Happy Valentine's Day

Love is in the air
For today is Valentine’s Day.
Red and pink be today’s colors
My dear Valentine, Be mine forever!




{graphic courtesy coolholidaygraphics.com}
Ok that’s cheesy enough, even my tummy turns (yes I know I wrote it) Brrr … how bad can you get … whatever! It’s a Hallmark holiday, what do you expect?

Now, next mission, maybe I will get honey to read this one post.

But with the cheesy poem, I know its gonna backfire for he will never come back for more! The law of diminishing returns! *sigh*

To everyone else, May you find your true love and may you live happily ever-after! Happy Valentine's Day!

What was I thinking?

Ok maybe I should delete the last post ... I am sure now the limited viewer ship I have would go down even more ... Who admits to reading these things? Right!

No I am not turning into a cheesy romantic! I blame my faux pas to Valentine's Day activities everywhere! *Sigh*

Am I losing it?

I am not perfect.

As a teenager, I have read the silly Mills & Boon book. If you ask me how many, I don’t know, but I know one summer I read one everyday! So there! I knew most of the plots by the end of it all and often even just reading the back cover I could predict (pretty accurately) how the story would go – yes not just the fact that girl wins boy, but how it actually will go … Common that’s not smart, yes I know.

Let me see – how many plots can I think of
1. Poor, innocent girl meets wealthy handsome guy, they spend a night. Girl realizes her mistake (huh?) and runs away. They meet maybe several years or months later, boy is angry and girl is pissed. They don’t know why but the chemistry is still there and finally after multiple run-ins, misconceptions later they hook up. The end.
2. Handsome guy, dead wife, has a baby – hires a nanny. Enter the girl, loves the job, loves the guy – can’t think anything can happen. Of course they do. The end
3. Boy meets girl (or vise versa). They hook up. Something happens, they part. Girl gets pregnant, does not tell boy (or maybe cannot for some ‘big’ reason). They meet. Boy still has the hots for the girl. Girl is not sure what he wants. Boy figures out he is the dad, upset now wants to marry and do the right thing. Girl disagrees, she wants love not pity. Blah Blah they figure out in the end (of course) they truly love. The end
4. Smart workaholic lady, meets her rival in a guy who either is in the same profession or has just bought become her boss. They quarrel. They love each other. Oh brother!
5. Girl traveling to some foreign location. Meets the guy, thinks he is a beggar. Goes on road trips, falls in love. Realization that the guy is the prince of the country. Oh my! In comes the lady vixen, of course the lady is no match (or so she thinks). Finally girl realizes that the guy loves her and the vixen is his step cousin (or something else)! Aha!

Another 5 more, just twist the boy/girl around.

I don’t know when I got over it (finally, maybe) and moved on. I read the great works of literature – Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Alice Walker, and the fictions in between – the Grishams, the Sheldons, the Pattersons.

But yesterday when we went to the library I saw three M & B’s. and I took it! OH DEAR!! Am I losing it? Of course, I haven’t read it yet … but now I am feeling guilty.

What should I do?
a) Read them and pretend I did not & sell it back to the library,
b) I hide them in the closet for a rainy day,
c) Or should I just leave it in plain sight for who actually cares what I read – they are probably better (or worse) than reading the tabloids!

What do you say?

Another question will it even thrill me anymore? Probably not ... the last time (years ago) when I read it, it was hiding it from Amma, not really knowing the world and its ways, probably not knowing any better. Maybe now just for that sake alone - reminisce - I should read one .. what do you think?

A walk down Memory lane

Timepass tagged me on this one – seemed easy enough but now I have realized that I probably need to write a lot more to take this detour. Anyway, here goes

"Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better."

