I am quite amazed by some of the stuff that Peanut has started doing. And of course, I assume you share my fascination, so here goes.
* She recognizes the term 'Get down' and actually inches backwards towards the edge of the bed to try and climb down. Of course, sometimes she decides to change her mind at the last minute and ends up hanging off the side precariously but determinedly, and has to be pushed off the edge. When she lands and receives applause, she squeals in delight, a sound that sounds like a triumphant 'A-haaaa!'. She then, in her excitement, attempts to walk away from the bed, forgetting that she can't actually walk, and has to be rescued from the imminent fall.
* If any one of the rest of us lies down in front of her with our eyes closed, she leans over and 'kisses' us on the cheek. Well, this works for her father, her masi and her nani anyway. When it comes to me trying this out, I end up getting poked in the eye. If I make the mistake of giggling, she will do it again. And again. And it's really not that funny to have someone trying to claw your eyelid open. Just when I'm about to put an end to this, she deigns to lean over and put her mouth on my cheek, often biting me hard with her gums. And it's fantastic.
* She seems to know the time that I'm about to come home, and always gets terribly excited when I ring the doorbell. The K insists that if someone else comes home around the time, the baby gets very disappointed to see that it's them instead of me. My sister told me that when she came home one day, Peanut actually put on a sulky, sullen face for a while before deciding to forgive her and play with her.
* She continues to exhibit a clear preference for me - Vijay continues to try and get her to say Papa, which is met with dogged 'Mama' in response. I am, in the spirit of fairness, attempting to teach her to say Papa now too, if a little half-heartedly.
* She dances! When she's on all fours, she'll rock back and forth. When she's sitting up or standing, she shakes her head side to side with the biggest grin on her face - oftentimes, she does this head shaking even without music, just to express her happiness with life in general. I think she'll be quite musical because she manages to beat out a fair rhythm on her katori and spoons. I even saw her daintily pick out a tune on the huge keyboard that Vijay bought for her a while back. Okay, so maybe I exaggerate here a bit. It's amusing to see her play an instrument six times her size.
* She loves reading- she listens with rapt attention to the stories that I read out and cries everytime a book is closed. This process goes on and on until I finally toss the books aside, telling her to just learn to read them herself if she's that interested.
* Like every other baby, she loves throwing things, getting a huge kick out of this and laughing loudly and wildly each time the unfortunate object reaches the floor with a satisfying, resounding clang. I've never laughed so much to see things being actively destroyed before.
Yes. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I've never met a more interesting person in my life.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
She's Back and this time, She's Rambling!
...Okay, okay, quickly, gotta do this quickly. There's been so much happening but I just don't get time to blog about it. Hey what's this ओह माय गोद , नो नोट गोद, गव्द okay, sorry about that, I got excited because I saw the hindi scripting feature just now. Have I really been away that long, Blogger? How much you've changed. Sigh.
It's a beautiful Saturday morning in Delhi. One of those alternate non-working Saturdays and the possibility of a whole lazy two-day weekend stretches before me. It's been so lovely, the weather. I remember I came to Delhi just about this time last year, a couple of months before delivering Peanut - the weather was nothing like this.
I mentioned it here in this post, and it was one where I wrote about our 'awesome twosome' - our help in Mumbai, Zareena and Vinod. Well, I think I haven't really had time to mention it, but Zareena was totally broken when we decided to relocate to Delhi a couple of months back. She was very emotional when she heard about it, and was quite depressed for a few days - having become fond of all us, especially the baby.
She came with Vinod to drop us to the airport when we were all leaving, dressed in her 'outside of home' Sari, with her long hair open, looking quite tragic - no more tears while waving us goodbye, but a shaky little smile. Funnily enough, that's one thing about Mumbai that I'm really missing - having Zareena around.
I'm not missing the equally valuable driver, Vinod, though - for the very simple reason that the young man has decided to relocate and has come to Delhi to continue to be with us. That's something which I'm really glad about although I've felt slightly worried about his settling into this city - he was just so comfortable in Mumbai, had lots of contacts, stayed with his elder brother there - but he seems to be doing alright and claims to like the city well enough. In fact, in Mumbai, he had an offer from his earlier 'Model Memsahib' to come back to her, for around 50% more than we can pay him - but he decided to just stick on with us because he seems to like us. Good for us. Given how difficult good help is to find, it makes to keep the ones you can. Couldn't take Zareena with us though. She calls occasionally but apart from hearing her familiar yell 'KAISE HO, THEEK HOON MEMSAHIB, KAJAL KYA KAR RAHIN HAI, BABY KYA KAR RAHIN HAI', there isn't really that much you talk about on the phone with her.
