Technorati Tags: rainbow fairies

Theorem I: It is easy to fool your child.
Theorem II: In the circle of life, you are the real fool.

I am on the couch reading a book. Mieja is walking around the house with a cup of milk. I see her walk in to the bedroom. I hear a thump sound, a ‘gluck’ sound and there is an ominous silence. I am still on the couch, but I say, ‘Get the cleaning rag and clean up the spilled milk please.’ She comes running to me and says, ‘How did you know that I spilled the milk?’ I put on my most serious look and say, ‘I can see through walls. No matter where you are, what you are doing, I know exactly what is going on.’

Fast forward a few weeks.

I am in the kitchen cooking. I am calling Mieja. I am just trying to locate her and find out what she is doing. There is no reply. I do not want to drop what I am doing and run around the house. So I repeat her name enough number of times to compose an ashtotharam. Finally I give up, walk to the child and ask why she did not respond. She says, ‘But why Amma? You can see through walls, so I thought you can see where I am and what I am doing.’

Technorati Tags: parenting theorems

….every single thing went wrong.

At least that is what I thought initially.

Every year, in our school we celebrate United Nations day with much gusto. Kids practice for couple of weeks. We make a list of countries every one of the 150+ children represents. They come dressed in the traditional costume of that country, sing a song for each country, place the country’s flag on the world map etc. Parents bring a meal and it is a huge potluck with at least 300-400 plates served.

This being the kindergarten year Chula had a part. So naturally I was pumped. Even before the school year began, I declared in the staff meeting that I am planning to take UN day off and attend as a parent. R was supposed ordered to come for the celebration.

Two days back R said that he has an important meeting scheduled and cannot make it to the celebration. Okay, at least I am going, I thought. My first sub cancelled and I had to find a second sub. I did and took a deep breath. On the day of the celebration, I found out one of my two colleagues had a serious emergency and will not be coming to school. As much as I was sorry for her, I was devastated because we will be out of ratio if I stepped out of the room. So I called R and told him that he has to do what ever he has to do and be at school to record the celebration. So R decided to work from home and attend the meeting through phone. Problem solved? Apparently not. He calls 15 min later and says that there is a power cut in our area and his working from home is not going to fly after all. So we decided to bundle up our class children and take them out to watch the celebrations. We got them dressed, booted and jacketed and went out 10 min after the celebrations started. Just as I was getting my breath back, it started to drizzle. How can we have our class out in the rain? But it so happened that one of our children went home with his mom, we were in ratio, my other two colleagues took the eight we had inside the room and I got to stay outside.

As I was recapping this out of ratio – in ratio, can go-can’t go status changes and madness that followed, in my head, I was thinking about the kind hearts at work today.

The colleague who had the emergency and had to take the day off, called in early morning and asked our receptionist to personally apologize to me. For her to think of me even when she was in great sorrow? I was touched. Then my other colleague and my sub, who came up with a plan and managed the class when I was outside attending the event. Though we were in legal ratio, we have two new children and two babies. I can only imagine the exhausting work they must have endured when I was outside enjoying my daughters. Not to mention, R’s meeting was cancelled in the last minute and he was also able to make it.

Now tell me gentle reader, ain’t I blessed?! Some where up there some one is looking out for me As this thought floats through my mind the kids chant Gandhi’s peace prayer.

I OFFER YOU PEACE.

I OFFER YOU LOVE.

I OFFER YOU FRIENDSHIP.

I HEAR YOUR CRY.

I SEE YOUR BEAUTY.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN.

MY WISDOM FLOWS FROM A HIGHER SOURCE.

I SALUTE THAT SOURCE IN YOU.

LET US WORK TOGETHER.

Can’t help but dedicate this post for the people who felt my pain and worked together to help me.

Technorati Tags: sliver lining, UN Day, what is life?

I don’t watch TV very much. It is not that I am opposed to TV. Every night for the past few years, the ritual has been unaltered. The girls are in bed, I clean up. R and I settle on the couch to catch up on TV. I get my fluffy pillow, my cozy blanket, put my legs on R’s lap and get ready to watch TV. But invariably, within 20 min, I am asleep.

Sat/Sun are slightly better, I can manage an hour of TV before my eyes seal shut. But there are some gems that I catch before I drift off. I often find myself pondering over the snippets. Just wanted to share the gyaan with you all.

