Trying too many? or the exposure?

My little darling is 5 yr already. So, what will he want to be in, what things does he like, will he want to do swimming, karate, dance?? what??? those were the questions my hubby and me always keep thinking. Hubby dear says, let's try putting in this class, that class and let him choose if he likes something. How do I even know that I am exposing him to the things that he likes?

We are trying... We did swimming, .. he almost learnt it.. but after 4 yrs, he seems to have got bored with it and now he doesn't want to go.. Didn't think he would become next Phelps, but atleast not get drowned if put in water. He is oh so close to swimming by himself, but he just doesn't want to do it anymore. Okay we thought, let's stop this for some time and try later.
He was in gym classes,.. when little they let us be with them, so he used to enjoy it more.. Once turned three, he has to be by himself. He kinda gets lost in the crowd and doesn't do much.. So ... we stopped it.

Now, recently I said let's try bollywood dance.. he loves loves loves to dance,.. but he doesn't really move in rhythm. Well, this time around turns out teacher isn't motivated enough to teach him. WIth little 5 yr olds, u need more patiece to teach, but well... that was mainly missing.! So, move on.. well, still he asks me if I am gonna take him to class and he gets to learn new moves.. !! awwwww.!!

Now he's "trying" skating.. well literally,.. First class, he didn't move on the ice at all. just sat there and cried it seems.. Next class, I went along.. there were two teacher that day and one completly took over ayush. She asked him to go across and touch the line, otherwise he won't get to go home... Wohooo.. he tried and went across and came back. I was proud of my little one for trying and also for the teacher who tried so hard..

Y'day he, powered with camera in his hand, ventured out of house.. Did a little bit of photography.. Which he usually loves to do.. but y'day pics were really good I thought.. he had landscaping, houses, people, trash can(!!!!!), his toys, his room all the pictures in 5 minutes of leaving him with that camera.. will he be a photographer? or is it just his grandpa & mom's genes in him inkling to take pics.:o)..

We are still thinking about music classes, karate classes, soccer classes, something to do classes... The more exposure he gets he can get to choose right.;o). but still my question remain, how do I know am exposing to what he really would WANT?

MEN?? :o)

Just read a email from my sis.. Was hillarious, but almost true. So true in the sense that women have to think abt the below almost all the time.!! So many things going in that small pretty head.. ;o)
Thought you might like it...

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:
Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to awater park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay.Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.

People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut,blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. !Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still beyour friend.Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes --one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.
No wonder men are happier.

What's going on??

Everyday I open the news pages with a headlines of bomb blast.. Is there any end to this? The spot that used to panic & feel the pain in my heart is becoming numb... is anyone doing anything about it? when in world there is a panic of economy, this only is worsening the matters. Don't even feel like venting..!!!!!!

Error messages..

For all the computer geeks, and who have faced similar crashes, errors on computers, the below link is a list of few errors in computing history.. http://technologizer.com/2008/09/18/errormessage/
It lists, Abort, Retry, Faile to the Sad mac to the windows famous Blue screen of Death.. These never provide any help ever,... but when you read such articles, you cannot help but smile that you did found yourself sitting in front of that error message..

Oh, Had to mention.. One of my code written for Microsoft, passed all the internal testing, then our US based testing.. But eventually failed to pass the Microsoft testers.. Reason, one of the alert that I had written had a "CHAT" language in it. I had typed in "r" instead of "are"... One of the error message that I wrote and that I never forget. :o)

Mysterious Mind..

Last week I was watching Amazing powers of people on Discovery.. Discovery always opens new doors, food for thought.. and this one was a WOW for me.. They were showing some 7 odd people, with super powers (literally).. One man among them was the most fascinating for me. His name is Esref Armagan.. He is a painter. They showed his paintings, you can see few of them here (http://www.armagan.com/paintings.asp).. What is so amazing about this painter you ask?? Well, he has never seen this beautiful colorful world through his eyes. He is blind. He has taught himself to draw pictures, (Read his unique bio at http://www.armagan.com/bio.asp ).