Anyway, so life goes on and I'm quite excited because there are going to be three new babies - yes, three! - amongst my close family and friends over the next few months - that's really good because I have these visions of Peanut growing up with all of them, even though none of them are in my city so far. I guess I'm hoping that they will all converge to Delhi like we did, realizing that it's just so much better to be with family around this time.
After joining work, I've been really busy because there is so much going on and it's all very exciting stuff - I think the best thing about my new workplace is the energy that we've got going on over there - it's a whole new business, and a whole new world, but I'm able to apply the stuff I've learned over the last few years quite well - it's good to be in a place where you can make a difference and also keep learning something new everyday. But we're little short on people and so it's quite madly busy during the week. Oh, by the way, any one of you interested in working in a great Internet business, in marketing ? Let me know.
Wow, I didn't want to convert this post into a recruitment bid, so let me smoothly move on. Peanut is doing fine, she's almost 10 months old now. She has been irritating Vijay by refusing to say Papa, doggedly repeats Mamamamamamama whenever he tries to get her to say it. I try to tell him that he needn't put forth his case in the form of his own personal cheer - he sits down in front of her and chants 'Who is the best? Pa-PA...Who is the best? Pa-PA'. She watches with an amused expression and then quickly crawls over to me, going 'Mamamamama'. The other thing she's learnt to say quite well is 'Nai-nai-nai-nai-nai-nai' which is typically used when we're trying to get her to sleep at night.
I'm a lot less tired now, having recovered from a cold over the last week and deciding that I will get in some exercise every morning no matter how bad I wake up feeling. Peanut's been consenting to sleep by 10.30 p.m. and nowadays I actually can't remember in the mornings, whether she wakes up with the same frequency at night as before - so I suspect keenly that this might be why I'm feeling better rested but here I will unsuccessfully search for that anti-jinx thing and end up quickly changing the subject again.
Actually, I think I'll just post later because I can hear Peanut playing in the other room and she seems to be finding something very funny indeed. During the week, I do come back to feed her every day at lunchtime and that is really important to me - but now that my time with her is cut down on working days, I tend to cling on to her the same way she clings on to me while I'm home. And that's pretty much why the infrequency of posts.
And how are all of you? Good, I hope? Let me know if you're still there?
See you later!
I'm sure you understand.
It's a beautiful Saturday morning in Delhi. One of those alternate non-working Saturdays and the possibility of a whole lazy two-day weekend stretches before me. It's been so lovely, the weather. I remember I came to Delhi just about this time last year, a couple of months before delivering Peanut - the weather was nothing like this.
I mentioned it here in this post, and it was one where I wrote about our 'awesome twosome' - our help in Mumbai, Zareena and Vinod. Well, I think I haven't really had time to mention it, but Zareena was totally broken when we decided to relocate to Delhi a couple of months back. She was very emotional when she heard about it, and was quite depressed for a few days - having become fond of all us, especially the baby.
She came with Vinod to drop us to the airport when we were all leaving, dressed in her 'outside of home' Sari, with her long hair open, looking quite tragic - no more tears while waving us goodbye, but a shaky little smile. Funnily enough, that's one thing about Mumbai that I'm really missing - having Zareena around.
I'm not missing the equally valuable driver, Vinod, though - for the very simple reason that the young man has decided to relocate and has come to Delhi to continue to be with us. That's something which I'm really glad about although I've felt slightly worried about his settling into this city - he was just so comfortable in Mumbai, had lots of contacts, stayed with his elder brother there - but he seems to be doing alright and claims to like the city well enough. In fact, in Mumbai, he had an offer from his earlier 'Model Memsahib' to come back to her, for around 50% more than we can pay him - but he decided to just stick on with us because he seems to like us. Good for us. Given how difficult good help is to find, it makes to keep the ones you can. Couldn't take Zareena with us though. She calls occasionally but apart from hearing her familiar yell 'KAISE HO, THEEK HOON MEMSAHIB, KAJAL KYA KAR RAHIN HAI, BABY KYA KAR RAHIN HAI', there isn't really that much you talk about on the phone with her.
