Quarter Life Crisis!!!

Per our Sunday ritual, Pappu and Shitanshu were home to visit Driti. Whenever Pappu is around, there is usually a tumultuous conversation. We discuss almost everything on earth. From Oxytocin to ND Tiwari, to Cloning to Modi. Almost everything. Think of a topic and chances are we've already discussed about it, or Pappu is reading about it now.

This time however, Pappu was in a reflective mood. "Am I doing the right thing? Is there a purpose of doing anything at all in life? Am I supposed to be slogging it out crunching numbers, finding trends between things, which do not for a second affect my life? Do I have to work for money? Should I work for money?" Just when we thought something was seriously wrong with our Pappu, here's what he said " Actually, the money is not that bad. Do you ever have such thoughts?", he suddenly turned toward me. " Am I the only person who thinks this way?"

"Quarter life Crisis" , I smiled.  " It's just coming in a little late for you."

"Do you go through it too?"

"Yep. I did go through it. When I was switching companies. I used to go through it quite frequently. Now, I don't know. May be I don't think too much anymore?"

"What about you Ady?", he asked.

"If I were to think that ways, it's going to be called Mid-life crisis for me", he said gloomily, suddenly realizing he was 30.

"Oho! " I said. "What's the matter with you guys?"

"Yeah! Why do you want to think too much into what this 10th glass boy is saying", Shitanshu remarked, commenting on Pappu's build.

"But   I am confused. I don't know what to do." said Pappu.

" You should go home and cook for us", Shitanshu remarked.

" Hey, do you know how they make KFC chicken?", Pappu suddenly took off on a different tangent.

So we learnt more about their recipe and why we should not eat it.

So I mentally recorded, "Not knowing what decision to take is Quarter- life Crisis. Not knowing if your decisions are right, is Mid Life Crisis! :-)"

Daddy's Day Out!

So Ady was reading my blog the other day and was upset. Upset that I hadn't written anything about him. Isn't he the apple of my eyes anymore? Has the DD taken over his place? The 'All important person in my life' till about a year ago, was now suddenly replaced?

So this post is solely dedicated to my dearest husband.

We were trying to wean Driti and make her a lil more independent (if that's possible, considering she's totally on her own when her friends are around. You should see her ignore us royally during play time. Oops, I'm losing the flow. This post was supposed to be on Ady, not Driti!).

We decided, night time was the time she was actually very clingy. And if at all we plan on a vacation, it's going to be very difficult. So we decided to go watch a movie. And guess which one we ended up watching? Well, in sometime now...:-)

I must thank Ady for taking me to this movie. I LedOL after about ages now. Hilarious I must say. Or may be just because we were going for a night show in sometime now. I am not much of a night bird, and Driti only became my excuse to not go to movies late in the evening!

Our date started around 7, when we left for the movie theater. We decided to just go to the nearest theatre and watch any show that was playing! No advance booking, like the old college days. So I ran to the counter, while Ady was parking the car. We reached at 8:00 PM. So we weren't sure, how long we'd have to wait for the next movie. We'd probably have to wait another hour or 2 before the next movie.


"When's the next movie?" I panted at the counter. " 8:45 PM". The guy at the counter answered. " I'll take 2", I pushed in a Rs 500 note in.  He was surprised I didn't even ask the name of the movie.

Ady joined me at the counter now. The movie buff that he is, he asked me which movie I had bought the tickets for. "The 8:45 show" I answered. "The name!" he stressed, now wondering why he had to be so clear. " Oh.. I don't know!", I said, looking into the tickets. "What?"


"Date Night!" and we both smiled. This was indeed our date night!

"Let's go grab something to eat. " I said. Am famished. It suddenly felt like 3 years ago, when we were just you know..'Dating!'

So we disposed a half eaten frankie (yuck!), drowned a cold coffee and ice tea respectively, and decided to dig into our bucket of pop corn and burger at the movie.



"Mom, Dad! I'm hungry, can you pls make me breakfast?" The movie had started. When Steve Farrell looked into the clock, it read 4:57 AM.  The movie had my attention now. This could be us, in a few years.

With each passing scene, I was literally ROTFL. I loved the movie. May be because it was a movie that we went to see - like in college!
Ady was surprised I was laughing so much. "It's not even that funny!" He remarked. "Seriously? It's hilarious!"

I loved the movie. Ady loved it that I loved it. We had a ball. We had so much fun placing who could be at what stage in their lives through the movie, we loved it to the core. We saw ourselves sometimes too. By the time the movie finished --- I was in tears. ('cause of laughing btw).

Note: This is not a rave review for the movie. We just went nuts. Under saner conditions, we may not have enjoyed it as much.

