Shift in house, a shift in perspective!

The first update is that we are shifting houses!! Yes...moving from the lovingly decorated house with a very much used swimming pool, beautifully maintained garden and a spacious children's park and most important of all, our very own house to an 8 year old rented one! Well, things reached such a peak last week that we had no other option but to go house hunting. Being anti brokers, hubby and I scoured locality after locality, much on foot, and some by car searching for 'to let' boards and asking the local shopkeepers and apartment security. Believe it or not, we found a lot of houses by just spending three days on the hunt and finally settled down on a very old world, charming house. It is bang next to a montessori school (what we liked best about the school was the ample space for kids to run around, loads of trees and benches, in fact, it reminded me of my childhood in the open skies of Kerala!) and is owned by the people who run the school. The front room has french windows opening to a neem tree and there is a veranda by the entrance that faces a mango tree. In fact, the mango tree has a very horizontal branch that I have set my eyes on to put up a swing for the guys and me!!! There is a small garden by the side of the house, at present very unkempt, but for which I have made great plans already!! Every window in the house faces a tree..what more can I ask for? I have wanted to stay in such a place all my life and had lost hope..so what if it is rented...so what if it is going to be for a short while..I am going to make the best of it!!
Now for why we had to go in for a change..the traffic in Bangalore has come to such a state that what used to take me 20 min to reach back home from office now takes a good solid one and a half hours! Need you ask more? Plus, the bad roads, constant accelerator and clutch gives the now 5month old pregnancy a tough time. So, for now, till the next baby comes along and mostly till the traffic somehow gets better (lost hopes on that a long time ago!), we are moving close to my office..and I am going to get a garden and lots of trees for at least another year or so!!!! Keep your hands crossed...am gonna be moving soon!!

Ridiculous??

Just yesterday I was reading Winkey's ways and humming Tharini's amazingly meaningless song to myself. Its catchy and racy and I was wishing there was a way to get the tune she was using!! And Kodi's mom tagged me today to give out Kachi and Kautu's names! So I went back, and read her list of names, to discover just how much we moms have in common! All of us associate our kids with Lord Krishna..it is almost instinctive. Deep inside, all of us would have wished for kids who are as mischievous and as cute as krishna. For us, the word Kalla (thief) is an endearment. Like how Krishna stole butter and hearts..our kids too are stealers and keepers of our heart. Ordinary words that, if called an adult would seem an insult, becomes terms that we regularly call our kids. Words that seem ridiculous roll out of our tongues with ease, confident in the knowledge that neither we, nor the kids can understand what it means, but can get the feeling with which it is said. And I have noticed that during sudden spurts of overwhelming love, the language deteriorates to the mumble jumble even a caveman would have been ashamed of!! If there is a psychologist out there reading this, could you throw some light on this phenomenon? Anyways, now for the actual ramblings!!

I will start out with a song my dear husband composed and that went on to become the song we put them to sleep with, every night. Infact, once when we went to Kochi for a wedding, our song became so infamous that we would catch someone humming it in his bath!! Various distorted versions sprang up, and each time we started singing it, those high pitched, off tune, laughter mingled versions filled our head, and by the time we returned from the trip, both hubby and I were cured of the song!! Luckily for kachi and kautu!!

This is for kachi..

Kachapu kalachapu
lacha lacha pu
dingitipu dingitipu
dingiti dingiti pu

Can also be sung as --- Kachapam ka lachapam etc. by converting all the 'pu' to 'pam'!!
Same goes for Kautu if you just replace the kachi with kautu.

One version is...
Kautapam ka lautapam
lauta lautapam
trinkitipam trinkitipam
trikiti trinkiti pam!!

Well, the names that we have concocted for them goes as...

Kachi kalla...if you ask kachi who is kachi kalla, he promptly and proudly points both his hands to himself and says.."huh"!

Kautu bhuji...This was coined by my neighbor..Akshara..a 5 year old whose main pastime was entertaining these guys. The moment they see her, their eyes will light up, a huge smile transforms their face and the three of them play together like old friends!

ammu kutti, pattu kutti, chella kutti, kachi chellam, kautu chellam, ammulus, pattulus, chakare (sugar), sundarus(handsome!!) and so on..are all used interchangeably with no noticeable reaction from the kids!!!

I'll sign off with the traditional song I sing for them (I sing it in Malayalam, but have translated it here in English) when giving them an oil massage...

Let the little legs grow and grow (while oiling the legs and cycling them, stretching them and crossing them over each other)
Let the little hands grow and grow (take both their hands and cross it over the chest repeatedly)
Let my little baby grow and grow!

