When vacations become 'I want no vacations'

What's with Delhi and vacations? Or if I may be little more precise, what's with everybody and 4 day long vacation. A sudden 4 day long vacation comes up and everybody get packing to the nearest hill station. And the first question that everybody asks is: "aren't you going anywhere?"


I honestly replied to a neighbour, "no, with 1 year old prank machine I can’t think of going on a trip as such. I have plans for some shopping spree where I can regale him in day time and be back so as to not interrupt his food-potty-pee-nap schedule. And to my dismay she glared at me and replied "ya that happens". And this comes from a 40 year old woman who has raised 3 kids.


- Is it mandatory that everybody should be going 'somewhere' to spend vacations?
- Is staying at home and having fun your way not vacationing?
- Is it bad on my part of think of my little boy and not go on vacation?


As it turns out that she had plans to go to Shimla - my home town and wanted me to help with her boarding and lodging. I did give her some references but she wasn't as organized as I had expected her to be. She left everything for the  last minute and as luck to have it almost all boarding options - hotels, lodges, guest houses, PGs etc have been more than full this season there. Shimla is close to Delhi hence is an obvious choice for holiday goers.


With her 3 kids, husband and an aged MIL she stepped out of Delhi in her swanky SUV in a hope to book hotel on the spot. And after finding no option she has been buzzing me to help her. I want to have a hearty laugh now but thinking of her plight I feel sorry. Its like vacation become harrowing and that can happen to anyone. No offenses taken but yes, I don’t want to go on this kind of a vacation. 


Lesson for me - plan things in great detail, especially when you have family along. You can sleep on a log of wood but your kids can't.

Will life be any better with this mindset?

A friend posted proudly 'got my husband to cook after 10 years' on her FB page. Plethora of likes, and comments as mushy as 'awwwww', 'so cute' followed and it got me thinking - does any man post about his wife cooking for him daily 3 times at least, and on Sundays it can go up to 4-5 times as well since the heavy ass snacks are too much in demand that day.

Sample this, when a man cooks - he is a great husband, and when woman is cooking then its usual part of the day. I'm not saying that men should cook food every day, I'm also not saying that women shouldn't cook all days. All I’m saying is that running a house is a joint responsibility. If a woman cooks it should be appreciated - not taken like a job she was supposed to do without any hangups - similarly when a man cooks it should be respected that's all, not glorified like winning a warfront.

Am I thinking too much about this cooking session? What say guys? 

If you think you are a super woman, then read on

When we were growing up in the 90s, we thought:
- We were the coolest generation around
- What we were doing was really different, rather revolutionary 
- How we lived was the only way to live
- Our parents and especially their parents lived in dark ages

Years later I have realized how mistaken we were.

Life with a ten month old son, a communication consultant job and thousands of household chores isn’t easy. It’s literally like getting up as soon as you can, rolling a healthy bite for the kid while checking on work related  mails, simultaneously talking to mom on phone and discussing everything on the earth. I thought I was a super mum, a power puff girl and a superwoman garbed as a mortal.

Everything went smooth till I stepped out to meet my granny. The 85 year old woman with numerous health issues was more radiant than me. She immediately hugged the kiddo and somehow he also loved her company. There were no prank, no tantrums, no shrieks. She cajoled him with poems in Pahari, Hindi and half baked Punjabi and he played to her tunes. She gave me more ten more kid recipes to try out.

Later mom told me granny took care of me right from when I was 3 months old till I was three years old. She took care of me singlehandedly , even  when she was running a household of 20 people including unmarried daughters  and newly married daughter-in-laws. And of course, she had her own mother-in-law to look after. And not to talk of scores of guest who would come unannounced and stay for days altogether.

Despite being a class five pass out she ran the house with such an elan that nobody left home without having food,  without carrying meal for next time, wearing old, tattered clothes, no guests were left unattended and her house was sparkling clean all the time.

I thought: “what was she made of? Had I been I her place I would have died of sheer depression of having to manage so many things.”

May be they were the generation of superwomen, super mums and power puff girls. Hats off to those women and that generation! In the meanwhile, I’ll try to take tips from her on how to manage things PATIENTLY.
 

Enjoying snowfall after a decade

All of us want to wake up to a beautiful morning and what if you wake up to see snow clad mountains right in front of your eyes???????

“Awesome”, “Amazing”, “Waooooooo” and what not. That’s what I was yelling this morning.

I was fortunate enough to wake up to enjoy this view right from my bed room. Here's a glimpse for everyone to enjoy.