Family – A poem for Amma & some best wishes for my dad on his birthday

Friend – Not really about a friend, but some things that brought back a lot of memories from my childhood days

Yourself – This is the one that I think has been the most emotional and painful to document

Your love – Hmm, I haven’t written much about my dashing, handsome, knight … have I?. Though he is mentioned on many of my posts, you would think I should have our love story posted at some point. Ok note to myself, but for now here’s one that I wrote on his birthday and on father’s day

Anything you like - My first official Mother’s day


And now to tag my “virtual buddies”
Edappal In hopes that this gets you out of hibernation!
Swati - who is just settling in after a big trip. Here's something more 'to do'! :)
Hiba’s mom - here's a virtual scrapbook for you!
Preethi – A new visitor - how about I tag you? Sorry, if I am not playing nice! But I would to love to know more about you.

Update on daycare

According to the daycare Kutie’s day one without family went well. He cried for only 5 mins and then was happy to play with other kids – and joined in on the circle time and peek-a-boo games. When my parents when to pick him up after a couple of hours he looked cheerful.

Lets hope the sunny days are here to last!

BTW, I have been corrected by the daycare to refer to them as 'teachers' rather than 'aunty'. Will this daycare give exams and homework as well? Sigh.

I acquiesced

Almost everyone I talk to suggest that we just leave Kutie alone and let him cry and he will learn to stay on alone. So today, without much heart we have left him at daycare (no grandma to help him around), with my parents going to pick him up later today. I know, I know, my brain tells me this is most likely the best way. I still say most likely – only because, no one seems to have tried out any other method than letting kids go at first. Colleagues have stayed on for 5-10 mins and no more, some have tried half days but that’s about it. I am not saying my method will be any better but ….

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn't take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning

Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing.
~Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987

Anyways, today he will be alone at daycare. My parents would probably pick him up in a couple of hours, and if all goes well, we could just increase the time over the next two weeks, is the plan.

Thanks little Aryan, for your lovely flowers, it certainly made our day. I will show it to little Kutie in the evening.

I would like to pass it on to my parents, who I am sure are already missing the little guy, being away from them for a couple of hours. With just a few weeks remaining of their trip, I understand how sad they are to leave the little guy. I will be missing my confidante, my support (I know you will be only a phone-call away, but it was just great to have you with us) and Kutie – I am just not sure how he will react. He has grown so attached to his Ammamma – asking her to give him food every time, calling Muthu over to play with him – it will definitely take some time to adjust. He has learned much from them in ways of learning to talk, to pray, and has enjoyed the special attention only grandparents could shower on their grandkids.

I would pass it to my dear son, hope you grow big and strong. I wish you will enjoy your time away from us at the daycare, at school, and always know - we love & adore you.

And last but not the least, I pass it on to my dear honey ... in hopes that I get real ones on the 14th! * hint, hint * :)

I pass the wonderful roses along to -
Cee Kay: I am sure we all need a dozen roses and blessings always. So here's one for you - in hopes that everything works out for you always. It been great to know you through your blog ... hope we keep in touch always.

Hiba's mom: Best wishes always and forever. Sorry I haven't stopped by recently, but things have been busy at our house. (hope this makes up for it) :)

Sad little me

Kutie started daycare today (with my parents going back to India in 2 weeks) we decided to ease him in. The whole weekend, knowing that the little guy will have troubles up ahead, made me sad and disappointed. I wished and prayed for a miracle – maybe the president would change the rule and let grandparents stay for years rather than the six months if you have the visa, maybe the company I work at would pull a new policy for mommies to work at times that suit them and not the regular 8 hours, maybe I could win a million dollars and not have to pay tax on it either.

Since none of the possibilities came true over the weekend, I moved my prayers to hope and wish that the daycare will be a smooth ride for Kutie, hopefully he will make friends easily and adjust quickly.

With all our prayers, honey dropped him off and as expected he cried straight for ½ hour. I had asked my mom to stay back, just so that it might help him, but smart as he is, he was pretty sure on what was happening. He kept calling for his dad and after a while “poova” (let’s go) to his grandma. When I spoke to the day care ‘aunty’ she was of the opinion that I should just leave the little guy alone from tomorrow and that he would adjust quicker. I beg to differ; wouldn’t it scare the hell out of the little guy? Wouldn’t it feel like his parents just ditched him off?

