ThunderStorm and Aryan

Yesterday night Aryan experienced his first Thunderstorm. When I say experienced , that does not mean that we were out under the sky. Thankfully we got in just 5 minutes before it started. Soon after , we could hear the noise of wind and falling leaves. Then of unbolted doors and tin sheets from the neighbourhood.

Initially Aryan did not pay any attention. Soon the sound of rain made the whole sound effect more horrifying.Aryan was having a confused look and was little distracted at times but then when I told him , all is well, he got little relieved.

It was not long when power went off. Now Aryan got too clingy to Mumma. The emergency light was switched on , but since this was the first power sutdown for the year , he was not able to understand the logic. He insisted on switching on the fan. When we told him that its not possible he insisted on for the TV to watch his rhymes.

I did not expect the cook and so was worried about cooking the dinner too, but Aryan decided not to go to his papa too. So Anupam made Maggi for instant relief and we decided that we would think about dinner later. When the storm settled we got out and inquired with the security , only to know that there will not be any power whole night. A tree has fallen and taken a poll along. Anupam decided to walkdown to a near by restaurant to fetch some dinner.

Aryan remained clingy to my shoulder /lap till the time he slept. Thankfully he slept peacefully in the mosquito net for the rest of the night.

Electricity did come later in night , only 1 phase though. Today morning also Aryan was not comfortable with the darkness and I finished the work somehow.We read the paper to know that a lot of trees fell down and took so many electricity polls along. One tree fell on some's Honda Civic and the car got crushed. I was wondering what would have the owner went through. I mean a new car and that too Honda Civic :(

I hope we will have electricity by the evening.

Note : Photo from Times of India

Awarded : I am NICE

MummyJaan bestowed me with this lovely award. She also digged down to the reason for the award and the creator of the award said so :

"This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

I am flattered. I never thought someone thought that I have a positive influence in out blogging world :-P or for that matter, any influence all together.

Thank you MummyJaan for calling me a good blogging friend and a nice person too, I wish everyone around me think the same :-)

I am also obliged with the privelege to acknowledge some of the other blogger , who I feel are NICE ...ohh there are so many ..

But I would pass this on to Tharini, Usha, Gauri and ~nm. Reasons , well I think everyone who reads me know the reason. They are NICE THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE !!!!!!

Confused Identites

I knew it for long that people have been confusing me with two different bloggers , but today I realized that this confusion has been huge. It all started when I went into hibernation due to some personal reasons and while I was away , there cam two different active bloggers namely "Aryan's Mom" (who writes on her son Aryan's behalf) and "Swati". Phew..what more to ask for.

Both the Aryan's are of same age too. When the other Swati commented on my blog , people thought I have been commenting on my post :-P I considered changing my name from Swati to something else , but then that would have led to further confusions.

So recently when the Doula Gang (as in few mommy bloggers around) arranged for a online baby shower for the MTB's(Mothers to be) and when Sue got confused with me being "Aryan's Mom" , I realized that its not only she , but a lot of them from Tharini to Gauri.

So all the (CONFUSED) ladies out there , here I solve another riddle for you.
And yes , here is the blog (Times of Aryan) for my son Aryan.

Latest IPL Humour

You would love this one !

Women will never be as successful as men because they have no wives to advise them.
-- Dick Van Dyke

Now ..Lets Count 5

~nm tagged me of 5 things I do when I get back home. I am sure my list would be different from every one else's. Here it goes.

1. Open the door and dump the belongings inside.

2. Stand in the common area of the apartment at a fixed point decided by Aryan (Anupam does the same and we have fixed stations) and see him running around the hall and smile at him when he sees you.

3. Run inside to fetch a glass of water , when Aryan is too busy running.

4. Convince Aryan to get inside the house, after 5 minutes or so.

5. Give him milk and then hunt something to munch.

Now I tag , JLT ,Rayshama & anyone and everyone who would love to take it up!

I am NOT Impatient

I get impatient when :

-> I am too sleepy to be awake.

-> I have to read too long posts from my favourite bloggers (I don't want to skip and I don't want to read :P)

-> Someone lies on the face. I cannot tolerate that.

-> Auto rickshaw meters are faster than their speed.

-> Aryan gets unreasonable.

-> When one person (G) in office , opens his mouth. He is too irritating to tolerate.

-> When people show off.

-> When TV is too loud.

-> When I read/hear about injustice and find myself incapable.

-> When I am talking and Anupam does not reply.

See, its just 10 and I thought I am impatient. I am sure you can count a lot more than I can ...right ?

More About Me

Maggie (aka Moppets Mom) & WIAN tagged me on this general questionnaire tag.

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
Rang de Basanti (Before Aryan was born)

What Book Are You Reading:
None

Favorite Board Game:
Snakes & Ladder

Favorite Magazine:
None

Favorite Smells:
Smell of fresh flowers.

Favorite Sound:
Aryan’s laugh

Worst Feeling In The World:
Being alone

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?
Ohh..what a good /bad night it was OR What to make for breakfast

Favorite Fast Food Place:
Chat Bajaar in Meerut

Future Child's Name:
Ananya may be ..if that’s a girl ..for boy ..I don’t know

Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”
Buy a house!

