The call

It's that one dreaded call in the night which brings with it the heartwrenching news of loss of a loved one. Nothing really prepares you for that moment. Somehow suddenly a hand that rested lovingly over your head all these years since you were a child,a hand which nourished you and took pride in each and every small step you took,a hand which always wanted to protect you from all the evils of this world,a hand which I held as I took my first step is no more...my dad is no more. It still feels unbelievable and sitting this far from home I still feel that I will reach home and open the gate and I'll surely be able to see him resting on his arm chair reading his newspaper. As I prepare to leave to that home all I wish is I could close my eyes and this is all just another bad dream and I will wake up and everything will be allright again. He really can't be gone. Please dad ,I'm really not ready to say a goodbye ......tell mom I'm on my way home...

Toddler unleashed

Tips to drive mom up the wall

1. Refuse to eat my food and throw them on the floor. Then after mum puts me down from the high chair go around and lick it off the floor

2. Turn the tv on and off, turn on the volume up and down then repeat until she loses her cool

3. While she is making food, snoop around trying to knock down things off the table or find a way to sneak into the pantry and empty the containers.

4. Go to the room remove clothes from the hamper one by one and spread them all on the floor and fiddle with the diaper drawer and pull all of them out and try wearing them.

5. Go turn the dishwasher on just when she has told you not to,run out of the kitchen and when she turns her attention somewhere else for a second ,sneak in and repeat again.

6. Take out all the official filed papers she absent mindedly kept on the table throw them on the floor and show my artistic talent on some of them or tap dance on them

7. Turn the AC on and off, try to put the cheerios into those slots then turn them on and off again

8. Try pulling the wires off the socket and if mum has put some socket safety covers remove them and call her and show her your handiwork

9. Climb on the chair and reach out to dad's cd collection and then throw them on the floor and take out your dress and put them on all at once just over the neck and walk around. If you find some underclothes perch them up like a garland or a hat and march into the hall with head held high.

10. Take half eaten strawberry and smear it on the carpet and then eat them again

11. Sneak up on the kitchen drawers and take out all cutlery and after playing with them dump them in the waste basket provided or else go and take them for a swim in their very own private pool when the access is available at the grand la toilette.

12. Pick up mom's mobile from her bag and press redial and carry on a baby talk with her collegue/friend/grumpy boss or simply put it down and squeal.

13. While she is doing work,go around her and try to climb on her leg like a spiderman and when she finally gets fed up with all the tugging and pulling and lifts you up hold her and swing around like Tarzan.

14. Sneak up on her coffeecup and get hold of it and take a sip say "Bah" and proceed to spill the remaining on the floor and clap your hands.

15. And just as she is seen going all red and about to blow her top off , run to her and kiss her up on any part you can get hold of and make a puppy face.

Pst pst..for a full blown spectacular effect try this all when she is just back from work and bone tired as well as hungry and watch her hit the ceiling. Always arm yourself with hugs and kisses and look adorable so when things get out of hand you can soften her up.

For the love of OJ

One fine summer day when the girl was enjoying her much needed summer vacation,watching her favorite episode of FRIENDS on the telly (sipping OJ )the door bell rang. Not wanting to miss the dialogue between Ross and Rachel as they fought over the tiny t shirt after the breakup she hollered "Mom,could you please answer for me"

"Why?Is there some superglue gluing your butt to that sofa?Get up and answer it yourself" came back a voice from the kitchen

Muttering to herself that she would never vote for the lady in the kitchen as the mother of the year the girl got up and opened the door. There stood "Funny man" her best friend along with a tall,lanky good looking guy whom the Funny man introduced as his high school friend. They just had a flat tire and needed to borrow the girl's bike in order to drop the tall lanky guy to a job interview.

Just as she was about to drop in the keys into the hands of the Funny man and get back to Rachel or Ross the mom came in from the kitchen and pleased to see she had visitors. Having been feeding a batch of unappreciative ingrates at home she always appreciated some compliments which Funny man always showered sincerely. "Is something cooking Auntie?smells sooo goood" Funny man said with his nose up in the air. Mom pleased as a punch welcomed them both right in to taste her new batch of samosas. "But mom,they need to go don't they?they have a job interview" the girl started hoping her lazy afternoon plan would not get foiled.