Apart from this, was this other email at work that I need to attend a seminar for a week in Vegas – this means not only me being away from my little one that I will need to deal with myself, but also the fact that the two guys will be left alone to deal with themselves. With no family near, I cannot turn to anyone for help for the 4 days I will be away. The seminar is months away, and hopefully Kutie will adjust to day care by then and honey can drop him off for a couple of hours and work from home … but these are all “what if” situations that scare the heck out of me!

There goes my heart

I know not how to breathe
I know not the fear that grips
The darkness gathers
Could you bring it back …there goes my heart
I hear the thuds (loud and clear)
A step ahead, a step further
I know not how to reach, for
now forever my heart lives outside.

Things I would rather spell ...

Now that Kutie has learnt so much, and understands so much, we need to spell the words rather than say it out loud. You ask why? ‘Coz he understands! Duh!

M-i-l-k – No I cannot say “paal” or milk in front of him (or even when he is in other room) he knows it. At times, when I get up from the sofa to warm up the milk, he stops from whatever else he might be into and runs into the kitchen, running, crying desolately that someone would think, we don’t feed him a thing! The milk cup might still be in the microwave, and the seconds are counting down, & you can see him running in circles crying “Paalu, Paalu”, and finally when the microwave buzzes, he holds his arms up so we can hold him and he can see better. Again, he has no patience to give me the time, to pour the milk out into his cup, put some sugar and to close the lid. It’s like “Don’t you know mom, I wanted it 5 minutes ago?"

B-i-s-c-u-i-t – “Can I eat this thing all day? See, Amma I can hold it, break it, eat it, dirty my hands and mouth; its fun Amma … Can you just give it to me, NOW” Sorry Kutie, this is a treat, not the snack that you can eat anytime you are hungry. Can I give you something else … instead of biscuit …….. (Wailing) naaaaaaaaaaaaah! Nah! Nah! Shoot. Now I can’t even go to the shelf where we keep it, for every time I open it, he thinks it’s to take out the b-i-s-c-u-i-t!!!

Other things, that you need to be careful to say to Kutie – Truck – otherwise you better show him one real quick (picture or real), don't tell him you are going to the bathroom (unless you want a 18 month onlooker), wear a Saree and he will continually say "Tummy" - meaning he can see your tummy!

Another thing, tell him you are leaving for work and leave immediately otherwise he will tell you "Bye" and show you to the door as well! :(

A to Z about me!

Tagged by Swati

A - Available? – hmm … maybe ..
B - Best Friend – L, R and a few other good friends
C - Cake or pie – Neither – I prefer “khaara” to “meetha” unless its chocolates! ;)
D - Drink of choice – H20, lemonade
E - Essential thing used everyday - phone, laptop, my bag, car .. too many things to count... I am the Material Girl, please don't judge me!
F - Favorite Color – Brown, Black, Blue
G - Gummi bears or worms – neither, thanks
H - Hometown – technically Kerala, but Bombay for its closer to my heart (my childhood through teen life)
I - Indulgence - ice cream!
J - January or February – neither
K - Kids and names – one (for now), Kutie
L - Life is incomplete without – my family
M - Marriage Date – Sept 3
N - Number of siblings - none
O - Oranges or apples - Apples
P - Phobias or fears – Earthquake after my last experience
Q - Quote - A few here.
R - Reason to smile – my son
S - Season – Summer to play out, Rain if I could stay home, Spring for the flowers and Winter to cuddle up … so all of them.
T - Tag three people – Anyone who stops by and wants to play … (please let me know if you do it, though)
U - Unknown fact about me – hmm, lets just say its best to leave it unknown.
V - Vegetable you don't like – Karela
W - Worst habit – according to mom, I talk too loud! :(
X - X-rays you have had - Chest
Y - Your favorite food – Anything mom makes, especially tomato dal, jackfruit uperi, YUMMY!
Z - Zodiac - Scorpio

60 at 5?

