Summer Book club!

 

Parenting, amongst other things,  is also about trying to experience the good things in life vicariously through our kids, especially the kind of experiences that we didn’t have while growing up!  Take for instance,  a Book club for second and third graders…..we didn’t have anything like that in our childhood, despite growing up in an urban environment.  We did have summer camps for sure…revolving around creative arts and crafts and music, dance and sports of course….but nothing like a curated platform showcasing age appropriate books for all the young participants to read and share their thoughts about…. that too in a place surrounded by books! No………. I’m not talking about fancy places like the New York or Boston children’s public library, but the summer book club at “Kahaani Box”,  for second and third grade readers! So when book lover and entrepreneur Neha Jain put up a whatsapp post on the upcoming summer programs at Kahaani box, including “The Book club”,   I so wished that I could become a second grader again!  

 

As we approach the fag end of school summer vacations (in fact many schools have already reopened!), we did look back at the summer of ’24, and one of the most memorable of Aadya’s summer activities was attending the book club at Kahaani box!  

It was indeed a memorable week of reading, sharing and exchanging views, involving themselves in vocabulary exercises and mystery-solving activities, designing alternative book covers, going on a book scavenger hunt around the library, and creating a TIME-VELOPE of all their favourite things they would open twenty years later!  

As part of the book club activity, each of the eight kids read Shabnam Minwala’s “The Shy Super Girl”,  a Duckbill publication’s HOLE book -and  Louis Sachar’s  “Marvin Redpost- Why pick on me”, and Aadya enjoyed reading about the nine year old Nina who though shy was endowed with super powers! With the help of her almost clairvoyant abilities, Nina manages to solve the mystery of the missing artefact at Mrs. Khanna’s house. All the girls were fascniated by the  adventures and misadventures of Nina and gang so much that they reviewed the book and even wrote to the author.  This early chapter book aided by Tanvi Bhat's apt and stimulating illustrations, encapsulates so many relatable elements of a young girl’s world that had all the book club members hooked and booked for the summer of ’24! Here’s to unboxing many such activities from Kahaani Box this year!  

 

Embroidered creations of love!

 I have never been the arts-craftsy type of person and have always been envious of people who are dextrous enough to create a tangible work of art like a painting/drawing/sketch or crafts like handicrafts/embroidery/jewellery, etc. My mother though, has always dabbled into such creative arts  like painting and hand-embroidery as a hobby and still pursues the same post retirement.  My daughter loves to draw and prolifically turns out pencil sketches of her view of the world around her…and I cant help wondering if God skipped a generation while bestowing the artsy-craftsy creative gene to our family! 😊

Anyway, my mother finds great satisfaction in her hand embroidery work and more so on her post retirement move to Dharmasthala. Anyone close friend or family member visiting Shristi is sure to leave with one of amma’s exquisitely embroidered pieces as a return gift to remember their Shristi visit. Drawing inspiration from the surrounding nature, or traditional art designs like Warli, Kantha, Kasoothi or Kutch, amma creates magic with her fingers through her intricate needlework embroidery on vibrantly coloured fabrics, or left over blouse pieces and weaves. She has even embarked on what she likes to call her “magnum opus” – an embroidered creation of mathematical equations pieced together into a massive bedspread representing almost four decades of her life dedicated to the scholarship and teaching of mathematics at Jyothi Nivas College, Bangalore. As Im writing this…I see amma’s focussed needlework creating a beautiful string of flowers on a bright red poplin cloth!

Off late, Aadya and her grandmother  share a special connection through their own forms of art. Aadya presented one of her drawings of a silhoutte of a tree as a gift for her “Sanna-ajji” and Lo and Behold! her “Sanna-ajji” had replanted her tree into customised pillow case! 

Thanks to amma, all four of us have personalised pillow cases with taglines specially embroidered by amma…with “Acchu our Hero” for Abhay, “Aadya our Princess” for my daughter, “Multitasker of Samruddhi” for my husband as he truly is, “Budding competent Advocate” for me (while I thought I was already a competent advocate ….trust my mom to give me a reality check! 😊) Her latest gift has been a hand-embroidered patchwork bedspread with unique designs on each piece, from geometric shapes to modified katha work, from traditional art layouts to colourful flower patterns, with distinctive colour combinations, and beautifully sequenced strands of threads of various shades….and all I can say is that amma’s embroidered tapestry of brightly coloured flowers adorning our bed acts as a mood uplifter just like Wordsworth’s Daffodils! 