The painting that he drew when on camera was the most amazing one... It had blue ocean with white waves and rocks at the beach... with ofcourse two white boats in distant.. That brought that documentary to an interesting point.. That this blind man, had PERSPECTIVE of things... He could draw a cube for example, like a cube and not just one side of the cube(a square).. It would exactly match the way anyone of us would write a cube , well may be if we could write it in correct perspective.!

One of the scientist did an MRI on him when he was drawing.. There is a portion of brain that gets excited when you look at something exciting, colorful & bright.. That particular portion is usually un-responsive in blind people.. But in Esref's case, to all the scientists disbelief, this part of the brain really really active when he started painting.!!! Just unbelievable.. I was just wowed with this man's capabilities..

Should it be Personal decision or lawmakers?

Today something caught my attention while reading. It just said Nikita's abortion plea. Went on to read that Nikita and her husband found out that their unborn child has a congenital heart block & will not have a normal life. It must have been such a heartbreaking news for them to realize this. And to have made a big decision of not continuing with the pregnency. But wait..!! there is a legal twist here. The foetus is already 24wks, and our laws allow termination until 20 wks. Mehta's are already made a concious decision & trying their best to convince judge to rule in favour of them. When there are so many illegal abortions are going on, many of them for the reason that they are carrying a girl foetus,... this couple have something else to worry about. If this child comes into this world and have to suffer all it's life,..........

Isn't it time, our law makers consider all aspects and decide quickly.... actually, to let the parents to take the decision & not the ones who are not in this heartbreaking position..

Making a difference

Today read the news that Amte couple got prestigious Magsaysay award for community leadership.. I was so proud of this couple. Like his father Baba Amte, Prakash Amte & his wife Mandakini have been involved in community service & medical help for years.. This award atleast a recognition of their work.. If you want to read more.., here's the link

Wish our govt would do more to help the couple, give them support more financially so they can continue doing their services in much more bigger way. Along with that article above I read this one . I saw the comments on that story & everyone is blaming US consulate for not issuing visa.. But well, what was the reason for that.! visa was denied coz they are too poor.. Coz they recieve Rs2,000 as part of their social work.! & that's all is their income.!!! That's just absurd amount. Just couldn't believe that anyone could live on that kind of money, let alone do community service.

It's funny how this co-incide with something that I saw y'day on news. Many social workers & in-home caregivers are not able to afford to travel to some of the remote places coz of the high gas prices & in general the cost of living being higher.! And all these caregivers, who love their work, are re-thinking their profession is the saddest part.

There is no difference in any country..! Only few of the health care professionals make money, those who are actually in community service, should be provided from govt. They should recognize the need for these people & should work on how to keep these people happy, so there is more and more of people wanting to make in difference in others lives. Still, even in these grim conditions... hats off to these people who still try to thrive in their worst sorroundings & make an impact. Remebering one of the old saying, that Coal becomes diamond under extreme heat conditions... that's what makes these people tough I guess.

Make a small difference to someone, help someone in needy.. and feel the power. :o)

Where is the Normalcy?

Well, hadn't written in my blog for long long time... so it felt, it's been a month... It's been crazy trying to handle lot of things at one time., Just normal stuff, handling kid, managing work, trying to find another job, prepping everyday for something or the other, cooking, and general managing house things... Just as I was getting more and more busy, I kinda stayed away from trying to write.. Just felt like too many things going on..

Well, last two days had been worse, thinking about all the people back home in India facing all these blasts & more threatens coming along way.. It's like there is no safer place on the face of earth.! I started to think how can anyone be soo merciless.. There are soo many things in the world to worry about, why not think about that,.... and not think abt un-necessary politics, religions, borders, regions.... There are thousands of people losing lives in war, in bomb blasts, in petty quarrels. If they all stop and think, and try to use their energy in a better way, it would be soo much better. There are so many people without proper food or shelter, education.. If everyone does their part to help these needy in soem way or the other, and let thy neighbours live in peace the world will be so much better place to live.. Everyone could handle just a normal, crazy day... Not an event throwing everything out of rhythm. Just hoping and praying for everyone in need, let there be peace & little happy song in heart.!

