The Defiant Mom

Main Kavita likhne chala tha Par yeh shabd, bhaage hi ja rahe the kabhi daayein kabhi baayein Pannon pe kalam, sarakti ja rahi thi kabhi daayein kabhi baayein. Iss bhagam bhaag mein dopahar se hui shaam na main kuchh padh saka na mera hua koi kaam. Khayal toh kai the mann mein lajawab aur anokhe magar main kaise likhta kuchh bhi shabd jo bhage ja rahe the kabhi daayein kabhi baayein. Phir maine socha kavita toh sabhi karte hain kyun na kuchh aur kahun machalti uchhalti natkhat chulbul iss paaji kavita ki kahani likhun? Sochte sochte ho gayi raat Mann hi mein reh gayi mann ki baat Pannon ke beech thak ke so gaya Kavita ki duniya mein yun kho gaya. Aankhon ne sapna kuchh aisa dikhaya Khud ko doston ke samne paya Kavita toh main fir bhi na keh paya Kya bataun Shabd jo bhage ja rahe the Kabhi daayein Kabhi baayein! Dedicated to my son's struggle with Hindi :D

Easy to get your mom to say ‘yes’… …piece of cake! You want a tattoo but you won’t be able to get anywhere near a parlor if your mom isn’t in the mood. Fret not, there are some pretty effortless ways you can show her your love and get her opinion on the design. Try some. First thing after you get up in the morning, freshen up, sneak up to your mom and hug her tightly. Tell her how much you love her. She will soften immediately and you would have set the course. Be careful not to be too sneaky. After you get home, repeat the exercise. Praise her cooking and offer to clean up after the meal. Don’t overdo it. Offer to help with the dishes or dusting or some such mind-numbing chore. If you can’t pretend to be enjoying it, at least make a show of it. Less than halfway through, she would shoo you off since you would be more in the way of getting things done than actually getting things done. Make yourself generally useful. Ask her about your childhood and see her light u...

Too many days, too many confessions :D Halfway Mom I always knew that am not the supermom type and when I discovered that I can’t swoon with gastronomic pleasure nor climax while experimenting with ingredients, I gave up even before trying. I scandalize my loved ones when I divulge that food doesn’t make me feel complete. So, there it goes, am not the complete woman but too late now, my habits are irreparable! Though the fact that I like it when my son compliments me on my cooking (I have to fill empty plates and growling stomachs, every day!), or when my friends derive pleasure when they get the rarest of rare chance to indulge their taste buds in stuff I somehow manage to rustle up, leaves me a tad bit bewildered. I guess it’s because they are the generous types and don’t wanna endanger whatever association I have with food (I eat sparsely too). Now, that’s not enough to pull me to my kitchen threshold to churn recipes, I only do it when there is absolute nece...

The absurdity of school uniform styles in India The concept in itself is not an issue. In fact, it brings a sense of ‘uniformity’ and instills a sense of belonging. The problem is in the impracticality of the dress designs that schools opt for. A few examples … Boys from pre-primary section have to wear shorts till they graduate to primary section. India is a tropical country but don’t we get winters here at all? Can young boys wear stockings under the shorts? Imagine these cute little kids in shorts trotting to school on winter mornings or evenings! And the elders are clad in trousers or jeans. Girls are always supposed to be wearing skirts, whichever grade they are in. No concept of stockings and in many schools, under pants haven’t yet been introduced. No concept of waistcoats. The jackets are not designed for the humid conditions. Each city has a unique climate; won’t it make sense to keep that in mind while designing school uniforms? A few suggestions … ...

#HomeAlone - What I do when am on my own As a mom who loves to read and is looking to find as much time as she possibly can to enjoy her passion, I have come up with many quicktips to handle chores. Some of them are directly proportional to avoiding handling daily laundry. Now, we can’t control the amount of dirty clothes piling up nor can we afford to miss washing them for more than a week. And to top it all, if your beloved city remains perpetually wet during monsoon, it’s a drag to wash clothes, then dry them, then fold them and then stack them in wardrobes. So, my quick fix goes like… Don’t wash clothes everyday Designate a time when you have to do it Stack dry clothes in small portable storage boxes, especially inner wear and daily wear Instruct your family to use clothes from those boxes first When several days have passed and the clothes are spilling from the boxes, make a cup of coffee or tea, and get to folding them Even then avoid inner wear Never,...

Day 26 I am glad my son doesn't want his clothes ironed. The ten-year-old-and-rapidly-growing-guy loves wrinkled jeans and t-shirts. He feels uncomfortable in shirts and kurtas. These I have to iron. Sometimes, I also iron his inner wears, rarely. Now, he has started to iron his school uniform but I do indulge him from time to time. But boy, ain't I glad that he prefers wearing wrinkled t-shirts in which he practically lives. What more can a lazy mom want! P. S.- He's gonna be pretty upset when he knows am splaying the details over the 'net  :D

Day 24 Not so lazy now! My son had his stationery list ready for the weekend. Things he needed us to buy according to his specifications. Hubby and I were briefed to the last shade and density of the inks for pens and pencils, hues and texture of the papers and colors. First, I nudged daddy away from the counter. Next, I bought some extra stuff, things I needed since am also studying you see (not lying at all). And if that wasn’t enough, I tried to convince my angry young man (sonny, of course) that he doesn't need some of the stationery (the ones I was eyeing). Eventually, there ensued a power struggle and poor my baby had to give in. He is a very understanding chap. I love him for that...mwaanh! Then I got to sorting, arranging and hiding the stuff I had managed to ensnare so no one would know where my stationery lot lies. I have to be careful being the woman of the house. So much responsibility! #ConfessionsOfALazyMom #LazyMomDiary #What...

Day 8 Dry fruits are healthy! Today morning, I was so sleepy that I asked my son to have dry fruits for breakfast and snuggled deeper in my blanket. Until, my guilty conscience woke me up and I warmed some milk for him. Then I rushed back to my bed… #ConfessionsOfALazyMom #LazyMomDiary #WhatLazyMomsDo

Day 1 Dear Diary, Now that my son is growing up, he is helping me run errands. I confess I am making him run around a lot and sometimes, I feel guilty. Is it okay to let him help or should I make some effort and not keep calling him every few minutes?  Certainly, he shouldn’t get up while he is studying and most definitely, he should focus on his activities. But a mom can indulge, can’t she? So, by the virtue of speedily becoming the mother of a rapidly turning-into-an-energetic-angry-teenager son, I thereby declare myself free of all guilt. Enlisting the young chap’s help will channelize his anger into something positive. Won’t it? Well, a mom can certainly hope. And no, you aren’t allowed to let his dad know. He mustn’t know my secret, shhhh..! #ConfessionsOfALazyMom #LazyMomDiary #WhatLazyMomsDo