ITS JUST THERE.....

"A beautiful baby" was the words that left my lips, when I saw that lovely child.

He must have been around two/ two and half years of age, and a wonderful bundle of boundless energy he was....looking at him jumping, and talking all at the same time, intrigued me no end.
It was a bus journey and took us a long time to get to my destination, for once I wasn't grumbling about the traffic snarls, the crowded roads etc., Little baby boy kept me amused.

He was seated diagonally  across the aisle and his whole world was his mother who was very busy with her phone, to pay attention to the little boys cuteness.

She held him firmly across his tiny chest and at times he tried to jump and get himself loose to jump on the seat ...fortunately the bus was empty and he did have a little space on the seat besides him.

What does it take for a parent to realise that the children will grow faster than they will every know, and no amount of money could ever buy such beautiful emotions.
The little boy was babbling and talking away to the mother ....his world, and all she was doing was talking into the phone.
Yes, it must have been something urgent she had to attend to, given the inclination towards technology, that society has nowadays addicted, she surely did miss out on the lovely boys antics and banter.

He did look towards me and was pointed his tiny finger to the TV screen quite excited.....

My thoughts were on various aspects of life, how we are missing out on the beauty all around us, the little boy's presence during the bus journey made many a passenger happy ..Of course yours truly included.

Look around and you will find  happiness in the most unexpected corners ..... the look on peoples faces, the smile of a child, the happy shouting of children when the bell has ended their day....just got to look ...no need to search.
                                            



                                

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.

The world through the eyes of a child

                              PLAY IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF RESEARCH
                                                        - Albert Einstein

We all know how children love the great outdoors. Give a child the choice of being indoors or playing oudoors, they would definately opt for the latter. Children as we all know, are spontaneous - they do not keep back or analyze what they have to say.

Have you ever watched a child at play in a park, or even in a little puddle of water that the rains have caused? He is all absorbed in his play, swinging on the swings, looking for that push to feel... for just a second like a bird soaring. See the kids splash around in that puddle, unaware of the germs or dirt in it. At times like these i too feel like jumping along with them - we all have a child hidden within us, and do hope we never lose that. What about that little kid who has just had a fall off the slide? She now knows that she must go up the slide the right way. Every little experience, good or bad, teaches them.

In the documentary, the little boy is pasting himself with mud. Watch the ecstasy written all over him, the joy and the mess he has created for himself is all about having fun.The kids seem to enjoy being the kids they they are surely having fun, "To learn we have to get dirty," quotes one little kid. SO TRUE !!!

I always believed, when my kids got home, the dirtier they were, the more they enjoyed themselves, mudstained clothes, clods of earth on their shoes, and not forgetting the largest inhabitants of this earth, the ants, they would have so many ant bites as they were always curious to watch the ants carry their food into the nests and once they nearly broke a mini ant nest.

Many a times, they would take their waterbottles with them, only to come back and tell us, that they have grown a mango seed in the soil and have watered it, with that water, so "Mom, in a few months we will be able to eat mangoes," with their huge eyes and blabber that could melt any mothers heart. (I, of course, melted completely) They took me to see their "mango sapling" and could not believe as the earth was all dug up and no sign of any mango seed, at that time they realised that they had to shelter the seed away from the dogs around the place. They had learnt the hard way, but they would never ever make that mistake.It's not so much what the kids learn through play but what they wont learn if we dont give them that chance to play.

After an outdoor play session, notice how happy the child is, his talking can go on forever, how the goalie should have saved the ball this way had he not been dreaming,

Every  face of the children who live in the city tell a tale, the longing of space, and the freedom that their inner selves long for.Like the girl who is riding the bike to get to school  in the documentary shows us, how happy she is although going to school.

 The great outdoors seen through the eyes of a child can never be the same for adults, the childs imagination runs wild here, he sees shadows lurking behind the cars and together with his gang of friends and all armed with  fallen branches they try and captures the imaginary enemy. The little girl places a flower in her hair, and preens, like she is a Queen. Many a times, I have watched the kids play below my window,and have noticed how they enjoy stoning at "that" guava and after it was down, they would all take bites (still cant figure out how tiny each bite was,) but nonetheless they seemed to be enjoying the camaraderie.

