Breaking News: Overnight Transformation Of City Roads Causes Panic

The city woke up a few days ago to a complete transformation of the roads, causing widespread speculation, wonder, fear, cynicism, and even disbelief.

Believed to be some evil magic at play, commuters are shocked to see the roads smooth, sans potholes (despite heavy rains), uniformly even, even gleaming in their newness! All roads are laid out to exact dimensions, leaving wide footpaths and pavements for pedestrians, and standardized speed bumps. Zebra crossings at signals, bicycle lanes, road dividers, and lane-demarcation lines are uniformly and clearly marked. Working traffic lights now adapt to the traffic onslaught and automatically change the signal time, resulting in free-flowing traffic.

Early in the morning, after citizens discovered the smooth roads, ten teams that erect pandals for various festivals in the city marched down the central city area to protest. With spades and pickaxes in hand, they ventured to erect pandals, but shockingly, their efforts were useless. Despite hours of work, they left tired and frustrated, without a single pandal erected. They now plan to start a "Dig The Roads" campaign to fight the smooth roads.

Meanwhile, chiropractors, orthopaedic surgeons, joint specialists, and spine surgeons are experiencing a decline in their clientele. The paved, pothole-less, gleaming roads have made driving a smooth sailing. Two-wheel riders, especially, are slowly giving up the zig-zag way of driving. They can now drive with almost no back injuries, and have stopped visiting these doctors for treatment. The doctors fear that their skills will be wasted now that drivers will no longer suffer from driving injuries. They now plan to go to the higher authorities to bring back the old roads. 

The hardcore bikers, on the other hand, are extremely happy. The Speedster Association has announced a Road Race from the east end of the city to the west end. The winner will receive a shiny new "No Longer Bumpy Rides" helmet, along with a commemorative replica of a pothole-ridden road.

The road contractors, workers, material suppliers, and even big-wig companies that sponsor these roads are suddenly left jobless. The workers, who relentlessly worked on improving road conditions despite substandard materials, delays, and general apathy towards road development, are now facing a dead end. They certainly have a bumpy ride ahead of them. 

What needs to be seen is how long the current state of the roads will last. Can these flashy, smooth roads bear the brunt of the upcoming festivities, the ever-increasing number of vehicles, and even the wrath of road contractors?

The Moral Compass

Screech! I braked hard as a teenager cut me off from the opposite direction. I took a deep breath, trying to regulate my body after the adrenaline rush.

"Look at that!" I heard my daughter exclaiming in the back seat. 

"Are you alright?" I asked, looking at her in the rearview mirror, quickly surveying for any signs of distress.

"I am," she answered, with her head turned in the direction of the almost out-of-sight miscreant. "But that was just too much!"

"I know, right?" I tried to laugh it off. "And he seemed just fourteen or fifteen years old. Not even an adult."

"Exactly! How are they even allowed?" Mahika exclaimed, outraged. After a moment's pause, she added, "Aaya, if I ever do that when I am older, smack me on my head!"

I chuckled openly, but secretly my heart swelled with pride. This little girl, no more than twelve years old, could recognise right from wrong, acknowledge it, and also decide never to do the wrong that she had just witnessed.

Not to pat our own backs, but I think we are doing something right as parents if our kid discerns the wrong and consciously pledges to never do it.

Kids are exposed to millions of good and bad things happening around them. If a kid understands the difference between the two, and consciously decides not to do the wrong thing — that is an achievement in itself. This is where we influence our kids without even realizing it. It's in these situations that test our mettle as parents: how do we react to wrongdoing, how do we behave with people, and how do we handle such situations?

A great amount of empathy, a moral compass that points north, and just a pinch of outrage at misdeeds should make a good recipe to raising our kids. 

Itni Si Khushi

I cannot believe that I haven't written a word since more than two years! It's not just saddening, but also downright depressing. Getting caught up in "life" and not dedicating time to one of my favourite things is eye-opening. I think I have been callous to just let go of this passion, and I want to remedy that. 

Here's me promising myself that I'll write more regularly.

This past weekend, I managed to find some time to relax and do what I love most — read. (What else!) It was because my daughter had a playdate with her best friend, busy doing whatever pre-teenagers do nowadays, and basically not bothering me the whole day.

I enjoyed the day reading and watching some TV, listening to all the screaming coming from the closed  door of my daughter's room. It reminded me of a scene in one of my favourite books, Hotshot Doc by R.S. Grey. It's when Bailey and Matt are in their room, listening to Bailey's sister, Josie, and her friends screaming in the living room. 

