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15/09/201415/04/2017

#Microblog Monday 1 – A book over the weekend

A well worn beanbag and a fun breezy book were the two things I had in my island of happiness this weekend. Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess is a great way to relax. What an absolute fun read! Wonder how I missed it despite having read a host of others by her.

The thing about it is that it’s completely unbelievable in a very filmi kind of way. I mean what are the odds of someone giving up a high flying job (no matter how huge an error they make) to become a housekeeper? And mastering gourmet cooking over a weekend or two? Or having a handsome gardener at hand to ensure a happily ever after?

Yet it’s highly relatable at some level. As in don’t we all have ‘to do’ lists that remain ‘to do’ for ever? Don’t we all have horrid bosses who hand over work just when we’ve something planned? And of course the cooking debacles! I too have tried boiling an egg in the microwave.

A weekend well spent!

Linking to # Microblog Mondays hosted by Stirrup Queens.

12/09/201415/04/2017

.. and we plod on

A let down

Book club Saturday began on a bit of a disappointing note (for me) because only two children had read the story and that was really sad. It’s just five or six pages (and in 14 point size – that’s huge) The thing is the kids like to read and they enjoy the story but once they’re home, other things take over – TV, computer games, friends, but mostly TV… and the story lies forgotten till the next Book Club Meeting.

I wish we had limited TV transmission. Yeah I know I know that’s selfish and impractical and that TV has it’s uses. Eight months of bedrest during pregnancy taught me that well enough.

Wish i could put that on all TV sets!

It’s just that it’s SO ADDICTIVE!! Sigh!

And then I reminded myself that it had been just a month.

I was wondering if I should ask the moms to tell the kids to finish the story. I had not wanted to involve them because the moment there’s any kind of pressure and the reading becomes a compulsion it loses it’s fun. I’m still a bit undecided on this one. I certainly do not want the moms to push but maybe reminding and encouraging the kids would help. Or maybe they could get the kids to read just a page a day, before they sleep. It would hardly take five minutes.. yes five minutes, that’s it.

My other problem is H! He is completely disruptive, to put it mildly. No amount of talking is helping. He argues and wants to read first and hates to hear a ‘No’. Help guys. What should I do? A bit at a loss here.

The meeting..

And so we spent the first half of the meeting finishing the story. Then we went on to talk about the Firebird and what it would look like. ‘I don’t know‘ was the first response. Then slowly they came up with wonderfully imaginative descriptions and together we made up a fantastic creature. And then we talked about other imaginary birds and animals… Centaurs, Phoenix and Unicorns.

A Turkish Story

I was pretty excited about the story for the day. Actually I’ve stumbled upon a site packed with stories from across the world. I picked the story of a boy in a small English village. He has a Turkish father and an English mother. The story talked about cultural differences and how what’s right in one country may not be so in another one.

Time always falls short and we intend to continue the discussion today along with finding Turkey and England on the Globe.

This Saturday ..

I have another lovely story called ‘Home’ about a young Sri Lankan Girl who has to move to London.

Wish me luck guys.

05/09/201408/11/2022

10 wonderful things I learnt at school

Like for most others, schooldays were perhaps the best days of my life. However, I like to think that my school was better than everyone elses. Yeah! yeah! you can say what you like and argue all you want but ours really was just that tad bit better. Today on Teacher’s Day I’m sharing some priceless lessons that I got at my school.

1. The joy of singing in a choir

The skill and energy that the nuns put into teaching us hymns at school will stay with me forever. In fact when I had the twins I found myself singing ‘Joy to the world‘ while putting them to sleep. And later when my son took up music and came home humming ‘Give me oil in my lamp‘ I felt such a sense of home coming. Others might think of Rajesh Khanna at the mention of the piano but I will always remember Sister Alice Mary.

2. To say it with cards

We made cards for everything. invitation cards, thank you cards, sorry cards, get well soon cards! A habit that has stayed with me and one I’ve tried tirelessly to pass on to the children.

3. That punishment could be given creatively

We got some of the most creative punishments in school. We’ve been paraded before our younger siblings (‘Look how careless your OLDER sister is!’), made to sing Edelweiss, made to hold our tongues, quite literally (just trying doing that for a while), made to stand inside a waste paper basket.

4. That books are to be respected

‘No bookmarks no books’, was the rule in our library and I remain compulsive about bookmarks. The other day I’d gone to get a passage from a book photocopied and as the lady there turned down the corner of the page I winced so audibly she thought I’d hurt myself.

5. That girlfriends are the best friends

Aren’t they? That comfortable feeling of being completely yourself, of being able to talk about ‘anything’ under the sun. Yeah girlfriends are special.

6. That cricket isn’t the only game in town

Along with basketball, throwball and volleyball we played games like French Cricket and Danish Rounders. Heard of them? Anyone? For the record: We played no cricket.

7. That all religions are to be respected

I think it’s a great idea to study in a school of a faith different from yours. It gives not just tolerance but love for that other religion. Growing up in Lucknow in a Hindu household, with Muslim culture all around and a Christian school. It can’t get better.