So dedicating this blogpost to my mother’s magical needle and thread work as we celebrated her 69^th birthday last weekend in a hybrid mode – while we physically joined her and my father at “Aroha’s Eco Hill Resort” at Sakleshpur, and her best friends joined in through a zoom call, with goodies being delivered to their doorstep so that they don’t miss out on the cake! 😊   

Following the birthday weekend, we had an extended sojourn at our most favourite place in the world my parents’ farm, “Shristi”, and just as we are about to drive back to Bengaluru tomorrow, we had the grandmother-granddaughter read together one of our all time favourites – “Grandma Bubba’s warm shawl” by Rijuta Ghate, a publication by Jyotsna Prakashan, which brings out books that have an old world charm to them!  Wonderfully written and illustrated, this book came highly recommended by our friends at the Funky Rainbow, and has always been one of those books we fall back on for a warm and cosy read, and it is rather surprising that I haven’t had the chance to blog about it…until now when it feels perfect for the occasion!

Grandma Bubba lived in the far away mountains and took good care of her flock of sheep. As winter approached, grandma Bubba decided to knit herself a bright red shawl from her sheep’s wool that she’d dyed red from beetroot pieces. Just then, her grandson comes running to her asking for a bright red sweater and a bright red sweater was ready in no time! So every time grandma Bubba dyed her wool green using spinach leaves, or purple with purple cabbage, or yellow through turmeric, or blue turned by indigo, each of her family member comes in with a request for a cap, or muffler or a pair gloves or a pair of socks and grandma Bubba is only too happy to oblige! So the entire family is kept warm during winter by grandma Bubba’s knitted creations and did grandma Bubba finally knit herself a shawl ?.... Read on to find out how grandma Bubba’s love for her family brought out the most colourful shawl that there ever was! A wonderful feel-good story that echoed my mother’s sentiments as her embroidered creations adorn our lives and fill our hearts with warmth and love! 

Quarantine times!

 

I began this year like every year with a new year resolution to blog more often, but didn’t expect to follow it up in the same month itself (it never happens!). Similarly we all hoped to embark on 2022 putting the horror of Covid-19 behind us,  but didn’t expect the pandemic to catch up with us so quickly, and in such a lightening speed so as to have the  hitherto untouched/uninitiated / uninhibited caught unaware!  Neither did we all expect to test Covid +ve at a time when we (read.. I) have been indoors for the past three weeks nor did we even anticipate that the illness would first hit my father-in-law when he hasn’t stepped outdoors in the past whole year!   Well….it hits you when it hits you is all I can say as we got sealed into isolation as a COVID HOME last week!

After being locked in through the first wave, and braved the second wave, we couldn’t after all escape the milder version of the pandemic that had engulfed the city as a third wave, which is now on a decline just as we at home find that the worst is now behind us. From acute fever and exhaustion to slight temperature and weakness, from continuous to sporadic bouts of cough, each of us reacted to the virus in our own way, convalesced as our own body and mind allowed us to and recovered in our own pace …….thankfully all at home. With four of us being co-vaxined and covi-shielded from the severity of the infection, this variant has left us drained mentally more than physically, paling us into a general sense of gloom and dis-spiritedness…as quarantine can turn even the quiet into the querulous!! 😊

Well….the best way to bring some cheer back into our lives is to have happiness delivered to our doorstep  by none other than “Funky Rainbow” our favourite indie book store of South Bangalore. No sooner did the little gems get delivered than did our happiness quotient in the household begin to rise!  Quarantine times can also be a period of emotional upheaval for us as a family as we grapple with the physical symptoms of the illness with willpower and emotional strength and what a better way to remember these trying times than this wonderful book that’s not only makes for a great read aloud book for children but also enables us to reflect on our emotions as adults. “Are your emotions like mine?” by Chitwan Mittal and Shruthi Hemani  is narrated by a little girl trying to understand what she feels every day from excitement to anger, from feeling silly to feeling nervous, from being proud to being adventurous! There are a host of emotions that we experience and reading about it not only serves as an acknowledgement of our own feelings but also a step forward in trying to understand and get comfortable with what we feel, why we feel and how we feel and express our emotions. Aided by brilliant illustrations , the little girl and her lion’s journey into their emotions was an instant hit with my little girl who couldn’t resist drawing her own version of what she feels! Here's to our emotions! 

Our Girl!

 

As I browse through some of my earliest blogposts almost a decade ago, I find that an oft repeated reflection on my part has always been “I wish I had a daughter” and such a longing was borne out of a desire to enjoy reading books that my pre-schooler was quick to dismiss as “girlie books”! Now that I have a daughter, we do revisit some of the books that hadn’t impressed my son then and now seem to be a big hit with my daughter, just as I had thought so! Well….not a day a goes by without feeling thankful for the pure joy of having a daughter and how blessed we’ve been with the arrival our little girl! Her indefatigable energy, perceptive and sensitized nature, generous and caring spirit have enriched our lives in so many ways that we could never imagine! As a daughter myself, I have always and still do share an extremely close relationship with my mom and without wishing to sound cliched…my mom has always been and continues to be my 'BFF' and vice-versa!  As the saying goes…God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers….as a natural corollary I can say that God made daughters so that they can be their mothers' best friends! Hoping to share the same relationship with my little girl!