Wear sunscreen... :o)

Listening to one of my favourite songs, I thought I should put up the lyrics on my blog. I have heard this song since it was released in '98. I really enjoyed it, mostly coz I could clearly understand the lyrics & oh, the advices are soo nice & in good humor sometimes. In this song it has a male voice (which I always --till date believed to be Baz Luhrmann. But just before putting his name did wiki and found that it actually sung by an voice actor Lee Perry and chorus is sung by Quindon Tarver.) spoken-word track. There is soft background score. If you get a chance try to listen to the song too. Oh, I love it's video, in some weird ways. ;o)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

Below I have copied the lyrics. I formatted so that you can go through it slowly, it's little long too but enjoy every bit of it.!!!
HAVE FUN ALWAYS.!

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Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience… I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..

Dance… even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard;
live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you.

Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

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Let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I do every time I hear it. I would love to get your opinions. ~ ;o)

Greener land...

Got our landscaping done this weekend. I loved the whole process of designing it and get it Done. We have been wanting to do it since we got the house and I think it looks amazing. People have been stopping to find out more about it.

Now is the time to worry.. WOrry abt my plants. You see, I don't have green thumb at all. Have killed lot of house plants. I love them so much that I over watered few. After that I learnt that it should be watered as instructed., so I did., still they died.. May be too much sunlight.! Donno. Once a freind gave me a big house plant,.. beautiful one. With my history I became too much into it. Tried to water as it was written on it. I kept moving it to make sure it gets enough sunlight. Then started to see that the plant leaves had started to wilt a little. So decided too much sunlight and moved it.. Kept moving it for almost a month, bought some plant feeders and added to that and watered.. Nothing, ... had to give up after a month of hardworking and it died, completely.! No revival possible.!

Then I read somewhere that the house plants likes to adapt to a place and you shouldn't move it too much.. You give them SHOCk.!!! Whew, I gave the poor plant SHOCK.! Anyways, pray for me.. Rather, pray for all my outdoor plants now.! Hopefully they all survive and I could too .. one day be proud that I could grow something.!

But one thing has been killing me. I used rubber mulch.!!! OOppss., am now so on guilt trip,... that am doing something bad for the eco-system.!! ahem, .. I wish that feeling would go away.,. Am trying to read all the articles to see if they r bad. Ofcourse the companies who sell them say they are the best. Well,.. I did buy them coz it said low- maintenance.. Don't ahve to do it every year like the regular mulch.. and they don't coz mold to grow below like the other one does..Hearing all those, we just decided to go with that mulch.. coz hey lets face it.. We didn't wanted to do the mulch every year.! Do it once and forget it for quite a few years sounded really really good.!!! And boy it looks good too.

Well.... I guess I have been ranting too much. Just have to go with the flow sometimes. Wish me luck,. will try to paint my thumb green and get to some digging, planting and pruning... (U could tell ha, I have been learning all these new words in Gardening.. ;o)..). Until next time...

Blind Faith??

I kinda consider myself non-orthodox. But sometimes I wonder am I? It's hard to get stuff out of ur blood I guess. Today I did something that make me think about it.. My hubby was leaving for client place for two days. He stopped and asked for water. As soon as I reached for a glass, I remembered someone saying not to have water when you are leaving on a trip.! (God knows who told me that, I can hardly remember most of the time.. Only Content stays with me.). Don't ask me why!! Don't Remember.!

Sometime I shrug and go ahead, but didn't do that today.. instead, gave him a bottle of water & said, "take it along with you and drink it later, I have heard that you shouldn't drink water just before leaving the house." He just looked at me confused, and took the bottle & said, well, this works better anyway and left..

