Hope the year continues to treat us the same way it treated us on day one. After years, not really may be months, 1st of Jan felt like a peaceful day in all aspects. Recording it in this space to come back when I need some cheer while feeling down..
On this new year day I decided to treat the little girl with her favorite food for every meal. So, this was our day
I woke up at around 7:30am, brushed, put the potatoes in cooker for boiling, had my cuppa bournvita, kneaded the dough for poori, took a relaxing head bath, light diyas/agarbatis at pooja room, prayed and started with the poori/aloo masala preparations for breakfast.
Daddy/daughter duo woke up around 10am, brushed, took bath, prayed and had breakfast. Adi polished off her plate with extra cashews from the masala and thanked me for the special breakfast. She didn’t know that this was just the beginning. After breakfast, I right away started with lunch preparation. I prepared her favorite yellow bean (lilva bean), drumstick kara kuzhambu with rice. For the records, this kuzhambu tops her all time favorite food list and I have no idea why she named it as “yellow bean kuzhambu” though the lilva beans are in green color. She did some math worksheets post breakfast, behaved like a zen kid and got permission to watch one TV show before lunch. Usually, the screening times are restricted to post lunch on weekends and holidays but there are exception days like this day if she behaves extremely well 🙂 I mean she earns it.
Then, we had lunch followed by some random browsing, wishing family and friends, movie watching and a long siesta. Adi was glued to her shows in TV. Around 4pm, we got ready and went to the Sai baba temple, had good darshan, returned home and started with the preparation for dinner. One of our relative was planning to visit us in the evening so I planned to make pav bhaji. They came home around 6pm, we had a nice chat for next one hour and relished on the pav bhaji. I presented it on the restaurant style like with chopped onions, chopped coriander leaves and butter toasted pav buns (psst I couldn’t get the lemons). Adi has been asking for pav bhaji for a long time. So, there she got poori/masala, yellow bean kuzhambu and pav bhaji all on the same day. She appreciated my efforts with a hug and kiss 🙂 :). If only elders also learn to appreciate this way (am I giving hints to someone? 😉 😉 )
The aunty who visited us was so sweet that in the one hour she spent with us she helped me to clean the dishes and patiently listened to all the show off’s by Adi. She will definitely remain as a great inspiration for me for the rest of my life. A woman who has been practicing medicine in US of A for more than 25 years, who is playing a key management role in one of the NY hospital yet so down to earth. People like her teach us the value of humanity and the importance to stay hale and healthy. Her stamina for her age is mind blowing. She had always treated us with sumptuous Indian meal when we visited their home in spite of the continuous night shifts and numerous calls that never seizes to stop. She makes me realize that once’s action speaks volume than their words.
They left home around 7:30pm, then we had our desserts (sweets brought by the guests), cleaned the house and went to bed at 9pm. Adi, played the good girl part all through the day and gave me a big big hand in cleaning up the house. Though, every day I keep saying that we should go to bed at 9pm it usually takes 9:30 or sometimes even 10pm to go to bed especially with the winter break the girl was spoiled to the core. Her sleeping routine was 11pm to 10am or 11am. I don’t know if its good or not but I never have the heart to wake her up in the morning on holidays. I let her sleep as long as she wants sometimes even till 12pm and this is one of the constant topic myself and M argue over every now and then. So, after more than 10 days of irregular sleeping pattern it was a pleasant feel to hit the bed early and actually start sleeping by 9:30pm after brushing, book reading and all those bedtime rituals.
Oh, actually the fun started on new year’s eve itself. We took a stroll around the neighborhood, went to a chat shop, had bhel puri, samosa, chai and returned home in a more relaxed way, made calls to India to wish family and went to bed early. It has been ages since we even had a family walk and the new year’s eve has proved how much I missed it all these days. Partly I was blaming the weather though that was not the main reason..
It was a pleasant and peaceful day with no skirmishes (as RM says), no bad moods, no yelling, no curling up into your own shell. We also discussed about our resolutions. Adi’s main resolution is “not to yell and keep up her promise” which she already broke yesterday by watching TV for 20 minutes more than the allowance and mine was “not to yell and not to pinch her”. There I said it. Yes, we do pinch her slightly (most times it will be pretend pinching only but still decided to not even do that) when she decides to test the patience of our already irritated mood. The general resolution of the family is to lower our decibel. I am going steady on my resolutions still. I sound like as if I have been following it for months. It has been only 3 days so far. Sigh!!!
The mind that was in tremendous turmoil for past few months was put to peace. It could be because my inner self wanted the new year to dawn better or the inner self has finally succeeded in persuading my mind to forgive or it has decided to move on or it understood that certain things will never see change however hard you try. Whatever be it the mind has finally come in terms (though not fully) to have some hope on this new beginning of the year. After all hope is all we have when other matters fail us miserably.
There are bigger challenges to face in 2013. Hope things fall in place at least the vital ones. Hope the year continues to treat us the same way it treated us on day one. Hello 2013 !!!!!
Between my littles and me 