Trumpet time:-)

I forgot to record this the last time it happened.

Aarti lies down on bed and I bend to take a peck on her cheek. She stops me, holds my face in her tender palms and says " look!! I am in your eyes".

I was startled the first time she said this since I look into her eyes a lot but never really cared to observe my reflection in them. She said this once again a while ago. I kissed her, looked into her eyes (at my reflection) and told her that I am in her eyes as well!!

Well, well, she does not buy that. She runs to the mirror, looks into the reflection and says, no you are not!

Ah, the precious moments of parenthood:-D.

Recent Reads, Reviews follow.

Time

Time is a very powerful thing. Volatile, quick to slip by but very powerful. I was in this city Mumbai a month and a half ago and 6 weeks looked awfully long to stay away from home. Yet, I am here almost packing my bags and coming up with a new fond inspiration to be svelte, sexy and what not? All in just 5 weeks. I'll explain svelte and sexy later since these terms need their own blog space but as of now time is one thing I want to focus on. It is amazing how seconds roll into minutes, minutes into days and days into decades and centuries. Time is money someone said - urging us to spend it wisely. But Time just passes by whether we choose to spend it or kill it unlike money which accumulates when not spent. Time makes us old, not necessarily wise or mature, but old. So time is definitely more than money. May be it is life since each passing moment brings us closer to the end of our time on earth and what we make out of the time on hand is entirely our call. We procrastinate things just in an illusion that we have unlimited time on hand...but once it is gone it is gone and time wasted is actually life wasted. But what exactly is spending time wisely? Are we supposed to slog our butts off being productive or is pausing to see the roses bloom or a baby laugh is wasting time? It is for us to decide. Time well spent is life well lived , brains well used, talents well explored , love well expressed, jobs well done, decisions well made and Beauty well appreciated. My stint in this city is all of the above and to commemorate the special five weeks of my life I had to own this Red Panda - A species that is at the verge of extinction, just like the time all of us have. Red Panda a symbol of my time well spent and a reminder of the clock that is ticking. A beautifully engraved brutal truth reminding me that I should live my time while I still have it:-)

Can't wait...

To get a glimpse of home sweet home
To inhale the crisp winter air of my backyard
To cook a full fledged meal in my kitchen
To catch up with Sarat
To get my hands on my Nikon again (santu borrowed it for the time being)
To get back to blogging
To take Aarti for a stroll in the neighborhood park
To read a good book
To Be myself again.

Just can't wait!!!

Awe

Our awe with movie stars dates back to at least almost a century if not a whole one I guess. Just yesterday I went to see my niece preform for her annual day in her school. Incidentally, the school rates number one in Mumbai, I am sure it does linger somewhere in the same spot even if the whole nation is considered.
The who's who of Mumbai send their kids there. I saw Sachin, one of my teenage crushes, walk in with his demure wife. There was Juhi Chawla, the beauty from my childhood looking ravishing and just as young as I am ( ha ha) and there was Arjun Rampal at my arm's distance being a devoted dad and cheering his daughter on stage. He looked so believable, those enigmatic eyes, a hairstyle that didn't let me forget Santu my kid bro and a bod that could have been a Greek God's. But something about him was utterly believable. I spotted the Yesteryears Roja, (Madhoo?) the legendary Sekhar Kapoor looking preoccupied and his stunning ex Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and How can I forget Farhan Akthar?
Shahrukh entered a bit late with his wife. Both looked brown, emaciated and smaller than I thought they would look. Shahrukh sported a robust head of hair dyed brown, an airy off white kurta and a better half that looked like his identical twin. God bless their pair:-)

The celebration got each and every student of the school to contribute though there are some obvious stars of the show. The settings were detailed and oozed the aura of bollywood, the organisers were very efficient and almost all programme went as per schedule. The enactment of Martin Luther king Jr gave me goosebumps and obvious tears of emotion. I'd realised I'd go back to a foster mom with a new identity and a new president BTW. (that is a totally different blog altogether)
The yesterhalfadozendecades actress Nimmi was felicitated. It was thought provoking though as to how focus shifts from older generations of actors. Is it why people are scared of growing old? Will shahrukh khan carry the same aura and attract the same attention once he hits 80? It actually reminds me of that interview I saw of Sanjaydutt where his dad was invited to talk about him. His dad the ever handsome, popular Sunil dutt was eclipsed by the son that rose to limelight only because of his legendary parents. Okay, my pondering is treading new paths, I'll let it be here and ponder in another blog abt this:-=))

So who else? Saif Ali Khan... Now someone tell me why, oh why? Why Kareena? May be I know the answer! Love is blind...that's it folks....it really is.
I did spot some movie stars, industrialists and business people, but watching Mukhesh Ambani clad in a perpetual smile and a black tee was the treat of the day. Didn't know affluence comes in such a simple, down to earth package.
So what was the thought of the day? Celebrities are as normal as you and me but our curiosity, our feeling of knowing them, our awe....our awe is just abnormal. Right!

Contradiction

I'd read this Blog today by K that elucidates Would've, could've and shouldv'e in a very eloquent way.

Yes, there are things that go unsaid and undone and there are relationships that get done for ever as a result.
It is the irony of life though, that there are so many sides to the same thing. Some one said "Ignorance is bliss" Someone else opined "knowledge is power"

So what is it that makes or breaks a relationship? things unsaid, things undone or things said and things done? People speak at lengths about being frank and outspoken when being in love, being over the fear of being misunderstood and having the liberty to talk out your mind. And then comes the "Don't say it if it is not kind or nice enough" part. So what is it that actually makes a relationship survive? things said or things not said?

