A DAY TO REMEMBER

Anu was jumping up and down excitedly. But then..she does that all the time. :) My almost three year old daughter, all smiles, was getting ready to go to the hospital.  No No...there is nothing wrong with her..don't worry. I was the one getting admitted.

"Got your bag, kanna(term of endearment)?" I asked.

"yes, Yes", she nodded. "story book, crayons, water bottle, snack box, Tigger and..."

"Anu"...called her father, "Its getting late, let's go"

We pile into our black I10. Anu gets into the back seat with her grandmother.

"Amma, Amma, FLOWERS, TREES, DOG, COW" she jumps in glee..At the stage where she is learning to talk, indentifying things is her new favourite hobby. "Amma, amma...red flower, red, red!!, AMMA AMMA, blue sky!!" her voice high and filled with awe. "Very good, very good", I encourage.

Nature is magic, is it not?

The sky, the sea, the hills, the air,

The animals, birds and everything else,

Beauty, beyond compare.

"Anu, sweetheart, you need to sit down. Paati(grandma) can't hold you like I do." I beg. I was not in a position to hold her in the front seat.

"Amma, song?" She chimes, and sits down, much to my relief.

I turn on the music. An array of Disney songs play. The lion king, Toy story, Cinderella,  Pocahontas, Frozen and many more. Anu sways to the tune, smiles and claps her hand. "Amma, Amma, Hakuna Matata.."she grins. She loves that song. I smile to myself and can't help thinking "No worries...for the rest of your life" :)..I sigh.

Music is magic, knows no language,

The books and movies we can find,

Art and all such things,

All Creativity of the human mind.

The car seems to get hotter. I turn up the airconditioner. As the new gust of air circulates within the car, Anu exclaims "Amma, AMMA...wind wind!!" and turns her face in that direction, trying to catch it on her face.

I smile to myself and shift uncomfortably. "Are you ok?" Anu's father asks. I just pat his hand in response.

Science and Technology is magic,

Brilliance it does show,

Discoveries and Inventions galore,

What does not man know?

We reach the hospital. We park and get down from the car. A woman is sweeping the leaves scattered all over the parking lot. Her son, a small boy in a pair of well worn shorts is walking behind her crying. Anu stops. "Amma", she says, "baby, crying". She opens her bag and pulls out a chocolate, walks to the boy and gives it to him. She smiles and runs back to us. Her dad picks her up and hugs her. I give her a peck on the cheek.

Kindness is magic,

the good feeling it brings,

So is love, generosity, empathy and such,

They just tug at your heart strings.

We settle down in the room allotted to me. Anu too settles down in the additional bed in the room with her bag and keeps herself busy. The operation date and time was preset. As we waited, Anu fell asleep. She looked peaceful and calm, her hand wrapped tightly around Tigger. She smiled in her sleep.

Dreams are magic,

Visions of the future of ours,

Our wishes they project,

Hope and faith our powers.

I am taken from the room for the procedure.  I hug Anu and tell her to be good. That I will be back really soon. She smiles and nods. I tell her father to take care of her and to give her the food I packed. He reassures me, and tells me not to worry.

Relationship is magic,

It wills one to live,

To survive, to push,

To succeed, to give.

An hour later, I am back. Anu and her father sit by me, holding affectionately our newest member of our family. "Amma, Amma", Anu smiles, "baby, brother" she says, carefully touching the baby with one finger. Tears stream down my eyes as hormones take over.

Birth is a miracle,

From just a single cell,

A whole new life,

Its amazing as hell!!

I look at Anu's father. The man who married me. I was divorced. So was he. He had a daughter from his first marriage. I loved both of them to bits.

The power of the human mind is magic,

To withstand betrayal and pain,

The power to forgive and move on,

To start again.

