Ramayan obsessed.

For over a month, my household has been obsessed with the story of Ramayana. The Ram Navami that went by, I did a storytelling of the Ramayana and since then we've been hooked.

G man and I have been retelling the story over and over at bedtime. Even the most exhausted days end with Ramayana. The happiest part of this is the transition my son has made from Baahubali. Yeah, Baahubali. From dinosaurs to Baahubali and from Baahubali to the Ramayana. I don't know where we are headed next, but the happiness we get from these books and stories has been fabulous!

Remo - buddy, brother, friend.

Remo, our four legged brother, passed on to a better place. A place where I hope there are loads of little grasslands to play in, loads of little younger brother puppies for him to dote on, loads of milk bread for him to munch on and loads of love to be showered on him.

He went through the natural process of aging and breathed his last among us all. He lay with his eyes open staring us as much as he could. He lay with his ears up listening to every little sound around him. The entire family including his four legged younger brother Chitti, were around him for the last days.

For us, as a family who had him as a first pet, it was an excruciating process of compiling our feelings of this loss. We sat by him hours together and tears came involuntarily. My grandparents made their evening porch time their time with Remo and Chitti.

When Remo came home for the first time, he was a wee little pup with a few spots here and there. He would sleep in my parent's room and follow my mum around everywhere she went. He was the best greeter ever. He would know when I was visiting 500 metres before I reached itself.

Chitti, our other pal, was Remo's best buddy and confidant. They made a great team. Chitti was different over the past few days. He didn't look Remo in the eye at all. He would lie near by and look the other way. He would walk by so many times but not touch him at all. He is the elder brother now. We hope he copes with this loss of a wingman and roomie.

Remo - buddy, brother, son, friend. We are privileged to have known and loved You!

Reflections..

I've turned 31! And February is almost gone.. just tomorrow left. Well, so far 2018 has been fabulous! Packed, busy, satisfying. We've had our first guests in the home and it was amazing! Germans trying idly dipped in sambar with a fork is so satisfying to watch when you've cooked breakfast on a school morning.

Ever since we've moved in, I've tried to be an organised minimalist to an extent. It's been about 1.5 years of trying hard and decluttering.. it's still an on going phase but the satisfaction derived thereby has been immense. A feeling of contentment like no other.

For 7 years I had cooked for 10 people in one house and I had no idea how to reduce the dish amounts to just 3 of us when we moved here. Shopping for grocery looked so little.. so I opted for farmers markets. What a difference! All I need is a cloth bag and Rs.80 every week. This includes all my greens and veggies.

I had started off with the Marie Konmari method but later I was inspired by a friend Nandini. Yday I attended her workshop on organised minimalism and at the end of the class I realised I had pretty much done most of what she had covered. Well, minimalism isn't stinginess or being miserly. It's just living within your needs.

So far this has been applied as a thought to all aspects of life. Mentally.. at peace and content.

30s itch!

Over last year, I tried a lot of mind training. I focused mostly on my parenting skills and how I can be a nicer parent. I've always been focused on being a disciplinarian but he has made me a nicer parent. It's learning both ways. There have been moments when G would want to try something that i would never want to do. Then I would go ahead and try it anyway.

For instance, he once saw me putting on kajal and said, 'Amma, you look pretty. You should put that everyday.' And I did. I tried it for a while and then I stopped again. But the days I did wear it, G would say the sweetest things - 'Amma, you wore it because I told you to. It doesn't hurt your eyes no?' Another day he just said, 'don't open your eyes fully. They are already big!' He's funny and can make me laugh as much as he can make me a crazy person.

He tried for me too. I wanted him to learn swimming.  Not for silly reasons like 'what if you fall into the river' types. I'm aware enough that our rivers dont have water. My reasons for his swimming lessons were simple.. to encourage a sport in him, to help him learn what exhaustion meant, to help him understand the courage he needed to show himself. He did. He learnt to stay afloat on the fourth day and by day seven he was swimming. After two months of classes, he said he wasn't interested to continue. Fair enough.