Anyway, so life goes on and I'm quite excited because there are going to be three new babies - yes, three! - amongst my close family and friends over the next few months - that's really good because I have these visions of Peanut growing up with all of them, even though none of them are in my city so far. I guess I'm hoping that they will all converge to Delhi like we did, realizing that it's just so much better to be with family around this time.
After joining work, I've been really busy because there is so much going on and it's all very exciting stuff - I think the best thing about my new workplace is the energy that we've got going on over there - it's a whole new business, and a whole new world, but I'm able to apply the stuff I've learned over the last few years quite well - it's good to be in a place where you can make a difference and also keep learning something new everyday. But we're little short on people and so it's quite madly busy during the week. Oh, by the way, any one of you interested in working in a great Internet business, in marketing ? Let me know.
Wow, I didn't want to convert this post into a recruitment bid, so let me smoothly move on. Peanut is doing fine, she's almost 10 months old now. She has been irritating Vijay by refusing to say Papa, doggedly repeats Mamamamamamama whenever he tries to get her to say it. I try to tell him that he needn't put forth his case in the form of his own personal cheer - he sits down in front of her and chants 'Who is the best? Pa-PA...Who is the best? Pa-PA'. She watches with an amused expression and then quickly crawls over to me, going 'Mamamamama'. The other thing she's learnt to say quite well is 'Nai-nai-nai-nai-nai-nai' which is typically used when we're trying to get her to sleep at night.
I'm a lot less tired now, having recovered from a cold over the last week and deciding that I will get in some exercise every morning no matter how bad I wake up feeling. Peanut's been consenting to sleep by 10.30 p.m. and nowadays I actually can't remember in the mornings, whether she wakes up with the same frequency at night as before - so I suspect keenly that this might be why I'm feeling better rested but here I will unsuccessfully search for that anti-jinx thing and end up quickly changing the subject again.
Actually, I think I'll just post later because I can hear Peanut playing in the other room and she seems to be finding something very funny indeed. During the week, I do come back to feed her every day at lunchtime and that is really important to me - but now that my time with her is cut down on working days, I tend to cling on to her the same way she clings on to me while I'm home. And that's pretty much why the infrequency of posts.
And how are all of you? Good, I hope? Let me know if you're still there?
See you later!
I'm sure you understand.
Friday, May 9, 2008
A Regular Childhood
Aaaarrgh! A weekend post again. I am becoming a mere weekend blogger at this rate. Anyway, for some vague reason, I've been wondering what constitutes an 'average' childhood for us middle class Indians. So, I am curious to know how many people have done a bulk of these things when they were kids.
a. Peed in a pool. Fairly regularly, actually. It was just easier, you know?
b. Dressed up in white flowing robes, painted their faces white, called themselves 'Bhootneeta' and frightened smaller kids in the family/neighbourhood, perhaps unintentionally causing a lot of trauma in later life.
c. Called 100 just to check if the police would really pick up. Called them again a few more times before resting easy.
d. Pranced out of the house to play with the neighbourhood kids, your enthusiasm causing you to forget that you were only in your undies.
e. Adopted a stray cat or dog, and regularly fed them with milk and burnt cookies made in the microwave. Had your heart broken irreparably when one of them died, and no, it wasn't because of the cookies.
f. Developed a fixation for 'buried treasure', and spent hours on hot summer afternoons digging in the neighbour's garden for it. Finally found a dirty old bone and convinced you had discovered the remnants of a dinosaur.
g. Performed silly, never-ending songs at the drop of a hat. That bloody 'When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands' and others like it.
h. Refused to complete a homework assignment regarding the hair colour of your parents, on the grounds that 'my Daddy doesn't have any hair', only to have the class teacher scruitinize his head carefully at PTA and embarass him by informing him that he does have some hair left.
i. Attempted to teach yourself juggling, but choosing to do so ambitiously using eggs, and broken right on top of your mother's radio. Wiped the surface clean but still causing the mother shock when she investigated why it wasn't working by taking it apart, and discovering egg yolk inside.
j. Hidden under the bed regularly to read your mean brother's collection of books and thus forever associating the Hardy Boys with dusty darkness.
k. Rather fancied yourself a hairdresser and practiced on your sister's long, flowing locks, chopping them mercilessly and reducing her to blubbering tears. Hid in the bathroom while your Mom consoled her and tried to to fix it, trying to convince everyone that she had wanted a more stylish look and you were only trying to help.
