Happy 4th birthday Samhita!

To my dearest daughter Samhita - the sunshine of my life...

Happy 4th Birthday darling...

This year on, I want to write letters on your birthday for you to read when you are older. I want us to be able to remember what you were like in your growing up years and cherish those memories.

You are 4 today and this perfect lil gal who knows how to cheer anyone up when they are sad. You are so understanding, caring and mature for your age ,sometimes I wonder where you got it from and what did I do to get so lucky.. You are every mother's dream..

To recap this year, I must say this..Your frat 3years were more perfect than this one  last year.. well I guess, that was to be expected - what with you moving to Kindergarden and all. Your tantrums to get outta bed have gotten bigger and getting you to do your chores -more challenging and brings out the creative streak  in us every single day.. I wish your eating habits didn't change though..mg perfect lol
Healthy eater now craves for candies and unhealthy stuff.. but we are good about following rules like Saturday is candy day (unless on vacation), Friday is Tv day..

Your natural language inclination now is English and  I'm doing my best to still converse my bit in Tamil,hoping one day- you will do the same. You love singing and dancing and writing and painting and reading... 'Let it Go' from FROZEN is your current obsession and we are going to Have you perform at your party.. I can so see the performer gene in you,which I might have passed on.. I hope we are able to nurture your creativity and help you realize your potential... you are a born entertainer:)

You love learning new stuff.. spellings, words,songs, concepts.. you can pretty much tell all the car logos now (thanks to long morning commute with daddy derateat).. yours and your pappa's fights are the highlight of our mornings.. you scream NOOOOOO and I hope by the time you read this,you have mastered the art of controlling your temper..

You are pretty great at expressing your emotions and it helps us tremendously in dealing with you.. you cling to me when we meet strangers and you say you don't wan to talk to random ppl.. :) but once you spend a few days,you form solid connections and bonds so close.. you spread love and joy everywhere you go.. you are intuitive and smart.. can already tell good from bad,something we truly want to stick out through your growing up years.. you have a huge circle of adult friends who absolutely adore you and you can't stop talking about them either.. such love is all you need to keep you happy...

You have a few best friends from school - DAMLA ,Anika, Samyami, Tead being your closest.. followed by Navya, Vaishnavi, Mitchell.. You have enjoyed your  play dates thoroughly this year..it is all the more special this year,as we are relocating to India.. When this year started, we moved into our own home and we had a blast putting together your room with the pink kitchen set,the zoo stickers,abc stickers,your books...you loved cooking in  your kitchen,or painting on your easel,or just resting with a book... helping me in the kitchen was another favorite thing.. we loved our park outings on your lil pink bicycle which you began to pedal by yourself this year (you had two falls till date)..

I can go on and on.. just know you are the highlight of mumma and paapa' life,the missing piece of our puzzle.. we wonder how fast 4yrs have whirred past us and how much we have enjoyed every lil bit of it..your cuddles, love,kisses are the most precious thing we could ask for ..those innocent words and constant chatter we hope never changes.. Your words are so clear and sentences so lucid - you are going to be super eloquent in your speech.. We adore you.. we love you..we have sooo sooou much to look forward to with you in our lives.. thank you for blessing us with your presence and let love,laughter and joy rule your life always like it does today!!!!

Happyyyyy happy birthday my darling!! I love you beyond words can measure!

Work in Progress

Of Intimacy, Vulnerability and broken hearts...

With dreams as the guide , all starry eyed
she traipsed through the roads.....

OverDozEd- my comfort zone!!

Its been painfully loong since i visited my blog!! I am hoping this doesn't become routine!

One part if my life i would definitely relive is my MBA days... Life was so colourful , brimming with activities and excitement... Life never had a dull moment then with all of us raring to go... I am proud of all the bonds we built, the secrets we shared, the banters, the giggles... We were there together while making significant decisions and the air of comfort we shared even in silence, is unexplainable...