Talking to him has taught me so much. He hasn't showed too much interest in cycling or cricket. Being the two activities the kids at my apartments play the most, he would come back home and say he wanted to watch his Bahubali CD. For a while, I did feel worried. But his interest was to watch the Hindi version. He would listen to all dialogues and whenever I spoke in Hindi, he would ask for meanings. It made me so happy to see a little language loving nerd in him. I haven't discouraged the Baahubali addiction. Indian superheroes are so few. At least this one is somewhere from our History.

Loads of stuff didn't work for me. Every time I drop G at school, I would see other mother's all dressed up and decked up at 830am and I always thought my track pants and mommy waali tees were just not good enough. I decided to make myself looks presentable at the least but I'm just not made of that material. Even for the few days that I tried it, G would say, 'Amma, come like you.' This minion likes kajal eyed mommy in track pants and tees. Fair enough.

Trying to read more didn't work out for me last year at all. I gave in to the Amazon Prime videos for the last two months on 2017 and I have successfully weaned away from them. Once you start rusting on Netflix and Amazon prime, you are rust ridden. For someone who hates TV, I was addicted to them for 2 months of time I will never get back.

I'm back to reading now. Starting 2018 with The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck. Given the irony of this post, I thought I should write about my side of this topic before I jump into the author's.

30s seem like fun.

Sweet spot.

Life is at that beautiful sweet spot in a year where you know it's after Christmas but you do not know the day or date but it's somewhere before new years. That sweet spot where even a place like Tirupur gives you the chills and the breeze gives you goosebumps on your hands.

Socks on, winter cream on, son asleep, tea brewing and waiting for the husband to arrive from the airport. Sweet spot. Tea, socks and cuddled up son on the lap. This time of the year, everything just dials down. Those hundred whatsapp groups that exchange annoying messages and forwards have piped down because everyone is away from their phones or doing something at the end of the year. Sweet spot.

That time of the year when everyone is making life decisions for the next 12 months. Some to keep and some we know we won't. Well, practicality points. Sweet spot. That time of the year when everyone is using up every last bit of grocery so the new year can start with a fresh lot. Sweet spot.

It's that time of the year when everyone is cleaning out their closets to find that sweater they used last December only to find extra cash stashed somewhere for surprises like this. Sweet spot.

The beauty of December.. or let's call it the December wave.. the month that makes you dance when the month starts and when it ends. Just like a wave.. up and down.

Oh December, the beauty you bring in life!

Countdown to 2018!

Phoenix almost ashes.. 2017 bidding bye

Okay I've just reswound this entire year and gone.. wow, that was fast! It was probably the fastest year but truly, I haven't accomplished anything this. Well, out of my bucket list for this year, I have completed a few. And I've done a few first time things so yay!

Run a marathon.
Read & Write with G man.
Learn something - silambam, Zumba and bokwa. (Sticking only to silambam now)
(It's an ongoing process but I've started)
Kayaked.
Train ride with G man.
Trip to Chennai just me and G
Trip to Salem just me and G
Book shelf in the house
Do something arty - pebble painting

G mans list is admirable I guess..

First time on a train
Learnt swimming
Learnt UNO
Learnt memory
Learnt writing sentences
Did a dad and son cook out at school
Kayaked
Played holi

A friend of mine does thus visualization board every year. I'm a bit inspired.. of course I do set goals.. but to visualize something and see it take shape is a bit exciting. I'm working on my visual board over this week. I've planed to occupy G man's room door for the display. Updates in a week !

Motherhood test of time - phase 2.

The first day I dropped Gnan is school was phase 1. It's so difficult as it is to wean them from the womb to the World. Then comes the actual weaning. Then when we release them into the world of school. Now to watch them grow so quickly is a big ball of mixed emotions.

Right now I'm going through phase 2 of this. Swimming class. I got G boy enrolled in swimming classes so he would learn early unlike me and at this age it is quite easy.

The first 3 days tested my patience as a mother. To watch someone else train your child to unwrap their fears and face the water was a new world altogether. He kept looking at me to help him out of it and all I was asked to do was ignore. After four days of ignoring, he is now floating and kicking on his kick board. Another 8 days of this and I'm hoping he will swim without support by then.

The things we have to do!