The book vividly describes a typical scene of school-going girls hanging out together and having a great time. For them, there are no worries outside that room, and no thoughts outside the very important discussions that they have. As I heard my daughter and her friend arguing and screaming, I could easily relate to that scene. It made me sigh in contentment and joy.

Joy that we as parents can give our kids such precious gifts of time and place to hang out with their friends without adult supervision.

Can you ever remember doing something like that when we were kids? Playing with friends behind closed doors was never even thought of, not because it was not allowed, but because there was never a designated "kids" room. There was always one or the other parent around; if not the parents, then the grandparents. Frankly, not being alone wasn't ever an issue. Like all kids, we were always in our world, unbothered by the spying eyes.

Nevertheless, I'm glad to give the time and place that today's kids need to be on their own and have fun. It doesn't mean that we aren't keeping tabs on what's really happening behind those closed doors. But a bit of privacy is good for everyone. :)

Those Pesky Household Chores

Ten o' clock at night and I just finished sending the last email of the day. The dinner is done, and the kid is about to go to bed.

"What's for lunch tomorrow?" says a sleepy voice.

"I haven't decided yet!"

That's your standard answer. But inwardly you just cursed yourself, because not only have you really not decided what to cook, but you haven't even prepared the menu. And you still have to empty the dishwasher and reload it, fold the laundry, and also cut the vegetables for tomorrow.

Also, your kid wants to chat and delay sleeping!

Isn't that a usual scene? It certainly is in my house. According to me, three of the most boring chores are unloading the dishwasher, or if it's the maid who cleans the utensils, then putting the clean utensils back in their places, folding the laundry, and cutting veggies.

I never want to these tasks, and try to postpone them as much as possible. Invariably, it's the end of the day by the time I get to do them, and then because I don't want to push them to the next day, I end up doing them late at night.

I really, really want a Genie to get these chores done for me. All other tasks I can manage, although grudgingly. But these three really get on my nerves. They are boring, time-consuming, menial, and repetitive. Also, nobody helps me with them!

That's not entirely true though. My husband does help me with the cleaning and cutting of vegetables. I especially hate cleaning the green veggies. So he cleans them for me (sometimes). I now have found a vegetable vendor who sells cleaned, cut vegetables. Yay!

I shudder when I look back at a hundred years back or even fifty when women did these tasks at home. I cannot imagine spending time doing them day in and day out.

But here's what I realised. In those times, and even now, these tasks can actually be fun. Ever thought of putting on your favourite music when you're cleaning the vegetables? Or even watching an episode of your favourite show on an OTT platform?

Perhaps, involving the entire household, even kids really might be fun. It actually could be those times when the entire family sits together and talks. And you know, really talks. Without mobiles, TVs, and any other gadgets.

These household chores are repetitive tasks that can be done while multi-tasking. And what better time than to spend it with the family talking about nothing and everything? May be that's when you'll be finalising your vacation plan, bitch about the obnoxious person in your team, listen to your kid's school adventures, and even resolve the world climate change problem.

Remember those old movies when the grandmas or mothers were shown making those वाती for diyas? Or grinding masalas, making chutneys, cleaning vegetables, and even cooking? So many of these tasks have now eased up. You don't have to grind masalas or flour on the stone grinder manually, or even manually make those वाती for diyas. Those are all available easily in the market.

I also know that it is not easy doing all these tasks at home, especially for a working woman. And I'm not even against getting all these items ready-made.

But in case you want to do these at home, it might be a good idea if the whole family joins in to share the chores. After all, work shared, is work lessened.

Why Do Clothes Have Tags?

Have you ever tried a beautiful, new top that you had your eye on for quite sometime, only to get an itchy neck when you finally change out of it at the end of the day?

Why do all clothes have those hideous tags inline that scratch your skin and make your life miserable? Hasn't any designer ever, ever realised out of those hundreds and thousands of brands that those tags are terrible and one of the worst places to advertise your brand? Because, the first thing I do when I get out of that scratchy, itchy thing is to cut off all the tags to remove all traces of the awesome brand that I had always wanted to use! Sigh! Talk of brand power!

And then sometimes, you go to the shop of a pretty well-known brand and hope that you'll find something that you like. You step inside, and a nice dress catches your eye....hmm...trendy, nice colours, and for a change, it seems that it might really fit you well. But the fabric isn't that great. So as a last attempt to justify your buying impulse, you check the price, and that's when the 'brand' wall crumbles. You are left gawping at the price and touching the fabric several times, just to ensure that you didn't read it incorrectly!

