Love At First Write

"Mumma you are always doing some or the other chore. After the dishes are done you will play with me, right?", asked my son on the third day of his summer vacation! I felt helpless for a few moments, but then I asked, "Will you help me?"

A bubbly, chirpy girl, whose life was simple and sorted; Education, job, and earn. Enjoying the little things in life and making the most of what I have got! But life does not always offer you what you dream of! And hence came my twist!

Reena is having a bad day! The manager just yelled at her for missing the deadline. Attending him over the call she ended up burning Rakesh's favourite shirt while ironing it. Dhruv is already screaming, he can't find his favorite sweatshirt.

Dhruv is having his lunch. Rumination is in progress, as the food is not of his choice. "Mumma, today that I am eating Kaddu, can I get a burger and some fries tomorrow?", he asks. "Dhruv, eating healthy food is the need of our body. You should eat it more often and without any terms and conditions" replies Reena. And the rumination continues.

Reena is watching the movie Helicopter Eela on the TV when Dhruv returns home after his playtime. He freshens up and grabs a bottle of water to sip. After watching it for a few minutes he says, "Mumma, please change the channel."

Reena plans a trek for just Dhruv and her. She is very excited about it. From explaining the route, the tough and easy parts of it, and how to go about it, Reena is thrilled to share all the details and Dhruv reacts in the end is a "Hmm!"

Dhruv was visiting the Christmas Carnival with his family. He met some of his friends there. So the kids started exploring the event together while the parents caught up and chatted casually. After some time, a scream was heard from one particular stall.

"Mumma, can I change from football to swimming?" asked Dhruv after one week of selecting football. Confused Reena asks, "You are so fond of football, then why are you thinking of changing now?" "All my friends selected swimming. They have so much fun together. I feel like I am missing all of it." said Dhruv sadly.

Reena always made a point to have one meal of the day together without any gadgets being accompanied. In their busy schedules, this is their family time which they do not compromise on. Everyone takes turns to speak, there is no decided topic as such. Rakesh discusses his day at work, Reena about her current projects, and Dhruv about his school and friends.

Dhruv, on his way back from the bus stop to home, comes across a tiny puppy who is injured, his wounds making mobility almost impossible. He waits and watches over it for a couple of minutes from distance. The thought of taking him home,

Reena and Dhruv were watching "Grown Ups" - the movie. There is a scene wherein the little girl comes to know there is no tooth fairy, the broken milk teeth are hidden somewhere by her parents, and the chocolate coin wrapped in golden paper are kept under the pillow by her mother only. Dhruv is heartbroken to see this. "Mumma, there is no tooth fairy?" he asks.

Dhruv and Reena wait for Rakesh to finish his virtual meeting so that they could step out for their Saturday dinner. Dhruv is tired of waiting. "When will Dadda's meeting finish? I am bored of waiting...!" he says.

It is 4 pm and Dhruv has a birthday party to attend at 5 pm. He is busy playing video games and least bothered to dress up and think of what should be gifted. Although the party is in the same locality, so commute will not take much time. Reena reminds him about the party asking him to get ready for the same.

A long weekend is about to come and Rakesh plans a getaway. He shares the date of travel with both Reena and Dhruv. Reena starts to finish her work in advance for those days. Dhruv has a project to submit which he thinks he will make a day before, he thinks he will be able to finish it before they travel, and hence keeps procrastinating.

It was back-to-school time, a new bag, new books, and an advanced grade! Dhruv was very happy on his first day in the new class. He got ready and went to school. But, his enthusiasm dropped the moment he got to know the sections of his class had been shuffled. Which meant he had to make a new set of friends. Making new friends was not a problem, but the feeling of missing the old friends was.

After the shopping incident, Dhurv has not been behaving normally with Reena. There was a difference in his behavior. It took Reena a couple of days after his birthday to realize it. She had been busy planning the party and inviting Dhruv's friends, she hardly could notice Dhurv's upset behavior in all her enthusiasm for celebrating his birthday.

Dhruv's birthday was coming up. Rakesh and Reena took him out shopping. They went to the mall. After entering an outlet, Dhruv was on a spree. He already had a long list, and going to the mall only added to it. Dhruv started trying T-shirts, pants, jerseys, and everything he liked. Reena was astonished to see Dhruv, he was never like this before.

