Book: Shivaji - The Great Maratha

I have been in a state of euphoria ever since I completed reading this book about Shivaji Maharaj. I'm yet to pick the next one to read!!!

Having been staying in Maharashtra for the last 14 years, and having visited almost all forts that Shivaji once either conquered or constructed, I got naturally connected to the anecdotes of bravery mentioned in the book.

I always was mesmerized about the legacy he left behind in terms of the cultural values here in Maharashtra. After reading this book, I have realized how he established it that strong, which is still lived and celebrated here. That's the greatest sign of the level of impact a leader can have, on not just his generation but the following too.

On Shivaji's birth anniversary today, I feel absolutely blessed to have learnt about him more through the book, which is extremely well researched and narrated by Mr. Ranjit Desai. We owe a lot to the writers like him, who bring the historic events to the knowledge of the next generations. 

London Underground!

My understanding of an 'Engineering Marvel' has got changed forever, after experiencing the London Underground train transportation. They call it 'The Tube'.

I'm still in the awe of its amazing construction and usage, which started 160 years ago! 

Learning just happens - #ParenthoodDiaries 46

 All that we need to do is to trigger the curiosity in kids. Learning just happen.

Monsters - #ParenthoodDiaries 45

M for Monster

And

M for 'Mother of Monsters'.

Commute by hook or crook!

We think we commute by vehicles, but we actually commute by hook or crook! However. Whatever. With full focus on the destination. Traffic signals are like sun and moon, they come and go. And we keep going!!!

System engineering: It's the challenge, it's the fun!

Yesterday I took my twin boys in a cab for the first time, and I got to experience the "Mother's Perspective" of the features I had worked for.

1. Even though it's not a right practice to enable child lock in cabs, I had to do it myself. I wished I had a mother's wand to open the doors from inside, in case of any kind of emergency!

2. The red coloured emergency button was the victim of the naughtiness of my boys. The driver was worried that the police would catch him if the button was pressed. As a mother, at that moment I deeply wanted the feature to not work.

As a System Engineer of these features, I never had envisoned these use cases in my consciousness.

This experience made me realize yet again that System Engineering is the extremely critical piece of the product development cycle. It's the challenge. It's the fun.

Cross-industry marketing!

The perfect way of executing the cross-industry marketing!

While Amul India has been doing this since many years, Swiggy seems to be in the race too now! Hats off to their creative marketing minds and thanks for spreading the positivity.

BYOD of the automotive industry!

Such a nice looking, innovative and apt-to-the-need phone docking arrangement this auto rickshaw driver has! The raw application of the famous BYOD of automotive industry (Bring Your Own Device). 

Happy mothers - #ParenthoodDiaries 44

 Today after feeding kids I went to them to see if they had their pillow, blanket etc to sleep. One of them asked me "Thumne khaana khaaya kya" (Have you eaten food?). I said no. He said, "Jao, khaana khaake aao" (Go, eat food and comeback).

By the time I ate and went, they slept together.

Moments like these make happy mothers!

Innocence to sarcasm - #ParenthoodDiaries 43

 We recently took kids to an event organized by their dad's company. That event happened in a function hall, but for kids' easier understanding we said that it was their dad's office. Also, they saw some videos of my office colleagues dancing during a recent event in our company.

These two incidents registered so much in their mind that:

- One day when I told them I would be going to office, one of them asked me "Office dance karne jaa rahe ho kya tum?" (Are you going to office to dance?).

- Today we took them to a near by Ganesh Temple and one of them asked "Ye Ganesha ka office hai kya?" (Is this Ganesh's office?).

The innocence with which they question is my favorite part of it. I hope they will ask lot of questions before the innocence gets converted to sarcasm!!

Prarambh of the New Era!

 The beginning of a 'New Era' in the Indian space exploration, for sure.

It's a phenomenal achievemet and the best of the inter-organization team work demonstrated by Skyroot Aerospace , ISRO - Indian Space Research Organization and IN-SPACe. Hearty congratulations to the team.

History holds successful anecdotes of privatization. Hope the privatization of space technology in India adds to that list! Long way to go and a lot to look upto.

Toys selection - ParenthoodDiaries #42

We rarely took kids along, while going for shopping. We never purchased a toy in their presence. We would always bring toys and give them separately.

May be due to this, even when they saw toys in road side shops sometimes, they used to name them like say it's an elephant, it's a knife, it's a ball etc, but never asked us to buy the toys.

Recently they were stopped deliberately by a shop keeper, and they paid close attention to the toys that were on display. It was the first time that they picked up what they wanted. Look in the picture what they picked individually. While one picked a soft toy, another picked Adiyogi statue.

I wonder how uniquely and distinctly kids develop their thoughts and interests, in spite of growing together and getting exposed to similar experiences.

How difficult it is to write convincing stories!!

 This post is not to criticise, but just to share thoughts, with all respect to the great story writers.

I often wonder about the weak-links in the stories of recent successful films, since the same weak-link runs the entire storyline!

