Confused Mama

- From a Tourist to a Moved Traveller The beautiful flowers at the Mana Village - India's 1st Village I had no idea what I was signing up for when I told Amma, "I'll join you on the trip." At that time, I had only two worries: whether I would get two weeks of leave from work, and how Sarath would manage taking care of Gowri on his own for  2 weeks. Thankfully, both concerns were sorted out sooner than expected. So I decided to accompany her. Partly because I was worried about sending her alone on such a long journey, and partly because I had always wanted to travel with her - just the two of us. So I said yes. Only later, when I started researching the trip, did I realize that I had unknowingly signed up for one of the most adventurous pilgrimages in India - the Char Dham Yatra. At Haridwar Ganga Aarathi I am not particularly religious ( irrespective of what the photo says 😃 ). I am not even deeply spiritual. In fact, I went directly to Kedarnath after Guruvayoor, un...

Oh, my little girl, who is all set to be a 1st grader. But your mama is not ready yet, to be a 1st grade mom!!! Yes, you will learn new things, You will make new friends,  You will be on your own, But your mama is not ready yet to be on her own. Yes, you will carry your bag, You will eat all by your own, You will walk without holding my fingers, But your mama is not ready yet to walk alone. Yes, you will feel happy and worried, You will feel excited and scared, And you are capable of handling it all, I know. But your mama is not yet able to handle it all. Yes, the house is going to get much quieter, And I am finally going to get time for myself. Which you bet; I had wished for with all my might! Yet, now I know that I am not ready yet. Oh, my little girl... I wish you all the courage, which I never had. May you never be hesitant to do what you have to do, To tell what you have to tell To see what others can't see To hear what other can't hear. Oh, my little girl, you are about ...

*********************************************************************************** Me : You know, humans were monkeys long back. Kiddo : So you were a monkey when you were a Kid ? *********************************************************************************** Kiddo : Ammaaaaaaa, why are you giving me grass to eat..!!! [ By mistake she was about to swallow a coriander leaf] *********************************************************************************** A fact :  When she got introduced to 'Snake&Ladder' game , the thing which she wanted to do badly was ' to go down the ladder'{ which was not allowed by this stupid grown-ups though } and another fun thing was to get eaten by the longest snake.  *********************************************************************************** Kiddo : Amma, what is the job of  a Princess ? *********************************************************************************** I was in the middle of some work, and she was bugging ...

We were traveling in our car. My husband was driving, I was sitting in front seat next to him, our kid was sitting in her car seat safely and happily, and we were listing to our favorite songs, not  nursery rhymes, our favorite music, and she was happy back there, apparently looking at the view it seems!!!! I know you might be wondering why this is so special, this is a very normal thing. Yes, I agree. But if you are a parent, you might know that I just talked about a huge milestone in parenthood.  At least for us, that was huge. I never thought these days would come. I still remember the very first day when we put her to car seat. It was a nightmare. I never thought I will be able to sit in the front seat of a car again in peace , that too listing to my favorite songs. That is too much to even dream of. But that day has come, that too it happened when I least expected it to happen. Yes, there are other things which trouble us now, like constant questioning from a ve...

Amma when we will get our lover!!!   ( It's 'we', so I told her your dad is my lover, but she told he is just my dad 😁)   There are lot of working days and not lot of holidays. Need to make some working days to holidays.  ( I would really love to implement that rule )  Do dinosaurs also have the same God as humans do?  ( I could only answer by saying I am not sure )  Amma, you need to buy some makeup!!! ( I didn't even dare to ask her whether I don't look beautiful even without makeup, because kids always tell you the hard realities)  Do our legs and head fall off if our stomach is not there?  ( Apparently, the main purpose of stomach is to hold our other body parts together 😄)  Houseflies are dirty. They need to take bath.  ( Sure, we can request them that.  😐) Does Santa come only to snowy places??  ( In all the x'mas videos, there is snow when Santa comes, she is really hoping that it will snow in Bangalore on t...