The salesgirl is hovering around, hoping to get a good commission. And it's difficult to sound casual and nonchalant as you bow out as gracefully as possible, saying that the dress didn't really 'click'. It's hard hiding the fact that the brand, fabric, and price don't 'click', and that you get better options in half the price on that tag.

Remember one of those times when you saw a great clothing item on sale, and realised that the tag did not say "Made in India" but made in that one place that you don't want to buy from, that you've promised yourself you'll avoid unless in dire straits! Remember that all-consuming melancholy that threatens to overwhelm you for taking that vow of patriotism? All because of that one tag!

Really, life is made so difficult because of these clothing tags! Wish it was easier to unlabel! 

Delay Tactics

 "I'm hungry!"

"I just came to get a glass of water."

"I can't find the notebook."

"Teachers just don't understand. Why do they pile us up with so much writing?"

"But I already know this. Why do I have to do it again?"

"Yes, yes, I've already started." (The book's not even opened!)

"If I've to do homework, give me my dinner." (As if I don't feed her at all!)

"I'm tired!"

"I'm afraid to sit in that room alone. Can you sit with me at the table?" (All puppy eyes.)

"But you said I can go and play!" ('After doing your homework' wasn't obviously heard.)

And after all this, when finally a word or two are written, along with scowls and frowns, there's still the under-the-breath grumbling...

"Teachers are evil! They make us write."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a teacher and give you all and my teachers so much homework."

I'm going to hold her to up to this promise when she grows up! And I'm going to have fun watching her when my kiddo has to deal with forty more students in her class when they give such reasons for not doing their homework.

Don't Grow Up Yet

Daughters are treasures. They love selflessly. And they grow up too quickly. I have a seven-year old girl who already behaves like an eleven year old. She can make her own lunch, clean up after dinner, do almost all household chores that I do, and still laugh and giggle like only a kid can. Where did the years go?

Come Friday evening, she preps for a 'weekend' where she wants me to get up late and not do any household chores. She prepares a 'breakfast in bed' for me and asks me to lie down and read in the bed for the day. It's an amazing feeling. I've never had anyone do that for me.

Don't get me wrong. My husband does help me at home. We both try to ease each other's load. However, there's nothing so sweet and heart warming than your son or daughter making you sit down and take a breather because you don't get to rest and are too busy for your own good.

The other day, she told me, "I'll do five of your chores. But you only have to play with me for twenty or twenty five minutes." That's all? She just wants twenty five minutes out of my entire twenty four hours? And just to play? No new toy, no favourite dish, just play time! Where did she find that selfless love?

She goes for a daily morning walk just to collect flowers. When she returns from the walk, she shows her treasure to me with a detailed explanation of where she found each flower and what she did on her daily round. Then she quietly asks, "Do you like it when I bring flowers for you?" Good God! Give me strength to answer her without shedding tears of love and joy! Like? Of course not! I love it!

One day, when she's no longer a seven-year old, no longer staying with us because she's studying somewhere else, or is away for work, no longer thinking of getting flowers for me, because she has her own flower-giving person, I'll recall these times!

Girlie, don't grow up yet!

Games Behind Doors

We've all been at home for more than a year now. Not just adults, but kids have adapted to being inside the four walls. Although not an ideal situation at all, kids have learnt to play all sorts of games at home, whether alone, with parents, siblings, or even friends.

Online hobby classes, games, school, tuition, and even get togethers have become the much-needed social interaction windows for children.

But kids are amazingly resilient and adaptive. Not just physically, mentally and emotionally too. They have invented newer games to play at home, even learning to play with each other through the online sessions, and across balconies.

My seven-year old daughter has concocted imaginative games for not just herself, but also for us adults to be involved in. And I'm rather proud to say that I've stolen some of her games to use them as ice-breakers for my team meetings.

Since last year, we started with simple word games such as Name-Place-Animal-Thing and Animal-Sounds moving on to Using Rhyming Words in a limerick, Jumbled Words, Describe an object in the room. It's been amazing to see how my daughter has improved her prowess at words and language.

We've played Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Uno, Carrom, Guess Who?, Pictureka, Scrabble, and some board games that she invented on her own. We've done hide-n-seek, role playing (doctor-doctor, school, hotel, visit to beach, staying in awesome hotels with room service, which is of course provided by my daughter).

