Mummy, what exactly are zombies ?

Mummy, what exactly are zombies ?

Eh Zombies !! when your teenager child gets curious about Zombies and is wondering about the possibilities of existence of Zombies - I was not sure what should I answer 😕 The fact is i have fairly enjoyed some dark humor Zombie movies (thanks to movies like Train to Busan and The Odd Family - Zombie on sale) and am sure my children were curious about Zombie after watching some animation or movie . 

So the first answer I gave like you have all the superhero characters (Antman, Spiderman, Ironman, Wonder Women etc etc zombie is also a fiction).

But mummy - Zombies are suppose to be dead people right ? - Yea Right Dead people .

So can dead people actually come back to life and start walking ? 

Well there are times you wish you could give a convincing answer. All this conversation was happening in our kitchen and it was fun talk , not serious discussion -- I have realised the best way to bond with your children is through such conversations on random topics 😊 Yea so coming back to Zombies, so I asked my daughter if she remembers "Lazarus" story (yea yea the guy who was raised from dead by Jesus) - Of course I know the story - came the answer - So, I asked - what do you think Lazarus was when he actually got raised from his tomb with all the bandage around him ? "Zombie !!!" there you got the answer 😀 and I tried walking like a zombie . We still smile when ever we hear the reading on Lazarus in church and look at each other and try not to laugh 😉

I am not sure what happened to Lazarus after he was risen from dead , hope his rotten body got healed. wonder if he could get back to his normal life , did people accept him as a normal person or was he a .... ? Any thoughts ?  

Cricket se lekar Kabaddi tak !

Last year during vacation we went to visit Anil’s childhood friend and family.

Both of them grew up together , studied in same school till 12^th and even after that always kept in touch. Both the families have 2 children each. So during vacation children look forward to seeing each other, Anil’s friend’s children are more outgoing and hyper active. Elder one is 10 yr old and he is the most active kid, who loves to play and is always enthusiastic about sports. He (Josh) is up to date about all the ‘Leagues’ IPL, IBL, ISL he follows all those as per the season. So last year it was IPL and it was cricket all around. So kids gang started playing cricket , but 2 of them aged 5-6 were too young to bat or ball , so Josh wanted one of the adults to bowl. Apparently no one was much interested. Seeing Josh’s disappointed expression, I said I will bowl. He little surprised, asked ‘Aunty can you bowl ?’  Laughing , I said I was in my company’s cricket team !! That day I ended up playing with kids and could hardly spend time with Anil’s friend or his wife. But we all had lot of fun.  

In the next visit they all came to our place – and the question was what to play ? Since we don’t have cricket bat o ball, but we had a football size plastic ball – so it was football time. So it was girls versus boys. Josh and Ezekiel versus  Esther and Jeni. After 15-20 mins of play thre was no action happening, I asked what happened – Josh spoke up – Girls team is very weak, they are not able to football!’ Josh was back in action and what a wreck we created playing football , all drenched in sweat finally we had to call the game off J

In our next visit to Josh’s place we came to know that he was learning skipping and picking up pretty well. Josh wanted to show his skipping skills and children started playing, so the younger ones were out , Esther and Josh started skipping, after some time Esther was also tired, and Josh again was left alone with no one to play and was kind of irritated. So again it was my time to get into the game till Esther got back after rest. So Josh asked me if I can skip backward, and if I could walk while skipping and if I could do non stop 100 skips etc. It was fun doing all those things which once we used to do. We then played chess – and he would keep telling me – Aunty why are you taking so much time to play !! And I would say – Aunty is getting old and is slow in thinking :)

For Onam vacation when they returned visit to our place Josh mom told me  ‘You know what, Josh has been watching these Pro Kabbadi Leagues and was asking while coming– will Simmi Aunty play Kabaddi with us !’ Both of us laughed , and I told Josh,  'Yes Simmi Aunty will play Kabbadi ,but after spending some time with your mom :) 'As promised I played 'kabaddi kabaddi' wearing saree. What fun Josh’s mom and my MIL had watching us play Kabaddi – they went out of breath laughing, while we went out of breath playing Kabaddi ! So am waiting for our next visit to Josh – wondering which game would be next !!

Google - Mother of all Mothers !

Ezekiel ! Unless you brush your teeth you are not going to get your chocolate or Tab or Laptop- I said this firmly.' Ok , I will brush my teeth' he replied and started looking for his toothbrush . I left it at that and got busy in my work – after some time he came and asked me if he could use the Tab and I asked him ‘Did you brush your teeth?’ No, I could not find my toothbrush. Little annoyed I said ‘ Go find your brush and brush your teeth after that only you will get anything! By this time he was in tears, but went around rooms pretending to look for the brush . Almost around lunch time, I asked him again. If he brushed – Now he started crying – But I can't find my brush !! Now I lost my patience and screamed – No Brush then-No Tab, Laptop or Mobile and No food!

