Thursday, January 25, 2018

‘Our’ Superhero is back home!





The ‘Our’ in the title refers to Ira’s and Mine, ofcourse J
My significant other whom I now, more often than not, address as ‘papa’ in even normal between-us conversations! Life does take a turn when a child becomes a part of it. So, Papa has a penchant for adventures and adventures that somehow involve the big ‘H’! yeah…Hospitals. His most recent knee surgery for a meniscus tear this week is just another excuse to tell you about ‘our’ superhero! He never takes OTC medicines even when in crazy pain, meets a doc always for a fever or cough or anything! However, doesn’t ask those questions and so if he does the visit alone, I literally have to nag him to understand what transpired.
His latest hospital stay was different because this time we had Ira in the equation. While she stayed with her Dadu and Dida and they along with Joy helped her get ready and get to school those two days, we like always prepped her for what to expect and what will happen. While the process and instructions may sound robotic, it has helped us so far and so we continue to employ this tool of parenting (ahh…there I said it and made parenting sound oh so cryptic). The surgery was successfully completed and Ira came to see Papa in the evening along with Joy. She wanted to see how the IV works, if she can touch that hand and do ‘tuiiii’, the big bandage that papa got and can she sit on him or be carried by him. She was also thrilled to raise and lower the hospital bed. When he requested her to raise the bed, she lowered it and her logic was, “I have to first put it down and then bring it up!”. She learnt that the next two weeks, his movements will be restricted and that they can’t do the train-run or the horse-run, neither the acrobatics nor jumping around. He got home last evening and they spent this morning doing activities that do not involve movement, including placing little bikes and superheroes near the bandage!


While Papa works his way to recovery, till the bandage and staples are removed two weeks later; Batman, Superman and Hulk have their work cut out, to take care of ‘Our’ Superhero! 

#Papa #Ira #Iraisms #TalesAtThree #Gratitude #OurSuperhero


Sunday, January 21, 2018

"We love the movies and caramel popcorn!"


When I began this blog almost a decade back, it was with an inquisitiveness to understand a new medium and shift from penning my thoughts in a diary to a page that I called my own. Over the last three years, this has also become a space where I literally record/store some of 'our' favorite experiences that render itself to life-changing memories. Most of them have been about Ira and things we do together. I was quite tempted to begin a dedicated parent blog but decided against it. One blog, multiple thoughts- like a repository that I hope Ira will one day visit and read, all about her  and her parents and the mad & fun things we did together <3 p="">
                    Sunday morning happiness- Assam chai, Marie biscoot and blogging

Today's post is about a historic moment in our lives- 18th January 2018. Historic, because this action was taken post a lot of deliberation that P and I went through. We both are movie buffs and i spent a large part of my pregnancy watching Korean movies and loved them. I often wonder if Ira will grow up to like that genre. For now, over the last year, we have introduced her to animation movies on the laptop and she has definitely inherited the 'movie buff' gene and aren't we thrilled! While she has seen the regular Frozen, Despicable me, Ballerina, Big Hero and Smurfs, she also likes the offbeat ones like Kubo and the Two Strings, Mulan and the Little Price and watches them on a repeat mode. For now, Sunday is her 'official' movie time every week. But she does get to watch her favorites, each time she visits Joy or Rony!

The last week P and i contemplated if we must take her to watch Paddington-2 that had just released in the theatre. We have been waiting for a 2D movie as a first experience. One step at a time. She saw Paddington 1 on the laptop a few weeks back.

Conversation between Papa and Ira before the movie:
Papa: Ira, would you like to watch Paddington 2 in a theater?
Ira: Yes! (with big eyes expression)
Papa: a theater has a very big screen, lot of people
Ira: Ok
Papa: But there are few rules. We have to sit and watch the full movie, we can't talk or disturb anyone during the movie or even walk or run around (Please note that we sound Hitleratarian but it is annoying when Parents bring kids to movies and they constantly talk sitting behind you! One of the prime reasons why we delayed taking Ira to the movies for this long!)
Ira: Okay

                                                                 Gleefully Posing

We all headed to PVR @ Orion and booked the tickets for the movie. As Ira and I walked through the 'women's line', she was quite amused and then she walks in, sees movie images moving and runs from poster to poster, saying "see this!". Her expression was priceless! We bought a tub of salt and caramel popcorn (her first popcorn out of home) before entering the theater. She walks in, looks at the screen and is wide eyed. We take our seats and tell her that she has her own seat. She is soon busy watching the adverts and eating caramel popcorn. She says, "This is huge!". She loved the movie, ran around during the interval, looking at all the empty rows, tried sitting on the railing and toppled over! Her first experience at the movies was wonderful in every way!

