Activity wall in Grade 1 - ParenthoodDiaries #78

Here is a recent addition to our activity-walls at home. These are the activities of Bharat & Bhuvan in 1st standard, so far.

The ones at the center are made in N.R. & V.S.R girls high school, Inkollu, when we went on Diwali vacation.

A few other drawings were made during summer break when my mom & dad visited us.

I love decorating them on our walls and now kids are particular about pasting their art too!

Voting and kids - ParenthoodDiaries #77

The election was conducted in our kids' school recently. Bharat & Bhuvan came home and said - "Amma, we too had ink on our fingers, like how that aunty had on her finger (referring to the recent general elections".

I asked whom they had voted for, and if they answered, I intended to say that they should not be disclosing the answer as a rule. But their answer had me laughing.

Bharat said, "Amma, Bhuvan likes fans so he voted for the fan symbol, and I like kites, so I voted for the kite symbol".

I realized later while discussing with my mom, that while conducting elections for kids, we must not use symbols

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Self appraisal - Parenthood diaries #76

Self appraisal is the best appraisal.

We keep saying this in the corporate world, but the below work by my kids made me realize, that self apprising is part of core human behavior that makes us feel good about ourselves. In this undesirably competitive world, self apprising in its truest & honest form helps us to cultivate our learnings in a meaningful way.

By the way, please observe the forged signature of their madam on one of the pages above.

Movie - Amaran

Many stories are told. But some stories need to be told. One such story that needed to be told and that was told in a meaningful way was of the Indian Army Major and his wife, Mukund Varadarajan and Indu Varghese, through the movie Amaran.

I watched it in a theater in Tamil without english subtitles, despite of writing on the certificate page that the movie is in Tamil with subtitles. Well, since it's an army backdrop, i could follow the Hindi and English conversations. The rest of the part could be followed easily, mainly due to Sai Pallavi's expressive eyes.

College love story followed by the major's monumental work in the Army and his unfortunate demise in an Army operation, storyline is nothing different but the way the characters have been depicted and the picturization of key sequences in army operations make the movie a meaningful watch.

Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi have excelled in their roles as Mukund and Indu. Yet another beautiful script-choice by Sai Pallavi, who lived in the character and acted with ease! She would have been a definite contender for the national award, had her role been lengthy enough for consideration. I'm not completely aware of the rules though.

Background score and a couple of songs are extraordinary.

If you haven't watched it, please watch it on Netflix.

Pushpa 2 - The Rule

 Neither a wildfire nor a fire. Just a flower. A worthy flower for a 20-minute sequence and a smell-less one for 3 hours!

Story without soul. Characterization without essence. Emotions without relatability. Simply put, a wasted opportunity and a disappointing sequel. Now I understand why Sukumar said he did not have a story when he first narrated the sequences to Arjun.

Part 3 is announced and I wonder if the makers are planning to go from "international" to "interstellar", to depict the rampage!

The protagonist lives through the story to gain respect, but it seems the direction-department mistook respect for money; money earned through semi-vulgar scenes, mindless elevations, and a flaw-filled storyline.

Cake-taking scenes being, 2000 tons of wood getting shifted as a mere 100 bullock carts, as well as wishing for a daughter post conceiving. The director is said to be from a mathematics and physics background, but in this movie neither maths nor science is respected. Let alone respecting the audience, with a 3 hour 20 minute ride without knowing where it's headed.

On a lighter note, if it takes only 500 crores to change the CM, instead of making this movie with 500 crores of budget they could have changed the CM itself, which would have heavily benefited the fans and many more in the state!

Music is the next level mishap except one song, and the picturization of that song made me wish I never watched it.

Arjun got a national award for the film's first installment, which showed a commoner's successful rise to the top. But this time round, the demigod has failed to rule. Clearly.

All in all, not an impressive watch. And definitely not worthy of the hiked ticket prices or its IMAX or 3D releases! Looks like the makers had to gain as much money as they could, before the word of mouth starts spreading. Box office records are on one side, the makers know that they haven't produced a deserving sequel, to the humongous phenomenon that Pushpa created three years ago!

This is an honest perspective, straight from the heart of a cinema-lover, with all respect to the efforts put in by the entire cast and crew of the film. Feeling sorry about the way the end credits were designed, I bet anyone could read a single name out of the long list that escaped in a fast forward mode!

Rafael Nadal - A gracious fighter and a remarkable achiever!

Rafael Nadal - A gracious fighter and a remarkable achiever!

I'm happy that he happened and I could witness his illustrious career on clay or otherwise. I gathered many moments of inspiration for myself, especially from his comeback-wins!

For this one thing I thank the 'social media revolution' that it brings us into awareness of phenomenal personalities across the globe, great phenomenon that happen in parallel to our lives, from which we learn and for whose achievements we cheer, despite meeting or witnessing never in-person.