On the occasion of daughter’s day,  we read a book by one Abhay’s  all-time favourite authors, the award winning Anthony Browne, whose books we would regularly borrow from the British Library almost a decade ago! “Our Girl” is quintessentially Anthony Browne in terms of narrative style, wit, visual-word interplay, pastel backdrop, water-colour style illustrations which makes it a truly perfect read for today. The books opens to a sweet little girl with a wide smile –“She’s lovely, our girl”… an goes on to celebrate “our girl” – a great goalie, brilliant swimmer, loves to draw, dress up and pretend play, alternates between quiet and loud, starts off as a busy bee and ends up as sleepy puppy, fierce as a fighter yet charms her way with her beautiful smile…..we love our girl and will always do…..a wonderful tribute to daughters everywhere!  Happy daughters day to all our girls!

Mother's day in lockdown 2.0

Just as we had begun to let our guard down in the assumption of a safer and pandemic-free 2021, it seems like we are back to square one again, with the onset of a deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from the concerns of health and safety, every day we are confronted with doomsday-spelling local television channels, horror stories of suffering and the difficulty in finding hospital beds or shocking casualties on account of shortage of oxygen, and countless WhatsApp forwards by self-anointed gurus and life coaches on “what to do and what not to do” during what now seems like a time-warp, with a repeat of the 2020 lockdown era! Amidst all the surrounding doom and being surrounded by the constant fear of falling sick, while being confined indoors with continuous domestic responsibilities, this may hardly be a time a to celebrate Mother’s day…right? 

In fact, it didn’t occur to me until I saw our favourite Independent Book store, Funky Rainbow's FB post on the upcoming “Saturday morning live” Buzzaar with Mother’s day theme, titled “Mum’s the word”! Having moved to my parents’ farm in Dharmasthala over two weeks ago, I got to watch the weekly book recommendations revolving around mothers at the Book Buzzaar with my mother on the eve of mother’s day, and this was indeed special. As is the norm, the second half of Book Buzzaar featured a chat with Dr. Tanu Shree Singh, author, psychology professor, founder of FB group Reading Raccoons, a bibliophile who owns and supports many libraries in Faridabad and Himachal Pradesh (How we would love to visit a library in the hills!) Dr. Tanu Shree Singh drew out words of wisdom from her experience and her book “Keep calm and Mommy on” which was felt like a soothing balm on the harried and hassled minds of mothers who are trying hard to keep it together and retain their sanity especially in these troubled times, and frankly, we couldn’t have asked for a better mothers’ day present! There were a lot of takeaways from the interesting conversation between the unstoppable Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow who is fondly known as Editoramma and Dr Tanu Shree Singh who was spoke from her professional and personal experience as a mother of two, including how it is impossible and unreal to live up to the expectation of a “supermom” and not to stress too much on excelling as parents as it is an evolving journey with its own highs and lows, laughs and cries, and the key being keeping the line of communication open. No matter what, its never too late to sit back, reset and reboot….and to mommy on..! 

Its also true that we end up empathising with our mothers a lot more than before after having becomes moms ourselves. There may have been times during my own turbulent teen years, (which I swear, was nothing compared to what I am going through now with my teenage son) when I’d sworn never to follow my mom on certain irritant aspects of her parenting approach, only to realise that I have unknowingly turned into my mom on those very aspects! So no matter how old you are…..moms always get to say with glee “I told you so!” 😊 

This year’s mother’s day has been special in the sense that I have been able to spend quality time with her in her unhurried world of nature walks, gardening, reading, online shopping, chanting of shlokas in the evening and of course dishing out delicious ‘oota from our thota” not only for our brood but also for our large farm family (including our farm workers!) Thank you amma for having us over!

On the occasion of Mother’s day, amongst various recommendations from Funky Rainbow, we read “A Saree for Ammi” a Tulika publication by Mamta Nainy and pictures by Sandhya Prabhat. As always, Tulika brings wonderfully nuanced stories from various corners of India showcasing the unique cultural milieu of the place and it people brought out in the story and its characters. This vibrantly illustrated Tulika story comes from a family of weavers in Kota, Rajasthan. Narrated in first person, a little girl watches her mother weave the most beautiful sarees and sell them in the local haat (marketplace) but never don any of them and decides to find out why. The innocent little girl that she is, she is left puzzled with her mother’s reply “If we keep sarees, how will we eat?” So she persuades her sister Sadaf to help her gift their Ammi a sari which had taken Ammi almost a month to weave. From breaking open their gullaks (piggy-banks) to doing odd jobs for Amina Khala, read on as the siblings embark on their heart-warming adventure to fund their special gesture for their loving Ammi! A touching tribute to a child’s love for their hard working mother, beautifully complemented by the illustrations that bring alive the bright hues and designs of the handloom weaves, and vividly portray the environment, community life and culture of the traditional weaving community life in Rajasthan ...... making it a delightful read on Mother’s day! Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers!

