The Husband Archives - Page 2 of 3

23/10/201215/04/2017

Technology Troubles

What do you call a person who kills gadgets? You know how some people have a ‘black-thumb’ for plants? I wasn’t sure that was a valid word either, but it is. I checked. If you haven’t been to urbandictionary.com before, do check it out. It’s a delightful site.

But I digress.. like I was saying, I am that person for gadgets. The Shiva of gadgets, as it were.

One laptop, three cameras, an MP3 player, a desktop and countless countless phones have met a silent end over the last few years. I’m not even counting things like headphones and remotes. Oh and some time back I blew up the microwave by trying to boil an egg in it.

I am ably assisted by my bachchas, of course. Anything that I miss, they demolish with elan. The latest victim of my anti-technology rampage was my phone, yet again. I was in despair thinking I’d be saddled with The Husband’s age old stand by, which is a bit of a tragedy. Like my sister puts it… It’s just a phone.. no mail, no music, no browser. What’s more, every few hours it feels overworked hangs itself.

The Husband, as always, came to my rescue, turning generous when I least expect him to, and got me a new phone. A pink phone, to Naisha’s complete delight. And just as I was gushing out my thank yous he said, “Now don’t expect anything for your birthday.” A Husband can’t change his spots.

What was even better Naisha made me a phone holder..

It had to be pink to match my phone
and she demonstrates how it’s to be carried.

Happiness!

19/10/201215/04/2017

Some good, some bad!

This week’s been nothing if not eventful. Pretty unbelievable things have happened — at least one of them was super nice and the other super sad.

The nice one first (for no reason other than it happened first). The Husband took leave!!! Just like that!!! And if you knew him at all you’d find those exclamation marks justified. This my friends is as earth shattering as it can get. In the one and half decade of knowing him he’s never done this… to take leave to be home… unbelievable.

The thing is he only recently found out that casual leaves lapse at the end of the year. Don’t be surprised, that’s symptom no 5 of a crazed workaholic. Anyway so he took leave and we went for a film, just the two of us… another not-done-in-over-7years-thing. The film, English Vinglish was wonderful, but of course you all know that by now. A must watch.

Just as I was gushing at how wonderful it was and how we should do this more often, The Husband promptly clarified that this new film-watching-him was not a permanent phenomenon, “Next film, next year,” he pronounced. Talk about enthusiasm (or lack of it)!

Now for the bad – I missed the children’s Sports Day! Just missed it. I’m still wondering how I could let that happen. There was no information, other than on the school website which I haven’t been able to access since the start of the session despite repeated meeting with their IT department. I’ve been depending on a friend to forward all notices to me and .. well … she didn’t. By the time she found out and called me, feeling very very guilty, it was too late.

Hrit was down with an upset stomach so he’d have missed it anyway but Naisha was there and The Husband could have gone to cheer her. I did drag a recovering Hrit and reached the school but it was all over. :-(((( . I’ve been feeling bad bad bad.

What was worse, Naisha came back and said, “Many children who didn’t win the race cried, mama, but I didn’t yet teacher thought I was crying.” Which, of course, means she did cry. I so wish I’d been there. Worse still, she uttered not a word of reproach. She makes it a point to look out for us at school events. However, when The Husband called to ask her how it went.. she said, “I didn’t win the race and Hrit wasn’t well so mama couldn’t come.” How sensible is that!

I’ll wrap up with a word of apology for peppering the post with exclamation marks. Not that I have anything against them, it’s just that they’re misused and overused and misused some more so much that I’ve had more than enough of them. However, bear with me just this time.

27/07/201215/04/2017

Sar bada sardar ka

My grandma would often quote this saying ..
Sar bada sardar ka
pair bada ganwar ka
Which means “People with with large heads are intelligent (they’re sardars, leaders) and people with large feet are ignorant (ganwar, illiterates).

This year The Husband got the kids measured out for their uniforms and came back with this huge-looking school shoe for Hrit. Doubting Thomas that I am, I took Hrit and the shoes back to school, sure he’d got too big a size (No offence to The Husband). However, I came back with a new found respect for him and awe for The Son’s shoe size. Do look at that picture … my doubts weren’t totally unfounded, were they?

The blue ones are mine.. for reference

.. and he’s just 6. I’m hoping my grandma got it wrong.

01/04/201215/04/2017

Matchmaker matchmaker

Thanks to a challenge thrown by a blogger friend, Pooja aka Princess Poo, on Indiblogger
I am taking a break from obsessive mothering to give some thought to my marriage. And this one doesn’t even involve The Husband. Exciting or what?

Her challenge: If you had the chance to MARRY anyone in the world. ANYONE. Then whom would you marry? And why?

Yippppeeee…. Shah Rukh Khan … is my first thought. Corny, I know. However, SRK and I do go back a long way. I’ve loved him longer than I’ve even known The Husband. He IS the most romantic person on screen, you have to admit. He’s cute and he seems like a good guy. SRK in glasses with a powder-blue sweater flung over his back, SRK with his sexy dimpled smile and S-shaped eye brows, SRK running in slow mo in the mist covered Swiss mountains… Mist.. or errrr… is that smoke from the cigarette perpetually dangling from his lips? Ugh.. .. a man who smokes is SUCH a let down. He smells awful, brings on the cough in me and would make Hrit wheeze (That’s the OM – she just can’t keep quiet). No thank you sir I’ll pass.