She has been a traffic police, doctor and patient, teacher, PT instructor, yoga instructor, pilot, cruise captain, fire fighter, police, paramedic helper, ambulance (the vehicle, all with the beeper sound) and even a robot over the last year. How can you say that the year has not been happening and exhaustive?

I've seen her play and chat with her friends through online meetings, holding art classes for her friends, story telling sessions with her grandpa, and even daily video calls with grandma showing her new plants, activities, and even reading out stories.

She has written funny stories, a few chapters of two new novels, spooky stories, comic books, Chacha Chaudhary stories, and has moved on to write poems.

What is incredible is how imaginative this new life behind doors has been. I don't deny that kids haven't had enough physical activities, and they are missing out on playing out in the open. Yet, they have learnt and adapted.

There are a couple of kids who stay in a building opposite my house. They both stay on two different floors, but their balconies open out to the same side. Throughout the day, they are constantly calling each other, asking questions about daily routines, such as have you had your lunch, what are you having for lunch, what are you doing now, and all such questions, providing an awesome, free entertainment for us.

The other day, they decided to play hide and seek. I admit that this has been the most creative and imaginative hide-n-seek play that I have ever heard. Each took turn crying out, "Alright, I am ready! Guess where I am hiding!" Mind you, this is across balconies and across floors. The kids are at their own houses. And they are just imaging themselves hiding in the places. So the other kid would guess, "Under the bed, inside a cupboard, behind the sofa!" It was so much fun to hear them play!

I was not just astonished at their imagination but extremely proud at seeing them so adaptive and innovative.

We've all been harping about how excessively and utterly boring it has been being stuck inside the four walls. But we forget that windows, doors, balconies, and terraces are still open!

The Shapes In The Clouds

Dragon, alien, crocodile, fox, alligator, and a whole bunch of them you'll see if you choose to. But do you even look up? I don't. Or to be accurate, I'd forgotten till my daughter reminded me to!

This little exercise started in our household when my daughter read a lesson in her English book about how a little boy finds new shapes in the clouds. Their homework for that day was to go look out the window and find shapes in the sky. And how we do that everyday. Even when we are out riding in a car.

Boy! How we have really missed out on those carefree things! Those little things that made up our childhood. That finger crossing that we did when we saw a red mail van, those pencil shavings that we kept in water overnight hoping that they would turn into erasers (duh!), the small designs that we cut and preserved from the wedding invitations that we received in the hope of using them for making greetings and then not using them because we liked them too much!

Innocent things that didn't matter to anyone but to yourself. A little ghungroo that you found on the road that you've still kept, an ice-cream shaped eraser that you got as a birthday present, that peacock feather that your dad got for you on a rainy day, a keychain that your best friend gave you. So many things, now lost to antiquity, boxed up in a long-forgotten drawer of an old table.

As my girl grows, I find my own childhood in her. Some of the things that she does or says remind me of how we grew up, what our aspirations were, how our playmates were! Our childhood is far behind us, but our kids bring back those memories that help us relive them.

I don't regret growing up. But I do love it when my girl reminds me of what we did when we were kids. And it does make my heart carefree to do some of those things again.

I found an octopus today in the sky. What did you find?

Work From Home, Work At Home, And Home Work

 ... that's our new normal! Each one of us is doing this. I could also add a few more...No Work So At Home, Not Working From Home, Never Want To Work From Home, Enough Of Work From Home....

This new normal has really become a different life from what we had five months ago. Nothing had prepared us for this phase of our life. When we started with this lockdown, we had assumed that it will be short-lived. But now after five months, our lives are irrevocably changed.

Being cooped up at home has changed our lifestyle. We are now spending so much time at home, just looking out of the window that I've now reconciled myself to the feeling of being a caged animal in a zoo. We really don't have a life outside. 

Milk, food, vegetables, groceries, even non-essential items are now delivered to our places. We just open our doors to our cages, get the parcels in and barricade ourselves back in our cages. No wonder zoo animals have such busy lives!

Back in March when the lockdown started, it was summer. The harsh summer set in April and we were glad we weren't out in the scorching sun travelling to work and back. Kids enjoyed extended holidays, exams were canceled, and for them it was heaven being home. Of course they did miss playing outside and meeting friends. But slowly, we all accepted the new normal.