Walking the tight rope

I knew that going back to full time work would be tough. But I did not anticipate the first three months of light work load. I was put into a project which had a dependency on a deliverable from another site. And this, in plain english, meant that I was let off till that site delivered their work. So I just spent the last three months going over documents and giving presentations, which meant going to office at 11AM and being back by 4PM and doing the reading and most of the presentation preparation from home. Things seem rosy, right? But here is where the egoist in me took over. The work schedule was fine from the home front. But I wanted to be more productive in office. I started getting restless, though, as a mother, I should have been happy to let it go this way. The initial high over being able to work full time and still getting ample time with the kids wore away as I started feeling underutilized and could take no pride in the output I was producing. So, being the unreasonable me, I requested my manager for more work and there, bang! I got landed with a tough nut to crack. The mother of all problems was handed over. And now, I spend the night and day pouring over an issue that is threatening to loosen all the screws in my head.
I tried telling myself that I should spend more time in office to complete this, and that somehow, the more time I spend there meant that more work was being completed. This was true some two days last week when I had a whole lot of meetings etc. to complete the task handover from someone else. I would drive back at 9 in the night and come to a silent home. The kids would have slept and Karthik would have prepared my dinner for me. It worked for those two days. After that, I could really not miss being with the kids in the evening, and so, on Monday, I returned home by 5. Surprise after surprise, I found the missing urge in me and worked on the issue till late 12 in the night! And tonight, at 11.37PM, I have finally fitted in the last missing piece in the jigsaw and winded up the task. Phew! So, with the kids put to sleep, Karthik gone right off to deep sleep after the excitement of the Indian win, having finally solved the issue is like someone whispering to me that all is right with your world!! You are pregnant, a mother of two 1.3 year olds and currently enjoying the work you are doing without it being a strain on you. What more can a person ask for at this juncture? More strength and will power to keep it going as it is? More wisdom to manage everything and not let any disappointment get undue importance? More energy to keep running through the day, yet feel that there is nothing much to it all? Ye god...let me do all this and more...and most importantly, let my kids be this happy and more as we go along!!

I know you guys are all with me..so, here's to a happier journey ahead!

The before and after

This ones taken a day after the massive hair cutting effort ...

And here's the one taken a month back..the curls are not obvious, you gotto extrapolate the hair to a month later!!

The first hair cut

When the clock struck twelve, the two of them stood with a scissor and a sheet of paper in hand. They crept silently towards the room, opened the squeaky door with pounding heart and looked at the sleeping baby. "No" he shook his head " the light is not enough." "Shall we dare switching on the light?" she asked. He nodded and the light was switched on. The baby blinked in his sleep but did not stir. Picking up courage, she held a few strands of hair up and he swiftly butchered them. The piece of paper was quickly filled with lovely soft black curly hair that she slowly threaded through with awe. The hair that was on the baby when he was born..the hair that he had in her womb, the hair that first saw the world. She knew she was being sentimental, but there was something spiritual about cutting your baby's first hair. They turned the baby slowly to his side and started clipping the hair at the back. He cut it real fine at a spot and they looked at each other, laughing. "Just because they can't complain, we really shouldn't be cutting their hair like this!" he said. "We'll see tomorrow just how good barbers we are!!" and they had a good laugh together. "Come on, its time for the next" so saying, she emptied the paper in the bin and they moved to the next room. The baby was lying with his hand covering his eyes and so the light was not an issue. Professionals by now, they quickly finished clipping his hair and they could just but control their laughter at the almost bald sight their previously long brown haired baby presented. Hand in hand, they moved from the room and hugged each other for another milestone completed as parents...The first hair cut of their babies, which they had the good fortune to do themselves!

p.s...the next day brought in a lot of complements! The kids were looking great and the two first time barbers were applauded for the great work!! yipeeeee!!!!!

MISSING!

Found missing since November 2005...

The person who used to be on her toes every second of the day, the person who used to believe that every second of life should be lived fully and till a few years back used to get anxious if she was not doing something worth remembering a few years from then (tho' she doesn't really remember all that she wanted herself to, so badly), the person who fell asleep trying to capture the myriad of things done during the day and failed because she fell asleep by the time she recounted till the noon, the person who at times felt like slowing down and relaxing like everyone else, but didn't know how to go about it, the person who got worried if a weekend was wasted by idling, a weekday was wasted if not working till 9 PM, the person who caught on 3 movies and a beer every week, the person who walked at 100 kmph and talked at 1000 words per sec, the person who did crazy things like ride the pulsar on the crowded highway, climb trees and play truant during final year college practicals, tonsure her head at age 20 and proudly go back to college without bothering with a hat, join an all boys club and go on two years later to become its coordinator and bring out the best performance with a team of majority girls and dare to fall in love with a person she met for 30 days in first year of college and managed to stay in love accross a distance of seven seas and a few continents........

I miss her a lot. If anyone finds her, kindly bring her back to me. She means more to my husband than me. If I could rewind the clock a bit, I would never have let her go, but she slipped so slowly from my grasp that it wasn't untill very late that I realised that she had gone. I am rediscovering her again, help me out, won't you?

Battle of Kruger!!!

Oh Wow!! Theres nothing more smashing than this video! If you wanna know more about family values amongst the animals, this is the video to watch!! The commentary is original and completely spontaneous and what more..its a classic case of suspense, thriller and drama all rolled in one!!
Go ahead and treat yourself!

Edited to add: This is an amateur video shot at Kruger national part and has had more than 90 lakh hits in YouTube. A few questions I have that anyone can answer?

Please do read this only after watching the video...
1. How did the buffaloes communicate that they need to go back and rescue the young one?
2. Did you notice the way they prod the injured young one into their midst and quickly form a barricade against the lions. The image of a buffalo was so far that of a lazy, dumb animal..my opinion has drastically changed. What about yours?
3. The lions who fought with the crocs to claim their prize let go once they saw the herd of buffaloes. What amount of decision making has gone on in their minds...is there something in this video that makes us rethink all our preconceived notions of animals?