Mobile Woes

This post was supposed to be written almost two weeks back, but I was so caught up in work and family, that as usual it got postponed!

Since the last time I posted, my mobile phone was spoilt and I learnt the hard way to back up again! Since then I have been getting back almost a year's worth of contacts in my new phone (dh's old phone) and this time making sure that all numbers have been saved to my SIM card....

A couple of months back I accidently dropped my phone in water and then it appeared to work alright after a days's worth of drying. But it seems that the insides were corroded and so one day it just stopped working! This is a bad year for me in terms of phone and the current one I am using is dh's old one - which makes it number 4 for the year...(Sigh) I wish the year was over already so I can put this bad luck behind me...

I also saw OSO and Saawariya and will review them tomorrow....

Peace....and Quiet

I am writing this post on a Friday morning, after the kids have gone to school and the house is quiet. I guess this is one the last few times when I will be allowed this luxury. My mom is finishing up the chores in the kitchen before she takes a bath and then we both start preparing to make the Diwali sweets and savories. I have taken leave from office so that I can document what my mom does and then hope to replicate it in my kitchen on my own maybe next year if not before.

I am also listening to music one of my favourite sites online - MusicIndiaOnline. I am listening to something called Top 20 in Hindi, which is the top 20 songs which have been listened by viewers in the last 24 hours. Predictably they are the songs of Saawariya, Bhool Bhulaiya and Om Shanti Om. The songs of all three are very good and worth a listen. Saawariya and Om Shanti Om are the next eagerly awaited movies due for a Diwali release, so I guess next week the audience will decide if the new debutants' are to be the successes they feel they deserve. Both movies have been over hyped and their cast and crew have appeared on practically all the reality shows on all the Indian channels till date.

Sanjay Leela Bansali's Saawariya stars the progeny of two of Indian cinema's successful actors - Rishi Kapoor (Ranbir Kapoor) and Anil Kapoor (Sonam Kapoor) and so these two star-children will be looked over with a critical eye.

Deepika Padukone making her Hindi film debut in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om is a former model as well as being the daughter of India's most prolific badminton player - Prakash Padukone. Shahrukh Khan also stars as the male lead in this movie.

Ok, mom's out and so this post gets wrapped up. This week, I managed three posts, so lets hope the next week, I at least maintain a status quo, if not more posts....

Have a great weekend everyone and to end here is a nice photograph I clicked at our recent visit to Sentosa's show titled "Songs of the Sea".

Book Review

Sometimes I wonder how some of the bloggers are able to take care of their children, work full time and at the same time blog on a daily basis! I guess they are much better managers of their time than me :-(

These days I am absolutely fascinated by some of the food blogs that are there. I keep going to one after the other and bookmarking them for a look through later. Some of them are absolutely amazing - with detailed receipes and pictures and some of them are well, not so good. Since I fancy myself a darn good cook, I am all the time tempted to post my receipes and pictures of the dishes on the blog, but don't do so - because duh, I don't manage my time well! I take pictures of the dishes, but don't upload them everyday. I am thinking one of the things I plan to work on in 2008 will be this - plan menus for the week (a month if possible) and then try to put in atleast one dish a week (complete with photographs and instructions).

I just finished reading Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra and at nearly 1000 pages, it is a very hefty and satisfying read. The language, violence and sex in the book seem too much at times, but then what else could you expect from a book where the protagnists are 'Ganesh Gaitonde', a big bhai or underworld don and 'Sartaj Singh' a dashing inspector in Mumbai Police. While reading the book, I felt some of the characters were very recognizable in real life.

The book also reminded me a lot of Suketu Mehta's Maximum City which is another book I loved a lot. This book is highly recommended by Mumbaikars (especially those like me who are away from the city and miss it a lot) and to those who want to learn about the real and unadultrated city.

Languages

Start as you mean to go on.....

Yesterday I talked about posting regularly, so here I am with today's edition. I just hope this time it doesn't fizzle out in the next two three days.

The past few months have been hectic for me in terms of thinking about the kids education! I have just signed the Princess and the Pilot up for Hindi classes starting from January. Now in addition to learning English and Mandarin in school they will go for a weekly Hindi class (lessons which run every Saturday, from 9am till 1pm) at a school not very far from home. Everyone thinks I am putting too much pressure on them at the tender age of four, but what they don't understand is that I am making sure the children have the choice of choosing a second language (or Mother Tongue - MT, as it is called here) when they start school. Since they are doing Mandarin in school and Hindi in the class, they can take either of the two languages for their MT.

But this will come at a price - me trying to get them to write/study/read in three languages and probably speak in four! Also now Saturdays and Sundays as I know will cease to exist! Since we will have to be at the class by 9 am, we will need to get out of the house by 8:30am, which means I need to wake them up latest by 7 am and which means I need to finish all my work for the morning by that time (and yes this includes cooking and cleaning atleast the kitchen as there won't be any time to do it once we come back from class). So effectively it means I need to wake up as usual at 5 (or 4 if I can swing it) even on Saturdays and Sundays!! Yuck! I guess this means less sleep for me. I turn into this irritable and angry woman when I don't get my seven hours of sleep a night. God give me the serenity to deal with this and more....

If I can get through the next two years without becoming a zombie, then I would consider it a job well done!

Birthdays, Movies and Cakes

Phew! I feel so irritated with myself! When I let go, I really do let go.

Things have changed a lot over the two months or so that I have not blogged anything. For one my helper has gone back to India and my parents are here to help me. Well my mom does almost all the work at home, so the true test of my mettle will only come on December 22 when they head back home!

The Princess and the Pilot also turned four last month and we had a small party at home to celebrate. This was the first year that they enjoyed getting presents and were determined to open each and every one of them before they went to bed that night. As expected, most of the pilot's gifts were mechanical in nature (cars, aeroplanes etc) and the Princess got loads of dolls like Barbie and the paraphernalia that comes with it. Obviously they are extremely thrilled with the presents and we have to restrain them from opening them all at the same time.

I saw two bollywood movies over the last week and I must say I was might impressed with both of them. Sriram Raghavan's 'Johhny Gaddar' and Imtiaz Ali's 'Jab We Met' are movies worth watching atleast once!

Johhny Gaddar is an out and out whodunit, but with a difference - the audience knows who did it, but the other characters in the film don't know. Neil Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's grandson) plays the title role of Johhny Gaddar and looks pretty similar to Hrithik Roshan. So I am guessing he may be the next heartthrob of the nation. The fact that he is a decent actor also doesnt hurt his status.

Jab We Met is one of those cute movies that you leave the theatre with a smile. The chemistry between Sahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor is very good, just too bad about their recent split. I just wish they do work together more. Kareena acted very well in the movie but it was Sahid who was very restrained who will take all the honours. The characters of both the protagnists are so believeable and 'normal' that the movie just flows, especially in the first half. The second half looks like a set of a Rajshri movie, what with all the shaadi and stuff.

Another milestone for me personally is that I finally leart to BAKE!! I am so happy about this as baking (anything related to the oven bascially) was an alien territory for me. But on Friday evening I was suddenly seized by this desire to bake and as soon as I went home, baked this lovely Date Cake from Aayi's Receipes. It's a great and extremely easy receipe and if I as a total rank beginer got it right, then anyone can!