#Baahubali - Shivagami never treated Baahubali and Bhallaladeva separately. How come she mentioned just 'son' and not Bhallaladeva's name in the marriage proposal, which caused the whole sequence of events!

#RRR - Bheema was said to be the protector of his people. When such an important British delegation visited his village he was not around. If he was around, the abduction of Malli wouldn't have happened and the rest of the story too!

#Seetharamam - Leftenant Ram wrote Noorjaha palace's address on his last letter to Sita and not the address of their home in Kashmir where they last lived together, which was the reason for the rest of the story.

Of course, there might be valid reasons for writing the above sequences. As a film lover, I just wish there was further convincing story-line in place of the above!

Not to offend, just out of love for cinema.

Application of learning - ParenthoodDiaries #41

 Here are some of those little perspectives that kids made me realize:

- Waterfall is like a "Standing line"

- Rainbow is a "Downward open curve"

- Train taking right curvey turn is a "Right open curve"

- The number 5 is made of "Sleeping line, Standing line and Left open curve"

- Traffic avoidance stand kept in our parking area, is a "Zig zag line"

Courtesy: CBSE syllabus!

Happy to see them applying what they are learning.

Adventure sports - ParenthoodDiaries #40

One more reason why I think adventure sports suit them the most! Now it's time to pass on my everyday adventure-routine to them, may be! Or rather, it's time to try our hands at more adventure as a family together!

Leaving kids to explore themselves of what they do make them realize the boundaries that they can cross. We must handle their enthusiasm with care, not hold it.

Water that's available for play - ParenthoodDiaries #39

No matter how much water the lake may have! Only the water that's available for our use, rather play, is the reason for our oceanfull of happiness!!! 

Handwriting - ParenthoodDiaries #38

 Are you wondering if their handwriting also looks alike?

Not to forget that it was the same person who sat with them and at times did hold their hand while writing.

And that person totally related to a dialogue from a video by a fellow mother - "My daughter, for writing one page of home work, one bottle blood of mine gone"!!!

And no measure of both fun and frustration that's experienced.

Monsoon & Rainbow!

Rainbows are a regular site during this monsoon! Watching and clicking a rainbow in its full view has been a longtime wish of mine, which got fulfilled recently.

Kids writing on walls - ParenthoodDiaries #37

So, their writing, rather drawing has reached all across the house except bathroom, where they write with water!! And the highlight is the center photo of the below collage, which is the roof of the room. They have reached greater heights already!!!

Now it's my and my maid's time to reach all those heights, obviously to clean so that they can write again.

From the book "TATA Stories" !

 From the book "TATA Stories" by Mr. Harish Bhat.

"What use we put our possessions to is the real value that they serve"

No to cartoons - ParenthoodDiaries #36

My kids got '0' points for the below question - Whats your favorite cartoon character? Never before a zero made me happy!

Hoping to continue not to expose them to cartoons, not sure how long!! 

Unity in diversity in Indian Film Industry

We celebrate "Unity in diversity", which is the face & strength of Indian culture. Many technicians and artists have come up with fabulous films that have demonstrated the culture, capabilities, skills and the ambitious intentions.

As an audience, the following things never bother me: language of the film, native region of the film, caste of the artists, personal views or life of the artists, watching it in theater or OTT, religion of the artists vs the religious characters they play on the screen. Never these things bother me.

Lately, what's been bothering me is the streak of debates the artists themselves have been having on social media, triggering the audience to add fuel to the fire with their unapologetic way of commenting, rather trolling what they call as!

Hope the day is sooner than anticipated when we stand up together, displaying unity in diversity more in practice, through the one Indian Film Industry.

India's 50th to 75th Independence day!

On India's 50th independence day, back in 1997, I received the below shown 'India badge'. I remember having a chat with my uncle Chandrababu Ravi Jagadish , to preserve it to show on 75th Independence day. So, here I'm proudly displaying it today.

I clearly remember the celebration we had in our school on 15th August 1997. I was 11 years old and was studying 8th class. We had participated in a rally across our town in the morning, and I was one among few students who lead it by announcing slogans over the mike set fixed on a wooden rickshaw. Later in the day at school, gave speech about Independence day.

I received appreciative feedback for the slogans during the rally and for my speech as well. That was the first time I did hold
a mike and spoke. Because of that day's positive experience, till date I feel confident to speak when I have a mike in hand.

Today we have attended the 75th independence day celebration in our kids' school. It refreshed the memories from my school days. Hope my kids too will make lot of stories and moments to tell and rejoice.

The millisecond difference!

The milli-second moment in the final of women's 4×400 m relay at the CWG-2022.

Be it in any sport or life:

It's not done until it's done.

It's not over until it's over.

Keeping at it makes all the difference.

Rainbow - ParenhoodDiaries #35

They have started questioning. They saw Rainbow yesterday and asked, "Amma, who kept the rainbow there?". I threw the same question at them in return and escaped for then!!

I've realized that explaining science to 4 year old souls needs our fundamentals to be really strong, so that we can explain complicated topics in simple terms.