Red Shoes!

As I browse through some of my earliest blogposts almost a decade ago, I find that an oft repeated reflection on my part has always been “I wish I had a daughter” and such a longing was borne out of a desire to enjoy reading books that my pre-schooler was quick to dismiss as “girlie books”! Be it the Fancy Nancy series, or the Knuffle Bunny (which I though admit my son enjoyed too!), or books with little girls as protagonists fascinated with what is ordinarily termed as girl-specific choices, I found myself yearning for a daughter to read to! Now that I have a daughter, while we enjoy reading the very same stories that Abhay was not so enthusiastic about, I haven’t been able to chronicle our experiences on Onestoryaday as often as I wanted to. Of course, there are other trappings of having a daughter which I didn’t foresee, some of which can prove to be expensive affairs along with the way! (Of course, boys too have their own fetishes that aren’t exactly easy on the pocket!) For instance, our little five-year old fashionista already has the most number of footwear in our house; Our little style icon is too fastidious about how her clothing, the choice of colours, matching accessories, hairstyles, etc; Our little fashion expert is also the first one to compliment someone on their outfit, or their hairstyle, or a striking accessory! She has even complimented our maid on the colour of her sari! 😊

So as I was browsing through the shelves of Sankar’s bookstore at Rangashankara recently, I knew I had found a likely favourite in “Red Shoes- A dazzling journey” by Karen English and illustrated by Ebony Glenn. Malika is fascinated by the dazzling red shoes she sees perched on the pedestal on the shop display and tries to get her nana to buy them for her to As they return home, Nana unwraps the surprise and Malika cant take her eyes off the red shoes nestled amidst the tissue paper. From then on….red shoes become highlight of every one of Malika’s outing….at her aunt’s wedding or Nana’s Christmas party or playdate with her best friend Kiesha….Mallika goes click-clack-clack all the way in her red shoes, which is witness to many of her mischiefs, fights and her growing up experiences, including Malika’s desperate attempts to fit into her favourite red shoes that sadly now seem small for her….prompting nana to give them away to be resold at a Resale-Thrift store. As she bids farewell to what has been a significant part of her growing up, she can’t help but wonder a few days later as to where her red shoes are………read on to find out the dazzling journey of the red shoes in spreading joy and good cheer amongst the little girls who don them! Narrated in simple text and partly in verse format, and illustrations beautifully enhancing the reading experience, this book can take you back to your prized possessions of your childhood too! Needless to say…Aadya loved it and has already petitioned for red shoes to be added to her ever growing collection! I remember many years ago, before having graduated to being parents, we were flabbergasted at seeing a newly furnished walk-in wardrobe exclusively for shoes that our older cousin had got done for his teenage daughters and we swore never to fall for something like that, if at all we had a daughter! Now…. we are already thinking of something like that ….and our daughter is not even a teenager! 😊

5-power!

“I’m growing bigger…my birthday is coming!” is how my little one shoots back at her brother when teased about being a baby! While we can’t believe how time has flown ever since she arrived five years ago, our little princess (I know it’s a cliched term but she loves it and sure acts like one!) has grown bolder, naughtier and definitely more assertive in her sibling skirmishes with her older brother! The eight-year age gap hardly matters as she regularly spars with her older brother in their territorial wars, so much so that we are left bemused (and a little nervous) at how confident she is about her own ability to take on her big brother! That said, she can turn into a baby the next moment, wanting to be fed and cuddled to sleep like one, when one of her parents walks in!  While she is definitely a lot more independent than Abhay was at her age, open to trying out on her own and excited to experiment with new experiences, Aadya however still latches on to certain activities that strictly qualifies as being only for babies, like being fed dinner or refusing to go to bed on her own and its more to do with wanting to be around her mommy or daddy all the time than about her own capability  …….and our 24/7 presence at home owing to the lock-down has certainly not helped the situation!  Aadya turned five last week and no doubt she has gotten bigger, but she can no longer hold on to “my birthday is coming” anymore…..for at least while now and will have to think of another way to smart mouth her brother! 😊

Since her birthday falls during the school vacation, we always lament over how she never gets to celebrate the day feeling special at school and this year we had decided to have her don her birthday special dress on the school reopening day in the first week of June. Alas!…. It turns out that it’s not just Aadya but many are to miss celebrating their birthdays in school this year!

Anyway, it was very much a birthday in Covid-19 times,  with a home celebration amidst the members of only our household with her maternal grandparents joining in through a video-call, and  splash of pink and a smattering of a few princess cut outs available at home, home-made savouries, and a “princess/doll cake” custom baked by “Bake_mon_reve ” run by a pastry chef who is also a relative followed by the customary birthday treasure hunt organised by her “Anna” and the piece de resistance being his part-hand-sketched-part-printed birthday card for his sister making it even mores special!  

