The Road Not Taken - by Robert Frost

This is one of my all time favourite poems that always inspires me in trying times. Life is about the choices we make. Those choices, will change what lies ahead of us. An overtly simple thought but one that leaves a lasting impact on my mind. It's simple words, unique rhyme scheme and soulful underlying meaning make it a wonderfully endearing poem.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.


Our move to Singapore has made me associate more closely to this poem and I know, we too, one day ages and ages hence will look back and say, "and that has made all the difference."

Images

*Stoic gazes
Of *droning regularity
Mirror images
Like peas in a pod

Doing the daily trek
Immersed in
Lush fields of a
*Technological wonderland

Impeccably
Dressed to die for
Real sight for sore eyes
Yet! Indistinguishable!

Evading eyes looking
Through fading,
Merging and receding
Images...of me


*Stoic- unemotional, showing patience and endurance
*Droning- monotonous, routine
*Technological wonderland- their land of Iphones

Boredom - by Satyajit Mone (August 2012)

I proudly present, the first ever poem composed by Satyajit. The poem echoes and resonates our mutual feelings of longing and resultant boredom that has crawled in during our time away from each other. Indeed, separation from your lover does make a poet of you... ;) Well done my love!


Boring Days Boring Nights

Nothing to do but need to stay tight

I tell my wandering mind to stay calm
Destiny will soon fulfill what's written on my palm

Life has suddenly become void
Guess it’s time to listen to floyd

Empty mind is a devil's workshop, they say
It’s time to remain focused right away

Missing family is a dreadful thing
It’s as bad as a Scorpio’s sting

Hope this journey ends soon
So that I can see the Singapore monsoon

"Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."- Marcel Proust

Not hopeless!

I swore on a certain day in my life, never to make that mistake again
But here I am on my own again, as promises are made only in pain
To be forgotten on that happy day, when life seems simple
When you have good luck and cheer, that causes you to dimple.

I suffer and so does he, not sure how we agreed this to be
Also suffers the tiny love, with mute grumbles, maybe?
Their desolation can only be greater than mine,
Outwardly, holding brave front, within, seeking intervention divine.

Prayers so hollow, anger, aggravation, so mighty that can swallow
Our innate inability to be content, leading us to a bottomless shallow!
Our Twin faiths and gods yet to no avail, cries rising with rising cadence
Still, amid this zany wrath, love strengthens our resolve immense.

I count the seconds of this world’s mammoth contraption
To unearth the imminent, the future, the prediction
I chase an ever receding horizon, not hopelessly, but with a hammer and a nail
To pin it down on the spot I choose, when refreshed happy days will unveil!

Yoyo's growing up...

As a baby, my boy has been very strong, supportive and loving all along. A real 'Chota Bheem' indeed! He may also be the only baby on this planet who may have commuted about 90,000 road kms within less than a year when we did the daily commute together to Abu Dhabi while living in Discovery Gardens (Zen). Waking up at 6 am, enjoying the drive and co-cooing, oohing, aahing all along the road in the carseat and his mama by his side who tried hard (in vain)to squeeze in short naps during the tiring commute, with poor Baba at the wheel 6 days a week. After the day's events and all of us being out of home for a straight 12-13 hours (6am - 7pm), tired to the core, the work did not end. In fact, it only began!

One of the main activity upon returning home, apart from taking care of Yoyo, playing, bathing, feeding, eating, taking turns to have a bath, catching up with each other while Baby TV came to our rescue, was the religious, rigourous washing and sterilizing of Yoyo's dozen bottles(in no exaggeration- babysitting ones plus the bottles we needed for feeding him at home at night). For this I give complete credit to Satya as he did not skip this routine of driving and washing even for a single day!

With no time on hand to manage a sick baby, we struggled to ensure that he did not fall sick or at least as less as possible. Hence, as a paranoid set of parents we gave Yohaan's babysitter a clean set of 6-8 bottles everyday. A clean one for each time he had to be fed the 30-60-90-120 ml that he needed as he grew older. With added months the number of bottles went down, then the commute for him went down from a 120kms to a 1-2 kms just few lanes away after one year on the road and eventually just to a lift ride away.(as we had moved into a new home in DG in the same building as the babysitter, what a joy that was!, until it lasted that is...)