I also baked this yummy Carrot cake from Food, in the Main was the second thing I tried my hand at baking yesterday. It has a very Gajjar Halwa taste and so is very Indian in taste. Different, but extremely yummy! A definite try!

Okay....a long post today. Hopefully I have the same momentum to write atleast two to three posts a week!

Loong Time catch ups`

Woo, I just didn't realise it was so long since the time I last posted. Anyway so here goes on what happened in our lives the past one month.

Actually life has changed pretty much for all of us. For one, my maid has left us to go back to India so we are all on our own now. My parents have come over to help, but that is temporaray at best. The kids have now started coming home by school bus (which they love). Life is also very hectic for me - what with doing all the washing and cleaning at home (which used to be done by someone else). But I do have a Nepali girl coming in once a week to do the heavy cleaning and ironing (which I always seem to bebehind in) so that helps.

The kids have started Mandarin tutions once a week and now I realise how much effort it is to get them to sit in one place and write. The Pilot hates to write and I have to nag him all the time to do that. The Princess on the other hand is not so bad. The other blah news is that in addition to Mandarin, they will have to start Hindi classes once a week for three hours at a stretch (the horrors of it all....:-( ) starting from January. Combine all this to existing Ballet and Piano classes and forthcoming Kumon Maths class, I really now have to scramble for time!

The Pilot and the Princess also turn four on Sunday. They took their cakes and pressents to their classmates today. Cakes were Snow White's face for the Princess coupled with Snow White and Puss in Boots books for the girls and boys in her class and Superman cake and Jungle Book and Cinerella books for the kids in the Pilot's class. We are having a party at home on Sunday and that's fodder for another post!

Happy Birthday India and Singapore

This is as usual a belated post - I was supposed to write about Singapore's National Day last week, but as usual didn't!

Well, Singapore celebrated it's 42nd National Day last Thursday and it was day of pomp, pagentry and celebration. This year was the first there was a parade on a floating platform - a world's first. I have always loved a parade - the sense of nationalism it invokes in me always brings up goosebumps! And since I consider Singapore my home (even though I am not a Singaporean), Majulah Singapura brings up the same awe that Saare Jahan Se Accha or Vande Mataram does to me.

Today India celebrates 60 years of freedom and at this time I am proud to be an Indian! In fact I am proud of both my countries - India, which is the country of my birth and therefore my motherland and Singapore, where I moved to live my life after marriage. So in a sense India is my maika and Singapore my sasural. I am proud that in the last 42 years Singapore has come up from being a country filled with villages to a first world country and India which has grown so much in the last 60 years that it is a world Superpower now.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIA and BELATED BIRTHDDAY WISHES SINGAPORE!! Keep prospering like this!

I know it's getting to be a habit, but I missed posting for a week more!

Well the last week has been a pretty humdrum kind of life for us. I have been getting the kids to write on a daily basis. The Princess is pretty consistant and will happily write the couple of pages I set out for her but the Pilot is another ballgame altogether! He doesn't like to write and is not afraid to show it. Some days getting him to write is one long series of threats, cajoles and bribes till it is done; and more often than not, it will be very badly executed!! I have a new book for them now, so hopefully this week won't be so bad!!

On another note, I found a way to fold fitted sheets on on youtube and it actually works! Here are the two that I watched and which I used. The first one is from Google Video and the other one is from Youtube. I spent about 15 minutes sorting through my bedroom sheets and folding them and putting them away. The first sheet must have taken me around five minutes to complete and once I got the hang of it, it took me around 3 minutes to do each sheet. I also put the sheet with one of the pillow cases and put it all into the other pillow case and made it into one neat parcel!

School's Out

For the past few days there has been a debate going on in the newspapers here regarding the amount of work that kids have to do in school these days and the lack of a proper childhood for them. So I thought I should weigh in my two cents worth on this topic, seeing that it is something I have pretty strong views on!

It is true that the school system here in Singapore is akin to being in a pressure cooker - both for parents as well as children. With an aim to provide a first-class education to its children, the government, no doubt started out with noble intentions, but somewhere along the line, perhaps the distinction between a world class education and too much education got blurred! At almost four years of age, in addition to their Nursery class, the Pilot and the Princess also go to Ballet (the Princess) and Piano (both) classes. Come January, I am planning to get them started with Hindi classes (both) every Saturday morning for three hours as they will be taking Hindi as their Mother Tongue language in Primary school, plus Kumon for Maths for both and Speech and Drama classes. If there is time, I also want to enrol them in Art classes.

I know this is too much for a four year old to do, but like all Kiasu (which means the fear of losing out and is a Singlish slang. For more click here)Singapore parents, I am scared that if I don't do atleast this much, they will be much behind their peers!

In my heart I know that they will never experience the kind of childhood I had, where school studies started seriously only from grade 3 and holidays were meant to be enjoyed to the fullest either staying at home or travelling. My kids will never experience that as most schools here have some sort of holiday programme on - both in June and December (when the school semester ends) and holiday homework!

That's quite sad, especially when we as parents - who should be encouraging them to let their imagination take flight, make them rein it in so that we (and they) can conform to what society expects us to do!

Aww well, this is a never-ending thing and I guess and the kids keep growing there will be more rants by me on this topic! So have a great weekend everybody!

The World around me

So Harry Potter lives....J.K. Rowling has been compared to Shakespeare for making the generation of today's kids go back to reading even with the advent of technology. I have read that many people went straight to the last page when they got hold of their copy of the book to see if Harry lives or not, and here I must admit that on Sunday I went online just to know his fate too!

The past few days the news has all been the huge floods in the United Kingdom and the equally bad heatwaves in the rest of Europe! It seems really weird to me that the same continent is experiencing such vagaries of nature. Of course, you can argue saying that the UK is not really in continental Europe, but that's really not the point! The point here is that we are not acting as responsible citizens of the world. All of us contribute to Global warning and I feel that all these unusual activity is Mother Nature's way of telling us to pull up our socks and start doing something! I have also decided to do my small part for this. I am going to do with the three Rs - Reduce, Recycle and Reuse! I plan to reduce taking plastic bags from shops, recycle things that can be recycled and what can't be used by us will be donated so that someone else can make use of it.

India has her first woman president! Ms. Prathibha Patil was sworn in as President of the largest republic of the world this week! For a country which is always mentioned in the feminine tense and who was one of the first countries to democratically elect a woman Prime Minister, this is a long overdue event! Ms. Patil will be filling in some really big shoes of Dr. Kalam, the erstwhile and well-loved President so my sincere hope is that she continues his good work and helps the country grow and prosper!

Here is a picture of the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST, formerly Victoria Terminus or VT Station to us Mumbaikars) at night all lit up for you to enjoy!

Harry Potter Mania

Tomorrow is the day when the final book of the Harry Potter series called 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' will be released (0701 here in Singapore) and us muggles will finally get to know what really happens?

So this is the perfect time for me to post my views on the latest Harry Potter movie, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" I read this book nearly four years ago and this book has some meaning for me. I was nearly nine months pregnant with my twins when sometime in August 2003, my gynaecologist put me on an extended bed rest of about 10 days after which I had to go back to work and hand over my duties to the person replacing me and get back to another bout of bedrest before delivery and the start of my maternity leave. Since this bed rest was an enforced one (which meant I had to put up my legs for most of the day, except for some walking around every hour or so to get the circulation in my legs moving), I was pretty worried what I would do the whole day. So just before I went on the bed rest, I got the latest Harry Potter from the library (which I had reserved and just got), thinking it would be good for the next ten days. I should have known better, I finished it in less than two days and spent the next eight days just watching TV!