  Oh, my dear child,  I wish you never change. Oh, my dear child, I wish you find happiness in the silliest things, like you do now. Oh, my dear child, I wish you express your love without shame, like you do now. Oh, my dear child, I wish you enjoy your own company and love yourself more and more, like you do now.  Oh, my dear child, I wish you throw tantrum when you can't take it any more, as you do now. Oh, my dear child, I wish you never hide your feelings, as you don't hide now. Oh, my dear child, I wish your imagination never fade away and your curiosity never die off . Oh, my dear child, I wish your love for the world will never be lost. My dear child, Be as wild as you are, be as kind as you are, Don't let the world change who you are. Oh my dear child, I wish you never change...                                                      ...

I was struggling really hard while working out         Kiddo : " Amma smile while you exercise" Oh, it actually made a  difference.   I didn't know all these while that I had a personal trainer @ home , that too for free...😀 While my husband was making her ready  Kiddo : I want matching bindhi                 That too she was wearing a Peach color  dress of all the colors. Hus : Ya, we have it, he took an orange one and tried to trick her Kiddo : Acha, my dress is peach and it is not same as orange. Peach and Orange are different colors. Someone needs to learn  colors again.😜 [There she is, on  one of the days when she got all the things matching💪 😁] Kiddo : " Amma, come and see my big 💩!!!" Should I show excitement since it is big afterall...😁Have never read how to handle that question in any of the parenting books 😅 Kiddo every morning: " Is today a working day or a holiday ? " If it is a ...

I asked my toddler with my smoothest voice, And she replied No. I asked my toddler with my strictest voice, And she replied No. I asked my toddler with my loudest voice, And she replied No. I asked my toddler with my yelling voice, And again, she replied No.   And I shouted and I wept,  And I stormed out to our bed room. And she cried and followed me, And we both hugged and kissed.   And who cleaned up the mess finally? Oh, that we did, together!!!                                                                                           ...

One day me and my daughter were chit chatting about her favorite things, and I asked her who her favorite person is, with a hidden agenda to hear 'Amma' so that her dad will feel a bit jealous. But she replied, without even the slightest doubt, that her favorite person is 'Ammoomma' ( grandma)! Who got jealous now!! But I should have known that coming, because my mother has a special bond with all her grand children, they all just love her so much, irrespective of the fact that they get to see her only once in a couple of months. She makes individual time for each of her grandchildren even in her super busy schedule. On working days, they all eagerly wait at the door step for their super special grandma to come home from work. Every single time when she needs to step out to run some errands, we can hear howling from all three of them ( as if it's a 'howling competition' ). So the point is, that was an obvious answer, may be for all of them. I thought, now it...

           " Gowrikutti , did you go to park today ? ",  her grandma casually asked on a regular call. I was like... Ohh Noooo !!! Why did she ask that ? Somehow park and other outside activities are out of her mind.  Now the tantrum will begin, the water works will start. I was about to tell my mother not to remind her about outside activities during this lockdown period.   But to my surprise, the little one said,               " Ammooma, don't go outside, Corona virus will come " Oh... So she is aware. Good that she understands, I was relieved. But at the same time, I got a bit worried. Has the fear of this pandemic gotten into her? Even though I want her to be aware of the situation, I really don't want her to feel insecure about what is going around. I started to think about how to make her aware of the real scenario. Suddenly I heard  a loud scream,         ...

                    Some silly work thing, and as usual I got all panicked and worried. How did I miss it, what was I thinking... All the stupid , blaming myself thoughts overflowed , and without even knowing, tears started rolling do wn  my cheeks. I totally forgot about the 3 yr old who got to watch all these drama!!!               And suddenly I tried to hide my tears and made a fake smile... But to my surprise, she got up from her chair, came to me and said ,            " It's okay Amma, no worries "              Oh my God... what should I tell.. My heart melted to the floor... She is trying to console me..  My 3 yr old girl, paused her favorite TV show, and came towards her mama, because she felt sad, she felt empathetic , and also she was  very particular that I become happy . She stoo...