RANDOM DEEDS OF KINDNESS.

"Here, here ," she said,  and stretched out a tissue to help me with the stain and a gooey mess the crow had left upon my blouse, there was my sister(Thank God for sistas !!) helping me out and here was another angel who saw us and in a blink she was upon us with her wet wipes, saving the evening for me,  the citrusy smell of her wipe stayed with me all evening.Thank you girl !
Have you ever experienced such random deeds of kindness ? where for no apparent reason a stranger comes and helps you out and Just......disappears ? many a times I have been helped out and it amazes me that,I too want to spread the kind deed and see a smile on the face, and Goodness me ! the feeling is inexplicable
I was waiting to cross over the extremely busy street, the traffic was crazy, and I stood patiently for maybe ten minutes or more just waiting to get across, not knowing that I had a taxi driver who was watching me.
Taxi driver walked to me and asked me if he could drop me, "No,thank you,  its just on the other side", I said with my glance swiftly back on the traffic waiting for a chance to cross the road.
"No, Maam, I am going across to the petrol pump across  and I can drop you,"all complete with a gentle smile.
I was touched with this kind gesture and all morning had a smile pasted on my face,
Just goes to show us that a tiny little deed done by us can make a strangers day.
The most common place that we can show our kindness is the bus, almost everytime I get a seat, there will someone who will be standing and deserves that seat more than you, and the smile and huge thank yous you get are enough to fill the soul.

An elderly woman who could barely walk was slowly making her way to the taxi, but his cab was occupied, dejected she turned around to see my husband, who told her to wait at that same spot, he went at the busy junction and came along  in a taxi, the joy on the ladys face ....unbelievable.
It warms the cockles of my heart to know that my kids too have learnt and mirror this, my daughter was so little when she was returning from school with her friend, and the streets were flooded all around, they took it upon themselves to reach a little girl from their school who travelled in their school bus, and could not find her way home with all the streets turned into one big ocean, they dropped her onto the other side of  the pavement where she lived.
Many a times I see the kids,  both passing on these deeds of kindness and it makes me realise that just a single act of kindness, can spread so much of cheer and happiness
These random deeds have a ripple effect and the goodness and cheer they bring upon an unexpected face.....BELIEVE ME, GO AHEAD, EXPERIENCE IT.
                                                

SHE WILL ALWAYS BE MY HERO.

The faceless woman that we see on the roads, who is hurrying alongwith her bag slung over her shoulder, trying to race for the bus, or maybe that woman who is tagging her kids one hanging on each arm reaching them to the nearby creche, their temporary home for the day, or the one haggling with the vendor to save a penny or two.
Its these few examples of the women that I admire the most, so strong and so determined to get the home fires burning, to keep her family comfortable.
It is always a woman who stands by her family, and most of the times her man, she will always fight her battles, and at all costs see that the children get the very best she can afford.
My own maid, in her early years into marriage her husband became an alcoholic,  he had a good job going as a ward boy with a top end hospital, he would down drinks till he could no more, and the wife would silently bear with his nonsense and tantrums, at times even giving him money to buy himself shoes.
I always had this feeling that she was unhappy, and one fine day, decided to  ask her why she always looked so gloomy, she did not open immediately, and tried to put on a brave front like nothing happened, I let her be and after a couple of days finally broke her silence on the man who had made her life miserable and narrated her tale on  how she tried to glue her whole family together.
She has three girls and one boy, all educated the boy a BCom graduate and working with a computer firm, the girl a data entry operator and the other two one a housewife and one working.
She has single handedly brought up the children the right way and taught them to fend for themselves.
Not one of them has followed her profession, and it makes me proud that I have just a wee part to play here.
Encouraging her, goading her and basically sympathizing with her, giving her a ear when she was down helped her a long way.
One fine day her husband was sacked from his 'plush' job, she got crazy at least that kept  him out of her hair during his job hours. Can you believe what she did ? this tiny woman, who does not know to read.
She plucked up courage and went off to meet the top bosses of his department ,begging to give him one last chance, and she even gave them the option of taking on her son... hats off to this tiny woman.(He had been warned many times before he was sacked!), she walked in one evening dressed up better than other work days, and that is when she told me her courage and motivation that took her all the way to the bosses.
The end story nothing could be done to get back his job, But my heart goes out to this woman who did whatever she could to save things for the same man who had destroyed her happiness and peace.
She still works with me, a much settled woman as now her children are big and doing well for themselves the boy has even managed to buy a house in the surburbs for his family. All because of the strength of this tiny gutsy, woman.
I admire the woman despite all odds, who will never lie back and complain, instead pick up the pieces and join them to form a whole.
She will always be One of my Heroes                                 
                                          

I'M LOVIN THE SUMMER

                                          