"Come on,how much time does it take to eat samosas? It's even good for jumpy nerves" Funny man declared ushering in the reluctant friend of his too inside.

Funny man was a chatterbox,he could never sit even for few seconds without uttering a word and you would know from a distance that he is in the room just by hearing his loud voice crackling with laughter. Whereas this other guy was rather silent,kept to himself,hardly participated much in the conversation except when it turned to some geeky topic like the latest laptop or some gadget. There the girl thought she had him all figured out,this was one of those nerdy guys. Perhaps a guy who was always studious,topped his class,and kept to himself with no girlfriends or perhaps he was just being a big fat snob. He is so not my type she decided wondering how is it that Funny man and Mr. Nerdy guy were thickest of friends ,they seemed really poles apart(It was only a matter of time before she discovered how wrong she was about him)

When mom asked if the Mr. Nerdy guy would like some coffee or tea he replied "hmm..I don't drink coffee or tea ,can I have some OJ perhaps".

" Surprise,surprise. Your friend can talk. You know if I was the person interviewing your friend I would most surely never hire him. "the girl whispered to the Funny man. "You just don't know him, he has a sharp tongue to match his sharp brains" he retorted. The girl rolled her eyes and sat back watching Mr. Nerdy who kept looking at his watch all the time. Snob,rude and obnoxious yes that's what he is and he doesn't even drink Coffee,can he get any more boring? thought the girl

While mum went in to make coffee for Funny man ordering the girl to pour in some OJ for the friend. Why couldn't he drink coffee like normal people she thought as she opened the fridge door to fetch the carton only to find that it was empty. Before she could use that as a alibi mum came in and pointed to some fresh oranges which were lying inside the fridge and asked the girl to make some fresh juice using them. "Perfect" thought the girl "Not only I miss the show,I even get to make fresh juice for a perfectly unfriendly rude stranger. Could the day get any better?"

She inadvertently took out all her frustration on the oranges and squeezed them well into the bowl. After 5 minutes the juice was ready and she filled it up in a tall glass and handed it to Mr. Nerdy.

He tasted the juice and somehow the girl noticed his face grew a bit paler. She wondered whether the juice had enough sugar and tried to recall whether she mistook salt for sugar by any chance which was quite a possibility given the girl's scanty ventures into the kitchen. Wouldn't that be fun if she did she thought wickedly for a moment. Then she put out her most bright smile and asked " Is something wrong?did I forget to add in sugar?"

First time since he came Mr. Nerdy seemed to relax and gave a smile and asked " Is this the first time you made this?"

The nerve of the guy she thought and said "Yes,first time for anyone other than myself. Is it bad?"

The smile didn't falter and he said "No,it's perfect" and drank the whole juice without asking anything. The girl wondered why couldn't he smile more often than being grumpy when he had such a nice smile.

After that he and Funnyman got up to leave and to the girl's surprise Mr. Nerdy winked at the girl and with an amused look said " Good OJ,maybe next time I'm in town I can drop by for another glass!Thanks" . "Whoa!I ought to start marketing my juice as a cure for all grumpiness. Where did that come from?surely I didn't switch his juice with dad's beer in the fridge" she thought watching them both ride away on her bike. As she made her way inside home still thinking about Mr. Nerdy she was confronted by the mom.

"WHAT? " her mom said shaking her head in disbelief holding the glass of juice the girl made onto her face "You really gave this to that poor boy?did you even taste it before giving it ?I bet you literally squeezed out all the juice from oranges including the skin isn't it?silly girl!come here and taste this" the girl tasted it and almost fell off her chair,the OJ tasted horrible,even bitter than a bitter gourd juice. "Ewww..but he said it was really nice and he drank the whole glass!!" she said

"Maybe because he was too nice to say that it was bad to your face. Poor guy,you sent him to his interview after giving him THIS" Mom kept muttering making the girl feel guilty as hell. "Why didn't he say anything?" the girl continued to wonder. Either he was too nice or had weird taste buds or he was simply nutty as a fruitcake Hmph!

No prizes for guessing what happened later. After a long courtship that followed the girl is now married to the guy who willingly drank the bitter OJ she served him that fateful day,he still continues to compliment all her worst dishes but adds in the phrase "Like your first OJ Fuzzy" to soften the blow!