Do You Drive Fast?
Yes don’t ask what …Bicycle ..hehheh

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
Nopes

Storms-Cool Or Scary?
None

What Was Your First Car?
Hyundai Gez

Favorite Drink:
Jal Jeera

Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....”
..Sleep
..go for a dayout/vacation with Aryan and Anupam , close to the nature

Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?
No , coz I don’t eat Broccoli

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?
Black /Dark Brown

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In.
Meerut, Bulandshahr, Delhi, Bangalore, Noida

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Cricket

One Nice Thing About The Person(s) Who Sent This To You:
Maggie has a great sense of humour.
WIAN is very straight forward and simple.

What's Under Your Bed?
A Drawer :P

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
No

Morning Person Or Night Owl?
Neither :P

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Sunny side up!

Favorite Place To Relax:
My Bed

Favorite Pie:
Anything is good

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Butterscotch

You pass this tag to -
Bird's Eye View , Pixie, Nanhi Pari

Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
Pixie ofCourse

Lets Count 8

Pixie asked me to count till 8 long back..late homework ..sorry about that.

8 Things I am passionate about

-> My family
-> My Friends
-> My Blogs
-> Keychains
-> Flowers
-> Bangles
-> My Grand Parent's House
-> Dilli Haat

8 Things I want to do before I die

-> Travel around the world
-> Donate my eyes
-> See Aryan grown up as a responsible person
-> Do something for orphans (not decided what and how)
-> Decorate my own house
-> Look slim
-> Learn to dance ..atleast a little
-> Learn to swim

8 Things I say often
-> Right
-> Aryan
-> Anupam
-> Acha
-> Kyo
-> Khane mein kya khana hai ?
-> Mujhe neend aayi hai.
-> Very Good

8 Books I've read and I remember
-> Many Lives Many Masters
-> The Alchemist
-> Some Robin Cook books like Coma and Mutation
-> Five Point Someone
-> One Night at call center
-> Choker Bali
-> Ignited Minds
-> Some Agatha Christie books like And Then There Were None


8 songs I could listen to over and over
-> Woh Kagaj ki Kashti - Jagjit Singh
-> Kahin door jab din dhal jaye - Movie Anand
-> Hume Tumse Pyar kitna - Kishor Kumar
-> Chura Liya hai - Asha Bhosle
-> Pal Pal dil ke paas
-> Meri Bindia - Movie Abhimaan
-> Dil hai ke manta nahi

8 Things that attract me to my best friends
-> Smile
-> Honesty
-> Simplicity
-> Truthfulness
-> Straightforwardness
-> Ease of talking/chatting
-> Their dressing sense
-> Eyes

I am sure I cannot tag 8 people ..since this is a pretty old tag ...so I tag first 8 commenters (if there are) who have not done this :)

BORED !

I was BORED yesterday. Told this to a friend and she thought I am Vella , as in without any work. But NO , I had work.Search for the word "Bored" on google and you will get 76,000,000 links, from bored.com to i-am-bored.com.And they tell you fun things to do when you are bored for lack of work.

But what when you have work to do, people to chat, blogs to read and recipes to make and yet you feel bored ??? I was BORED of the other type ...yeah the other type ..when you have so much to do but yet you don't want to do anything. You feel as if the switch is OFF. You get what I mean. People usually don't. They tell me interesting things to do. But all I can do at that stage is to SLEEP OR EAT. Yeah , I eat when I am bored ...now you know the secret of my good health ..hehehehehe.

Funny is that I am never bored without work , coz then I can do so many things , make my long pending calls to old friends , sleep , eat(again), find and try new recipes for us or Aryan (food ..:-P) , blog , find new blogging friends, watch some stupid movie on TV , Listen to music...so much and so how can I be bored without work.

But worst is that my switch gets off when I have so much to catch on. And why does the switch gets off is what I am still to figure out. I know a few reasons , like a fight with husband or cancellation of my weekend plan or cancellation of any long awaited moment or office politics , but sometimes its none of these. Sometimes I am off the mood JUST LIKE THAT , even on weekends. Is this NORMAL :-P or I need to see a Physco ..Solitaire please help!!!!

Editted to Add : THIS BLOG IS MORE THAN AN YEAR OLD ...AND I FORGOT TO WISH IT A HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-P

Piece of Advice

My advice to all the WANT-TO-BE-PARENTS , esp WANT-TO-BE-MOM :

Do a crash course in "Time Management" ,"Anger Management" and "How to be more Patient."

Puzzle : Kya Aap Nursery Pass Hai ?

Which way is the bus below travelling?

To the left or to the right?



Okay ..since you are not being a sport or you are not able to make up your mind..lets unfold the the solution.

Primary school children were shown this picture and asked the same question.

90% of them gave this answer: 'The bus is travelling to the right.'


When asked, 'Why do you think the bus is travelling to the right?'

