Gifts - We all love them!

Now who doesn't love gifts? Whatever your age may be, please don't say that you don't like gifts! In the heart of the hearts you just love them. It is always a surprise when you own something you least expected but what if that some thing is actually something you least expected and never wanted 😜. 

When a new baby is born, we all want to gift something. A new parent definitely deserves some surprises...what all with that puke and poop cleaning, breast feeding and eternal tiredness, the parent would love to receive something nice, but when you have no great ideas to gift or if you are quite broke (which mostly is not the case) to gift anything...it is just ok if you give nothing rather than giving a used/torn/unwanted thingy wrapped as a gift! I used to have a neighbor who gifted  torn teddy bears to Zaara on her first bday :) It was quite evident that they were used and past expiry date! I cannot fathom the reason behind this act. She neither loves nor hates me but ghastly looking teddy bears to a baby! Gosh! I can never do such a thing coz poor babies won't know a thing. They will play with and eat up whatever you give to them. OK . STRIKE OFF THE SECOND PART in case of my baby. ;)

So the next day to Zaara's birthday, I placed the teddy bears along with my daily trash bag.  I mean that's the least I could do to show my displeasure! I really hoped they saw it!

They say its not the gift but the thought that counts - but do all people really think when they gift? Yes it is the thought that counts, but what exactly may be the gift giver thinking when he sends a family a stale sweet box or oversized t shirts, a broken decorative item, quite an old box of chocolates, and many other old worn out gifts? Are they avenging for some unknown reason? or do they wanna test and see if family is safe after consuming their sent food, so that they can consume the other box!?😋 

To me the only thought that goes in the gift giving is cleaning and clearing their own homes. 

The unwanted gifts keep revolving around houses just like in the below ad😏

Cadbury's ad

This ad just conveys what I want to talk in this post in 45 seconds. "Woh taufa hi kya jo dil se na diya? (A gift is not a gift if you don't put your heart in it.)" So Cadbury's is selling their idea to gift a chocolate box rather than giving away unused, thoughtless, broken items. Honestly sometimes the wrapping is more useful than the gift itself! 😁

After seeing this ad, I strongly felt that I should never pass on a gift thoughtlessly. If I have no idea what to give, I may just give a gift envelop with cash in it - A method which all of us Indians follow in all possible states. I am not sure about other countries!

Not all gift givers are thoughtless or heartless. Some people go that extra mile and gift you totally cool and useful things. In Zaara's first year I received so many good things that I rarely shopped - board games, live kitchen set, books, clothes, music toys and, many more things which actually were useful on a daily basis and made my life easy! I am the person who puts all her heart and thought while gifting, so I respect people who do the same. It really is alright if you do not want to gift something but never insult the receiver by gifting an unwanted/damaged item. You definitely don't wanna be remembered for it :) 

F for Feeding my Fussy eater

If you ask me what is the toughest parenting duty for me - without batting an eyelid,  I would say feeding the kid. My daughter developed strong enmity towards food since she was months old. She always used to escape from the feeding scene, finding one or other excuse. At 6-7 months age we bought a feeding chair. In no time she learnt how to un-strap her self and always used to try jumping off from it. We used to pack her tight with cushions like in the below picture. I had to always lure her with new toys, gifts, play time, outing to park etc. to just make her eat few morsels. I am not a great cook but with the help of my mother tried to make the foods novel - dal soup, potato bites, mashed apple, banana, thin soups, sweet sevayya, kheer etc. She some how rarely relished the foods! We gave syrups to increase her appetite and metabolism but in vain! For so many days I tried not to show her cartoons/YouTube while feeding, but in the end I just gave in :(  I got a lot of backlash from my mother, fellow parents & from many others who pointed out the crime I was/am committing i.e. showing TV while feeding, but the pain I go through when she doesn't eat food is hard to explain...

At 1 + year this is how feeding emotions of the baby were.