So, tell me, is this a 'usual' childhood? How many of you have done things like this in some form or the other?
a. Peed in a pool. Fairly regularly, actually. It was just easier, you know?
b. Dressed up in white flowing robes, painted their faces white, called themselves 'Bhootneeta' and frightened smaller kids in the family/neighbourhood, perhaps unintentionally causing a lot of trauma in later life.
c. Called 100 just to check if the police would really pick up. Called them again a few more times before resting easy.
d. Pranced out of the house to play with the neighbourhood kids, your enthusiasm causing you to forget that you were only in your undies.
e. Adopted a stray cat or dog, and regularly fed them with milk and burnt cookies made in the microwave. Had your heart broken irreparably when one of them died, and no, it wasn't because of the cookies.
f. Developed a fixation for 'buried treasure', and spent hours on hot summer afternoons digging in the neighbour's garden for it. Finally found a dirty old bone and convinced you had discovered the remnants of a dinosaur.
g. Performed silly, never-ending songs at the drop of a hat. That bloody 'When you're happy and you know it, clap your hands' and others like it.
h. Refused to complete a homework assignment regarding the hair colour of your parents, on the grounds that 'my Daddy doesn't have any hair', only to have the class teacher scruitinize his head carefully at PTA and embarass him by informing him that he does have some hair left.
i. Attempted to teach yourself juggling, but choosing to do so ambitiously using eggs, and broken right on top of your mother's radio. Wiped the surface clean but still causing the mother shock when she investigated why it wasn't working by taking it apart, and discovering egg yolk inside.
j. Hidden under the bed regularly to read your mean brother's collection of books and thus forever associating the Hardy Boys with dusty darkness.
k. Rather fancied yourself a hairdresser and practiced on your sister's long, flowing locks, chopping them mercilessly and reducing her to blubbering tears. Hid in the bathroom while your Mom consoled her and tried to to fix it, trying to convince everyone that she had wanted a more stylish look and you were only trying to help.
So, tell me, is this a 'usual' childhood? How many of you have done things like this in some form or the other?
Friday, May 2, 2008
Faux Pas of the Week
So my dear mother has given a pair of my pants for alteration at our tailor's, and instructed me to hand over 40 bucks to my driver and ask him to pick it up. 'He knows where it is', she tells me confidently.
But when I get to the office, I'm in a bit of a hurry and busy thinking of ten things at the same time. As I'm getting out of the car, I just about remember to tell him to pick up the pants. I notice his strange expression only as I'm slamming the door shut and realize it is due to the fact that I have just tossed him a hundred rupee note, with the words:
'Bhaiiya, Mera Pant Uthana'
But when I get to the office, I'm in a bit of a hurry and busy thinking of ten things at the same time. As I'm getting out of the car, I just about remember to tell him to pick up the pants. I notice his strange expression only as I'm slamming the door shut and realize it is due to the fact that I have just tossed him a hundred rupee note, with the words:
'Bhaiiya, Mera Pant Uthana'
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
It's all about the Numbers
So, I had no idea, absolutely no idea when I wrote this post a few months back- how soon I would hit this landmark - It's my 200th post!
You can't see them all because I've taken off quite a few, but just believe me when I say it's my 200th post. Pretty cool, huh?
The other interesting number game is called 'Y's incredibly boring and unnecessary update on her pregnancy weight gain and post pregnancy weight loss'.
The deal is this:
a. Put on obscene amounts of weight during pregnancy - go from 56 kilos to 80 kilos - 8 kilos higher than recommended by your doctor. Not good.
b. Give birth - and lose 6 kilos in one day. Pretty good.
c. Breastfeed and don't sleep at all - and lose 8 kilos in a mere two months. Very good.
d. Stay at home with your baby, feed and take care of her, obsess about your weight, work out everyday - and don't lose a single gram for seven bloody months. Not so good.
e. Join work but continue to run home to feed the baby - and lose 2 kilos in two weeks. Very, very good. Indeedy.
Yeah. I know I said I wouldn't talk about my weight anymore. I even tried to inspire a revolution, the 'No-talky-about-my-weighty-booty' movement - but barely a couple of you agreed. So really, if you think about it, it is kind of all your fault that I'm back to obsessing. Your fault. As usual.
But yay! 200 posts! Thank you, thank you. You've all been wonderful.
Air kisses, Mwah, Mwah.
You can't see them all because I've taken off quite a few, but just believe me when I say it's my 200th post. Pretty cool, huh?
The other interesting number game is called 'Y's incredibly boring and unnecessary update on her pregnancy weight gain and post pregnancy weight loss'.