Beauty tips-toddler style

Stressed about achieving that perfect look?why fret when you can get all the help you need right here in the toddlerville?You can learn....

1. How to really achieve a spectacular end result using just a lipstick with all the right strokes and right application a la Ina style

Rockstar?model? movie star you name it and she can help

2. Why yogurt is still the best proven conditioner for healthy hair?it's yummy as well as good for the tummy. What's more it can also be used as a face mask ,go ahead get a yogurt manicure and pedicure too. Nothing beats a good yogurt massage. You even get to choose the flavors!!!

Watch this space for further helpful beauty tips a la Ina style.

The marathon read of HP

Fuzzy's home on saturday July 21st:

8 a.m- Fuzzy is all up and excited. This is the day and sometime soon today HP 7 is going to arrive!!what a bright day and what an exciting day of reading.

PC man- "Hey Fuzz,wanna know the spoilers in the paper??? Let me read it to you.. Harrry....."

Fuzzy- *Lunging at him like a convict from Azkaban with a look that could kill* "Don't you dare"

PC man- *egging his maniacal potterite wife to murderous despair*" Hey it seems like Snape...."*stopping tantalizingly at that word and winking at the wife*

Fuzzy- "That's it. Run and save yourself if you can and I will not be sorry for murdering you" *chases him around the house with the rolled newspaper*

PC man decides to keep quiet and not provoke the potter possessed wife.

9 a.m- Ina up and demanding breakfast. Fuzzy muttering under her breath wishing she had an house elf to do her bidding starts preparing breakfast.

PC man- "Hey Ina, want to know the ending of the HP 7??come here and let me tell you.... it seems that Harry potter is going to......"*purposefully raising his voice so the mad wife can hear*

Fuzzy- *runs out of the kitchen thinking how good it would be to use Imperius curse on them* "You tell the ending and I'm going to be mailing that embarassing pic of you as a child to all your collegues. Would you like that? "

PC man- "Ok ,Ok ceasefire!let's call it even. No spoilers,and no forwarding that awful pic"

11 am- The door bell rings and Fuzzy's most favorite person of the day aka the delivery man arrives and hands over the package of HP 7 to an ecstatic looking Fuzzy.

PC man- "Oh,so it arrived. Go to the last chapter and the last line. We will know how it ends! and then we can go out for shopping"

Fuzzy- *Looking at him incredulously* "Why would I do that?I have to read it from the beginning to the end. What's the thrill if you go straight to the ending?"

PC man- "From end to end?did you see the size of that book?this is surely going to take days. No one can finish this in one day"

Fuzzy- * clutching the book in her hands like some precious treasure* "Not all muggles are fortunate to enjoy the magical world. Now could you both be kind enough not to disturb me and let me read my book in peace?pleassseeee...."

PC man- *not looking too happy about the situation*"I take that I have to make the lunch and dinner today?"

Fuzzy- "I think it's pretty obvious ,isn't it? "*runs into the room*

10.30 am- Just when Fuzzy is marvelling at the order's plan to transfer Harry and mourning over the death of one heroic character a sweet little voice "Mommy...mamaaaa"followed by gentle knocking of the door by small hands. Open the door and there's Ina wanting to come to mommy for a cuddle. Not that heartless to resist that sweet little face Mommy gives in. Harry is left in hanging for a while till Ina goes for her nap. Big sigh!!!

11.15 am: Whoa!Ina asleep. Fuzzy gets back to Harry with a cup of steaming hot coffee in her hand. A marriage and then Harry and the gang's on the run!it's getting exciting. Then the phone rings......

PC man- "Hey Fuzzy,it's for you"

Fuzzy-*Muttering to herself why Graham bell invented the nasty machine* "Hello,who's this?"

Oh,it's you M (Fuzzy's bro)......

Nopes,not possible to chat today.......

Urgent work......Nopes not that work...

Yes,it's the HP ,will call tom.bye"

PC man- *amazed at such a short conversation* "He knew didn't he?How come I wasn't warned about this before wedding?" *grinning from ear to ear* "By the way can I just read the ending and give??"

Fuzzy- "No way ,now leave me alone!!!"

