We've Got Courier!

Coco's first birthday is approaching (So soon??), along with Coco's mummy's nth birthday! Gifts have started flying in. That's how 'Happy' and 'Birthday' go together! So, mummy tore open the first package to arrive while Coco was sleeping and everyone else was away! Shh...

And out spills a rainbow... red and yellow, pink and blue!

Coco's Mausi has sent some T-shirts and a football for him. No T-shirts for mummy. Not even a ping-pong ball. :( 

'Ohh, I totally forgot, your birthday is next day, otherwise I would have sent something for you too' is her explanation. Sigh!!

Though, this lady has significantly improved her capabilities of buying baby clothes and toys. After a rap on the knuckles from her mother when she first bought clothes for Coco, she became wiser and now knows that the age mentioned on baby clothes should not be taken seriously because babies of the same age may have various sizes. Not only that, she has kept comfort above fashion (wide sleeves, stretchy necks/snap openings, no collars, hoods or unnecessary parts, ). I am surprised. It is coming from someone who is a big fan of Babli from the movie 'Bunty Aur Babli' who says to her son:

'Thand ko mar goli, fashion karna seekh!' (To hell with the cold weather, learn to be fashionable.)

By the way, her gifts are fashionable too.

Great going, mausi!

The Early Morning Visitor

 

Good Morning! Who's there in Coco's Nana's balcony?

Whoa...peeping in??

 

Come closer...

...and closer!

Ohh.. it is the much talked about Veeru Mama. Nana named him so. Comes to visit Naana and Nana often. She gives him biscuits while Naana tells her to be cautious.

Looks innocent, but tore mummy's favorite track-pants! Naughty monkey!! 

Ye Saali Gaali...

How many 'Gaalis' (Expletives, abuses) do you know? What do they mean? How many of them do not speak about a woman's dignity (or lack of it)? Do you think you ever mean what you say in a gaali?

Many years ago, while we were enjoying the new freedom of  a job after studies, I used to be the flatmate of a girl who started taking pride in using abuses while talking, courtesy her new friends at work. Accustomed to the much polite Lucknowi Tehzeeb(?), I used to cringe listening to her gaalis in brash Punjabi style, which were more derogatory and hurtful to her own kind (i.e. women) rather than being amusing and uplifting. The girl refused to let go of her gaalis as she thought they made her sound cool. NOT!

Of late, Hindi movies have glorified gaalis via movies like Ishqiya and Delhi Belly. Sadly, expletives are actually ingrained in daily lingo of UP (The land of Lucknowi Tehzeeb) and Bihar as the writers/directors of these movies claim. Here, gaalis are so much a part of the tongue that two fast friends cannot meet without  addressing each other as 'Saale' which sounds casual and harmless, (but is it?).  We even have Gaali songs in weddings and other functions, and they are pure pornography in lyrics, potent enough to make one's ears bleed, mind it!

The structure and nomenclature of Hindi gaalis is such that they are almost always directed at an innocent, unsuspecting mother or sister somewhere. Gaalis from foreign lands, when used in India, become insipid in comparison to our desi abuses. Imagine calling someone an 'asshole' in Hindi. Would it be as effective and satisfying as a Hindi gaali of the nature of 'mother-sister'? Some people use one or two 'mother-sister' type abuses in every sentence that they speak. They are not bad people. I have personally heard them dish out such smelly, vulgar words without ever giving it a thought. More careful and sophisticated people avoid using expletives in front of women, but among men, they are all the same. Someone in this category, once uttered out a gaali in front of me, and as soon as he realized, he said ' Oh, so sorry!'.

The most cultured, educated men do not refrain from dishing out choicest gaalis once the matter comes to it. I am yet to come across a man who claims otherwise. What is it that urges someone to use gaalis of this nature? Is it the helplessness of not being able to harm the other person physically or in any other way that a word picture of the possible harm is created? Is it about harming a person or a woman (Mother/Sister/Daughter of the person)? Why does a person need to use crude language in order to fight? How does it help? How does committing an act of sexual nature against someone's mother or sister compensate for the loss/ harm/suffering of the abuser?  Are we not propagating 'Rape Culture'? After all, words become thoughts and thoughts become actions.

