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20/03/201315/04/2017

Report from the sick bed

After six days of illness.. Hrit is off to school today. Cough, cold then high fever, then ear infection and finally an upset stomach courtesy the antibiotics … that’s the way things go with Hrit each time. What’s worse between bouts of fever he is completely well. The challenge is to occupy him without tiring him out and that is a true challenge for an up and about child like him. The options are limited…..Reading, playing board games, crafting or watching television. Over the last few days we exhausted pretty much each of them.

He read and I read. From Dora to Dinosaurs.. we did them all. He watched hours of Doremon and Ninja Hatori till my ears protested. And we did craft. But that’s another post. So bored was Hrit that the other day I found him at our ninth floor balcony addressing an imaginary gathering in chaste Hindi. He said in a booming voice, “Aap sab log dhyan se suniye. Kal raat ek bahut bara bhoot aane wala hai. Main use maroonga. Aur koi ghar se bahar nahin aayega. Jo ayega mara jayega.”

Friends, Romans, Countrymen….

Yes well kids are allowed to do strange things when they’re unwell.

With all our attention focused on Hrit, Naisha’s been feeling left out. She fussed around Hrit alright.. getting him water, fetching his medicine, putting his dinner plate in the sink. She’s been a good good girl. However she made sure I ran all her errands for her. I had put away her dinner plate, help her get dressed and when she went down to play I had to follow with her bottle of water — a kind of ‘I”m not relinquishing claim to mum just because you’re ill’ thing.

I did the best I could … relaxing the rules for her each morning.. the toughest time of the day for her, going to school alone. So the glass of milk was smaller, the daily egg relegated to alternate days and she was given a ride to the washroom each morning… sigh! I wish I had some way of reassuring her that I loved her just as much as Hrit. And I’m so very glad she’s spared the frequent viruses that seem to stalk him all the while.

19/03/201315/04/2017

Krishna.. the best friend

I’ve often mentioned how Naisha loves Krishna.. Lord Krishna. She’s been enamoured of him for ages now. She loves all things ‘Krishna’. She draws Him all the time. She loves butter ‘just like Him’. She loves peacock feathers. He topped her list of five favourite things at school. Thanks to her we celebrate Janamashtami with great fervour.

Her favourite game involves hanging up dupattas to make a ‘temple’ and then lining up her barbies like devotees. I wonder whether Krishna would like his modern-day gopis.

That’s under our clothes’ stand

She shares her glares with Him.

He reciprocates by holding her bag when she needs Him to.

It’s quite a bond they have.

I’m not complaining. I’d much rather she be God-loving than God-fearing. Besides, her Krishna love’s stood her in good stead. He’s the one I remind her to call on to fight the imaginary demons under her bed at night or to ease her stage fright or when she’s unwell and hurting. He helps.

The other day she heard about Mira and wanted me to tell her the story. As I ended she asked, “Did Mira get to see Him.. really see him?” “Yes,” said an unsuspecting me and she burst into tears. Says she, “I also love him but I never get to see Him and Mira could. That’s not fair.” That was a tough one to handle.

The other day I found an old T shirt of hers ….

…. and gave it a face lift with her favourite motif.

Was she thrilled!

15/03/201315/04/2017

Moving On – 2

“Hrit switch off the gas stove,” “Answer the doorbell Naisha, if it’s the dhobi give him the clothes from the cupboard,” “Naisha, did you check the mailbox?” “Lay the table, Hrit, will you?” “Naisha hand me the towel,” “Make the bed, please”

From tiny helpless beings to contributing family members.. when did they grow up?

11/03/201315/04/2017

Crafty Sunday – Walnut shell tortoise

Of late the amount of weekend homework that the kids get home has increased so much that it’s been spilling over to our Sundays. That along with Hrit’s skating classes has left us with no time for crafting or cooking.. my two weekend resolves

However this Sunday after a long time we managed to make time to get crafty. Naisha called over her friends who were only too eager to drop by. Just as we were settling down in streamed Hrit’s gang on their way to collecting rackets and shuttlecocks.. badminton is the flavour of the month for them. The eldest one spared a cursory glance at the girls then pronounced rather dismissively, “I rock at art but suck at craft.” Nothing wrong with the statement except it sounded like I was watching an American sitcom. My sister tells me it’s normal. As if the awesomes and the dudes were not enough to bug me! I seriously need to get used to this new gen vocabulary.

Anyway.. onto our craft. We did some very very simple walnut shell tortoises. The original link is here http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2009/11/walnut-shell-turtles.html
Check out ours..

We traced out the walnut shells

Made a head and two pairs of legs, coloured them and cut them out. They
all went for green ones because “only green tortoises look natural”.

We stuck on the shell and the googly eyes and it was done

Then the girls wanted to make fridge magnets like ones I’d made for
Hrit Naisha for Valentine’s Day. I got their pictures from their mum’s FB pages
and loved their mystified faces.. “How did you get our pictures, aunty?’
Heh heh!

So that was how our Sunday went. What were you all upto over the weekend?

Linking to Artsy Craftsy Mom

08/03/201315/04/2017

To celebrate or not

It’s Women’s Day today and it would have gone by without a post had the Husband not entered at 10 in the night bearing a cake. No I wasn’t surprised.. that’s too mild a reaction.

The kids were thrilled.. Naisha moreso because as the youngest lady in the house she had the privelege of cutting the cake.

Naisha stuffed the last bit of her food into her mouth and got ready to cut the cake.
That’s Hrit’s hand sneaking in for a lick!

Through the day I’ve been receiving messages from many of my ebullient friends wishing me for Women’s Day. Then there is the other bunch who said ‘What’s special about today??’ Every day is Women’s Day or ‘What’s the point in celebrating Women’s day when so many women across the country are not safe/are suffering?’

Well both have a point. However I’d rather go with the enthusiastic lot rather than the Scrooges. Yes March 8 will not change the state of Women across the country. However, instead of debating whether to celebrate, why not take the opportunity to be grateful for being one of the priveledged minority while pledging to do something for those others who are not? Of course you could have already done that yesterday or the day before that, or last week.. well then consider March 8 a reminder.

The same goes for other days.. Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day. However, I do draw the line at Hug Day, Teddy Day, Kiss Day, Slap Day, Kick Day… hey I’m not making them up.. those really are ‘days’. But then that’s just me. If you feel like it.. go for it.. celebrate them all. Life’s a celebration after all.

MEanwhile here’s some cake for all my women friends with the hope that the coming years will get only better and have great things in store for all of us across the world. A very very happy and empowering Women’s Day to all of you.