1230 am: PC man at the door -"Fuzzy, Ina is refusing to eat her lunch"

Fuzzy- *letting out a low groan*" Feed her anything that she likes. No mommy restrictions today"

PC man- "Nopes,nothings working. She wants to be fed only by you"

Fuzzy- "I'm so convinced I'm living with Voldemort's followers. I'm coming...."

The lunch session commences followed by Ina wanting to play and then sing,then some more play and then some more songs, another play....

Fuzzy meanwhile excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Runs to the bathroom with the book.

Safe heaven at last.

Knock after half an hour. "What's taking you so long?are you allright? "*realization dawns on the PC man* "you are there with the book aren't you?"

Fuzzy comes out gives a scowl and goes back to the room. No point anymore in locking the door.

Harry still on the run....the story is beginning to slack a bit....

230 pm. Scene: Fuzzy on the bed with the book. Ina jumping up and down the bed,trying to poke mommy and rouse her from her state of inertia in vain. Picking at the book,throwing down the toys, meddling with mommy's hair, paying no heed to mommy's "Go and play with daddy Ina" pleas. Not at all the ideal situation poor Fuzzy imagined,gone are those days when there used to be just me and you Harry,she reminisces sadly.

315 p.m. Ina went down for another nap. Hallelluja sang Fuzzy. They are off to Godric's hollow,straight into the hands of Voldemort,bring on the fight!!

500 PM- PC man wanders into the room with a long face- "Hmm.. you know we ought to get out for sometime. It's a beautiful day out there and wasting this is criminal"

Fuzzy vigorously nods a no without looking up from the book . Here is Harry about to find the sword of Griffindor and people want me to put the book down and go for a walk????who cares about walks? As if in cohorts with her dad Ina wakes up and now after a snack they both want to go for the damn walk!So walk it is...just when Harry is losing faith in Dumbeldore it's walk time!!Fuzzy tries to slip in the book into the stroller just so she can catch up during the walk but PC man mercilessly shoves it onto the table saying he didn't want her toppling over the stroller and breaking her nose doing the acrobatic act.

600 pm- We walked,appreciated every little flower,clapped at every little bird and baby talked with every little squirrel. In her mind Fuzzy is on the hunt for horcruxes and no, surely there weren't any at the playground.

700 pm- Discovered we actually had ran out of milk and bread,get out the car and go for some necessary supermarket shopping. Yawn! Will Ron be back? Maybe after we get back the groceries. Read even in the car much to PC man's annoyance.

830 pm- Dinner -done,Ina-in her crib fast asleep,dishes- will have to wait

bed- undone ,laundry- in the waiting list

Fuzzy back again with the book. PC man having given up long back in front of the tv. Please redeem Snape....Ron's back yay!!!

1030- Still buried in the book. PC man yawns - Fuzzy,are you not sleepy?

Fuzzy asks him to go sleep. She is deep into the deathly hallows. Voldey's more evil than ever...

130 am- Fuzzy half falling over the book. She tries to pry her eyes open and concentrate. I must not give up....she chants and continues. Harry and company continue to gripe and it's kind of getting boring....sometime in between without realizing it Fuzzy dozes off.

......................to be continued......................

A message from Ina's Burrow

I know how you all might be wondering where my mom Fuzzy has been absconding these days ditching you blogger pals. While she is not collapsing onto the sofa exhausted in her search for a perfect sitter for me and chasing me around the house she is usually lost in that world of Potter guy. What's up with that?isn't it supposed to be for kids?She even yaps with that other aunty on the phone about this strange kid,sometimes I wonder whether both of them are undergoing some age regression of sorts. They were discussing some things so strange and about people whom I'm not sure I ever met . There was mention of some Snape guy and whether he is actually a baddie or whether some blokes named Ron and Hermione were going to die (probably these blokes are pretty ill with some terminal illness) or whether even the Potter guy is going to die with Voldermort (I will surely be pleased to see that shh..don't tell my mom). This Potter guy seems like some Mafia lord of sorts what being surrounded by villains all the time. She has even begun to speak a different language. The other day she told me "Accio" to come, opened the door saying "Alohomara" to dad and when me and dad were chasing each other running around and accidently knocked her favorite vase she wanted to use something sounding like "Petrificus totalus and Expelliarmos"glaring at us both not looking too happy. She told dad the other day that he has a few owls and somehow Dad seemed to understand that language and went to check his emails! He says she is going to be this way for a few more days but I'm seriously worried about her. Dad also happened to mention casually yesterday how much money the Rowling lady made with writing this Potter guy's story. I was aghast!this lady must be a pretty good story teller,there's no way my mom's stories could fetch such huge amounts of money. Poor lady has quite an imagination but stories are pretty insipid and lack the punch. Anyway I really don't get the hype and right now am mighty upset with this Potter kid who seems to have mesmerized her so much that she forgets about me also at times. Can you believe that?