Today, it feels like we are light years away from those days though this was our routine all the way from Yoyo's birth up to his 3rd birthday. As he grew older, the needs for washing bottles reduced more significantly than other needs and I am now very close to breaking free from using bottles totally, as last night was the first night when Yoyo agreed to have milk from a glass instead of his bottle. He absolutely adores milk and until last night he has had a ritualistic method for drinking it from his bottle with his favourite orange blanket in his hand.

It took a bit of threatening, cajoling and finally bribing to get him to agree to drink and to finish the same milk that he refused to drink whenever it was presented outside of the bottle. As mundane as this may sound to some, I consider this a significant achievement in Yoyo's growth and mine as a mother. I'm proudly progressing as a mother who is first diaper free and now bottle free!! Yay, its time to celebrate indeed!

Though, sadly, it reflects that my Yoyo in not a baby anymore and is growing up fast...

Small Gestures!

My new life has imprisoned me in yet another mundane and routine activity, that is the daily ride on the bus.

Each morning I take the bus no. 106 from right outside my house to Orchard Street, right outside my office. It is a relatively effortless, stressfree, quiet, peaceful, freezing cold (hate ACs) and sometimes boring hour each way! On the positive side, this gives me the time I deserve during the day to devote to my passion for reading which was almost non-existent in the last few years, as I was doing the driving myself between Abu Dhabi an Dubai.

Due to the way my starting points are positioned I am always guaranteed a seat within one or two stops of my boarding the bus if not immediately. Yesterday, I was running less than 10 mins late but had missed one of the long buses and got into a regular size bus with a lot of other of my daily co-passengers who also seemed to have missed the earlier bus. I would blame it on the fact that it was a rainy morning and people walking outdoors with umbrellas in their hands tends to walk slowly, carefully and painfully in the way of the others trying to make a dash towards the buses they can see flying past them.

Since it was exceptionally crowded due to the circumstances, my chances at a seat were reduced until the next main metro station stop called Clementi but I was standing right next to a person who appeared to be packing up her Iphone headphones into her bag and preparing to alight. Sensing that she would get off soon, I tapped the shoulder of an elderly lady (I wouldn't call her old, somewhat similar age or a bit younger than our mothers) to point to the seat for her to take. She had a crepe bandage on her forearm, like the one we tie when we have sprained an ankle and I had noticed it when we boarded the bus together. This simple gesture of mine of giving up a seat, that was not even mine, but could have been mine, brought such immense joy and relief to this lady and seemed to have reassured her faith in the kindness that is capable only to the human heart. She thanked me and waited to be seated. As luck would have it, just after our little exchange of smiles the person sitting next to the one alighting also woke up to realise its his stop and got up. So this elderly lady and I sat down next to each other. She explained to me that she was in an accident with a taxi and her arm was broken and operated on with screws placed inside and its recovering very slowly. She got off about 20 mins later and thanked me profusely again, blessed me, graciously addessing me as "my dear" and we wished each other a good day!

As I said, I take this bus everyday and have an hour to survive in it so I am usually intent on keeping a seat when I get one. As you can imagine, its not easy and no fun at all reading a book while being pushed foward and backward with everytime the bus driver applies his brakes (which is very often, mind you, on the crowded, busy morning streets). However, I am now determined to giving up my seat to any old person I see next time, as the pains of standing for a few stops is insignificant in comparison to the joy I instilled, the smiles we exhchanged and the blessing I recieved for such a small action!

Yoyo's first day at school!

Today, 23rd July 2012, is yoyo's first day at school. This will be an easy date for me to remember as its Tracy's birthday. It's also the first or second time in more than 10 years that I have not been with Tracy on her birthday! But, oh well, let me not digress!