Michael J Fox in The Late Show With David Letterman

“There’s a difference between acceptance and resignation. I’ve accepted that this is my situation, but I’m not resigned that it has to be that way always.“

Star Trek Next Generation, Episode: The Host

Governor Leka Trion: Listening is a skill which seems to have evaporated with the heat of argument.

Riker Odan: Speak softly, Governor. Those who cannot hear an angry shout may strain to hear a whisper.

Current favs at home: The Mentalist, Star Trek Next Generation, Monk, The Late Show, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, Next Iron Chef, The Great Food Race.

I can confidently say that I have watched the first 15 min of most of these shows.

Technorati Tags: gyaan from TV, Michael J Fox, Star Trek next generation, TV

More summer fun 2010 posts.

Winter is about to come and I am still harping about summer? Well, I had ten posts in mind and with this I am finishing this year’s summer series.

Activity 9 – Cooking.

We(the girls and I) got in to the habit of cooking together with some regularity. My mom was here in summer and was responsible for the majority of our meals. So we ended up making fancy dinners once in a while. We made dessert for all the get-to-gethers we had at home. Of the desserts we made, croissant pudding(your every day bread pudding comes out so rich and yummy if you use croissants instead of bread), fruit salad with custard and fruit kebabs were huge hits in terms of ease of making(for kids) and taste.

The above is a part of the tea time snack menu the girls came up with for a friend with diet restrictions. The whole spread here.

One pot wonder soups are a huge hit at home. My recipe is not fixed, it is more like throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. I put a plastic stool next to the counter and the girls are all set. I cut the onions and garlic. They wash, rinse, cut, peel everything else. We dump a can of beans(garbanzo, pinto, red kidney beans, white kidney beans anything that you have in your pantry) and some pasta. My secret ingredients for these soups – fry onions with garam masala and finish the soup with fresh home made rasam powder. Devour as is or pair it with some garlic bread and salad. Hmmmm!

Even if they are not cooking they just like hanging out with me in the kitchen.Literally. Especially Mieja! Look at the picture and you will know what I am talking about

Another hit recipe that is a one stop meal is my version of Giada’s Curried Cous Cous salad. I omit the dried berries, substitute cashews with almonds, sometimes use quinoa instead of couscous, cook the grain in low fat vegetable stock, add a whole bunch of desi spices, add a couple of avocados, use regular low fat yogurt instead of greek and serve it lukewarm. R.O.C.K.S!

Another thing we are getting to be crazy about is naan sandwiches. Inspired by Aarti, I started making naan pizzas. My twist is to layer it with left over home made paneer butter masala or palak paneer and bake it with a little cheese. Then it morphed in to sandwiches. I started using mini pizzas. As soon as the paneer butter mini naan pizzas are out of the oven, I slap two together. I find the sandwich version a lot easier to eat, especially when I am taking the left overs for lunch the next day.

Activity 10 – A picture is worth thousand words and this is the better half’s contribution for SummerFun2010

Now you all know what we did this summer.

Technorati Tags: celebrating end of summer 2010

I picked up a book by Bronwyn Bancroft, illustrator from the the Bunjalung aborigines of Australia and was thinking how many details are very similar to the Gond style of art. Just in time comes Gita Wolf’s post on ‘The Politics Of Voice‘, a post on folk and tribal art in children’s literature. How can I not do a post on ‘Tribal art in children’s books‘?

Unlike Gita, who talks about the publisher’s perspective on creating a children’s book with tribal art illustrations, I decided to stop with the commonalities I observe in tribal art across the world.

While you are at it, check out the art of Sue Coccia. Very Gond in spirit don’t you think? Thanks to Kodi’s mom for introducing this artist to me.

Three years back while reading Tulika’s Sweet and Salty for Chula and Meija, I distinctly remembered villu pattu artist Subbu Arumugam. The train of thought later lead to the art of story telling. After reading Hanuman’s Ramayana, also by Tulika, the concept of stories being molded by the story teller and how myths came to be, really appealed to me. Inspired by this is the post on Stories of The Flood, my last and final contribution to CROCUS2010.

Bye bye CROCUS2010.

Technorati Tags: Bronwyn Bancroft, Gita Wolf, Gond, myths, Stories of the flood, Sue Coccia, tribal art in children's books, tribal art India