When i close y eyes and lay back on the bed, i stumble upon all these thoughts when the most important decision revolved around which restaurants to visit for treats, planning an outing or deciding which class to bunk! Sure there were exams, presentations and fest, but with all of us together, it was such a breeze and every thing seemed enjoyable! I can never ever forget marshall steps where varied conversations have happened, the lab times, our terrace garden where we had our celebrity moments.. assignments tog, endless chai's, treats... mindless photos... fests.. I sooo cherish em that i choke on those memories!

College was drawing to a close.. gang OverDozEd, was never gonna be the same again.. the thought was so depressing... but like a silver lining,I had few close friends in the same company as mine which was a consolation of sorts...but equations ve changed for sure, that i can tell now post 8months of coll life!! The friendship we shared might still be rock solid, but the sweet nothings have faded away.....Nothing is like Coll!

In its place, now exists a VOID... that can never be filled!! We all talk, meet, greet and have our times together, but each person has evolved!

P.S: I love THE OverDozEd!! All i want is to keep the gang alive and live to its true spirit of 'high on life!'

CONFUSION....

Is CONFUSION just a state of mind??? naaahh i don think..or could it be?aaah...watever...

Just when you think life is perfect, something that would once be written off as inconsequential turns up and makes u rethink...everySINGLE time...
During childhood, the points-of-contact for confusion centred around trivial issues like chocolate,ice cream selection, tv progs, homework, tests so on...Adult phase saw a melange of confusions, its so vast that i do not even wanna attempt channelising it.. time ticked by, ushering in the 20's with it...
Just when you think, you ve been thru it all, and now ur mature enough to handle anything, life smirks at you yet again..life,relationships,career and relationships again on a different level.. and ur attitude...

I fail to understand my own state of mind.Thoughts run haywire and refuse to fade away. Tryin' to probe within doesn't seem to help an iota. Confusion just seems to dominate....! will it ever end????
CONFUSION..N MORE CONFUSION..!its just a fusion of thoughts running amok....

The sequel - an eye opener!

I know I am guilty of making a sweeping statement by combining chivalry and chauvinism together. It is rather apt that the two start with the same alphabet, yet have vastly different meanings and in today’s society, women *and to a larger extent, men* do not tolerate chauvinism. We have learnt to accept that women are equal to men in everything. Sure, they are different in terms of physical attributes, but the buck stops there. The rest of the supposed differences are merely a societal perception on women/men that have been filtered down through the generations

If women want to be treated as equals to men, why is there a cry for chivalrous behavior? Door opening, offering of seats, etc. these actions may be a symbolism of a man submitting to the fact that the woman needs help, but it can also be interpreted on a deeper level. One such interpretation may be the fact that the man subconsciously admits to the fact that the woman is weaker than he is, and thus requires his help and effort to help the woman overcome whatever that he is doing for her. Like opening and holding a door for her. Empirically, isn’t this an acknowledgement that one is weaker than the other?
A man too may require people to hold the door for him when his hands are full or maybe he does not have enough strength. But, these somehow become his shortcomings. A lady on the other hand, has doors opened for her even though she may not be stuffed with shopping bags or a box of files. What was her shortcoming? Was it because she was carrying shopping bags, or was it because she’s a lady and that’s the right thing to do?
Let us consider a bus scenario. A person can be chivalrous and offer the seat to the lady, or offer it to her due to kindness and goodwill. Maybe the lady looked faint?? Or maybe she was pregnant.
To sum up a long story, my question to women folk is this. do you girls want to be treated equally? or differently?
Just remember, WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU GET!!
A common fallacy among men and women is that chivalry is one-sided, which means that a woman can also take the initiative and do something chivalrous or be HIVALROUS for her man, especially since the times have changed.

To all you ladies out there, how HIVALROUS are you?? Do a quick scan and check if you do any of the following to make your guy feel your worthy of him…

• He opens the car door for you and you unlock his door once you are inside
• You offer to split the bill at the fancy restaurant you went to for dinner (or even better, you pay for it once in a while -- if you don't pay for it, you pays for his movie ticket after dinner)
• You surprise your hero with that CD he has been talking about or send him flowers at work.
• You take over some soup/hot coffee or the like when he is feeling under the weather.

