I want to sleep like a baby!

Sometimes raising children can get very frustrating, when all the efforts you put in dont really lead you anywhere. Children get away doing their own thing, despite you fretting your life over it. Bringing up kids amidst several contradicting value systems in a household can be one nerve-wrecking task!

This too shall pass! Until then, you can hear me hum.....

In every life we have some trouble,
when you worry you make it double
don't worry, be happy

dont worry be happy now
dont worry be happy
dont worry be happy
dont worry be happy
dont worry be happy
aint got no place to lay your head,
somebody came and took your bed,
don't worry, be happy

the landlord say your rent is late,
he may have to litagate,
dont worry (small laugh) be happy,

look at me im happy,
don't worry, be happy

i give you my phone number,
when your worried, call me,
i make you happy

don't worry, be happy

aint got no cash, aint got no style,
aint got no gal to make you smile
but don't worry, be happy

cos when you worry, your face will frown,
and that will bring everybody down,
so don't worry, be happy

don't worry, be happy now...

don't worry, be happy
don't worry, be happy
don't worry, be happy
don't worry, be happy

now there this song i wrote
i hope you you learned it note for note
like good little children

dont worry be happy

listen to what i say
in your life expect some trouble
when you worry you make it double
dont worry be happy
be happy now

dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry, be happy
dont worry
dont worry be happy
don't worry, don't worry, don't do it,
be happy,put a smile on your face,
don't bring everybody down like this

don't worry, it will soon pass whatever it is,
don't worry, be happy,
i'm not worried

- Bob Marley

Picking up the Rashtrabasha

S1 and I talk to each other only in English or Hindi, very rarely switching to Tamil, when the other two fail in expressing certain nuances. S3 watches us very discerningly every time we converse in the alien language, for a while now, and has picked up bits and pieces of the vernacular.

Last night was the first time she spoke one full sentence in Hindi, without any prompting from any of us. We were all going through her school's new brochure and there was a picture with all the kids playing in the sand pit. She says referring to the photo, "Five (she doesnt know the Hindi equivalent yet) log matti mein khel rahe they" with a super strong Tam twang. I was rolling on the floor and S1 was also laughing his guts out. She realised she had spoken it right and dished out a victorious smile.

At the last count, my kid can speak three languages very fluently and now manoeuvring towards mastering the fourth one too! Should accomplish that before her fourth birthday, may be!

Reading...back with a bang

Finished 'Almost Single' in one day flat!

Long for the carefree days

Catch up on coffee with friends on weekend
Cheap-roadside shopping, designer shopping, shopping to no end

Long drives with stops for corn on the cob & pani puri
Facials, massages, a new hairdo- grooming would do not bad to me

Watch a movie (in a theatre) that the world is raving about
To be on my own reading a book with a drink in hand, I forgot

No, I dont want to swap what I have with all of the above,
Just thought of paying a small tribute to what more I could have!

Hunt for the right school

If there was anything that I was apprehensive about in parenthood, then this was it. And here I am today at the crossroads of choosing the right school for my kid. Different factors need to be considered and assessed, keeping in the mind the fact that our decision now will influence our child's future...whoever said, parenting is an easy task.

According to me, the perfect school has to be something that has a sound educational & value system in place, provides with fundamental amenities like clean toilets, safe & hygienic environment, large playground and has a strong focus on art and other extra curricular activites...all these at an affordable fee!

We have picked up our first ever admission form this season and am still to recover from the fee statistics provided in the document! This amount may not sound extravagant to many, but from where I come, it is a bit over the top. My concern is not so much on the fee amount really as it is about the over focus on the infrastructural strengths of the school - A/c bus, state of the art computer lab, etc (you get my point?). They emphasise and over emphasise on the school's physical facilities and do not provide adequate importance to their 'education' system or the method of teaching - the whole mighty reason why they exist, or so I presume!

Another irritant is the fact that the schools located in and around IT hubs amplify their fee structure by manifolds to optimise their revenues by charging extra from the people who earn more (the typical double income IT families - I hate them, somebody ask me about the price of vegetables in my locality...arrrgh) than the average familes!

The search is on...how I wish I could just google my way to find the right school for my kid. Until then,

"Jisse dhoondti hoon main har kahin
Jo kabhi mili mujhe hai nahin
Mujhe jiske education par ho yakeen
Woh patshaala hai kahan?"

tan-nana-tananan- tananann
tan-nana-tananan- tananann"

Sahaana the lyricist

I was humming this song while sitting in the car travelling to Sahaana's school, "Kannal pesum panne ennai mannipayya?". She started singing, "Kannal pesum panne ennai mannipayya?" And then comes her innovative lyrics..."nee ellariyum mannippa, nee enna mannipayya?"

Time stand still....dont fly

They are growing by the minute and there is so much to do before they are grown.

Let me hold you and cherish,
For every moment I know will perish,
Let the time stand still I wish,
Let the time stand still I wish.
Following are some things I want to do before the end of 2008-

• Go on a picnic with the two kids and the hubby. Drive on a long winding road, with dense greenery on either sides of the road while John Denver and Kishore Kumar play in the background. Spread out the cliched red and white checkered sheet on the green grass and dig into some home-made sandwiches (another cliche) Play frisbee, cricket and good old antakshari (this one is turning out into a tribute to cliches).
  
• Inculcate daily dose of outdoor games for the two. Want them to get back home really tired and sweaty after the games, the way we used to in our times. Have been fairly successful in building interest among the apartment kids for outdoor sports and manage to spend time atleast thrice a week for about half an hour engaging them in intense physical activites....races, exercises, etc. I get very upset when I see the kids play 'Teacher-teacher', 'Doctor-patient' or 'House-house'!


• Want to go to Bombay without the kids for a couple of days and catch up with all my friends. An afterthought, a 'couple of days' will lead nowhere, need atleast a week.


• Want to create a mommies' club in Hyderabad and have weekly/fortnightly meets with them. The kids can build their own little 'out of school and out of apartment' network.
  
• Spend a week at home alone with the kids...I want to cook all their meals, feed them and play with them without bothering about housekeeping, office work, etc.

Hmmm...that sounds like some plan for the next year. Amen!