To school

It always felt good to go to school after the summer vacations. A new academic year, a fresh beginning, the smell of new books, new uniforms, new shoes, new bag. But this time its my son who would go to school. Yes. He is big enough to go to school now. After much contemplation, we finalized the school that fits our requirement. We went to his school and it was awesome. In fact all pre-schools are awesome. The walls are painted with cartoons, all class rooms are filled with colorful toys. There is a play area with slides, rockers, ride-ons and the list goes on. Basically I love the ambience of play school.

As we were speaking about the fee structure and transport facilities with the head mistress of the school, PHAATTT. My son broke one of their sturdy, unbreakable toys. I was scared the school would reject to admit him. But since my son did not exhibit any of his other feats, the headmistress didn't seem to mind. So, the single salaried us, paid the fees which is more than the consolidated fees for 4 years of my engineering studies. Yeah. I know its hard to digest. Bravo us! The single salaried us, who paid the fees. It enlightened my soul so much that I decided to kick start phase 2 of my career. Because we have to educate my son for the next 2 decades in the least. Sigh!

I am pretty much excited to see his school bag, books and uniform. Oh! his books. They are so cool. They have colorful pictures everywhere. Just the feel of owning them is heavenly. I quickly covered and labeled them as per the instructions given by the school. My husband doesn't understand why I am so excited about anything that has to do with my son's school. And that is one more item on his list of "non decipherable qualities of my wife".

Few of my relatives, are astonished and question me as to why am I sending him to nursery at the tender age of 2 and a half. Man! For all you know I should be sending him to the army school for the riot he is. Besides, I want him to play with kids of his age, make friends and learn to share toys rather than bullying me and his dad. I am dying to see his teacher after the class tomorrow. I feel so sorry for her. But since we have already paid the fees, I don't think the school authorities have the right to reject him now.

I can't wait to send him to school. Because, I can finally take the blame off me and blame the school for my son's mischief and lack of discipline. 

Amarendra Baahubali and Devasena

Baahubali 1- The beginning shows Devasena bound with chains, staying loyal to her husband, not giving in to Bhallaladeva's power. One would think, who would do such a thing in present times. Now, when the rate of intolerence in a relationship is high and when marriages are breaking apart at lightening speed for no big reasons, which gorgeous princess would stay loyal to her dead husband and why?

I get the answer in the conclusion. i.e. Baahubali 2. Baahubali 2 shows us the love story of Devasena and Amarendra Baahubali. Devasena is portrayed as a bold and brave princess, someone who wouldn't compromise her self respect for anything in the world. Amarendra falls for her. Not just for her beauty but also for her bravery and her pride. The pride that comes from doing what is right. The pride that comes from being just.

On Shivagami's orders Amarendra takes Devasena to his kingdom but not before promising to uphold her self respect and to shield from insults of any form. And he stands true to his promise. Doesn't he?When he tells his mom that she has erred by promising his brother, Devasena's hand for marriage without Devasena's consent? It doesn't stop there. When Shivagami orders for Devasena's imprisonment, our tall, muscular and handsome hero stands by his lady love protecting her. Thats what a true man does. Protect his lady love from the ills of his own family. That is what we all want. Just the words, "You are wrong" to be uttered when they are wrong. The words "She is right." to be uttered when we are right. Not just pointing out fingers at us for every God damn reasons. Now again, most of the men would stand by their lady love against all odds BEFORE MARRIAGE. Because he yet has to officially own her. Because there is still a risk of losing her. Because there is still the insecurity of someone better proclaiming her.

The best part I liked in the movie is the scene when the pregnant Devasena is brought to trial in the court for chopping some pervert's fingers. She stands tall in front of the king and Shivagami. She never falters for a second because she knew she hadn't commited any crime. Then comes our tall, mascular and handsome hero who stands by his wife. Wow. Amarendra Baahubali not just supports his girl friend but also his wife. Bravo Amarendra Baahubali! Thats such a unique feat - Standing by your wife. That is what all of want. A husband to stand by his wife when she wasn't wrong. A husband who would protect his wife's self respect and not call it her ego. And yes for someone like Amarendra Baahubali, we would stay loyal until our graves.

I was never a movie buff but I knew that Rajamouli is a great director who never gave a single flop to the industry so far. I was awed by his movie "Eega". But I never gave a heck to Rajamouli as a person. For me, he was yet another director like all others. The graphics shown in the movie are great and the experiment done with the movie itself was a bold move by the director as we all agree. But just for portraying the characters of Devasena and Amarendra Baahubali, I bow to him. I think we all have a lesson to learn here instead of cribbing for a better climax fight or talking about the upcoming Mahabharata project (which may as well be rumours).

