Aah... Perfect Evening!

How I wish, every evening is as perfect!
I was out of office on time, picked up V from school on time, was home on time! You get the idea: Per schedule.
The rest of the evening... just got better.
Over making ships of oranges (Don’t question the creativity of a two year old okay!), and playing with strawberry fruits and arguing over who got the bigger piece, V and I finishes our shares of the daily afternoon fruit (Yay!). My family was returning from out of town and all I wanted to do was a cook a simple home meal (And still make it lavish = Rice, Curry, 3 Vegetables, Fresh Chapatti's, Salad, Snacks!) Yes the whole deal!
See it’s not everyday you get to impress your dad that, I can cook more than just Italian or Mexican! This was my turn!
To keep V engaged and not disturb digress me while I cooked, I did the next best thing: V, Mummy needs help! In less than 1.5 hours, the entire dinner was ready! Yes, Thanks to V's help! And no.. Its not called Child Labor! Come-on.
I was happy, V was excited, since she was a big girl helping mummy in the kitchen. I had my 'aah' moment! Clean kitchen, Dinner ready and V and I still had better part of the evening to play! And that’s what we did. Over games of blocks, puzzles and reading her new favorite book, I caught up with her day. V was done with dinner and bath, before SD knocked on the door!
I was thrilled. Smooth and easy evening I tell you! Only wishing every evening was as smooth! Come on, we can wish right?
Have I bored you enough with the details already? Ok. I will get to the point (Yes, there is a point!). I am almost out the door to pick up my parents when I realized! uff No Roti's done for SD yet! So in less than 2 minutes, Yes 2 minutes, I made perfectly round, soft Chapati's! SD was floored.. hehe.. and more than that I was! 2 Minutes! Round! Soft! Perfect!!!!!
Point is: I am boasting.
And on my drive to the airport, all I kept thinking was.... aha! That was quick! Icing on the cake to a perfect evening... My family enjoyed the meal, they even went as far as saying, it was delicious! It totally reminded me of my perfect family dinner.
You see... I am very under-confident of my simple cooked meals! So it’s a big deal for me!
Sadly, didn’t get to snap enough pictures!
The only flip side of all this was a blasting head ache I woke up with. May be all my self-gloating got to my head!

I saw Mickey Mouse!!!!!!!!!

I was away on a vacation.. and hence no posts, no comments, no facebooking, limited emails and even limited phone! Wow! I love vacations.
This one was super special for me. I went to Disney World!!!! Yeah! And once more.. I Saw Mickey Mouse!!! Yeah!
Call it childish, cute, immature, just funny.. Whatever.. I don’t care! Since I saw Mickey.. and i held my dad's hands through it! The trip was a recapture of my first US trip with my parents and brother in early '90s. I could remember a lot of details before we got there- like you need to take the boat to go to Magic Kingdom or that Space Mountain is the best ride ever.. and Mickey is the cutest mouse ever! ;-)
SD had booked a huge vacation home for us with a pool and Jacuzzi, we always had some place to recoup from the hours of walking and standing in line before hitting the bed. My mum had carried enough food to feed a mini country. Well at the end, the five adults ate it all! My dad would keep saying: Where is Baby.. and instead of V, I'd show up! (I know he was looking for V... but hey, until two years ago, I was the baby of the house!) My brother would keep playing with V, keep her engaged, take her to all the rides and just be a little kid with her. SD would hook on the Twenty20 on the TV and we'd all just chill over lemonade and V screaming Nice Shot! Even at 11 in the night and chilly 55F out, SD would swim; he would soak up the sun during the day! It was adorable!
The trip turned out to be not we had thought it to be! SD had read "Unofficial guide to Disney World" Found the tricks to reducing the wait time at lines, and figured out a lot of park details. But guess what! With the two year old, the best thing about the trip- The ability to Re-plan! We did 3 days= 4 parks, Visit to family friends and eating pakoras in Florida Rains overlooking a fabulous golf community, NASA and watching life-off's, taking the air boat for watching the alligators, sitting by the beach eating yummy fries and oh yes: Shopping!
The ten days went by fast! Faster than you can imagine. We got to spend a lot of time with my parents. It had been two years! For V, she always had her "Nana" or her "Mama" or her "Naani" to run if we enforced any thing on her. She got her unlimited splurge of M&M's. She got to see Mickey, hug Winnie the Pooh, give a Hi-Five to Goofy, Sit on Dinosaurs, Get spooked by Bugs-3D show. See Lions, Giraffes, the parades, the fireworks, and oh yes Mickey Mouse and Mini Mouse! She woke up every morning in her crib and said "I saw Mickey Mouse" ;-) She slept holding Minnie's hand (Her stuff toy)!

