Peanut's Day Out

Of late, Peanut has been kind of bringing herself up - well, it's not as bad as all that but the twins definitely stake their claim on my time, and attempt to beat her and each other up if they sense any competition in their quest for Mommy-time.

So I thought that since Vijay and I were taking a day off to accomplish some long-pending chores, at least a part of the day would be spent taking Peanut to the Kingdom of Dreams. Vijay had to do something else during that time, so I said I would take her myself and was secretly quite pleased to get some alone time with her.

I took her to the Culture Gully and we spent a blissful three hours there, mostly eating - what else can a four-year old do there apart from playing in the sandpit, which she did for a while too.

We started with Jalebis! She had about five by herself, which delighted and alarmed me in equal measure.

One nos. Peanut stuffing herself with five nos. Jalebis

She then started 'counting all the pretty things', which was my idea but after a while I had to request her to stop because it was driving me nuts.

Then we walked around, and she played in the sand while I watched with unusual satisfaction, and then we wrapped it up with a meal of some Chicken Noodles at the Tangra Market restaurant - luckily we were also witness to a very nice dance - I missed the announcement about where it was from but at the risk of sounding almost as culturally ignorant as I actually am, all I can say is that it involved a lot of skilful hopping around between large sticks and struck me as distinctly North-Eastern. Peanut enjoyed it, and that's what counts.

Peanut Posing outside the Culture Gully. She has my fake camera smile!

It was a fun day, and a great break between vaccinations for 3 screaming kids, dental appointments for 3 screaming kids and dealing with getting the wood-working done for a flat one is trying to put on rent, visiting a dear recuperating grandmother, while simultaneously attempting to finish setting up home in a newly-moved-into rented accommodation and about a hundred other little things.

Net -net on the Kingdom of Dreams Culture Gully - The place is nice, but I did kind of expect it to be bigger and have more stuff to do. But it's done up beautifully and I was quite amazed at having been so out of it that this was actually my first visit there!

P.S - I came back and proudly showed Vijay my 'Royal Card' telling him enthusiastically that this would entitle us to Rs.200 off for every subsequent visit. He only shook his head and said ''I can't believe you work in Marketing''. But what does he know, anyway! He's only a husband.

P.P.S - Trying to post pics of Peanut on her Day Out, but blogger is out to get me today. Later.

Never good news when...

You see your husband reach for the paper and then get a gleam in his eyes as he scans the front page headlines, and hear him exclaim 'Wah, Kya Baat Hai'...

...and then you curiously check the paper later to find the top story of the day is 'Now, Divorce to Get Easier'

Whatever!

P.S - The book series planned -

Just Married, Please Excuse...
Still Married, Thank you!
Got Divorced, Now What?

Kidddding!

I hope... :-(

On a Happier Note

Peanut, Papad and Pickle at the Mall. Taken there by my lovely little sister.

Right, so maybe not.

The last two days have had:

* Meeting with people at HarperCollins - Editors, Art Director, Marketing - truly a nice bunch. And there's still SO much to be done on the book.
* PTA meeting with Peanut's teachers -she has graduated from Nursery. Holy Crap-ioli. I mean, Wow. Already in the big school for a year.
* Work, Work, Work - Appraisals, Annual Plans, and lots of other things.
* Kids, Kids, Kids - There are so many of them!
* A nice impromptu rooftop party at a work-friend's- with the most amazing kababs (even though they were veg), and guitar-ing and singing.
* And today, some more health issues arise at home. So we hope for the best and get into treatment mode.

I feel tired. Goodnight.

Seriously, though...

...I've come to the conclusion that life is about making choices. Taking calls. It's one thing or the other. It can't possibly be everything.

You want to be an author with more than one book to your name? AND an accomplished guitarist? AND a devoted mother of three? AND a pushy Business Head for a website? Not to mention an attentive wife, daughter, granddaughter, daughter in law, friend...?

And on top of all that, you expect to be able to sleep a few hours a day?

Steady on, girl. One thing at a time. Or maybe two. Oh okay, three...

Nah. I'm sorry. It's got to be everything.

...But life is about choices, right?

I choose everything. For now.

Yeah. All the best to me.

Much Excitement

With getting close to finalization of cover...
Discussions around promotion plans about to begin...
...and various other developments the book :-)

Updates as and when they happen. Just another few weeks to go.

The Marketing person, a very nice lady who I'm meeting tomorrow has been ill, and wrote me an email which contained -

''Million apologies but have had a relapse and been bedridden for the last few days - but I think I'm having a speedy recovery because am laughing out loud reading the manuscript"

Yep, fingers crossed that a bunch of other people end up with similar reactions.

Just Another Day

6.30 a.m. - wake up with little Papad, who's all excited about seeing the 'baardies' he can hear chirping outside our window.
8 a.m.- rush like madwoman with laughing Peanut to bus-stop. Curse Vijay privately for travelling so much these days.
9 a.m. - set out for work. Have conversation with seasoned author friend who's kind enough to share tips about what I should be doing in next few months. Cower in fear at thought of book launches.
10 a.m. - start off work-day with a bang, all pissed off about the pace at which things are going.
12 p.m. - Cancel meeting and rush to Peanut's school because they are saying she has been complaining of stomach ache and throwing up.
12.30 p.m. - Arrive at her school's medical room and find her smiling beatifically at me and saying 'I knew you'd come, Mama'.
1 p.m. - deposit her at home after fixing up doc appointment for later in the afternoon, and rush back to work
3.20 p.m. - finish whatever I can at work and rush off again, pick up Peanut from home, hiding from poor little Pickle and Papad and take her to doctor for appointment
4.30 p.m. - deposit sleeping child at home with instructions about what to give her, and head out again to buy children some soft toys to keep them from banging on the floor and driving lady downstairs crazy- fodder for another post. End up almost purchasing a slide which I plan to put in the kid's bedroom. Sense prevails at nth hour and I head back with some foam puzzles instead.
5 p.m. - on the way, decide to buy large flower pots since the twins have been trying to climb up the railings on the balcony. No interest in horticulture whatsoever so stop at first nursery on the way and ask for the heaviest pots they have. Settle for rectangular, huge-ass pots and select some random cactii after explaining to man that I will forget to water them on most days.
5.15 p.m. - come home and decide that flowerpot is good idea but I actually need two of them. Send off Peanut and Pickle to the park and take Papad with me back to Nursery man.
5.30 p.m. - Buy another couple of random plants for another huge-ass pot and lug them back home. Settle them on balcony and feel extremely satisfied for having protected my children.
5.32 p.m. - Terrible panic sets in as I realize that they may not be able to jump off balcony easily but may in a state of resentment use their combined strength to push flowerpot off balcony and kill innocent passersby. Brood on the issue terribly. Kamal, my driver, who has been helping deposit flowerpots on balcony remarks 'Sirf agar bhookump aa gaye ga...' brightens up and adds 'Jaise kal aaya tha na? Phir to gaye kaam se!'
6 p.m. - Peanut and Pickle return from park and there is screaming, joyful and tearful reunion as they realize Mama is home. Much chaos for next few hours.
7 p.m. - Peanut has a relapse and vomits all over the place. Several times. Next few hours spent in tending to her ineptly until she finally collapses from sheer exhaustion.
10.38 p.m. - Collapse from sheer exhaustion after writing blog post.