While we revisited an old book, "Its Hard to Be Five" by Jamie Lee Curtis  and Laura Cornell, that I had read to the big brother on his fifth birthday back in 2011, it didn’t enthuse her much and I’m not sure if it’s a ‘girl thing’ not to be impressed by a whiny five year old boy annoyed about turning five…but when I happened to stumble upon this wonderful online story at “Storyweaver – Pratham books” ..I knew I had found the perfect book for Aadya’s fifth birthday! In fact, “With you, Ma” by Adith A K and illustrated by Amalendu Kaushik is too good to be true! I must say Pratham publications have been pioneers, in so far as stories that deal with simple growing-up quirks of children. No matter how usual or unusual is your child's tendency, ..there's bound to be a Pratham book about it and I'm always amazed at how they manage to put out such good content at such an affordable price! 

Anyway, in keeping with the Covid-19 times, we went online too, and found this gem of a  book online at storyweaver.org.in.  My little one always relates to the girl in the book and what are the odds that the little girl in this book is named Aadya too?! Little Aadya is almost like an extended attachment to her mother and neither lets her mother out of sight nor wants to venture anywhere without her ma (I’m sailing in the same boat too!) On a trip to Majuli, where she is seen literally clinging to her mom through-out the flight-train-ferry journey, Aadya is introduced to another girl her age, Kim-Kim and her young sister. Though hesitant at first, Aadya enjoys playing with her new friend Kim Kim, and soon she is off to tiny little adventures with Kim Kim and her friends, playing in the rain, splashing water by the river and picking and munching on bugories….all on her own without having her mother tag along and this experience pushes Aadya to take baby steps towards the path of self-reliance, much to her mother’s delight!  A great book to nudge your little one into doing things independently!   So here’s wishing more 5-power to my just-turned-five year old who no matter what and much to her chagrin, will always be the baby of our family! 😊

What shall I wear?

My little one has been a mini-fashionista ever since she learned to utter the word “Adalla” (“not that” in Kannada) and from then on, she would pretty much veto anything and everything I would pick out for her to wear and choose her own outfit for the day! It had been a formidable task to get her to wear her Montessori school uniform on the only two days of a five day week that required the students to don their uniform and just imagine what a mammoth effort it took for us to get her accustomed to wearing the school uniform “every single day” in her current school! “What shall I wear now” dominates her mind space and conversation with her nanny as she gets off her school bus in the afternoon and on most days, she greets me in the evening as I return home from work with “Amma, what shall I wear at bedtime today?” She would insist on a change of clothes even when accompanying me to the next door Kirana store for milk, or as she heads to my office (which is a portion of the ground floor of my house) or pillion rides the scooter with her dad to drop her brother to his bus pick-up point down our street! No matter what the book is about, it is always “what the girl is wearing” or “what sort of footwear has she worn” or “what kind of hairstyle is she sporting” that first draws her attention and trust me….she couldn’t be bothered about the boys at all! (At least for now!). Running short of ideas to engage her during the lock-down situation, we’ve given her a free rein to pull out whatever she likes from her wardrobe –  from traditional Indian wear to fancy party wear, from her various fancy dress-like outfits bought during our travels to her earlier school day costumes …. our little style icon isn’t complaining about being “All dressed up but nowhere to go! 😊

So I have always wanted to lay my hands on Pratham’s “What shall I wear” by Natasha Sharma but as you have would have it with many Pratham books , it was out of stock in most places I inquired. (Of course most Pratham books are available online on storyweaver, but it is not the same thing as cuddling with your little one at bedtime with her favourite book or when she pulls out the book during her alone-time and pours over her favourite character!)   So imagine my delight when I came across “Snack time Story time” hosted by Natasha Sharma based on her books on Facebook last week which also featured  “What shall I wear” a Level 2 reader by Pratham Publications authored by Natasha Sharma and illustrated by Tanvi Bhat. Its wonderful when the author introduces the book as he or she always lets in a snippet or two on the author’s story behind the story and it turns out that Natasha  Sharma was inspired by her then six year old daughter’s love for clothes that lead to the book and we also got to see how her not-so-little-fashionista took the same forward to now designing her own clothes! Anyway, the book is about a little girl who is in a predicament that most of us often find ourselves in …none of her clothes feel right!  Sometimes it’s the discomfort of the shirt buttons, or the pant being too tight, or choli not fitting or the lehenga being too long, so on and so forth driving the little girl  to the wardrobe of her mother and brother with no luck! Read on to find a do-it-yourself-creative solution arrived by the little girl in tweaking her wardrobe a little with an intelligent mix and match….and voila!… she has a new outfit! Now ….isn’t that true for all of us too!  A laugh-out read  for our fastidious little divas who have us on our wit's end  in trying to fulfill their fashion demands!   Just as we were about to log on to Youtube for another story telling session …....…Aadya stopped me to ask “Amma what shall I wear for the story-time?” !!!:-)

A time for a book for you and your Puchku!