Overall- I want more!! I want more!!!

Is it okay...

...to sit cross legged (Aalti Paalthi) in your office chair, while you are working away on your machine. Is it okay to maintain that posture while you are glued to your screen if someone stops by?

I dont know.. but i do it never the less. Honeslty, if I am at my desk, I generally am sitting cross legged, with my head set on, my water and hot herbal tea at arms length and the rest of my space alligned to the way I like it! My zone ;-)
It makes me feel comfortable, keeps me focussed and makes me keep my back more upright! I know, when i work with my feet down, I do tend to slouch! Causing the repeptetive back pains! I do have a foot stool (A habit i cultivated while i was pregnant!). But still.... between the two, the foot stool and the cross legged. I choose the latter.
Lately, i have been thinking about the perception of passer by's. Does it look bad/ unprofessional/ un lady-like! Hmm.
Again, this is only at my desk!

But is being comfortable while you work away, which in my case is sitting cross legged, considered..hmm... lax? Does it give the impression to passer by's.. i am well relaxing! Hmm May be a bit too comfortable. May be weird!
I dont know! Am i over reacting, over thinking. I honeslty hope so....
But what about you.. do you have a sitting way which makes you most efficient at work? Would you react negatively if you saw a person sitting cross legged? Do you think anyone cares!?

Dont' just wish it..feel it!

Buzz Buzz Buzz.. There has been so much talk about Women's Day, about Women's rights and Women's liberation and achievements and so on.
It’s in print, in paper, in news, in media everywhere. But the minute the day is gone. It’s done with right? Women's Day is turning out to be like a Hallmark Day now on. You probably know, I am sucker for all " Hallmark Days " I see no harm! I think it’s fun and cute.
But what turned me off was, the sheer "marketing" of this unique day. International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.
It’s not about wishing women you see around: “Oh, by the way, Happy Women’s Day” I retorted “What’s that”. Response: “Oh, just a day where the Women feel good about being themselves and all the feministic beliefs you gals keep talking about”. Needless to say, the person got a mindful and has been avoiding me in hallways now!
On a lighter note, I was be surprised at how many emails, FB messages and personal notes I saw around on Women's Day. Some were fabulous, some were witty and some were just simply put. All drove the same point: "Happy Women's Day". Urgh!
Did I do anything different? Did you do anything different for yourself or for the women around you? Probably not. Right?
Sadly, none of the media reports I read and saw highlighted what this day meant! Am I being rude, possibly?
Now, being a woman myself, I strongly believe in our equality and our individuality. My friend Priyanka words it best ! I have to completely agree with her that the minute we talk about Women's Empowerment, we are calling them the weaker sex.
Having said all that, if there is Women's day to commemorate us... is there a Man's day? Apparently there, is November 19th: international's man's day. Hmm. It’s already marked on my calendar. I will surely look for my hallway chap, and wish him “Happy Men’s Day. Oh, it’s a day where you continue to be a #@#$!@#%!%#$” Ok, excuse my tone! A “Good Woman” will be polite and forgive and forget! ;-)

For me, I consider men and women to be equal. In all forays in all spaces and in all fields. There is no " Man thing, Woman thing ". That’s how I was brought up, that’s how my family is and that’s just the way it is. Why- Because it’s natural!

For the joy of it...