There are many things... may be some things that I do sometimes which makes me wonder if I have too much "Moodha Nambike" as they say in Kannada.. (meaning Blind Faith). Like another famous thing that I follow, (ofcourse after someone told me abt a year back.) is not to wear a ring on the middle finger.. They told me it's not good to wear, also must have been followed with a why.., but duh, don't remember.!

What is it about? Should I follow or not to follow I donno., but I do keep following them.! It would make me extremely concious if I don't follow those little stuff... Like... Oh, yeah, the other day I was going for a walk in our subdivision, and saw a stray cat... Which is very very rare first of all, but it did occur to me that it crossed the path that I was about to take.Remember the old saying, not to cross when a cat crosses ur path. Well, I started to still keep going... as soon as I was near that spot, I automaticall turned around and crossed across. !!! (LOL) .. Funny part was that the cat crossed too.. Now it got on to my nerves, and I started walking faster just so that I can cross it's path.. Cat stopped and looked at me for a while and vanished below the drain entrance.., I guess Cat didn't wanted to walk on the path that I CROSSED.!!!

And hey I also remember during our college days, my friends would say seeing one crow would bring badluck.!!!! Esp during exam times blind faith or whatever works, we would be ready to do it, even if it meant looking for second crow.!! Hehehehe.. Good that we don't have any crows over here. !! when I think abt all these, it's hillarious. But I keep doing it.! Do I need a sanity check here, or is it common? LOL.. Keep your sanity everyone.. ;o)

Quote from Hillary's speech..

I was reading the article in times ( http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1812634,00.html ) which quoted when Hillary ended her race to democratic party nomination to Presidency. One line stood out most for me... Thought would share with you all..

"It would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours," Clinton said to a crowd that was easily two-thirds women. "To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and their mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect."

Real and strong words from the former first lady...

Fashion fiascos & triumphs..

Went to Sex and the City movie y'day. It was Girl's night out and all of us wanted to see a chick-flick.! coz none of the husbands wanted to watch it. It was a fun movie. Ofcourse the heart of the movie is all about the bonding between the girls... I couldn't stop, but think about all my girl friends & about fashion. I do have lot of girlfriends whom I feel am close to., and it also includes my sisters. I don't think any guys will understand the closeness girls share with their friends.

Carrie Bradshaw rocked with her style in the movie, her wedding errands, emotions and ofcourse SHOES.! Very very Materialistic.! I don't divulge too much into materialistic stuff, but yeah, I do have girlfriends who make me feel want to.. :o). I have learnt a lot over the years, how to dress up even.. I don't think I knew that, say 10 yrs back,.. it is gradual, finding the fine balance of what works for you and what doesn't. Have been fortunate to have friends to point that one out all the time in different stages of my life.. I think one of my first fashion gurus were my sisters. Always admired how each one would dress up, their choice of clothes, choice of hairstyle to choice of lifestyle and how each one would carry themselves... I stil remember my younger sis dragging me to parlour to get my eyebrows done during my final engineering days.. (Oh, yeah, I didn't do till then.. hehehe).. & bumping into friends there who held each side of me to get that done.!!

And remember the friends who would pull me along for all kinds of shopping sprees. I think am a good learner, donno if I have perfected, but do try and pick the good (??? !!!! ) fashion trends from my friends. Never thought you could use so many accessories and look different in the same dress.!!! but well, again have friends who use great accessories in different ways & make it work.. I admire many of them who could carry anything off with elegance. Fashion is all about how you present urself, it's just not abt looks, not abt labels, just pure self, how u present urself to the world and be totally comfortable in what you do.. So to all my friends,... I love you all, and thank you for being there in my life, mending my ways and working through my hard head & getting me to where I am, letting me know bluntly when I suck & praising when I make right choices.. It's an experience, journey .. one trendy, fashionable journey... Thank you. X0X0

At the Ceremony..