“Man is a Social Animal” was the first lesson we learnt in sociology and though I have been a student of sociology earlier, it is only now that I realise the value of it. With the entire country on a lock-down/home quarantine situation owing to the advent of the devastating effects of Covid-19 virus spread, we are now faced with a unique and never-seen-before challenge of “Social distancing”! Right from the boy who drops off the daily newspaper and milk to the maid who cleans up, the help/nanny who takes care of your little one, from the Ola/Uber/Metro that gets you to work to the co-workers and other employees at work, from restaurants/eateries we frequent to the shops/market for groceries, from the various hobby classes we enroll into, to fitness/swimming activities we partake in, from the visit to the salon or socialising with friends and family, our day-to-day lives are so inter-twined with the other social animals!! To press the pause button on all of the above and isolate oneself is a not an easy task, to say the least but being unsure of how long to put off human interaction , so as to effectively control the spread of the virus is what causes real alarm. As of now it is Day 6 of the Central Government ordered 21-day lock down in India and one can only hope that we are successful in our attempt to flatten the curve!

With an overload of messages on the print and social media on finding the silver lining in this lock-down situation, and on how it can be an opportunity to reconnect with your inner-self and family, revive your long forgotten interests, and relearn the ways and means of a simple life of the days of yore, I decided to get back to blogging after a long hiatus and my absence is thanks to without an excuse - sloppy time management (though I would love to call it a writer’s block!). No doubt reading to my kids is still a stress buster, I’m all the more delighted at the unhurried pace at which I can now do so as we have suddenly landed ourselves with more than enough time to kill. Ever since I heard the title, I wanted to herd myself into getting hold of the book only to learn that it was out of print! On one of my recent visits to our favourite bookstore “The Funky Rainbow” (when a visit to the bookstore was still an acceptable social activity), I was pleasantly surprised to have finally found this gem of a book. “A Book for PUCHKU” a Level-3 Pratham publication by Deepanjana Pal and illustrated by Rajiv Eipe makes a wonderful read aloud story about a little girl who just loves reading. In fact, all Puchku does all day is read, read and read and so much so that she has finished reading all the books at home, and all the books she can reach for in her library until she discovers the top most rack of a cupboard that has stocked many a books that she hasn’t yet laid her curious eyes on!   So little Puchku along with her friend Dodla make an acrobatic attempt to reach for the books that she thinks seem to be at the reach of only a giraffe…..until the simplest solution presents itself in the form of a very-tall-eager-to-help librarian!  Thrilled to no bounds, Puchku however has no time to thank the librarian who helped her find the books she hadn’t yet read, as Puchku is already lost in them! A simple story with playful illustrations and an earnest attempt to sow the seeds of reading in young children, this curly-haired-two-pony-tailed-book-loving little girl was indeed an instant hit with our little Puchku!! So as the advisory goes…. “Stay home and stay safe”…. and cuddle up with your little Puchku with a book!

Like a girl!

"Balance for better" is this year's theme for International women's day. A balanced and an inclusive environment especially in terms of gender is truly the way forward. As highlighted by Shelley Zalis on Forbes , 'When you add more women to any equation, there's a return on equality'.  Seeing more and more women at the boardroom, courtroom, legislature, cockpit, stadium, studio or on the front-lines is certainly not only a measure of progress of the society but also encourages many others to take a leap and a recognition and  celebration the same is the sheer essence of International women's day.

Speaking of balance on an individual level.....for every woman of this millennium, achieving the right balance has been a constant challenge. We are on a tightrope......on a perpetual balancing act... switching between our different identities, working around our varied schedules, managing expectations from multiple quarters - professional-societal-maternal-domestic and not to forget our own expectations from ourselves.... Oh! the different hats we wear!  Of course, like everyone and everything else, we have our goods days and bad days. There are times when things seems to be working reasonably well, even to a level of being textbook-perfect., and there are times when things couldn't be worse off....or when one role seems to overshadow the other .....at least for the time being.....and we feel guilty and with it, the need to justify ourselves.  But especially on those days..... we need to cut ourselves some slack....and not feel solely responsible for the things going wrong... ..and key is to go with the flow.....do you what got to do...and give it your best shot! As Julia Child had said "No matter what happens...in the kitchen  (sic)  (but you can take it as life in general) ...never apologize"

Women's day is also about supporting the individual freedom of choice and how as a society we ought respect a girl's choice to live life on her own terms, whether its choice of a career or a life partner or simply how she chooses to dress.... it's her choice and thus will be her responsibility to deal with it!  Anyway, I always try to read something woman-centric on Women's day, and this time I was delighted to find many books revolving around women. We had picked up "Like a Girl - Real stories for Tough kids" by Aparna Jain by Context, Westland Publications, at the Bangalore Lit fest last year when Abhay being one of the few boys to get the author to autograph the book for him as signed as "Change the world #Like a girl...."  