Again he started looking around the rooms cluelessly  and then picking my mobile  he said “Google my Toothbrush eviday” and then correcting himself “Google where is my brush!” 

I just could not stop laughing – told him again to go and find the brush which luckily he got and managed to brush teeth before lunch :)

So this mother’s day let me thank Google - Mother of all Mothers for being there for me and my children 

when I wanted to find a recipe, google you were there for me to tell step by step process without losing patience 

when I wanted to give reference material for school work, thank you google for being there with all the  information 

when I wanted to check out a way to a particular place, thank you google for giving me the right directions

when I wanted to know the list of doctors/specialist with their number details, thank you google to give me that list

when I wanted to check out symptoms of rashes or small issues with my children, thank you for giving me all options 

and I can go on and on :) So thank you google for being like an advisor and companion for me and my children and ensuring we always get unconditional support when in need (just like what is expected from most of the mothers ;)) 

Bruno

Where is your house Susan ? – Asked my daughter.

After the pond left turn and then on your left side there is a by-lane – second house from there . Replied Susan. Esther wondering which house is that – said – on left there is Bruno’s  house, so which one is yours ? Right next to Bruno’s house – came an excited answer from Susan . And then she asked Esther  - You know Bruno’s house ? Of course I know, we have been in this locality for last 5 yrs and everyday we say bye to Bruno while going to school  J

My Blue Crush ...

Looking at the huge pool in front I asked the trainer timidly 'I would not have forgotten how to float - right ?' - She smiled and said 'No you will float , just enter water '  :)

Well learning swimming at the age of 37 was definitely a challenge and an achievement for me :)  And am glad for myself that i did it though late but better than never ! The last time i had entered a swimming pool was sometime in 2002 in our corporate office's pool which was pretty small and i was kind of ok to try learning swimming, but then i could do that only during weekends and the office was far  ....  But after 13 years of not even seeing a decent pool, when i got opportunity to learn swimming again and this time in a huge Olympics standard swimming pool ... I was nervous ...  I was scared ... will i be able to learn ? 

Many people think and have asked me , if I was learning swimming to loose weight - yes I am 15kgs over weight , an i am a regular walker and was into sports and yoga (which i am not now) People ask the same thing when they see me cycling - my answer is 'No' , I am not cycling or learning swimming to shed weight , though i would be too happy if i shed some weight , but i am doing these activities, because these things i never learned as a child, I learned Cycling on my own around 8 yrs back , and swimming 2 months back -- and the reason for learning and doing both is because i feel it is Must learn skills in life. Infact I enrolled for swimming class along with my daughter who can swim pretty decently now.

The reason to enroll along with daughter was that Esther (my daughter) was not too keen to learn, basically she was scared of water, i know even i am scared of pool/water , so instead of pushing her to learn swimming, i told her that even i am not very comfortable at the idea of learing swimming, but i will also learn , but i told her that we wont be in same batch - since in the pool the instructors feel its better that parents are not around while the child learns ... she agreed to that ...

My first week was great since i had idea how to float, i could pick up things pretty well , but then moving both hands and legs and breathing simultaneously was a big challenge ! Anyway long story short I learned swimming in 3-4 weeks time, but i still cannot float on my back ! I just cannot relax in water, there still is block , I still struggle doing sculling which is the lifesaving skill ...,  

After 1 month of initial training, and  after watching my daughter and her batch mates diving at the deep end, somehow i got the courage to dive at the deep end with them and swim ,  i still cannot do sculling , and i must thank all the children who gave me tips, encouraged me and allowed me to jump along with them during their training session - tolerated me , took me as one of them, asking me which school i had studied, and if I am scared, when i said i am scared they did all the triks in water to show me its ok ... It was actually fun learning with them , and ofcourse all 4 trainers who are epitome of patience :) 

Now i can go on writing long stories of what i saw and learnt in swimming pool seeing others experience , but today i saw this movie Blue Crush, about a girl surfer, who overcomes her fears and comes back as a winner in a professional surfing competition .. ..  And all i have to say is its never too late to overcome your fears (any sort) and to learn what you think you cannot learn .... give it a chance, overcome your inhibitions .... nothing is too difficult :) 

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I know you Aunty ...

Almost everyday after picking Ezekiel from school , i do 2 things , first to tie his Shoe lace (yes i make him wear shoes with lace and not Velcro ) and then we spend 5 mins at his school park where he goes around the slide and swing and i watch him. Play ground and parks are good place to observe children and their behaviour , more on Shoes and park in some other blog.

