Serial Killers!

Mom’s keenly watching a daily soap. I haven’t watched one in years, and from the recap that mom has so generously given me, I find it interesting. Looks like a good story line. It’s only half an hour, I tell myself. If that means getting time to chat up with mom, even on a pretty useless topic, why not! So I settle down next to her watching what happens next from where she’s left the story. (and by the way, there was no chatting up during that time, I had almost forgotten that opening my mouth was akin to hara-kiri, especially when mom’s watching those soaps!)

Scene one. Bushy eyebrow. And then, slowly the camera pans to the....the...the other bushy eyebrow. He’s supposed to be that mystery man, right? Hmmm….Someone asks a question and the shot is again on our man…I mean, on his bushy eyebrows….he doesn't speak, his assistant answers for him. Another dialogue…and zoom to the bushy eyebrows….yet another dialogue….zoom again to the bushy eyebrows….imagine having to be just content watching the man’s bushy eyebrows for the entire half hour. Eyebrows that looked like a mountain…sorry, two mountains. Man….! Why couldn’t you trim them a little? Especially when they were to be shown endlessly for half an hour! You could give Kroor Singh a run for his money!! (Kroor Singh, who? Chandrakantha... remember? Yep the same guy) And no, our man does not, as much as, mouth a single dialogue the whole time. The voice could be a giveaway, right? Yeah! The whole world wants to know who the man is…. And people wait with baited breaths….

Aah mistarees!!! The warldh louse tham, doan’th thaeey?

 But no, for today that is all we will get to see. The wait continues to the next day. The next day, we get to see a shot of his majesty’s shoes…. shiny, pointed, and black, with a dotted partition running like a creek from the center to the sides.  Ah! Now you are marveling at my ability to be such a keen observer of accessories, no? Don’t be! As much as I would be liked to be called hawk eyed, I am more like a nursery kid who has been taught to learn by rote! I saw them, the shoes, I mean, for a full 30 minutes!!! They walked back and forth, the heel making a perfect angle before being laid at 180 degrees on the floor. I swear the shoes made exactly the same angle with the floor each time they were lifted! And wow, the sound they made! Crunch...in slow motion….crunch….in slow motion…crunch…in slow motion…they went each time he lifted those heavenly feet and blessed the floor with them! As for the identity of our man….nah...not so soon love…he continues to be a…..mistaree!! If there was a knife nearby, I could have driven it straight into my belly!

Now I wanted to desperately see who that mystery man was. It is said all good things come to those who wait….yeah right!! Because, cut to the next day, and we generously get to see a shot running from the shoes up the trousers, slowly....if an ant were to be climbing up his trouser, I bet we could have traced its path upwards! There’s more….Yay!! I do a mental flip! The shot shows us every crease on his whiter-than-milk trouser and the camera’s going up…yeah, we’re there, almost baby, keep going...keep going…I try to be encouraging. Oh yeah, the tie, beautiful… yellow floral tie, eh? …whatever….but you are doing good, keep going…! Matches with the trouser and the blazer….well not really…but who cares….just keep going….come on you can do it….ah!! I can almost see the nape of his neck!!

And then…. almost liked a ruined orgasm….arrrrghhhh…..those stupid bushy eyebrows again! What the…?!! Really? What is he? Monalisa?  Why can’t you just show the bugger’s face?

How much free time do those producers think we have? They really expected us to watch such insanely stupid soaps, while they take their own sweet time (3 full episodes!!) to just show us that mystery man’s face?? And no, the face that will launch a thousand ships has still not been unraveled, mind you!

I throw a scornful this-is-what-you-watch look at mom, and she pretends not to have caught that look….I remember seeing such an insane shot 15 years ago in one of the first ever, longest running daily soaps on television. We haven’t walked a single step in last 15 years, have we? 

Over the top parenting!!

We were having a get together at a friend’s place, and while the adults were busy chatting, the kids were busy bringing the roof down with all the noise they were making! All of a sudden one of the kids fell down and the kid’s mom and dad both let out a short scream!

Even as I wondered whether it was the child which fell down or his parents, the mother ran to him, consoling him and the father frantically rubbed his head. To me it looked like the mother needed more consoling than the child! In the midst of that entire hullabaloo, I saw the child suddenly freeze in shock for a short while, before crying so hard holding his breath that I was sure he would turn blue if he held his breath any longer! Even before anyone could say anything, the harried parents made an abrupt exit with the child in tow and the other parents nodded sympathetically!

To read the rest of the post go to....www.parentous.com

And no, this is not the graffiti wall...the scribbling continues everywhere in spite of having a wall earmarked for him!