The deal is this:
a. Put on obscene amounts of weight during pregnancy - go from 56 kilos to 80 kilos - 8 kilos higher than recommended by your doctor. Not good.
b. Give birth - and lose 6 kilos in one day. Pretty good.
c. Breastfeed and don't sleep at all - and lose 8 kilos in a mere two months. Very good.
d. Stay at home with your baby, feed and take care of her, obsess about your weight, work out everyday - and don't lose a single gram for seven bloody months. Not so good.
e. Join work but continue to run home to feed the baby - and lose 2 kilos in two weeks. Very, very good. Indeedy.
Yeah. I know I said I wouldn't talk about my weight anymore. I even tried to inspire a revolution, the 'No-talky-about-my-weighty-booty' movement - but barely a couple of you agreed. So really, if you think about it, it is kind of all your fault that I'm back to obsessing. Your fault. As usual.
But yay! 200 posts! Thank you, thank you. You've all been wonderful.
Air kisses, Mwah, Mwah.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Aaaaaaah!
....is what I say as I settle down at 1 p.m on a Saturday afternoon and begin to write this.
The last ten days have been quite crazy - I joined work after a loooong break and it's taking some getting used to, leaving Peanut behind for hours in the day. The good news is that my work is really interesting and I am working with some very nice people. There isn't any of the politics, political correctness, and very little heirarchy - it's almost like a start-up. The work content itself is a refreshing change from what I've been doing before, and yet, there are enough similarities in the job profile for me not to feel totally out of my depth, despite the fact that there is so much going on.
One big worry on my mind was whether I would have, uhh...'lost my touch' - you know, whether the last few months of being at home would have somehow made me less sharp or just, you know...'out of it', somehow. But as some kind commenter told me a while back, it's like swimming or cycling - you never really forget it, and you just sort of fall back into it. So it's taken me very little time to get into the action and the job - the only thing is that I have so much to read and learn about this new field -which incidentally, if you're interested, has involved a shift from FMCG to the online world - and I just don't seem to get enough time to do it at all.
Of course ,a bigger worry on my mind was the question of whether I was ready to go back to work. The last few days have told me that I'm definitely happier going to work - I just am not cut out for staying at home. Sure, if I could get a chance to do what I do from home, that would be great - but the line of work I'm in, that's not really a possibility, apart from the odd day here and there. I do miss seeing Peanut, but the good thing is that I get to go home and feed her during lunch - so even though it's rather hectic for me, I am assured that she is okay and happy, and get to snatch a few moments with her - coming as it does in the middle of a hectic workday, it's a welcome break and puts things in perspective nicely.
And as for the biggest worry, which was about how Peanut herself will manage - I think she's actually quite okay. The first day that I left in the morning at about 9 a.m. - after rushing through the unfamiliar process of getting ready for work and feeding her - she watched me leave without much emotion - I guess she didn't really know what was happening. I was a bit tense that day and came back at lunchtime - I saw that she was playing quite happily until the time that she saw me, when she promptly burst into plaintive tears. I fed her and played with her for a bit while having my own lunch - the overall process took me about 40 minutes, and then it was time for me to go again - but this time she started wailing as she watched me walk out the door. I came back to hug and kiss her and told her I'd be back again in a few hours, but she continued to cry because I didn't take her from the K into my own arms. I left, resisting the urge to turn back, having read that it just becomes harder if this goodbye scene is prolonged.
So, surely enough, she seems to be doing fine. I am told that she is actually fine while I'm not around - eating, playing, sleeping. I am lucky to have the K - at least I know that she loves the baby and looks after her very carefully. But I do think it's necessary for the baby to have other people around through the day because Peanut is a fairly social kid (once the faces around her become familiar) - and that may start happening in a month or so when we move out of my mom's place ( where we are getting quite spoiled because it is so comfortable). I hope to be able to leave the baby and the K with close relatives who live near the area we are looking at, and are at home through the day - unlike my hard working mother and sister and husband, who come home way after I do. Let's see how it all pans out.
