board of Secondary Education

16) Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan

17) National Institute of Open Schooling

18) Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

19) Central Universities

20) ESI Hospitals and Dispensaries directly controlled by ESI
Corporation under Ministry of Labour

Many of us say that these things don't work in India .
Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new
roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2
weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables
which annoyed all the residents. A resident used the above listed
grievance forum to highlight his concern. To his surprise, BSNL and
Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show cause notice and
the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has
asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the
government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about
this facility.
This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking
about the 'System' in India .

Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.

Stanford Commencement Addresses

The first one is Steve Jobs; the man who gave the world the Mac, the iphone, PIXAR...and much more...
This one was in 2005.
A great one to listen to and pay attention to the minute things that shaped the man !!!!!!!!!



Another Stanford Commencement Address, this time from my favorite Oprah Winfrey, and I just love the way she goes 'O -8' coz it's the 2008 commencement !!! Watch it and enjoy

Amazing kid of mine...

Today after the regular tooth-brush routine, I sent Aadu to wipe his face while I busied myself with my tooth-brush. While I try to get to the tooth right at the back, I hear an impatient 'Mamma...mamma...look at me..' I turn and look at him to convey that it is not the best time to call for me; but then I notice the clothes in his hands, he has brought his pooh-shirt and a coloured shorts, and then tells me 'mamma, I got my day-clothes'. !!!
I ask him to wait but he is really impatient ...so he goes to the room and takes off his night dress shirt and wears his pooh-shirt !!!!!!!! ON HIS OWN !!!!!!!!!! Wow I was grinning with the froth and the tooth-brush still in my mouth !!
Then he wears his shorts (this he has been doing for 1.5 years almost)
I was super impressed with him, and sent up a silent prayer of Thank you to my friend in heaven for sending me Aadu :)

I am hoping to have a little something special for the 14th of this month, as it will mark the 6 months to his surgery; I am thinking of doing a blog-book writing about the entire experience that we had as a family, special focus on me the mother and Aadu for enduring all that. What say? Should I do the blog-book?
Blog-book coz it will have limited entries...or should I make it an on-going blog?
Suggestions please!!!!!!!!!!!

Dhipadi Dhipang....

I just loved this song, and this version sung by Dr. Salil Kulkarni is (according to me) better than the original that was sung by Avadhut Gupte. If anyone has more video links of this particular competition 'Yudha Taryanche, Swapna Swaranche' please please please send me the links.
The final winner was Prasad Oak. That's where my knowledge on the subject ends.
Enjoy this number and I warn you, you'll be wanting to get up and shake a leg or two !!

This cheered me up

The much awaited sequel to the classic Evolution of Dance is finally out!!
I saw it this morning and liked it but honestly I liked the first one better.
Here is the Evolution of Dance 2.




Liked it??? Well i'm sure you did; and for all those that did not watch the first one, here it is. It is the most watched video on youtube and the guy Judson Laipply also featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show to showcase his skills. I'll dig out more info about Judson to share with you all.
Enjoy this one!!

Aaditya's Admission test at GIIS

Today we went to GIIS (Global Indian International School) for Aaditya's admission test.
Once the fees was paid, one teacher escorted us to the KG1 Lily classroom, where she handed over the worksheet to the teacher sitting inside, the teacher (inside) asked us if he will be OK inside alone, we said 'yes he will be OK'
We were outside the classroom, and peeped in from the window to see what Aadu was doing, we saw that he was sitting on a chair next to the teacher and was talking to her !!
Then we did not look further thinking that it may distract him.

After about 10 minutes, teacher and Aadu came out. She said "he has done well, he is good with numbers, but tracing - he finds it difficult; is he left handed?" We said, he prefers his left hand but at times chooses to write with the right hand also. Again she said "But he has done well"

So we then went to the office to ask what is the next procedure, to which they said, they will let us know in a week.

Once we were out of school, I asked Aadu what was in the paper that the teacher had. He said there were shapes - square, rectangle, heart and star.
There were numbers - 2 and 3.
I asked if any alphabets like A,B,C were there - he said no ABC was there.

So all in all he knew what he did inside with the teacher. He liked the school and the teacher also.

So now lets wait for one week so that we know what next to do.

Vicks VapoRub can harm children under 2

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Vicks VapoRub, a common cold remedy, can cause respiratory distress in children under 2 when inappropriately applied directly under the nose, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said using the Procter & Gamble Co product in this way can cause a young child's tiny airways to swell and fill with mucus, triggering severe breathing problems.

