Jai Ho!!!

Note: (Sarcasm, well-intended)

Jai Ho! to Slumdog Millionaire.

Jai Ho! to A.R. Rehman.

Jai Ho! to Danny Boyle.

Jai Ho! to its million fans.

Jai Ho! to Smile Pinky, that also got an Oscar.

Jai Ho! to all the winners.

Jai Ho! to the economy. (How can i forget this?)

Jai Ho! to Barack Obama.

Jai Ho! to all the bailout-hungry banks.

Jai Ho! to the million dollar bonuses.

Jai Ho! to foreclosures, as opposed to this.

Jai Ho! to frugal living, as the westerners begin to understand its true meaning.

Jai Ho! to 'living within our means.'

Jai Ho! to India for her people manage to do that.

Jai Ho! to her extra emphasis on savings and less on spending.

Jai Ho! to Mumbaiites for their 'do-not-die' spirit, which I'd rather interpret as non-interference to the terror attacks.

Jai Ho! to the Indian government for the extra tolerance.

Jai Ho! to the Sri Lankans for the courage to step into the 'green' land.

Jai Ho! to the innocent victims that fell.

Jai Ho! to optimism.

Jai Ho! to praying. and finally,

Jai Ho! to blog-writing. 

Phewwwwww!!!!!

Coincidence or mysticism

The numbers 3, 6 and 9 have always been hovering around me throughout my life. I keep bumping into them all the time. Is there anything such as numerology? Are there lucky numbers, lucky letters, or lucky gems? People go through the hassle of changing their names, Ms. Kapoor keeps digging for 'k' worded-serials and some pop a bright blue turquoise on their fingers just to keep Lady Luck with them. But does the Lady Luck have such preferences? Or is it all just pre-ordained fate and pre-written destiny?

At this point in my life, the number 3 seems to be shadowing me. 

33 years - Jignesh has walked on this face of Earth.

30 years - I have.

3 years - Anushka is in her terrible three's.

3 months - Raahil has been around.

Now, is this a mere coincidence that we all are in our '3s', or is there some mysticism surrounding us?

Right from the floor I lived on, to the number of my car, my graduation certificate number, the birthdates of my family - and friends, everything has had my 'so-called' lucky numbers. There have been few dates and numbers which are not 3, 6 and 9, but that is something I can count on my fingers. The other significant figures have been innumerable, too innumerable to list. 

Well, whatever the case, one part of my heart says to believe in it, coz that kinda gives a sparkle to our life, a ray of hope, a somewhat-reliable expectation. But of course it is important to tread on the sands with an open mind too, so as to avoid disappointments. Balance is the key I suppose. So, go ahead, sparkle and shine, not in the sky, but as a glinting speck on a rock nearby.

Moved!

It was time for my blog to move. It was time to shy out from the cloak of invisibility to a more popular location where only sky is the limit. It was time to break free from cruel formatting and layout restrictions which are such a passe in this era of free virtual spaces. It was time to move on. 

And I wish to do this more gracefully than ever. I wish to give commendable appreciation and gratitude to MSN spaces for providing me an opportunity to vent out my angst, to pen down (or should I say 'key in') my thoughts, ideas and beliefs. However, as the wise men say, it is only modest and favorable to move with time and technology, I now invite you to visit me at this blogspot location and I kindly like to request you to leave your honorable comments which will always command my highest respect.

I must add that no moving/separation is without pain and I grieve to leave the precious comments of my friends as I can't carry them with me. However, I shall most definitely try to dedicate a blog to it which will serve as a continual source of inspiration for 'me and my tanhai.'

Thank you for your time.

Inspiration

My tasks and duties as a supermom have increased, infact doublefolded. And so has my aspirations, expectations, and inspirations. My latest inspiration is my little boy, Raahil. Contrary to popular beliefs that after a baby one just doesn't have any time at all, all newbie moms will agree with me that the feeding time is the best time to pick up a fone, dial a friend and catch up a bit. And if you are not talking, you are dreaming. And as for me, I am turning a bit 'poetic.' Raahil inspired me to reinvigorate, or in simple terms, retry my poetic flair, which I must admit has been quite a weak and a meek attempt, but nevertheless, worth a mention. So here it is.

 

He wants to be rocked,

He wants to be hold;

He wants to be fed,

He wants to be told...

 

Raahil, its burping time, its napping time,

its play time, its feeding time;

But does he listen to mommy, naah!!

He is the king of his destiny.

 

I will eat when I want to,

I will play when I want to,

I will cry when I want to,

and I will sleep when I want to;

 

So as I go through the day with my arsenal,

that consists of diapers, pacifiers and changing pads,

bottles float in my dreams,

as I try to catch up on my sleep;

 

Babies are work, babies are hard,

But somehow they cajole in giving us a laugh;

I gleem in joy when I look at him,

He is afterall my honey and cream.

