The list has just now begun - ParenthoodDiaries #110

Parents say certain things casually. Kids observe and learn them. The problem is, they do it briskly; we may not even notice what they are learning until they themselves showcase it all.

I used to tell Bharat & Bhuvan multiple times about how they must tell their mind to control itself, like when they want to eat more, play more or when they cry etc. The other day they asked me - "Amma, why hadn't you told your mind that you should not scold us?".

And my routine dialogue, around not able to make time to play much or tell stories on weekdays, is also inspiring them to say jokingly - "we don't have time to tell you what we learnt in school; we don't have time to tell you what we have done at our friend's place".

And the list has just now begun!

Life is about living - Take Home #688

 Death is about dying but life is about living, as if we die tomorrow but live on forever!

Anyway!!!

One of my recent reads that has stayed with me!!

******

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Be kind, anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy it overnight.

Build, anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.

Do good, anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

Give the best, anyway.

In the final analysis, it's between you and your conscience, anyway.

******

Miracles and their hide& seek!

There is always a chance for a miracle to happen. But miracles don't always happen. Between these two perspectives lies the crux of decision making in crucial times.

Belief and reality are two different aspects. Belief is not easily formed, but once formed it takes its own time to change. Reality is the rose is a rose is a rose. Both are powerful in their own way, winners in their own league and can work wonders on their own day.

One must neither sit back waiting for the miracle to happen, nor run around fearing the reality.

We have one life but not one chance! We must give our absolute best every time and be ready to learn the next time, if need be. Let the learning coming in by keeping the ball rolling. Rolling the ball doesn't guarantee a goal but afterall, keeping the ball on the roll enables the goal.

Believe that miracles happen.

Beware of their hide and seek.

Some smiles, we earn.

Some smiles, we earn.

When we appreciate the significance of the earned smiles, we tend to earn them more. It's just about being kind and empathetic in our communication, while maintaining what we are and doing what we are supposed to do.

When we respect the fact that everyone's story is different and unique, we internalize the kindness and empathy which come out naturally and genuinely when we communicate with others. There is no other trick to earn smiles, certainly by not running around to earn them!

At the same time, accept the fact that no one has ever earned everyone's smiles.

Say no to sarcasm! - ParenthoodDiaries #109

Recently one day I was having dinner while sitting in the kitchen. Bharat and Bhuvan were playing badminton in the living room. After the jam packed day, I was relaxing by scrolling through my mobile as I ate.

Earlier as well they saw me looking into mobile while eating and now they were seeing me doing it right in front of them as they played.

One of them said "Amma, look here, watch how we play the new technique we have learnt!"

I was reading something on the phone and routinely said - "Give me some time, I will watch in a while"

One of them replied innocently but straightforwardly, not to hurt but with an intention to give me the idea he got so that I could watch them - "Amma, just watch us thinking that we are also a video".

There was no sarcasm or ego in it but a pure intention to just make me observe them. I loved the whole episode.

Imagine we keep the sarcasm and ego aside and help each other, be kind and try to pull each other up with pure intentions - people become our family and the world becomes our home.

Landscapes waiting to get drenched!

The landscapes in Panchghani & Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, are waiting to go green again with the upcoming monsoon season! Here are the photos of a landscape taken in summer and rainy seasons, years apart!

Marriage and questions - ParenthoodDiaries #108

My boys have started to learn about marriage and the stuff around that. They have started saying things that grow the fun-temperature at home day by day!

The below are english translations and I know I wouldn't be able to bring in the soul of their original sentenses. I will try, nevertheless.

"Amma, why did you make your classmate as your husband? Classmates are friends, you should have looked for husband elsewhere"

"My twin brother should have been a girl. We both would have married each other and stayed together forever"

"Where would be my future-wife now? In which home she is growing up? Is my child already in her womb (Since I had said they were in my womb when they asked me why they were not present in my pre-pregnancy photos).

"Amma, in future you too search for a girl who would become my wife. She should be like.... (I don't want to translate what they said)"

"Will I also have twin kids in future?"

"Will I be living in another house after my marriage, like you are living here away from grand mom?"

And so many more are yet to be heard in future, I guess. I'm all up to let the fun-temperature go to any degree!!!

The beauty of evolution is in its clam grace!