I'd realised in life, partly by experience and partly by observation that you'd not come across a friend or a relative that would not hurt you. Okay, the hurt could be unintentional, the other person's frustration that has nothing to do with you or mere blurting out of one's mind without the fear of being misunderstood - but it does happen.

So, to keep the person, you should not keep the hurt and nurture it - instead, let it loose. Sometimes 'wouldn't have', 'couldn't have' and 'shouldn't have' become as grave as would've, would've or shouldv'e. The wisdom lies in balancing out the contradictions and applying a little bit of patience and a lot of understanding....then we'll probably never have broken hearts or relationships.

"Quote

"I don't believe anyone should harbor the expectation of going through life without being offended by something. ...Expression, even when we disagree with what's being expressed, remains our best and sanest method of understanding one another. " ~-Tom Batiuk



"Become the change you want to see in the world."
~ Mahatma Ghandi

Exercise

This is a writing task I am given, but I'll publish it anyway :-)

My long term fling with footwear started long before my first crush (And my first crush was kind of premature when I was a little over half a decade)

From White Sandak sandals that reinvented themselves as off-whitish brown over a short period of hard use to the deliciously red suede Birkis that I am currently wearing, my love for shoes explored new paths and evolved as a complete and mature facet of mine.( Now I wish I'd said the same about the other more significant facets of mine)

The "complete and mature facet" part is open for debate though, as not so long ago, I'd had a lemming for a pair of metallic neon green Birkis dressed in chunky white and blue rhinestones and those twinkles sporting 'Swarowsky' name on their sleeves didn't in the littlest bit spruce up the "pre-teen fashion Blunder" look. Nor did the legendarily sexy Heidi Klum's name associated with the pair of sandals did.

After window shopping in the windows of my window to the world, I finally clicked the big and bold "complete my order" button.

In less than a week I was walking around in my lounge wear and a pair of the most noticeable accessories known to the human kind suffocating my dainty feet. My feet, the only part of me that did'nt look seriously post 'post partum' but thanks to Heidi Klum's imagination, they matched in with the rest of my being ! Not just that, I looked like the infamous Bjork in her swan outfit walking down the red carpet.

A good reason for models to showcase their bods instead of their design sense is the fact that the decoration on the gaudy leather made the sandals look like the illegitimate child of classic birkis and Joan river's fashion jewelry - the line that the designer hawks on QVC.

I bailed myself out of the fashion blunder by bidding adieu to the specimens of art, entrusting them in the insured hands of the USPS. The free return label provided was a great consolation.

The "de-retail" therapy worked like a charm. Once in a while if my foot-fashion sense suffers a sprain, I am thankful to the good old USA's "no questions asked" return policy.

catching up

చాల కాలం తర్వాత నాకు మల్లి బ్లాగ్ వ్రాసే అవకాసం దొరికినందుకు ఒక చిన్న తెలుగు వాక్యం వ్రాసి ముగించాలని ఆలోచన.
ఎవరైనా నా అబ్సేన్స్

ను గమనించారా?

Recap

Like the ones forgiven,
The ones buried
Deep in the soil of a subconscious memory -
Why doesn't forgetfulness grace
The tiny notches of the grey cells
And valves of the bloody red ticker?
Why do memories metamorphosis into Memoirs
Like the garish, yellowish light of a solar garden stake
That looms instead of the darkness around
with mock illumination?
Why don't unpleasant flashes of images
cease to reappear on the canvas of the human mind?
Why oh why
Do souls suffer the sabotage of unfading reminiscence?

Vision

Guess whose imagination is running far and wide and of course wild?
Yeah, the little brat around here. Mom and daughter had a bitter battle of ego yesterday when daughter dearest not only announced that she'd do it, but also drank water out of her brand new (thankfully) crocs. I know, eek, gross and all that! I was speechless. Didn't know how to deal with the fully blown, busting at the seams ego of the two something toddler. I promptly took the shoe out of her hand, didn't threaten her of her usual time out mecca (read garage!) and tossed it into the recycling bin. She cried, threw herself on the floor, rolled around , protested, campaigned, pleaded and finally begged to get her shoe back. (She did get it after mommy dearest (the tough, sadistic disciplinarian) made sure that the teachable moment and the value that needed to be inculcated was driven home loud and clear. No messing with momma! The house rules are set and are seldom amended :-))
So, the point here is not about how firm I am to start discipline before it is too late - it is more about how Aarti's imagination is treading new, sometimes annoying and sometimes amusing paths.
Yesterday, she came out to me in the backyard with her Dora fun float sipper. The sipper has the silhouette of a wine glass , except with a cage like base where a little Dora figurine floats in teeny sparkles. The transparent liquid (probably water) formed a light froth on the surface and Dora is fully immersed. "Those are spilled M&ms all over" she explained with dilated eyes "and Dora is taking a bubble bath while spilling her M&Ms all over" she continued. Now is this another writer, painter, poet, director, handy person and blogger on the making??
Proud momma has a track record of her own fertile imagination. Darling daughter just follows cue!

Picture courtesy - Aarti Addanki's maiden, original artwork!