So yesterday , i was tying Ezekiel s shoe lace , while he sat on the verandah of the school and there was his classmate Angad sitting next to him, i said hello to him (Angad does not talk much) and there was another little girl sitting next to Angad, so i smiled at her. While tying lace the little girl spoke to me in malayalam saying “I know you aunty ” , I looked at her - she has very cherubic face but i was not able to place her - so curiously i asked “Do you know me ? How ?” - She replied “I wont tell you ” - I was curious now, so i requested her , “Mol , can you please tell me where have you seen me ?” i thought probably at church , since i was involved in volunteering work with small children last vacation time. She said she wont tell me -- I said “I am so sorry that I am not able to recollect where i met you , can you please tell me ” She smiled and said - “I saw you when you were feeding fishes at the pond!”

Kuku Panda hug

Mumma can we watch KuKu Panda? Asked my 4 year old son. We had come back from an early but long Sunday church service, had breakfast and I was clearing up the table and was thinking of reading newspaper when he asked this. Smiling at him, I realized he meant Kung Fu Panda and I asked Esther my daughter to put the CD. Both of them asked if I was not joining them, and I told them to start and I will join them … I do enjoy watching animation movies and I keep on watching whenever it comes on movie channel… so after sometime I joined them , we giggled and laughed together, Ezekiel on my lap and Esther sitting next to me hugging me sideways. And end of the movie she hugged me tightly saying ‘ Hugging panda must feel like hugging you , soft soft ‘ :) Well times (coincidentally this happened on Mother's day)and compliments like these make me feel its ok to be  A big Fat Mum ! The inner peace !:D

2015 Summer vacation camps ..

Yet another summer vacation for children and as usual all the flyers and hoardings of different vacation camps and schools all around Trivandrum city. Last year vacation we had been to Delhi, Agra and Amritsar for 2 weeks. And we bought a cycle for Esther and had decided that  2015 vacation if possible will send her for swimming classes. As soon as the vacation began we checked out the institute and were told to come after 1 week, and when we went after 1 week were told to check out after 2 weeks ... And by the time we went back to check again they had closed down Registration for swimming... I was disappointed , because this is the 2^nd year we missed the chance , but then on knowing that there are around 70 children in each batch to learn swimming, i thought it is better to wait for the next training session which hopefully would be after 1 month or so .

Kuttan's Progress card ...

 Going through Esther’s Science textbook, I observed that there are some assignments after every chapter, these assignments are other than the questions and fill in the blank , match the following questions. I found that assignment activities were much more interesting and informative than the  regular exercise like there was on activity where children had to find out about different vaccines and the age when these vaccines are given. I asked Esther if they did the activity , she said teachers usually did not give assignment questions …..  I asked her if she tried doing the ‘Vaccination Chart’ activity , her answer was No . I told her where she will find her health card with all the details of the vaccination she has received. She found her Health card, and was thrilled to see the information about her first 3 years growth and vaccination.

Blue Umbrella - Ruskin Bond

Another Ruskin Bond story for children. Set in the hills of Garhwal, written in simple and heart warming language, it captures life in a village and its simple people, of their simple wishes, jealousy, friendship and sharing. Good story and lovely illustration – another must read for children from Bond.

Hindi club at school …..Jai Ho !

Mummy can I join Hindi club at school ? asked Esther  last week. I said go ahead and join, she then said she needs 20/- for membership fee and okayed that too. Then last Friday after school she told me that she has to get the Lyrics of ‘Jai Ho’ song (Slum dog millionaire) for the Hindi club inaugural ceremony (on coming Wednesday) their teacher has told them to learn the song. Hmmm Jai Ho … I told her I will get the lyrics and download the song , but I also added that it’s not a song which you can sing just like that , it would need lot of practice ….   I got the lyrics and  Anil downloaded the song and then Esther heard ….. She realized that it was definitely a difficult song to learn in couple of hours ….

And then I commented ‘Our time, we had so many standard songs for inaugural functions – we would have sung the songs many times at different programs but nobody would get bored of these songs , and we were never ever allowed to sing Film songs ‘ . Anil and I then started giving her the list of songs ‘Ath Swagatam shubh swagatam’ , ‘Vande matarm’ , ‘Janani Janambhumishcha’ , ‘Hind Desh ke Niwaasi’, ‘Janani Janam bhoomi swarg se mahan hai’ ‘Jai jai hai bhagwati shubh bharti’ ‘woh din hai kitna dur’ and searched in Youtube and showed her …. She was impressed and said  “you all were so lucky to know all these lovely songs !” . I told her to suggest this to their hindi and music teacher who could teach them ….

Yes we were lucky to have learnt and sang all those songs so proudly so many time  ..

Reading, Books & Enid Blyton

Few months back I took membership at a local library - its a small library but has good collection of old and new books. The first thing I checked out was the children’s section and was happy to see good collection of Enid Blyton Famous Five (FF), Secret Seven (SS), Nancy Drew collection. next to it was Tintin series, Asterix, Calvin & Hobbes  !! I was happy to see the collection and picked up few books.