If at 18 months Kutie has 18 motor vehicles - does that mean by 5 years he will have 60 of these? Honey I hope your company goes IPO soon! :)

Superstition or caution?

Superstition by nature means things that do not hold true, but the possibility of “what if it were true” bothers us so much that we would rather give-in to superstition than fight it. Last week when I mentioned about cricket, it led me to think about all the “stupid” ideas that I have either come to believe or follow just because it’s easier.

The evil-eye
The concept - that people have “the evil-eye”, and when they see your baby or child their “eye” could make your baby sick (in some way).

Seems ridiculous. First – why would your friends and family wish against you? Second – A lot of my friends have kids of their own – who are beautiful, intelligent (like my own), so why have the evil eye, plus he is too small for any other kids to feel competitive in anything! But ...

About 6 months ago, we went to a baby shower, met with friends we haven’t met in a while. People went ga-ga at Kutie who had just turned 6-7 months and was crawling everywhere. They were very impressed with his achievements. The next day he had a runny nose that lasted a week. Ok so someone from the group had a slight fever … maybe?!
What about the time, right after our Hawaii trip, we shared photos of little Kutie; everyone exclaimed how grown-up he looked, how cute etc. The next day, poor baby, kept running into things, falling everywhere. Coincidence … maybe?!
My colleague, who just got back from a trip today, told me a nightmare experience of her son being in the hospital, for he could not poop (he is better now). Of course, it could just be the different diet, time zone that caused indigestion but her parents are insisting it’s because of all the attention the baby got. Now she is Mexican and it looks like, like us they believe in the evil eye. (Though they have a different practice to “remove the evil eye” – put an egg under the baby’s bed)

Now even though my head urges me against entertaining such a ridiculous idea, my heart – my mother’s heart - will not agree, and I have to ask Amma to do a “remove the evil eye” routine.

Now there are a few that has been drummed into my head that its second nature for me – like not to cut nails after dusk (go to the spa instead), or not to call a person who is about to leave & almost out of the door (use cell phone instead, albeit few minutes later) or not to visit the temple during the 'inauspicious' days.

Many of these probably have no effects either on the follower or the non-follower, but are you willing to take that chance?

Cricket Fever ... where did it go?

There was a time, just a few years back, I loved watching cricket. Keeping scorecards and tallies were part of the normal routine in life. If nothing else, I would watch our neighborhood boys playing from my balcony(patio).

There would be at least 3 to 4 teams playing on the field. The older boys taking the maximum space of the field, the younger boys on a smaller pitch and the little ones on the colony road – my building was at the end of the street so the traffic was very low and from my vantage point atop the fourth floor, the view was fantastic. Of course, we never admitted to the boys that we watched them play, but I am sure they knew that we did. Ah! The tricks they would do to impress us – running around if they caught a ball, yelling at team-mates if someone missed the wicket or did not make that crucial run.

The field being very near the railway tracks, one good hit and the ball would go flying across to the tracks. Then there would be a debate on who should get the ball, often the batsman had to do it (since he threw it). This was great fun to watch too. For I often would have seen exactly where the ball landed. The poor batsman would climb up the wall that created the division between the track and the field and start to carefully look for the ball in-between all the trash that would be piled up on the tracks. (Of course we all new which tracks had trains coming and even roughly the in-between gap between each trains arrivals so no-one ever got hurt.)

Anyway, getting back to the point of cricket, it was a great times. I remember times (summer vacations) when we girls tried our hands on it. We would get the younger boys rounded up and play against them. We would either boss them up by saying that we have never played the game so needed more leniencies or never admit a catch, a six or anything in-between. Looking back, I think we enjoyed the arguments better than playing itself.