She came out wanting to know when will Paddington 3 and 4 come to theater! Guess, we have a convert. Our next step is to take her to a 3D movie and see how she does with those glasses.
Post the movie, with a sprint in her step, we headed to one of her fave places to have chicken hakka noodles (that is the mamma gene speaking, for sure)!

                                   We just discovered Caramel Popcorn and movie at the theater

So, to more movie times ahead! yaay!

Happy Sunday everyone.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Exploring Nature, the Ira way






Ira loves nature and we make an attempt to take her to parks and natural spaces as much as we can. Recently, we saw about a workshop on FB: Nurturing Nature: Garden Exploration, being conducted by Puja Gurung of the Honey Bees Nature Club. The venue was the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain and the registration fee entailed was quite reasonable.

What was promised? (Directly from the advert)
"A hands on exploration of nature through gardening and activities. Activities include planting and sowing seeds, exploratory games, sensorial activities and nature crafts. A day to get dirty, messy and muddy and have a thrilling time while connecting with mother nature."

The experience itself
We had to report by 10.15am and being the prompt selves that we are, we were there on time. Ira of course was prepped that this is something new that she would be doing where she will be introduced to gardening. Ira during her summer camp last year was introduced to the concept of germination at school. 

Parents and kids started pouring in. However, the organizer was late by almost 10-15 minutes.
The workshop began with attendance being taken and then all of us sat on mats and were told what to expect. It would begin with a nature walk where the kids would see new things, listen to bird calls, smell some things, touch and feel the barks and may be eat something. Puja’s energy and enthusiasm was contagious and she also sang a lovely nature song (can’t remember). The song served as a good warm up and then we began the small walk. The kids were shown ants, spiders, they jumped on dry leaves, they touched the barks of trees, saw wild berries, saw the peepal tree and it’s ‘heart’ shaped leaves. They also smelt the eucalyptus leaves, collected berries and listened to the call of birds. It is a task to get 2-5 year olds to be that attentive. 

The two things that kids seem to like is holding a stick and playing with sand/mud.  Post the nature walk, we took a snack break. We ate what we had carried and we were also given a slice of watermelon and encouraged to store the seeds for planting. After this, the next activity involved collecting things from nature- leaves, twigs, berries and create a piece of art from it. While there was one main art being created, Ira made her own little thing with what she had collected.

The final segment, the kids had to fill their pots with soil and then were given seeds- methi or dil. We have to water this everyday a little and see the plant grow! As the session closed, the kids made the most of the play area at the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain. It was a Saturday morning well spent! Ira sure had fun. She did come back with an ant bite on her left eye and visited the ophthalmologist on Sunday! But that is all part of growing up J

What we liked about the Workshop/activity
  •         The duration of 90 minutes works with kids.
  •         Puja’s energy is contagious.
  •          The art with nature was interesting.

What could be better?
  •         It could have been structured a bit better, with more interaction between the kids.
  •         For someone who has been a lot to parks and explored nature, the novelty factor is low.
  •         Maintaining time is paramount and for someone who is a stickler for time, I like organizers to be there prior to any of the participants.


What is important to remember?
It is a good thing to explore anything new like this for the little human beings who are inquisitive and want to know everything about every little thing! Glad Bangalore has a lot of such activities happening round the year. We personally like things in the outdoors rather than the malls or closed spaces. But that is us. So, till we embark on another new experience, we shall savor this and reminisce about the beautiful art that we created with components of nature!


#Ira #Iraisms #TalesAtThree #LoveNature #NurturingNature #NewExperiences 

Saturday, January 6, 2018

It is all about me

Very often, we forget ourselves in the cacophony of life. Make this year a little bit more about yourself.






Life gets busy
Life gets mundane
Life gets adventurous
Life gets nasty
Life gets painful

Time flies by
Time stands still

Dreams in our eyes
Fault in our stars
Hope in our hearts
Plans in our mind
Happiness in our being

Take that little step
Learn something new
Finish that TBR list
Walk a little more
Say No, vehemently
Say Yes, in happiness
Work on what you like
Do what you love

Love a little more
Dance a little more
Write a little more
Play a little more
Wander a little more
Wonder a little more
Let it be 'about me' a little more!


The journal in the pic was gifted to me last year by one of my besties and it will be my  favoritest gift ever. It is a five year journal. As I wrote the two lines for 2018, Jan 1st, reading what I had written last year made me so happy. Such an overwhelming feeling, like a memory log! 

So, when you look back to this year the next year, hope you also feel that you have made this year, all about you!

#Life #AboutMe #Metime #Selflove #LoveSelf #ExistentialExperiences #Happy2018

Rima, you are deeply loved

                                                  Rima at Infinitea, Bengaluru Dearest Rima, I wish I wasn’t writing this letter to you. B...