Recently, I re-discovered my own long lost passion of reading. Sadly, its not as frequent as before, but i am trying to continue
March, is the National Reading Month and it’s only right to spread the word. The benefit of a lifelong reader and above all the knowledge and discipline gained is priceless!
Growing up, reading for me was my school books, academic related and may be some "Chacha Chaudhry" An Indian comic book. But that’s it.
Once on a trip, a friend introduced me to Archie comics, I loved them. I devoured them. In school, our librarian would encourage us to read the Enid Blyton’s, the Noddy books and so on. Honestly, I read them only because I had to! But slowly and surely, I got more and more engrossed in books. I got faster and more experimental in my choices. Medical thrillers, Lawyers stories and mystery books fascinated me. With a library opening right around the corner, I joined and would go in at least bi-weekly and issue books. With a good friend, we traded books. She would read Betty Mahmoody and I would read Jean Sasson. We both would brag and then exchange the books to get the details. And my passion grew. Sadly, I didn’t read as many classics! A very dear friend had read Sense and Sensibility at fourteen. Wow!
With SD, our collection of books and passion of reading grew even further. Though, we both don’t get as much time now, we still manage to read once in a while.
So far, it seems V is following our foot steps. We take her to a store, grab a book from the shelf and for the next twenty minutes, she will be on the trolley turning page after page. Of course, she isn’t reading yet, but books, the pictures and story engages her. I was surprised that in a toy store, she left the doll she was playing with it, the minute SD showed her an Elmo Book! At home, she will happily go to her books cubby, get her book out and grab her Naani, Mama, SD or me and say Story Time. If she is a bit fussy for food, I tell her, Read a book and she will happily run to her chair, eat and listen to the story and the pictures that go along with it. SD and I love to get her more books. Her grandparents send mythological books from back home. We read to her, she follows the story and enjoys it and asks for "More!"
I remember my MIL's honest confession a while back "When you would read books to V when she was five months old, I thought it was foolish. But now at seventeen months, when I see her respecting the books and enjoying reading and being read to, it was a wise idea" A close friend of mine, a mom herself, advised me early on, "They are never too
Young to be read to"

I really hope, we can continue cultivating the seeds of reading and passion for books in V. And yes, it is hard for a toddler to sit and read for fifteen minutes, but you have to make a start somewhere!

Shhh.... Shhh....Shhh... ROFL!!!

Aha...
On a very light note... a very very light slightly stinky note!
Remember the Three Idiots "Silencer Speech"
Here is the link: for those who missed the movie (WHAT>>> go see it now!), for those who don’t remember (Seriously?) and for those, who want to laugh once more (Now we are talking!)

I was on the receiving end of "paddum" moment(s)!!!! Eesshh! I was actually in three scenarios where it happened:

1: Loud ones: I was busily working at my desk, completing the last update to the ever changing project plan. When, from 4 cubes across, next to the copier.. I hear it! The clear, loud and distinct fart! Which at least went on for 5-7 seconds. The person looked around hoping no one noticed, but a couple of heads popped out of the cubes…. And a fit of laughter ensued. Though embarrassed, the person took it in great sprit and swore off any Mexican lunch plans!

2: Medium Ones: Ok, this is disgusting, so read at your own will (Peaked your curiosity, didn’t I). I always take stairs, even if it is to get warm water from my cafeteria 5 floors above~ So on one such afternoon, I am climbing the stairs, where the person in front (Thankfully a couple of steps ahead) lets out small/ loud enough/ spaced out/ stinky ones at each step she climbed.. It was for at least 5 steps. I couldn’t take it... I dashed for the nearest exit and took the elevator up! Thank you very much.

3: Silenced ones: Aaye! Recently at a party, the music was quiet loud; the ambience was dark and the conversations plenty. In order to hear the next person, we were literally next to their faces. Towards the later part of the evening, my tiny feet in my lovely shoes demanded I give them a break! I am sitting and chatting away, A friend comes, is bending down to chat with me, and then leaves abruptly. All 5 of us gathered near my chair, run in different directions, to ensure we avoid the 'nastiness' of the silent killer!

Eesh, yuck and Ouch.... but when put together... made me laugh as I typed each word above!