As April galloped into May, our life had turned upside down. Mall visits, evening drives, shopping sprees, friend meetups all morphed into cooking, cleaning, standing in self-distanced queues for essentials, working from home, entertaining kids at home, and surviving on meager supplies. Shops were closed and stepping out of the house was strictly forbidden.

Most of the kids have adapted faster than the parents. They are all tech savvy, attending schools and co-curricular activities online. I've seen kids who are giving interviews online, solving puzzles, learning gaming and coding, all through the internet. Earlier, parents fought to keep the screen time limited for their kids. Now, parents have no choice but to allow kids to learn online.

My family is no exception to these changes. My kiddo attends school three hours a day and then moves on to watch her favourite cartoons and shows online. Add to that the TV that she watches and her screen time has exponentially increased.

 When we keep her away from the screen, she devises different games for us. Some of the games that she has devised are: Danger crossing race, Guess the word, Clock game, Chocolate fair, Running competition, Karate exercises, Dance classes, Mask making competition. Almost every day, she comes up with a new game in which Aaya-Baba are the opponents. The games have elaborate rules, and not adhering to them ends in us getting expelled out of the game, or worse, double punishment. Thankfully, the game conductor is biased towards Aaya, and ensures that Aaya wins most of the time!

The other big part of the day is home work. And I'm not talking about the homework that my girl gets from her school. This is the homework that I need to do that she assigns me.

And that is the reason why I am so very busy these day! Imagine how much writing and work I need to do at home: usual office work, household chores, and my school homework.

The pandemic has brought so many changes in our lives that it is hard to imagine how it was a mere five months ago. We are still unsure of how it will be, or in fact, whether it will ever be completely normal again.

Till then work from home!  

Games At Home

So the games in these Corona Lockdown times involve food that's no longer available, or is rare.

My daughter is right now devising games that are helping her tide these difficult times. She is at one moment a pizza shopkeeper, while at another moment she is an ice cream shop owner.

My area, although not completely under curfew, is facing shortage of fast food, biscuits, cakes, wafers, and every thing that kids would want to have.

But it is commendable that this young girl is holding her fort in these times. Although she keeps asking for these things, she recognises the fact that there really is nothing available. She is quick to quieten and wait for lunch or dinner time to quench her hunger.

Her dad found a pack of six cupcakes a week back and she is saving one for her birthday for tomorrow, because she knows that there won't be a big birthday with a big, nice cake tomorrow. (I have ordered one though from a society lady, which will be a surprise for her!)

And so here we are surviving on her game. In her latest game, she was dreaming for better days with her shop advertising loudly "भरपूर खाणं आणि भरपूर things असलेलं शॉप!"

Hoping for better days soon!

Surviving Corona From Home

I'm writing after a very long time! But thanks to the Corona virus, I've got to be at home, although working, and could spend an hour or so to start blogging again!

I hope all my (meagre) readers are safe and taking the necessary precautions to stay away from the deadly n-COVID-19.

But I feel that being at home is no less life-threatening! Dealing with your spouse, kids, may be in-laws, and self at home for all 24 hours of the day, without a break for a week or more is going to take a toll on our mental health.

It starts right from a place to sit to work from home. The place should be comfortable in which you can stick for at least 4-6 hours at a stretch. It should be airy with good light, and most importantly, where you can receive the home wifi/broadband signal! Network issues with multiple people working are going to be frequent.

If you haven't spare rooms for two people to work together, attending meetings over phone is another challenge. We are used to meeting rooms when we have meetings. There are bound to be funny incidences when the mike is inadvertently left on, and you might hear discussions about what is to be cooked for dinner! Remember to take it all with a pinch of salt, and do not invite yourself for dinner at your colleague's place! You never know, you could be next in line for a mike fiasco!

Some of our colleagues do work from home regularly. We are used to hearing some background sounds such as dogs barking, kids howling, and even doorbells ringing. But in these times, be ready to have your kids around, constantly badgering you to play with them, help them with some task, curiously asking about your work just as you are talking on phone. Just bear with these times, and also enjoy the moments!

In fact, being with our kids and family is something that we rarely get. Enjoy this time with the kids. Just observe what they do the whole day, what they talk, what they think, and interact with them more! You'll probably get to know their humorous side, their wacky side, ingenuity, curiosity, and the fun side too!

Like yesterday, we had gone to get some milk, but we didn't get any. As we returned home on bike, it took me a few minutes to register the fact that my daughter was happily singing "No milk tomorrow! No milk tomorrow!!" (My daughter hates to drink milk, and was overjoyed to know that I wouldn't make her drink milk if there wasn't any at home!)