 

Survival instinct is the core!

How much ever small we start and how much ever big we grow, the survival instinct that life teaches us is the core of the lives we live and touch.

Why have you become an engineer - ParenthoodDiaries #107

Let alone systems engineering, my 7 year old boys have started asking me why I have become an engineer!

Their simple & straightforward reasoning is - since I'm an engineer I'm always in meetings, hence I cannot play with them whenever they want me to!

When I worked from home during their school holidays, they observed me closely. Out of their pure curiosity, one of them asked - "Amma, you talk on calls, then you write in your book or type on your laptop. Is that what your work as an engineer is?".

I replied I worked for automobiles. I didn't dare to explain further, fearing the unending follow up questions that I knew would come.

From what they had understood, they drew the ones below, by watching the drawing videos in youtube.

Children observe and learn. It's up to us to be mindful of what we let them observe!

I've taken a lot of learning for myself from similar incidents lately! I know that all of it cannot be implemented, largely because of lack of time or energy, be it due to the work or passions or distractions, whatever we may call it all.

Especially for working parents, it's about learning along with our children and growing together into a mature family day by day and year by year.

To the moon and back!

To the moon and back! Cheers to the technological wonders we are set to see in space and beyond.

Congratulations Team NASA for the successful execution of the Mission Artemis II.

Learn & Live - Take Home #687

 Learn as if you are going to live forever. Live as if you are going to die anytime!

A full chance!

When my favourite flowers allowed me to click, I took the full chance!

One Earth. Billions of worlds.

One Earth. Billions of worlds.

One Earth, we share.

Infinite perceptions, we create.

Billions of unique worlds, we live through.

Over 117 billion people have lived on Earth, no two ever sharing the same world.

Yet we keep wondering,

despite knowing there may be no answers,

why things are the way they are,

why people are how they are,

why we do what we do.

Perhaps, worlds are not meant to be understood, only to be lived and to let live.

My 40th birthday!

 My 40th birthday and our 12th marriage anniversary on the back to back days felt further special, seeing our children behind the lens. Here are some memorable clicks by the little hands with pure love for us and of course for their playful-interest in operating the camera!!

A year felt a lifetime at times, and it escaped in a flash some other times, all in all, meaningful & satisfying years are lived, with a few learnings to fuel the important rest of life.

Thank you everyone for sending in the wishes. Means a lot.

A click worth the wait!

 Some clicks are worth the wait! The bird incidentally joined my gang too.

My Phone Assistants - #ParenthoodDiaries 106

These days it feels as if I have two little PAs (not personal but phone assistants

) at home, who know thoroughly how to handle my calls with customized responses, especially when my phone rings while they watch some cartoon stuff on my phone!

"Amma, it's Nanna (dad) calling. Talk but don't say that phone is with us"

"Amma, it's a promotional call, you won't answer it anyway"

"Amma, your friend is calling. You call later, we have cut the call"

"Hello, Ammamma (grand-ma), bye, amma will call you later"

"Amma, we forgot to tell you...your boss called sometime ago"..

"Arrreee... Amma, why is nanna calling you so many times?

"

They have relatively lesser screen time, yet they were too quick to learn how to customize the responses!!!

Perceiving the emotions - #ParenthoodDiaries 105

I'm happy to see my extra energetic boys become ultra sensitive at times to notice simple and unshown emotions.

Recently one day, they gave a 'Laddu' (sweet) to their Silpa aunty, care-giver. She took it and kept aside, she said she would eat later.

One of the boys came to me and whispered -"Amma, Silpa aunty Laddu nahi kharahi hai, vho apne bachonkeliye Laddu leke jaarahi hai".(Amma, Silpa aunty is not eating Laddu, she is taking it home to give it to her children).

Yesterday when they wanted to give another eatable to her, which by the way they had cooked at school and brought home to let us taste it, I told them to give four so that she and her family can eat. They happily handed over, without saying that there will be less eatables remaining, which otherwise a lot of times they do say !!!

This also manifests the great bond three of them have built as she has been with us since kids were just under three years of age.

Strictly Positive #1

We may not always have the experience, confidence, competence, resources including time & money, that's needed to accomplish the task at hand. We may not be at the peak of qualities like grit, communication skill, conviction and patience. It may not be also in our capacity to arrange or cope up with all these, within the given time window.