Me and my dad have been relegated to the status of living decorative pieces of art at home. My dad however thankfully is not into the clutches of this Potter guy. He is much more saner and he is more a television guy and not that much into books (Thank god for that,imagine if I were to have both my parents in the spell of this Potter guy. I might have had to kill him) He even got me to watch the "Mythbusters" and "American choppers" with him the other day trying to explain to me all the cool things people do with bikes and stuff. With a bowl of chips and some hearty conversations we had a great bonding time. My drool covering his shirt, him with his remote in his hand flipping numerous channels, with the pieces of chips being crushed and thrown onto the sofa and the floor, clinking of glass of beer and sippy cups of juice yes we had a major father daughter moment much to the chagrin of my Potter possessed mama. We also decided to do this more often as it looks like it might take a few days more for mom to get back to her normal saner self. I hope we don't have to exorcise her in order to get rid of the Potter possession.

TGIF!!!

There are times when I wish I could clone myself and get all the things done on time.This week has been insanely busy. Everything in the universe seems to be conspiring to make me a slacking blogger. Hopefully I ought to get back to my regular blogging self sometime next week. I won't be making you take a dip in my current cup of woes.Oh well,you guys are here anyway ,might as well take a sneak peak into the cup while you are here :)

It's been crazy at work as well as home added to which the lady M ,the lovely caring caregiver of Ina decided to get remarried and move to States (Why,oh why?) Part of me was happy for her but the other part (probably 70% and the self centered selfish side) was aghast at her decision of leaving me with no caregiver for Ina all of a sudden. It's so hard to find someone whom you can trust and leave your child with and this lady M was the best I had found. She was god sent as Ina took to her very well and M was a natural with kids. Now I hate to begin the whole painful process again. Though this time around we are considering daycare rather than homecare the search has not yet yielded any results. So pray for me that we do find a good one which we can be happy about or for lady M to drop the idea of States and convince her new husband-to-be to move back here( which sounded much less meaner than wishing she would drop her new HTB itself). *the angel floats over Fuzzy's head screaming "Bad,Bad Fuzzy" *

Anyway on a more cheerful front it's the Harry Potter month!! And I can't wait for the 21th for the last book to come out(ofcourse I have pre ordered it).Yes,I'm one of "Those" who religiously await and go into hibernation of sorts when the books comes out,severing all contact with outer world until I finish the book. Though the last book left me heartbroken with the death of a beloved character I'm now ready to read the final chapter of the finest series of fantasy written in the recent times and say goodbye. I'm off this weekend to catch on the movie even though I feel no movie can do justice to the original books.

Here's to a great weekend!have a good one!

What's under your bed?

Yin- " Did you see my charms gold bracelet anywhere?" (Searching hurriedly inside the jewelbox)

Yang- "Nopes,I didn't. Did you check in the drawers?" (Never peeling his eyes off the computer)

Yin- "It's not even there. Now I'm not finding even that cute little chain which your sister gave Ina last year" (rummaging through the drawers)

Yang- " You ought to be more careful with these things you know. Did you check near the bedside table and under the cot?" (Hoping he doesn't have to get off his chair)

Yin-(Squeezing herself under the cot with a torch) Nopes ,nothing here. But I did find something......

Yang- What's that?some monster under the bed?Bwahaha!!scared huh?

Yin- Nopes,seeing this I'm pretty sure even the monsters will run away and even spread word among the whole monster community never to step inside this home again

(Holds out an old boxer shorts in her hand all covered with dust) Eww...How did it find its way here?

Yang-(Springs from his chair to hold the boxer shorts) Wow,my favorite shorts. I almost thought I had lost it. Thank god you found it .Keep looking. Maybe you might find some other useful things too.

