About Summer Holidays, Life Changes, Other Updates and Such

• Mar 30, 2012: Lil N said goodbye to her teachers, akkas and the wonderful friends at her Montessori and Daycare for the last 2 years - Little Feat Montessori. She graduated with lots of memories and learning and ready to join her "big school" coming June. She and I made cute farewell cards for each of the teacher and akka who has touched her life here. 

• Mar 30, 2012: Same night, flew out to Bombay for a month long summer break with both sets of her grandparents. 
• Apr 13, 2012: Flew to Jammu (via Delhi) for the loooooong overdue trip to Vaishno Devi. 
• Apr 14, 2012: Jai Mata Di! Vaishno Devi darshan at last!!!
• Apr 15, 2012: Back to Bombay 
• Apr 18, 2012: Lil N and I set out to visit my dear bro and bhabhi in Pune (N's mama and mami)
• Apr 19, 2012: Visited my office in Pune, met the team face to face for the first time. N spent a memorable day chilling with her mami at home. Great bonding on both fronts :-)
• Apr 21, 2012: Drove to my parents home for us to spend quality time with them for a week. 
• Apr 28, 2012: Back to Bombay
• Apr 30, 2012: Back to Bangalore - Home Sweet Home after a month! Time for getting back to our routine and looking forward to new beginnings with new school and stuff.
• May 11, 2012:  Added a new member to our family - the oh-so-cute-cozy-soft-whitish-fawn lab pup. Born on April 8, 2012 - was about 33 days when he came into his new home with us. Lil N named him Simba :-)

• May 27, 2012: N and I decided to doll up her play room so that she can call it her own and even sleep there with Simba. This is a huge milestone for her and us as well. We bought a tonne of stuff for her bedroom that same day and she has happily slept in it ever since. (Just so I don't forget: This has been a very very gradual process. I had started training her to sleep by herself while in Bombay the previous month. She went from wanting me to be in the same room as her while she tried to sleep, then leaving the door open for a while, then me leaving the room after reading and kissing her good night. When we came back to Bangalore, the whole thing kinda regressed again and she wanted me to sleep with her on her bed which was on the floor next to ours. Then when Simba arrived, it regressed even more! She slept between us on our bed coz obviously if Simba walks on her or worse chews or bites her while she is asleep on her bed that was on the floor, it would be terrible. A week or two of these crazy sleep arrangements especially with Simba falling a little ill and us not having the heart to leave him outside our room, I had this bright idea of getting N all excited about "her room". Thankfully she took to that idea and we excitedly went shopping for her room with her - she literally chose everything and I promised to get her even more if she keeps her promise of sleeping in her room every day. Now I lie in her bed, read to her next to her new bedside lamp, on her new girlie pillows and kiddie bedspread,  kiss her goodnight and leave the room. She does wake up around 4am or so and call out for me crying - and that is when me (and sometimes me and my hubby both) bring our blankets and join her for our dose of baby cuddles until we wake up in the morning :-) The other promise she wanted was that Simba sleep in her room and we have been trying to get him into the habit as well. So far so good. Touchwood...knock on wood...kala tikka...whatever it takes :-))
• Jun 6, 2012: Her new school begins. Goodbye lazy mornings...sigh! 

A guest post I'd written recently...

As part of Vishy's attempt to capture various perspectives on "Returning to India".

http://ulaar.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/the-journey-from-one-home-to-another-guest-post/

You can keep going back to find more such stories by clicking on his newly launched category "R2IProfiles" on the right (or you can just go here).

Give it a read and let me know what you think...

Motherhood opens your eyes to so much more

I had quit my job in mid April since my 6 months of working offshore had come to a close. After this I had the entire month of May free before my little one started her first school ever in June. It had been 9 months since we moved to India and I had only seen my parents right after we arrived. So I packed us (mother and daughter) off to visit both sets of grandparents to spend some much deserved quality time with them. I had wanted hubby dear to come along too but that didn't quite work out what with his work and stuff.

So May was when I had the travel bug. Decided to make a trip to Pune and kill 2 birds with one stone - finish my business and spend a few days with my brother while I was there. I did exactly this, then flew back to Bangalore, picked up my baby and flew to Bombay the following weekend. Spent a week there with my in-laws and then went off to Vapi to my parents. Spent another week there, came back to Bombay for a couple days and then back home to Bangalore. All in all a wonderful trip was had and lots of memories were made. But what urged me to write this post today was this feeling I had topmost in my heart during the entire stay this time with our families. I suddenly felt closer to my parents than I have ever felt in years. I now understood why in all these years when I was in the US, I was treated like a guest every time we came home for a 3 week break. Ofcourse we were guests who were so detached from the day to day ongoings of our own parents...who would call them just once a week and talk about the health and weather and visit them just once a year for a coupla weeks and call it a day. Really? Is that all you get from your own children once you are done raising them all these years...staying up at nights for them...praying...worrying...thinking...breathing...practially living for them all these years? I think now that I am a mother I suddenly realize what our own parents have gone through to bring us up as the good human beings we now are. Now I understand what they mean by saying - it is much easier to give birth to a child than to raise him/her in life.

