Our dear friend, Orkut!

I happened to open www.orkut.com, just to see what happens next. I got pleasantly surprised to see the home page, as also shown below. 

Hope they build something interesting again, some social place for more personal connections and meaningful chats!

School with only 6 students! - ParenthoodDiaries #87

There was a banner tied in front of a school, showing the photos and names of the top scorers.

We stopped our car next to that banner, due to traffic.

I was hearing my kids reading the names of students written on the banner. After reading all the six names mentioned on it, one kid told the other - "See, this school has only 6 students, aiyyoo..very few students!!".

It never occurred to me this way because my mind had been trained to see the top rankers being felicitated all the time. But my kids never faced a question from either me or anyone from our family (yet) asking - " Who came first in class?", "How many marks your friend has scored", bla bla.

I'm glad they haven't yet experienced the competitive side of the education, but are undergoing constant learning and enjoying their early schooling period.

Sand art with kids - ParenthoodDiaries #86

It was fun doing the sand art with kids this weekend. Their enthusiasm and energy made me recall a few memorable moments spent in childhood with my cousins doing the similar art.

Thanks to the thoughtful toy making companies for bringing up beautiful engagement activities for kids. Much needed in the digital 'Gen Z' era!

Market day and Mysuru palace - ParenthoodDiaries #85

My kids have learnt that money can be earned by doing work.

Recently they participated in "Market Day" in their school, where they sold fruit salad.

Later when we visited Mysuru Palace, I asked them if they would buy me a house like the Palace.

They said - "yes, we will buy it for you. We already have some money from the market day in school. And we will do many such market days. We will buy the palace when we grow".

Pure thoughts!!!

Planet Parade 2025 - ParenthoodDiaries #84

It was a memorable experience for me showing kids the "planet parade".

They kept asking..

"Which is that planet?"

"Where is Saturn?"

"Where is Uranus?"

"Is it Jupiter?"

"Are these planets about the earth?"

"What is inside the earth?"

"Where is Pluto?"

"When will the earth stop rotating?

You can do it! - ParenthoodDiaries #83

Recently Bharat & Bhuvan participated in their school's sports day..one funny incident followed..

I was untying the knot of Pajama for kids, and I was struggling as it was very tight...

One of the kids said - "Amma, yes, you can do it, come on"..!!

He said that he had heard it while someone encouraged their team to win during the sports day.

Where and how kids apply their learnings is unpredictable! And sports bring in phenomenal learnings about winning, losing, participating and most importantly encouraging.

Happy Republic Day - 2025!

A beautiful republic day morning spent at the celebrations of my kids' school. All the performances were superb. Thanks to the efforts of teaching and non-teaching staff. The playground glittering in the light of sunrise was another beauty to witness.

The best part of the celebration was to watch my kids give their republic day speeches. Such shy boys otherwise, when they come behind the mic they display the Gene of their grandparents!

Spaceship and the moon - ParenthoodDiaries #82

Our recent visit to Sriharikota SHAR space center is giving us lovely artifacts shown below.

We are sending India to space every now and then on paper, with our two little launchpads at home! One day I asked the kids - "Would you like to travel to space in a spaceship?".

After both of them said "yes", one of them asked back - "Will you be there in the spaceship too?"

Weightlessness - ParemthoodDiaries #81

Did you ever experience 'weightlessness' in a car?

I didn't either. But I witnessed our boys almost experiencing it when they hang in up side down to the car's roof, which made me recall the pictures astronauts share from space ships.

Have you experienced this as a mother? - ParenthoodDiaries #80

Have you ever experienced this as a mother?

When I'm stressed out I yell at kids. I tell them later, though more to myself, that I yell out of love and that I can be myself only in front of them!

But when they yell at me, I take time to convince myself with the same logic.

Only after I became a mother, I realized why my mother at me, and my grandmother at my mother, used to yell sometimes, which felt completely illogical in those moments. But now I understand, much better, why those moments of expression were to happen.

Humanity is blessed to have mothers. The abundant love is just unbeatable. 

Our roadtrip, yet again!

3300 kilometers,

10 days,

4 cities,

Countless memories!

This is how I sum up our recent road trip with our twin boys in our Tata Tiago.

Pune - Chikballapur - Coorg - Mysuru - Coimbatore - Pune

My kids have made me draw the following after the trip, I'm glad we are able to show them new places often. Their excitement about different sweets that they get to taste in different places, is the best part of our road-trips.

Different cultures from different places have their own significance and history. Happy to learn and live through them during the trips.

The pigeon moments!

We have been witnessing a few "pigeon-moments" on our terrace. Now, the second generation is going on, again with twin eggs.

The mother pigeon first builds the bed-nest for its eggs. It doesn't move, even a bit, unless to fetch some food for itself or its baby birds. It stays with the baby-birds for their protection when they can't fly. It vanishes once the babies learn to fly. And the cycle continues.

Amazing display of the fundamental survival skills. Never minding about the per-week-work-hours!

Moment that made my year - ParenthoodDiaries #79

Some moments make our days, but this moment made my year.

One of our boys got the highest attendance award in their annual day function. It was a pleasant surprise for us.

As I reflect on it, I realize that the highest attendance signifies discipline, which is an important factor in our lives. Glad to see my kids adapting to it at a young age. A lot of credit would also go to their Silpa Aunty, who's equally disciplined at her work being their care giver. Thanks to our kids' school teachers for guiding kids through the right direction.

While I was clapping for one of our twin boys, I was naturally thinking about the other one, as to what he would say, and if he would cry that he didn't get a trophy for himself.

On the contrary to my worry, the other one happily said the following - "Amma, he has got the award for all 'P's (Presents) and I had few 'A's (Absents). And next year, I will be getting the award as I will be attending school even if I get a fever, cold or cough".

I wondered about his sportive spirit and practical thinking about how to get the award next time, which is nothing less than an award.

Happy New Year - 2025

 

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

.

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!!