So on to the movie...the movie was definitely scarier and darker than the previous ones. It is still full of magic and spells, and it was also much better directed and written, with computer animation and special effects that are awesome. I loved the part where Harry, Hermoine, Ron and Neville zoom across the Thames on their broomsticks. Also the ending was awesome for it's special effects. The part where Ron's older twin brothers light up the school before deciding to leave altogether was also fantastic. The tricks that they played added to the lightness and balanced the overall darkness of the movie. The much anticpated kiss between Ron and Cho was also a bit of an anti-climax (atleast to me) and I thought there seemed more than met the eye between Harry and Luna Lovegood. There were also a lot of scenes which showed Harry as a young boy in his first year at Hogwarts and so it was nice to see the sweet and innocent Harry of then versus the more darker and angrier Harry of now.

Here is a link, if you want to see the trailer.

So see ya all you muggles and I just hope I get hold of a copy of the book soon so that I know how it all ends!

To Sleep.....Or not to Sleep?

For the past six months, I have been telling the kids that they are big now and have to start sleeping on their own once my helper goes back. So from this you can deduce that we have been co-sleeping with the twins since the day they were born. I am so ambivalent about the whole process - on one hand I am so ready to reclaim my bed and privacy, but on the other hand, I am going to miss having two warm and sturdy bodies besides me at night to cuddle and play with. Anyway I guess a mom has to do what she needs to do! So off they go in December once my parents are back in India and my helper has also gone. I just hope in the meantime, I get the house in order!

Tomorrow at the Princess and Pilot's school they have a 'Racial Harmony Day' party. 21 July is celebrated as 'Racial Harmony Day' in Singapore to commemorate the worst racial riots which took place in Singapore in July 22, 1964. Since then this day has been celebrated to renew the fact that Singapore is a multiracial and multicultural society where people of different races and religions live together in harmony. Here is link to the article in Wikipedia which talk about this day for those of you who want to know more.

So for the party in the kids school, they have to wear an ethnic outfit and bring some food to be shared with their friends. I am going to send them some Potato Bread Bullets which I picked up from Sify food (formerly known as Bawarchi) and modified a bit. The receipe seems easy enough and here goes:

Potato Bread Bullets

Mix together 4 boiled and mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup boiled peas, 4 green chilles (finely chopped or minced), 1/4 cup finely crushed cornflakes, 1 tsp ginger paste, 2 tbsps finely chopped coriander, 1 tsp finely chopped mint leaves (I may omit this as I don't have any at home), 1/4 tsp amchoor powder. Take 10 sandwich bread slices and cut off the crust. Next wet a slice of bread in milk and pat off excess moisture. Place a tsp of the stuffing in the centre in an oblong shape and fold over the remaining slice and roll between the palms gently. Make sure that there are no openings whereby the stuffing comes out. Make a batch and heat oil till smoky, deep fry till golden brown and serve with chutney or sauce

I'll try and click a picture of this tomorrow morning and also let you know how it came out.

Drama King and Queen

I am now convinced that although for a while now the Princess has been saying she wants to be a doctor, her real forte lies in acting. Yesterday when the kids were down at the playground with a few other kids, the Princes fell down and scrapped her knee on the concrete floor. Thus started her drama show! At home after a bout of crying at the playground, I asked her to come for dinner and she started by saying her legs pained and so she would eat sitting in the sofa. And how did she eat - with pillows behind her back and half recling and mommy feeding her! This morning she didn't want to go to school as her legs were hurt yesterday!

The Pilot is no less when it comes to all this drama. Last week he fell down and hurt himself and he milked it for a week. If you asked him to do anything he would say he couldn't do it as his hand/leg hurt.

Kids today - they need an Oscar on a daily basis! Wonder what they will come up with tomorrow!

Reminiscences

It's kind of weird! I posted a piece on Friday (July 13) and now it doesn't appear in the blog. But what is really funny that when I try to edit my posts I can see the post and the picture with it. Let me see if this post also has the same fate, if yes, then I will have to ask the good people at Blogspot to help me out.

Yesterday I had a cleaning frenzy and decided to clean some closets of mine. I also wanted to put the Princess and Pilot's night clothes in seperate bins, so that they can look for their own clothes to change into after they brush their teeth. Also the Pilot keeps saying that there are no "boy dresses" and I wanted to check if this was really so. When I was cleaning up the closet I came across heaps of their stuff when they were babies - the swaddling clothes, their blankets, their cloth nappies and towels. They clothes and nappies were so small and I remembered them at 1-2 months old. Life was so much simpler then...

Kids grow up so fast that their childhood seems to be so fleeting. I have decided to stop and enjoy their toddlerhood and the years of pre school as much as I can and while I can. Too soon they will be in Primary school and then life will be one busy whirl of school and activities with no time for a cuddle!

Keep smiling people!

Singapore National Service

Aagh, it's been a week now since I posted. It's not that there is nothing to write about, but it's just that I've been so tired and sleepy these days that I am just not able to garner the enthusiasm to actually sit down and write about things.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the National Service in Singapore. All male citizens aged 18 have to mandatorily do their National Service (NS) to fulfil their citizenship obligations to the country. The papers were full of the history of the NS and the Sunday paper even had a special supplement with articles and musings about the NS.

The NS is one big equaliser where people coming from different strata of society, from different races as well as different educational backgrounds will have to learn to live and work together with the common purpose of defending the country, should the need so arise! Now since the pilot was born I was prepared mentally for this, but I had thought this was the perfect time to let him know what he is supposed to do once he reaches the magic age. This is supposed to be a rite of passage or as someone put it, "they enter as boys and come out as men". Theoritically I am not opposed to it, and in fact even welcome something like this, but what I am opposed to is the disruption it causes to their studies is what makes me have any reservations.

Ah well, there is no point in grumbling about it since the Pilot has to just do it and there is no way out of it. I just hope he gets what he is passionate about (the airforce perhaps?) and then the two years will just fly past him.

Triple Seven

First things first, you must have noticed that I have been putting up images for the last few posts. Well the only reason is that I was playing around with Blogger and saw this. So I decided to upload the snaps I take of things around me. It's a conscious decision that I will only put up pictures which do not have any people in it so that I can maintain mine and other people's privacy! This one is a picture of a cracker going off in honour of all those people getting married tomorrow. For more, read on...

So what is this triple seven? Well it's a a play on tomorrow's date - 07-07-07! Since this is a which will come probably once every hundred years, it's a date most people (especially couples) are making full use of. I read in the papers recently that about 700 couples are planning to get married tomorrow - come to think of it, we also have an invite for a wedding tomorrow - and so hotels, caterers, photographers, make-up artists and other people servicing the wedding industry would probably be inundated with orders. Phew! I do not wish to be in the shoes of a wedding guest who has to hop all around town moving from one wedding reception to the next!

There's also the Live Earth concert across the world tomorrow. My piece on saving the earth is fodder for another post, so I'll end this post here.Happy weekend people and see you real soon!