We dug into 'Amore' after the movie. I asked him for almost anything, I could feast on, though I was completely full. I wanted to relive my college days. I ate one fourth of everything and thrust the rest in Ady's mouth. It was super!

Thank God! For little nothings! Life is such a joy!

Of Angels and Princesses

Driti could easily climb up the stairs. The catch there was she'd want to do it independently.  So we let her; stealthily following her behind. Till about 2 days back, she couldn't get down. This was a huge boost to our ego. That she 'wanted us' in her life! Silly, but a kick nevertheless. Human beings have an inherent need to feel important. And although my dad refers to me as an angel, I think I have this need too. An anomaly- yes... but my explanation there is Angels need to feel human sentiments in order to help them! :-)


Anyway, back to my Princess (notice the interchange of words. I am not calling her an Angel here!).
So this time in the Park, she suddenly went up to the slide and started climbing up the steps. She sees so many children do it day in and day out, must've thought 'How difficult can it be?'

The only catch was, Mom-in-law couldn't follow her up to the top. So she cunningly ruined her plans with an alternate source of amusement. The swimming pool. But the head-strong girl that we have, did not budge. So that's the scene setting.

This was the moment that the Angel (yours truly) walked in to the Park, straight from office, looking for her Princess. 'Ah! Mama to the rescue!' I thought.

Mom -in-law looked at me in relief. "Please take your baby to the pinnacle.. she seems to like mountaineering all of a sudden" " Will do!" I just wished I had a magic wand at that instance to wave around.

But the most I expected of Driti was to climb a couple of steps. So arrogantly, I did not even remove my sandals.  But she kept climbing till she reached the top. (If you've read my previous posts you'll notice Driti does this to me often.. she wants to remain unpredictable I guess). I dutifully followed. Reaching the top, there was only one way down. Through the slide. Now, this was an awkward situation. All the other playmates were under 10. I was over 10 and under 30! (see how cleverly I'm leaving my age to your imagination!:-))

But a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do. So I did, the unthinkable. MIL was spell bound. I was too. I slid down the slide, with her on my lap. Like it happens in the movies, there was silence all over.  I thought I had broken some ' No adults on the slide' rule. I quickly thought of how I would explain my act. "Well, you see, contrary to what you see, I am an Angel. And it is my duty, to protect people. Kids are my most important clients". Then I  thought, not everyone would be ready for the truth. Well not just yet. When I was still thinking of an explanation, I suddenly heard faint clapping. It was coming from where my MIL was standing. "Very good Driti!" she screamed in excitement.  And before I knew, everybody was screaming and clapping. Phew! Thanks to MIL, the scene shifted totally to Driti! :-) I clapped too! That's how you divert attention!

Only then did I realize, that my ankle had scraped through the edge of the slide. I hadn't removed my sandals. But then... Clap! Clap! Clap! the world doesn't need to know that Angels scrape themselves too! :-)

Get off the bus! NOW!

After a real long time, I was traveling in the bus. Well, one of the reasons, was the autowala was asking me to shell out a 100 bucks to travel 2 kms, which under ' not peak' hours would have been 15 bucks. I spent Rs 2 in the bus. The journey is an experience. A microcosm of sorts. And if you're in Hyderabad, and have never traveled in a bus, I urge you to do so, in sane hours only.


I was traveling back home after some shopping. I was running a little late and I had to reach home by 6: 30 PM, thats when Driti's secret alarm goes off and she realizes mama's not in yet.  The woman sitting next to me also seemed to be in a hurry. She kept looking at her watch and outside the window, as if that would frighten the traffic and clear the way for her to reach her destination.

I think she saw me looking at her, 'cause she turned toward me as if explaining the reason for her very 'natural' behaviour. " You see my son's exams are happening, and I need to reach home on time, so I could study with him",  I think she meant to say, she had to make him study. "If I don't go, he won't study me". Again I thought I should hear that as 'If I don't go, he won't study without  me'. I was hoping it was not English she'd be teaching him. " You not making children, so you can't be understanding" Translated to " You don't have children, so you can't possibly understand, you kid!", " As a matter of fact, I do. I do have a child"
" Oh I see!"  ( no translation required), " You looking like college student, with bag and all" (she was refering to my laptop bag. I had gone shopping directly after work). " How old?", she quizzed me, as if I were lying to her because of some hidden agenda, she wanted to find out.
"1"

"Oh! That's ok", she dismissed, as if to say  a 1 year old was much easier to handle than her school going kid.  I wanted to invite her home that minute, so we could have a contest on which of us does the real work in bringing the child up! But I decided against it. Perhaps in a couple of years, I'd look younger, what with running around when my kid's exams are 'happening'. So I did the most diplomatic thing I could do. I smiled.

