Pratinav:)

I saw him 1st, when he got out of a car, near the bus-stand, holding his mother's hand. The resemblance to his mother was striking!!

After getting the bus to Bubbles autistic centre, I run into Sarbani, who heads the school, who tells me "Cma, did u meet Pratinav? You have to take care of him today"

Pratinav gave me a polite smile, n I was sure, looking into his hazel-brown eyes tat there wasnt a speck of naughtiness in them anywhere:)...as I personally think tat naughty kids help in weight reduction!!

After getting into d bus, I sat next to Pratinav and he cried n cried. B4 u think it had anything to do with me, he was crying asking his mom to join us for the field trip!!

His crying stopped only after Sarbani, opened up a big jar of candies and told d kids ki...only d smiling kids get d candies....once or twice she went close to Pratinav, who was suddenly confused on whether to cry or to eye the candy, and then decided tat since everyone, except him were getting d candies, he put his best tooth forward and gave a lovely smile n turned out to be d last kid to get the candy :)

I knew then tat probably I will scare d hell outta Pratinav, coz I sing loudly n v were playing antakshari n I was in full josh moreover....I got a taste of Pratinav's strong distaste for my singing, when he sat towards my edge of the seat, moving away from his window seat, giving me no place to sit :)

At the village temple, I had to lift Pratinav thrice to make him ring the temple bell...so happy he was doing it...n he was a thin kid...so it made life all tat easier for my fat:)

After tat, when v started our rounds around the village ....started d run of my life :)....Pratinav used to run away from me...Now I like running too...so when he ran..I ran after him...n when I used to catch up with him....he used to run faster....after realizing tat the 20 year age gap would take some catching up....I stopped chasing him :)

But then, all the other volunteers and the staff had their respective kids walking with them hand in hand, except for Cma n Pratinav :)

Pratinav wanted to be the 1st person to reach anyplace v went...Im also a lil like tat, so I kinda understood whr it was all coming from:)

At the village school, Pratinav banged the drum, played passing the ball, chasing the tyre race[though d kids at Bubbles didnt win against d village school children, they did give them a tuff fight], 3-legged race[D village school children were paired with the children from Bubbles n it was so nice to c them encouraging our kids to get to d finish line] and gave his perception of village life with paints and colors!!

Our running continued into the farms, hillocks, infact wherever v went tat day!! D only time he came to me, was when he wanted help during susu-time, not knowing whr to look for it in d village and another time, when he wanted me to help haul him up a tree!!

Wat I did was to put him on a spot on d tree, from whr he cudnt climb down on his own n moved away slightly, while Pratinav sat thr happily ...I was catching up on my rest :)

Both of us planted a peepal sapling in d school and then when v were walking towards d lake, Sarbani had instructed us to hold hands with the kids. Now Pratinav didnt seem to like my hands for some reason, and right in front of me, took a villager, who was also our guide's hand and walked in front of me, turning back once and looking at a poor me, giving me the "C...I took this chap's hand wallah look"...making me feel all defeated in my mission :)

I had my victory only once, when I asked for his hand and he obliged and both of us walked together for 50m..n then it was d usual chase :)

Sarbani had paired Pratinav with me, coz she thot v too have a lot in common. He is an extremely social kid. He was running after the village school children, trying to imitate what they were doing and at times picking up fights with the other kids. Though we kept running all the time, I had soooper fun just doing tat...n cing tat naughty-naughty look in his eyes when he intended to give me d slip.....Who told u tat v cant get our 1st impressions wrong :)

Safar!:2007-Till date

Got into projects, where d work was good n gotto meet amazing ppal. After clubbing 2 routes, our cab rides to office and back were eventful n fun. Gotto explore avenues that were new, as in acting, almost scripting, dancing n even ya..ya...singing:) Trekking was now challenging n fun, n also very scary atleast for me. I complete my treks all d time, coz of some really sweet ppal who lend a helping hand:) On d work front, Priya n Srividya walked into my life, so be it their technical doubts or my fashion advice or my take on things, how they tolerate me I have no idea!!

Also, d time when I had spent close to 4 years in d same seat, with only ppal arnd me changing at regular intervals. Times were riotish in terms of fun, with Deepabh, Mohit, Manju, Deepak n Sowjanya arnd!!

Started believing in a mantra, that life is short n that till we last, we shud make d most of every moment n enjoy wat we do!! Do wat u want to do n if u cant exactly do all d great things U have in mind, time it n plan it out n b optimistic abt getting somewhere with it!!