I am brought back to the present as I hear Anu say, "Amma, amma"..."Conshoons"..I look up quizzically and her father clarifies "Congratulations!". She hands me an envelope. I open in to find a hand drawn (scribbled) card and words in her father's handwriting. As I hug her tightly, tears stream down my eyes as I thank god for his blessings.

God is the greatest magician,

His creations are amazing.

Innumerable to mention,

His praises I sing.

Magic is everywhere. Its all around us. Its the way we see things. To me...Magic is life...as seen through the eyes of my little one. Without prejudice, with awe, with enthusiasm, without expectations, with courage, with faith.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Your post has to revolve around the word Magic! What does it mean to you? What is it that is magical according to you?

A PASSWORD PREDICAMENT!

I am a bit averse to technology. One might say I peacefully coexist and restrict myself to minimal use of it. That is not the case with my husband and my two year old too!! They revel in using the "latest" gadgets... phone, ipad..you name it..and they've mastered it. 

My husband, Rahul, is an "online" person and is active on facebook, twitter et al.  He is the one who created my mail and facebook account and I am almost never online.(my two year old is not social networking yet!! thankfully)

One day, I get a call from my husband post lunch from his office.  "I need you to urgently change the password of our netbanking for my salary account. The bank has updated its software." he says. "I am heading out for a meeting and the old password is written in my diary. you know where to find it."

Before I could utter a word of protest ...I got cut off.

I murmured to myself as I switched on the laptop, and placed his diary next to it. My sleepy two year old was jumping on the bed. "Careful!!" I yelled.

I took a deep breath..here goes. 

Fortunately, the bank's website was on the "favorites list". I gingerly clicked on the link. I entered the user name and password as mentioned in the diary and waited....

The page loaded on to the screen.  I read carefully all the options mentioned and finally found the link to change the password. Phew!! Meanwhile my little one decided to drag pillow by pillow and stack it next to the mirror on our cupboard. 

Enter old password : **********

That was easy :)

Enter new password:

I thought...hmm..

A date or a number,
A word or a name,

Rare and tough,

This is quite a game.

I think of a name and enter it.

"New password has to be more than 8 characters"

Said the site...Fine. I think.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see my son opening the draw and pulling out clothes one by one and admiring them before placing them carefully on the floor. God let me do this fast.

A word that's different,

Or a combination would be better,

that's not easy to guess,

A word that's bigger.

I enter the new password.

"Password should contain at least 1 number"  

was the message I got. ok...

An alphanumeric password,
Is what I need,

The word and a birth date,

And will be done, my deed.

I enter my new password..

"Password should contain at least one Capital letter and one special character"

Now I am losing it! My little one is scouting the room trying to figure out what to do next.

Our first car number,

The date we first met,

The day our child was born,

The more confusing this does get.

His favorite movie,

Or singer or a band?

An anagram or formula :)

Not anything too grand.

I finally settle on a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. Thankfully, the site accepted it. I noted it down in the diary, thanking god the site did not ask for a sacrifice, the blood of a unicorn and the tears of a mermaid for my password to be accepted.

I sigh. Shutdown the laptop. I turn around to look at the room which is a complete mess. In the middle of the heap of clothes and pillows my two year old is blissfully sleeping. I smile to myself as I move my child to the bed.

I then pick up the phone and call my husband. The minute the phone is answered, I say "I did it!!" all excited to have achieved something. "This is the new password "************". I even wrote it down."

"err...ma'am", I hear another voice over the phone. "This is Rahul's colleague speaking, he left his phone at his seat, please hold on for a minute".

My husband comes on the line and says, "What is wrong with you? Never tell out passwords on cell phones or text messages or mails. Its not safe. Change it once more!!"

I take one look at the room, my sleeping child and the laptop. 

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Your post has to revolve around everything that came to your mind when you had to create your first ever password!

MY MOM MY HERO

As I sat tensed at my school lab during an exam because I forgot my record note book at home, an attender hands it to me and points outside....my MOM, my savior.