Long time post

I am back! What with the past few months being crazy at work, it was all I could do just to keep up with work-related emails. I just gave up on a lot of stuff including writing on this blog. But the reason why I was MIA for so long is done. The event, I was planning was a huge success; so much so that at the end when my boss thanked me for planning and executing it, I got a standing ovation from the delegates who were in the audience! The worst part was that I was seated right in front and didn't even know of it till someone told me after everything was over!

Anway the Pilot and the Princess have started piano classes with their other twin friends A&A. So every Sunday we troop off to the class where S (A&A's mom) and me hear shouting and banging going on inside the class! I still don't know how much they like this but I am willing to give it a shot. We've also decided to put them in Kumon and Hindi classes next year when they get to Kindergarten 1 and I am scouting for Speech and Drama classes for the two of them. Phew! so much for such little kids, but then c'est la vie!

Also my helper has decided that she would not extend her contract and would be going back to India next month to get married! My parents will be here for a few months to help me transition, but then from December I will be on my own (albeit with my inlaws support). I am prepared for this, but I guess reality will set in only after she leaves and I am actually doing it. I'll be posting regular updates, so be around to see the next exciting round of me the all round woman - wife, mom, career woman and general dogsbody!

Hope this time around, I'll be able to post regularly - atleast 2-3 times a week as this blog was primarily started to be a record of my life - a diary of sorts.

Keep well everyone and Happy 4th of July to all the Americans who read this!

The World around me...

This post was written by me on Monday morning when I was reading the daily news, but with things the way they were, somehow it didn't get uploaded. So here goes...

A new day, a new week. I know that I have been very lax at posting, so here is a big SORRY from me!

I am just catching up on the news - I usually read Mumbai Mid-Day and Samachar. There is this piece of news on Midday, which I found very strange. You can read this article here.

Basically it says in the event of a plane being highjacked on Indian soil, a new Home Ministry rule says only Indian passengers will be evacuated; govt won't negotiate for release of foreigners.

I find that I don't really like this ruling as it assumes that an Indian life is more valuable than a foreign one; and when we Indians go and live and work abroad and face such laws, rules in our adopted country we cry foul and raise anti-discriminatory laws! Also shouldn't the government know that in today's world, with more and more families being mobile, there are many cases where the parent/s and children may have different nationalities and passports and in such a situation, would a parent (who will most probably be an Indian national) allow himself/herself to be evacuated and let their child/ren (who would more likely be a foreigner) stay in the plane?

And in such a situation what would the government do? Would they force the Indian parent to forcibly leave the plane and in the process break up a family? To all those in power, who shout from rooftops about the 'Bharatiya Sanskriti'(Indian Culture), is this what is all about!

The world has gone mad?

Another week has gone by without me making a single post. This was not what I had bargained for when I decided to start blogging. I know that other than a few family members no one is really interested in what I write. Is this the reason that I am not as profilic as I want to be?

The past two days have been all about the random and absolutely senseless shooting at the Virginia Tech University. I really don't know what to say. Is life so cheap that someone who is angry with the world and perhaps himself just decides to do away with the lives of his fellow students and teachers? Being so far away we can do a bit of head-shaking and comment on it, but what about all those parents, children, relatives of all those killed? It is not just about the 33 people killed, it is about 33 families destroyed. Not only of those people killed, but also of Cho's own family. I really wonder what his parents must be going through now and I really feel for them. This is the time for the USA to wake up and see reality. There should be strict rules about gun control in the country and the time has come to really implement it. When educational institutes and centers for learning become potential mine-fields where the chances of something like this happening are high, then what is the message that is being sent out? If not in a school, people can't feel safe, then where else?

One of mine and DH's long term plans with regard to the Princess and the Pilot was about their higher studies and further education. We started saving for them from the time they were born - if I remember correctly I opened savings accounts for them when they were about a month old. We want to save enough money that we can finance their education in any field that they want to study in (be it medicine, airplane pilot etc), and in whichever institute in any country that they get admission to. But with the world like this, I am so tempted to get my babies close to me and not let them out of my sight ever. But that will not happen. I had made a promise to myself that I will never be a clinging mom and will always let them do what they want! God help me!!

Pilot and Princess Stories plus 10%

I haven't posted in a long time and this is a long overdue post.

The Princess started ballet class last week. This was something that she wanted to do for a very long time and she has been enjoying her class very much. She goes to the class with a best friend A, who is also a twin, lives in the next building and is almost the same age as her. So you can imagine what happens when all four get together! I have also asked the class to get a leotard, tutu and shoes for her and I know the day this comes, she will wear it and prance around the house as if she is a ballerina! Oh and by the way, the Pilot feels left out every Tuesday when the Princess and me leave for ballet lessons. So I asked him if he also wanted to join a class. I asked him if he wanted to learn the Piano - the answer was no, so I asked him what he wanted to do. Pat comes the answer, "Mummy, I want to join Car Class". It was all I could do to keep from bursting out with laughter. So I told him he had still another 14 years to go before he could go for "Car Class"!

There is a strange little ritual that happens almost every weekend. For some reason the Pilot hates - and when I say hate, I really really mean it - to have his nails cut. For some reason he is convinced that when me, DH or our helper will cut his nails, his fingers are also going to get lopped off in the process. So the nail cutting process actually starts on Friday with me inspecting his nails and showing him how long they have grown. He will then say no to a cut, but agree if I press him. Then on Saturday or Sunday morning, when we actually get to doing it, he will suddenly get cold feet and start crying. Bribes, TV, threats will all be used at various times by me. Finally I will get fed up and hold him tight, with the Princess chipping in and then we start with the hands. Most days by the time we finish his hands, he will be crying so much, that I just decide to do the feet on another day. He will then hold his hands away from his body, with the fingers splayed out and keep crying "My fingers, my fingers". It is such a cute scene!

OK, before I leave and get back to work, I have to share this. I now weigh 10% less than I did in January! What I mean is that I have lost 10% of my body weight! I am so happy that one goal has been reached. I do so badly want to weigh my goal weight at least before my birthday.

Weekends

Why do weekends have to end so fast. I usually have a list of things which have to be accomplished over a weekend, but barely manage to make a dent on it. I don't know if my expectations for the weekend are very high or I just don't do enough to complete everything for the weekend.

Friday is a beautiful start to a weekend - full of promise and expectations. Then Saturday rolls in with a fully packed schedule - most of which remains undone. Last comes Sunday with the realization that the weekend is over and nothing much has been done!!

This weekend we took the kids to see the new Mr. Bean movie called "Mr. Bean's Holiday". This was the second movie that they have seen in the theater (the first being Happy Feet). The Pilot is such a huge fan of Mr. Bean, that except for one short toilet break, she sat through the entire movie absolutely transfixed. And those of you who know him, will agree that sitting through a 90 minute movie with just one toilet break is a great achievement for him. Well the movie was classic Rowan Atkinson with not much dialog but plenty of action. The theater was filled with kids of all ages and looks like this movie will be a huge hit here in Singapore.

The Pilot and the Princess fell sick (cough and cold) over the weekend too so this weekend was filled with stuff to do. I took them to the doctor on Sunday and although the Pilot didn't have it too bad, the Princess's chest was filled with phlegm. WE have been given loads of medicines and have been asked to monitor her. If it persists for over 4-5 days, i have to take her back to the GP and then he will ask me to take her to the hospital for an x-ray. I am actually thinking of not taking her to the GP tomorrow and instead getting an appointment with her pediatrician on Saturday for a second opinion. What do you all say?