I guess my husband always knew why he was moving back to our country and he might just read this post and say - duh! But honestly, it took me a while to really get it. I mean, yes we were all moving back to be physically closer to our families and stuff but even during all that, I never thought I would have this feeling in my heart after being away from home for soooo long. I mean I guess once you are in a situation for this long, you kinda start getting used to the setup and start looking at the positive side of things - such as you have a better standard of living in the US, your independence is a huge factor that you gain as a woman, your work life balance is far better than in India. True. But the intimacy we think we still maintain with our loved ones back home by making 2 or3 calls a week, is, in my opinion, just a fantasy in our own mind.

So this time when I was leaving my parents place for coming back to my own home, I suddenly felt glad about moving back to India. I did not have tears in my eyes during the goodbyes for the first time in ages...and I somehow felt like now I am their daughter once again (instead of the once in a year visiting guest). And most of all, I felt I could do so much more for them now that I am here instead of just buying them clothes or gadgets from the US every time we visited. Those are really such superficial joys that they don't even care for anymore. What brings a twinkle in their eye now is the precious bond they now share with their granddaughter...the love she showers on them unconditionally...the joy she brings in their life by just being around. That is a gift that is truely priceless. Oh this can soooo be a Mastercard commercial:

A nice formal shirt for dad from JCPenney - 80$

A pearl necklace for mom from Macys - 200$

A new laptop for dear bro from CircuitCity - 1500$

The joy in their eyes on seeing their little granddaughter/neice - PRICELESS!

My Best Mother's Day Ever

So I left a huge chunk of my heart back in Bangalore recently when I had to travel on a business related trip and leave my baby behind. This was on the Friday just before the Mother's Day weekend. I had to be away for 2 nights and was scheduled to be back on Sunday morning which coincidentally hapenned to be Mother's Day.

Obviously, since I had never left my baby away from me overnight, I was going away with a heavy heart. But hubby and I decided to make the farewell quick and not drag it too much since she had already sensed something was up since a day before. Kids...they surely do have a sixth sense. N had started saying "Mamma tata" to me since the night before! So I went ahead and actually had this conversation with her:
Me: Where is mamma going?
N: Office
Me: What does N want from mamma's office?
N: Chocolate :-)

Who can then resist the urge to bring back tonnes of chocolates for the dear little baby who actually was such a nice girl while I was away that she did not give even one reason for daddy to complain! But the mommy in me decided its best to steer away from forming such habits (that too decided with a loaded heart). So I chose to bring her back some new toys to play with. Nice thinking huh :-)

Nyways, back to my Mother's Day story. So I do my work in Pune, spend nice quality time with my brother there and then fly back to Bangalore on Sunday morning (May 10, 2009). I make sure we wish both - my mom and my mom-in-law for their special day. But all this while, it completely slipped my mind that now I am a mom too and I too now have someone to wish me on this day when she grows a little older. Little did I know that my dear hubby and daughter have already planned a cute surprise for me back home. So I catch the Volvo from the airport to our home, walk the remaining 20 minutes dragging my luggage...making sure not to trouble my little child and hubby to get dressed, get the car out and drive - all for saving me a good walk that I am sure I need after such an appetising meal served in Kingfisher Air. Finally reach home panting and sweating in the summer heat, cursing all the stuff I carried in the backpack, promising to travel empty handed if possible next time and such. But all that exhaustion vanished when my daughter and hubby greeted me at the door with this conversation:
Hubby: N, what do you say to mamma?
N (shying away slightly but instantly announcing): I (read - aaaaaiiiiiieeeee) du du! (Meaning: I love you!)
Hubby: (with a group hug) Happy Mother's Day!

It just melted my heart! Teaching N to say "I love you" to greet me was probably the best mother's day gift I could ever get from both - my hubby and my dear daughter who has such an endearing way to say every new thing she learns. I actually really hope she doesn't outgrow this "I du du" way of saying "I love you"...coz when she does say it correctly, I will know that my baby will have suddenly grown up into a big girl!

Teaching her these 3 magic words shows me how thoughtful you are not just as a father but as a dear husband to me too. If you do read this, dear hubby, I want you to know that this mother's day was my best ever not just coz you taught her this but also coz you took such good care of her and yourself while I was away that I did not have a single reason to worry about anything at home. I love you dear hubby for being such a strong pillar of support for me...for always being by my side...for being the reason why I am so happy in my life inspite of all the ups and downs it brings us.

Here's wishing all you readers a belated Happy Mother's Day. Please do fill us in on how you spent yours or what touched you the most on this day.