So stay put! All you know, we might still survive the self-imposed quarantine, and even learn to be more with our family!

Take care everyone!

Revisions

Exams are on and my days end with revisions. Not for my little one who's taking her mid-terms! The revision is for me.

My little one has agreed to do revisions with me on the condition that I do all her study again after she is done with her revision. So here I am, dreading the revision, not because I am afraid of the little teacher, but for different reasons altogether!

Here's an example:

My work is on the right!

Writing in a four-line pattern is not a joke now. With my fingers that are used to computer typing and not holding a pen, forget even a pencil, it is such a task to make the fingers move to write in a legible handwriting. My little teacher is very strict about not writing beyond the top and bottom red lines.

Whenever I get such a revision, I am reminded of the lengthy answers that I had to write, including the English, Hindi, and Marathi essays in school.

I also need to remember to (deliberately) make mistakes so that my teacher can correct me. The teacher is also very clever. She sometimes dictates the wrong words and "corrects" those in my notebook!

But my teacher is also very generous! If I so much as make a crying face, she will immediately give me a couple of more stars with an Excellent! remark even when I don't deserve it! Such a wonderful teacher indeed!

So the next time you sit down with your kids for revisions, do send a "Good Luck" to me too!

Like Mother Like Daughter

The other day, I was at home having lunch. As I finished my lunch, being in a super relaxed mood, I started talking gibberish. And then I grinned! A big, happy, proud grin!

The reason for that grin is that my daughter, Mahika, does exactly this the whole day. She just keeps talking gibberish the whole day, sing stupid songs, make up songs randomly and impromptu, and sing them in a sing-song voice, with her own music!!

It drives me crazy at times to listen to her songs! It mostly is the words that are just being spoken. So  you might be saying, "Mahika, please pick up your clothes!" Immediately, you'll hear from her: "Pick up your clothes, shadoo-do-do-do-do! Aaya-Munni tells to pick up the clothes shadoo-do-do-do-do!"

Or may be:

Pick up the clothes
Fothes, Toathes, Glothes, Mothes, Shothes!

Duh!!!

But then, I shouldn't really be complaining! You see, my mom says that I was just like that! Ohh...I mean, she is just like me! I used to do all these weird sounds, and be constantly talking all the time. Apparently, my daughter has inherited the wrong genes from me!

But then, to own it, I feel good, even proud! And I get a glimpse of what my parents must have gone through (ohh the boredom of hearing those stupid words and senseless songs!)

It is looking at my own five and a half year old self! 

The Drama Of Fancy Dress

The new year of the school has started. We are covering the portion faster than the last year. And in the middle of all this, we get a notice of a fancy dress competition for the 4-year olds in 3-weeks time.

After last year's experience, we decide to start practising right away to ensure that the little one progresses to the final round! There's a preliminary round, and kids who do well are selected for the final round that takes place a week later.

We started discussing what Mahika wanted to be and she came up with the idea of becoming a house! Oh my!! Couldn't she think of something easier?

So then the journey started of trying to find out what to make, how to make, how feasible it is! By that time a week and a half was already gone.

When I was googling for some ideas, I stumbled upon some videos of kids performing in fancy dress as eggs, and we stuck gold! Mahika now wanted to be an egg!

The next phase of the journey started. I viewed those videos online and came up with some lines that she could learn. I made her practise the lines with appropriate gestures. She too enthusiastically learned the lines without getting irritated by the number of times that I made her repeat them.

We got the costume on rent from a nearby shop and made an egg cutout at home to go with that. Mahika was all excited about the whole fancy dress competition and the egg cutout.

With (more than) enough practice for Mahika (and for me where I had started reading eng. - read ‘engineering’ as ‘egg’), we finally were ready for the D-Day!

The school was thronging with multi-coloured fairies, Barbie dolls, fruits, trees, soldiers, policemen, pilots, farmers, and animals. There were different types of mobile phones, toothpastes and toothbrushes, Dairy Milk, Maggi, Bharat Matas, and vehicles.

A few odd ones that stood out were a newspaper (Mahika had become a newspaper last year-they stole our idea!), an egg (Mahika), a rainy cloud (with an umbrella having cotton on the outside for the fluffy cloud and shiny strings to the umbrella as rain), and a rakhi.

It was a pretty sight! All colourful and exciting! The younger kids were looking apprehensive. The older ones, who had already had a fancy dress last year knew the drill and were looking out for their friends.