8. That it was perfectly normal for girls to play boys’ parts in school plays

… and hilariously funny for boys to play girls’ parts in all-boys schools.

9. That kids with raffle sheets deserve kindness

Those weren’t the times of multi-storied societies. Only I know how many times I have roamed around houses brandishing raffle sheets and trying to explain to people (very far removed from raffle sheets) what it was all about!

10. To keep my knees together when I sit

Right from my earliest memory of school, I was never a girl – always a young lady. And there were some things that ladies never did. They never shuffled their feet when they walked, they kept their shoulders back and heads up, they always spoke politely and they kept their knees together when they sat.

So tell me what’s special about your school people.

03/09/201415/04/2017

Sickbay tales

This Friday while everyone was welcoming Ganapati, N, the strong one, the girl who never falls ill, caught the virus. She’d been up early morning and dressed in all her festive finery ready to go visiting all the Ganapatis that were arriving at our friends’ and relatives’ homes. Even as I sponged her burning forehead she refused to change out of the Chaniya Choli confident that she’d be up and about soon. After all, she never did fall I’ll.

H wandered about listlessly with nothing to do since his favourite ‘toy’ was out of action and the house was so so quiet. By the night, as expected, he followed suit.

Next morning The Husband was travelling for work and I spent my day sitting between the two children sponging them turn by turn. N opened her feverish eyes once to murmur happily, ‘our house looks like a sick-bay’ and then went off to sleep again. Why she seemed so happy about that, I have no clue. Meanwhile the Husband caught the virus too and slept his days off in his hotel room!

H firmly believes what N can do, he can do better and so he decided to have rashes along with the fever and I was rushing to the ped yet again. To make matters even more interesting they got calf-cramps, apparently that’s a viral side effect. They couldn’t stand or walk and proceeded to crawl all over the house like one year olds. No, the option of sitting in one place was not an option at all.

Phew!!

Finally day 6 sees them better. The biggest problem has been FOOD. They just do not want the regular stuff and my limited cooking skills have been stretched to the limit.

I’ve had a hard time steering them off television, with limited success. Today, however they spent the day making Teacher’s Day cards and gifts all on their own. Yeah sometimes I do get the feel that they’re growing up after all.

Those rolls are ‘pencils’ which they intend filling up with sweets.
And that’s a ‘tippy tippy top’ with a straw pushed through to make a flower.

So that’s what the week’s been like! I still haven’t managed to go Ganapati visiting. Hoping the next few days will bring better health and some peace to our home.

31/08/201415/04/2017

Observations from the book club

Last week was the fourth meeting of the Book Club. And so it’s been a month I’m still at it, that makes me pretty happy. The children had been asking when they would get to act out a sequence and so I thought it would be a good idea to do a bit from Swami and Friends during the Book Club Meeting. Since it was the first time and I didn’t want to disappoint any of the kids, I made up 7 speaking parts. Don’t even ask how difficult that was. However, as I was to find out, that turned out to be the easy bit.

Chaos reigned..

…as none of the kids, except the one playing Swami, were happy with their parts. They argued and argued and argued. The most unhappy were H and N. N couldn’t fathom why, when it was her mum giving out the parts, she couldn’t have the lead. H wanted to be the sole narrator. Uff… it was crazy. Finally, after much changing and exchanging, a whole lot of appeasement and a few tears too we had our cast in place. And then the fun began.

They really are an acting, dancing, singing bunch. The bits where they had to raise ‘Quit India’ slogans were the most fun. It still puzzles me why kids revel in so much noise! They sang ‘Sare jahan se achchha’ with gusto and refused to stop after one stanza each time we practised. Despite the tears and the disagreement it turned out to be a fun meeting.

Learnings for next time:

– A chat with H and N on not expecting special treatment (Promises to be a tough one since I still have no clue how to go about it. Suggestions are so welcome!)
– Ask for volunteers for each part and draw chits.
– Since I’m no playwrite I’d hardly done a good job with the dialogues. They need to be shorter and simpler. I could let the kids go extempore with a few guidelines and leave them to improvise.

An observation

What I thought was a personal problem with H and N seems to be a pretty universal phenomenon – most kids lack listening skills. They are too impatient, too excited, too curious about too many things to give their total attention to one thing.

And so this week…

… we started off with a game that would encourage listening as well as creativity – a story spinning game. I started off a story and each child took turns taking it forward. Since we didn’t follow an order and any child could be asked to take up the story, they paid attention. Happily enough, they also questioned the improbable bits and built up the characters pretty well.

Also, the two boys in the club had asked for adventurous stories so the poor Happy Prince was put on hold (yet again) and I picked a Russian folk tale for this week – Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf with a firebird thrown in for good measure. It was a personal childhood favourite and the kids seemed to like it too.

We also practiced saying ‘Thank You’ in various languages including Russian. That was super fun. For a change I didn’t have to remind the kids to say a ‘thank you’ to me, which I always have to otherwise, but that’s another post.