A precious little flower
that is in constant bloom
I watch as yet another milestone
around the corner looms.
 

It seems like only yesterday
that we shared a breath
but now it seems like 3 yrs later
you will leave for college

and I'll be left.
 

A tiny little angel
that always is in flight
as soon as you came into our lives
you brought us so much light.
 

Your beauty is so stunning
your smile makes me melt
I'm so proud to be your mommy
It's the best I've ever felt.
 

Oh perfect little princess
with you I'm so in love
every night before I dream
I thank the lord above.

How did I get so lucky
to have as sweet of a gift as you
If ever you should need me
there's nothing I (or your Pops) wouldn't do

Happy fifteenth Birthday, love!

Update on Mamma pic - daughter's pre-b'day gift to me

Wow, the daughter has done a fairly gud job on this.  Ok, so the hairs have grayed and the folds and wrinkles show up  ...... but thank goodness she has conveniently missed out my receding hairline. Hey, daughter a big kissy goes to you for this!!!!

So I have planted this little surprise for her already in her room .... put up posters of her fav and ever favc Selena and Rihanna. After all, what's a teen room without posters. Ah, takes me back to my own days when I used to vie for wall space in out small flat ... to put up Olivia Newton John and Travolta doing their "Saturday Night Fever" thing......ooooooh, wasn't it a 'fever' in those days (now these kids call everything "HOT"!! Something to do with 'global warming or wot?????????)

So with this blog I put in cold storage this former pic of mine........sigh, will never be this young again!! So I tell the daughter make the most of your young years, when you full of energy and aspirations .....never give up in life. My message for her this year ....... Babu, don't be down, no matter what happens. Fight it out. Prove everyone who said something WRONG! You are special and make sure everyone around you sure knows it :)

This is her fifth day into her crash diet ....all she is eating is moodi ....poor kid, I feel so very bad, but then, there are somethings which even rockin' mammas can't do....... and I do understand she wants to look gud in her colour changing jeans (what next???)

 So bye, bye, my ole beautiful unwrinkled self........ :-(

An update is due ......

My last visit to the blog tells me it is sadly outdated.

For one, I am no longer the young woman as painstakingly painted by a ten year old. So have assigned her to re-make the image to reflect what I am today....  Altho'  I must confess I have taken a great risk ..... and shudder to think what she chooses to portray me as!!!!!!  After all, to a fifteen year teen, a mamma must be Devil incarnate (NOOOOOOO!!!!! ......to any more school fests), a wet blanket (just change right away! No wearing shorts to THIS tuition!!!) ........and more....so I guess I may as well prepare myself for Devil horns portrait or whatever...............sigh! Parenting IS a tough job!

So while I await an updated pic to be created by the daughter, I am as well update all the other stuff .... like she has a 'crush' on Enrique Iglesias.......a CRUSH!!!!!!! .....the very thought has me reeling!!  Is fifteen years the right age for a "crush"? But then , was there ever a "right age' for such things? And as she always keeps pointing out, our era was oh so different, and one can't always use that as yardstick.

Selina Gomez continues to be her fav .......and why not? after all she has hooked the 'hottest guy' on the rock scene......now what was that name ....yeah, Justin Beiber. Now, dont; ask me how to pronounce the name, but these kids sure know it, even when they default on their English language pronunciations.

Dan Brown is still her fav author ......and ain't I glad she introduced me to this author? Now she has me reading the 'The Immortals of Meluha' series .......Gosh! Often it seems to me an age of role reversal......where the teen has me forcibly reading religious literature! Which reminds me, I gifted her a Linda Goodman 'Sun Signs' book for her  fifteenth birthday - part one (Yes, she is forever competing with 'Pops' who enjoys an Indian calendar birthday on Rathyatra too .....and INSISTS on having her double birthday .....after all, she was born on Raksha Bandhan day, wasn't she?).

She was initially pretty disappointed .........as I guess I had somewhat over-hyped the b'day gift and she must have expected ........... ????????