However, there is something that we can and should always get into the way of our execution, irrespective of the circumstantial support.

That's our COMMITMENT - Not let anything intervene in our way of giving everything that we can, for what we need to accomplish.

Commitment may not always result into a positive outcome. But it always results into a positive outlook that we develop towards ourselves. Building the positive outlook from time to time is the greatest strength we can elevate ourselves with, which enables us to own and enjoy what we do, irrespective of the outcome.

Heart's birthday - #ParenthoodDiaries 104

Bharat & Bhuvan thought Valentine's day was Heart's birthday, since they had been seeing all heart symbols around! So we celebrated their little hearts with this lovely activity!

Special thanks to "blinkit" for sending the paper bags around Valentine's day theme.

School Alumni Meet 0 Jan 11th, 2026

It's been a month since we conducted the Alumni Meet in our school. We relived millions of childhood memories, throughout the time we worked for it.

On January 11th, 2026, our alumni meet brought together around 800 students and staff from the forty years of our school's operation.

In the event, I met a lot of seniors who saw me growing up and pampered me in my childhood, either when I visited our school, along with my mom who worked as a maths teacher, or when they visited our home for morning or night study. I could recognize many of them and all those wonderful childhood memories flashed across my mind, as if I was in a time-machine! I met my classmates after 26 years and juniors who lovingly considered me as their sister.

Meeting the teachers, all at once for the first time ever, was my fond memory from that day. Beyond that, something I will always cherish were the moments of joy I saw in the eyes of our teachers when they met their old students, all at once.

It was the Alumnae of a girls high school. Hence, the emotional bonding and the sensible thinking women usually have was pretty evident from the way everyone owned the event throughout. Everyone of us did what we could, also beyond.

I was brought up by many hands which I shook that day. Back in my childhood, I never felt I was a single child, probably because I was always surrounded by the students of my mother. Through the Alumni meet, I felt I had the responsibility to give great memories to all of them. I will always be grateful to everyone and the circumstances that helped me in lending my hand in conducting the Alumni Meet that took many women back to their girlhood and staff to their younger-times.

ఆ రోజు నేను కరచాలనం చేసిన చాలా మంది చేతుల్లో పెరిగిన అమ్మాయిని నేను. చిన్నప్పుడు ఒక్కదాన్నే పెరిగాను అని ఎప్పుడు అనిపించలేదు, నా చుట్టూ ఎప్పుడూ చాలామంది మా అమ్మ స్టూడెంట్స్ ఉండేవాళ్ళు. వాళ్లందరికి మంచి జ్ఞాపకాలు ఇవ్వాల్సిన బాధ్యత నాకు వుంది అని అనుకున్నాను. మా అందరిని మా చిన్నతనం లోకి, మా గురువులను వారి చిన్న వయసు జ్ఞాపకాలలోకి వెళ్లేలా చేసిన మా పూర్వ విద్యార్థినుల ఆత్మీయ సమ్మేళనం జరగడంలో నా వంతు చేయి వేయగలిగేలా నాకు సహకరించిన వారు అందరికి, సహకరించిన పరిస్థితులకు ఎప్పటికి కృతజ్ఞతతో వుంటాను.

I reserve the rest to say sometime later. If at all, when I write my story I will dedicate a chapter to writing about the event.

Thanks to social media and what's app applications that enabled us to gather and connect with almost 1200 old students and school staff.

Special thanks to my dad, Meduri Satyanarayana , who stood rock-solid behind me and our organizing team, for guiding and encouraging us throughout, also for investing his valuable time in writing the book about our school's history.

I know that I cannot thank my mom enough. I did what I could, but it was her committed career that enabled me to do what I did and experience the magical pleasure of volunteering.

Sport, my biggest passion and greatest distraction - SchoolAlumniMeetJan2026

Sport has been the biggest passion of mine. At the same time, it has also been the strongest distraction that I continue to deal with. Everything started with the district level sports meets I used to participate in, representing our school.

I was not a round-the-year player. I used to practice and play for only the duration around the sports meet, maybe maximum for a month. Yet, we never missed bringing the trophy to our school. Out of four times, we were runners up for three times and winners during the last outing I had on behalf of our school. Badminton and Tennikoit were the sports I played along with my talented doubles partners.