Ashu had an award ceremony 5 days ago. This is first time for him to recieve anything like that. well, I take that back, he did get a medal when he went to the Little Gym. Anyways, back to the topic of the cermony.... I got him all excited about the award ceremony since I had no idea if he would want to go up on the stage and recieve the award in proper manner. All he wanted to know was if he can break into dance or song when he gets on to the stage.!!!! Am like, NO... YOu don't do that, you have to go and get the certificate, shake hands and say thank you. He was like, that is boring.!!! I said, No, it's gonna be fun, all your friends gonna be there and everyone is going to get an award for all their hard work.

Atlast the day arrived, rather the evening. It was "supposed" to start on the dot at 5:00PM, so I hurried from work to pick Ashu and then hurried to be there at the ceremony by 4:50PM. Whew, ! am on time I thought, ... got him in hurriedely.., only to find, 2 families in the whole auditorium, and ofcourse (luckily.!! ) the centre's owner who is an Indian and her whole family was there.! So I tried entertaining my little one for almost an hour, showing all the awards lined up on the stage & telling that he is gonna get one of those. Then the program began with many kids doing the talent show.! {Hey, no one told me about this. There was no mention of show in the invitation,... My poor baby wanted to show off his talents soo much.!! }

Then the moment came, since his name tag had number 1 written, I thought may be he is going first.! And I prepped him again, saying that he might be going first, so he has to do it right. Ofcourse, they did call him first, he walked to the side and walked in a marching style and went and stood right next to the announcer & heard everything that they were telling about him, giving biggest grin and smiling at everyone. Then they put a medal on him for being ahead in maths and a recognition certificate. He was sooo proud of himself and came down with them to show them off to me..

Then there was his friend sitting next to us and he went up to get his,... He got another award for completing a year. And when he came back, everything changed for my A.! He started looking at his trophy, ... and was all questions in curiousness in his eyes. I wasn't sure what they both were talking, but my heart sank, thinking that he might be asking why he did not get that trophy. The more I sat there looking at him, the more I thought of did I do the right thing by telling him that everyone is going to get the same awards and will he be upset for not getting the "other" trophies... Then he came up to me and sat with me for a while. Looking at his medal, he said, why did I get this Mamma. I said, coz you are doing good in Maths. He was like, I do good in reading too Mamma. I said, I know.. That is why he got the certificate. He turned towards me and gave the biggest smile, said, I like that.

That is when I knew, he was happy with what he got. Simple and content.... & putting all my thoughts & doubts to rest.. Here's to my boy who stumps me everyday. Here's my inspiration...

Family name...

It is a known fact in Indian community that girl child is most unwanted and all of them desire to have atleast ONE boy in the family. This CHOSEN one is "supposed" to carry on the name of the family. Girls, well, they are married off and they enrich someone else's world.. So why have one right?..
Over the weekend I was talking to my friends abt the same thing and I started to tell my opinion about it and they all said, it was an interesting point of view. So I thought I should share it on my blog.. :o)..

When a girl gets married into household, when they make a family, they tend to follow what the girl has learnt over the years from their mom. When it is a joint family it might be little different. But in today's nuclear families, all traditions that this little family would follow will be exactly like what the wife knows. And NOT what husband knows. (well, you try asking them and they would shrug, well, you do what you want to do.. I don't know how it's done.. ).. Doesn't have to be just festivals or traditions... in almost everything, all little aspects of life, all values that you learnt from the parents,.... female of the house is the one who passes them on,.. to their daughters and the saga continues...

Wish everyone would see this and stop the pathetic state of wanting & wishing to have only boy child and go to the extremes to make this happen.. A child is a child, boy or a girl.... Think you are the blessed one if you are atleast be able to have One... and a healthy & happy child.. The bundle of joy who would bring all the love that you couldn't have imagined...

Happy Mother's Day..