We've been preparing Yohaan that he will be going to school and he had visited his school once during the admission process. St Joseph's School has an amazing campus with the front porch area as a day care and the rear as entrance to the classes for Pre-nursery, nursery, KG1 and KG2 levels. Several activities like play, toys, assembly room, dining hall to eat breakfast, music room where they introduce the kids to music and instruments, and other art and craft activities mainly for his age. His class is called St Anne's (incidentally as my school!) and his teacher's name is Ms. Jacqueline Tan. The entrance lobby has a couple of fish ponds and looking at the sizes of the fish, one can easily guess that 'feeding the fish' may be one of the breaktime fun activities for all the kids! Anyway, they did look pretty well fed!

Being his first time at school, we briefed him several times that he needs to tell his teacher "susu or chichi" and she will take him to the bathroom. We then had to change the word "teacher" to "miss" as he couldn’t say teacher and kept mixing it up with "cheater". ;0) Now, we wouldn't want him to call his teacher that, would we! Finally, looking cute as ever in his new uniform which is a white t-shirt with purple shorts and white socks, Baba went to drop him to school. At the end of the first day when I came home from work, he greeted me in his usual gobbled mix of words pouring out with information about the day. He also wanted to say something else and new and had a big grin on his face aware that he was about to say something funny. Finally he held my hand and asked me to say, "mama say, teacher susu, teacher chichi.. poopoo!!" Yes, the first thing he learnt in school was an addition to his vocab "poo poo!"

We all burst into laughter and we went on and on laughing for the next ten minutes (he shares my trait of laughing endlessly on the same joke!!)as he kept repeating his newly learnt phrase with growing confidence in each attempt! I throughly enjoyed his first day at school and I'm sure he did too!.

“Surreal banking”

As far as I can remember, opening an account, in India or UAE where I have lived, has been a several step process that needs time, contacts, meeting bank reps, several documents and a couple of visits to the bank to say the least. And of course, the additional visits to your HR department asking them to certify that you are employed in that very office, country and city by a letter signed by only a bank authorized signatory who may or may not be in the office at the time. Once the tedious submission process is thru, the wait begins along with frantic walks to the reception to check if there is any mail for you with an ATM card and then again a second mail with your secret pin number! Despite this long-drawn process, there is still no guarantee that you will have all the correct information and that you will not need to call your bank for corrections.

However, fortunately, things seem to be at a completely different level on this side of the world. This week I received my Employment pass on the 18^th of July (just three days after fingerprinting process) and I went straight to the bank with my passport and my EP. Twenty minutes later I walked out of that bank with my account opened and my ATM card (with an accurately spelt name) and an enabled pin in my hand. hmmm. this summarizes my experience but does not justify the brilliance of the experience, so, I need to elaborate what I would describe as the most surreal banking experience of my life!!

We walked into the door of what looked like a hi-fi lounge bar with red lights and modern décor with 4-5 kiosks of ATM looking screens followed by a sit out area on the right with a low serpentine shaped sofa with giant and brightly colored pillows with a big red heart on each with a mammoth touch screen TV just behind the sofa which also served as a partition of the space to create a room behind it. Two pretty young Chinese girls wearing identical pretty black dresses with thin red belts and high heels popped out from the left, walking towards us to offer help. We followed one of them to her desk asking her to open an account. Now, her desk was not just an ordinary desk! It was a 50inch flat screen monitor laid out in between her and us. I handed over my EP and passport. No forms, no photograph sticking business, completely paper free. After a clear brief from her about the types of accounts, types of charges and general rules she got busy with her setting it up for me. Of course, as I was doing this for the first time I naively asked her when I would get my ATM card. To my surprise, I got an answer that I would get it the same day! Very impressed, I asked her what time she would like me to come back and get it. Now it was her turn to be surprised and she looked at me, very amused indeed, and said that I would get it, “NOW-today” along with the ATM and internet banking pins. Both Satya and I looked at each other with pouting lips and raised eyebrows, in awe of the amazing speed and professionalism we were witnessing for the first times in our lives!

Well done Singapore and DBS in providing this wonderful customer experience, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I am now prepared to be further amazed by this amazing place...