And then there were the real shows – the Indian cricket team play-offs. Discussions would flow on how well they or they did not perform. If it was the world cup or some crucial game no one would be out playing that evening. After the game, there would be discussions on how the team played or not.

Then there were the superstitions – one of the girls claimed that if she watched, the Indian team is sure to lose. She said it often enough that I started to believe it myself … (ah such stupid trivial stuff)

When I moved to US, it was this excitement that I missed. I tried to keep track of the games through the internet. But reading about a game is very different than watching it, living it. Slowly over the years, I kept little to minimum track of the every day plays. I still loved the game, but somehow the former glory disappeared.

A month ago, we moved from Comcast cable to DIRECTV cable and now have 24 hour access to the cricket from all over the world. And can you believe it; I barely tuned in. What have the last 7 years turned me into? Is it the game (I hope not), is it me (I hope not either)?

This also brings up another point – what will my son like a few years from now. If its one of the American sports, could I sit with him and follow it? I probably will need a crash course in understanding all the rules & players for game so I will at least be able to make a decent conversations. The trails of parenthood continues ...

Happy U

18 cool things that Kutie says apart from calling all us

1. Iyye-ya-po (if you say Swami-yee)
2. Chulbuli (A You-Tube favorite for lunch and dinner time)
3. L –ka – di (for the song from maasoom – lakadi ki kati)
4. Trrr-ruck (truck)
5. Kaar (car)
6. Buus (bus)
7. Pooo-nnaa (Poona – if you ask him where his paternal grandma is)
8. Poo-aa (lets go)
   
9. Vee-nam (I want)
10. Ye-nee-Que (get-up)
11. Pa-aal (milk)
12. Pa-tuu-ma (for panjara or sugar)
13. Maa-mu (food – lunch/dinner)
14. Bee-s-kat (biscuit – cookies)
15. Han-ga-roo (hanger – some one tell me why he likes to add the ऊ ending!)
16. Ellow (yellow – the only color in the world)
17. Goo-noo-tt (good nite)
18. (H)appy U (his version of Happy Birthday to You)

To be or not to be, that is the question

The blog-o-sphere is a growing large by the minute. You can visit corners of the world in a manner of minutes - I have been the ‘silent’ Blogger for quite a while – lurking at other wonderful blogs, making very few comments where acknowledge my presence and even maintaining a level of anonymity on my own blog.

Honey often suggested that he would let all our friends and family know about my blog; but I made him swear he will never do that! Not that, our friends would find anything here that they probably already did not know about us, but I loved the level of anonymity through the online medium. My argument in favor was when you visit a new city, a new town you do not give out your bio every person you meet – though you might suggest to your friends how wonderful the place was and even recommend that they too see its wonders.

When I started to visit other blogs, I often landed on great blogs with humor, culture, fiction and with visitors & commenter’s reaching a 20-30 or more per article. Often reading the comments I would realize that people have made “virtual” friends who visit each other blogs often. This made me wish for the same thing. I have started to wonder would it be so bad to let my family/friends know that I write – I don’t think my writing is all that bad (though I agree it may not be the best either). But apprehension creeps in.

So to my limited viewer-ship I pose the question - which is better?

• To let others aware that you visited them today (leave a comment, email)
• To know about visitors to your site
• To keep up with the anonymity
• Or compromise on both ends a little?

Almost a boy

18 months or 1.5 years or 788 923.149 minutes. Any way I look at it - its time that has flown by the seconds!! Kutie will be turning 18 months next week and I am overwhelmed with emotion and excitement.

This is of course probably one of the wonderful times with little Kutie - on the threshold of becoming a boy but still a baby ... responding to us with his little antics, his own language (for example - calling Muthashan - muthu, or using "t" sounds for words starting with "s"). Throwing such cute temper tantrums (stopping his feet and running in a circle) that it makes you laugh out loud. Shaking his butt on hit Tamil songs. Wanting to read his "booka" right when I would pick up a book to read. Only saying "bye" when someone is on the phone, and then wanting to talk after to you hang up! Wanting to play rather than change the wet diaper. Insisting on watching Hindi cartoons on You Tube to eat lunch or dinner.