Well, one week into the book, and she is liking it (of course, I KNEW THAT!!) .... and now swears to know me in-and-out by the year end. Good, she will learn that a Piscean Mamma is given to extreme 'lows' and equally sudden  extreme "highs' by virtue of being a 'fish' skimming the surface or swimming the depths.....so will learn to ignore me when in one of those inexplicable depressions!

The flipside. She now claims her love for sleep to be a Leonine trait ....OUCH!

She is pretty much excited about her fifteenth birthday bash ......coz this time, I am gonna host it at home, not club (which is actually much less work). YES!!!!! My kid sis thinks I am nuts....and well, maybe I am ....but I really go all mushy where the daughter is concerned.

HOWEVER, I have warned her that this shall be the last birthday party I organise on such a scale.....and after this she can have a 'teen thing' ..... mall hopping and pizza grabbing and movie watching .....or whatever these teens do (as LONG AS IT IS ONLY a "GIRL" THING ......and not anything crazy).

So she has decided the theme of this party shall be "Wild and Wacky" (have I passed on too much of my genes to her??) .....so I (and the other Mammas) can keep many eyes on those 15 fifteen year olds. That's okay with me, as long as the sub-theme is "Girls (& Moms) just wanna have fun". Well, we are still negotiating, but then, there is another five days more to go.

I ordered for 10 points-of-placements for ballons and ribbons ......thinking she'd be shy of too many balloons ....after all, IT IS a TEEN party ....NOT a kiddie one. But then, once again I am aproved wrong ......just goes to show how unpredictable these teens can be........sigh!  Now I have to change the order to "double" the balloons and streamers!!!!

Amongst the 'to-do-and-shop' list is 'Fart Bombs'!!! What next? Am keeping my fingers crossed and praying all goes well, and the apartment folks don't send me a note. Anyway, I am a 'smart mamma', so have somewhat insured myself by inviting two other 'Moms & daughters' combo from the building. I hope that cools things.

I muct confess tho'......between you and me.....I am a wee bit nervy.

BTW, what's the ole phrase for a "...fifteen" .....I thought it was "shy fifteen".....but I am sure am mistaken, as usual!

This one is for Friendship Day!

OMG! Such un-random (is there such a word?) ‘rants? What began as a personal anecdote dedicated to the daughter ….. seems to be sadly neglected. But I can’t have her forget how wacky her mom is …decades hence, can I?

Okay, I have busy-as-a-bee …..sleeping, cooking and then sleeping….and what else? Hmm….can’t really recall ….

Anyways, this Friendship Day has brought to the fore so many many memories. Like when the daughter was in class six and she wakes me up with a wet-wet kiss and a Friendship Day hug at an ungodly hour. What she was tying is supposed to be a Rakhi in a Friendship Day avatar (and you thought kids were poor at recycling???)….but to the sleepy senses it felt like ‘twas a lifelong chain on my wrist (the silken threads kept getting undone, so intelligent as she is, she made a secure knot …or was she, securing a lifelong champion in the face of an over-protective over-possessive ‘Pops’?)

She came home from school that day with Friendship bands tied all over her two small arms and the biggest beam ever …pointing out proudly to the gleaming badge on her shirt ….saying ….’Class Monitress’.

Ooooooohhhhhh!

After I had gone on a typical Mama overdrive….oohhing and aahing….with lots of kisses and hugs thrown in ….. I recall getting into typical Girl Guide mode, calling up her friends and the Moms for an impromptu Friendship Day party.  Well, I have ALWAYS been a parrrrrty animal, but never got much of a chance......sigh!!

It was a great hit. Met moms and kids for the first time ……some of whom have become friends-for-ever now!

That year kick-started this hyped Friendship Day thing …. And daughter bonding has given way to (MY!!) personal friends exchanges ….a.k.a. Friendship Day texts (Friends are the ones who don’t have time to call you ….LOL!)