Wishing him a great life ahead as he has graduated from Tennis.

Gracias, Rafa, for everything!

Kites & kids - ParenthoodDiaries #75

Kids and kites are the best ever mates!!

There is a great pleasure in seeing the happiness of kids as their kites fly high.

Life skills - ParenthoodDiaries #74

Exposing kids to some "life skills" , like cooking, cleaning, pet-handling etc is a very important aspect of their childhood. Happy to see the boys being proactive in picking up the tasks. These are the beautiful memories that stay with them for many years!

Beach sunrise - ParenthoodDiaries #73

First "beach-sun-rise" experience for Bharat and Bhuvan!!

They happily came back from the water in just an hour, since they thought they played from night to morning!

By now, they know that I collect sea-shells, hence they helped me with a few nice ones.

Indeed, a memorable morning it is!

Road trip with kids - ParethoodDiaries #72

Every road-trip along with kids feels like an adventure. Despite me buckling up, my mind gets unbuckled so much with their ever lasting and untiring energy. It feels so unsafe to travel, a lot of times during the drive, yet can't help it!

They have learnt to use Google maps this time round!

Nostalgia - ParenthoodDiaries #71

There is fun-filled nostalgia in seeing our kids doing things that we did in our childhood.

When my mom was applying mehendi on Bharat & Bhuvan's hands, memories of my grandmother doing the same with me, flashed across my mind.

The difference is, I used to keep it for hours to get good colour, and these boys were restless until we removed the mehendi. Now they want me to remove the red colour too!!

Mr Ratan Tata lives on!

 Such a legendary life lived by Mr. Ratan Tata! Many of us feel it as a personal loss. He lives on, forever.

Business lesson from parenting - ParenthoodDiaries #70

My kids were enjoying the Navratri celebrations in our society last night.

Since it was getting late, at around 10 pm I said - "Let's go home, we should sleep. You need to wake up early in the morning to go to school, right?".

They said "we will not go to school tomorrow, we want to play here".

I took aback, took a moment and then I tried again - "Let's go home, kids shall sleep for 12 hours, then brain gets sharper and you will become stronger".

They paused, thought and said "Amma, let's go and sleep"...

Make the other person understand "what's in it for him or her" and then selling is fun!

Tennis & its scoring - ParenthoodDiaries #69

For the first time, along with kids I've watched a Tennis grand slam final today. And they loved watching their "Spain Uncle", Carlos Alcaraz, winning the Wimbledon 2024.

By far, the scoring system of the Tennis match is the most difficult thing for me to explain to kids. It's not a straight-point sport. No body gets 'out' in it. Kids kept counting the points, but sometimes the points section changes, sometimes the game count and finally the set number changes, in the score board. Absolutely confused them but they enjoyed the match.

In conversation with Meta AI!

An interesting conversation with Meta AI, this morning, when I asked it to create an image of the Indian cricket team..

The PUNCH at history!

Wished for many years, to see a Tata Motors' passenger vehicle bagging the top spot in monthly sales! Amazing to witness "the PUNCH at history" by this beautiful product.

Congratulations to the team behind this! Many more to go.

It's cricket - ParenthoodDiaries #68

Kids saw the picture below, of Indian team in my mobile, and said "it's cricket".

There was no bat or ball or even a cricket word in the image. They never watched cricket much, so they didn't know the cricketers either.

Out of curiosity I asked them how they knew that it was cricket!

They said "Blue colour ka shirt hai na, Blue India ka cricket hota hai". (It's blue coloured shirt, and blue is India's cricket colour).

This is their "colour memory" from the 2023 cricket World Cup time during which they had seen few glimpses of different teams and their jersey colours. 

Learn to treat defeat with kindness!

The victory feels complete now! May we all learn to treat defeats with as much kindness too!

Absolutely stunning scenes from the Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium have filled the hearts of Indians with ever lasting memories.

And, may we all soon celebrate more victories and wonderful performances, in more sports, after the upcoming Paris Olympics.

A bitter-sweet experience!

After 22 years, today I visited Sri Chaitanya college in Vijayawada. Visited our classroom, which was it in intermediate second year; the EAMCET-year, to be precise.

Back then, it wasn't a pleasant experience entering the campus, hostel or even this classroom for that matter. I fought tears and tension a lot of times in that one year. At the same time, I had made beautiful friendships, some are still continuing.

Today was a different experience. For the first time on that campus, I wanted to stay back for some more time! If not rejoicing those times, I deeply reflected on those moments. I remembered my friends and lecturers. May be, this is what a bitter-sweet experience is!

Nights like this make us young!

Nights like this make us young!

#CongratulationsTeamIndia

Lies and us - ParenthoodDiaries #67

The following words were the most said by kids to us at home in the recent past - "Jhoot kyun bolta hai?" (Why are you lying?)

