His smile

from morning till night there are lots of NO in my life. most of them are said by me to my son (20months). Sanjay NO no wire touching no touching no pulling hair no scratching face no hitting no outing without shoes no shoes in kitchen no shaving cream no staying awake after 10 pm no push Sanjay wait Sanjay stop SANJAYYY but my son is smarter than me. As soon as start the no word, he will immediately look into my eyes, and give a big innocent smile showing his 14 teensy weensy teeth with his hands holding each other. that very moment, it is highly difficult to suppress my smile and stay angry. that one smile will melt all of my anger and provide me with unconditional bliss. that smile is the one haunting me all day at college. every day i just cant wait to get home to Sanjay.

Life's lessons - they repeat themselves.

when I was a kid, most of the time i followed my sister's footsteps in many decisions. If she wore salwars, i also took them from her shelf and wore them even if it were two sizes bigger than me. if she was allergic to eggplant, and also said i was allergic and did not take it. even now i somehow cant find myself eating eggplant even though i know perfectly well that i am most certainly not allergic to eggplant. if she loved kulfi icecreams, kulfi was definitely my favourite too. she is my role model and i was so fascinated by the way she handled things. Two incidents happened in my childhood which came back to me with a smirk on its face. the first one is about night gowns. at that time, long nightys were the fashion. 

My mom is a talented tailor. she made two pajamas out of thick fabric. one for me and one for my sister. they were two piece night wear like a pant and shirt. but unfortunately the design looked like we were out on a camping trip. I still remember the pattern. it was green with lots of chaotic design on them. My sis had one look at the dress and immmediately said "no". being a dutiful follower, i also said "hell no". we always used to rave and rant about the unsophisticated look of the dress and finally my mom gave up and said , "fine wear whatever you want, i give up". fastforwarding 15 years ahead, my mom came to visit me at my Undergraduate hostel, and i was wearing a two piece night wear which had become famous at that time. 

Imagine the looks that she gave me that meant "this is exactly what me and your father used to tell you guys. when have you ever listened to me"....... the second one is about kanji mavu, when we were kids, my mom used to insist on having kanji milk daily morning because it is very good for health. it is also called as raagi mavu. i tried it and it tasted fine. but as usual me and my sis said we dint like the raagi, and protested it. fast forward... 20 years later.. I am running around the house with my son , insisting him to drink kanji maavu. I can hear my mom secretly laughing with a " i told you so" face. ;) There are lot more incidents like these, but most embarrassing moments are named for a reason ;)