Girls and Boys

Being the mom to a girl/boy pair of twins has certainly given me loads of food for thought. It's quite fascinating to see how girls and boys behave under certain situations - given that the external environment is the same for them both. This brings to my mind the "Nature versus Nurture" theory that I learned in Psychology class way back in college. The gist of that theory is that "What determines a human being's behaviour patterns? Is it his internal genetic make-up or is it the external factors which make a person what he/she is and how they behave?"

With the Pilot and Princess, I have always tried to be fair - I never made any distinctions between the two, especially in terms of gender specific toys and games. But surprisingly the age-old gender distinctions are very clear in our home. The Princess loves playing with her dolls and Barbie collections and the Pilot is vehicle mad. But there are some blurred spaces - the Princess likes to play with blocks and the Pilot with their little laptop (guess that is because it is a Ferrari model and all the games are car based).

But it is in temperaments that I am most surprised about. Contrary to perception that girls are made of 'sugar and spice and all that is nice', the Princess is the more assertive and dominating twin. The Pilot on the other hand easily gives in to his sister, but he is learning to be more assertive now. The Princess can shriek, rant and throw tantrums with the best of them and she is not afraid of anyone and anything. If we try to punish her, she probably will come back to me and I am really dreading her teens! The Pilot is more sensitive and a look from me is enough to make him back down. If anyone has any ideas on how to handle them, I'll be really grateful.

Back to cricket. India beat Bermuda by a huge margin and make World Cup history. Yesterday Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh and lead the table now. If India beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in turn will beat Bermuda then both India and Bangladesh will be equal in terms of points. So to get to the next level, which is the Super Eight, the run rate will be deciding factor. As of now, because of India's huge total against Bermuda, the run rate is in their favor, so now everything hinges on the last two matches of the group. Here in Singapore, there is not much being made about the ICC World Cup, soccer being the game of choice and the English Premier League the most watched games in the sports channels.

Recently there are many adverts about the Zee Cine Awards and since this year they are going to be held in Genting, Malaysia, I was quite tempted to go for it. Then I saw the ticket rates and decided that if I have to buy the cheapest ticket and see it on a screen in the auditorium, I might as well wait for Zee to show it on cable and I will see it then....

Bombay.....Mumbai

For some reason today, I was getting homesick and kept thinking of my home - Bombay. I was in college when the name change was affected and till date can't call it Mumbai - for me, it remains and will always remain Bombay!

Here is something that I dug out of my archives (it's basically interesting stuff that I save). Since the theme today is Bombay, here are some Bombay facts (I got these as forwards and so this is nothing that I wrote, but since I have long lost the original email, I can't give the author any credit. But if this your work, let me know and I will give credit where it is due).

22 Things that prove you are a Bombayaite

1. You say "town " and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.
2. You speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi', which only Bombayites can understand.*
3. Your door has more than three locks.
4. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
5. Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.
6. You spend more time each month traveling than you spend at home.
7. You call an 8' x 10' clustered room a Hall.
8. You're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."
9. You have the following sets of friend: school friends, college friends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, a species unique only in Bombay.
10. Cabbies and bus conductors think you are from Mars if you call the roads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road, Peddar  Road, Altamount Road
11. Stock market quotes are the only other thing besides cricket which you follow passionately.
12. The first thing that you read in the Times of India is the "Bombay Times" supplement.
13. You take fashion seriously. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
14. Hookers, beggars and the homeless are invisible.
15. You compare Bombay to New York's Manhattan instead of any other cities of India.
16. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
17. You insist on calling CST as VT, and Sahar and Santacruz airports instead of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
18. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
19. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.
20. Being truly alone makes you nervous.
21. You love wading through knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it ''romantic'.
22. Only in Bombay , you would get Chinese Dosa and Jain Chicken.

This post has gotten me real nostalgic for the landmarks of my childhood and adolescence - I guess all that is fodder for a new post, but I couldn't end without some names. Everytime I think of Bombay these are the things that come to my mind - my school (J.B. Vachha), Dadar Five Gardens, Matunga market, my home, Guru Kripa's in Sion where we used to go either after college or while bunking a lecture, Siddhi Vinayak Temple in Prabhadevi (whom I believe a lot in), Mahalakshmi Temple in Haji Ali and the crowds during Navratri and Diwali, Dandiyas during Navratri, the British Council Library in Nariman Point where I spent many a days during my under-graduate and post-graduate days, this list could go on and on. There will be more days when nostalgia will overtake me and that's when there will be another post about my favourite city.

I just had to write this one thing before I publish this post. I can't believe that India got defeated by Bangladesh during the first round matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup being held in the Caribbean Islands. I felt so disappointed, as would the millions of Indians across the world. Cricket is not just a sport in India, but a religion. I am not an expert, nor even an armchair critic, but I do know this - Dravid and the team, pull up your socks quickly and beat Bermuda and Sri Lanka by huge margins or you will be on the first flight home - beaten and humiliated. I was an infant when India last won the World Cup and in those days, you probably came to know about India's startling win over the then strong West Indies team only the next day when one saw the papers, but today with ball-by-ball commentary on the television, radio and the internet, I want to see India lifting that cup...

This started off as a supposedly small nostalgic post and has grown to gigantic proportions. I better quit while I can. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully Team India will have better news for us when we wake up tomorrow morning. Till then have a great day!

Bombay.....Mumbai

For some reason today, I was getting homesick and kept thinking of my home - Bombay. I was in college when the name change was affected and till date can't call it Mumbai - for me, it remains and will always remain Bombay!

Here is something that I dug out of my archives (it's basically interesting stuff that I save). Since the theme today is Bombay, here are some Bombay facts (I got these as forwards and so this is nothing that I wrote, but since I have long lost the original email, I can't give the author any credit. But if this your work, let me know and I will give credit where it is due).

Bambai meri jaan....

• A City where everything is possible, especially the impossible.
• Where lovers first love and then marry, Where there is place for every Tom, Dick and Harry
• Where telephone bills make a person ill, Where a person cannot sleep without a pill.
• Where carbon-dioxide is more than oxygen, Where the road is considered to be a dustbin,
• Where college canteens are full and classes empty, Where Adam teasing is also making an entry,
• Where a cycle reaches faster than a car, Where everyone thinks himself to be a star,
• Where sky scrapers overlook the slum, Where houses collapse as the monsoon comes,
• Where people first act and then think, Where there is more water in the pen than ink,
• Where the roads see-saw in monsoon, Where the beggars become rich soon,
• Where the roads are levelled when the minister arrives,
• Where college admission means hard cash, Where cement is frequently mixed with ash.
• This is Mumbai my dear, But don't fear, just cheer, come to Mumbai every year!