In the above collage, our boss baby's feeding cycle used to be like this everyday : (read from L to R)

1.) Looks like it is feeding time again

2.) How can I escape

3.) Omg she expects me to eat all of it. This mental woman

4.) I must think of a new tantrum or at least act as if I am choking

5.) Oh! I think I tried it already . She will not fall for it. Now do I have to eat it all?? 

6.) Or should I just sit here and test her patience!

7.) She says that it's play time only if I finish the food. Looks like there is no way out

8.)O.K. you bribe and I bribe! we are good.

I didn't repent TV watching much coz Zaara learnt a lot watching the TV. Alphabets, rhymes, small words, numbers etc. (chuchu tv, Dave and ava, baby JJ were few favorites). It was all good till she started watching Disney princesses - shows and movies. That felt troublesome to me. Damsel in distress and Prince charming coming to rescue her or to put her out of misery with his love. The same pattern shown in many of the Disney princess stories put me off and my daughter was getting used to them...They are beautiful to watch but I was feeling she must watch at least stories of strong girls!

That's when I turned on Moana and I didn't repent it. The character Moana is so strong and inspiring, the story can be enjoyed in equal amounts by both adults and kids, even the songs and BGM of Moana are quite addictive. She just fell in love with the movie, the characters, music and every thing. We used to play Moana during temperamental days to just make her eat. She obliges when a favorite movie or song plays. At 2 years 2 months she started going to play group and she got wings to her imagination and enjoyed every bit of it (this was before COVID) in Apr 2019. "Except food, the girl loves every thing," teachers said! I used to daily listen on how tough it is for them to feed Z. After a long struggle of 2-3 months she adjusted and started eating finger foods / snacks all by herself and teachers informed it is not much like before!

I did a jig... what more would any mother need? However the tantrums continued at home and Moana and some other favorite cartoons were my only saviors! She loved the character so much that she wanted to dress up like her. On Halloween day I made her wear Moana costume (even if she is not a witch) and just made her hold a witch's broom instead of an oar. She still loves the costume!

We later moved on to Tangled, Frozen and many more movies but Moana remains an all time favorite. On present day also she doesn't eat by herself not because she can't, just because she won't :( When she was just getting hang of things - COVID happened (when she was 3) . 

Feeding fight is nothing less than a WWF wrestling match at my home. Recently I trained her so that she eats at least breakfast and snacks on her own.  I am trying my best to not let her blackmail me with tv and reduced the tv watch hrs...but wars keep erupting!

Eighty Three (83) Movie

Cricket is the largest religion in India. Cricket, Bollywood and music stand hand in hand to unite India. Our Cricket frenzy nation forgets all the boundaries, quarrels and miseries when our players get on to the pitch. 83 movie celebrates the historic moment of India's first ever World cup win over West Indies. The movie mainly focuses on Kapil Dev, the then captain of India who steered the team towards Victory. The adrenaline rush, cricket being the priority to most of the Indians, the sportsmanship are all well portrayed. Even if it was little slow, it did transport me to the year when India tasted victory. I especially loved the real frames blended with reel frames. Real cricketers being shown once in a while through out the movie would make the cricket fans happy!

The scene where the present day Kapil Dev seated in the stadium catches the ball saying , "Nice shot Kapil", was quite endearing, so were the scenes where Mohinder Amarnath appreciates himself! Ranveer gets in to the skin of Kapil but at times the dialogue delivery seems quite artificial. The English language spoken by Ranveer/Kapil however feels natural and generates some laughs. The slogan , "Like people says, taste the success once… tongue want more.” -Kapil Dev, 1983 would stay with me 😀

Image source : here

All other roles played by Tahir Bhasin (Sunil Gavaskar), Hardy Sandhu (Madan lal), Jiva ( Krishnamachari Srikanth), Pankaj Tripathi as PR Man Singh and many more characters are quite realistic.  Deepika as Romi Bhatia is pretty and acted as a great support to both Ranveer / Kapil Dev though she didn't have much to deliver. They tried to make the premise of the movie as authentic as possible by showing even Salma Sultan as the news reader of DoorDarshan in 80s :) The movie would make you travel down the memory lane as it shows how  the nation watched the matches together by halting all their tasks, adjusting antennas, standing outside the shops on displayed TV screens and discussed just the game for months! 

