Lock up!

I was locked into the bathroom last evening! No, it wasn't my mom's new technique to rid me of my melancholy! It was my 16-month old's way of throwing me into terrible panic!! So here's what happened.
Mom and dad were out shopping for provisions and my brother, who's been here for a couple of weeks now, went down for a walk. So that left me at home alone with the baby. I was to follow my brother with the baby in a few minutes. I stepped into the bathroom to wash my face, the door was left ajar and the baby was following me while I was constantly talking to him. The next thing I know, he's locked me in!! My gosh, the panic I felt knowing he was all alone in the house and that there was no one to help me or him, I can still feel the tension when I think about it.
I got on top of the WC so I was high enough to peep out of the window in the loo and let my voicebox loose! A couple of people came out into their courtyards to see what was going on and Thankfully!!!!! I know just about enough mallu to communicate my situation. In all this time, may I say that my son was the epitome of..... nonchalance!! He was coolly playing outside and kept calling out to me to tell me things (in a language that I still don't understand!) while I spoke to him in a very calm voice so as to not scare him. And everytime I asked him to please open the door, he gave me a very strong and sure... "Nnno!" I have never felt as helpless as in those few minutes ever in my life!! It's a terrible terrible feeling that I hope I will never have to experience again. Though knowing my son, my life is going to be full of them!
This one lady heard my screaming and sent word to the guard in our building (who is a nincompoop btw) and also sent someone from her home to our flat. Thankfully, my brother got back just then and the guard told him that smthg was up on the 4th floor and that there was smthg happening with the baby (that's what the moron had understood apparently!!). My brother rushed up and opened the door to the bathroom and the little boy just smiled up at me!! My goodness, I've never been so happy to see his smiling face!!!!

Mural Art

I'm learning to paint! Well, that's a bit of an exageration... I'm not really learning "how to" paint. But I am doing a Mural painting!! :D Sounds totally warped? I think so too! The thing is, I've been moping around the house for sooo long lamenting my state of affairs that my mom had enough of me and basically bamboozled me into going for these art classes taken by a teacher colleague of hers during the summer vacations for kids. I finally said ok 'coz by then I was in serious danger of losing all sense of humour!



Anyways, so these classes are taken by this lady who is a WHIZ at drawing and painting and what not. She's apparently been doing huge assignments of Mural paintings and such things for big hotel chains - for their foyers and stuff. And once I saw her in action, I didn't doubt it at all! I went to the class for the first time last afternoon and sound myself among a bunch of kiddos from the ages of 5 to 16. All of them clamouring around one table trying to get the teacher's attention. The lady in question, was meanwhile dispensing advise on techniques to 3 little individuals on how they could use their crayons and colour pencils to create interesting twists to the images of fruits and vegetable baskets they were busy drawing, while on the other hand creating a totally professional looking set of pencil shaded image of a mother and child for an older kid to copy! This was my very first experience watching an artist in action so I was probably over-awed by the whole thing. In any case, she really is very good.



So, she asked me what I'd be interested in, and I said I'd like to try a mural painting. She asked me how I was with drawing stuff! Told her it was not so great I'd probably just about manage. Obviously, I didn't tell her anything about my handicap with drawing stick figures at the time! She gave me a quick history of mural paintings and the technique used while drawing out some simple designs for me to copy onto plain paper. These were essentially flower shapes which she drew inside a square and helped me convert them into geometric shapes without really losing out on their flowery flow. Not sure how else to put it! I tried it enough number of times to feel confident I could do it well and neatly. The key, she said, was not about symmetry but neatness in work and proportionate looking sizes. The last bit was more difficult to achieve but it comes with practice.

So here's what I learnt about mural paintings। These were obviously done on walls in ancient times - caves, palaces, temples etc. The artist would first prepare the wall (give it a nice ochre yellow shade) and then use a mixture of natural colours to start drawing on it - mind you, all this was done freehand (no pencils and erasers possible at the time you see!). The brush used was made of a particular type of grass which was washed, cleaned and dried before it could be used for painting. So, there are about 4 times that the artist's brush touches each part of the painting - once to draw a yellow outline of the subject of the painting (usually gods and goddesses), yellow coloured filling in between the outlines followed by a red colour filling for marking out shades in the painting and then a final outline for the subject using black colour. The black colour is also a way to correct any errors that might have come up during the first three stages. Not sure what I'm talking about? Well, I can now show you!!! :D

I'm not going to be painting on the walls of my house thankfully(!), but on canvas. So, she gave me a nice big sheet of canvas with the outline of a benevolent Ganesha on it - this she drew out in pencil right in front of me all free-hand!! I then started giving it a yellow coloured outline (see pic).