It's mother's day today and am sitting here, typing this blog with my little one on my lap. He came today and told me Happy Mother's day, when I was wishing my Mom over the phone.. I thought it was really cute, coz he had no idea what exactly it was. He thinks it's just like Birthday's ... Anything you wish with happy at the beginning, it's Birthday for him!.. And ofcourse he asked me million dollor question 10 minutes ago... "Why do you love me so much Mamma?".. Awwwwww.... Do I really have an answer for that.!! Does anyone has one, (Pls share it with me if you do.!!!)..

I always thought this Mother's day, Father's day etc were made up by the card companies,.. I might be wrong,.. why did they just pick one day?? Rn't we glad to have good parents everyday in our lives? I know I do.. always thank God for having me given such cultered and good parents who sacrifised their happiness most of the time to see us happy.! Donno how they did it, but they instilled knowledge in us to know the Good vs Bad and Right Vs wrong. I always wonder and hope that I could be a parent like they are ... Wish me Best..!!!

Anyways, coming back to my little ones question...... I couldn't answer him.. I just know, I love him, love him more than ANYTHING in the world. Told him I LOVE him, a LOT... for the little things that he does for me, for the things that says to me, , for who he is........ When you talk abt that unconditional love from Mom, that's what they say I think. !!!. For all reason and for all seasons love them for what they are.., and they love you back unconditionally.!!

Have fun always, find the humor when you are in hurry to leave for work and your kid wants to wear a pajama to the school,... wkdays tough to get them out of bed & wkends they are the one to get up first,.... enjoy the ride with them back from school, or a short walk to a friends house, or trip to the zoo (even if it is your 7 time in the same summer)... enjoy what you both like to do... together, cherish the moments... So here's to all the Mom's..
Enjoy your day!!

I had to talk Cricket :o)

I am not a big fan of cricket in recent times.. I used to watch a lot when I was school and I think I grew out of that craze soon.. But ofcourse got married to an avid follower of cricket, :o).. . So many a times I get to know what's going on without asking or looking for it. Then there are all the e-papers that I read to know abt India and mostly come back with cricket and bollywood stuff.. Anyways.., when I started reading abt IPL, I thought .. .interesting..... They wanted to bring in the corporates in this.. also I thought it;'s a great way for all the youngesters to get an oppurtunity to shine, and get their way in to The Indian team.... But the more I thought abt it, and watched one of the IPL matches, I thought,... well,.... IPL is actually gonna break the bonding that Indian team had.. Coz now everyone belongs to different IPL team, some of them are captains in their own team, so why should they listen to the captain of Indian team... They would look at becoming more Individual performers than team players..Then there was Bhajji and Sree row, there he slapped him, got fined today for the same.... It kinda gave the same message as my views abt IPL... Isn't anyone looking at what I am looking at.!! Or just want to make their money and keep quiet abt it..Just hoping that team INdia won't be a loser in front of IPL... Yes, I do care abt Indian team still.. i want to see them lift the world cup one more and few more times as a united team... :o).

Walking for a cause

Well, yeah... walking is healthy. Walk to improve your health.. But that's not what I wanted to talk about here. Several years back when I would hear from walk-a-thons or marthons for a cause, I wasn't sure what to think of it. Most of it was the fact that if they raise money where will that go? And what do they do with them.
Then about 4 years back I got involved in walkathon, coz of personal reasons. First I was not sure if I should even go there. But then when I went there and talked to people, I realized, everyone is so genuinely into it.. try and raise money for the research, raise awareness in people. Now that I am into it, I sometime feel why no one responds abt the walk. It's just not any walk u know, it's close to my heart. !!!! Right.!! Do you even should care??....!!Honestly, I don't think I would have cared much to give a second look before, ... but yeah, if it was from any of my friends I would have given a second look and tried to understand what's going on.. and may be stopped at that.! .... I really donno, .. Wish I was on the other side of the fence or on the fence and not have to deal with being on this side of the fence.
Now,... it's harder to ignore anything going around me. I can't anymore... See if you could give a second look or second glance to something, that you usually would pass off... Just walk for a cause, walk for urself, walk, run, talk and pray...... so that you should never have to be on this side of the fence.!

