A week to appreciate teacher’s, a day to appreciate mother’s, a blog that says I am nice, another says I am lovable. Appreciate it.

But first, I got to tell dotThoughts, she is worth not $53,585 but a whopping $158,071.20. Yes, all of 6 figures. So says Dane Carlson. I know, I know, if you enter the blog url, it says the worth to be $19,758.90. Assuming one spends an average of one hour blogging a day. Knowing 8 hours make a full working day, It then equates to $158,071.20? So, DotThoughts, give yourself a pat and enjoy your birthday.
And three cheers all mommy blogger’s, next time someone says you are vetti or jobless, please do give them your blog url and ask them to pay a visit here.

[ Cent percent pun intended!! The API is solely based on linking[not who you link to, but who links to your blog], google indexing and how often you update your blog. So, the number it spits is not proportional to the famous quo. Some dude got bored over the weekend and wrote it, me thinks. ]

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I had no clue this one week in a calendar year is dedicated to teacher’s appreciation, the week of May 4th - May 10th. Until I saw the monthly news letter from D’s school. We made a nice hand written card with this quote on it.
Teachers are one of the most influential adults in one’s life. A good teacher is a blessing to have. So, heres a toast to all you teachers out there.

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Mother’s day, hype or not I don’t know. But I know one thing for sure. I ain’t moving that day. The husband likes it or not, this one day, he is getting hot piping chai right to my bed. Taking care of kids and treating me to a luxurious lunch. While a bunch of us girls are going to watch a movie and buy some stuff for ourselves.

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On a more serious note, I stumbled upon Indira Nooyi’s article. Her appreciation for her father’s one piece of advice.

If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response. You don’t get defensive. You don’t scream. You are trying to understand and listen because at your basic core you are saying, “Maybe they are saying something to me that I’m not hearing.” So “assume positive intent” has been a huge piece of advice for me.

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And since we are on the topic of appreciation, it’s very nice of ~nm to say I am nice. And I am flattered by Swati’s thought that I am a lovable person. Thank you both.

To follow the rule of passing it along, I am passing it to all who visit me regularly. You got to be nice, just for the gesture of taking a moment and acknowledging you were here. Much appreciated!

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Lets take a minute and pray for all those who lost their lives and loved ones in Myanmar. And appreciate everything we have, day to day things like food, shelter and life that we take for granted.

!! Have a nice weekend !!

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The wonderful noon is making this desi mom’s community all mushy by tagging us with “our song” and “our engagement stories”. I have been picking my brain ever since I got tagged. Playing bollywood songs / classical / instrumental / rhymes is like an evening/weekend ritual in our household, the choice of music depends on the mood. We play the songs we like, sometimes fight which one should play first, sometimes 2 different songs play in 2 different laptops. You get the picture.. There are plenty of songs that has brought a smile to our face, lead to secret eye contact and smiles, but none to which I can attach a story. So, decided to ask him…

Four days back:
Me: Hey LH, what’s our song?
LH: What?
Me: are yaar. apna gaana.. Our so-o-ng..
LH: What do you mean our song. Is there anything like that?
Me: Ok, never mind. Look at me. When you look at me, which song comes to your mind?
LH: aane waala pal
Me: Nice song na. But what in that relates to me? I mean is there another song that’s kinda romantic, like “our song”.. Its for my blog. Yikes [biting tongue..What did I say!!]
LH: The mommy blog? Well, what’s wrong with that song? You want a song that will look nice in your blog? This lady is out of control. Did you fix that Order issue where the users could not…

Yesterday evening:
Me: So, what’s our song? [To make it easy on him, I played Chehra Hai ya chaand while asking him. ]
LH: You still sitting on that? What happened to you? Your head hasn’t split yet? [Laughing].
D: What you saying papa?
LH: Your mummy wants a song to put in her be-log-ga.
D: Hey, you know what[courtesy Montessori]. I know song. ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOP QRS TUV WX Y AND Z NOW I KNOW MY ABC, NEXT TIME WONT YOU SING WITH ME. Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John…. [Pause]. Why you laughing Mumma?

10 minutes back
After finishing up with Dlittle’s morning routine, I sat down to eat lunch. The LH just left for a meeting. Its about 60 miles from here, so he took the train. Anyways, tags pending, award’s speech err acknowledgment, Dlittle’s 4 month update pending. I thought I could write while eating and finish up with the songs tag as there isn’t much to write. The LH calls from the train to get the status on couple of tasks I missed updating in the spreadsheet. I am in the middle of writing this post, naturally after answering his official queries, I ask him again. What’s our song. He said what? You won’t let me in peace? I felt silly and told him I was just joking. He wouldn’t let go and says ‘O mere dil ke chain. Happy now? Suits your blog? Don’t forget to listen to the last para.. ‘

