serenediva

The Magical Fidget Spinner

My seven years old daughter sulked for many days and (as usual) the reason of her grief and pain was — I, her Mom. According to her though I am a good Mom yet many times I am unable to understand her feelings. One more complaint she has about me is: I don’t try hard to make her happy rather I tell her ‘No’ very often. OMG! Such a cruel MOM I AM!

When she talks like this I pretend to look serious while trying not to laugh. On occasions like these, sometimes I think how my mom would have reacted if I had dared to talk to her like my daughter talks to me (however, I never delve deep in this particular thought as I know PARENTING is a lot different NOW).

Anyhow, coming back to the misery of my daughter, she was sad because she wanted to buy this new toy called Fidget Spinner in the market and I had strictly told her ‘No’. The moment I told her ‘no’ she gave me a disgusting look and told me that I had broken her little heart once again. And then she played the ace that every other kid had a fidget spinner in her class and she was the only one who did not have because she had got a mean mother. She started crying her heart out and being a mother I melted. I thought how I could deny my only child such a simple pleasure worth only of a few bucks. {O.K. I know the theory of Vitamin ‘N’ (here N is for NO) and I have watched the video also in which an experienced child-psychologist is telling to give a lot of Vitamin N to kids}

I confess that as a mother I am little shrewd and immensely positive, so I decided to use this marvelous opportunity to my own benefit. I knew that my daughter was ready to do everything and anything to get the fidget spinner. I played the centuries-old trick with her, and promised her to buy the fidget spinner for her but … only if … she behaved properly for the next two weeks. (I know I am clever 🙂 )

And then started my golden period as a mother. All of a sudden my naughty daughter transformed into the most obedient kid on planet Earth. She started listening to my instructions in one go and I felt relieved to know that she was not hard of hearing. She did her home-work on her own without any reminders or my help and I was delighted to realize that she was not a slow learner. She also told me to give her a lot of greens in her lunch box as she wanted to be healthy and active. Suddenly it occurred to her that watching too much iPad could harm her eyes.

Finally, two weeks passed. As I promised to her, she got her fidget spinner as the reward of her good behaviour. Her delight was ecstatic. She hugged me and thanked me in choking voice. There were tears of happiness in my eyes too.

The next week was euphoric. My daughter was inseparable from her Fidget Spinner. Sitting there, looking at my daughter and the spinning fidget spinner in her hand, I felt amazed at my conflict-resolution capabilities and the bliss of the WIN-WIN situation. I felt happy thinking about our superb mother-daughter bonding. I was about to heave a big sigh of relief when I realized that I had already told her fourth time in a row to leave her fidget spinner and iPad (last two hours she was watching You Tube to learn new tricks with fidget spinner) and come to the dinner table but she did not budge even an inch. I also reminded her once again that her home-work was still pending and she was to submit it the next day.

Next moment I found my daughter staring at me with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips. The sigh of relief changed to an instinctive warning. Quickly, my daughter got up from the couch and went to her room telling me that she did not want to eat the boring dinner of spinach-corn sandwich and mushroom soup.

(Yup …. Make Believe Is Over)

I suddenly realized the bewitching magical power of the fidget spinner but I was unable to decide that the spell it cast was on me or on my daughter. My head was spinning and body was fidgeting; And the only thought on my mind was: Who Spinned Whom?

Elegy to Srinivas

Elegy to Srinivas

He went to the Promised Land, he thought he was wise and skilled

What was so wrong in that, that he got killed?

AMERICA is a land of opportunities, he was told early in his age

He never knew that he would be murdered there in fit of a rage.

His wife cried in surprise and pain

What is the motive and what is the gain?

AMERICA: established as the UTOPIA and the Brave New Land

What happened? Where is the Promise? When it turned so ugly and bad?

His mother must have cursed the day, when she packed his bags

Crisp shirts and jeans in neat rows, And in one corner the home-made snacks

His father wondered while settling his body lovingly and carefully at the pyre,

Is this the end of his life-long wish and desire?

A hate crime and a young man left the world in his prime

A young man brutally slayed by one, while the other tried to save,

I remember what Abraham Lincoln said: ‘for every Scoundrel there is a Hero’

May be there is a need of a superhero before hope become dismal and ZERO

Anyhow I think this should stop

The whimsical disgusting behavior cascading from the TOP.

PS: Srinivas an Indian engineer (32) was killed by a fifty-one year old American, Adam Purinton in a Kansas City bar on 22 Feb, 2017 while another American, Ian Grillot (24) tried to save him.

Baby: A Game Changer

via Daily Prompt: Baby
Baby

Life changes the moment the news is confirmed that you are going to enter the next stage of life i.e. Parenthood. Your mind becomes a battlefield of opposite thoughts. If you are the gonna-be-mother, then even your body becomes strange to you. You feel happy as well as quirky. The thought that somebody is inside your body and that is not going to stop there as it will soon start moving and kicking inside you scares you. When you are hungry, you can’t eat; when you eat you want to puke. If you are the gonna-be-father you feel even worse. The first thought comes to your mind is: Will you be able to pick up the baby in your arms without hurting it; and uncomfortable, sleepless nights is the other thought that troubles you. As the times passes, you wonder, though you don’t want to, whether your spouse/girlfriend would ever be in the same perfect ten shape again.