They answered:

'Because you can't see the door to get on the bus.' !!!



How do you feel now???

:-)

Experimenting with Comfort Zone

Disclaimer : This is again a long(=boring) introspectory post. You can read it at your own discretion. Your views and advice are always welcome.

In 5 years of my career , I have worked in 2 well known and reputed companies.

I never wanted to switch from my previous company inspite of the fact that the culture in the company was not too great and there was too much of politics.I was not even paid too well. The reason I would give to myself was I was a respected employee , who was considered to be bright and was given quality work. I did switch since I had to shift to another city after marriage.

I have been in this company for past 3 years. This again is a BIG Brand. I have no issues with my manager. Life is cool and work is not too hectic. But then , there is hardly any growth. And yes, there is politics , which I understand well , but not good when it comes to applying it to use. But I still do not want to switch.

You may say there is no reason , but I feel that a stagnant career is enough reason for so many people. I know people , who shift jobs every once in an year. I don't believe in shifting jobs too often , but yes you should shift when you think there is a need. And yes, just to clarify , money is not a prime motivator for me for any of my decisions.

Then why I do not want to switch. Because though I like change , I am not always ready to come out of my comfort zone easily. I may readily accept a new challenging task in the same company , under the same manager but when it comes to a job shift , I feel uncomfortable to take the risk.

And this is not only with job. It goes with so many other things.Like my pair of sandals. I have more than half a dozen of footwear. But most of them are as new as they were at the showroom. Why , coz I am very comfortable with my simple flat sandals. I can walk easily with them , run if needed. So all the seven days of week , I wear them when I go out. Even on weekends , when I go in car , coz I fear that I will not be able to walk in my new slippers from parking to the shop or on the stairs :-P (Don't laugh ..I am not sick !!!) So till the sandals decide to abandon me I will stick to them. And this was the case with my previous pair of favourite footwear too.

And my handbag , which decided to abandon me last friday. I was using it for over an year now. For it was quite comfortable. Nice , easy yet safe pockets. When I need to travel in a local bus ,I need a backpocket to keep the change. Now I have not travelled in bus after I came to Bangalore with 1-2 exceptions , but you see I should always be ready for exceptions :-) So now the bag's zip stopped working and the handle is broken , I have no choice but to find another comfortable choice from my collection or from the market. Remember I told you once that I have a bag full of hand bags and I love them.

I dislike changing my shampoo and my mosturiser and even my comb. And I am quite loyal to the brands I use.

Comfort zone , as per Wikepedia, "denotes that limited set of behaviors that a person will engage without becoming anxious." So now that you know that I am quite an old fashioned, boring female, let me tell you that its not that I have never stepped out of my comfort zones. I do and I did when I felt that there is a desperate need.

But why this post today , coz I think its time for change , for a makeover. In so many things, from personal to professional. From footwear to job. From mobile to umbrealla. From IE to Firefox :-P I should change unless it becomes too monotonous. And no , this post is not even 1% inspired by husband or anyone else. Its truly an introspection. I think I should learn to experiment and come out of my comfort zone more often. I should do it for me and myself. As whenever I come out of my shell and do something different , I find myself evolving into a more confident person. I should also do it for Aryan , coz if I am not open to a change , I may mess up Aryan's life. Like Usha said , that we like change when its not too close to home. Aryan is a different generation and I need to open my mind and heart to accept the changes that come with another generation.

What do you have to say ?

Concentration skills

Will Aryan develop same concentration levels  like his father has. He cannot listen the world falling when he has his news paper with him or when he has his favourite news channel on. I wish and I pray that Aryan develops the same , but not for TV but for books :-P

P.S : If I do not blog for a few days now , blame it to this POST in praise of my DEAR HUSBAND ;-)

What Brings You Here ?

I analysed my last 100 refered vistors again and here is what I know :

21 people came here searching for day care / preschool in Bangalore
15 people came in search of old TV serials / actors.
2 of them came for Baby Smiles
1 of them came to know "Why woman can't be Einsteen?"
Of course I had a few from my fellow bloggers
Then there were a few wierd ones like "What are moms for" and "Wrist bands"

Do let me know , what brings you here ?

Advertising on Roads Through Handouts

Have you seen people giving handouts to the pedestrians by road sides? If you walk by the Airport road in Bangalore ,you will find one at evert 10 meters. What do you do when you see some one giving  pamphlets ? May be I should do a poll on this. By my experience , I have seen that more than 90% of people take it and crush it and throw it right away , without even reading the information on it. Others read it and then throw it. I don't think that even 0.1 % people read the full thing and preserve it for use later. We do not even bother to preserve it to dispose in the next bin. Ofcourse one reason to which is very few/NO bins by road sides in India.

For past sometime I politely refuse to accept these handouts as I know that I do not need any home loan, car loan, inssurance , broad band or computer education.What about the flyers that come with newspapers. I use them too , for Aryan to do drawing on the reverse side or for wrapping waste products.

Do you think its fair to waste so many resourses on these flyers and then throw them just to make the place unclean ? Give it a thought ?