Edited to add: Just listened to the song and feeling all teary right now.. Lyrics of the last para..
Yun To Akela Hi Aksar
Gir Ke Sambhal Sakta Hoon Main
[I have the strength to recover every time I fall]

Tum Jo Pakad Lo Haath Mera
Duniya Badal Sakta Hoon Main
[But if you lend me your hand, I can change the world]

Maanga Hain Tumhe Duniye Ke Liye
[I have asked you for the world]

Ab Khud Hi Sanam Faisla Kijiye
[My Dear, judge for yourself]

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The engagement tag? I was going to write it in KMom’s OR Noon’s comment space, but then UTBT threw me out of the green sulk club. So, I am working on adding romance to the story. Will publish it as soon as I figure out the “how to” part! UTBT, its a pre-engagement story tag in case you are shedding light on the post-engagement. Nah, that’s censored. Few things are better not talked about.

Long long ago, Mystic Margarita tagged me to list my quirks.

Here is an attempt. Not sure they all quality as quirks, I consider them more of ocd’s..
No Half baked business.
- I have to completely dress up from head to toe. If I don’t have the time luxury, I would present myself at the party with a jean/top and probably a moisturizer on my face.
- Half an hour into watching a movie, no matter how crappy or illogical the movie gets, I have to watch it till the end. Else I get the head-is-going-to-burst feeling. Anyone who has managed to sit through Lucky and Bombay to Goa till the end knows what I am talking about.

It has to be on sale.
I like expensive clothes, shoes and purses[Expensive by my standards]. But I refuse to pay the list price, even if it is just a dollar. I have been hunting for a day-to-day use hand bag that would be practicable in use[to dump in bare necessities of the kids], yet sophisticated in looks. I liked 2 of them. One was ~50$ and the other was 90$. My budget was 50$ -75$ and I can’t go a penny over it[Another ocd]. Liked both equally. But since the 50$ one was at the list price and the 90$ which was on sale was beyond my budget, I can be found loitering on the streets with my hand purse inside the diaper bag even when kids are not around. Finally, the Loving Husband decides to help me out of it and buys me a gift from India, just 2 days back. A brown and black leather hand bag for 2975 Rs. The List Price.

Fiddle with my hair.
I fiddle with my hair when talking to people as though I have them unmanageably overflowing on my head. In reality I am this close to hunting for a grafting specialist. I do this fiddling thingee only when I am seated. The LH says its a sign of nervousness and I come out as a flirt. Ahh… if only I knew the secret to flirting…

Checking on my pants.
Some of you’ll dream of walking nude in public? I don’t, because I keep an eye on it. Every now and then I pull my pants up, making sure they are still there. Even if I am wearing a shalwar kameez or a sari[peticoat].

Talking relieves head ache.
You must believe this. The LH refused to accept this initially. He is amazed how I could. When Tylenol doesn’t do the trick, all I have to do is to pick up the phone and talk.

Oldest quirks/ocd’s
- No matter how hot and/or humid the weather is, I need to wrap myself up in a blankie. And the blankie has to be wrapped in a certain fashion. One complete round of my body with no openings except one small one on the top to breathe. [If ever one designs a body wrap with openings for the nose, they would have one customer pre-ordering in bulk]. Usually takes about 3 - 4 attempts before I can get it right.
- If I have an exam that day, weirdest of the weirdest ocd’s kick in. Like the bus has to reach the next stop before the minutes hand in my clock reaches x, else the exam will be a disaster. One would find me shaking my legs vigorously because the bus driver is not driving fast enough to reach my goal.

Latest developments.
- If I read[not scan] a blog post, I have to comment. No matter the other end reciprocates or not.
- The impulsive and impatient me cannot spend more than 15-20 minutes to write a post. If I don’t post the minute I finish writing it, it will rot in my draft. The ocd? After it has been published, fellow bloggers have read, some of them commented and when its time to close the comments - I go back to the post, read it, correct it, beautify it.

All Done! And now its time to tag. I think almost everyone I know has done this tag. Oh wait, the new mommy blogger. Shobana.. And anyone reading this post and has not done this tag yet. YOU ARE TAGGED!!

Moppet’s mom tags me to list D’s and Dlittle’s nicks. [I must give her due credit for bringing in the majority of my laughter supplies.]

Now to the tag. After catching a glimpse of Moppet’s and Kodi’s nicks, I don’t feel as bad revealing any of these in public.