22 Things that prove you are a Bombayaite

1. You say "town " and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.
2. You speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi', which only Bombayites can understand.*
3. Your door has more than three locks.
4. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
5. Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.
6. You spend more time each month traveling than you spend at home.
7. You call an 8' x 10' clustered room a Hall.
8. You're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."
9. You have the following sets of friend: school friends, college friends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, a species unique only in Bombay.
10. Cabbies and bus conductors think you are from Mars if you call the roads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road, Peddar  Road, Altamount Road
11. Stock market quotes are the only other thing besides cricket which you follow passionately.
12. The first thing that you read in the Times of India is the "Bombay Times" supplement.
13. You take fashion seriously. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
14. Hookers, beggars and the homeless are invisible.
15. You compare Bombay to New York's Manhattan instead of any other cities of India.
16. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
17. You insist on calling CST as VT, and Sahar and Santacruz airports instead of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
18. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
19. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.
20. Being truly alone makes you nervous.
21. You love wading through knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it ''romantic'.
22. Only in Bombay , you would get Chinese Dosa and Jain Chicken.

Before I was a Mom

I got this from a board that I am a part of. It's something that all of us moms will relate to:

Before I was a Mom I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Kids and Television

I started writing this post yesterday and then didnt have time to complete it so here it is now.

I have been so busy the last few days that I just didn't have any time to write. Then I thought to myself, writing a post will take as little as five minutes if I have something to say (that is) and the entire day if I don't.

I really like watching "The Amazing Race" and try and catch them as soon as they air here. Apparently here they are aired directly via satellite and the first telecast is at 9 am on a Monday morning (just who is their target audience?). There is also an encore telecast in the evening and that's what I catch. On the days that I watch TAR, noone is allowed to see Zee TV (as if anyone other than me is even interested in this channel at my house) and Sun TV. Yesterday Rob and Amber got eliminated. I was sure right at the end Phil would tell them that they came in last, but this was a non-elimination leg. But I was quite surprised to see them leave. I didn't like them at all in Season 7, but this season they seem quite mellow. Anyway, there are loads of spoilers out there. Wonder who would win the race now that these two are out. I liked Uchenna and Joyce from the same season, maybe they would win again? But who knows, since they already won before, maybe this time a team that didn't win before can also win. Lets see over the next 3 months for this.

Speaking of television, right now "Mr. Bean - the animated series" is going on in the Disney Channel and the Pilot is a huge fan of Mr. Bean. Last year when I went to Penang, Malaysia for a conference, I got him the entire series on DVD and boy, was he one happy boy for a long time. The new "Mr. Bean" movie is releasing here by the end of the month and I am planning to take them to see it. Their first movie in a theatre was "Happy Feet", this one will be movie number 2. They also saw both the "Scooby Doo" movies which were aired over the weekend on the terrestrial channel and loved them, although the Princess was a bit scared about the monsters part of it.

Here is something that you should check out. Someone has actually gone through the trouble of drawing the human body from inside out and then anumating it. This person must have spent loads of time on this. Do check this out.

TGIF.....

TGIF! The week has come to an end and I am so looking forward to two days of rest. But I guess I can't rest much as I have to start to organize and declutter my home in order to prepare a new bedroom for the kids.

Speaking of the kids, they are down at the playground in our apartment complex and I am enjoying the peace and quiet in the house. I haven't had this quiet since before the twins were born and I am really relishing it.

I also have some serious concerns about their second language "Mother Tongue" choice when they need to take when they reach Primary 1. It'll be quite a big post and so I'll keep it for another day. But I would really like you to respond because I keep second-guessing myself.

This morning I wrote something on a board that I visit. The topic was "What was your top five reasons to lose weight". So here are my five in no particular order

1. To show myself and the other naysayers that I can do it.
2. To have better self confidence in myself and also project a better self image to others
3. To live long and healthy without any major diseases and hospitalisation charges
4. To be a positive role model to my kids. Also I want to be around them for a loong time and see and play with their kids and possibly grandkids.
5. To be able to just walk into any shop and buy or tryout what catches my fancy without asking if it was available in my size.

So what do you think of these reasons? I decided to put them here also so that I can read them again and again and then it reinforces my motivations.

I have also decided to start seriously looking for a new job and this time I really want to do something interesting and something that I really like. So what is it that I am passionate about? Well I love books - I would happily live in a library or a book store if I could; I also love to write - this blog is proof of that. What else do I like to do? I've realised I like doing research for people, especially over the internet and I like meeting new people. Now I have got to put all these different interests together and see if they make a career. What I don't want to do is to retrain for a new career at this age and start from scratch. I also would like to be in a place where there are no office politics (but I guess I am mature (?) enough to understand that such an utopian state of affairs may never happen....

Oh well, like they say Que Sera Sera.....Let me see what the new week brings to me..

Ciao and have a great rollicking weekend everyone....I'll see you on Monday, if not before that.

It's all about me today...

Now that I have some regular readers (just family) I thought I should write more often. I usually write from work, either when I am done for the day and just about to leave for home or during my lunch hour. Once I am at home for some reason I rarely even go near the computer, leave alone get online.

I am getting frustrated and plain bored at work now. I had thought that while my home situation was settled, I will stick on here and then look for a new position. But the way things work here is getting me increasingly loathe to even come to work. On Monday mornings I am waiting for Friday to roll on and that's now what I signed up for. Actually the work is quite interesting but my co-workers are poison. There are many who are in the bosses clique and so get away with practically murder whereas the rest have to slog like serfs! I think I've finally had enough. The way I look at it, the more I stay here, the more I will get entrenched into this culture and not want to leave. There are many perks to this job, especially to a young mom - I can come late if there is an emergency and leave early also at times. This was the main reason I was so comfortable here and didn't want to leave. But the time has come to leave I guess. This Saturday I will start searching the job supplement that comes with the paper and hopefully I should get something soon. But I am scared, I shouldn't get out of the frying pan just to land in the fire.

Since I wrote about getting the rooms organized for the kids, I have become addicted to reading decorating and organizing blogs. I plan to print or copy some of the interesting stuff they write about and then see how best I can use them. Also from this weekend onwards, Operation Clean Home starts. Wish me luck people, there is serious clutter lying around and I need to do something about it pronto!

On the weight loss front, I think I am finally breaking out the plateau I was on for almost two months. (Cross Fingers), hopefully the next time I write about this, there will be some serious kilos lost.

New Room for the kids

It's official now. After their fourth birthday and after four years of co-sleeping with DH and me, the Pilot and the Princess have to start sleeping in their very own room now. It also coincides with the fact that my domestic helper will be going back to India for good.

Now I am faced with the daunting task of transforming my home, which usually has two bedrooms (the master bedroom and the guest bedroom) plus another room where we store all our junk and the kids toys into one with a kids room plus a guest room. I am lucky that I have almost six months to do this. If anyone has any hints they want to give, please do.

Yesterday both of them brought back the work that they did for the past two months in school. Right now they are on the number four and have done the letter S. The teachers have also made them draw lines, slanting, curves etc so that it gets easier to start the actual writing. I have no clue what they are doing in Mandarin as the reports come in the language and it's Greek and Latin to me. I am very seriously thinking of getting them a tutor for them now. Maybe just once a week to start with, and then we can increase the frequency as they move on to K1 and K2. The language debate is material for another post.

I am getting so forgetful these days. When the Pilot and/or the Princess say or do something interesting, I immediately think that I should blog this. Then when I actually get to the computer; 'poof', it's all disappeared! I started blogging since I couldn't be bothered to actually write in a physical diary, but the way things are going, I guess I need a diary or a book to record what I should blog about! Go figure....