So my routine has been a little crazy and more than a little tiring. Wake up at 6.30 a.m., have tea with the husband and the baby in the garden, usually go for a jog in the nearby park, and then rush through getting ready, eat breakfast , feed the baby and leave, usually forgetting something or the other in the house. Get to work by 9.30 a.m., wait impatiently for the lift to the 10th floor, occasionally get annoyed and just walk upstairs, nearly collapsing and resolving never to do it again and admiring my boss for doing it everday ( a lady who has been through childbirth multiple times - and looks very good, very fit and much younger than her actual age). I get into my workspace and dive right into things. At around 1 p.m., I'm off home and back usually by 2.30 p.m. - of course, I've discovered that the people in my office rarely take a lunch break, preferring working lunches or just eating at their desks - but even though my 'break' is quite hectic (because I have to get down the stairs, go home, feed a rather uncooperative Peanut who is excited to have me back and too distracted by the buttons on my shirt to feed properly, have my own lunch a little too quickly, come back and get back up those damn stairs) - It's quite useful to get out of the office for a chance to clear my head.
By the time I get back to work, the sleeplessness of the previous night (yep, Peanut is still waking up for night feeds) and the resultant tiredness starts to creep in, but I manage to hold it at bay for a while with a cup of tea or coffee. Working for another four hours or so, I then pack up quickly and leave, usually forgetting something or the other at my desk.
It's 7 p.m. by the time I get back. By this point, it seems Peanut begins to get quite fidgety and gets disappointed if someone else rings the bell and walks through the door. I get back and she's suddenly all smiles, and gets a really smug look as I take her in my arms at the door and walk around the house. She is really clingy with me nowadays, expressing a clear preference for my company and getting very upset when I leave the room. It's really hard to explain to a 9 month old in diapers, the concept of 'bathroom break'.
I went to our Delhi Paediatrician today in order get Peanut her measles shot, and was pleasantly surprised to see that unlike a few months go, he actually remembered that she is a baby girl. He asked about my routine in terms of feeding her and seemed to think that I need to make some changes, which I actually agree with but am not sure how to implement. Basically I feed her at 9 a.m., which should ideally be breakfast time with some solid food like cereal - and then I get back at 1 p.m. to feed her, which is actually lunchtime for her (and all the rest of us!) and should be something like khichdi. Hmmm. Will have to figure this one out. He was of the opinion that it's time to start giving her the food that we eat in the house, with spices adequately lessened. He also said that we should be putting her to bed at 8.30 p.m., at which point I could not stop myself from laughing bitterly and scornfully.
Getting back to rambling about my routine ( Come on, admit it, you want to know. You've missed me!), after feeding and playing with Peanut for a while, it's time for me to massage and bathe her. The massage is not as enjoyable a process as it was a few months ago as Peanut wriggles around and tries to escape, or just keeps attempting to grab and lick at the bottle of oil. So I make it quick and bathe her, which she seems to like quite a bit. The K usually helps in terms of holding the baby while I do the water-pouring and the soap-lathering. The holding bit isn't all that necessary and I bathed her once without the K and it was fine, but the K was so downcast after this that I just decided it's better to let her help me!
Vijay comes home fairly late, maybe around 8 p.m. on average and then it's baby-and-Papa time. A lot of this time consists of Vijay looking adoringly at her and consistently repeating 'Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa', and Peanut looking around furtively and going 'Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma'. I have absolutely no doubt that while we're both away, the K is trying to to teach her to say 'Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka'.
Dinner time, conversation, diaper change, feeding, rocking Peanut in an attempt to get her to sleep before 11 p.m., and the few precious hours just fly by, and at the end of the day I try and read a few pages of the Thornbirds. It is the most amazing story - I discovered it only recently, having watched the entire television miniseries on DVD in just two days before I started work. When I was a kid, it was just one of those boring things my parents liked. I know I'm getting old now. Anyway, my grandmother told me that the book was even better and when I couldn't find it in Oxford Bookstore, she managed to dig out a copy that my mom had presented to my grandpa in 1984. Imagine that. And she was right, it is better than the TV version, as is usually the case.
Anyway, so that's my day nowadays and it really doesn't leave much time for blogging. Some Saturdays are working (eee-yuck!) but others, like today, aren't. And thus, here I am, telling you that I'm still around, everything is fine, and I will catch up with all you bloggy people in Delhi once things settle down a bit. Next few weekends are likely to whiz by in a blur of house-hunting and rejecting until I finally sit on Vijay and grimly twist his arm behind his back until he says 'This one looks good! We'll take it!'
So that's it for me. And you?
The last ten days have been quite crazy - I joined work after a loooong break and it's taking some getting used to, leaving Peanut behind for hours in the day. The good news is that my work is really interesting and I am working with some very nice people. There isn't any of the politics, political correctness, and very little heirarchy - it's almost like a start-up. The work content itself is a refreshing change from what I've been doing before, and yet, there are enough similarities in the job profile for me not to feel totally out of my depth, despite the fact that there is so much going on.