Its been probably centuries since women have been targeted in this indirect way. Is this the prize that we receive for being a good sister/mother/daughter? The icing on the cake is that we cannot even vent out our frustration by hurling a gaali because it will most likely boomerang.

The Lesser Known Bihari Momos AKA Pittha

Coco is visiting his Nana-Nani (i.e. I am at my parents :) ). It was a delight to receive the plateful of Pittha with a delectable green chilli-garlic chutney from a sweetheart Auntyji next door. After a little spell of hot-talk with my mom (over never making Pittha and always telling me stories about it from her own childhood as if Pittha was some inaccessible fruit from heaven) and a photoshoot, mom and I quickly settled down to eat, though we already had had our breakfast.

                                                                          

The chana dal dumplings looked delicious and tasted great. Aunty had added her own twist with Rai-tadka. I pleaded with my mom to cook it once so that I could learn (and eat it too!). For any foodie/Momo lover who would be interested in this Bihari version of Momos, scores of recipes are easily available on the internet. But seeing is believing you know.

So what happens next??

Um... nom-nom and gone !

A Child's Play

A lot of time and effort goes into choosing the right toys for Coco. I try to find out toys with zero possibility of hurting him. No hard parts, lightweight, washable and all that jazz. After all, I am a modern mom, who gives him best care(?) and also writes a blog about him (Well at least the name says so!).

But what does Mr. Little Coco Nut like to play with? Remotes, cell phones, keys, keyboard, mouse, kitchen jars, steel tumblers, clothespins, paperweights, sweet boxes, shopping bags, shoes, newspapers, eyeglasses and everything else that I cannot imagine would catch his fancy and hence do not remove from his view.

Latest 'toy' to catch his fancy are empty corncobs! He inserts his tiny fingers into the little spaces made by removing the corn and would keep doing that till the cob is snatched away. He has also learnt to register a strong protest by giving out a deafening shriek.

Oh wait, did I tell anything about the mole on my neck being a subject of his admiration (and scratching by paper thin nails) nowadays?

Whoever said babies are bundles of joy............ was absolutely right though!

My Nano joyride

My husband borrowed someone's Tata Nano for a day in exchange of his car and proposed to take Coco and me for a drive in it. Bugged by his constant busy status, I agreed instantly. After all something is better than nothing. When I proceeded to sit inside, I could not stop grinning. When I was seated and the car moved, I started laughing hysterically (I laugh hysterically or I do not laugh). My infectious laughter infected hubby as he started laughing too. ' But why are you laughing?' He asked. I told him I felt like laughing. He laughed some more.

I loved the little ride in the little car with my loved ones. I realized how little doses of happiness make life great and joyful.

Man, Woman and Religion - Part II

When it comes to fasting, nobody can beat Eastern UPites and Biharis. As it is dates on a Hindu calender look and sound like something sacred, as if there is some event/fast/festival everyday. Sample this: Parva (i.e 1st ), Dooj (2nd), Teej (3rd), Chauth (4th) etc.  For our folks, there are dozens of fasts each year, nearly all of them meant for husband and/or sons. It is also quite interesting that almost all of them require women to fast for 24 hours straight, some even longer without even drinking water.

When Karvachauth is in the air and someone expresses her worries about how she is going to cope up with fasting whole day, I laugh heartily (and secretly). For she does not know she is blessed to not have to cope up with Haritalika Teej,  a 24 hour-without water fast in a hot and humid August-September, as opposed to Karvachauth which falls close to Diwali, at the doorstep of winter, and you get to eat in the evening. I have grown up watching my mom do Teej every year with ease. (I admit that I liked it, so much that I secretly wished to get married soon and do it. And I do it!)

Fasts are actually meant to cleanse one's system physically as well as spiritually. Only if you do them properly. But some women take them so seriously that they would ignore health issues, doctor's advise or worse, their own babies. I have heard my mom often telling me how she used to put wet cloth over the bellies of her many 'Bhabhis' who would be either carrying or would have small babies who needed to be breastfed. Imagine not eating or drinking anything in that condition for 36 straight hours.

Though my mom-in-law is strict stickler to 'husband-and-son' fasting, I have heard her complaining about how all our fasts are without water while the more glamorous Punjabis and some others have fasts where they eat more than they would on a normal diet.

And I have never come across a man asking a woman to fast for him. It is the doing of women themselves. How did it all begin? I would love to know.

Continued.....