I've never used acrylic paints in my life! And the whole process gave me quite a thrill!! :) Looking forward to the next class eagerly!!



Step 2:













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Guess mamma was right. I needed to get myself busy with something interesting to take my mind off an otherwise uninteresting life! Atleast for a while anyways...

Sing a song of six pence.....

All my life, whenever I've been in the mood to sing or hum anything, I've subconsciously always picked out one of the old hindi film songs. Unless I'm wanting to try a specific new song, its always been one of the older numbers. But there is a specific list of songs that generally come to mind.. When I was a kid, during the summer holidays, after breakfast and the morning bath, my mom would play the radio and we would all have the Cibaca/Binaca GeetMala playing as background music for whatever we were engaged in at the time. So the songs that I still pick unconsciously, are from those days:

फूलों के रंग से, ना जाने क्यों होता है यूँ जिंदगी के साथ, और क्या एहेदे वफ़ा होतें हैं, जाने क्या बात है, तुझसे नाराज़ नहीं जिंदगी ..... and the likes...

I was singing my son to sleep a little while back and the first song that popped into my head was the first one above. I don't know if this happens only because we tend to remember things from our childhood with fond nostalgia or 'coz these songs used to play so many times or 'coz the melodies were so much sweeter than the ones we hear today. I'm not sure I completely subscribe to the last opinion though. There are a lot of songs from recent times that have beautiful melodies:

हमें जब से मोहब्बत हो गई है (from Border), यह हसीं वादियाँ (from Roja), फिर देखिये (from Rock On), अर्जियां (from Delhi 6)...

Anyways, my worry being that my kids will probably never hear the songs I grew up hearing. Sure, they'll have their own set of songs to relate to.... but I still think its quite sad for them to miss out on the golden oldies. Maybe I'll get a playlist sorted out and play my favourite ones occassionally for them! That way they'll atleast be familiar with these songs if it plays anywhere. And honestly, they really should know enough songs to win a game of antakshari in any case!

Who's ready - Now!?

How does life change after a baby? I was recently having a conversation with a friend and was somewhat taken by surprise at the turn our conversation had taken, so I am not sure how convincing a case I made. But that chat got me thinKing. Think its worthwhile doing a post on what my thoughts are on the subject.

Having a baby is obviously a very big decision - quite possibly a life-altering one! There are a lot of things that change in one's life-style and also one's thinking with a baby. Soooo much planning goes into deciding the right time to have a baby. Are we settled financially; Are we settled at work; Are we thinking of making big career changes; Will we be able to give the baby an emotionally secure childhood; Will we have time to spend with the baby; So on and so forth.... But perhaps a very important question that is part of today's life - where we hardly have time for each other, let alone a whole new human being - are we still in the honeymoon stage of our relationship?

But are we ever truly ready to say that we're ready to bring a child into this world? Or can we ever honestly say, "okay, we've had a our fun days, time to have a baby!" For most people, baby planning chats are accompanied by thoughts of the end of days of impulsive fun. I have to admit that I was very much part of the 'most people' category. Petrified at the thought of all the changes one will have to make in life, not to mention all the changes in one's body! The very idea was "scary"! And even when it actually happened, for me being pregnant was an exhausting experience. Everyday thr was smthg new that I wasn't supposed to or able to do. It was frustrating, annoying and nerve-wracking all at the same time! First babies can do that to you I guess! :)

Today, however, I can safely say that I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT! It would obviously be very unmommy-like of me to say otherwise, but this is a true and honest feeling. It's a very different high and a very different kind of joy than I've ever felt before. Every single tiny achievement made by that little infant is like a huge achievement for us - his parents! Weird how I know understand what my parents were talking about all these years! Something as simple as watching him learn to kick a ball, respond to an instruction for the first time; the first hug he gave me; or the way he smiles at me when he wakes up from a nap - all makes me choke with emotion. And most importantly, the bond between me and my husband is so much stronger now. It's just such a wonderful feeling to know that you created this living breathing little cutie together! I don't think there are words in my vocabulary to express it in more simple or any better terms.