One big worry on my mind was whether I would have, uhh...'lost my touch' - you know, whether the last few months of being at home would have somehow made me less sharp or just, you know...'out of it', somehow. But as some kind commenter told me a while back, it's like swimming or cycling - you never really forget it, and you just sort of fall back into it. So it's taken me very little time to get into the action and the job - the only thing is that I have so much to read and learn about this new field -which incidentally, if you're interested, has involved a shift from FMCG to the online world - and I just don't seem to get enough time to do it at all.
Of course ,a bigger worry on my mind was the question of whether I was ready to go back to work. The last few days have told me that I'm definitely happier going to work - I just am not cut out for staying at home. Sure, if I could get a chance to do what I do from home, that would be great - but the line of work I'm in, that's not really a possibility, apart from the odd day here and there. I do miss seeing Peanut, but the good thing is that I get to go home and feed her during lunch - so even though it's rather hectic for me, I am assured that she is okay and happy, and get to snatch a few moments with her - coming as it does in the middle of a hectic workday, it's a welcome break and puts things in perspective nicely.
And as for the biggest worry, which was about how Peanut herself will manage - I think she's actually quite okay. The first day that I left in the morning at about 9 a.m. - after rushing through the unfamiliar process of getting ready for work and feeding her - she watched me leave without much emotion - I guess she didn't really know what was happening. I was a bit tense that day and came back at lunchtime - I saw that she was playing quite happily until the time that she saw me, when she promptly burst into plaintive tears. I fed her and played with her for a bit while having my own lunch - the overall process took me about 40 minutes, and then it was time for me to go again - but this time she started wailing as she watched me walk out the door. I came back to hug and kiss her and told her I'd be back again in a few hours, but she continued to cry because I didn't take her from the K into my own arms. I left, resisting the urge to turn back, having read that it just becomes harder if this goodbye scene is prolonged.
So, surely enough, she seems to be doing fine. I am told that she is actually fine while I'm not around - eating, playing, sleeping. I am lucky to have the K - at least I know that she loves the baby and looks after her very carefully. But I do think it's necessary for the baby to have other people around through the day because Peanut is a fairly social kid (once the faces around her become familiar) - and that may start happening in a month or so when we move out of my mom's place ( where we are getting quite spoiled because it is so comfortable). I hope to be able to leave the baby and the K with close relatives who live near the area we are looking at, and are at home through the day - unlike my hard working mother and sister and husband, who come home way after I do. Let's see how it all pans out.
So my routine has been a little crazy and more than a little tiring. Wake up at 6.30 a.m., have tea with the husband and the baby in the garden, usually go for a jog in the nearby park, and then rush through getting ready, eat breakfast , feed the baby and leave, usually forgetting something or the other in the house. Get to work by 9.30 a.m., wait impatiently for the lift to the 10th floor, occasionally get annoyed and just walk upstairs, nearly collapsing and resolving never to do it again and admiring my boss for doing it everday ( a lady who has been through childbirth multiple times - and looks very good, very fit and much younger than her actual age). I get into my workspace and dive right into things. At around 1 p.m., I'm off home and back usually by 2.30 p.m. - of course, I've discovered that the people in my office rarely take a lunch break, preferring working lunches or just eating at their desks - but even though my 'break' is quite hectic (because I have to get down the stairs, go home, feed a rather uncooperative Peanut who is excited to have me back and too distracted by the buttons on my shirt to feed properly, have my own lunch a little too quickly, come back and get back up those damn stairs) - It's quite useful to get out of the office for a chance to clear my head.
By the time I get back to work, the sleeplessness of the previous night (yep, Peanut is still waking up for night feeds) and the resultant tiredness starts to creep in, but I manage to hold it at bay for a while with a cup of tea or coffee. Working for another four hours or so, I then pack up quickly and leave, usually forgetting something or the other at my desk.
It's 7 p.m. by the time I get back. By this point, it seems Peanut begins to get quite fidgety and gets disappointed if someone else rings the bell and walks through the door. I get back and she's suddenly all smiles, and gets a really smug look as I take her in my arms at the door and walk around the house. She is really clingy with me nowadays, expressing a clear preference for my company and getting very upset when I leave the room. It's really hard to explain to a 9 month old in diapers, the concept of 'bathroom break'.
