Weekends. Like bookends, meant to keep order in things. A break from the insanity of the week gone by and the week to come. An oasis of calm between manic Monday and freaky Friday. Like bookends, weekends can also be interesting or just plain old blocks of wood.
Ever since I got back to full time work, weekends have a new meaning. They are the precious 48 hours I have within which I should fill my every plan. Friday evenings are the best! It has the feel that ‘anything and everything’ can be accomplished! So much time to do all the things planned! Friday nights are even better, the knowing that there is no crazy wake up schedule to keep up, kids to drop off, organize meals, get the washing done – all in the half hour before I grab my bag and lap top and rush to work, already running behind schedule!
Saturdays mornings dawn, smelling of fresh new surprises, of cuddling in bed with Dhruv and Diya. Of making plans, new inventions. Time to just sit with my morning tea and read the newspaper from the front page all the way till the end – yup sports section also happens on a weekend. Time for old handwritten recipes to come out. Time to read a book. Or just flip through the zillion channels on TV and find that one movie that can transport you back in time! Watch a cartoon with the kids. Garden. Dream.
This is my perfect weekend. Very often the reverse happens. Very often Saturdays turn to be the most chaotic day of the week. No time for tea. Newspapers?Huh?What’s that? Run,run,run. Most often to school. For a Parent Teacher Meeting. Where we just wait,wait,wait. Meet other bleary eyed parents. Sit.Stare.Smile. Make inane conversation. Subtly compare grades. Feel good or decide, nah, I don’t want to put my kid under such pressure. I don’t believe in the whole grading system anyway! Outcome depends on whether I met the mom of a top grader or not. Which in turn will set the mood for the weekend, because although I hate those competitive parents, when their son/daughter can read and my 5 year old daughter still occasionally trips through ‘hen’, ‘pan’ and’ fun’, I wonder if I am being too casual in my attitude of ‘they will learn when it’s their time’. If I should take matters into my hands, sit down and teach! This is when I see the smiling face of a perfect weekend fly out the balcony doors!
At other times, it’s my need to make sure that my kids have the best weekend ever (the guilt of being a working mom!)that makes it more hectic than it should. But it’s worth it if my son says ‘AWESOME day mom’. He’s at that age where ‘awesome’ means all things great,good,wonderful. Or when Diya cuddles up next to me and says ‘I love you 10 million, hundred thousand 4 hundred 25 dollars, mom!’ She doesn’t believe in thousands it has to be millions and for some obscure reason there’s a dollar at the end of it. Whatever. It makes me happy.
But this weekend, I can hope, will be my perfect weekend. No PTM. Just me and my 48 hours to do magic with!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Oh! to say Ah!
INSPIRATION. Such an unassuming little word. Such a trivial sounding word. But if a word can move mountains, it should be this word! What’s life without a little inspiration?(We’ll get to the perspiration part later!) Finally it’s that measly one percent that makes you rise above others. I am sure Edison knew that when he made his quote!*
So what inspires me? Me, being Ordinary Citizen and all? I take inspiration from wherever I can get some. Not very choosy, that’s me. I love positive people. They have such a glow about them and so often that glow rubs off on me too. I love people who look at life’s tragic twists and still find something funny to laugh about. Yup, those tiny laugh lines on people’s faces - inspires me! I love to watch babies learn to walk or ride a tricycle or get that tower of blocks to stand, for heaven’s sake! Have you realized the ‘me baby, me be tiny, but me will do it’ attitude of babies! I love it when I see old couples holding hands. Ah, love inspires!
In all this, I have realised that it isn’t my neighbours fancy car or the glittering window of the nearby Tanishq showroom, that inspires me. It’s just life in all its splendor that goads me to be a better person. It’s the innocent trust in my children’s eyes that make me want to be the ‘supermom’ they believe me to be. It’s the shared laughter between my husband and me that inspires our love to achieve a special glow. It’s the quiet confidence my parents have in me that makes me want to cross and jump over life’s barriers. It’s that special giggle shared between sisters that inspires a bond created at birth to strengthen as we grow older.
These are my inspirations. My family. They inspire and very often they also cause me to perspire! But if we dig deep enough, we will find that what inspires us are the simple things in life. The ordinary people we meet that have depths of extraordinariness in them. Everyday occurrences. All it takes is the nose of bloodhound to get a whiff of the extraordinary. A dazzling sunset. An everyday occurrence, but what an extraordinary daily event! What an inspiring end to a day.
What has inspired me recently? “I am the master of my fate; the captain of my soul” William Ernest Henley. Quoted so eloquently by Morgan Freeman in 'Invictus'.
And not to forget ‘itsy bitsy’ spider, who kept climbing that damned water spout!
*”Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” Thomas Alva Edison
So what inspires me? Me, being Ordinary Citizen and all? I take inspiration from wherever I can get some. Not very choosy, that’s me. I love positive people. They have such a glow about them and so often that glow rubs off on me too. I love people who look at life’s tragic twists and still find something funny to laugh about. Yup, those tiny laugh lines on people’s faces - inspires me! I love to watch babies learn to walk or ride a tricycle or get that tower of blocks to stand, for heaven’s sake! Have you realized the ‘me baby, me be tiny, but me will do it’ attitude of babies! I love it when I see old couples holding hands. Ah, love inspires!
In all this, I have realised that it isn’t my neighbours fancy car or the glittering window of the nearby Tanishq showroom, that inspires me. It’s just life in all its splendor that goads me to be a better person. It’s the innocent trust in my children’s eyes that make me want to be the ‘supermom’ they believe me to be. It’s the shared laughter between my husband and me that inspires our love to achieve a special glow. It’s the quiet confidence my parents have in me that makes me want to cross and jump over life’s barriers. It’s that special giggle shared between sisters that inspires a bond created at birth to strengthen as we grow older.
These are my inspirations. My family. They inspire and very often they also cause me to perspire! But if we dig deep enough, we will find that what inspires us are the simple things in life. The ordinary people we meet that have depths of extraordinariness in them. Everyday occurrences. All it takes is the nose of bloodhound to get a whiff of the extraordinary. A dazzling sunset. An everyday occurrence, but what an extraordinary daily event! What an inspiring end to a day.
What has inspired me recently? “I am the master of my fate; the captain of my soul” William Ernest Henley. Quoted so eloquently by Morgan Freeman in 'Invictus'.
And not to forget ‘itsy bitsy’ spider, who kept climbing that damned water spout!
*”Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration” Thomas Alva Edison
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