It was Dhruv's summer break. After their morning park stroll, Dhruv watched his regular cartoon shows when Reena did her daily chores. After that, Dhruv went to Reena and asked, "Mumma what did you do in your summer vacations?" Nostalgia shined in Reena's eyes as she rushed towards her cupboard to show Dhruv the greeting cards she used to make, the pencil shading frames she learned. Dhruv.,

Dhruv was completing his homework, and Rakesh and Reena enjoyed their evening coffee. As they were chatting casually, Dhruv came and asked, "Mumma, what does the middle finger symbolize?" Reena was furious and about to lose her cool when Rakesh touched her palm indicating her to remain calm. Rakesh smiled and calmly asked, "Why are you asking this? Did something happen?"

As the new academic year started, Dhruv started packing his back according to the timetable on his own. Reena is happy to see Dhruv becoming independent. However, she still cross-checks his back once he sleeps.

Dhruv's birthday is around the corner. In a month he will be 9 years old. Reena has been mindful enough to make Dhruv independent each year by making him accountable for the tasks that suit his age. This year, she is trying to break the habit of making him sleep. Every night, she reads one bedtime story to Dhruv followed by a Bollywood song of his choice, which was his sleeping schedule! Dhruv noticed a change in Reena's behavior but fails to understand the reason.

Rakesh and Dhruv watch Master Chef Australia together fondly. Dhurv's aunt, who is visiting them for a few days is surprised to see Dhruv knowing all the ingredients, cooking appliances, and cooking processes finely at the age of 8. Curious, she could not resist passing her take on this, "He is a boy. Why are you allowing him to know and learn all these girly things?"

After the scribbling episode, Dhruv ended up developing a hatred for the whole group who did that to him. He preferred being alone over being with friends. He became quiet and very anti-social. He trusted his family more because Reena rescued him from this whole situation by talking to teachers about it. The group was counseled, realized their mistake, and tried to befriend Dhruv. But he had developed major trust issues for them. While cycling or in the park, Dhruv preferred to play alone...

It was the last day of school, and Dhruv was waiting for Reena to pick him up from school. Reena strikes up a casual chat with a group of fellow parent mommies. She attempted to ask Reena what was Dhruv going to do during summer vacations. One said she has enrolled her son in swimming class, and another one mentioned she is sending her daughter to classical dance class.

Reena switched from being a full-timer to a freelancer after embracing motherhood. And as we all are aware, freelancing is not easy; Reena was not as occupied as she would be in her full-time job. She got a few temporary projects which she would finish in very less time. Dhruv was the only full-time project she was thoroughly involved in.

Dhruv comes home with a note about the open day being handed over. The note has time slots, dates, and ONLY ONE PARENT ALLOWED strictly written on it. Dhruv tries to hide it from Reena as he wants Rakesh to be attending it.

Dhruv returned different from school today. There was some sort of scribbling done with sketch-pen on his hands and face. He did not appear to be the usual cheerful chap; was rather lost in some deep thought, and did not respond to anything asked. Reena was worried and kept asking him in every possible way, Dhruv was all mum.

Dhruv was participating in an inter-school sports event, he was going to play football. It was the quarter-final match. While Dhruv was dropped off by his father Rakesh at the venue, no one could wait with him there. His mother Reena was supposed to pick him up after the match.

Everyone has a creative streak, mine is writing. But it is necessary to evolve, update and more importantly nurture it! Continuing without any motivation is not easy, you have to have some muse and have to have a strong purpose! I would like to share my methods to nurture my creative side!

I took up writing in 2018. It was my son's third birthday and I casually wrote a poem and shared it with a beautiful collage of all his cute pictures on Facebook. The poem was very well received, and some special mentions for it too in the comments. I was surprised, for me, I was just giving words to my feelings, and a few arrangements here and there if required.

Media, news, and all other mediums these days focus on glorifying how a particular person does so much, what they sacrificed and achieved, and why they are great. The tangent in which celebrities are followed and idolized is at another level.

GATTE KA PULAV I have been fortunate enough to be blessed with spending the majority of my childhood around my grandparents. My grandfather passed away in 2015, and my grandmother, her blessings, and the food she cooks continue to accompany us!