Girls and boys with their different props were hustling and bustling to their classes! All those props made me think of how hard the parents had worked! All this for the drama of just a couple of minutes!! So much of trouble, so much hard work…all over within a few minutes!

Some parents had been smart and rented out outfits! Some had painted and cut and coloured and pasted the props themselves. Some others might have just reused items that they already had…There was this little girl who had become a fairy. One of the parents said that the girl must have worn her birthday frock, because every girl must be having a frock like that!

Once all kids had been tucked into their classes, the parents were all outside the closed doors. Only after the school got over did we meet the kids to know how they did! And all we got to know was, “आया, मी छान म्हणाले egg चं !"

All parents thought that their kids had done the best and were expecting that they would be selected for the final round. But only a handful got selected. Mine wasn’t! Frankly, it was a little disappointing! But then, participating is what is important.

To take it in the right note, as one of the parents mentioned, “Thank goodness the kid wasn’t selected! We don’t have to do this fancy dress drama again for the final round!” How true indeed!

The rented outfit is returned and the drama is over! But we still have the egg cutout as a reminder of the good fun we had!!

आया, चल आपण clock-clock खेळूयात!

...ही आज्ञा महिकाने मला दिली आणि माझे विचारचक्र सुरु झाले. खरे तर क्लॉक कसे चालते, किती वाजले, हे सर्व कळायला अजूनही ती लहान आहे.

अजूनही "काल" ला "आज" किंवा "उद्या" वापरते ती: "आया, आम्ही उद्या गार्डन मध्ये एक नवीन game खेळलॊ."

ह्या चिमुरडीला क्लॉक कसे समजवायचे!

मग मीच एक शक्कल लढवली.

Sticky Notes घेतल्या. त्यावर महिकालाच १ ते १२ हे क्रमांक लिहायला दिले. व्यवस्थित गोलाकार जागा दाखवून
तिला घड्याळासारखे सर्व क्रमांक फरशीवर लावायला सांगितले.

आता काटे कसे करायचे? महिकाला मग समजावले, घडाळ्यात तीन काटे असतात: तास काटा, मिनिट काटा, आणि सेकंद काटा. तिला सांगितले, मिनिट काटा बन! मी बनले तास काटा.

शाळेकरता उठायची वेळ आणि शाळेची van घ्यायला येते तो पर्यंत महिका काय काय करते, कसे करते, किती वेळ घेते, काय-काय म्हणते हे सर्व म्हणून आणि करून दाखवलं! आणि ह्या सर्व वेळेत महिका खरोखरी काट्यांसारखी गोल-गोल फिरत होती!

काय मज्जा अली! जरी तिला घड्याळ वाचायला कळले नसले तरी वेळेचे महत्व कळले असेल तरी छान! त्यात role - playing  झालं, तिला "running" करायचे होते घरात तेदेखील झाले!

एकूणात, एक वेगळा खेळ झाला! फारच गम्मत!

पुण्याचे २०१७ चे काही गणपती

सालाबादाप्रमाणे ह्या वर्षी देखील आम्ही गणपती बघायला गेलो होतो. सगळे मुख्य गणपती नाही बघता आले. तरी देखील जेव्हडे जमले तेव्हड्यांचे फोटो ...

येथून सुरवात केली - विश्रामबाग  वाडा गणपती.
देखावा: शिवाजी महाराज ह्यांची आग्र्याहून सुटका

शिवाजी महाराज 

जिलब्या मारुती 

तुळशीबाग 

इच्छापूर्ती गणेश, नारायण पेठ

मुंजाबाचा बोळ गणपती 

वीराची तालीम मंडळ 

(पावसाळ्यातले) रस्ते

वर्षा ऋतू असे सुंदर नाव असणारा आणि खरोखरी आनंददायी अश्या ऋतुचीदेखील एक unavoidable आणि त्रासदायक गोष्ट आहेच - रस्ते!

पावसाळ्यातले रस्ते हा सगळ्यांचाच अतिशय जिव्हाळयाचा विषय! कितीही बोललो त्यावर तरी ते कमीच असते. 

कडक उन्हाळा सोडून, पावसाळ्याच्या सुरवातीलाच महापालिकेला रस्ते उखडायचे असतात! बरं ही कामं लवकर आणि वेळच्या वेळेस संपली तर महापालिका कसली! बरोब्बर पावसाळ्याआधी खणलेले रस्ते पहिल्या पावसात धोकादायक डबकी होऊन जातात. "माती, पाणी, उजेड, वारा, तूच मिसळशी सर्व पसारा" हे वाक्य तंतोतंत खरं व्हावं, ह्याकरता अविरत धडपड चालू असते खोदणाऱ्यांची. 