"The only problem we've seen is in a small child when it has been put under the nose," Dr. Bruce Rubin of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, said in a telephone interview.

Rubin said the ingredients in Vicks can be irritants, causing the body to produce more mucus to protect the airway. And since infants and young children have airways that are much narrower than those of an adult, any increase in mucus or swelling can narrow them severely.

"The company is really clear it should never go under the nose or in the nose for anybody and it shouldn't be used in children under 2," said Rubin, whose study appears in the journal Chest.

While the researchers only tested the Vicks product, Rubin said similar products, including generic versions, could cause the same negative effects in infants and toddlers.

Rubin and his colleagues began looking at use of the medication after treating an 18-month-old girl who developed respiratory distress after the salve was put under her nose.

They studied ferrets, which have an airway anatomy similar to humans. In the animals with a chest infection, the product increased mucus secretion and decreased the animal's ability to clear mucus.

"We were able to document changes that we think explain this," Rubin said.

David Bernens, a spokesman for P&G, said the finding came as a surprise. "Vicks VapoRub has been proven safe and effective through multiple clinical trials. It has been in the market for over 100 years," Bernens said, noting that the label says the product should not be used in children under age 2 without a doctor's advice, and not under the nose.

"We warn people not to do that," he said.

Since the initial episode, emergency doctors at the medical center have begun asking all parents of children in respiratory distress if they used the Vicks product in a similar way and they have seen two more cases, Rubin said.

"I recommend never putting Vicks in, or under, the nose of anybody -- adult or child," Rubin said in a statement, adding that he would never use it in a child under age 2.

Dr. James Mathers, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, said in a statement that parents should consult their doctor before giving any over-the-counter medication to infants and young children, particularly cough and cold medications, which can be harmful.

(Editing by Maggie Fox)

Source http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50C14Z20090113?feedType=nl&feedName=ushealth1100&bcsi_scan_E3AC49DC1C2F16E3=Dejw839g9WRqbWUgTYS68loAAADsdQch

In one of our post regarding treating colds, I had mentioned about using Vicks on feet, I am glad I shared that with you all and happier still coz I followed it myself. For those who wish to read the past post on treating colds; follow this link: Treating Colds

A long walk to freedom

This is the title of the Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, which I had bought recently. I was pretty excited about my first owned autobiography, you can read about it here in the past post.
It was actually a page-turner, each page filled with engrossing details, and they are put in such a lovely language, that one often stops and wonders where the man got such beautiful words from?
The book is quite detailed, but never gets boring, you want to read every word printed.

I will refrain from going into details of what is written as it might spoil the fun for some who have not read it so far.

For me the book had a few lessons in store, firstly, always to believe and stand by your principles; secondly to stand by your people; thirdly to look for the good in everyone else. Last but not the least is the lesson to always move ahead and look up in life.

I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it to everyone.

TV or no TV?That is the question

As a mother of a preschooler & toddler, I keep reading books & articles on how to encourage learning in young children.I encourage outdoor play & explorations with sand & water.I read to them almost everyday and take them to the library once a week (I started reading to them rather late,when they were around 2,but they still seem to like books).However, one medium which continues to baffle me is television.

From what I have read about children & television, I really cannot make out whether TV is good or bad for children.From time to time I,like most other parents, have used the TV as the "electronic babysitter" even though I keep reading horror stories about how TV can cause attention deficit disorders and how some children really get addicted to it & watch 6-7 hours of TV! I actually panicked a bit when I read that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children under 2 not be allowed to watch any TV because I used to keep my younger child in a bouncer in front of the TV when he became mobile whenever I needed to get something done! I used to do it occasionally and not more than thirty minutes....but I still felt a bit sick in my stomach & wished that I had known this before!

I can understand that too much of TV is bad for children because it keeps them from doing more productive activities like playing & jumping around.But what about TV in small doses? (like one hour a day). All the parents out there with different kinds of experiences & ideas ......let's have a discussion on this.

Khari - made

I bought a pack of Puff Pastry sheets, I found the Pampas brand in Village Grocer.

I took two sheets, and layered them one on top of the other, with little ghee in between. I cut them into rectangles, and then into smaller rectangles, I twisted some to make the twisted-version of Khari.I put the cut pastry onto a greased baking tray, put in in a pre-heated oven at 200 C for 25 minutes.
So that is the easy-weasy way to making some yummy, crunchy, crispy Khari.

Do try it and let me know.

Note: Do follow the baking instructions on the pastry pack that yo buy. Each brand has it's own temperature and time settings.
If you want to use multiple layers of pastry like I did, after brushing on some ghee/butter make sure that you roll it out a bit with a rolling pin.

Yippieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !!! I fount it

I am literally hanging by the roof and swinging from one fan to another in total crazy excitement.....yes....yippieeeeeeeeeee I FOUND IT.....................
I found the easiest recipe to make 'Khari Biscuit'.
Khari Biscuit or just Khari as we call it, is a baked pastry which is eaten with tea...just dip it in ur cup and enjoy !! I love the Hindustan bakery small-ones, the Santosh bakery twisted ones and even the New Poona Bakery ones..
Here is a picture of what Khari. (courtesy superstock.com)I found the recipe on Enjoy Indian Food an amazing blog with loads of recipes for all of us hungry people!!
I sent the link to Amol, who jumped at the prospect of having home made Khari, so he's going to fetch the sole ingredient required i.e. Puff Pastry sheets.
We will be making these tonight or then first thing tomorrow morning. That's when I'll give you my version and my own photos etc.
Wonder where I can find the recipe for those 'cream rolls' !!!

I got (e)mail

This came into my inbox today....do read it

Rahul Welde, Asia Pac media head of Unilever, and a friend to many of us, made it out of his sixth floor room on the Taj through sheer presence of mind and faith in God. Am sharing with you all the email he sent upon returning home.
_______________________

Subject : Lucky to have survived ; Living in good shape

My heartfelt thanks to you for your support and wishes during the horrific experience. I havent yet had a chance to connect with everyone and hence this bulk mail - this is so not my way of doing it. My apologies for that.

I want you to know that this is NOT a mindless forward but a straight message from someone you've known.

I wont go much into details of what happened that night. To cut the long story short - I was holed up in my room at the Taj hotel the fateful night of the terrorist attack. Managed to escape by the skin of my teeth at around 4 am - in sheer denial of allowing fire and smoke to swallow me. By gods grace I managed to make the run down 6 floors and some few metres without the devil in my way. You can imagine how happy I am to be here typing this away. ( For anyone who wants to know the gore - let me know. I have the full story and transcripts of my SMSes recorded for posterity - to keep my anger burning and reminding me of my purpose)

I thought I'd leave a few messages which might be of help to all good people. In the modern day world, risks are a plenty. Terrorists, tsnunamis, earthquakes - the list can go on. None of these check on your profile, company, religion, class or seniority when they hit. They just hit. And we know now it can happen anywhere. Here are a few things we could all do to keep it safer and better.

Firstly, value your family and friends. Two things I strongly recommend you check on

1. Make sure you are covered well by insurance. Even if you are well off - leave them better off if the unfortunate were to happen.

2. Let them know details on things like bank accounts, investments etc. Keep a folio with your spouse and close family.

3. Use every waking moment to cherish what you have - family, friends, nature. Stay smiling, laughing and caring.

Admittedly these arent things I thought about deeply till now. I shudder at the thought of what if.

Lets move from the philosphical to the more practical.

There are a few lessons that I want to share

1. When in a hotel or a new place - please NOTE where the FIRE EXIT is. The fire exit route saved my life. I had no clue of where it was and why I ran where I did. Why I turned left or right. Providential escape for me - nothing more. I've stayed in hotels for years and don't remember ever paying attention to this. Its a few seconds invested that can save you from big trouble.

2. Insist on taking a room in the outer periphery - where the fire brigade can reach you. My room was on the inside and I tell you what - there was no chance the fire brigade would ever reach me. They would have always been a few yards but several hours away. Ever thought of this detail.

3. A key item on your survival kit is your cellphone. I give it to Apple for developing the Iphone - a real smart gadget. Whatever your phone – a critical checkpoint is battery life. Often we wait for battery to go down before charging. Dont ! Keep it full charge all the time. All the SMSes saved my senses and maybe even my life.

4. I learnt for the first time that when running through fire and/or smoke - run bending down and wrap a wet blanket around. I did that thanks to a friend who advised me. Its a different story I chucked the blanket thinking that the cops would gun me down mistaking me for a terrorist. Good tip nevertheless.

5. Dont miss the aspect of staying fit - in running shape. Can help you and maybe even you can help someone.


Last few days I have heard/read a lot about peace marches and candles and politician bashing and police bashing and whatever else. I am sure a lot of energy will go in all that. Having been there I can only say that every soul - the cop, the fireman, the medico and even the common man on the street was doing the best he could. I dont blame anyone. I am sure good will prevail over evil in the long term. The short term blips we cannot avoid.

I have a lot to say and yet not much more. God is the greatest and leads to the ultimate destiny. I am thankful for all that has been and all that there is now.