Life is a B......baffling beauty!

It is amazing how life gives you those upswings and downswings in equal measures!! She will never let you get too happy or too sad, too leisurely or too busy, too excited or too depressed! She knows just when to pull the strings and show you who's in control!

Just when I thought how hunky dory life was, giving me enough time to lazy around, marveling how I was able to lounge around with a new book every two days, turning every nook of my house into a cozy little haven, thankful for kids who were minding their own business, for family and friends who were pouring in their love every waking hour, and showering my self with love too, doing things that made me happy, gymming, reading, writing, cooking, and so on and so forth.... suddenly she decides to put a brake to all that! And suddenly I find myself thrown into a cauldron of bubbling emotions!!

It is like the clock turned faster, the minutes went by without waiting for the seconds to complete their time, just as the hours went by without letting the minutes tick through theirs. There's suddenly more writing assignments, more wedding orders to be completed, the schools decide to dump in projects at the same time, the body decides to go on a strike, with the migraines and apneas competing amongst themselves as to who could make me sicker, and all the festivals deciding to gang up in one power packed month. In short, there's no time to breath!!

From being in a space where I was reading two books in a week, I found it difficult to find time to play a tag game and name 10 of my favorite books! From riding on a bullock cart I was suddenly riding on the Maglev!

But that's how she is , isn't she? She never lets you think like you are in control. Clever little lady!

There have been times when I have been so excited about something, that I could barely breathe (yep, that sounded cliched!) and before that excitement could kill me, she drew the curtains and put me in a totally depressed state! There have been times when I have been so sad that I almost thought I wouldn't last the night, but no, I did. And then, I received a sudden rush of happiness that made me more alive than I ever would be!

I guess, unless these cascades happen like precision clockwork, we wouldn't know one from the other! I guess that rest I had in the last month gave me the energy to pull through this month. I guess, that's how the highs and lows pair off together. And that's why I know, when I get too tired to chug along, I'll be allowed to disembark from the Maglev and ride my bullock cart again.

Important things you should say to your child..

Children look up to their parents for support, for validation, and for encouragement. They look up to their parents to emulate them, to teach them right from wrong and to hold their hands when they falter. So the onus on us to be all that to them is even more than we would like think! It’s an oft repeated statement that we should be careful of what we speak to our kids and what we speak when they are around. It is equally important what we say to them through our gestures and words. Kids are like those highly absorbent sponges, soaking in everything they see us do or hear us say.

Here are seven important things you must say to your kid-

I love you – I say this to my kids every single day, as they leave for school, as they retire to bed and anytime in between. My kids light up every time I say it, and they tell me that they love me too. It’s an obvious thing, but it needs to be said. Hugs and kisses are other forms of showing your love. All these verbal and physical forms of love makes kids feel secure and cared for.

To read the rest of the post go to...parentous.com

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An apology

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 48; the forty-eighth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

                                            This post won me the silver batom!! Yay!! 
  
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 "Don't you think you must apologize to me?" That sounded more like a demand than a request.

Trust Mr-know-all to flaunt his arrogance like that! she thought. So typical of him! Why did always think he could do no wrong? He always assumed she was the weaker one and his sole purpose in life was to guide her! 

"And why would I do that?" she asked.

"For all the hurt I have endured because of you."

"That is not true!"she exclaimed. "Are you accusing me of causing you hurt? Me????"

"I am...! I think before I act. That is how I shield myself from getting hurt. I don't act impulsively like you."

"One doesn't 'think' when one is in love." she looked hurt.

"That is the more irrational thing I've ever heard! When you don't think, here is where you land." 

His sarcasm was getting to her.

"Ha! What would you know about love anyway, you practical fool!"

"What would I know??! Let me tell you what I know, being in love is like living in a fool's paradise. Would you dare to disagree?"

"But it is still paradise." The tinge of sadness was evident in her voice. 

"So why are tears flooding your eyes then? Being in heaven shouldn't hurt like hell."

"It hurts when the person who made you feel so special suddenly leaves you hanging. It's crazy when the person who swore that he'll never hurt you, is the one who hurts you the most."  

"You messed up your feelings and you messed up mine. I was treading with caution but you made me toe your line. You convinced me you were right. But now I know you weren't! I would have done well to have let my thoughts rule me than having your emotions butt in!"

"Okayyy....if it is an apology you want, you shall have it. I'm sorry for hoping you'd know what I want." she had had enough of his rebuttal, of telling her how wrong she was. She knew she wasn't, but she didn't want to keep arguing with him. He'd never understand anyway! 

They had always been poles apart. He, the rational mind and she, the nimble heart. 

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