Summer days are always associated with wonderful memories of the vacations we a family of five would enjoy !
An overnight journey by the bus, or on the rough seas would take us to our native place, and it would be a long, long holiday two whole, wonderful months of fun, making new friends and getting back with our old, and in terms of playing it was a different world out there.Nothing can compare.
We girls, would would enjoy the great outdoors to cook on a 'real' fire a broken unused pan on two large bricks and there was our imaginary fire cooking a merry curry sourced from the raw mangoes that were so easily available or even the raw jackfruit that had fallen down.
Sometimes an evening would see us fishing at the river, here we were with our home made fishing lines, instead of bringing in the catch we had driven them all away with our incessant giggling, talking and cheer !
Come the evening and we would go picking carvanders on the OH ! so beautiful hills disturbing the serene and peaceful surroundings with our giggling and cackling( and you know how girls do that !)
The warm nights we would go to the nearby river and just laze back...just relax on our back and many a time wish on a shooting star above...What a wonderful time our parents gave us, in their own caring ways, they would take us to the nearest town that was 14 kms away from our place.
 That was a huge 'journey' to leave our house at four we had to ready ourselves at three as the walk along tedious  to the tiny one-horse bazaar bus stop, and then wait for the bus to chug along packed to the rafters, with not a place for a wafer out there, BUT we five managed to get in...
I still remember the evenings playing with our cousins the wonderful game of our childhood 'Hide & Seek'
what made this game extraordinary was the time of the day, we would decide to play it. The night in the village with all its eerie shadows and sounds made it exciting and OH ! there we were stumbling upon a branch and giving ourselves away.
The back yard of our house would be so dark, and so eerie  there were miles and miles of fields stretched till we could see no more, the night made it a playground for the foxes and the wild dogs.
I still remember on the far side of the fields there used to be a tiny house and in those days electricity was not so common, this particular house always had a faint flickering light and my childish mind was overdosed on the famous five, and I could imagine a rustle in the bushes.
My imaginary mind, went haywire and so,  one night I stayed awake to watch that flicker as I thought it was a signal to some 'smugglers'like the famous five  did.Nothing ever happened the people in the house just put out the light and went off to sleep and so did I.
Oh ! give me back those days, I know they never will, but surely I have wondeful memories to live on.
                                      



                                           

MOTHERS' DAUGHTER

She always has her eyes peeled, and transfixed on all things mine.
It is such a pleasure to know that you are "her model' in all things she does she always looks up to me, be it the eyeliner I wear or maybe she has her ears all around her, when a crucial decision has to be taken.
We are the mirrors to the childrens souls.
As a kid she would strut around in my shoes, and I did not ever have the heart to get her out of them, there was an old pair of shoes that were beyond use, and I had kept it for her.
Even this day she mirrors me, in everything,
Of course she has her own mind and thought process, that which one cannot ever follow the other.
I see a lot of me in her in my youthful days

Its wonderful to see that the clock has turned back the time.

                                          

                                               

HERD MENTALITY

It took tremendous effort on my part to just shut my "Big Mouth" as my mum always calls it.
He was screaming and yelling, and jumping and flinging his tiny arms in the air, mind you his mother was right beside him and she was in a different zone, she was so placid and calm, and totally disconnected from the Happenings.                               

The place was a holy one, and no sort of  noises were made, if it could be helped, and here she stood right besides this brat and let him have his way, leaving him to disturb a whole lot of people praying and meditating
My hands were itching me to get that 6-year old child to behave appropriately, that too in public.
Nothing happened, brat still yelped and mother still ignored. The service finished off, and a lot of people gave her tough stares, I wondered if I was a silent spectator to something wrong that was happening, and deep within myself I know I should have gently told the mother to stop that brat from disturbing,most of the times, its the parents who need the correction first.......  I too had joined the herd .

When I think of this particular instance, I do regret and would have liked to stand apart from the herd, which most of the times I do and of course I have my fair share of troubles for that BUT, that is a small price to pay for the peace within knowing well,  that I have excersised that what was  right.

SWEET MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS.

The Summer vacations have just begun,the sounds  of children playing excitedly, screaming and running, are really  music to my ears.

Love it that they enjoy the great outdoors, are passionate about building a tiny rock garden(all made with pebbles) and  enjoy the cycle races along the length of the compound, which we are very fortunate to have in a place where space is a huge issue.
                                               

Two tiny kids, were struggling to get together some mud to cover an small anthill, and did it well, only to discover that the ants have somehow found their way. the other end of the soil.

We as parents always have a dream to follow, but in all of this we must remember that the dream should be the childs and not ours alone,, in our eagerness to carve out a successful future for our child, we must not
 pressure them out, nudge them towards what they like, and kindly goad them in right direction


Let the kids enjoy their vacations and have their fun, no this and that for them,
My kids were really happy to have their vacations, as it meant going out with them to the places they enjoyed the most, the cinemas, just walking alongwith them and answering their innumerable questions, was a pleasure, I will always cherish.

The kids will always treasure the memories, we too have our share of wonderful childhood memories that we hold so close to our heart.