Happy to be writing to you and wishe you and the family best for times ahead.

Am sure we will be in touch. Till then.

Regards

Rahul

ps : feel free to forward this to anyone you think might find the message useful to know.

The Mom Song - for all moms out there

I'm sure you will like it.
I saw it on Dreaming Reality, and knew that I must put it up for all my mommy readers too.
Njoy !!!!

Reading update

Just a quick one to let you all know that I finished reading 'My Favourite Wife' two days back, and since have started on the autobiography...and it's been great so far.
Will let you know once I am done or may post a passage that I love...

I bought my first autobiography!!

For long I have cherished a dream of collecting autobiographies of people that I consider to be 'inspirational'. Now that does not in any way mean that they have to be famous. But again come to think of it, only famous people have published autobiographies....I would love to read/collect those that are not 'famous'.
Well today was a step ahead in starting my dream. I bought "A long walk to freedom" an autobiography by Mr. Nelson Mandela.
I saw it at Popular, while we were at the IOI Mall today.

I will start reading it tonight. But I think I want to give it it's own time, coz right now I am reading "My favourite Wife" by Tony Parsons. The two books are from very different spaces, and time; hence my apprehension of starting the new book today. But lets see how it goes...

Wish me luck for good reading !!

Cutest tools I ever saw

Browsing my O Magazine's October issue, I came across these tools, they are yummy, they are made with ladies in mind and they are tied up with a great cause of Breast Cancer....the best part is that they are pink !!!!!!!!!!!

















I loved them as soon as I saw them and more so because of the cause they supported.
They are from TomBoy Tools (www.tomboytools.com).
The pink hammer is my personal favourite, it costs $15, and $3 per hammer goes to Susan G. Komen for cure.

I like doing my own minor repairs at home, it is quite nice to see what you can achieve if you know to handle just the basic tools.

I love these pink tools, so if anyone out there wants to send me a gift ...now you know what to send!!

I am back

I am back, well I knew I would get back to writing but I never imagined that I would be pushed into it by something so maddening so insane so..un-thinkable. I am talking about the Mumbai terror attacks...
All of us have seen, read, heard about the ghastly attacks and time and again it makes me want to talk...talk about making a difference, not about who is to be blamed, who is at fault. I feel as citizens of the largest democracy, we need to balance out all that freedom with some commitment and duties as well.
On a personal level I was fighting an emotional battle...now that I am back to KL, and having to fend for myself physically and more so emotionally, I found myself draining off all my energy and the emotions that were sent away to a locker located deep inside my heart are suddenly surfacing and are demanding their right to be heard and to be dealt with.
It was/is this emotional battle with myself that has been keeping me busy and not in the 'mood' to write. I spent a lot of time reading what other people are blogging about, how they have something nice to always share with the audience. I was trying very hard to get back into doing the same myself, but I needed a push...and boy what a push I got....
The 3 days that we all saw bruised us all, the news reports, the reactions that people had...all were just and worth a read. But somewhere I wanted to read something reassuring, something that said to me "we can always make our tomorrow better". Being the eternal optimist that I am.
I chanced upon this article written by Chetan Bhagat. It made me feel OK. I hope you find some solace after reading it.

'So why did you move back to India?'

DNA

Sun Nov 30, 2008 03:41 IST

Sick of screaming anchors, gory visuals, and tired of well-meant calls, Chetan Bhagat took a walk to the Trident

I had to get out. I had to do that walk to Trident. It was Friday evening. I didn't tell anyone at home as I left my apartment at Mantralaya. I took the short walk towards Marine Drive, passing the homes of politicians - the powerful people who run this country.

I had in my house an acquaintance who had been rescued from the Trident. I wanted to talk to her, but she had to rest after two sleepless nights. She had a flight to catch, to get out of this country we call home. I was sick of the screaming TV journalists and the gory visuals. I was tired of the well-meant text messages, calls and emails that came from around the world - "r u nd family ok?" Physically yes, mentally no way. I replied to all of them, thanking them for their concerns.

I wanted to get away from two questions the most. The first kept coming from our friends in Hong Kong, from where we had moved earlier this year: "So why did you move back to India anyway?", I got asked five times a day.

The second came repeatedly from my 4-year old twin boys: "Daddy, why do we have holidays?" I had no good answers.

I reached the barricades at the LIC building, where vehicles had to stop. I walked ahead and reached the Air India building, the closest point that the security forces allowed us near the Trident-Oberoi hotel.