As I sang on stage, was in a play, gave a speech, or was just even a prop, my mom was in the audience cheering for me..my MOM, my fan.

As I fell sick, when I hurt myself, when i burned with fever, when i threw up what I ate, my mom held me..my MOM, my healer.

As I sat confused, angry, dissapointed, muddled over a decision, small or big, my mom was there, to talk to and resolve...my MOM, my mentor.

I see my mom stand strong in tough times, always there not only to support but to stop us too, held the family together, cared and shared, an unlimited source of patience, energy and inspiration...my MOM, my hero.

This time we’re having at a mother’s day special! Your post must contain the wordMOM and you have just 5 sentences to complete your story.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

WHAT CAN I DO? -2

This is a post I found on goindia.about.com when I googled "chennai'. Being a Chennai lover, it made me curious as to why there is a post titled "chennai the most hated city", which pushed me to read the post.  As for the  post itself, I have no comments on it, it is an individual opinion based on whatever facts they have obtained. But the comments section is something one should read. Be it in support of Chennai or Bangalore or north India or south India, what all these people don't realize is that each and every one has their own opinion and are entitled to it. That each and everyone loves their own city for their own reasons. Every city has its pros and cons.

INDIA IS A SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC...it boasts of several cultures and languages and much more than just meets the eye of anybody outside of India.

Every country has its drawbacks and negatives.  As citizens the least we can do is be proud of our country and respect each other. It does not matter which part of the country we are from, we are first and foremost Indians.

Lets each one of us be proud of who we are, wherever we come from, whatever language, caste, religion, we are from...it does not matter!! we are Indians. And we have bigger fights to fight.

This may be an old post and an argument amongst a handful of people whose views may not reach too many people. But for a post that was posted in 2009, the comments are running till end of 2013 and the site admin had to step in and block further commenting.

Do take a look.

http://goindia.about.com/b/2009/10/14/chennai-most-hated-indian-city.htm

WHAT CAN I DO?

We need to look at the bigger picture. There are much more important issues that we can argue about and more importantly act upon.

I understand the concept of freedom of speech and expression. But I guess the priorities to where we need to show our vehemence is something we need to think about.

No offence meant to the people who commented on the blog. If we could only channelize all that energy into something more productive.

Don't you agree?

KEEP QUIET...JUST LISTEN!

Listen to the rain drops,
On the window sill,
Steady and consistent,
Calm you down it will.

Listen.

Listen to the silent night,
After a long day that's tiring,
To questions that we muddle over,
Answers it will bring.

Listen.

Listen to the birds,
Early in the morning,
Greet the day with a smile,
And everything will be charming.

Listen.

Listen to a chant,
Meditate on a prayer,
Free your mind,
Its a slick player.

Listen.

Listen to your body,
Don't ignore its call,
Keep an eye on your health,
Treat everything, however small.

Listen.

Listen to your child,
Busy though you may be,
They grow up so fast,
Faster than you can see.

Listen.

Listen to the person,
Who is trying to explain,
Give them a chance,
To ease their pain.

Listen.

Listen to reason,
The truth is not far,
Show some empathy,
And it will leave no scar.

Listen.

Listen to your heart,
Follow your dreams,
Give it a shot,
Impossible though it seems.

Listen.

Listen to your conscience,
That little voice that warns you,
To rethink your words and actions,
And helps you see what's true.

Listen.

Listening is a talent,
Not many have this skill,
You have much to gain from it,
Better your life it will.

Listen....

WHAT CAN I DO? - 1

What can I do? This is the one question most citizens ask when confronted with any public or social issue. I would like to share with all of you, any effort made by simple citizens towards any cause. It does not matter if the effort is small or large, if it makes a significant impact or not. Its an effort...and not too many people make that effort. And such effort needs to be acknowledged and shared. I hope to share what I find.

Do take a look at the following video :

Their efforts are truly commendable. you can follow them on twitter too : @SeatbeltCrew