Be it d Blood Donation Camps or d Green Community Events or d few cultural events or d treks or d trips , most of d pals I made were all Shila's pals n I spent my 5 very good years in office, sharing almost every other moment[happy or sad] with her!

Safar!:2006-2007

This was 1 year that I wont forget!! Went to Singapore twice! Went 4 an awesome trip to M'lore with Shila, Pravs n Prets.

Moved into a project, where work was fun literally!!Discovered d devil in d guy who sat behind me, after our team outing to Wayanad.

This was d time when d teaching activity was going on in full swing n d results were sooper good, with almost all the 10th students, clearing their papers.

My nephew was born n thr was chaos @ home:) ...I was an Aunt ...his Masee...n thr was chaos at work, as we had a very difficult client.

Progressed a lot on d teaching front. It was both a pain n a pleasure to teach:)

My sister, bro-in law, father, mother n my sister's mother -in law helped us pack close to 100+ gifts for needy children.

Safar!-2005-2006

Started working on July 1st, 2005. To disbelievers, as I started off,I was an introvert, extremely soft spoken and almost a loner:)

I was pretty bindass in college, but somehow, even tho I had joined office a month after college was thru, I had left my bindass attitude far behind!!

N then I gotto meet amazing ppal @ work. Ragini was an inspiration n an instant pal. It is amazing how d lady used to go n talk to almost every other person in the entire floor. It hardly mattered if she knew them or not. Initially I thot it felt strange, having a total stranger enquire abt d things u did over d weekend or abt work.

N wat I did, from that point onwards was to simple ape her. Yes, I also started talking to ppal n @ d EOD, I was no longer a loner. I was a happy person, happy to have ppal around me, to talk to, to learn from. Made my closest pal, Murthy that year!!

I had just moved into my new cubicle @ work n d 1st thing which affected me was d absolute silence. Ppal around me hardly ever talked to anybody, not even to themselves:)[I BTW do it all d time]

Meeting Moses at work, changed my life altogether. I learnt d importance of initiation. In more ways than one, making someone else happy was as simple as taking an initiative and committing to it.

I was happy volunteering @ events, meeting up with long lost school pals at various events, teaching and doing all that I wanted.

Cant imagine doing something like this again:)...I actually dropped out from a team outing, as I had committed to volunteer at a Chrysallis event!!

Freaking out on Movies!!

Have watched close to 6 movies atleast in parts, that is. Notable among them being Twilight, Along came a Spider, Benny and Joon, Nim's Island,Dennis D Menace,Princess Diaries, Adam Sandler something, Good Girl, etc....incidentally there was a Good Woman coming at the same time on a different channel!!

I get absorbed easily by d movies. Its like my system automatically shuts off anything external to the sounds of d characters on TV. So, my mother's cries to get things done r unheard of :) or my father's pleas:) to watch his favourite Comedy shows on Mallu channels r also conveniently filtered:)

N I dont buy d commercial breaks either. S Im busy hunting down another channel for another movie.

I have always wondered as to what is it that endears me to watch a movie in d 1st place. Its pretty simple. If d characters r known to me, be it some of my favs Tom Hanks, Moregan Freeman or Denzel Washington, then I invariably jump n watch d movies. Or if d plot seems interesting enuf in say 5 mins, then I know I can watch it till d end. Not that I find d plots in Princess Diaries interesting, but I also end up watching it:)

Paanch Saal!

Ya ya ya ya....Its been 5 long years!! I have lots to write abt d safar. But I have to share with d rest of d universe what my team-mate wrote abt me on this day, hehehe...Im still wondering if he was bribed to write all this:)...Also ppal dont do such stuff every other day...right!

"Sometimes its not the number of years but the number of hears and cheers for those hears, one gets for ones voice which counts....

if that were to be a scoring criteria then this person would get the least score.......

If it is number of clicks on one's blog, I don't know how many of you even know about it:

http://dua-my-world.blogspot.com/2009/12/tripppppyyyy.html

But, when you count the amount of laughs (not smiles) one generates then no yard stick can probably measure it.

Is it very cryptic?........ok let’s break it SEEMA completes her 5 years at office today.......that makes her half-decade in a full-decade company.

She's been a shining star, technically appreciated for her work, a true contributor for cause of special children at "Chrysalis" and "IGIA", most sought after at office to start any forums on cultural, environmental or to hold any kind of team activities.........

@Seema: man congratulations on this feat, it's been fun and de-stressing to have you around."