Four sets of people were present. First, the truckloads of army men, ready to go in and face death if required. Their camouflage uniforms and grass-covered helmets were more suitable for jungles in border areas than downtown Mumbai. They were the only hope that this crisis would end; the only hope that a few organisations in India still work.

The second group was the media. I recognised a few cameramen, as I'd seen them at my book launch or at the premiere of Hello. Today, they weren't scrambling to get a byte from Salman.

Their shocked zombie eyes tried to zoom in as much as possible on the stillness of the two white towers. We watched the various rooms, each a tiny fishbowl of humanity. It was the most luxurious and scariest prison in the world at the moment. Unlike TV, there was a tremendous silence as there were no voiceovers.

The third set of people, the most heartbreaking, were the relatives of people stuck inside. They stood helpless, with no reliable information as they called hospital after hospital. They latched on to hope and energy, which dwindled by the hour.

The fourth set was clueless people like me. We didn't know why we were there. It was dangerous, we were not directly involved, and all updates came on TV anyway.

Still, I had to come, maybe to get away, maybe to assuage a bit of guilt at being safe, maybe to show defiance.

The army trucks drove in for the final encounters. I looked again at the two five-star hotels of my poor country. We don't have a lot of these. Still, someone out there has a problem with us having a few world-class symbols of progress. Someone out there doesn't believe we deserve a peaceful country and a city where work actually gets done. Someone out there feels heroic in crushing a billion people's spirit.

I looked at Marine Drive. The queen's necklace looked beautiful on an unusually clear night, except that there were no hand-holding couples sitting on the promenade. Love had taken a backseat as my country dealt with another night of hate. I and the others gathered looked at the fishbowl windows again. I felt my eyes well up. Because of this tragedy, someone had the audacity to question my decision to come back to my own country. I felt terrible. I walked back home, taking a last glance at a set of relatives who had sensed the inevitable but were yet to acknowledge it.

I dropped off our guest at the airport. We stayed silent throughout the drive.

I returned home at night and slipped into bed with my sons. Their child-like stubbornness was making them ask the same questions again and again till they got an answer.

"Daddy, why do we have holidays?" said one.

"Daddy, why do we have to stay inside for so long?" said the other. I had to answer.

"Some bad men are trying to hurt Bombay. They are outside so we stay inside," I said.

"Who's going to save us? Which superhero will come," said one.

I paused as I looked into their little, sleepy eyes.

"You will. And that is why you came back from Hong Kong," I said as they drifted off to sleep.

Potato printing-a fun activity for kids

My daughter Ibnat,like all other preschoolers, loves art & craft activities. So last Saturday I thought of arranging a potato printing activity for her. In the night before when she was asleep I made the potato stamps.I cut some big potatoes in halves and and drew some designs on them (such as triangles,a cross etc.) carved out the designs by a sharp knife.I then stored the carved potatoes in a plastic container.

The next morning I explained to her what she need to do to make the potato prints.I mixed two wide containers of poster colors for her so that it is easy for her to dip the potatoes.She dipped the potatoes in paints and made the stamps on a paper. She was all excited to see the interesting patterns on the paper.She was engrossed in this activity for quite a while & thoroughly enjoyed it.

For potato printing the materials required are simple.They are:

• Large potatoes
• Poster colors (primary colors look good)
• A sharp knife
• Marker
• Large saucers
• Paper or card
• Paper towels or an old rag for wiping off excess paints

Potato printing is a fun activity for kids.You can also involve your kids in the drawing of the patterns on the potato but I didn't do so because since I have another toddler I did not want to do the carving with the sharp knife around the children!

Potato printing can be used to make wrapping papers & greeting cards.Your child can add details to the prints with glitter or colorful pens.Other vegetables such as ladyfingers and carrots can also be used.

Art & craft activities such as these boost children's creativity and encourage them to think "out of the box".It also improves their concentration and gives them the satisfaction of creating something of their own.

Care of contact lenses-something I didn't know!

I have been wearing contact lenses since the past fourteen years but there is something that I didn't know about contact lens wear until recently.

I went to my optometrist the other day for a fresh supply of my monthly lenses and after the eye check-up I was just reading a small poster on the wall regarding contact lens care.There I discovered that it is not advisable to wear contact lenses while swimming or during shower (especially during swimming).The primary reason one should avoid wearing contact lenses in the swimming pool is that the water is generally contaminated and so there exists a risk of bacterial infections.If the contact lens wearer wants to absolutely wear the lenses during swimming then he should wear good quality goggles to protect his eyes or use daily disposable lenses on the days that he is swimming.