Something Something

I have posted in a while and thought I should catch up. Actually I am writing this with a big smile in my face! The Princess and the Pilot are busy dancing to their current favourite song "Something Something" from the movie "Something Something Unakku Enakkum". This is the third time that they are listening to the song from Music India Online. The princess loves music and dancing and can memorise songs pretty fast, but it is the pilot who suprised me - not only by knowing the lyrics but by also dancing to them!

I was kind of upset last week because my diet was totally shot! I manged to gain about 1.5 kgs of the hard lost 6 kgs. So since yesterday I have come back on the wagon. I read somewhere that it is better to eat till you are 80% full rather than totally full. So this is what I plan to do. I am also planning to "Streak". It's not what you think, but it's doing something consistantly for as long as you can. So my streaks are going to be A) To do 100 crunches daily; B) To do a minimum of 35 minutes everyday in my elliptical and C) To walk atleast 10,000 steps daily. Once these three streaks become a habit, I will think of some other habit to alter. Hopefully writing it down here will make me accountable. I did A and B today and have some 2800 steps to complete C.

Gotta go and make dinner for my hungry monsters...

Catching up on sleep

I have been so sleep deprived the last few weeks that this weekend all I seem to do is Sleep! Most nights I am asleep by 10 pm and then wake up only after a good 8-9 hour sleep. Then there are the afternoon naps that I do with the kids which last for another 1-2 hours. Looks like I will be giving Kumbhakaran (for those who don't know, this is a mythological figure who was supposed to sleep for days together) some run for his money.

I guess my sleep bank is severely depleted and this is one way for my body to catch up. I usually am up by 4 am daily Monday to Friday so that I can cook and then also put in atleast 45 minutes of exercise daily. So my daily sleep quota is only some 5.5 to 6 hours daily. I usually need 7-8 hours of sleep everyday and thus my account is severly overdrawn.

The kids had a lovely time at the picnic yesterday. I forgot to take my camera along, so I don't have any pictures of it. The rain did play havoc but this was also fun. The place was pretty deserted with just us (around 16 adults and some 8 kids) and some serious joggers. So we pretty much had the entire park to ourselves. There were some 2-3 kids their age and they all played together, got wet and generally had loads of fun. For a change the guys were in charge of food and we girls just sat there chatting. We are going to do this again - this time on Holi - and play with colours also. I am so looking forward to it.

I have to now check bawarchi for some interesting receipes; my inlaws and SIL are coming for lunch tomorrow - she is just back after the wedding, so it'll have to be good...

Some thoughts

Two days into my long holiday and I am soo bored! Just how much TV can someone see. As I write this I am seeing the movie "Bhagam Bhag". This is Govinda's comeback movie and stars Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Lara Dutta. It's a sort of a murder mystery movie with some good comic acting by Akshay and Govinda. It's a good movie to see on a rainy day like we are having right now. We are also planning to join some other families for a picnic but with the sky being so dark and it raining I am not sure if this picnic will pan out as planned.

The Pilot and the Princess fight like cats and dogs at times. Other times, they can't be away from each other. There are times when DH or me want to take them out seperately, but they won't come without each other. I usually feel very proud of my children that they are so close to each other, and then also want this closeness to be there all their life. Every day in school, they have this little ritual which now even their teachers like to see. Since they are in different classes, we usually go first to one class followed by the other. On reaching the first class, they will give each other a huge hug followed by a kiss and say byee to each other. Aww it looks so cute daily and gives me this huge smile which I take to school with me.

I have some readers now! Thank you Orchid and mommyof2 to visit me regularly. I love reading your blogs and hope you like reading about our life here also.

Gotta get ready now for a wet picnic. Will be back later....

Bits and Pieces

Hmm, what should I write this warm and nice Friday evening. I know - this post will be about the little bits and pieces that I was thinking of today but didn't think would make a full post.

First - today is my baby sister's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie. Although she is not little any more - but I always think of her like that! Since she moved away far away, I've been missing her a lot. We just spoke on the phone and this brought back loads of memories. Have a great day sweatheart and a fabulous year ahead!!

We are off to a long weekend ahead! Singapore and parts of Southeast Asia will be celebrating the Chinese New Year from tomorrow onwards. To anyone who does celebrate this and happens to see this post, Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family. This year will be the year of the Pig and apparently this pig year is supposed to be very auspicious - something that comes only once in 60 odd years according to some Korean experts. So expect to see a lot of little piglets as the year goes on. Thank God the Princess and the Pilot were not born in some very auspicious year like say the year of the Dragon as that would mean a bumper crop that year and lots of competition when it comes to school admissions. As it is I have nightmares about the ballot process and what would happen if one of them gets in and the other doesnt. More about this in another post.

I better stock up on essentials and groceries today and tomorrow as from about afternoon tomorrow, all shops and services will be closed as people gather for the Reunion Dinner. Then the first two days of the New Year are traditionally for visiting family and friends and we get to some sort of normalcy only from Tuesday onwards. Guess I could go to Little India if I was desperate but the thought of driving there really puts me off. I'd rather just stock-up.

I have nothing else to add (probably a first in my life!), so I'll end this here....

Have a great weekend everyone and see you tomorrow...

Family versus Career

What to write about? Now that I finally got the guts to tell people about my blog (mostly family), I have started feeling the pressure to write and to write well. Is this what writers call 'Writer's Block'?

My domestic helper who has been with us for the last four years has indicated that she would not like her contract to be renewed as she would like to go back to India and get married later this year. Now comes my big problem and dilemma - should I look for another helper or should I like the thousands of working women here in Singapore manage alone (with the help of family and the day care)? My current helper came highly recommended as her mom was also working in my grandma's house and so she was highly reliable. When I first started looking for someone to look after my babies, I wanted someone totally reliable and this girl fit the bill totally. Plus she is young and so has no major hang-ups. She looks after the kids wonderfully and we all will really miss her when she goes back to start her own life. With new rules in place I am quite hesitant to go to an agency for a new helper. I don't know how reliable she will be and if she will treat my kids well when I or DH are not around. So I guess I will be bringing up my babies alone with help from my MIL and mom. We need to talk and get the basics in place before September (when the contract ends). So many things to do.

Along with this dilemma comes the issue of my career. My biggest question is should I stay where I currently work or should I move. Both answers have their own pros and cons and the end result is that I am thoroughly confused. Where I work now, the pay is pathetic; but I can come in late if there is an emergency and noone will question me. Ditto for leaving early at times. Also the work load is not too heavy (except for some 2 months in the year) so I can leave at 5:30 pm every single day and noone will comment on my lack of commitment. On the other hand, if I move I lose all these advantages, probably the salary will make up for this and I may even have a career path all charted out unlike here, but at what cost? I really need to sort out all these things in my head very soon and take a decision on my career fast.

Another thing I need to do pronto is to lose weight fast. I have come to this conclusion that if and when I go to interview for a position, the interviewer does not see my competence and intelligence as well as my ability to do the advertised position well, but my appearence first! And living in Singapore where the average Chinese woman looks svelte and slim, this is defiitely something I need to work on. I have started exercising regularly and watching my diet, so I am on the path to good health. As of today I have lost some 6 kgs so hopefully things will only get better.

Musings

I finally have my first readers! Well I bit the bullet and told my sister and dad about this blog and they have read it. I was expecting comments, but no such luck.