We will weather this storm...

When I moved to UAE, I had nothing except the dreams of doing something new and starting a new life with Satya. I had no responsibilities and also no assets. Completely free from any limits or boundaries but with several pressures and and endless list of actions; of achieving success, securing a job, getting married, getting a house, car, and starting a family. But I was free and I had the choice to do all or none of things from the wish list.

 

My move to Singapore, however, was very different. I had everything we had dreamed of and which we had struggled so hard to achieve, in Dubai. A lovely home, cars, my family, friends, a support system, a career, growth and overall stability. Yet, we chose to move! It's very true that we are free until we get imprisoned by the choices we make!

 

Coming to Singapore may be the best decision or our lives or the worst, that only time can tell, but by making this choice, we are now imprisoned in a situation where we long for the familiar and are afraid of the new. Hopefully, our perseverance will bring this new reality closer to our heart and relegate our past reality to a comfort corner of our mind.

 

It's only a week or should I say, already a week, since I came to Singapore and although many of the intial doubts are cleared, many new ones have emerged!

 

Well, life is in the living, right! And we will weather this storm...

15/7/2012

 

Madagascar 3 - Yohaan's first movie in the theatre

16th June -Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien welcomed Yoyo to his first ever movie in the theatre at Ibn Battuta Mall.

We prepared Yoyo a little before the day, saying the screen would be big and the lion would be big and it would be dark like night etc. He skipped along into the theatre with us like he has done it several times before and knew exactly what he was supposed to do. We bought pop corn and nachos with salsa and cheese dip which he liked better than popcorn. He had a lot of questions, "why this mama, why?" I would get after every few minutes, followed by a "wow" or "super". Mid way he got a bit bored and restless and got off his seat and without any noise or fuss went and sat on the steps next to our seats! Just like that! Just then Baba pulled out a lolly pop which lured him back to his seat and kept him glued till the end of the movie.  Overall a successful try at the movie experience. One of many to come!

Highlights of UAE

My time in the UAE is one that I will treasure forever. Although we have faced so many trials and tribulations, victories and celebrations here from time to time, when I try to recollect my thoughts about my time here, all I can think of are my friends! Friends from India, friends we made here, friends made in office and friends without any nationality barriers who speak our common language of love...

Strange, how I cannot think of any event in isolation! This would in fact, highlight the deeper thought, that life is meaningless without great friendships and I have absolutely marvelous friends for life!

I recall my first visit here and my stay with Tracy and her parents in Abu Dhabi, the advice, love and support from her family has been instrumental in my success in the UAE. I've never felt a lack of family due to her most generous hearted family throughout my time here and even before.

I vividly recall our first meeting with Natasha and KK at there home with Salman and Shaheen, and our visit to Futaisi Islands with them and Shreyas and Nivedita. The time we spent playing on the beach or horse riding or lazing around the pool, followed by drunken dumb charades is etched in lovely colours into my memory.

Meeting Aditi and Nachi on their speedy first visit to KK's place during Ganpati, makes me think of the many Ganesh festivals we have celebrated together. This was followed soon by our trip to Turkey together which is till date the best holiday I have ever had with friends. No one wanted a "me" time on this trip, it was an "us" event and it will remain a shared memory forever and ever to treasure and think of as an "ideal time with friends". Speaking of Turkey and Turkish Hamam, the words from a frightened and panic striken Natasha, "Naka jau, Naka Jau" still echo in my ears! The Hamam itself, was a "not to miss" experience, where Nee, Aditi and I got ourselves treated in the peace and quiet of the early morning hours in a steam filled room and ancient marble sauna, just the three of us in an empty Hamam like princesses of another age! Sublime indeed!!
(...after which Yoyo was concieved we guess) ;)

The love and generosity showered on me by all during my 'dohal gevan' at Ajita's place still brings tears to my eyes. The amazing support from all during 2009, with several upheaving events like the diaster at our home in the villa and our year long commute to Abu Dhabi with Yohaan everyday, helped us endure the terrible times with a smile. My adorable Tracy, selfless Aditi and reassuring Natasha came to my rescue even then. Salman and Shaheen were the logs that kept me afloat when my chances of drowning heightened.