मग भर पावसात गाडी ह्या अग्निदिव्यातून, सॉरी, पाणीदिव्यातून नेण्याची परीक्षा आपली. प्रत्येक डबकं हे जेव्हडं खोल, रुंद, आणि भरीव असेल तेव्हढं कसब वाहनचालकांना लावावं लागतं. मला वाटतं महापालिका ही असली डबकी मुद्दाम बनवते. पावसाळ्याच्या ऋतूत RTO च काम कमी व्हावं असा सुप्त हेतू असणार. कारण ह्या डबक्यांना avoid करत तुम्ही गाडी zigzag चालवू शकलात तरंच तुम्हाला गाडी 'हाकायचा' परवाना मिळणार असे RTO चा गुप्त नियम असणार. 

खड्डे चुकवीत अथवा तुडवीत गाडी चालवून अगदी हेच आठवतं: "फिरत्या चाकांवरती पाठीला होतात विकार, बाईक असो वा कार!" म्हणजे खरं तर ह्या खड्डयांमुळेच कित्येक orthopaedic डॉक्टर्सचा गुजारा चालू आहे. जनकल्याणाचे अखंड कार्य पालिकाच करू शकते. 

पण त्याशिवाय अश्या खड्ड्यातून जाण्याची एक गम्मत आहे खरी. तुमची जर लहानपणची उंटावरून सैर करायची हौस राहिली असेल तर ती खड्ड्यातून जाताना पूर्ण होईल. तुमच्या पुढ्यात एखादी गाडी नाही हे बघून खड्ड्यातून जाताना ५ सेकंद डोळे मिटा... तुम्ही स्वतः उंट चालवत आहात असे नक्कीच जाणवेल तुम्हाला!

अश्या पावसाळ्यातल्या जलमय रस्त्यांवरून तुम्ही तुमच्या इष्ट स्थानी वेळेत आणि धड पोचलात तर तुम्हाला "सर्वात जागृत वाहनचालक" ही पदवी मिळेल असे पालिकाने जाहीर केल्याचे ऐकिवात आहे! पहिला मानकरी कोण असेल?

का?

महिकाचे 'का' प्रश्न सुरु झालेत. इतके की कधी कधी आपल्याकडेपण उत्तर नसतं त्यांचं.

काल रात्री महिका आणि तिच्या बाबाचं 'Knowledge sharing session' चालू होतं. काय काय प्रश्न विचारले तिने बाबाला!

पहिला वाहिला प्रश्न: "बाबा, आपण जेवण का करतो आणि पाणी का पितो?"

किती 'basic' प्रश्न झाला! पण तिच्या बाबाने खूपच छान उत्तर दिले. तिला कळेल आणि पटेल अश्या भाषेत. त्या नंतर तर प्रश्नांचा भडीमार होता. हर एक प्रश्न वेगवेगळा.

"बाबा animals आपल्या बरोबर घरात का नाही राहत, जंगलात का राहतात?"

"बाबा आपण newspaper का वाचतो?"

"आपण घरात का राहतो?"

"सिग्नल का असतात?"

"आपण खुर्चीवर का बसतो?" (How cute and funny!!)

"How shall we make a cake?"

"How shall we make a tomato?"

"How shall we make bhaji and roti?"

रात्री सगळे प्रश्न संपले नाहीत की काय म्हणून सकाळ-सकाळी उठल्या-उठल्या मला एक-दोन प्रश्न:

"आया, आता तू सांग. आपण घड्याळ का घालतो?"

"झाडाला फुलं का असतात?"

हे सर्व प्रश्न ऐकून त्यांना समर्पक उत्तरं द्यायची ही आपली जवाबदारी.

पण खरं तर ह्यातून हेच दिसतं की ही लहान मंडळी किती वेगवेगळ्या गोष्टींचा विचार करत असतात आणि किती कुतूहल असतं त्यांना!

लहानग्यांचे भावविश्व, विचारसरणी, आणि imagination हे असेच विस्मयकारक असो! कायम असे प्रश्न सुचो आणि उत्तरं पण मिळो हीच मुलांना शुभेच्छा!

लहानपणची निरागसता आणि curiosity आपण मोठे होताना का बरं हरवून जाते?