I will forever remember the way the PETs (Physical Education Teachers) of other schools shook my hands in appreciation after we won the last sports meet, in Tennikoit, back in 1999. That year was the toughest draw we ever faced compared to all precious tournaments, yet we finished on a winning note. When they all shook my hand and told me that I had played exceptionally well, I felt honoured. They knew that it would be my last tournament, since I was in my tenth standard. They had been seeing me for four years.

One day after a sports meet, probably when I was in my 9th standard, I heard our PET sir telling someone that a Tennikoit coach asked to send me along with him so that I could be trained for the national level competitions. Since I was a merit student and not a dedicated sports players, our PET sir didn't pursue the offer.

Years later, our PET sir got my name written on our school wall along with the other sports players who won many tournaments or medals at state, national and international levels. Against my name, he wrote - విశిష్ట క్రీడాకారిణి (Distinct Player). That's the biggest honour as far as sports is concenred in my life.

I never realized my passion for sports in school days, though I used to play exceptionally well. Only years later, in my adulthood I realized how much my mind had love for sports. Now I know that I missed an opportunity to build my career in sports, which has been my biggest passion. Hence it also has been my biggest distraction. Despite this deep sense of missing to become a sports player, I have always been successful in drawing a lot of learning and motivation for myself from sports that I have watched and followed.

I hardly miss any opportunity to take part in sport events. Chess, Tennikoit and Badminton are the sports that I have been participating in, be it in my Intermediate college days, engineering days, in the corporate organizations that I worked or working, and now in our housing society competitions.

All credit to our PET sir back in school, Kari Ammaiah garu, for the way he introduced 'sport' to me. I met him in the Alumni Meet we conducted recently in our school and didn't miss a chance to click the photo with him amidst the busy run I was having during the event.

By far, this is my favourite post from this series and hence I chose it to be the last.

NCC journey - School Alumni Meet

National Cadet Corps (India), also known as NCC, started in our school in 1994. Kumari Kjr  madam was the Associate NCC Officer in our school and she worked for almost 28 years in that capacity, and helped around 800 cadets to get A-Certification at school level. I'm proud to say that I'm one of them.

We had the opportunity to attend multiple camps. My parents allowed me to go, irrespective of my tender age or early years of puberty. 

I had been to the NCC camps held in Chirala, Bapatla, Suryalanka and Secunderabad during my ninth standard. During the camp in Secunderabad in the then combined state of Andhra Pradesh, our Guntur junior battalion won first prize in mass drill. It was a wonderful moment and a heart-pouring achievement.

Adjusting to the conditions in the camps used to be very challenging. My fellow cadets from our school accompanied me in all camps.

Rajyalakshmi madam, who was our group commander for Guntur girls battalion, used to take care of all the girls during the camps. I'm very thankful to her for the way she took care of me as well. She used to consider and support me as one of the promising cadets to get selected for the Republic Day Parade - 1999. Unfortunately I couldn't get selected and that remained as the biggest disappointment from my school days. 

Being an NCC cadet, I served for the Pulse Polio campaign in our village in the Polio booth for one day, and I earned 5 Rs. That was my first salary-like. 

I don't have a single photo in NCC dress or from any of those camps. I do have few camp certificates and tons of beautiful memories spent with fellow cadets during the camps. 

NCC indeed nurtured the leader in me at an early age, helped me find my confidence and composure. It's a great initiative by the Indian Government - Ministry of Defence. I'm thankful to everyone who supported me during my NCC journey.

The first question - ParenthoodDiaries #103

First question on my mind when I was 7.5 years old - "When are the holidays starting?"

First question on my mind now when my kids are 7.5 years old - "When is the school restarting?"

Same life but different responsibilities, different circumstances, different perspectives.

Well, I'm looking forward to again making holidays memorable for our boys. My creative brain needs to work in full throttle to keep them away from screens as much as possible. As they grow, it's getting utterly difficult to keep them away from screens.

These days they ask me - "You want us to not look at mobile, why do you keep looking at it...?

So these days I've come into an agreement that i won't look at mobile as well (in front of then though). So, i'm innovating ways to use mobile without kids noticing me doing so, since a lot of work happens on smart phones these days!!!