Earth hour Earth Day.!!!

Recently few cities / countries held Earth Hour event. You switch off all your unused lights in the household or in the office for one hour. Time and date was designated. It was started last year, but I think it got media converage this year and I heard it for the first time this year too. The idea is to get everyone to put an effort to do it atleast on that day.!

When I heard it I was ammused that it was called Earth Hour. Well, in India we call it scheduled power-cuts (on top of unscheduled ones.. :o) ). To meet the demand of use of energy, many places in India follow this scheduled power-cuts.. That means you could finish all your energy wanting work and sit and enjoy the candle lit dinner with family. How romantic.!!! It works perfectly, coz you know at that particular day, at the time the power goes.. That is in perfect world right.!!! ;o). We would always feel that the clock at the power office is not working right, it would usually start earlier and then the "man" responsible for turning it on, went home forgetting all about it.!! Once he reached home, he had to realize and come back to turn it on.!! heheeh... Okay am making up stories here,. but that's what I would feel, whenver the power wouldn't come back on the scheduled time.

And then when growing up, there was no electricity in my native place. Visiting native place is fun alright.! But come night, it's PITCH dark.,!! with owls at the far, crickets making noise.. and the swishing of wind beneath the big trees... I might have said it's earth day.!! Earth in all it's beauty..

After I moved to US, only once I experienced the power outage. It felt crippled., never in my entire life back in India did I feel that,... all homes are equipped to face times like that amy be.. Here we take things for granted, we don't think abt it.. but it's a luxury to have electricity all the time..

So .. to make that luxury happen to everyone in the world and for our future generation, why not save some of the energy that we have in abundance... Make everyday an earth hour/ day. Switch off all the unused lights in the house, make energy effient choices.. . ( Would save some extra bucks too. ;o) ). Every single person can make a difference, ... heard one of Gandhi's quote recently, "Be the change that you want to see in the world.." ... Try it,... feel the accomplishment..

This thing called Blogging...

Yes. I did create a blog. And I did post something right after that. But it's funny how I thought about it the whole day. About what I want to post next, well this could be my next topic, oh oh there is another topic, may I could write abt that one too, yeah that seems to be what I want to talk about...... and on and on....
I have to stop thinking too much about all this "thing" called Blogging. :o). But yeah, try and write more. It's exciting to be in this world of bloggers though.! Welcome to my new world.....

How I got to name it Stumped...

Well, this is my first blog. So I thought I will write about how I got to name my blog. Y'day morning, I suddenly felt the urge to write my opinion about something (Oh... you will hear about this *Something* soon, trust me..). Didn't wanted to write to anyone.. they would have said,... so??? what's the point??... May be... Anyways, so thought all my friends have started blogging to pour their heart out, so why not I start writing so that when everyone has time, they can come and visit me and see what's going on in my head.. :o)

So,... when I visited this site, I had no clue what my blog should be named as,.. .I started to create my profile and when it came to blog name.. Well... hmmm... ehhh... nahhh.. ugghhh.. welll... So.., that was my chain of thoughts. I stopped the process of creating and thought will come back to it when I have made up my mind on name. (Just like naming your baby I thought.!!!)

Then, one of my friend had sent me a link to watch Randy Pausch's final lecture on Oprah. http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

After watching it, I had tears in my eyes... (Btw, I want you to watch it,... it's a long video of 11 minutes, but trust me, it's worth it. ) Very very touching lecture. I was stumped by this man's courage and life... Well... There it was "STUMPED", I thought that's it, ... that's what makes me feel whenever I see or hear some amazing things or weird ones or make you go "actually??" ones or the ones that make you feel... ahhh... that's how the world should be..

So here it is... Me, the stumped, starting my blog...
Peace everyone...