Yin-Gee,that's so helpful of you. What's this?another shorts?here,some socks...each one of a different color.Wait a minute...is this what I think it is?It's that library book you said you lost. And here's that old letter opener you were thinking I misplaced. Some ziploc bags, nail clipper and baby's nasal aspirator. WTH?Since when did my bed get converted into this dirty junk dungeon of sorts?

Yang- Oh my orphaned socks!If I had found them last week I wouldn't had to buy those new ones this weekend. (Now squatting near his wife and cheering for her to hunt for lost treasures)Wow,we found the library book. But no use,we already paid for it along with the fine. I missed this fine letter opener too. Maybe we have some ghost in this house which keeps making things disappear and this is his secret stash we stumbled on.

Yin- Yes a ghost which also loves boxer shorts and borrows books from the library and forgets to return them. Let's see what else is there here (wiggling herself a little more) A discarded baby mitten,pieces of lego and some cheerios. So there is also a mini ghost along with the bigger one too. Both seem to have made this a personal safety vault of sorts!

Yang- I used to hide all my secret stash under my bed too so my parents would never find it out. Now it looks like my daughter has taken after me ,she too prefers the same places. By the way honey,please look if you can find that old favorite watch of mine too there.

Yin- I might have to start demanding commission for the finds. But nopes,no watch.Maybe the ghost doesn't prefer watches which are not Rolex. But we need to clean this place before it gets more cluttered.

Yang- I think we ought not to clean it often so we might find missing things this way when we do it once in a while!

Yin- What a brilliant idea!Next what?I will be finding some mouldy pizza and some soiled diapers?No thanks!

(Draws herself up from having ventured into the dark underworld of cot)I still didn't find my bracelet or that chain. Where could it be?

Yang- Hmm..there's only one place we haven't looked yet. The trash bin.

Yin- The trash bin?Hmm..now why would you think it might be in the trash bin?

Yang- I did see Ina happily pulling things out of the drawer once and putting it inside the bin (admitting sheepishly) I didn't want to be disturbed and hence I also let her enjoy doing what she was doing. It was kind of a mutual beneficiary agreement you see.

Yin- And you made me get under the bed before suggesting to look in the trash can,eh?(Frantically searching the trash bin) OMG! yes here it is. My charms bracelet as well as my gold chain. Holly Molly!there's even that missing ruby ring which we thought we lost in India and my Diore Lipstick. That's decided then. Now we also scan the trash bins thoroughly before we take the trash out.

Yang- Eww.. What about the kitchen and the bathroom bins?

Yin- Everything. And people whose things I find under the cot will be the ones doing it.

Yang- Oh comeon....

Yin- Unless you want to wake up one day and find your brand new Blackberry missing and finding out that it's gone with the trash. Make your choice! Now let me go find the little casper of the house who keeps poking her little finger everywhere these days.

Experienced eh?

You never realize how far along you have come until you encounter the haggard, sleep deprived ,bleary eyed brand new parents. My close friend V and A became proud parents of a healthy baby boy few days back. And what a handsome little boy he is . As the new parents proudly smiled when he sprayed them with his pee the first time I almost laughed . We know soon it would be replaced by "WTH,now I have to change his as well as my clothes the 5th time" (Evil grin)

I think new born babies are made so incredibly cute and cast a spell making people go ahead and get themselves also some of those cuddly ones!It's almost like your memory fails you that the toddler running around the room creating a rukus was the exact same little sweet bundle of joy not so long ago(which also used to transform itself into a wailing screaming little monster periodically as gently reminded by hubby dearest to break that spell he sensed I was under)

The initial few weeks as a new parent I think is pretty charming. The first real poop of the baby gets greeted with "Hey honey,look we have a Real poop,no longer the black sticky thingy" with enthusiasm that can put a cheer leader to shame.Trust me as all parents know this is the only moment where you can perhaps see a grown man and woman being this enthusiastic about the bowel function of another human being. The baby cries and you fumble,get distressed and first question always is "oh god!did I do something wrong?" not the logical " Ok,let's try to figure it out without waking up whole neighborhood"which comes much later. And if the baby gets colic the piercing screams can reverberate through the sleep deprived brain and logical thinking can vanish into thin air. As the reconditioning period begins and mind gets into the suspended parenting mode time swings by and one fine day you become one of those " Experienced" parent who gets approached by another brand new parent for advice and you start laughing "Who, me?Cool,you really consider me as someone who can help you?are you kidding?(expectant faces look at you)Oh!you are not kidding!!Gosh,has it really been that long already" Yep then you realize your baby now is a toddler and yes time did pass so quickly!