As true as that, the book presents the inspiring stories of fifty six women who pioneered their way through the so called male bastions with sheer grit and determination and  sought to change the world and thus making way for more to follow. From Sultan Razia to Dipa Karmakar, follow the stories of these  women who broke stereotypes and didn't hesitate to take the road less traveled to reach great heights. While there are many famous names that we've all heard , the book also features lesser known but no less adventurous women who rose from ordinary circumstances to make an extraordinary impact - like Rashida Bi and Champa Devi Shukla who took on the multi-national Union Carbide factory through their NGO 'Chingari' or the environmentalist Sunita Narain who lead the campaign in Delhi for vehicles to switch their engines from diesel to compressed natural gas or the writer Bama who took on the caste divide in her village and wrote about it that not only won her recognition but also empowered many other Dalit girls. A great book about great women.......and for anyone comparing "being shy or to cry......like a girl..." this book is a great way to show them to change the world ....like a girl! Happy women's day !!  

Angry "A"s!

What makes you angry? When your clients dodge paying up after extracting all the work from you? Or when you feel your entire weekend being devoured by your kids leaving absolutely no 'me-time'?  Or when your little sister is a ubiquitous presence at home, staking claim to all of your parents' attention? Or when you are not allowed to snack on your favourite junk food (which happens to be right before dinner time!)........ these are a few reasons that makes us go all red and hot! Off late, both our 'A's (as we fondly refer to our kids both whose names begin with the first alphabet) have been experiencing certain anger issues in their own way........if one is transitioning from tween years to teens.... the other is moving from thunderous threes to fussy fours!! While we dialed in  for "Toddler 911 techniques" for the latter, for the former we decided to introspect and look within and like most children's issues....it's no surprise that this too stems from the parents! While anger is a natural feeling when things don't go as expected, it's how we choose to react and express our anger that has a direct bearing on how our kids let their steam out! We yell and they yell, we abuse and they abuse, we curse and .........well.....they'll think cursing is cool!

Of course, avoiding all kinds of outbursts or shouting-matches is easier said than done, and it's convenient to let it slip a few times and blame it on children themselves or rationalize the same as parental authority! But seriously...who are we kidding? They are as we are and they will turn out as we have turned out. As the saying goes ....children are great imitators...so give them something great to imitate!

As we all learn to deal with our own anger management issues, I discovered an insightful little children's book on the same subject by Pratham publications titled "Angry Akku" by Vinayak Verma. Recently awarded the Hindu Young-World Good Books award for the Best Picture book: Story category, this book is based on a theme that transcends all age groups and makes a delightful read for one and all.  Even the name of the little girl reminds me of Kannada author Vaidehi's story of a strong willed woman named "Akku" with her own anger management and mental health issues that was even adapted into theater and later a movie. I wonder if the author drew inspiration from the same....!

Anyway, as little Akku is picked up from school by her father, he notices that Akku is not her usual perky self but is upset over something. Nothing seem to cheer her up...if the sun flowers on the way are "too yellow", the monkeys on the roof of her house are "Chee!" Nothing that appa has to offer softens her mood..... and though she refuses to down a glass of buttermilk or crunch into the crispy vadas.... on second thoughts  she polishes off the plate in no time!  Despite being in an unenviable situation, I envy the father's ability to stay patient and adopt a therapeutic  approach to letting Akku's anger subside! Why is Akku angry or most importantly, does Akku finally cool down?  Read on to find Akku's  annoyance melting away as she turns from Angry Akku to Artist Akku!  Aided by vibrant and imaginative illustrations,  and endearingly relatable portrayal of its protagonists, this book is truly one of the best picture books in recent times! Even on a personal level Angry Akku is a big hit at home as I see my little one imitating Akku in one of her own angry avatars and my older one trying out the ten best things suggested when he feels angry like Akku and  our lives are all about juggling between them as we learn to deal with our own angry-Akku-moods!    

Not a morning person!!

My little one has been a morning person ever since I can remember! Well.....barring a few bad days................she was pretty much pleased to open her eyes to the world around her.  So much so that no sooner did she wake up than she was ready to ride with her dad on the bike to drop her brother to the school-bus pick up. In fact, there were days when I had wished that she would sleep in a bit more so as to allow us a morning walk together in the near-by forest reserve.  I should have known better.... with two kids you lead your life by taking turns! :-)

Anyway, over the past few months, we have been having trouble getting her out of the bed in the morning. I'm not sure if it's because of the fact that our live-in nanny has now been replaced with a day-care-giver, leaving us to manage the never-ending-nightly bedtime routine and the always-on-your-toes morning routine  on our own (like all parents...I know...we were spoilt!), or the sudden cold spell in Bangalore or the change in her sleep patterns owing to the change in care givers..... our little one simply refuses to wake up!!! Frankly, I now miss our little Miss morning sunshine who used to smile as she first opened her eyes eager to see what the day has in store for her!  Not anymore......well....as my husband said ..... 'the real world has probably dawned on her" !:-)