My tryst with painting

Painting was one of my hobbies when in school. I had used acrylic, poster and water colors. I never used oil paints until was gifted a set by my brother. Well, I was never a pro at painting but had good instincts at the strokes I delivered with my brush. I never pursued my interests later and never took out the time to get myself trained at the said art.

Many years later, my brother gifted me set of paint brushes and oil paints. Voila! I was so very happy and couldn't thank him enough. But on second thoughts, I believe it was so cruel of him to think that I could use those costly paints without feeling guilty of wasting them on my long forgotten art of painting. But nevertheless, I decided to put them to use one day. To bring out the hidden talent in me(which is still hidden). And sat down to paint the below painting.

But I realised that I neither had a color palette to mix the colors nor any thinner to use with the paints.

My brilliant brain gave me the idea and I used a plate for a palette and the asian paints thinner which gave the strongest stench. I patiently gave the strokes for the sunrise trying to avoid the stench in the background and was quite happy with the effect. But would have been happier if I hadn't smudged the already colored portion again and again forcing myself to redo the painting again and again, thereby wasting the colors again and again. And my paper now looked many times thicker than its usual self.

Now when I washed my brushes, I realised I couldn't wash them with water. So I made a failed attempt at washing them with the thinner. And as a final attempt to clean my brushes, I wiped them with a cloth. This is what attempting to paint after a decade taught me. Painting is a lot more messier than crayons or color pencils. Paints don't color just paper or canvas. They can also color your flooring, clothes and hands. Its impossible to paint without unintentional smudgings. Now you know why my sun has a black spot. No. Its not the ozone depleted spot. I am yet to figure out how to wash my brushes they are still stiff hinting the need of proper washing. Nail paint remover? Do you think I should give it a try?

P.S. My painting still carries the stench of my thinner. 

The side effect

He saw her from the other end of the room. Her hair mangled and messy, jumping her non patterned jumps, dancing without rhythm, singing without tune and giggling unusually loud. He let out a sigh. He knew that she couldn't be normal again. Never again. He could never get his wife back like the good old days.

Life changes after marriage. It was true and his life did change post marriage.It was a welcome change. But now, five years down the line he was on the verge of losing his wife. His heart ached to see her like this. He was tired of her insane behavior. He just hoped she could get back to her normal self. But he knew that it was impossible now. What she was facing now is a side effect which could not be undone.

She came running towards him and paused to take a breath. Her insanely happy eyes smiled at him. "Care for some dinner?"  she asked. He nodded in reply, not taking his eyes off her, noticing the wiry strands of hairs sticking on her sweaty forehead and back of her neck. "Momma! No. No." cried her son clinging to her leg and said "Jump. Jump and Sing" Untangling him from her leg, she went to the kitchen, sending a flying kiss in his direction and assuring to return in two minutes. Not bothering to wipe the sweat of her brow, she let it trickle down onto her shirt while serving dinner to her husband.

Not eating together was yet another side effect of parenthood he thought. He silently ate his dinner while the momma and sonny duo continued their JUMP JUMP and SING SING game. He sighed silently and thanked his stars that in this mad mad world, he atleast got his food on time. It was the only sign that he was not yet forgotten. And then came his son running towards him and landed face down onto his dinner. "Yet another side effect" he sighed.

SAHM me

FYI - SAHM stands for Stay At Home Mom. Its been a quarter since it became my identity. I quickly jot down the changes I see in my life.

In the beginning, I was pretty scared and started looking for some crazy work from home jobs. But quickly enough discarded the thought. I found that as a working mother I was multi tasking my head off and now I find it difficult to concentrate on single task at a time. So I planned to meditate a bit daily. Which is obviously not going as per plan. But eventually I got used to single tasking or lets say not multi tasking. 

We are facing small problems like managing finances with single salary and by end of every month we have pulled it safe so far. There is one major problem I am facing due to lack of office laptop. Because the MS office subscription on my personal laptop has expired. And if you find any typo or grammatical errors on my blog then its Microsoft to be blamed. Because, how the hell can they not give me unlimited access to MS Word after purchasing a Windows 10 laptop? 

Talking of advantages, I am leading my life at a much much slower pace when compared to the past 8  years. On few days I don't get to see my dark circles. I have a tidier and better organized home than before. The best of all is getting to see my child grow every second right in front of my eyes. Even better than the previous one is that I get to watch more movies with  my husband. And I bet he can't ask for anything more. Okay, here's a better one, he gets freshly cooked food served hot, thrice a day.