Dispensing advice is something people love to do and I think I'm no exception and especially when people are looking up to you to utter some profound expert comments(Ahem,I had to contribute something,comeon I'm now an "Experienced" parent who has been there and done that kind . Some sort of a "Guru"(And please ignore the snickering hubby of mine who laughed his head off when I suggested the substitution).Helping people is what we experienced parents do!look at all those people who come visiting you at home and hospitals after delivery and you will know I'm right. And the ones who don't have kids yet,wait till you have one (evil laughter )

New parents also get subjected to a lot of frantic moments. Midnight SOS calls are a must. "Sorry to disturb you Fuzzy, but he just seems to be crying and crying. I think we did something horribly wrong" bringing back nostalgic flashbacks of the time when I almost thought a call to the ER was in order when all she needed was a good burp or the " Fuzzy,there's no way I can give him a bath myself. I will drop him down and then OMG !!I can see him blaming his mom for all the miseries of his life on Dr. Phil some years down the lane" (Yes,I have pretty melodramatic friends!but give the sleep deprived lady a break,wilya). It reminded me of the time when I sat crying thinking I had broken Ina's little neck while giving her a bath when it slipped a little and bobbed for few seconds . Ah,sweet times!!

I had to stop myself from chuckling and assure the new frantic parents that yes their kid was perfectly normal and that they did nothing to hurt him and yes, the little adorable creatures do cry for no reason at all at times and yes their poops come in all sorts of colors, and there are going to be lots of sneezes,hiccups and spit ups and yes they will not screw up and will make really good parents.

Inspite of having a mom who almost ended up giving her a head injury by dropping her (It was an accident people!Don't call the CAS on me) while lowering her to the carseat, to being a sorry ass mom crying and embarassing her when she got her first shot even more than her,having a a dad who never could distinguish one side of a diaper from another,who grunted disapprovingly at any sight of baby spit or spill to the new dad who now loves sporting his little girl onto his shoulder all the time,becomes a clown just to make her giggle and changes diaper like a pro, from being almost forgotten by her both parents at a mall on a busy shopping day to having to put up with totally amateur feeding and bathing techniques of two people who most of the times had no idea what they were doing,Ina would agree we didn't really mess it up that bad. When we could do it so shall you V & A.

All three of us survived the ride so far!!

Now dear Ina stop using up your charm to get things done and kindly get off the carpet and give me back my lipstick and testing your artistic talents on the walls and start cooperating in using the toilet for its intended purpose and not as a mini swimming pool for your toys. Can we work on that?

An absorbing argument

Conversation during the Paris transit :

Mom- What?just 2 diapers? are you kidding me?

Dad- (Rummaging through the diaper bag) Hmm.. Hmm.. Yes that's right,just 2 of them left

Mom- (Fuming) I should never have allowed you to pack the diaper bag

Dad- (now getting a little annoyed )Well, I would have given it a second look if we didn't have to pack soo many of those "Essential" stuff you gave me at the last minute to pack in our already oversized baggage. Maybe you could have taken over the part of packing the diaper bag atleast.

Mom- (defending herself) I could have if your kid had not been screaming down for milk at the last minute and you breathing down my neck about why there was this much luggage and whether I needed this much clothes or shoes for one month.

Dad- Look,maybe we will find some shop here which has diapers

Mom- I already went around and there is no shop here inside the airport which has diapers . People have clearly overlooked the need for a baby supply store inside the airport. They did have a mighty fine perfume store and a lovely boutique down there though (reminiscing)I even thought of buying some perfume just incase we need to keep away unpleasant odors. Maybe something like Chanel Mademoiselle.