Image source : here

I loved the following scenes:

• A pregnant woman who goes in to the labor in mid of the match, asks how many wickets are taken by India in the final match! 😊

• Kids aspiring to become like Indian team players. We even get a glimpse of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar!

• The Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev smashes the glasses many times while creating his world record of 175 runs. I am not sure if the smashing really happened but it made me so happy as if I lived that moment.

• Even in mid of religious strife in the country, cricket unites all.

• Srikanth/Jivas monologue during a lunch gathering is quite good and gives you some laughs.

There are many other feel good tidbits through out the movie which make you live that victorious moment but some how on a whole the movie lacked soul and seemed an ensemble of many short events! During the end credits Kapil Dev described how they celebrated the victory with so much champagne and even forgot to eat. Watch 83 on Netflix for the love of cricket and loads of nostalgia. I sat through out the end credits to watch the snapshots of the then Indian Cricket Team. I wasn't born when India won the first world cup but I tasted the victory in 2011 while working in my first company Infosys. Holidays were declared, onsite calls cancelled, there was a screening in office amphitheater and so on and so forth!

Lets wish and pray we create such historic moment again, after all taste success once tongue wants more 💗😊

Downtown Abbey

I started watching this British period drama series Downtown Abbey some time ago and just fell in love with it. It is like many other historical drama anthologies but the perfect cast, cinematography, characterization, the royal ambience, life and times of people of the 1900s are all depicted so well. It is very slow paced but that feels completely in sync with how life would have been then. The series captures so many tragedies which happened then like the drowning of Titanic (1912), world war I (1914 - 18) , Spanish flu (1918 - 20)  and many more historic events of prominence. The royal family members, their heritage, lineage and, the not so privileged/poor servant class are simultaneously shown and you can clearly understand the aristocracy...the rich becoming richer, poor remaining poor concept. You will also be amused to see so many cadres in the servant class of the estate. Lady's maid, house maid, Footman, butler, under butler and so on!😊

Image source : here

So many rules which people used to follow then can't be imagined in the present day. The law being partial towards men, the properties being inherited by men and many other discriminations towards women since times immemorial are well captured...but the series also shows how in every century there will be strong women who question the baseless rules, twist the norms and break the ceilings! I especially like watching such episodes....be it the one where Edith Crawley, one of the lord's daughters decides to write columns, be a journalist, even if she is frowned upon...or the one where Sybil wants to be a nurse and serve in war. Mary Crawley is also a fire brand who decides to play her role in running the estate. 

All the characters are strongly etched. If Miss O'Brien and Barrow (footmen) are always busy plotting and involved in foul play, the innocent Mrs. Patmore is only passionate about her cooking. The conversations and happenings in Kitchen and servants hall are always fun to watch with Mr. Carson being the strictest of all. You would remember every character small/ big by names. They all have an important role to play in the series. Even if they are class apart from the royal clan...it is amusing to see how the servants talk to their bosses, sometimes suggesting and, at times reprimanding....goes to show that there at least is a friendly vibe between the upper and lower classes even if there are boundaries, hard and fast rules. There come many junctures when the problems faced by rich, poor, downtrodden, could be same and equally severe.

My most favorite character is Maggie Smith. She is one helluva lady who plays Lady Grantham...the grandmother of all the younger ones. She plays a strong character who is stern but has a great sense of humor with twinkling sarcasm filled eyes! Half of her acting skills are embedded in those deep boring eyes. I loved her as Prof Mc Gonagall in the Harry Potter movies but honestly loved her more in Downton Abbey. Even if she is from a much older era and finds it hard to change with changing times...she does stand up for girls whenever required in her own unique ways. 

Maggie Smith - here

When I watch the series, I feel like I time travelled to the 1900s. It is so well made. You will also thank the scientists and doctors, when you look at some painful deaths which happen in the family. The Spanish flu also reminded me of the on going corona. The industrial revolution picking up, the transition of life, 'the war' changing people's minds and lives is all captured well. The British invasion in India is also touched upon.