Last week I finally enrolled the Princess into Ballet Dance Class. She was asking me for these classes for a while but there was no space at the class where I enquired and it was just last week they called back saying that there are slots open for a class which starts in April. So the Princess and her friend who stays close by and who is her age will be ballerinas come April. The class is for a total of 11 weeks, so lets see how long this ballet craze goes on. On another note, the Princess has decided that she will be a doctor when she grows up. I don't know from where she got this in her head, but she has been pretty consistant with this for almost 4-5 months now. On day I casually mentioned to her that her aunt R is also a doctor so now if anyone asks her what she wants to be when she grows up, she immediately pipes out "A doctor like R aunty"

The pilot as it is clear wants to be either a Pilot with SIA or a doctor (this depends on his mood - or whether he is aping his sister or not). He, as most boys would be - is machine crazy. He loves all vehicles - be it planes, cars, buses, trains. Even if the vehicle in question is a cartoon, he will see it and come to me exclaiming about it. One thing for sure, he shares this love for vehicles with his dad and I can forsee the future where father and son will go happily to motor shows and leave us girls at home.

Speaking of girls and boys, nowadays the gender distinction has come to stay in our house. For practically everything they do, it is either a girl thing which boys can't do or a boy thing which girls cant do. For me who believes in equality of the sexes, this is something I just can't let my son or daughter grow up with. So I keep telling them - "no it is not a girl/boy thing, everyone can do it".

Two Posts in 1 Day??

Am I so free today that I have time to write twice?

Not really! This morning as I was cooking I was thinking about this blog and how there is absolutely no traffic in it and if I was right in concealing mine and my family's identity and not having any personal information and photos in the site? All the mom blogs that I have visited in the past have loads of snaps of the family, of the kids and even the pets. I also pondered if a good blog used photos to personalise it and if photographs made for more traffic to the site.

Then during lunch when I was surfing the web and reading some blogs, I read something that made my decision for me. You can read about it here. Once I read it, I felt totally justified in my decision not to name my family and not to post pictures. I belong to a closed group where I have shared pictures because this group is by invitation only and so I trust them. I also have my personal photos in a password protected website so that family and friends across the world can have access to our pictures.

The internet is a wonderful invention and it has helped us be in touch with all our near and dear ones with the click of a mouse. But let us not forget that this was created and invented by a human being. And like all inventions and creations, what one human being creates for peaceful purposes, will be misused by many other human beings.

My Trip

Well here is the report on my recent trip to Chennai. We decided to fly the new budget arm of Air India called Air India Express as the fares were very competitive and for us with five tickets, this would have saved us a real bundle!

Our adventure started at the Singapore Changi Airport. As we were checking in we saw that the flight was scheduled to depart as planned. Then came the fun part - as we were five people travelling as a family we were under the impression that we were entitled to a maximum of 35 kgs in hand luggage. of course this would not mean a big bag, but a smaller bag, which can be filled to capacity. So we had a small trolley-like bag which was filled with the kids milk, the video camera and change of clothing for all of us. In addition we had 2 hand bags, the kids had a small haversack bag (their school bags) each and a plastic bag with jackets and sweaters and some food in it. So this girl at the check-in counter now says to put each of our carry-on luggage to be weighed and none will weigh more than 7 kgs. As expected the trolley bag weighed some 11 kgs. Inspite of me arguing with them, they wouldnt budge, so right there we had to scramble moving stuff from one bag to the other. The camera went on the neck and then the bag weighed about 7.5 kgs, which they graciously allowed. We were also well within our limit for checked-in luggage and then when we got the boarding pass, we realised the flight was now 2 hours late. The ETD was 7:30 pm and we were at the airport by 5 pm, so now we realised we had to spend almost 4.5 hours at the airport!

Next stop immigration. Again Air India had to show why they are such a paranoid airline. All passengers travelling by Air India had to go through something called Channel B. This is a seperate door where there is a uniformed policeman who checks your tickets and boarding card. He also ensures that each piece of your luggage is less than 7 kgs each and it does not exceed the dimensions prescribed by the airline. So what he did was to take our trolley case and then fir it in a mock up of the dimensions. By this time I was so angry I remembered why I don't like Air India and vowed that I will never take my national carrier ever again if I can help it!

The flight was also terrible. The stewardess had apparently never heard of the IATA regulation of giving infants the extra seatbelts with which to attach the parent's belt with. Then when asked for pillow before take-off, she said after which I agreed to. The kids were tired and were out as soon as they sat in the flight but no pillows. Adults asked and got pillows but kids were ignored. This went on till I raised a stink, when magically pillows appeared. I was so fed-up and angry by the time we reached Chennai.

What I don't understand is that on our return trip we had such a different experience. Based on this experience we reached the airport 3 hours early but it was such a contrast. The person checking us in was not bothered about the weight of our carry-on luggage and didnt blick an eye when we tried to check in more pieces. In fact he asked us to check in our carry-on luggage also but we had to decline as it didnt have any lock in it. The flight was also very smooth with better trained stewardess around.

Too long post, so I'm gonna end here....

Posting after a long time

I just realised that noone in cyberspace knows that I blog! :-(

Probably the fault lies with me - noone knows this blog address or probably I am not interesting enough.

Anyway enough of this self deprecation, the main reason for starting this blog was that for a long time i had wanted to restart writing in my diary to chronicle my life, to look back after a while to see what I did and feel at certian points in life. So in that way maybe it is better if noone reads it as many things will be very personal.

I was away in Chennai the last week and so could not post. Am rushing for work now, so won't have time to write about my experiences. But I will definitely write more this evening.

Catch you later...

Schools and learning a language

Good morning! Wow, I didn't know that blogging was so addictive!!

The Princess (my daughter) and the Pilot (my son) love going to school - they are still in nursery - and this term at their school they are doing a kind of immersion programme. It's in it's infancy stage, so I am not sure if this will work better than what was used last year and which is used by pratically all the day care/pre-schools in Singapore. What is usually the case here is that every other day they will alternate between English and a second language (in my kids case, Mandarin), but this year the school has decided to do a week's worth of one language instead, calling it an immersion programme. According to me, this method has both pros and cons. I like it for the reason that spending 5 days using just one language will boost the language skills, especially since they are learning Mandarin as the second language and we are not ethnic Chinese, but in the process what I worry is that by the time they get back to the teacher, they have spent some 10 days away from her and may not remember what they learnt in the first place. I should talk to the teachers asking for course work and work at home with them reinforcing what they learn in school.

I'm a blogger too

I am not sure if this will ever be read by anyone other than me, but after reading scads of blogs and getting addicted to them, I also decided to blog.

I used to keep a diary when I was younger, and lately was tempted to start writing again. Believe it or not, I used to be a pretty decent writer in my teens and in my twenties, but lately, career and motherhood have pushed it all to the backburner. I still have dreams of writing that novel, which is buried deep in my mind one day though. Coming back to my diary, now that I am online practically all the time (whether at home or at work), putting words on paper isn't as easy as using a computer and so here I am trying to chronicle my daily life.

I won't blog everyday - somehow that pressure will make me not do it, but will try to write something as and when the urge strikes me. What I will be blogging about will be my life - my kids and dh, my work and my attempt to finally get thin.