Finally the bundle of joy arrives after lots of screaming, bloodshed and anxiety. If I dare to speak the truth: the truth is that for first few days you really don’t know what you should do with this bundle of joy. It’s not that you don’t love your baby but because you feel that your baby is totally unpredictable ( in fact it means that your baby is quite normal). Somehow days become weeks and weeks become months. You don’t even change the page of the calendar on the side table. Sometimes you can’t even see it as its hidden somewhere under the heap of the nappies and diapers. Already as a couple you have had a few serious fights and sweet patch-ups as you know that the new mother is experiencing the postpartam depression (though it is not grave) and the new father, though he is trying to play the Knight in the shining Armour, is entirely clueless what to do.

One evening when the baby is around three months old, the still-new-father hears a loud shriek while he is enjoying his evening snack trying to understand the dialogues spoken by the hero of his favourite action movie (No. He has not become deaf after the child-birth. In fact, the volume of the T V is very low as the baby is sleeping in the other room). He runs to the bedroom thinking that something has happened to the baby; but sees that baby is sleeping and the still-new-mother is standing in front of the mirror staring at her reflection and crying. The still-new-father holds the still-new-mother in his arms tightly and try to console her and tells her that she would get her figure, hair and swollen eyes back to normal again. The wife smiles after a few minutes and they remember the time when they met each other for the first time. They realize that life will not be the same again as it is going to be a more beautiful and thrilling roller-coaster ride with the baby held tightly in their arms right there where the heart beats. They have heard their hearts beating together and now as parents they can hear their hearts singing in unison, wishing ‘the wonder they created together’ a happy life. Suddenly, they come out of their sweet moment as they feel that their is a foul smell lurking in the air and they know that it is time to change the diaper. First they look at each other and then at the baby and laugh loudly (their first laugh together in last one year) and they wonder again at the capabilities of the little Game Changer.

“Child Is the Father of Man”: wrote Wordsworth centuries ago, but it holds true even today as some truths never change.His implications were philosophical. However, even in today’s scenario a baby changes the game of life altogether as it gives new meanings to the life of the parents and teaches the mankind the true meaning of pain, patience and happiness.

The Eternal Dilemma

The Eternal Dilemma

Today we have so many choices and options available in all the fields of life that it becomes very difficult to make the right choice. We seldom come across saying: ye hi hai right choice, baby. Moreover, the moment we finalize on something be it a new relationship or a new object; the next moment we become doubtful regarding our decision or, in other words, regarding the worth of our possession. And even worse is that nobody is there to support you and tell you that you have made a right decision as your friend/relative/spouse, whosoever has helped you to take the decision, is confused now about the suggestion s/he has given to you. The availability of too many alternatives makes us anxious and nervous. We are incessantly dissatisfied. We feel miserable. Thus joy of novelty and joy of ownership is marred by the confusion caused by ‘the other possibilities’. And we are never able to experience the moment of true happiness. Now when I am talking about true happiness, I don’t want to divert your attention towards something spiritual (or utterly carnal) as that is not the point of discussion here. Besides, I fully support consumerism but I wish it would be a little less complicated. We all know that the world is too much with us as expressed by William Wordsworth, and we all have become entirely materialistic. In fact, we have accepted materialism as an eternal truth of today’s life but the availability of so many options is posing a fresh threat to us. See, how it shakes our decision-making ability and, in the long run, our self-esteem and confidence. Moreover, we are becoming insatiably greedy. And our common sense tells us that if being an epicurean is bad, being a glutton is even worse.

Anyhow, pertaining to the sadness and dissatisfaction caused by our recent possession we have an easy solution and again consumerism only comes to our rescue by providing us some consolation that there is an easy and lucrative way of getting rid of our newly-owned-but-already-hated possession in the form of ‘Click, Post and Sell’ the things we are fed up with. A few decades back people used to think that the problem was with ‘the use and throw culture’ but now I think ‘the use and sell culture’ is posing an even greater threat to society. The on-going trend is even more dangerous as it makes you expect good money in return of your used things. Just visit any App or website dedicated to selling and purchasing of old items, you will find people selling all kind of stuff – from used cars to used furniture to used toys. (TOYS…. GIVE ME A BREAK. Better you donate them to an orphanage) Anyway, It’s your personal choice that you want to sell your kid’s first soft toy, first birthday dress, first story book, etc. or you want to keep and cherish these things as sweet memories and important milestones of your kiddo’s life.

To cut it short, the point I want to bring home here is that save yourself from this eternal dilemma and try to appreciate the newness before junking it aside, first mentally and then literally, for the next in-thing in the market. Be a little philosophical and think about the famous phrase Carpe Diem that means seize the day. Happiness is right there in your present gadget, present smart-phone, present car, present couch; and going a little above-board, in your present spouse.

Why I Am Here

This is the post excerpt.

Hi there. I have started this blog to talk about life: the highs and lows, the ups and downs, and the bigs and smalls. I think we all agree that life is strange and it’s the biggest surprise in itself. I consider myself as a serious observer of the mystery called LIFE and I want to share my observations with all of you as there are many who think like me. So I want to take some time off from my awesomely busy schedule to give a thought to life. I welcome whosoever wants to come along on this adventurous journey.