Covidiots

Cov"idiot" is the term coined during covid to refer to individuals who think it is just ok to break all the rules, to deny the safety protocols, and be irresponsible! Whenever the cases spiked, normal people who fear for their life strictly mask up, wash hands, use sanitizer and do whatever they could and can to keep the virus at bay, but our covidiots feel the liberty to remove the mask, to party , to gather in large crowds and, even protest against covid norms. 

I could not believe when I read news about people fighting for their rights on streets in USA to remove masks, to celebrate, to go back to normalcy, when Covid was in full glory! I thought may be a bunch of people have lost senses and are behaving recklessly....but when I came across such folks even in my vicinity I realized they exist everywhere!

Some x I know was always reckless whenever I reminded about Covid protocols, with people in that home always going out, partying or letting the kids go play in crowds... because they are vaccinated. Among people known to me, they were the first to contract Covid in the second wave and repented a lot later ! Thankfully they were not admitted though they got many symptoms and became very weak later. May be the vaccine helped them or may be their immunity, but if we keep all the may bes aside, the resistance they or blokes like them showed towards Covid guidelines was unbelievable. If some of them went to supermarkets even during complete lockdown to buy the flour of their favorite brand😠… some one else was bored and just wanted to meet friends. May be I am too pessimistic but I was mostly locked up at home. The many deaths I heard even in close circles made me much more cautious and my heart raced whenever my daughter played even in corridors during peak Covid.

An old notice detailing how to lessen the spread during spanish flu. source: here

The protocols may not guarantee a 100% protection but they at least act as precautionary measures to a great extent, to not get contracted and to not spread the disease. A Mask is an age old method followed to stay protected from many kinds of flus (see above image)!

On the present day, it is a great relief to see that public is going back to normalcy slowly. WE ALL WANT OUR NORMAL LIVES BACK! The norms may be lifted soon everywhere but God forbid, if there is any other new wave....please follow necessary protocols and don't be a covidiot like below!

You have any experiences with Covidiots? Do share in comments!

Covidiot's beliefs. Source : here

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my 3rd post for letter C - Covidiots. I would mostly talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries! Good luck to all the participants :)

B for Bemused!

Bemused is the word I can use, to describe what I felt when COVID effected humans. I installed a Covid status app on my mobile which precisely gave the number of cases in the country, state, district, region, the containment zones, safe zones, so on and so forth. The way we check cricket scores on mobile, the crazy me started checking the app for updates. Checking no. of active cases, no. of recovered and no. of deaths became my daily morning ritual. If no. of recovered increased, I used to feel hopeful. If I see or hear of deaths around me, I used to go in a shell. I was so confused regarding what's happening around me.

In beginning of Covid around February, every one was so hopeful and confident about Corona not doing any harm to them. So many analogies and so many theories were circulated. Some told India is a hot country. Corona will die in the summer heat... some others sang a song/slogan Go Corona Go . The creators claim that the slogan is world famous now 😏! As we stepped in to March and lock down started... millions of us lighted candles, banged the plates and utensils... with sounds echoing all over the nation. In desperate attempts to stay protected, hoping for some miracle... I too joined the crowd and prayed in silence. However there is no escape from the monster, was the soon after realization. During this candle light ceremony, an act which was followed stringently by most of the followers/fans of Prime Minister... there were many memes circulated mocking it. I shared some forward which shows the frenzy fans lighting up torches with high flames and doing adventures with flames just because the hon'ble PM, whom they love asked them to do so....I received lot of flak from so many people (the party and prime minister worshippers). Some one went a step ahead and said, "Rather than ridiculing hon'ble PM...I must rather educate the ignorant Muslims (refering to Tablighi Jamat fiasco which was blown out of proportion)". It was almost concluded by many haters that the jamat was the root cause for uprise in cases. Even in such painful pandemic people chose to create a divide and argue rather than choosing harmony and following strict guidelines to curb the spread.