Am too bad a texting…..and over the years the texts petered out ….. just as the Friendship bands scaled down on my daughter’s wrists …..these kids too have transitioned to the ubiquitous texting ....they are simply AWWWW SOME when it comes to mass texting,,,not to forget speed!!

This year, something funny happened. Was at a doc’s chamber (where else?) clutching my colicky stomach and trying to sport a cheerful appearance, when my cell phone beeps with this Friendship day text ....from God knows where.

This is how it read

Never say you are happy when you are sad
Never say you are fine when you are not ok
And never say you are alone when I am still alive
HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY

Oh, so it is Friendship Day is it? Gosh, I was really getting old and outmode.

I was looking for a distraction anyway. (In retrospection, the text seems a bit on the tawdry side....and had I been in my senses, I guess I would have re-phrased.....oops...my usual after-it-has-happened-reflections!!!)

Anyways, I forwarded @this text it to a couple of contacts whom I actually consider ‘Friends’.

Some of the best response I got…..they sure brought back that cheer in me!!!!

Thanx…it’s a gr8 feeling
Feels good to have friends like you ..:)
:) …..from a 24x7 doc…wow, am honoured ...after all he lives in the OT!
Oye! Tumko kya ho gaya hai?...poor guy, he thought I was on deathbed.....he, he, hum jaldi se jaane waale nahi hai ......bauhoton ko pareshaan karna jo baki hai!
Thnx …didn’t know it was such a big thing now (hey, in which planet is he? EVERYTHING is getting hyped and commercialised these days!)..hope yr arthritic bones n jts are behaving.... (as tho i need reminding!)

My response to the last one (he is one of those friends who sure makes me smile) ….and wud understand all the lingo!

(And YESSSS!!!!!! Am pretty proud of my poetry-health nexus....he, he, who wouldn't be???????????????????????

So have chosen to record this for eternity.....did I say I DID NOT SPORT a wacky sense of humour??)

as usual - the bones creak
joints are becoming weak
the spondylitis points attention seek
muscles/nerves have gone a 'fibro' freak
so days pass by in fits of pain n sleep

sugar frolic has me weak
when it ain't a BP peak
cholesterol deposits on face peek
mirror says I fast-forwarded to a 60s geek
all this makes me depressed n meek

Funny, altho’ I’ve always been fond of poetry ….keying this one has been the most therapeutic ever …

I guess that’s what friends are for ….to make you forget the pains ,,,,when THEY are NOT being a pain in the...!


So here's to Friendship Day ....and my wee little circle of friends ....the ones under my roof ....the ones in cyberspace ....and the ones in the once-in-a-bluemoon circuit ...and the ones who make me smile :)

She did it .....philatelically-wise!

Gosh!. This is another "M" in-the-making, I thought.

A great day for her sure, and me too, and for "M" too.

A Parenting Style Upgrade

Methinks, my neo-liberal democratic style parenting has got skewed. I guess I ought to have taken one of those periodical self-assessment analytics and done an update on my parenting approach.

The liberal policy has sort of back-fired. I had not taken into account the new-age student definition of ‘liberal’ and ‘democracy’.

So what I have on my hands is a self-righteous what-have-you Selena styled comeback on anything related to studies.

Hey, I don’t’ ever see you with books!

I am reading …. NASA’s take on the latest findings on moon.

But what about studies ….. as in school books?

Cool it mom, we don’t have periodicals this term.

But you do take finals, don’t you?

That’s a long way off!

February is not all that ‘long way off‘, sweetheart.

Its in 2010.

I am on the verge of giving up.

But my astro says it’s a good time for change. So perhaps I ought to tackle it the same way I take on some project.

History of project.

Brought up in a free-thinking, democratic milieu, I kind of loved the way we siblings had a say in everything, made our own choices and were accountable for our own actions.

What you get is what you sow.

So that’s the way I thought I would love to bring up the daughter. Did I take into account the difference that decades can make to a student lifestyle? No.

We never had these Mc Donalds and Baristas. Neither, virtual libraries a click away. It was music, traditional print reads, Cola once a month. And cramming last minute.