Recently there was a dead sparrow, and who could have spotted it first but of course the kids, who are always looking for adventure. Their beady eyes missing nothing, saw it and the eldest of them just a teeny weeny 7 year old, decided to bury the little bird, he called his friends, all smaller than him and dug a pit, put in the bird, and covered it up with a mound of mud, and all left with a sense of solemnity. I was intrigued,  these little 7 to 5 year olds had shown their love and respect for the little bird, in narrating this, would like to say that being in the outdoors gave them this opportunity.

We parents must know that besides their academic scores which is important as their play, everything needs a balance in life, unbalanced kids can be a nuisance to society and ultimately, tiresome adults, so the responsibility lies on us parents and our ability to help them balance work and play.The children in this documentary are so stressed leaves them no time to enjoy the great outdoors, physical excersise  would be nothing compared to the mental stress that they go through.The boy clearly say"favourite part of the day is, when I play with my friends,"
In the words of L.R.Knost," “For a child, it is in the simplicity of play that the complexity of life is sorted like puzzle pieces joined together to make sense of the world.”

Dr.Ashok Jansari, in this documentary, stresses on the balance between academics and play, he states that going out and playing is an opportunity the children alongwith having fun, and how we parents must see that we they get their dose of outdoor play, he stresses that all their inner skills develop at a young age when they have been exposed to this "form" of learning.
My theory has always been fusing work with play, as you walk along the garden teach them colours of the flowers, show them the birds nests, mango blossoms, the cuckoos and the crows, the cycle and the motorcycle.

What a wonderful experience it is just being with the little ones, their eager eyes grasping every little thing that passes by and their ears taking in every sound of the wind or the whistle of the mynah.


  “Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun.”

― Brom, The Child Thief

The longest of the school vacations have begun, and it is the sounds of the children who play in the compound that have always indicated if the schools have their tests, or exams or if they have a long week end.
The sounds of them playing on a school weekday evening indicate that they are relatively free, at other times, the silence can drive me crazy it makes the place seem so dull and quiet translated this could mean that they have an important test or maybe even an exam coming up.
This morning during our walk, we saw a parent taking a whole lot of enthusiastic, children all equipped with bats and balls, caps, and water bottles, all set for a long day of play. The children seemed oh! so cheerful, and even remarked about this to my husband. On schooldays these children would have been looking so dull and plodding their way to school.
Very soon the monsoons will be here and "WATER WELCOME" the flooded streets and inaccessible roads provides another legitimate holiday the children screaming in glee and playing around in the rain, little scamps deliberately jumping into puddles with ecstatic peals of laughter .. sounds that make me realise that happiness is all a state of ones mind and what we make of the situation we are in.

Rose tinted glasses

"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you."
-Kahlil Gibran

The other day I had taken the bus to get to the market, having finished all my jobs, sat down near a window. A couple of stops later, an elderly woman got onto the bus and was carrying bags, which did not seem too heavy but, considering her frail frame it looked like a load to her , She selected the empty seat next to me and with a wide smile settled herself.
The conductor came along and they seemed to know each other" probably", I thought" she travels this way often"
The woman was a very friendly person and in an instant we were chatting about the rush and the recent happenings, from one thing it moved on to another, and in a flash there she was pouring her life before me, I was a little wary "Was she genuine" and I did my best to dismiss such wild thoughts about an innocent woman..
She told me about her husband, who was home , her child, an adopted boy whom the parents doted on, and "Now" she said, "He detests us both,"
The adopted son was apparently working and doing extremely well for himself and supporting himself and a family of two kids and a wife who was working as well, it was a very sad woman talking,
She even told me," that life is hell for the two of us, the moment he gets home, we scamper into the bedroom and leave him alone with the family,"
The heavy traffic gave us a lot of time to chat and learn a lot from this woman,
She said, "Never ever let things get you down, I take the kids along with their maid to the nearby park and see that they are spruced up by the evening, I would never let His bad behaviour affect my relationship with the children, "
I was nearing my stop and she was going ahead, She told me one important thing,
"Listen, I kind of opened my heart to you, like I known you since ages, maybe God has sent an angel to unburden my heart, I cannot talk to anyone, But there is only one thing, you can learn from this, Try never to depend on your children, learn to live the way you can afford, my husband and me are both pensioners and this is the secret to my happiness, we live life the way we can, that is why you can see me beaming ..God Bless you "
I felt myself choking and looked at her happy face .. waved a goodbye to her and there she was straightening her saree pallav ... getting ready to get off at her stop...