More than anything else, show how appreciative you are of his actions and recognize how lucky you are to be with him!So guys/boys, do you think SHE IS WORTH IT??!
GENDER didn’t weed out expectations, did it??? So, don’t just sit waiting to be swooned over LADIES… You can do it tooo….

As chivalry now means being kind to everyone, the best thing to do is just be yourself. Act normal, and don't try to be too chivalrous or the woman you're pining over will see right through your act. The truth is, if she isn't appreciative, then she's probably not someone you'll want to invest your time in. If you like her, then you will automatically put her on a pedestal without realizing it. And once she's on that pedestal as high as the castle tower -- where you are the only one to rescue her -- she will look out for the knight in shining armor in you.

This Valentine's Day, bestow upon her a very special gift: your consideration, your benevolence, your not acting like an ass. And yes, you still hold the door
happily ever afters exist after all and i do hope all of you get there...!
Hail HIVALRY!!

He-valry / SHE-valry!

Why do we often have such discussions on CHIVALRY?? How often have you ladies touted someone as a MCP [read: Male Chauvinist Pig] Why is it such a big deal when a woman rises to power and wins accolades??

I am not a feminist, but insensitivity shown by men towards their counterparts is something i just cannot stand!! It affects me in unexplainable ways ..

It is imperative to point out here that chivalry is a word not just connected to men but very applies to women as well. It is a myth that needs to be uncovered. For our gang at MPBIM, the word CHIVALRY is BIG and may be that’s one of the reasons I chose this as the first topic fro my blog...

So what’s the buzz all about anyway???

Once a darling friend of mine coined this term ‘HE-VALRY’. Amused, I asked him what it meant.. Pat came the reply- ‘Good manners shown to men by men.’ lol... Man,needless to say, it got me thinking…!!

What could have probably gone in the head of the person who actually invented the term CHIVALRY?? Did he/she draw inference from the pronunciation SHE-VALRY??? Ha ha… It does make some sense, the word- HE-VALRY.. !

The damsel in distress is knotted and neck deep in danger... Her only hope for survival is the prince, her knight in shining armor who will cross ocean, climb mountains and arrive to take her out of the mess she has landed herself in.. And drum roll, please here he comes, gallivanting his way to the abode of his lady.. He lifts her up over his shoulder, and props her onto the horse. He slays the demons and the happy couple are whisked away into the glimmering night sky.Nowhere in this fairytale did the princess say, "I can get onto the horse myself, thank you very much," nor did the knight say "Hey baby, let's go back to my place and have some fun."

This fairytale analogy isn't intended to be nostalgic, it's meant to point out the difference between the old-fashioned days of chivalry, and how it has evolved today. Today’s movies are no different… We are just so goddamn used to seeing the hero perform all the stunts, claim his love from rooftops, be the care provider and carry out myriad errands… While the female is still portrayed as the sheltered one even if she is fully capable of handling herself in all ways…

In the name of Chivalry, is chauvinism creeping in somewhere along the picture… You bet it does.....

Chivalry is a plain and simple act of being kind and courteous?? Overdoing it amounts to chauvinism...

Irrespective of the sex, I believe that each and every person needs to be chivalrous or he-valrous or she-valrous as the case may be..lol.. :)

Is that wrong...?? The upper limit assumes different scales for different people..

So HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?? the million dollar question that we ask ourselves even if it meant just extending kindness is

"IS SHE/HE WORTH IT as in REALLY REALLY WORTH IT?? "

The topic is vast..

Watch this space for more..

DISCLAIMER!:)

BLOGGIN is MINDBOGGLING… It has kept millions glued for a long time now.. Well, I ve always wanted to be a part of this wave… Writing has been one of my strong interests for sometime now and m hoping I can explore it through this canvas here..

First & foremost, the ones looking for serious topics can give this blog a miss…I do not claim to have researched the topics presented here nor do I claim that it is totally true… However, here you will find trivial issues that catch my fancy presented in an interesting way…

I will do my best to keep the readers entertained...

This will be used more as an extension of my expressive side...

Hope you guys ENJOY flipping thru!!Any comments, suggestions will be taken in the stride.. M open to it!!:)