So I fell back on a book that showcases a similar situation so as to help us ponder over the same and find a way out. Though this book has been around for a while now, it is only now that I found it to be relatable for my little one. "No" a bilingual book by Cheryl Rao and illustrated by Samitha Gunjal  by Tulika publications is a simple and endearing tale of a little girl named Annika who simply refuses to wake up in the morning! Though her father gently goads her into getting her out of bed with all the her favourite things she will probably look forward to doing..... from wearing her new dress, new shoes with matching socks, even her butterfly clip (when for a moment she opens her eyes) and also savour her favourite breakfast dish - poori-potato baji ...... Annika simply doesn't budge and her state mirrored by her pet cat!  But then as the father finally mentions her most favourite activity, saving the best for the last........Annika along with her cat jumps  out of bed to quickly get ready - brushes her teeth and takes a bath and puts on her new dress, new shoes with matching socks and gets her butterfly clip for papa to help her with and sits down with papa for downing her favourite poori-potato bajji that papa has lovingly dished out.......(wow!)..Annika is all set to go and she and her father are off to catch a bus to Dadi's house!  Aided by suitable and playful illustrations, the  book also includes certain subtle elements to impress upon the young minds and adults alike, from gender neutral hands-on parenting and self-reliance in young children  to using public transportation, etc. Though the book is based on a simple theme, it perfectly captures the mind of a young girl and sure manages to bring a smile on your face as you find your toddler relate to Annika's morning routine in many ways........ but you can only hope to achieve the same success Annika's father!  Anyway...taking a cue from Annika’s father, we woke up Aadya in morning with a promise to visit her grandparents over the weekend....... are now on a bus to Dharmasthala !!! 

Princess Easy Pleasy!!!

We are in Bhutan.... the land of Gross National Happiness for our summer family vacation!! “Family vacation” is more like a business trip for parents with lists and inventories made out for all kinds of contingencies and emergencies that one might face while travelling with kids! Sometimes it feels like all you do is run around managing your kids’ needs, moods and tantrums that it hardly feels like a vacation at all!!!! That said, it would also be difficult to leave them behind  and enjoy the vacation sans kids.....especially when you get on the plane and   served your children's favorite pasta, or drive through your son's dream view of snow capped mountains, or try your hand at a local sport that your son would sure love, or try out the local costume that you bet would look perfect on your daughter, or taste the local flavors of ice creams.....how can you possibly enjoy without your kids!!! Isn't it?

The biggest challenge during any travel with kids is of course food ...and  finding the kind of food that appeals to our kids palate always keeps one on tenter-hooks!!! In keeping with our family travel tradition that began during our travels with Abhay, we’ve continued to pack our travel size rice cooker, albeit as a back up as our little one is more open about experimenting with different cuisines (touchwood!) when compared to our older one who had an appetite only for “curd rice”!!!! 

But believe me, the back up plan during the first couple of days always ends up being upgraded into the mainstay during the final days of our travel...and for all you realise.... it’s not only the little one who is craving for some Anna-Sambhar!!! 😊

As a prelude to our travel, I had picked up a wonderful book that highlights this exact plight of parents planning a travel with their young kids. A surprise find .. really.. but we’ve latched on to Princess Easy Pleasy ...ever since I chanced upon this book at Kutoohala that I later managed to save during its closure sale. So much so... that inspired from the original story, we’ve also tried to spin off a few other anecdotes in Princess Easy Pleasy style...just to keep our little princess from being displeased!!!!   

“Princess Easy Pleasy” a Karadi tales publication by Natasha Sharma and pictures by Priya Kuriyan revolves around a sprightly and a stubborn little princess who does not find anything up to her expectations as she travels with her parents, the king and queen, to various countries from Hong Kong to China to Singapore to Cambodia to Thailand to Srilanka (considering their choice of destinations... I wonder why they didn’t travel to Bhutan!) In each country,  she seems to have a problem with the milk served, or the vegetables cooked, or the mattress laid out, or the pets around or even the elephant brought in for a ride, having  her parents pander to her almost impossible tastes, finding a scapegoat in the royal packer who’s ordered to add to the packing list, each time the princess throws a fit!!! So in their effort to appease the not-so-easily-pleased princess, the ever expanding list includes a cow, their own chef and their own vegetables and so on and so forth... until things go horribly wrong when the exhausted royal packer quits and all travel plans cancelled by her equally  exhausted parents!!! As the bored princess pleads with her mom to change her mind, her mom yields, however “on one condition” ( and we love this part !) and we all know what it might be... don’t we?? A hilarious take on what is common travel woe of most parents!! In fact, this book provides a great parenting tool too... as the  “on one condition” strategy has come to our aid as we try to get our terrible twos toddler to toe our line!!!