• Few months before D was born, bunch of us girls went to see a Tamil movie. Gosh, I don’t recall the name of the movie, nor do I recall if it was Vikram or Soorya in the cast. D was offered The heroes name which I refused to accept. Only when the ring leader forced the title Kunjaayee on to D :), did I know the influence these actors had on them. The fun part was to explain LH what it meant.[He does not understand Tamil].
• It started off with sweetu, cutie pie.. Few months down the line, LH named her Narasimha Rao, thanks to her chubby cheeks and near to bald head. [Note to self: Delete this before D starts reading and disowns me].
• About a year later, naani lovingly calls her raaja kutti, kutti moni. Which made the LH furious as he thought we treated his loving daughter like a dog. Another year down the line, papa and daughter are pulling each others cheeks saying kutti moni.. Yes, you read that right. Both of them saying to each others.
• There are few that still continue, laddoo, raaja betu. Mummy ka pyaal(r)a. Though lately the big sister is desperate to transfer them over to the little one. You see, she is a big sister now.
• When she’s at her best she gets called the monster, drama queen, naatakbaaz[drama queen].
• The one she gave herself is D-Didi. Her day care lady had complained that she demands other kids to call her Ddidi.
• This one is NOT approved in my household, yet slips in every so often. When the never ending questionnaire starts, I answer a LOT of them patiently. When I lose it, I end up saying. ‘kuch nahi, meri amma‘. With no effect, the much anticipated question is fired back ‘Why you calling me amma, mummy?’
• Drama queen - Both my daughters are drama queens. Doc confirmed this at Dlittle’s two month visit when the little one showed the doc her tongue and smiled.
• Yours truly calls Dlittle bouchini, dunguna botta[beta]. No context, no meaning.
• Friends have honored Dlittle with the Mini-me title. [The last quirk]

Open to anyone interested.

This ones a tag by Swati on Dreams untold.

I dream when I am awake, I dream when I sleep, I dream when I am traveling. If I am not talking, not on the laptop, not writing code, then I am dreaming. I will confine this post to dreams while fast asleep..
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This one is the weirdest of all. I was working for this startup where once we had a major release scheduled. Nearing the release, there was an unresolved issue which had no pattern to it and was driving us nuts. We stayed up until 1:00am, still couldn’t resolve the issue. After realizing that our brains had stopped functioning, team decided to take few hours break to come back refreshed in the morning. Here comes the dream of the night. The bits and bytes of colorful code was stolen by a rickshaw man. He had all the code in a basket and was cycling away. followed by me screaming - We have a release tomorrow. Please give my code back..
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This one I dream often.
I am running really fast gasping for breath and fall into a tunnel. I wake up sweating…
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Nothing remotely close to this has ever happened to me, yet this one I dream often.
Some guy enters our house(a tiny weeny house from my early childhood). This guy is not a robber, he just wants to stab me. Thats all. He is searching for me through the streets and reaches my house. I hide in the storage area built on the top. I cannot breathe or make any noise, else this guy will find me. So, far he hasn’t been able to stab me :), but every time I have woke up from this dream I have felt the pain.
——
The latest of all.
When Dlittle was about a month old, I skipped one cycle of nursing and diaper change. Why? Because I did all that in the dream So glad, it happened only once.
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Edited: Forgot the fun part to tag others. Maybe I did in my dream.
I tag
mnamma
yaadayaada
Dame’s diary
Peridot

And anybody else who has interesting dreams to share…

Kodi’s mom, you are the sweetest! To tag the littlest ones.

• Every day, after my oil massage, I get a no diaper time of about 1/2 hour. In that 1/2 hour, mommy makes me squat, makes all sorts of sounds, folds my legs and brings it upwards pressing against my tummy. I wondered why, until one fine day papa as confused as me asked her what she was up to. Mommy says, ‘girl does not want to make pee, she will pee the minute I put her in the bath tub filled with water’. Papa says ’so’?
  Sigh..what’s the big deal?
  
• I am a good sleeper alright. Lately, some strange feelings inherit between 10 and 12 in the night, when neighbors are winding up, mommy and papa are ready to start their night time job. Nooooo…., I mean start work with the offshore team. I sing it close enough to beat bollywood songs with those high and low notes, yet mommy and papa laugh, sometimes rolling on the floor. Click here and judge for yourself.
  ahh, now I know, mommy has successfully passed on her Indian Idol obsession to me.. Will you Aunty’s be kind enough to vote for me and help me get to the finals?
• Isn’t my mom supposed to know the minute I need milk? I don’t like howling right away. I start with turning my head to one side, open and close my mouth few times in anticipation of grabbing the milk machine as soon as I get into contact. In the process I end up moving 60 degrees with my body upside down..half way..
  God, what’s quirky about this?
• I don’t know why my mom has to talk while nursing. I am not yet at a stage to understand who she is talking to, so if I am in her lap and she is talking, it has to be me right? So, I give her a broad toothless grin, when the big monster aka Ddidi of the house screams Mummy, Dlittle has come outted yours guggu baata.
  I can’t have a little private time with my mommy?
• Mommy’s friends call me mini me. Reminds me of Austin powers mini me.
  Do you see smoke anywhere?

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!! DONE-DON-AA-DONE !!

Now the fun part where I get to tag…
I tag
Aadya
Squiggles
Ninni-The-Pooh
Popol
Adi

Anybody else reading this has an infant, please consider yourself tagged.

- Dlittle