Life is easy kya karein

Life was easy when we just did what we were supposed to do and what we said we shall do. The multiple choices are good only for exams. Rest of the time, I live in a dilemma. The mind, the heart, the logic, the social set up, the youth, the husband all come up with varied answers. No, I don't feel proud that I can choose. I am bogged down by confusion at the different avenues available. Taking one road is bound to upset some roads or people. Now even choosing a dinner venue can be a cause for a family fight. If he chooses and I agree, there may be a long waiting at the restaurant. When I choose and he gives in, the food may not turn out as good as it was before. When we go by the children's choice, its usually Chinese food and exactly the same food to be ordered at the table year after year. I live in the hope that I will teach them to eat different things from the menu, rather than ordering the five things they ate the first time. I come back cribbing that I don't get to e...

Some odd perceptions Rich women do not smile at strangers or in a crowd. Rich old men do smile. These days even children have 'attitude' of money. Money talks in all strata of society. Read a book by Rabindranath Tagore of stories for children. It had a subtle story of a man looking for treasure and how in the end he just wants to see the open skies instead of the treasure.Today all want money and want it easily. Children have so many gadgets yet not connected to people. Parents prefer a mall movie outing vis a vis visiting someone's home. Each one shirks work so its easier to eat out rather than trouble the friend/relative. Children not getting exposed to other people's home cooked food. When Moms say their child likes all cuisines, what they mean is that the child loves Mcdonald's burgers, Domino's Pizzas and Chinese chicken drumsticks or hakka noodles. This covers the world cuisine the child is exposed to. I have friends' children who do not know to...

Today we were playing antakshari at the Holi get together. We did not know any new songs so naturally only the golden melodies were being sung. The whole generation playing antakshari was singing the similar era songs on the alphabets they got. I realised a couple of things. In English language there is no game like Antakshari. How many sentences end with I or The? How can you sing when most songs start with I, The, Once, When and How?I cannot resist explaining the game, we all grow up with, in India. Antakshari means Ant : end , Akshar: alphabet ie last letter of the word. Akshar also means God. It also means God has the last word. Its a game with two teams and we call the teams as  'party'.  We say "Baithey baithey kya karein, karna hai kuchh kaam, shuru karo antakshari , le ka Hari ka naam." Translated from Hindi, We are sitting idle, lets do some work, lets start antakshari, starting with God's name. In Indian games, there is a lot of religion or belief in Go...

After all the pouring out of my heart, I checked the school website. There is a holiday declared for thursday. In India, wednesday is the festival of Holi and then Good friday. So now we have five days off. Hurrah!!! Someone out there is listening.  Is that you? Of course if I want to crib about this, I can start right now. Stuff like Why did the school declare it so late? If I had known before, we could have take a mini vacation, etc. But the truth is I am happy. Small joys are enough. The whole is made up of parts. My Grand Uncle passed away a fortnight back.He was like a father figure for my dad. I could feel Dad s pain. We called him Fua ie Uncle in Gujrati.  I had spent a lot of time time with Fua and his family. A man of values and principles. he came from a small village in Kutch and made it big in Mumbai. His was the real story about rags to riches.He spread his business empire and flourished in all times. The huge joint family lived together with lot of love. There...

I am struggling to stay up in the daytime. No, I do not have an infant at home and nor do I have sleepless nights. I am just waking up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am every single weekday morning. Never knew, I would have so much to sleep. It is all due to the change in schedule because I now have one child going to a morning school. For the non Bombayites, let me explain. Lot of schools run in two shifts. It is because of space constraint or to run more than one board and get more students. The primary section of the school runs in the afternoon and the secondary in the morning.My days of partying on weeknights and watching late night movies are all over. I feel as if someone has put me under house arrest. The change in the school timings and I have to restructure my whole life. The way the household was working is not the same. I had to reschedule maid timings, my cooking timings and my meal menus too. We were used to reaching a dinner by nine and were usually amongst the last guests ...

New builders sell Infinity pools. The children say everything is Awesome. Our world has moved to Superlatives. I would not say it is an exagerated version. Its just that if it is not the best, then it is not good enough. Had been for a prayer meeting of my Grand Uncle s demise. The lady next to me was an old acquaintance. I recognized her and she wanted to chat during the prayers and hymns. I was replying to her questions but they demanded more than monosyllabic answers. So to her "How's life?" I said "Ok". She promptly said " Oh! the childhood is always better." She instantly judged that I am unhappy in marriage and I could see the gleam in her eyes at this discovery. My Ok was because I did not want to discuss about my husband and kids at the quiet place. One, to give respect to the person who has passed away and his family. Two, to not get into any conversations at the solemn affair. Three, I did not feel like.Then she pointed out to man in the cro...