Fountain Pen

Mummy I don’t want to write with fountain pen ‘ Esther said this one day after coming back from school. Esther started writing with fountain from the last term of 4th std, as per the school norms. I had taken time out to look for reasonably good/priced fountain pen. From 10 rupees to 60 rupees I had seen 5-6 varieties of pen and decided on Reynolds 30/- pen reason for my selecting that pen was it has a separate tube for filling ink which ensured that ink wont leak, and it has traditional long nib. Before I gave Esther that pen , I wrote couple of A4 size paper getting nostalgic and decided that even I should buy one for myself, the pen was wonderfully smooth and good to write with …

Every Little Help …

Esther started going to school in her cycle this year . Everyday I tell her go safe. Quite a few people were surprised when they saw I was sending Esther to school all by herself . Initial first week I watched her from behind till she reached school and went again in the afternoon (pretty heavy traffic) to see if she was able to manage. After a week she told me mornings she is comfortable going alone, afternoon she would want me come and watch till she gets little more confidence. So after 2 more days of following her I told her that she is ok and can manage by herself .

Chotu ….

‘Chotu – Mehmano ko unka kmara dikhana ‘ (Chotu – show the room to the guests) said our host to the house help – I was busy getting our luggage inside the guest house. Madam leave it I will ask Chotu to get it in your room said our (home stay)host  Kanwar. I thanked him, went towards my room with one of the bags I put the first bag in when Chotu came lifting by Backpack and then I saw Chotu , a little taller than the backpack, probably 11-12 years old ! ‘ Arey arey chodo, ye bag mein uthaa loongi, chotu aap ye saare kaam kartey ho kya ?!’ ( Leave the bag Chotu, I will carry, you do all this heavy work is it?) Chotu grinned and nodded ….

Animals at the zoo ... 'The zoo kills the 'wild' in wild animal'

@Bannarghatta - Lion without wildness :(

Trivandrum zoo is suppose to be one of the good ones, we have been here for the last 7 years , but I have not yet visited the Zoo …  … last vacation Esther got chance to visit with her friend and she was impressed and had lots to talk about … Few months back we went to Bannarghatta National Park , we took the Safari (which was so so – it looked more like a staged up safari than the actually seeing animals in their habitat) , and after the Safari, since we had some more time we thought of checking out the Zoo there ….  

Where is the Star ?

This Monday Ezekiel got up and as usual went out to varandha and asked ‘Where is the Star ? ‘ We were having our morning tea and I told him – Star will come again next Christmas time .. He kept asking ‘Where is star, I want star …’   .. This Christmas season had been pretty peaceful, and festive at home. One week before Christmas, Esther said she wants to give cards to her teachers and classmates, but teacher has told them that it should be hand made cards and that she needs my help … hmmm, I said ok will do that  … then the next demand, ‘Mummy lets put the Christmas tree ‘ ,  … I said ok  will do that ., then the next demand  , ‘mummy why don’t we put crib ?’ … hmm , I said ‘ok will do that , but after your exams get over ‘ ….

Bharat ka Swarnim gaurav Kendriya Vidyalaya ..

Went to Kannkakunnu Palace on a weekday,last week after 5 pm with my kids for spending the evening. Anil had a Book Release to attend in the same vicinity. Dropping me and kids near the palace hall, he said ‘ There is an exhibition on 50 Years of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan, think its till 5 pm only, but take a chance and check out ‘ And I thought, 50 years,that’s all ! It should have been much much older by now ,and then thought of checking it out, It happened that day was the inaugural day and Shashi Tharoor was speaking on how high regards he has for the KVS and how he gets so many letters asking for recommendation for admission in KV from people of his constituency – and that even if all the 4 KV s in Trivandrum were 10 times bigger, he would have been able to get admission for the children sorting his recommendation ! He added, that shows how good the education system is in KV ! 

Bday wish for my children ….

It was Esther’s Bday couple of days back, we do not celebrate it big way, every year we at home cut a cake tell her how she came into our world this day in year 2004 and how happy we were to see her , and that we are thankful to god for giving us Esther … 

9 yrs have gone so fast and coming years will go faster – I see many people, talking about planning and saving for Children’s education and marriage , but frankly I could never think in those lines – Till now it has always been 1 day at a time . There is another set of parents who talk about their children to be around when they get old – no I have never thought about that also , infact if I live that long I don’t want my children to bother about me, but live their life –

Educate children ...

Mamma , shall I make one roti today ? Esther asked couple of days back, I said ‘Mamma has lot of things to finish , this is not the time to play ‘ .Could feel her disappointment and then I said ‘Ok, make the last one’ She is happy and starts rolling the dough. Mamma is this ok ? she asks – and I am surprised to see a perfect round roti ! I say – this is good :).