 

Yes, all I have done is tried to rhyme,

I don't have a natural flair,

But something is better than nothing,

Might tickle a giggle, a snort, or mere chuckling. 

HeLLo uNcles,aunTies and frIenDs,
 
I have company now. 
 
My little brother arrived on July 30th, 2008 at 13:08 hrs. He tipped the scale at 7 lbs 2 ounces. 
 
We are going to call him RAAHIL. Daddy says it means "One who shows the way".
 
Mummy is back from the hospital and I will try to be her little helper.
 
Love,
aNUsHkA sHah

To find or not to find

Well, as my tummy grows, so does the pressing question in my mind. Is it a boy, or is it a girl? Is it going to be pink, or blue? Coming to think of it, this is a million-dollar question for any mom-to-be. Are you going to cave in or hold up with this unrelenting curiosity all bundled up in your big fat brain? Is it alright to go with the latest technology and find out the gender of your baby before time, or go the traditional way, hold it up and be surprised as all our parents and ancestors have been?

 

Some say, finding out whether its 'pink with flowers or blue with trucks' is like opening your christmas gift before christmas. I would partially agree with this. Some mysteries are best left at fate to be unravelled at the pre-ordained 'right' time. But do you have it in you to hold up? Does it make you comfortable that the ultrasound technician or the doctor doing your scan knows it but you don't? In short, are you patient enough to wait it out or you'd rather kill the surprise and be more content with finding out which color to pick for your nursery?

 

I have to say that there are some pretty good reasons why finding out will be more of an advantage than not finding out.

1. First would be to know the color of your nursery. Green and yellow colored-rooms indeed look very dull.

2. Picking out baby clothes. The pink and blue ones are unbelievably cute. Looking for unisex onesies can be quite a task.

3. Cuts your name-finding efforts into half. Picking a name that both mom and dad like is certainly not easy.

 

But are these really sound reasons to motivate you, or just plain lame? Afterall, the color thingy is just for the first couple of months. Once you have your bundle of joy in hand, you can go shopping again.

 

Well, Jignesh prefers 'getting surprised' as this can be one of the life's biggest surprises. I, for that matter, just find it extremely difficult to hold myself and wants to jump at the very slight instinct of knowing what it is. However, this time, I have led myself to follow Jignesh's path and find out how exciting can the climax really be. I would then be able to compare the 'i-know-it' with 'i-don't-know-it' and whether it's really worth it. The chinese calendar says it will be a girl; however, whoever I have met so far, everyone, from complete strangers to your friendly aunties, everyone has guessed it to be a boy. So its the ancient gender-predicting relic against the people. We'll see who wins.

Surprise baby shower

Giving a surprise baby shower party to a mom-to-be entails careful planning, plotting dramas, selection of menu, and some spygiri and not to forget, the chaotic conference calls. I have been a part of this devious scheming on previous occasions. However, this time, I was the victim. I shouldn't really say victim, lets say, the fortunate one, who got home to a lovely decorated house, complete with fully prepared big dinner and a great cake. Last Saturday, my NOVA gang decided to team up and make me cry. Well, they were partially successful. I was surprised, but I didn't cry. In fact I laughed coz of a last-minute discrepancy. Jignesh didn't give them a warning miss-call and so when I turned on the key, everyone was so busy with each other that they were more stunned on seeing me rather than the other way around. And why was I not so stunned? Coz truly speaking, I was kinda expecting them to give me a surprise shower. I just didn't know when and how. And Jignesh did a marvellous job at completely misleading me and throwing me off the tracks all thru the day that by afternoon, I was pretty sure there is no party today.

 

The last time, I was in Kansas where I had very few friends, my mother-in-law did do the traditional godbharai and we went to the temple, but thats abt it. I yearned for a baby shower with friends and fun. Well, this time, it happened. Not that I don't enjoy the traditional ones. Its just that the traditional ones can be more meaningful and 'traditional' with family and tonnes of relatives around. With friends, you just wanna have fun.

 

The guys did an amazing job at trying to pretend that they were pregnant with pressing balloons under their shirts. Though they ended up looking like they are 15-20 months pregnant which was hilarious. Mohan also suggested oh, this is so easy. You big-bellied girls just make a big deal out of it. Ya, try pressing a 20 pound bowling ball instead of a balloon and then speak. They also tried to guesstimate my burgeoning waistline with only a couple of them doing an accurate job. And to top the games, there was so much food, we could go on all night. They all left with a messy house but loads of wishes, though I have to say the wishes made up for the mess. My friends are very clever, aren't they?

 

I just want to thank all my friends. You didn't disappoint me.