Letter from us to you--One (Emotional Pain)

My LO ...you are growing up fast..

It's being difficult keeping pace and match up to your speed of growing..

Like any other parent, me and your Pappu always wish that you don't have to face any difficulties in life and life treat you well...But more than that we want you to be able to brace life with open arms....

You are ten years old now.. This is the time when you are not a toddler but you are not an adolescent too..... Till now you were well protected under our wings... but now you want to flutter your little wings ... you will start taking small flights and then the wonderful day will come when you will fly into this vast sky.. to explore this beautiful world with your own eyes...

But before that let's talk about some things that we want to tell you.....

Let's talk about Pain ... Pain is inevitable.. its part of life... be it physical or emotional...

We wish... you learn to keep physical and emotional pains separate.. you understand that these are mutually exclusive

If we hurt ourselves physically...its not necessary that we feel down ... we can still laugh, be happy ...provided our jaws are not hurt

The Yellow Dal (Yellow Lentil)

I gave him the 'grocery list' and he was so excited about fulfilling his marital duty of purchasing grocery for his family....
           I was feeling blessed for having such a caring husband....
           Was on top of the world.... he was so intelligent... he knew so much about kitchen and cooking and its ingredients..

He went to the store and called me " Hey listen... some of the items on list are having special offers like 'Buy One Get One Free' and special discounts. Should I buy extra??"  "Ohhkk",  I said, "so good you are. Love you dear... Buy everything and come home fast.."

Tring tring tring  tring .... he called and asked Hey which is tur dal?? The yellow one? I said here you go ... yes yes the yellow one ... but dear please read on the packet...

Till then the phone was disconnected... I went to the kitchen....Landline started ringing ..I ran to pick it up... there .. my responsible better half again... sheepishly ... Hey there are two yellow dals .. similar looking .. which one to pick???

I said Please read the label.. one would be Tur Dal and the other one the Chana Dal...

He rhetorted .. I used to prepare Yellow Dal and I know what it is and how it looks like.. But here, there are two yellow dals .. I can't buy such things.. now onwards .. you go for grocery shopping... I can't go.. I don't have so much time ... blah blah blah

Oh God!!! what happened???? What's the confusion dear... I asked.

Tell me,  which is the Yellow Dal? He asked , I can't go and read all labels to buy a damn Dal..Tell me the color, I will pick it up...

Dear don't fret... there are other Yellow Dals too.. one small called Moong Dal ... others light yellow ones like Moth Dal.. don't get annoyed.. pick whatever is easy to pick and leave other things .. I will arrange for them myself... you are doing good job.. don't spoil it ... I pleaded.

He melted..  took so much pains ....  read the labels ... asked the sales staff and bought all the listed things ...

And now My Hero has become expert in Grocery Shopping.. He can give lessons on Grocery Shopping to other Boys.. who have become New Husbands and who want to perform their duties perfectly..
         

Sleepover .... What to expect

Lo and behold.... Me and D also came face to face with this reality....

The wish of my LO, who is thinking himself to be quite grown up now, to organise a sleepover party for his friends...

                                                              

         Off course we complied... but we were stepping in the unknown territory...

         Yes yes !!! I agree ...parenting in itself is an unknown territory for all of us.. we all brace ourselves and jump into it to face whatever may come..

 

           We decided .. we would plan an elaborate dinner with breakfast in the morning for our one night wards. Here the planning of Menu was like a piece of cake... literally ...But the menu itself was going to be according to our activities for the night, but.... hold it

 

All depended on the space for sleeping in one room with each other but not cramped....
 

           So I asked LO to make list of his bestest of friends ...whom he was willing to call... and I gave the task of ruling out the naughtiest ones ... so that my sanity could be restored afterwards

 

           First of all call to mommies, if they would be willing to send their children then only further planning was feasible... The mommies of friends my LO wanted to call were not very much acquainted with me..

         

          With a little doubt first of all I called one whom I thought to be knowing me a bit more than others.. she agreed to send her child till 12:30 in the night only.. I felt obliged... called another one.. luckily neighbour of the first one... she too agreed for 12:30 only... Now what??????

          

Junagadh...city I fell in love with

When planned our trip to Junagdh, Gujarat, I never knew, it would be such an influence!!!

The trip was one day only.... we had to skip the trek to Girnar due to time constraint

But the city still charmed me... we moved by our car through the roads and alleys of the city... main city looked just like any other Gujarati city till we started our journey through history of this city...

The Sakkarbaug Zoo needs special mention here due to the state of animals there...

No no ..nothing to worry about ..... though the zoo is small... many big cats are kept here in comparatively small enclosures but and they are so happily healthy

 

 

The Bird enclosures are so beautiful......

 

 

 

Then we went to the majestc Mahabat Makbara, if only the Tourism Deptt took some interest and restored the wonder to its past beauty. Just couldn't take my eyes off it. Some entry fee could have been charged too...people would have paid happily

 

 

 



And then The Upperkot Fort.. with its intersting story of Rani Ranak Devi ... but here I would like to comment about the Adi Kadi Vav (one of the oldest Stepwells). This stepwell is without any intricate designs or ornamentations but then its being oldest is the charm of it. Sad part is it's full of pigeon droppings and garbage...

If only we could taste its sweet and cool water....if it was kept clean and working.....if if if ....

 

 

There are Buddhist Caves also, which are underground and to think that many many years ago Huen Tsang had walked there !!!

 

 

 

The alleys and roads outside the Fort were adding to the old world charm of the city....

 

When going through history and folk tales of the place and its monuments, we wonder how much is true?? But they do tell some stories and take us to that forgotten era...