If u wanna read more:

*Safar!-2005-2006

**Safar!:2006-2007

***Safar!:2007-Till date

M in 4 treasures:)

House painting is in progress....d last time our house saw any of it was nearly 9 years ago!!

It is a huge ordeal in itself. Choosing colours was no easy task. I took a whole lot of suggestions, was very certain that it wudnt be anything remotely close to cream on the inside, but turns out Orange Frost shade in Asian Paints Royale Luxury Emulsion is a shade that is not only close to cream, IT is that god forsaken shade:(

Shifting things is also not all that easy. I was spared a whole lot of this ordeal, coz of work. But, my mother has been working very hard this week.

Found a lot of old stuff, a small stuffed doll, which was a bright maroon rabbit, at some point of time. This was one toy that I used to love as a kid, n somehow something that my sister despised of. She used to throw it onto the attic, if she found it anywhere outta it. I still wonder what made her do it till date:)

Then I get this soooper purse, I havent seen in years!! I had bought it when I was in college n it had gone missing. Amma found it n hands it over to me with pride:)

I still have to set close to 3 almirahs in place, will get back to update this post, after Im done with all the treasure discoveries:)

Chasing their dreams!!

A gal who studied with me in college, left her IT job to join a NGO.

A gal who worked in my office, quit her job to join d Airforce as a Flying Officer!!

A guy who took my cab to work, quit office to join d navy!!

A gal who was my pal's pal, quit office to return to her village to teach!

A guy, who worked in my team quit his job to return to his village to help his pals start a MBA coaching institute!

Another team-mate of mine, wanted to quit his job, take a degree in social development, to work in that sector!

A guy in office quit his job to start a NGO, which will paint the city Green with its multiple initiatives!

Cya:)

"Shayan pen chahiya!"

"Shayan wants to write!"

"Cya, Shayan want nail polish:)" n this is closely followed with "Cya, put nail polish for achhi:)"

"Shaya wants paani....Mamma paaani chahiya!"

Mamma to Shayan: "Shonu, come here"

Shayan to Mamma: "Naaaahin"[with a naughty naughty smile]

When Shayan does masti n when he knows he will be punished, he will go to Mamma telling K..K...K.."Hugsy[meaning hug] chahiya!"

Shayan thinks Buddabaaba[ an imaginary character created by Mamma to scare Shayan as n when necessary:)] is anybody old, sporting a long moustache!

Shayan thinks any young friends who come home, sometimes with a laptop bag:) are all Pizza uncles:)

Shayan has 2 options to gotto Dr.Kini or to Dr.Girish. If you ask him his choice, he will reply back telling Dr.Girish. Y?Y?Y? coz doctor uncle give Shayan chocolatte:)

When Shayan was asked to part with a few of his toys to d maidservant's kids, Shayan throws a tantrum. When cajoled by Mamma asking him to share his toys, he cries louder!! When Mamma promises Shayan bigger toys, greed sets in and he happily gives away his toys:)

Cya loves Shayan d most, when he utters that concurring"aa" , "aa", amidst a conversation like Shayan understands everything, especially when u sit with him and explain stuff or read out stories!!

D curiosity in Shayan has so far had him pour out a bottle of groundnut oil on his head on one occasion and a Sunsilk shampoo sachet on another occasion. Note the perfect timing: After 10pm!! Much to the dismay of his Mamma, who has to be on her toes 24X7:)

Shayan thinks d gas-lighter is a gun and runs with it to Achii, pointing it out to him like an AK-47!!

Shayan thinks its cool to play with vessels and onions and coconuts n papiyas(papayas) and spoons and tumblers and uncool to play with cars!!

D glass table in our living room, has taken so much of Shayan drumming(sometimes with spoons n sometimes with a plastic cricket bat), that I must applaud its manufacturer for all its endurance!!

Just when Mamma thinks its high time Shayan got used to a life without Huggies or Pampers, Shayan tells Mamma that "Shayan buy Huggies" and ensures that he locates it in a supermarket and hugs it with all his mite:)

Offlate, Shayan has been posing for photos. But right after you click, Shayan is after u, with "Shayan see photo"

Mamma dare not enter a shop without money. Coz Shayan will either tear apart a Gems chocolatte packet or drop a Bingo or a Lays chips packet on the billing counter with so much of innocence, that it hurts,when u refuse to oblige:)

Shayan's favourite Hindi song is "Nanna munna rahi hun, desh ka sipahi hun, bolo mere sang Jai Hind!!". Very cute to hear him sing it. He swallows half the words:)

If you play the starting music of atleast 10 songs, Shayan will be able to tell you which song it is!!

