Surya Namaskar.. Chandra Namaskar!!

Since it would happen only once in my lifetime, I had to see it- the total solar eclipse.
Did I see it? No! Was I disappointed? Not much!
You know why... because the moment itself was magical. Getting up at 4 am and reaching school by 5 am... Entering office at 5 am.. and for once, enjoying the yellow lights in my office which I otherwise detest.. watching children and teachers fresh and alert at 5:30 am... climbing a shaky ladder to go to the school terrace... watching a variety of birds flying in the early morning sky (I tell you.. you will not find too many worms around here.. there are too many early birds to catch them) and then the best moment of all.. see the day turn into night and back to day in 4 minutes flat!!!
All the other moments in that day will happen many times again but the light to darkness to light miracle... only once in a lifetime and priceless!!

Om suryaya namaha and om chandray namah!!!

A tourist in your own city...

I visited Borivali National Park this Sunday when I attended Rujuta's marathon group's Sunday session there. the last I had been here was when I was in Class 4 or something. I cant remember visiting it since then.
It is such a beautiful place that I was wondering that I spent 2 years in Mumbai and have not explored so many interesting places of this city.So, I have been planning this vacation in Mumbai when I will be a tourist in my own city. I am putting down here the places that I want to visit then:
1. Elephanta Caves
2. Asiatic Library
3. NCPA
4. Gallery of modern art
5. Nehru Science Center
6. Nehru Planetorium
7. Taraporewala Aquarium
8. National Park
9. Byculla Zoo
10. Aarey Milk Colony
11. Madh Island

Sunay's first day to school by van

This post was written on 1st July. Managed to publish it today.

Today is the day from which Sunay starts going to school by his school van. Although he is going to school since 2 weeks now (he is in Playgroup), so far, it was his “settling period” where he went to school accompanied by an adult from home. Vardan and I accompanied him for 2 days and then, it was his faithful maid Ruchita (uchi didi to Sunay) who would ferry him to school and back everyday.
Since today was his first day by van, we were excited about it and so was he. We made quite a ceremony of the whole thing. Vardan and I both stayed back at home and decided to go to work late so that we could see him leave. We clicked pictures and were at the apartment gate 10 minutes before time.
When his van came, there were 3-4 kids already in it. 1 kid had tear- stained cheeks. The van attendant settled Sunay in his van. Sunay then asked Ruchita to come sit in the van with him and she told him” ab mein tere saath nahi aaongi” . Sunay’s face fell and I think he would have cried if we would have lingered around longer. Thankfully, the van started and off he went.
All three of us – Vardan, Ruchi and I- had silent tears as we watched Sunay go away. On my way to school, I reflected on how we felt and I realised that this is his first foray in the outside world without his parents or caregivers by his side. There will be so many more times that he will go on his own- to school, to college, to university, to camps and Vardan and I will be left wondering when did our “shonka boy” grow up so fast!!! I keep telling Radhika that I will be one miserable mom when this happens. But I now know that I will be ok. After all, Kahlil Gibran has said “your children are not your children.. they are life’s longing for itself..”

Aah! Parenting is not an easy thing after all!!!

Recent Reads

I have read a few interesting books in 2009. Here is my top-of- mind recall:L
1. The Zoya factor: Rating 3/ 5. A chicklit by Anuja Chauhan and makes every woman (even sensible, practical ones like me) go weak in the knees. I read and re-read this book and then outgrew it. Just like crushes one has when one is in the teens- Obsess about it over a week and then realise "ah!I am meant for something much better"!!

2. The last song of dusk- I had 2 reasons of buying this book:
1. Because I was intrigued by the character's last name "Pathwardhan" and I thought I might find Marathi roots in this book. Was mistaken but could connect to Mumbai of the days of yore.
2. Because I am such a sucker for anything of the pre-independence India!

The book is ok, haunting but finally drags on a bit and I had to litereally skim through the last pages for it to finish,

3. Esio Trot: Read it while picking up books for the kids but such a cute love story. I just loved this tiny book!!

4. Eat. Pray. Love: Read it after reading a review of it on Rashmi Bansal's blog. And also because I am also such a sucker for anything related to yoga and spirituality. Nice read!!!

5. Also read a lot of kids' books like "smile crocodile smile", "no more diapers", "baby first words" and such other books for Sunay...

Interesting places..

Whenever I travel, I am completely awestruck! Be it harsh, grey but beautiful Ladakh, the green, verdant mountains of Uttaranchal, the deserts of Kutch, the backwaters of Kerala, the tea estates in North East India or the beautiful Konkan coast, I love my India!
2009 seems to be a happening year for traveling. I visited Jodhpur last month and visited Mehrangarh fort. It is breathtakingly beautiful and very professionally managed.
And this week, I visited Benaras- a place in a time warp. This is the first time that I have been to Uttar Pradesh (I mean, I had visited Mussorie when it was in UP not Uttaranchal but i am not counting that.

My most memorable part of the visit was the early morning boat ride on the Ganga river. There are some 84 ghats in Benaras- one lined after the another and each one with its own story. The most happening ghat was where a group of yogis guided by a firangi yoga instructor were doing the surya namaskar (like it is meant to be done, not the power yoga style or some modernised version of it). I would love to do that one day. Just next to these people, a fellow was dressed up like Lord Shiva and apparently doing aarti but to me it looked like tandav !!

I would have loved to sail along the Ganga to see what each Ghat had in store for me but I think I will do that some other time.

Dance like no one's watching...

There's a small phrase which goes like this:
Work like you don't need the money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like nobody's watching,
Sing like nobody's listening,
Live like it's heaven on earth.

So, if I would have a checklist where I have ticked what all I have done, I am happy to say that all the lines above are checked.

I have worked passionately, loved recklessly, sang loudly and cheerily and lived like there's no tomorrow!

And yesterday, at my aerobics session, I danced like nobody was watching!. It started on a dancy note when I read Mettakau talk about the new song from Delhi - Masakali. I downloaded it from the Net (a first for me when @ work) and also saw the promo video on youtube. Sonam Kapoor loooks charming and carefree. I was on a high listening to such a nice number and also played it at work on full volume 3-4 times

In the evening, at my aerobics class, we had some very nice music on and some excellent choreography to go with it. I enjoyed in throughly, the intensity and pace, the variation in speed (dance slowly and then dance really fast). I also realised that to dance like no one;s watching, you have to really let go, love yourself and think that you can put Madhuri Dixit to shame with your moves.I did all that and danced like no one was watching! But watching she was, my aerobics instructor and she promoted me to head of the class (Yippee and also made me feel like Monica from Friends)

So, worn out and tired though I was at the end of it, it was a great day. And the checklist is complete. All checked. And I will continue to check it again and again to live life the way its meant to be lived!

Random post of random thoughts!

1. The Bollywood buff that I am, I was totally deprived of movies since the last 1.5 years but not anymore! Have completed my backlog of movies that I wanted to watch- Dostana, Rab ne.., Ghajini, A Wednesday, Khuda Ke liye and dil Kabaddi (currently a work in progress)
2. Have started disciplining Sunay from this week on not playing with food. It is easy to raise voice by a few decibels, put on a disapproving look and admonish him for his food play. The tough part is to resist smiling when he gets upset when I do that (pouts, fills eyes with tears and looks around as to who in the room will support him).
3. Last few weeks have been great workwise. Reason being one day in every week has been a chutti.
4. Sunay's current favorite songs- Desi girl and Dance pe chance

Enough randomness for now!

Have a great weekend people!