Life has been such a roller coaster ride so far. Thanks to my husband for being there and supporting my decision of quitting the rat race that I was part of. Few of my relatives who were not happy with me working and leaving my baby with his grandparents, are now pitying me and asking why I quit? Many of my friends told me that it was a very bold decision to quit my career and now I understand why they called it "BOLD". Its one such experience which is hard to forget. Kudos to my son who keeps me going. And thanks to my husband because if I don't thank him very often from now on, there is a risk of cutting my pocket money. :P

Kitchen set

I bought a kitchen set for my son much to the dismay of my neighbor who is a mother of a 3 yr old girl. This is the one which comes with stove, burners, oven, chimney hub, tap and sink, frying pans, cups and saucers and cutlery. Yes. Its that exhaustive. And my neighbor couldn't get the logic behind me getting it for my son when her daughter doesn't have such exhaustive set of the so called girlie toy. My husband laughed when I got the pink color kitchen set. Few thought I was wasting money buying such irrelavant toys for my son. But it was an immediate hit with him. As soon as I assembled it, he gave me a cup of tea from his set and washed his hands and face from the tap provided at the sink. Needless to say, I was on cloud nine.

I don't know if I qualify being called a "Breaking the stereotypes" mom. But, I saw that my son almost, always mimicked me when he saw me cook. His favorite play toys were my frying pans and cookers. He has a bat and ball. In fact lots of balls of various sizes and colors. But the fancy he takes for my kitchen utensils is nowhere in comparison to them. So I got him this toy set, respecting his interests. I bought it hoping to put an end to the clinging and clanging noises he made with my steel utensils. The neighbors were complaining you know. They thought it was my way of venting out on my husband. OUTRAGEOUS.

Few of my acquaintances laughed at it (The kitchen set I mean. Not the venting out part). Few were of the opinion that he would become a famous chef in future. Few said that I was lucky and in few years I would have a helping hand at kitchen. And here is what I think. I will be happy if my son learns to cook because thats one basic need of life. Every person with the ability to cook doesn't have to be a chef. About the helping hand part, I must agree that I am looking forward to it. To make my point clearer, let me summarize my thoughts. "I got the kitchen set for my son because I would love him to pursue his interests. And to teach him that there is no such thing called a boy's job or a girl's job. Times have changed and its all a matter of our choices."

On a very recent update, he has taken fancy for my compact and lipstick. Do you think I should give them to him and let him paint himself? No... No...Don't go away. Believe me, I promise to listen to you this time. 

Dearest moon! Smile please, say cheese

She looked at the candle lit group that seemed to be silently praying with closed eyes and bowed heads. It was very unlikely for the prayers of the silent crowd with agitated minds to reach God. To help the Soul rest in peace. The soul of the victim. The soul of the one molested. Probably not one but many who were molested the very same day in her country. But this one was brutal enough to catch the media’s eye. She sighed looking away from the window as the bus whizzed past the gathering.

She closed her own eyes and prayed. Or rather wanted to pray. But was confused as to what and whom to pray for? Pray for all those innocent women or girls or worse the infants who are subject to molestation? Should she ask for justice? Should she pray to regain their innocence or undo the “feeling dirty” feel of their mind? She opened her eyes and gave away the praying part.

She saw the bus conductor unnecessarily rub a co-passenger’s breast as he waltz through the crowd. No medical tests could prove the conductor’s deed. It was not serious enough to be reported. Yet, she knew it would leave the “feeling dirty” feel on that co-passenger. She knew that “weird in the gut feeling”. The “Churning the stomach yet tongue-tied” feeling.

She knew that the candle lit group would go home and in sometime or days would forget the molested-beaten up-dead girl. The group that consisted of men and women, boys and girls. Few from the crowd would get back to their ogling and unnecessary rubbings and snide remarkings. Because that was no remarkable offence. According to them it was on lines with acknowledging the beauty of Taj-Mahal. 

By the age of 17, by the commencement of her youth, she knew that it was not her age or body to be blamed. She knew it was not the fault of the 9 yards cloth or 6 inches skirt. She knew it was not her or her co-passenger or the molested-beaten-dead girl’s fault. What she didn’t understand was, “Why don’t the grey haired politicians understand this?” She got down the bus and shut her mind to the oglings, whistlings and snide comments from someone dying to see the moon smile at him.