Maybe Miss Garewal can help. She’s the one who made that list right, India’s Most Desirable? Let’s see there’s Ranbir, Ranvir, Yuvraj, Siddharth …. No, no, no and no again. Some are party animals, some mama’s boys. And, they’re boys.. the whole crowd, way too young.

Hmmm.. the world of glamour’s not for me. Let me look elsewhere. How about …. Baba Ramdev? Weird? Well, I may not be able to decide whether he’s a crusader or a crook but we do have the fitness thing in common. Picture this… early morning, cool breeze, chirping birds, rising sun… there we sit, Baba and I, in perfect sync, doing our kapalbhatis, with our concave abs showing to perfection. Did I say ‘early morning’? Ruled out then. Nothing can get me out of bed early, nothing (“other than sending the kids to school, of course,” chimes in OM). So excuse me Baba, it’s a no.

A yogi’s really not my style. Surely ‘love’ needs to figure somewhere. The man has to have a heart.. bingo.. got it. Healthcliff (of Wuthering Heights, NOT the cat, in case you were wondering). Heathcliff’s all heart. Romantic, intense, passionate. Life with him would be … tempestuous. Umm.. would it be just a tad too stormy for a gentle Capricornian? I mean I do want the guy to love me and all that but I certainly do not fancy him chasing me around the moors at night driving me to my death. *Shudder, shudder* Won’t do.

A gentler soul then. Someone who watches from a distance and steps in quietly to ease away your troubles. Fitzwilliam Darcy. He’s rich too and gorgeous to boot. We’d walk around Pemberley hand in hand while he’d tell me “the pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in a pretty woman
can bestow”. Ooooh how he made my heart beat in my teens. The strong silent one.

Ummm… ‘silent’.

Well… just a thought… if I HAVE to go for silent what’s wrong with The Husband? He’s silent when he watches the tele. He’s silent when the kids are creating a ruckus. Heck he’s even silent when I’M creating a ruckus. I mean ‘silent’ is what describes him to the T (unless you talk about things on wheels).

He’d rather get me fruits than flowers and prefers his kachoris to the kapalbhati, but better a known devil than an unknown one. Right? Besides, not for nothing have I spent a decade and a half training him. He’s getting there. He hasn’t forgotten my birthday for the last two years and even remembered to get me a gift. Another few years and the flowers shall follow.

Did you guys notice how he crept up quietly into my post? That’s exactly how he’s wormed his way in my life…. and there he’ll stay. No space for anyone else then… sigh!

The Husband it is. He’s the one I’d choose.

Edited to add: Happy April Fool’s Day. No, this has absolutely nothing to do with the post above.

24/12/201115/04/2017

A day before Christmas

Is it my birthday? I wondered as I got out of bed to find a steaming cup of tea sitting on the table. I was last out of bed today. The in-laws went over to the sis-in-law’s for the night and I pottered about on the comp till late. It being the first day of the holidays I decided to take it easy lazing in bed till well past 8. This tea-on-the-table thing took me by surprise. Wow. The Husband had done the honours.

Then I saw Hrit at the table drinking his milk.. I blinked and blinked again. Now who gave him milk? The Husband? As I was still trying to take it all in Naisha pranced out of her room, “Mama I’ve had my milk AND I’ve had my bath.” Wow wow wow. This surely is a first. Ever.

I looked The Husband. “What’s up?” I asked. He seemed pretty happy with himself and enjoying my surprise… but will he admit it? Nope. “It’s Naisha. It was her idea .. said she wanted to surprise you and so…,” he tailed off grinning.

In the kitchen.. the milk was boiled… this by The Husband who normally picks up the paper and leaves the milk bag hanging at the door.

I checked the calendar again. No it’s not my birthday. Must put it down to the Christmas spirit.

Santa’s been top of mind the whole of this last week.. obviously for the goodies he’s going to get. Hrit has been asking for a skateboard for ages. We were not sure he’s old enough to handle it and so got him a scooter instead. The Husband tried to tell him a skateboard’s too expensive to which Hrit replied, “Santa will get it, you don’t worry.” I’ve been trying to convince him a scooter is a better gift and I’m keeping my fingers crossed Santa is not blacklisted when the gifts are opened.

Naisha being Naisha thought and thought and thought. When I asked her what she’d asked Santa to get her, “It’s a secret. I’ll tell only Santa,” she announced, which had me in a tizzy. This Santa deception is getting tougher to keep up by the year. When she did finally tell, her choices were so bizarre they’d have had the real Santa running all over the North Pole looking for her stuff. Finally she settled for a crown.

Our good old Arocaria tree doubles as the Christmas tree each year.. it’s big and green and can hold lots of decorations. We had fun doing it up. Each evening they’ve been reminding Santa of their gifts, and, I might add, they’ve even been trying hard to be good. Today morning, to ensure correct delivery, the kids placed drawings of their anticipated gifts under the tree to make it easier for Santa to figure out what they want. Really, no chance of confusion here.