Shayan sits on Cya's lap in Guruvayoor Krishna temple, located in Kerala and sings "Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Santa Claus is coming to town:)"

Shayan is cutest, when heard attempting Malayalam, so be it poda[which means go] or shakakuru[jackfruit seed] or ambada kema[hey chalu fella] or addi[hit], the last one is the most frequently used Malayalam word at home these days, the English word giving close company being "NO"

All d samaan at home is at high grounds, but Shayan has his own plans. So, every now n then, u get to c chairs being dragged to the appropriate altitudes and things heading down with Gravity!!

Shayan loves to dance, to sing his rhymes and he simply loves banging spoons on our glass table. High tolerance levels it has had, till date, I must admit, should inform d manufacturer:)

Now, I have a reputation for being very lazy when it comes to combing. Now, dunno what prompted Shayan to pick a comb one fine day and to comb my hair!! exclaiming "Shayan comb!!"

PS:

1.Shayan is Cya's almost 3 year old nephew and Cya is Seema:)...that's me BTW n acchi is Cya's father.

2.Shayan has stopped calling me Cya, this is a new development. He calls me Cma, but I still miss Cya:)

Horse's face!!

Kudre in Kannada means horse and mukh is face. N so the title.

This post has everything to do with Kudremukh, a lovely place located around 300+ kms away from B'lore.

As with all my other posts on trekking, this one also delves into the same old giving up story-"I cant do it anymore! I wanna give up! I will sit here. You people trek to the peak and then on your way back, I will join you." But my team mates would have none of it. If Hemanth kept urging me to take small steps, to rest and to drink water in small sips and most importantly to keep going, Puneeth told me the obvious:), You have come so far, you cant give up now. Its a different story, that we kept climbing up and up, and the part where in you are almost there, atleast seemed nowhere in sight.

Now, now, now-Most of my team mates are just the sorts who run up a hill, when they spot one. They love getting themselves into any kind of adventure and they trace routes, paths and scale greater heights with ease and joy. Some of them have no places left to trek. Some of them did not spare the Himalayas also!

N then you have me: Fear of heights is in my blood. Though climbing up is clearly an uphill :) task, I always manage to do it, minus all the cribbing and all the constant chants of "amme narayana", "devi narayana","lakshmi narayana","bhadre narayana". I remember Hemnath telling me to give Narayana peace of mind:)

After you reach the top, you magically forget the fatigue, the grumbling, the challenges faced and even the chants:) A sense of accomplishment and an awesome gust of wind blowing right across your face, calming you down is a sooooper divine feeling! Its almost like you are at peace with urself and start thinking of things that mean most to you and forget the Herculian climbing down, that awaits you any moment!!

Have you heard of people who can climb up a tree, but cant get down. I fit the bill so much. How can you get down in ease, when you have either your shoes or all those loose rocks to trust? I have this constant fear of falling when I get down a hill. So, Prakash it was. The poor chap had to lend a helping hand at almost every other step-down!

I believe that when u are on a trip, u must enjoy every moment of it. Stretch urself to face challenges, have fun and fond memories of a journey,u know u wud have never taken otherwise!!

Guilty or not guilty!

My idea of a police station was that from the movies, with Gandhiji's photos and revolving wooden doors.

Happened to visit a police station today for my sister's passport verification. I must admit that getting into one is a very scary venture. For a person like me, I know when Im sitting there that a blog is waiting to be written.

Met 3 guys there. They were around 10 years old. They were asked to stay back at the station as they were accused of stealing bicycles. We were seated on a bench outside the inspector's room and they were sitting beside us. One of them was crying out loud after a passing constable slapped him hard across the face telling him "3rd time eh". I ask the boy seated beside me.."What did u steal?"..He told me "Nothing. Somebody else stole a bicycle. We were standing there watching the incident, and police arrested us."

A police constable was warning them that if he ever caught them stealing again, that would be it! He told them to work as mechanics or as carpenters or simply go to school. He told them not to steal from the places they worked. He also told them things like this is not the place for young boys like you!

Helpless as I was, I also realized that it is unfair to blame those kids. I dont know if they were guilty of the crime or not. But picture this, wat if they werent, does it really make a difference. They would still be sitting in police stations with nobody to bail them out. Y? Coz they belong to nobody. Who cares for them? Surviving each day in itself is a challenge!