That made us realise that they had grown up to understand what we would say to just pacify them in the given moment and what we would say genuinely. Hence, we reduced saying things to just pacify them, rather started telling them the practical facts.

Not that the facts are accepted by them immediately; many times we have observed that they appreciate that we have said the truth, even though they take time to come to terms with it. They take offence when we say something just to calm them down or temporarily satisfy.

Kids are always more grown up than what we think they are. It's us, who need to embrace that fact and approach them as genuinely as possible once they start understanding things.

Being thorough, learning from kids!

Most part of my learning, about the beauty of "being thorough", is coming from my kids; from their keenness & focus on what they do, from the way they question everything, with a genuine intention of knowing things rather than pointing at anyone!

Kids' blank-slate mindset makes them the best observers. In turn, they become the best learners. Hence the best teachers too!

I wonder a lot of times, what makes grown-ups, including myself, so less absorbing or observing. Why cannot we be as thorough as the little beings are? With experience, with age, with the knowledge that we gain, we must be better than them logically, but we are not. Why?

Is it because we do not stick to the basics, because we know beyond the basics?

Is it because we are distracted by the loads of information or knowledge we are bombarded with?

Sticking to the basics is the ESSENCE of life.

Learning to deal with the distractions, not avoiding them, is the NEW-NORMAL.

I have realized that, the more we practice consciously to nurture the fundamentals within ourselves and the more we learn to deal with distractions, the better rational beings we will become and hence 'thorough individuals', leading to a thorough team, a thorough society and what not!

Victim of cricket - ParenthoodDiaries #66

First victim of our leftie-bowler and rightie-batsman combination!!

"Amma, we were playing cricket. We hit a SIX and the ball hit the wall-clock, and it stopped working" ...

I particularly like the way both of them enjoy together on a wicket.

Sport teaches a lot!

"Be resolute in defeat" - Despite the unprecedented successes these two players have had in their careers, my learning goes around the way they have handled defeats!

As they are having their pre-retirement time in their own way and on their own terms, I'm following their last juncture unconditionally and dearly.

I thank Rafa and Dhoni, for the way they have been.

Titanic and seatbelts - ParenthoodDiaries #65

The other day I was showing the "Titanic" movie clip to kids in which the ship was drowning into the sea during the film's last moments.

They saw many people falling down into the water.

They said - "Amma, they should have worn a seat belt, look how they are falling".

Toys is their love - ParenthoodDiaries #64

When kids asked me for more toys, I used to say I didn't have money. Then they would keep quiet.

But they have been probably thinking about it thoroughly and have now learnt different ways of earning money.

They are saying that they want to clean some uncle's car or bike...they want to clean utensils or help some aunty with household chores to earn money and buy a few more toys.

Every problem has a solution. But the problem is, sometimes the solution itself is the problem

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Boy and girl - ParenthoodDiaries #63

One of the kids asked - "Amma, will I become a boy after growing up?".

I said "yes".

"But I want to become a girl"

I asked why.

"I'm getting to like girls. They apply Mehendi on their hands, they keep ear rings and they wear saree".

I said - "Boys can also do all these!".

He then became thoughtful about it and moments later, I became even more thoughtful..

My little rational beings - ParenthoodDiaries #62

This is a bit of experience around home work!

Due to their schooling ecosystem, Bharat & Bhuvan understand the importance of completing the home work. So, when I had to do my office work, I would tell them that I needed to complete my homework. They would let me do my work without disturbing.

I thought this was going well.

Today they said - "We want to check your homework, like how you check ours".

I showed them my office diary and they were happy that I completed my homework! But they now want to know, how I wrote my homework and that I should do it in front of them since they do it in front of me!

My little rational beings!

When you know your team!

It's relatively an easier ride, when you know what your team knows and when your team knows what you do not know!!

Knowing each other makes the team better, tougher and see through the challenges.

Living through the egos!

One important aspect of living life is living through the egos, of our own and others.

Derivatively, leading people is about leading the way through the egos.

Ego is neither good nor bad, it gets developed over a period of time in life, with everyone's own experiences. One must acknowledge and comprehend, within oneself, the fact that ego needs to be dealt with. We cannot expect it to not exist.

How do we deal with multiple egos of multiple people? Are there multiple tricks to it?

No.

There is only one trick to it.

And that is, to learn dealing with one's own ego for the sake of achieving the end objective.

That's possible when we start identifying ourselves with what we want to achieve, rather than what we think we are. De-prioritising what we think we are doesn't mean killing oneself, it's just about evolving into a better being, who enables meeting larger purposes ultimately.

Orienting ourselves towards the purpose, changes quite a lot of thinking processes in a productive way. Letting a few things be their way, and not getting concerned about those insignificant aspects allows us extra time and energy to derive significant outcomes.

I have realized most of this while handling my little kids and their larger egos. Parenthood teaches volumes. It's up to us how and where we apply.