Location: Shimla, my mumz house

The adieu is still afar

It's been a long while that i've posted something on this blog. For those wondering if this space is still kicking, here's the word - this blog is alive and very much on the horizon.

Personal commitments and health issues kept me away from many things that I love to do - blogging being one of them. Soon there will be more fun notes about why life couldn't be better.

U-turn in dressing: Back to the 90's Govindas

Spoiler Alert: This post is strictly for those who grew up in the 90s.

Back in 1993-94 life was much simpler. I was in class five and life was just about books, friends, movies, vacations and stuff happening at home. We had a VCR - which was like the coolest thing to own - in that age. During vacations, dad got us video cassettes which were on rental basis and hence every minute with the movie cassette seemed precious. Occasionally we invited our cousins for these "movie shows" but rest of the time me and bro would fight about which movie to watch.

We saw 'Aankhen' (1993) and were dazed with the histrionics of Govinda and Chunky Pandey but one thing that struck us was the awkward clothing sense. Like these very bright coloured shirts in gaudy colours, Govinda in white shoes and pants and dancing away to glory. And it wasn't just Govinda, it was the popular trend. I clearly remember most friends discussing these absurd colour & dressing combinations, belittling this sense of dressing and codenaming "Govinda" to all people who followed this dressing.

Belonging to salaried-class family in a sleepy town, it was too much for our imagination to bear as to how could someone wear this awkward 'florescent' pant/shirt.

This went on for quite some years and whenever me and gang of college friends saw somebody with purple pants, bright yellow shirt, red/green cap or anything that would be bizarre by average sensibilities was called 'Govinda'; or 'Govindi' (if it was a girl). PS: This wasn't to belittle the great actor but his popularity was such that almost everyone wanted to copy his mannerisms and at times went really far aping his dressing style.  

Now cut to 2012, the bizarre coloured pants, striking combinations are in vogue (suddenly). This year the most popular clothing is chinos (now available in feminine version as well) - informal, comfortable cotton pants in as many bright colours as you can imagine - purple, bright green, yellow, red, orange - whatever you dare to wear.

Team this with a contrasting top/t-shit and loafers (both again in bright colours). You'll find many (read hundreds) of college kids, yonng professionals aping this dressing. And you'll find them everywhere - malls, eateries, so called "handing out" zones et al. 

Makes me think if I was wrong about the "Govinda" remark in the first place. And while I write this, I am reminded of bright red loafers that hubby dearest gifted me a month ago. He thought it was cool and would be quite a style statement for my Singapore trip and he boasted "try wearing something classy". "Classy?????????? bright red shoes???  Well so after so many ages I have joined the "Govinda" clan after all.

Just another reason why “Life Just Couldn’t Be Better"

Writing after a long time, but this incident is so compelling that I could not stop myself from sharing it with others.

It's a regular Sunday morning when I wake up only to let the maid in to do the basic chores. Other days, I don’t have that luxury and I'm already up and ready to leave for work when the maid turns up for cleaning. And maybe she was waiting for this day, she quietly mopped the floor besides me while I read the movie reviews. Then she politely asked me, "yeh jo aapka compooter hai woh dusre se alag kayon hai" (why is your computer different from others). I looked around and found that both my Ipad and laptop were kept on the dining table (somehow dining table becomes the gadget desk on weekend when I just use stuff and leave them for charging)

As I gaped at her, she pointed at the laptop "yeh wala" (this one). I understood she was talking about the laptop. I told her that this was a computer and was light and mobile and was called laptop. Then I probed into her query and realized she wants to know the difference between desktop and laptop.

I thought the conversation would end here, but it went on to an interesting point. She disclosed that her youngest daughter is studying computers (probably doing a basic course) and wanted to practice it further and hence wanted to buy the cheapest options available!

I have met her daughter at two instances, then I simply gave her some eatables and nodded happily. Now my respect for my maid has gone up by many notches. She works all day to ensure that at least one of her daughters has a better life. Two of her elder daughter are already married and they work along with the mother to earn their bread and butter. This is the third and the youngest daughter and is in Class 10th. Anyhow, I told the maid about assembled systems and how she could get a cheap deal at Nehru Place, especially if she gets a used desktop. 

My this bit of information seems to have worked like magic on her and she has been asking me for more information and probably a reference to buy on old, used desktop. She's trying to save up her money and she has made me a mentor for this assignment. Two things that struck me -

- Your parents will slog their asses off to give to the best in life. They are not God, but just next to God.

- If you want to make it big in life, then no body (not even God) will come in your way

I don’t know what further turn this story takes, but incidents like this make my blog title more endearing and apt - "Life Just Couldn’t Be Better" And how many of you agree with me?