A letter to my son

Dearest  Kanna,
                     Next month you turn six.I am writing this little note for you to  read, when you are old enough to understand what I have written..may be its in a years time maybe ten..the time really doesn't matter...
I want you to understand and hopefully remember, the lovely relationship we had for these past 6 years. Isn't it ironic that we humans can remember very little of the first few years of our life when we our most loved and cherished!!!!                  

We will never be as close to each other as we have been these last six years...we've had a lot of lovely moments together. Now as you enter a new phase of life I can see your baby features melt into some thing more mature..but every bit as adorable. You are growing into a sensitive and loving person and for that I''m thankful to god....for there is only so much a mother can do; the rest of it she just has to keep her fingers crossed!!!
Your occasional temper tantrums still continue to worry me ...well I guess we'll have to just work harder on that one.
 I know we may opt for different paths in our journey together, but I  promise to let you choose your own path.(though I will be following at a safe distance..I'm still your mother!!!!) I also know that having to let go of your hand from my safe clasp, will be more difficult for me than for you..but I promise to try my best, for your sake.
What are my dreams for you? My dream is that you be able to
                                                                   " think deeply, speak gently
                                                                     love much, laugh often

                                                                     work hard , give freely

                                                                     pay promptly and be kind"       

My dream is to see you grow into a happy, healthy contented person..happy at "just being Nachikaet"..exactly as your are on your sixth  birthday!!!!

I feel truly blessed to have you in my life...may god bless you always.

For amma, you will always be that little bundle of unimaginable joy that the doctor placed in my arms..six years ago.

Love and love always,

Amma 

                                 

Love in the times of homework

Nachikaet is a free spirited soul (which is a sugarcoated way of saying that he cannot sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time) so you can imagine what it is like to sit and make him do homework (although, how he manages to get stars for  his writing and impress the teachers is still a mystery to me!!!)
Last week he was even more fidgety than usual ...refusing to write neatly, throwing his erasers, breaking  his pencil's sharpened points, deliberately giving me wrong spellings..the works. After controlling myself for ten minutes, I blew my top giving him a few pinches and comparing him to his "intelligent" classmates(yes, i stooped down to comparisons!!!)
 He looked at me with tears streaming down his pencil- lead stained face and said "..still I love you amma" .
It was the "still" that did me in. What he was trying to tell me was that, in spite of all my imperfections(which adds up to quite a big list) he loved me unconditionally..and here I was, hurting him physically , wounding his dignity  and labelling him... just because he couldn't memorise a few spellings.I must admit, at that moment, I felt deeply ashamed of myself. The pinch marks on his hands will fade away in a couple of days I'm hoping his wounded spirit will heal quickly too...Sorry my love...amma is truly sorry!!!!

A slice of childhood

Whenever I think of ammumma(my granny) , the first images that come to my mind are the balmy kerala nights when we used to lie down side by side, and she would tell stories..it would be the same story every night.. but the sound of her voice and the familiar fragrance of  sandal wood talcum powder(with which she doused herself after her bath) and the comfortable warmth seeping in from my toes, tucked safely in the soft folds of her Saree lulled me to sleep. Most nights after the story, she would sing lullabies ..songs she had grown up with... songs scented with fragrant sandalwood sachets of memories.
My favourite one was "omama thingal kidavo.."* The soothing sound of ammumma singing in her slightly out of tune voice, is one of my most cherished childhood memories...On some nights, when I put my son to bed; singing this evergreen lullaby I close my eyes and I can almost feel ammumma's plump fingers softly stroking my hair...
Here is a picture of ammumma with Nachikaet taken some years ago when she visited us. We speak almost daily on the phone!!!!

*Omana Thingal Kidavo is said to be composed by Irayaman Thampi for putting the young Swathi Thirunal to sleep You can hear the lullaby here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPOLSSOfUGY

The pencil is mightier than the sword!!!!

After repeatedly reminding his father about his dwindling stock of "once in a while goodies' (biscuits, chocolates etc) Nachikaet decided to take matters into his own hands (literally)!!!
This is what my husband found in his lap top bag

It says"Anoop Anoop I want some biscuits please when this biscuit gets over..please Anoop"

It even has  a diagram showing the "generous" father handing over the goodies to a grateful son..with the mother looking on with a benevolent smile!!!

well a picture is sure worth a 1000 words!!!!

The world according to Ben 10

By his fourth birthday, Nachikaet had graduated from 'dinosaur mania' to' Ben 10 mania'. It is really amazing how a small boy with magical watch,pardon me...omnitrix  has managed to capture the imagination of kids across the globe. (For the uninitiated..Ben ten can turn into 10 different alien forms,each with special powers to protect the universe from evil outer space aliens) . Thanks to indulgent uncles, grandparents and friends amused by nachikaet's obsession with this character, he is the proud owner of all available alien forms.

At least two of them are our constant bedfellows( my husband and i have sadly resigned to waking up in the morning looking straight into a eerily grinning 'spidermonkey' or a spirit like apparition..aptly named 'ghost freak"
Then there are the lecture sessions where Nachikaet painstakingly dissects the features and skills of these alien forms and in which we are expected to participate enthusiastically..he has given up on me fortunately..muttering something about girls under his breath..well how the wounded feminist in me will deal with that is a whole different story altogether!!!
As of now Ben 10 has taken over our little world !!!!

A magical weekend

Last sunday my husband turned 34. While 34 is not a milestone year in most people's calender I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party..complete with a humongous cake, decorations, lunch and a bunch of his 'long lost' college friends(he hadn't seen most of them for the past 10 years, so that justifies' long lost')

Well, deciding that was the only easy part in this whole exercise . What followed was a week of lying, scheming, hushed whispers, deleting the call log on the cell phone and more lying!!!!
what amazed me was the enthusiastic response of the "long lost" friends. Each one of them had to spend almost half of a precious sunday just to reach my place (I happen to conveniently stay at opposite side of the city) The big day had all the makings of a masala bollywood movie. It started off early in the morning with the case of my missing wallet with all credit cards safely tucked inside. After a desperate one hour of frantic calls and memory jogging we got it back from an honest shopkeeper..may god bless him!!!

Then it was the turn of the chair and table rental guy to do his bit by switching off his cell phone at the eleveth hour;when finally after swallowing my ego and being mentally prepared to serve the guests food off the floor,
 he made grand entry complete with free table runners for good measure!!
The look on my husband's face made up for all the running around I had done. This birthday was extra special as he had never had a birthday party ..even as a kid.
The conclusion of the story is that my carefully planned birthday party turned into a reunion of sorts for all the guests and the hostess was the only one who didn't know any of the guests and had to be introduced to each and every one of them by a beaming birthday boy!!!!

Happy birthday Anoop..you deserve every bit of your special day!!!!

A cupful of happiness

        What makes you happy? something that makes you forget everything else for the moment and just compels you to enjoy and savour the moment for what it is..

 

I am constantly surprised at the small packages which gives me my 'happiness dose' for the day.

   Happiness is

                 ...a steaming cup of cardamom tea in my favourite mug in the middle of the day.
                  
                 . ....watching my husband blissfully tucking into the biriyani I made.


   

                        ...holding a card which says "Nachikaet luvs moter (mother) and not  wanting to correct   

                             any of the spellings.

                          ..... getting my  favourite magazines delivered with the morning newspaper.
                      

                          ..... getting a foot massage.

What made you happy today?