100s of people mocked the Diya lighting event and shared their very open views, taunts and memes, but I suppose mostly they don't carry the label I do, and ironically what I shared as a joke, was  displayed by some in reality. They lit crackers or went on to roads with mashaals (flaming torches) as and when the diya lighting event commenced (this was in April 2020- the beginning days of Covid). 

One of the memes shared on Internet which I reshared. Source : here

A total of 4 people cornered me and in the disguise of just knowing my opinion and questioning me to share my thoughts on Tableegi first... they kind of attacked me, the fact which they will deny ofcourse!  It is so surprising when people from my own country restrict my freedom of speech, my thoughts and loosely talk, as if I am completely backing up the disaster which happened due to that religious gathering. What if I ask them the same? Like , why they are not owning up the disasters happening in their communities? Is it a worthy question? Just because I kept quiet and told that I can't talk more or that as I am mentally exhausted by this I want to walk out of the discussion, I got the following labels.

* Extremist

* Biased

* Narrow Minded

* Escapist

* Bigot

Then I saw that opinions of celebrities / cricketers like Irfan Pathan also got thrashed. For the first time I felt glad as I am not famous and sensed may be that's why some people resist and fear speaking. 4 people deleted me or got deleted/blocked by me in a span of one week. How things can escalate in a short span is surprising. The talks, acquaintances, memories gathered... they all can go to dumps due to one thoughtless war or a word. Words have the power to change the world and destroy it too. In these tiring times whoever is blessed with the skill to use them, please use them wisely🔏🍀

Bemused is what I felt on the day and keep feeling even now when so much hatred is generated due to politically selfish motives and people fall in those traps so damn easily!

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my 2nd post for letter B - Bemused. I would mostly talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries! Good luck to all the participants :)

A new year - 2020

As the clock struck 12 on Dec 31st 2019 and as we stepped in to the new year 2020 - we discussed at length on how Wuhan's the epicenter and COVID may spread rapidly to other countries. Till the shit hits home, it is human tendency to sit back, relax and read the news, shake our heads in disbelief, let out the 'tch tchs' and share updates on Whatsapp. I vividly remember how I received a video being circulated on whatsapp, in which Chinese people were throwing wads of money from hospital windows...how the isolation actually looks like.. and how some people 'who lost their mental balance' are purposely spitting on the elevator buttons to infect other people. I was not sure about the authenticity of these videos but it felt scary!

Little did we know then that a storm is ahead of us...that we have to face repercussions of so many kinds. The new year started with lot of enthusiasm like every year. I was glad that my daughter finally got adjusted to preschool. She was 2 years 11 months in January 2020! I was happy that I acquainted with new folks at office and made a couple of good friends, after being in solitude for nearly an year. I was also happy that I started losing the weight I have put on post pregnancy!

Days flew and we entered March. When the first case was identified in Hyderabad, the city I live...we were still hopeful, adamant and, strongly believed that the virus won't be that strong to impact a whole city. I heard people started leaving offices in a hurry, in the fear of contracting the Covid in March, one fine day when they heard about a case nearby! I felt that this unnecessary panic must end. "People running amok, creating a tense atmosphere is all such a drama. After all we had conquered viruses related to SARS and Swine flu," is what I thought!

I never thought that we are completely stepping in to a NEW life on this new year... As we entered March, like a typical human I was in the denial stage, clinging to hope, and wishing for all this to be a bad nightmare! However the unprecedented life full of surprises kick started forcing us all to be the new versions of ourselves!

CORONA means resembling the shape of crown or having a halo like appearance. So this novel virus which feels like nature's (man made??) wonder with a crown on head, proved soon to be a shape shifter. It felt like it is an alien that invaded the human kind using it's super powers and started ruling over them in no less time... 

image caption : here

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my first post for A - A new year - 2020. I am taking up this challenge after many years as I feel I have lot to talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries during this Pandemic! Good luck to all the participants :)