I am sure there will be many more things that Kutie will accomplish in the next years, that these little antics would most likely be seen as small things. But hopefully he will treasure these small glimpses into his past that will forever reside in my memory!

Duped by whom?

Interesting read based on my previous post! So was I duped by some random cheat or the big bad company?

Hit the Wall at Walmart

One of the best practices here in US is the policy of ‘gift card’. No, I am not talking about offering gift card for birthdays, and other functions, but the practice of stores giving out store gift cards when you return an item.

In theory this gives the customer the option of not only returning the item that they purchased or were given but also to buy something else instead. Now, the store is also pretty happy with the situation as I am sure more often than not, customers will forget about the gift card, misplace them and essentially they got money for an item that never left their store shelves.

I am sure that many ‘wise’ customers are aware of this and take precautions like keeping the receipt and the gift cards at a safe place and remember to make purchase quickly. But what happens when the store did not authorize your card correctly!!!

Here’s the story!

We bought a watch from Wal-Mart right before thanksgiving, along with some other stuff. After a few days, we realized that my mom (for whom the gift was) had a similar one and we decided to return this item. Being a lazy a**, that I am, I sent my dear honey on the errand.

At the store, of course (even with the receipt) they drilled him and entrusted a gift card as they (according to the salesperson) could not refund directly to the credit card as the purchaser (moi) was not present.

My honey came back with the gift card. Diligent that I was, I safely put the card into my purse. This Monday I finally got around to the shop to buy a few items. I double-checked that I had the gift card to ensure that I use it up.

After shopping (and I would add, for more items than the amount on the gift card) I reached the counter. Now the shocker! The sales person tries the card a couple of times and she get the message “Card not authorized”. Mind you, it does not say “no balance amount” or something to that effect. Not wanting to hold up the line, I purchase the items and move to the customer service section to ask them what the issue might be.

I explain what happened at the counter, and like clockwork, the salesperson tries the card one more time and gets the same message – Card not authorized. She asks me if I have the receipt of the receipt (the receipt that they give when the store gave me the gift card as refund) Ok now I am getting frustrated! Of course, I don’t have that. Sorry she cannot help me and informs me that she will call the manager.

After a few minutes, the manager arrives. Any guesses what she does after she heard about the issue – try the card – get the same message and ask me about the gift card receipt. I explain that I would not think about keeping the receipt after I have been provided a gift card by the store no less. She informs me that I will need to call the store manager the next day, and she will try to look me up with the help of ‘store web cams’ and provide me the refund!

Being pissed off helped me not to laugh at this outrageous comment! Can you imagine, a store manager on a call from customer going through various web cam pictures to figure out what item was returned and its price. How do you confirm the person on the phone is one and same? Have a web cam chat?

So long story short, the money on the card is lost plus the additional money (and time) lost in trying to get something else for the gift card amount. You would really think, I should return the new items that I purchased and try this all over again!!! Maybe this time follow the wise-geek advice to “ask the cashier to check the number on the card against the bar code … make sure the correct amount is on the card you purchased.” But then again when a VP of the company is caught up in gift card fraud, it makes you wonder will safety tips work?

Little droplets from heaven

Dark and desolate, the day begins
The mighty thunder not far behind
A plate of cookies by our side
We jump in bed,
hiding under covers
We take a peak
A bird is out, all wet
Maybe we can dance out in the rain!

The blue bird

A little boy, I see
Out by the fields, he plays
alone

A little woman, I see
Reading a book, she sees
the worlds she will never know

A little bird, I see
Fluttering around, dripping
blood

The boy runs, stops
at sight. She walks
away, a bird captive in her hands.