Dad- Oh !so you thought Chanel Mademoiselle would be the one for keeping away unpleasant odors for such emergency situations did you?That was a pretty costly solution you seem to have hit upon for the problem (Stiffling a laughter ) Maybe we should look at some other cheaper solutions right now. We might find some other couples with kids on board,maybe we can borrow from them

Mom- WHAT? that would be so embarassing "Gee,we seem to have ran out of diapers for our kid and in order to prevent any assault on the olfactory senses of the rest of the co passengers on board would you mind sparing some of your kid's diapers?"perfect!we did overlook one thing though what if we end up being the only ones with kid on board ?

Dad-See if only you had looked into this a little earlier we could have asked the other friendly couple with that screaming kid for some diapers before they caught their connecting flight.

Mom- Maybe if I had an inkling we would be facing literally a voluminious crisis ahead I would have!I need to change her diaper now so that leaves only 1 more diaper for entire 10 hour flight,what if she soils one which is pretty likely she will and then what do we do? (Panic quickly settling in)

Dad- Don't they have emergency diapers in hand inside the aircraft?

Mom- Gee,I have so much experience travelling with babies lately that too without spare diapers in hand. How am I supposed to know?I doubt though that they would have diapers of all sizes and shapes just to hand out to foolish parents who forget to pack enough diapers forehand!

Dad- You know parents did take care of infants without using diapers before they even invented them. Maybe when she makes those funny faces we can just take her and perch her onto the aircraft toilet .You know like following parental instincts aka maternal instincts.

Mom-Aha!First of all it won't be WE it will probably be YOUR paternal instincts guiding you since this brilliant idea is your brain child and yes why don't we transfer her to your lap during the entire travel so you can have plenty of time to reflect on this diaperless natural rearing thing you seem to be so confident about.

Dad- (sensing his crisis interventions boomeranging towards him and reacting in alarm before it's too late) I was just trying to find a solution honey. There's always those extra tissues we have in hand to make use of in dire circumstances can't we? I think they can last for some time if we can layer them all together. And also look at the bright side now,what's travel without some adventure?Now we know that we have to double check on diapers when we travel isn't it?

Mom- I still insist you father daughter should travel together and smell the sweet sense of adventures instead of saddling me alone with it.

Dad- We are so going to start toilet training her soon the minute we are back from this trip. By the way here's the deal keep the kid on your lap and I get your perfume" Chanel coco mademoiselle" when we reach Toronto.

Mom- No thanks! I will leave it all to your honed natural paternal instincts as you so suggested. By the way I think we are the only people travelling with a kid so there goes the idea of asking other travelling co parents for any kind of diaper help. Wee wee..this is going to be so much fun that I can cry!

Needless to say the little one perhaps decided to go easy on both the parents by postponing her solid discharges until we reached home and managing with just 2 diapers much to the relief of her clumsy parents. As for the parents as of now they are just happy to have made it without accidents. And Chanel Mademoiselle did make a mysterious appearance this weekend,maybe it was the natural husband instincts which were at work!

For all you blogger pals from US -Happy Fourth of July!!

Here we are back again!

Saying goodbyes to loved ones are never easy. And no matter how many times you do that it still never seems that way each time ,infact I think it gets all the more harder. Anyway we did finally say goodbye to India and packed our bags and caught the flight back home with misty eyes never really wanting to leave just yet. Vacations with loved ones always never seem enough. They also have a way of notoriously making us feel lazy. Re entry into the normal routine life where you are forced to get off your butt and fend for yourself does give anyone a serious dose of post vacation blues. Your early mornings now are a complete chaos. Vacation has implanted the lazy bone into my body which just refuses to function back into the speed zone as before.You no longer wake up lazily to the smell of hot delicious breakfast and tender voice of mom but to a screaming toddler who now demands her share of hot breakfast from her mom aka me. You sit bleary eyed and stare at the clock which now represents everything evil in the ordinary world and force your butt to get off the bed. The phone calls that used to be from all friends and relatives enquiring you and always inviting you over now consists of calls from your boss and collegues who want to know whether we are over the jetlag and ready to get back to the grind. The laundry is all piled up and the house needs a facelift and you find yourself wistfully wishing for that sweet kind maid who took things off your hands back home. It's not going to be easy easing in back to the routine when I'm having this serious case of post vacation blues:( But hey,it still feels good to be back here.

I have all your blogs to catch up on too I know. Maybe they will help me pull myself out of this vacation blues. We are finally back:)