She kept peeping out the window so much so that I wanted the bus to fly down to her place.  " Small children only crying for food, and sleeping. Big children, making us cry" , she laughed.  I smiled. Now waiting desperately for my stop. It was just round the corner.
" Boy/ Girl?"
" Girl"
"Girl children really quite. Not as naughty as boys." I was wondering how bad it'd have been. My daughter was in no way silent. She was definetely not the docile kinds. She is an outdoor 'person'.
" Oh! I won't know', I answered.
"I telling no?"

" My stop", I said. "Oh you came of first aa?"  translated" Your stop is here before mine?"

"Yes" I replied, secretly thanking god, for the little miracle, before I forgetting english speaking.

Who's in a name?

Driti, Mom in law and I were at the park yesterday. A new resident walked past us, trying to pull the leash on her son, who was only a little short of falling on the ground and screaming for ice cream. I could gather from their conversation that she had promised her 5 year old an ice cream if he took bath that day. She had however not kept her promise as 'papa wasn't home yet', and the brat was trying to force his way through by threatening to  take a sand bath, if his effort wasn't rewarded. "Oh Amrit", she pleaded with him, "why can't you behave yourself, and stay quiet like this cute little baby?", she said, referring to our little angel. Just when we were about to hit the 9th cloud, our princess thought the better of it, and helped do a quick reality check, by stuffing a handful of pebbles in her mouth. Both mom in law and I rushed to her, screaming "Driti!', "Sameeksha!". Now it was the turn of the brat and his mom to stay 'quiet like the cute little baby'. They were looking for 2 kids, and one seemed invisible, 'cause mom- in law and I leapt in the same direction. Only, there was just one kid to respond to both the names!

To clear herself of the confusion, the brat's mom asked  "Um... that's a cute baby. What's her name?"

Obviously, oblivious to the unrest we had created in the lady and her kid's mind, we both replied, "Driti", "Sameeksha".
The same thing happened again.. While I referred to darling daughter as 'Driti', Mom in law referred to her as 'Sameeksha'
"Well", I tried explaining, now looking at the exasperated look on the woman's face a little more closely.
"She is Sameeksha officially and Driti at home", Both Mom in law and I smiled.

"Oh ok! nice names!", she smiled back. As if his curiosity was now doused, Amrit started pulling and pushing again, and the woman tried to control him, this time without citing her previous example, noticing that the cute baby, had 4 adult fingers, in her mouth, trying to extract that last pebble. The mouth at the other end of the fingers was also screaming in pain, as the 'angel' seemed to mistake the finger for a carrot! "Ouch! am sorry!", I apologized for screaming.  "Teething" , my mother in law explained, trying to justify her precious grand daughter's 'perfectly normal' behavior.

'We need to be consistent, when we introduce Driti', I told my MIL, once the lady left the scene. ' We can't confuse people with two completely different names for the same kid.' It's not like, we're calling her Sammy or Sam. We're calling her 2 beautiful names, which in the real world are usually used for 2 different people.
MIL agreed. " Yes. Let's call her Sameeksha. Since it is her official name",she said. " No. I meant Driti. Since this is going to be her play group at home!" "She'll get confused beta."  I knew it was time to use my trump card. I had two names, and I don't think it bothers me at all!

First Words you say?

Driti does not like to talk much. Especially, if you ask her to. She'll do it only if she pleases.
So although she knows how to pronounce words ( before you raise your eyebrows with a 'motherly instinct eh?'), let me clarify that this is no motherly instinct. I heard her :-)

The other day mom-i-l and I were in the kitchen trying to teach the new maid - the art of mixing the flour to make the dough of impeccable consistency, so the roti is soft as butter.  (well, mom in law was teaching, and I used the opportunity to secretly learn as well.. yep she does not know, I've never kneaded :-)), and Driti said ..'AATA' referring to the dough. We were jubilant! We were proud of our little prodigy. She knew the raw material to her staple food, and at such a young age!

So, the 2 of us (the maid was not much of a sport, so she didn't show much excitement), jumped up and down repeating 'AATA, AATA' and suddenly Driti looked at us as if we were a couple of fools learning new letters in life!

That's not  only where she left me red faced. Early in the morning today, the early bird got up to wake her sleepy mom. She sat over me and pulled my eye lids over. 'Eyesh' she said.  I got up at that very instance and ran over to mom - i-l. 'Mama', I jumped with excitement. 'Driti just said 'eyesh' pointing to my eyes'
'Acha', my mom-i-l was equally excited. 'Eyes bolo beta' she said, pointing and poking at her eyes.

Again, Driti gave us a 'what's wrong with you guys? kinda look'

The only words she consistently says is 'Bye', 'Hi' and ofcourse , 'E-I-E-I-O' from Old Mc Donald.

'Ah the pleasures and embarrassments of learning with a toddler!'