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Sepia tones of Lucknow

That’s Lucknow’s magnificent Rumi Darwaza
Old this certainly is .. dating back to 1784. This 60ft tall Rumi Darwaza was built by Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daulah as an entrance to the city. It was modelled on Istanbul’s Sublime Porte.
In fact most of Lucknow’s monuments were made under the reign of this nawab. From what little I’ve read of him he had little more to his credit than the beautification of Lucknow and his generosity that bordered on the eccentric.
The monuments sure are beautiful and when you’re as rich and spoilt as the nawabs are believed to be, some eccentricity is in order.
Linking to Thursday Challenge : “MONOCHROME” (Black and White, Sepia, Old Looking,…)
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The tooth story

When the first tooth fell, in our house, it was a tough call to decide who was more excited – the kids or Mushy Mum (MM). The tooth fairy was excited too, it would seem, and overdid the gifting thing a bit, or so Sane Mum (SM) thought.In order to put things in perspective and undo the damage, SM took great pains to explain to the kids that it was only the falling of the first tooth that was an important landmark and that for subsequent teeth the excitement (read gift) would be significantly lower.

But who’s to stop the kids’ from hoping?

Each time a tooth fell it was washed and cleaned with immense care and placed under the pillow. However under SM’s hawk eye the tooth fairy wasn’t allowed to go overboard. Were the kids disappointed? Nope. They were thrilled that the tooth fairy kept making an appearance. Soon cards were accompanying each tooth under the pillow.

Then N got two of her teeth extracted at one go (because the new ones had already come and the milk teeth refused to fall). That was some ordeal. SM gritted her teeth through it all. MM cried buckets along with N and swore she saw a tear glint in SM’s eye too. Desperate to make the tears stop MM once again handed out the tooth fairy sop telling N to expect a BIG gift because she’d been so brave. A disapproving SM could only look on. N drafted a card for the tooth fairy…

Then recently H lost another one. He lovingly placed it under his pillow along with a letter.

Early next morning he lifted the pillow … to find the tooth still there.

The tooth fairy forgot!

Apparently, even MM forgot to nudge her into action. After a long and complicated story of busy fairies the tooth was placed under the pillow yet again the next night. Kids don’t give up easily you see. And would you believe it, the tooth fairy forgot… again!!

Now this was unforgivable. Even SM felt a twinge at Hrit’s disappointed face. “Why isn’t she coming?” he asked. “I didn’t want anything from her this time”. When the ever sceptical SM opened his letter here’s what it said….

 

Just a bit of background.. this year we celebrated the twins’ birthday with both sets of grandparents and a plethora of uncles, aunts and cousins. SM knew everyone would be asking them “what do you want for your birthday”. To ensure they don’t get swept away by this deluge of indulgent relatives she, partly seriously and partly for fun taught them to say “I don’t want anything, I just want your blessing.” It ended up as a family joke with the grandparents making them say it over and over again and rolling with laughter when they obliged, folded hands et al.

Never knew it would surface months later in a letter to the tooth fairy.

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Every once in a while…

Her first
smile, his first look,
her first
turn, his first tooth,
her first
word, his first bite,
The first
step they ever took.
Running for
the camera, reaching for the phone.. yes she said ‘Mama’, yeah he walked
on his own.
You should
see him kick that ball! 
She’s cycling after many a fall.
Digging into
a French toast he made on his own, amazed at that rangoli she did alone.
Each moment,
each day I watch them grow and yet every
once in a while I stop and think

‘When did
they grow up I didn’t even blink?’

Linking to Write Tribe Saturday -6 for the prompt ‘Every Once in a while’

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Independence…

.. is a good thing right? That’s what I thought till H came back from school and decided he would do his homework all on his own. So what’s wrong with that you’re thinking. The thing is H suffers from ‘I know everything’ syndrome. I’ve blogged about this earlier and that’s the only complaint his teachers have had from him over the years.Just so you get the depth of the problem…

He would spell words phonetically and refuse to believe his teacher when corrected (as if the English language had any logic!).

Till very recently he believed genuinely, truly that he could swim, (without ever having gone in water more than two feet deep) and that he could breath under water (Mercifully, he was convinced otherwise when I put him for swimming lessons!).

He believes cooking is the easiest thing in the world (all you do is chop, add stuff and wait and it’s done).

He believes making a dosa is a piece of cake (spread the batter, put oil, turn it over and it’s done).

He believes driving is easy (it’s the same as driving a toy car.. move the steering that’s all).

And so today he came home saying his teacher had said he should do his homework on his own so he doesn’t need my help. I was pretty happy till I saw him make a sentence..

Notion (meaning ‘idea’): I have a bright notion.. I will tell you about it.

When I tried to explain it’s usage this is what he did….

I’m realising how difficult it is for parents to watch their children making mistakes, to know they’re wrong and yet to leave them alone to learn in their own time at their own pace. Not that I have much choice.
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