Ofcourse its not all rosy and there are moments when I want to tear my hair off its roots; but I used to feel that way about other things (or people!!) even before the baby came - so really, not that much different! :D And I certainly don't think it should spell and end to impulsive fun! I'm waiting for my son to grow up enough to have memories of his vacations, and then we should be back with bang on our usual roadtrips! Taking him to all the places we've enjoyed would be nice but going to whole new places and experiencing so many firsts with him - ooh I can't wait! Sure, it's exhausting work bringing up a child, no doubt, but its truly all so completely worth it!

So! There's my two cents or rather my essay on that!
xoxo

CUK!

Where've I been? Long story, not particularly interesting so I'll really not get into it. Suffice to say, I'm back!

How many words do you think we use in everyday conversation that begin with 'c'? Odd question you say? hmmm.... not when you're the mother of a 1 yr old (yes, baby turned 1 last month! yay!) who's hell bent on starting every uttered word with the same syllable - क।

So, some really do start with a c or a k but most others are just made up! How the heck do kids do that - guess they're not bound by the "rules" of language at that stage like we are eh? Just why can't the 'fan' be called 'can' eh?!

car (his first word), can (for fan), come, kaka (that's mallu for crow), cuk (for truck!), cow, and care (for chair).

The above is therefore the length and breadth of his current vocabulary! Apparently, they start rattling off new words one fine morning and that's how they start talking proper!

Buttered chicken legs with ajwain - YUM!

I made a great roast chicken dish last evening. It was a borrowed a recipe but it turned out so great, I just HAD to put this up on the blog.

Get hold of a few pieces of juicy chicken legs and coat them in a mixture of melted butter and zeera powder. Next, apply some ajwain and salt all over and just shove the whole thing into the oven for about 30-45 mins at gas mark 6 - or till the chicken is well done. And that's it! A scrumptious meal is ready in under 1 hr with zero trouble! Serve with garlic toast.

Today I'm going to try and make some jacket potatoes. The last time I tried them, they just didn't cook. Let's see if my tricks will work this time. I do still have to think up some interesting fillings, so..... I'm off!! Cherio!

Of Superheroes, Diwali & the baby ofcourse!

The reason why I disappeared for soooo long was 'coz I've been using up every free minute on a marathon run of Smallville! Yes, I'm a Superman fan and do not apologise for it. Superman is my absolute favourite when it comes to superheroes. The idea of an Alien being coming to Earth and saving humanity from its ownself... well it has its appeal.

Smallville, is the TV series about the life of superman when he was a boy, no they don't call him Superboy here; nor does he take off into the air at the drop of a hat. :) Though I miss that a little. This is the story of a boy who's trying very hard to fit-in even though he's nothing like any of the people he spends his time with. One can always draw parallels with us all having gone through an "i want to fit in" phase, but this chap's problems are naturally a little different. anyways, I'm not going to expound on the travails of this intergalactic traveller; but the series is made well and is quite gripping. The character and story development are very well handled.

- X - X -

So, diwali, as expected, was a huge damp squib here. We went and had dinner with all the indians from office. All of 6 people!! Wow! To be fair to our host, the poor chap went to a lot of trouble to do up his home with candles and play indian music and make indian food for everybody. i also took some peas pulao and roast chicken!! Yes, i know. That combination doesn't have much going for it... but that's all I had raw material available for at home. The hubby called me in the late afternoon to let me know about the dinner plan and dropped a nice bomb shell saying let's also take something! So! Roast chicken it was! :D Turned out well though. The dinner spread in any case wasn't a total washout. The food was all good and wiped clean. Considering that last diwlai we had a HUMUNGUOUS do back home with the entire family getting together for celebrations and also my shaad ceremony for the as yet unborn baby (smthg like the godbharai thing that north indians have), it was quite a mellow affair this year. This was the first time that couldn't get mehendi put on my hands for diwali! :( That's one self-established tradition that I've followed ever since school. I like getting mehendi on my hands but since it feels very festive, i reserve it for diwlai which is my favourite festival of the year. it was upsetting that I couldn't have it this year. I remember, last year we were getting excited about the whole thing throughout the week! We went shopping for nice decorative lamps for the garden and also did up the house with flowers and candles, both inside and outside! aarrghhh! I missed it! :(

- X - X -

The baby's learnt to climb off the bed all on his own. I've been trying to teach him to do so by pushing his feet off the edge whenever tries for lunge for the floor (!). But its amazing to see him figuring it out himself. He carefully squiggles up to the edge (with a very anxious mummy and daddy waiting to grab him the second he makes an error of judgement) rolls over to his side - parallel to the edge - pushes his bum off the edge and happily slides down the side of the bed!! Its completely amazing to actually see a human being develop and learn all these things!