I went to our Delhi Paediatrician today in order get Peanut her measles shot, and was pleasantly surprised to see that unlike a few months go, he actually remembered that she is a baby girl. He asked about my routine in terms of feeding her and seemed to think that I need to make some changes, which I actually agree with but am not sure how to implement. Basically I feed her at 9 a.m., which should ideally be breakfast time with some solid food like cereal - and then I get back at 1 p.m. to feed her, which is actually lunchtime for her (and all the rest of us!) and should be something like khichdi. Hmmm. Will have to figure this one out. He was of the opinion that it's time to start giving her the food that we eat in the house, with spices adequately lessened. He also said that we should be putting her to bed at 8.30 p.m., at which point I could not stop myself from laughing bitterly and scornfully.
Getting back to rambling about my routine ( Come on, admit it, you want to know. You've missed me!), after feeding and playing with Peanut for a while, it's time for me to massage and bathe her. The massage is not as enjoyable a process as it was a few months ago as Peanut wriggles around and tries to escape, or just keeps attempting to grab and lick at the bottle of oil. So I make it quick and bathe her, which she seems to like quite a bit. The K usually helps in terms of holding the baby while I do the water-pouring and the soap-lathering. The holding bit isn't all that necessary and I bathed her once without the K and it was fine, but the K was so downcast after this that I just decided it's better to let her help me!
Vijay comes home fairly late, maybe around 8 p.m. on average and then it's baby-and-Papa time. A lot of this time consists of Vijay looking adoringly at her and consistently repeating 'Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa', and Peanut looking around furtively and going 'Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma'. I have absolutely no doubt that while we're both away, the K is trying to to teach her to say 'Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka'.
Dinner time, conversation, diaper change, feeding, rocking Peanut in an attempt to get her to sleep before 11 p.m., and the few precious hours just fly by, and at the end of the day I try and read a few pages of the Thornbirds. It is the most amazing story - I discovered it only recently, having watched the entire television miniseries on DVD in just two days before I started work. When I was a kid, it was just one of those boring things my parents liked. I know I'm getting old now. Anyway, my grandmother told me that the book was even better and when I couldn't find it in Oxford Bookstore, she managed to dig out a copy that my mom had presented to my grandpa in 1984. Imagine that. And she was right, it is better than the TV version, as is usually the case.
Anyway, so that's my day nowadays and it really doesn't leave much time for blogging. Some Saturdays are working (eee-yuck!) but others, like today, aren't. And thus, here I am, telling you that I'm still around, everything is fine, and I will catch up with all you bloggy people in Delhi once things settle down a bit. Next few weekends are likely to whiz by in a blur of house-hunting and rejecting until I finally sit on Vijay and grimly twist his arm behind his back until he says 'This one looks good! We'll take it!'
So that's it for me. And you?
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Riddle-me-Ree, Who can she be?
Greetings wonderful MTBs!!!
and good work to all of you!
For having solved the riddle before
I give you all this clue.
This time its not a letter
nor is it a number clue
This time its just a good old blank
which means no clue for you!
Booooo! you say with spirit..
Yaaay! we say in throng!
For it is part of the thrill of the chase
which leads to the next little song!
“I’m a Natural, says this lady in The Big Apple, you see
She speaks to her good ole cuppa tea
And gallivanting with both her young ones
Is something she loves tons and tons
Losing Moby, Need to lose weight – she implores
Radio City Music Hall – she just adores.”
Solve it and you get your lead
Misguess, and you lose your speed
Solve it slow but solve it now
And before you go, take a little bow
Go to 'Comments' and leave me a clue
Tell me which blog you are off to.
Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.
You have your work cut out for the day!
and good work to all of you!
For having solved the riddle before
I give you all this clue.
This time its not a letter
nor is it a number clue
This time its just a good old blank
which means no clue for you!
Booooo! you say with spirit..
Yaaay! we say in throng!
For it is part of the thrill of the chase
which leads to the next little song!
“I’m a Natural, says this lady in The Big Apple, you see
She speaks to her good ole cuppa tea
And gallivanting with both her young ones
Is something she loves tons and tons
Losing Moby, Need to lose weight – she implores
Radio City Music Hall – she just adores.”
Solve it and you get your lead
Misguess, and you lose your speed
Solve it slow but solve it now
And before you go, take a little bow
Go to 'Comments' and leave me a clue
Tell me which blog you are off to.
Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.
You have your work cut out for the day!
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