When life takes you to unknown places, the slightest familiarity brings a great sense of relief and security. During our time here, this sense of relief and security came to us from the constant support and guidance from our lovely “Anagha Tai”. Filled with joy, passion, caring and energy, there is never a dull moment around her. Her presence made us feel at home, whether it was birthdays, anniversaries, Diwali or Eid, we did not miss a next of kin at these events with her around. Devika is just her mirror image with all the vitality and versatility ingrained into her and is a true charmer. Anagha tai has always made time to accommodate us into her busy schedule,  lovingly fed us with finger-licking yummy meals and given endless tips to manage our home and work life more efficiently. She also gave us “Mali” without whom our home would resemble one of the construction dump sites that we see everywhere in Dubai :) needless to say, Deepak and Aniket, Subodh and the boys added a comic relief to all our visits.

Times in the office were tough on many occasions and Veena and Khalid stood by me. Kafa, Amal, Sushma, Angela, Kyla and other lovely ladies and Graeme, Pramila, Ciara and Mel added a spark to my everyday routine. They genuinely cared! and I love them all!

In 2010, Tracy's showered another rain of love on me by making me one of her brides maid which is such an honor and a unforgettable experience of my lifetime. Another honour was to be "inner circle" to be present on Natasha's book opening ceremony in 2012.

Yoyo's first pirate birthday in 2010, was a super duper experience where the theme was followed by all and was a success with so much effort put in from us right down to preparing for the treasure hunt, the treasure map, eye patches for all, finding gold coins, ship cake n candles and theme wrapping paper for return gifts. An amazing fun party, "eh matey"!

Who can off course forget the "new year party|" at Shreyas' house on Saada street in 2008 where we met Tanuja for the first time and we were comparing our preggy tummies and missing the wine, and then our drive back to our villa home in a foggy early morning. Times with Satya and the rest at Hemingways when I was away to bring Yoyo into the world, is a story I have heard so many times and its always successful at bringing everyone to life during a discussion. The mis-match party where Satya crash landed is another such story. The energy and the arguments during a game of pictionary cannot be left unsaid and also "team paduya" game from Anup which went on forever and always took the cake! Speaking of cakes, Satya's 30th birthday cake prepared by Anup was yummilicious! and so were the eggs he prepared on our camping trip.
 
In 2012, the time spent at Jebel Dhanna in the swiming pool with 'Savio and the shark' are our recent fun escapades and Yoyo's Chota Bheem 3rd Birthday at our home in Discovery Gardens with everyone highly tipsy is a time to treasure. It's true, "one does not need place in the home but in your heart" as 13 of us fit smugly and comfortably into our home for the night. Jasim and Tirath need a special mention for our fun new year in 2012.

The countless overnights spent chatting away until the wee hours at our, Nachi's and KK's and Shreyas' homes are what has made us like a close knit family and no matter where we go we will cherish this time and each other forever!

THREE CHEERS TO OUR UAE CLAN!

Good Times

The vast desert sands and the scorching sun,

Surprisingly endearing and a lot of fun!

This land has given me the best joys of life

Unforgettable experiences and the courage to strive

Giving me friends and bonds like never before

Great in their support, no matter where I go,

Sharing and caring have a new meaning acquired

I can leave saying, there’s nothing more I could have desired.

So many things I renounce as I go away

But a vast treasure of wishes and memories with me will stay

Such love and trust I share with my mates

Though my Yoyo will miss all his playmates!

Change is inevitable and this change is for the good

What’s in store for me? what hidden under my angel’s hood?

From the deserts to the tropics I fly

Across a love-filled, daring and colorful sky!

Diaper Free

Last night was the first of many to come... finally Yohaan has learnt to be diaper free, even at night! This is certainly a milestone achievement and he is exactly 2.5 years today!

I am a happy mommy :)