Recently Rishi Sunak was entitled Prime Minister of the UK, and I again remembered my favorite quote that says, "Success has many fathers, Failure is an orphan!" The moment this news broke out, India, Pakistan, and Kenya were on a quest to show how they are closely related to him. The same happened with many others, and I wonder, how do they feel and react to this whole situation!?

It was back in June 2019, when I visited my native place. My son had recently started singing Old-MacDonald had a farm. Within no time it became his favorite rhyme! He was very keen on visiting a farm for real. Hence my father decided to drive us to our farm which falls in the suburbs, 20-25 kilometers from the hustle and bustle of the heavily commuted village. We reached there, and it was pure nostalgia for me! Brought back so many memories!

I joined Social Media in the year 2012, had just completed my engineering, and with an intent to stay connected with friends joined Facebook first. It did fulfill my purpose as well as helped me make new friends. I was a little late to join Instagram and LinkedIn, I still find LinkedIn a little boring however I am very active on Instagram. There are so many posts and stories that I post on Instagram but purposefully avoid on Facebook, obviously my personal choice.

We, as humans continuously dive & dwell in emotions, and deal with known and unknown feelings in our everyday lives. And, when it comes to handling those, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail.
Most of us are not experts; we simply hide under the shrouds of our smiles and fancies.

It is surprising to see how people have started taking extra care of health post-pandemic. I remember even during the peak waves there used to be so many rumors to do or consume things, avoid particular food items. Thank God, neither I nor my family fell prey to any of it.

In a year, it’s not sunny always. There are rains and colds too. Similarly, in our lives, we are not 100% all the time. At a young age, peer pressure makes many insecure.

Growth is not mandatory but is necessary to move ahead for a better personal life as well emotional development. As we age, and we look back, if there is something significant we have achieved and that is remarkable enough to be worth remembering, we feel good; it gives a sense of achievement.

Being a stay-at-home parent cultivates default guilt of not being able to contribute financially to the family; what follows is a pattern, a pattern where the stay-at-home parent always places the spouse, family, home, and its chores above their own choices & priorities.

We are in the second month of 2022, the point is we still have 10 months and it’s never too late to start something good!

With social media evolving, one casual scroll exposes our eyes to so much information; some of which are jokes/memes, some really useful information, news, tips and tricks, and then come quotes that impart life lessons.

2021 is about to end! How many goals that you set for it to be reached? How many resolutions were fulfilled? Did you keep track? Or left it by January itself ?
Yes, I won't shy away from saying that I did! And shamelessly so, I did it in 2017, 18, 19 as well!

The pandemic has changed so many things. For some, life changed, businesses collapsed, finances fumbled, for others, basic necessities were at stake. However, I have come across people who used this whole lockdown and social distancing constructively and fruitfully.

The moment the notification email popped up, there was a series of questions that kept flashing in front of my eyes. Did you be kind / good to someone without a reason?

Today, 10th September, happens to be WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY or ANTI SUICIDE DAY. Suicide, whether done by a young or an old, is equally shocking and disturbing. When someone with severe health conditions passes away, we have an idea about their demise, but suicide can be mental shock for family and closed one's.

Remember the time when communication was very clear, because it used to be face to face. Then came the times when we started doing SMS, when little misunderstandings did happen but we as humans had the sensibility of picking up phone, making a call and sorting things out.

The moment I saw this image, i could relate to it in so many ways... Almost had a flood of thoughts in my brain. After becoming a mother, there are so many tiny and large changes that happens in a woman's life.

We are living Millennial Generation, some of us are born in it, some of us trying to adapt to it while others are well versed with it! I personally found and find the transition a bit difficult. But gradually trying to make my own version of it, there is no escape you see!

With the onset of Navratri, there is a thought that is lingering in my mind. We celebrate and pray 9 different avatars of Godesses, which is by ritual or by tradition. Do we celebrate the real life 9 avatars of women or are we too quick to judge them or we sheepishly join the herd to criticise them?

YE DIWALI - MINDFUL WALI.!
The dictionary meaning of the word "Mindful" is being aware and concious of our actions and choices as well as their consequences. Being mindful is usually being correlated with thoughts, feelings and relationships in life. However, let us try and apply it to the way we celebrate festivals, let's see what change we can bring by celebrating festival mindfully!