Hey, I don’t even recall being ticked off for NOT STUDYING. Though I wasn’t ever much of a bookworm either! What I do recall is my mom’s penchant for going straight for the kill on the day of report cards, beginning with Maths.

Report cards are Assessment Reports now. Maths is Math. Worse still, is the COMPLETE lack of self-desire to study, at the school levels in the least.

NOW, I get it. Why these crowded waiting areas in doctor chambers, pre-examinations. Nerves. Hyper moms and irritable kids.

What else, as a case of comparative analysis?

Oh yes, the information revolution …… satellite TV, internet, SNS, I-Pods and ads (I-Pill !). Not to forget the latest Disney revolution, as in CDs, DVDs, stationary ….. with large doses of Selena Gomez and Hanna Montana.

Analysis.

If democracy worked well decades ago in a traditional, sans Facebook era, I am sure a Machiavellian autocracy ought to succeed today.

When all else fails, I have this simple thumb rule, go backwards ...... as in ’back-to-the-roots’ sustainable ...er, parenting !

Talking of Glassy Powers ...

I am a late entrant to the four- eyed humanoid kingdom. Thats why perhaps I failed to get to the bottom of my daughter's vision-centric headaches. [Between you and me, thats how I excuse this inexcusable lapse in Momhood].

I took her to the doctor to check for sinusitis. He told me to stop bothering her .... she'd continue to have these "tension headaches". ME?????????????? And give the daughter tension headaches?? The Doc is crazy....... he ought to be a fly on the wall in our house and he'd soon know ..... EVEN the daughter got all huffed and puffed up and ticked off the doc ..... which earned me another hollering (yes, he did indeed holler loud enough for all those waiting outside to hear!) ......... that this 'further proved how I terrified the daughter'.

BOTH struck him off our list and cell phone by mutual consent. And pretended for a while the headache did not exist.

As an amnesia-tic Mom, I remembered only a couple of weeks later that a diagnosis was still pending. I mustered up enough courage to visit the friendly young neighbourhood GP, whom I could boss over. He ruled out migraine...and what have you.....not to forget tension headaches to both our delight. He wanted an eye check-up.....but then, didnt she have one in her school just the weekbefore and was earned a 6/6 vision certificate?

Diwali crackers were awful headache triggers, which confirmed my historic loss of faith in docs. Hadn't I said they were migraines?

My sis happens to be an eye surgeon, but somehow we never got talking on this. As usual, it was the daughter who told this Mamma to get her eyes checked..........and lo! she was right. She was found long-sighted. But even the optometrician could not fathom how she could have seen the classroom blackboard all this while? No long-distance vision problems, either????????

Diagnosed. End to headaches. Enter glasses.

Hey, whats this? You DON'T need an expensive pair, but a functional one for regular use!Didn't kids require a new pair every second month?

Mom, shouldn't you be pepping me up with a coooooooool funky pair????? You know HOW MUCH I hate wearing glasses! How sorry I am feeling for myself!

Hey, do I have to take parenting classes from the daughter now? Whats the world come to?

Anyway,she did manage to get one in the EXACT pink shade she desired, courtesy her eye doc aunt. And I took a long breath till recent, when the next eye test revealed an increase in power ......... and knowledge power struggles.........

But MOM, maasi said that power will always increase.....it is said to indicate growth ...

GROWTH???????? Not as I see it.

This time it was a blue super cooooooool pair, which goes well with her school uniform and her ubiquitious jeans.

Of course, it was thrice as expensive as the first pair. According to the daughter, I ought to buy her the pair she wants ........ she is already so disheartened and mopey about the increase in power, isn't she????

And I thought Moms were supposed to promise good expensive glasses IF the child watched less of TV ....... kind of a bribe to keep the eyes from going bad?

Then what am I doing, buying her a snazzy pair when she has been ahppily watching TV all the way to higher eye power?????????

Weird, that, but life's like that with Moms, even those who Rock and are amnesia-tically guilty-wise.