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Once an OM always an OM

A blog collage? It is just too much trouble, I thought when I saw it first at momofrs’ blog. Then it jumped at me from Monica’s blog both of who got it from Swaram . Oh okay I’ll do it. Might turn out to be fun after all.

The idea of the meme is to collate the first line of the first blog post of each month to see how your blogging year went. Here goes:
January
Hrit was spilling water the other day and here’s what Naisha had to say to him
February
What’s this obsession with the ‘bad’?
March
Here’s a conversation I had with Naisha
April
Hrit Naisha are increasingly teaming up against me and I’m not sure I appreciate it.
May
Despite Hrit’s completely disobliging behaviour (Lights, Camera, Disaster) it seems the editors were magnanimous enough to include us in the article.
June
I’d been preparing the kids for a quite sometime for the shift to Pune.
July
It’s crazy how many things one needs to teach the kids.
August
Our over ten year old faithful Microwave was murdered yesterday by an egg.
September
Like most young women festivals, for Naisha, are purely an occasion to dress up.
October
I had always been under the impression that my girl was a girly girl but O boy Naisha gave me some surprise.
November
Diwali’s a day away and I’m nursing the worst cold of my life.
December
This specs thing is proving not quite easy.
The collage is pretty much reflective of my blog.
8 out of 12 have the kids in the first line.
2 are about the kids.
1 is about me.
1 is a general topic.
No guesses there. I continue to be faithful to my name. The last two categories offer hope of a widening perspective, meanwhile it’s cheers to my bachchas.
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A wedding and a vacation – I

Most New Years on their arrival, find us vegging out in front of the telly. However, 2011 came upon us while we were celebrating a wedding. Though it was scheduled for the 1st we landed a day in advance. If you’re wondering why, I’ll just say that the wedding was in Mahabaleshwar. Got it? For people in Pune/Mumbai Mahabi is really no big deal. However, for our vacation-starved family, it was no less than a trip to Kashmir’s Gulmarg.
I’ve been to Mahabi twice earlier but this was the first time I actually saw more of it than the bit that lives in a glass of Strawberry shake at MAPRO farms. I must confess though that bit remains quite my favourite. If you haven’t sampled their fresh strawberries with cream or the shake your life is incomplete.

Colours of Mahabaleshwar
The colours of Mahabaleshwar for me will always be the fresh reds of the strawberries, the rich scarlet of beetroots and the bright orange of carrots. There was a pleasant chill in the daytime sun when we arrived. However, what made the trip special was simply the fact that we were together for a holiday after I don’t know how long. I can’t even remember when we last went out together – just the four of us. That’s what special about holiday destinations and tourist spots. Of course they have the sunset points and sunrise points, the caves and forts, orchards and farms.. but what sets them apart is the happy holiday feel. And we were part of it all. The Husband was relaxed for change (All must be well at Mahindra, I presume) and game for a holiday. The kids were thrilled and could barely sit still.
As a friend pointed out.. The Husband has eyes for nothing else
Predictably enough we headed out to MAPRO to begin our ‘sightseeing’. I stuck to the time tested fresh SB shake, The Husband, on his last binge before he went on a ‘strict diet’ in 2011 (or so he claimed), opted for SBs with fresh rich cream and some icecream thrown in for good measure. Naisha took on the safe icecream (when will she learn to experiment!) while Hrit opted for mango icecream… yes he ate mango ice cream sitting bang in a Strawberry farm. When I pointed out to him that Mahabaleshwar didn’t grow mangoes, it grew SBs he refused to change his mind with an uncompromising, “So what? Lucknow grows mangoes, na,” which was of course irrefutable logic.
We’ll huff n we’ll puff and we’ll finally get home
At the Venna Lake
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned earlier but my kids are water crazy. One look at the lake and they went berserk. The husband wasn’t too keen on the boat ride but where was the choice? Off we went. Naisha took the oars within a few minutes of being on the lake while Hrit confessed to being ‘too scared’. Finally encouraged by Naisha he took the oars too and the two of them proceeded to row us home with gusto. “I’ll eat three rotis today,” averred Naisha flexing her hands as we disembarked.
Savvy shoppers with their precious buys
I was of course interested in a spot of shopping and so we headed to the Mahabi market that comprised of about two dozen small shops. We saw some gorgeous vases which I longed to pick up but the guy at the shop refused to bargain and we left in a huff. Now I’m feeling totally silly because I did so want them….another reason to go back. We finally got home with two hats for the kids, a pair of glares worth all of Rs 30 and some shiny stones (which proved of great value in keeping the kids busy in the hotel room during the endless wedding ceremonies they didn’t need to attend). Hrit fell so madly in love with his glares that he refused to take them off. He wore them all through the wedding, at the dandiya night, at the reception, through the pheras and even at bedtime. When I forbade him from taking off his glasses he promptly wore the glares over his glasses.
Back at the hotel it was time to get ready for the pre-wedding dandiya night. But that’s another post.
So Happy New Year everyone, our beginning was pretty good, how was yours?
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I hereby resolve…

It’s that time of the year again and I’m sitting to think about my game-plan for 2011. Here’s what I’ve thought of…
It’s nice to be in touch.
All pics courtesy Google images
1. Make time for family and friends… not the kids and the husband… the extended family… uncles, aunts, friends, cousins, nieces, nephews. I find myself too wrapped up in my immediate self– my kids, my house, my gym. It’s time to look beyond. During my growing up years my cousins, aunts and uncles and some of my dad’s friends (who were all chachas and chachis not uncles and aunties) were all family to me. The cousins were ‘brothers and sisters’ not ‘cousins’. We wrote letters, exchanged cards and waited desperately for the summer when we’d be together. We have a great family on both sides of the family tree and it would be unfortunate if the kids counted just The Husband and I as family. The mission this year then… get in touch with people who matter and get the kids to know them too.. visits, calls, anecdotes, pictures.. every way I can.
I hope to climb on without hesitation
2. Lose weight. Last year I had resolved to join a gym and I did but I barely lost any weight. This year that’s not going to be enough. I am giving myself a target.. six kgs through the year. It would have been five but it’s tough math to spread it through four quarters.. so six.. which means 1.5 kgs a quarter… doable certainly. I’ll keep the updates coming.
I want those figures! Pun intended totally.
3. Make money. That’s another one from last year. I did manage to get back to some professional writing this year. In 2011, however, rather than the now on now off freelancing, the idea is to get into something more organized. That needs some figuring out and I’m working on it.





4. And finally the one last devil I’ll try to beat this year yet again… procrastination. God help me with this one… call the carpenter NOW, clean the kids’ room NOW, call that friend NOW, chuck the lousy maid NOW.. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This is so me I had to put it on.
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