A Series of Unfortunate Events

The reason why I chose this name? Read on…

Saturday, 7 September, 2012

We were relaxing after a busy week, read busy as both of us successfully managed to go to office on all five days(me to office and Jiya to office creche).

J went for his football practice early morning. Generously, I gave him a cup of tea and a small breakfast and again both of us went back to sleep together. Woke up again at 9 am and started playing around. Jiya was hungry, so I decided to make oats for her. If alone, she is like a siren which went berserk, she’ll simply cry but surely without a single tear.

So I carried her while cooking, bad decision. As soon as I removed the cooking vessel from the stove, she put her hand in it. The whole palm was burning, all red and swollen. Immediately I kept her hand immersed in water. But she was going on crying and writhing in pain for the next 2 hours.

By that time, J returned home with a knee injury, to be welcomed by the crying twins – me and Jiya. He did not know what to do; he was cursing himself that he went out.  He did not even get time to look at his wound or attend to it.

After long hours of crying, she finally slept in my arms while applied medicine. When she woke up, she was quite normal until she saw the blisters on her hand. She started crying again. But my brave girl recovered faster than I thought. J too got his wound medicated.

Sunday, 8 September, 2012

This Sunday I wanted to go to church, which is a luxury post-baby. But due to the previous day’s burning session, we decided to stay at home while J attends church on our behalf too. Jiya started showing symptoms of fever. All the pain and crying bothered her so much that her body temperature rose. Calpol drops, every 6 hours and wet cloth on forehead, the routine started.

Can we go to office tomorrow? I don’t think so…

Monday, 9 September, 2012

Jiya and me at home, taking rest and worrying about office too. Fever subsiding…

Tuesday, 10 September, 2012

No fever, Jiya is perfectly fine and back to all her mischievousness. Her hand is also recovering fast with no more blisters to be seen. We got ready for office and loaded ourselves onto our bike, Pulsar 180 and started for office, which is just 3km from home.

Tragedy strikes again. Halfway through, I felt as if I’m being pulled off. Before I even knew it, my duppatta got caught in the bike’s tyre ripping skin off my neck. J hit the brakes and we got down to find no trace of the duppatta anywhere. The entire cloth got pulled inside the chain case of the back tyre. And the right side of my neck had very little epidermis left. The bike was not running properly and so J removed the case; he is always ready for an emergency. He removed the duppatta and threw it off.

Though the wound was burning, it was not bleeding. So we went to office where I dropped Jiya at her creche and then went to the nearby hospital to get the wound dressed. The doc said it is nothing serious, just skin abrasion.

It is indeed God’s grace that I did not fall off the bike even though the pulling force was too much; if I had fallen, Jiya would have fallen along. God forbid, nothing like that should happen to anyone, for that matter.

All wounds are healing fast. I hope the dark cloud which was looming over my family has moved away. God save us all!

"And lead us not into temptation.

but deliver us from evil."

Agonies of a Meeting Room

I was just a meeting room a month ago. Now I have a bunch of hooligans who indefinitely sit here and work (?!). Now I bear the load of 6 systems on my feeble horse-shoe shaped table and on my electrical capabilities.

If I had a manager to complain to, I would escalate these issues, which have tarnished my image forever:-

• Sometimes they complain that the room is too cold; I see them wearing their jackets, hoodies, sweaters etc and if they don’t have one, they publicly insult me by borrowing from others sitting in some ‘not-so-cold’ corners of the building. 
• Some other times, they tell it is too hot and congested, or even that there is no air circulation. 
• They sulk about the lights that it is bright, it is yellow and it dries out their eyes. 
• They sent out emails sitting in my heart telling that the work environment is poor. 
• They keep my doors open on the pretext that there is no ventilation , but I strongly believe that they do it for the sake of staring at guys and gals who admire me while passing by.

How long have I wanted to hold a meeting? To discuss, to solve and to assess problems and issues. Wasn’t that exciting?

Will that era ever come back to me?

Will these guys, these shameless guys go away any time soon?

Kaalthala

Those came home when Jiya was one and a half month old. When I was putting her to sleep during those sleepless nights, she would always wake up because of it. It was indeed frustrating to see that. All at home would be sleeping by then and of course, who’s sitting up at 1 am, other than me trying to put the baby to sleep. I used to despise it even though it was me who asked for it. Same like what I had when I was a baby. So I used to remove it at nights and then, whenever I was putting her to sleep. So finally its location was permanently shifted to a box in the cupboard for use in future.

Last week, I brought it to light again, Jiya has been enjoying it now. She sleeps even though it tries to wake her up. When she’s sleepy, no one can prevent her from sleep. They better not try or she’ll scream your head off.

Did not get it?!!!

It’s her anklet I am talking about, to be precise “kaalthala”.  It has three jingling beads set at 120 degree angle, technically. Her grandfather aka my Dad bought it and was always trying to put it on for her while I was always removing it because she would not sleep with it on. Yes, Boo, you are right. What’s with the grandparents?

 Now, she can sleep wearing it, she has grown up, you know. And moreover, she’s throwing up her leg in the air and banging it on the floor to hear it Jingle. But the legs come down with a "Phattaak” noise, sending chills down the spine for all at home. Otherwise, she’ll roll towards the wall and bang it on the wall. She's extremely happy with it and me too. 

And Mr Dad, Happy now?

Addendum: Finally the kaalthala had to go back to its place in the cupboard and that too on the next day this post was published. One of the silver beads broke into two because of all the leg-banging of madam Jiya and I was concerned whether she'll mouth the silver beads after breaking them.

In Memoriam

This post is dedicated to an integral part of the family which was lost eight years back. Till this date, our family has not come over the loss and maybe, would never do.

Here I am referring to my maternal Uncle. Jacob was his name, Teaching was his passion. Mathematics was his subject. “Karadi”(bear) was his nickname. His students called him so, hope you have watched the Mohanlal starrer “Sphadikam” in which the father character donned by Thilakan was called the "Kaduva". So it was a similar nickname from his students.

I loved him. He loved me. I was his first niece. When I was born and he got the news from someone other than family, he did not talk to anyone and refused to have dinner. The lady who came for bathing the baby (me), went and kept me near him. That was the first meeting between us. I don’t remember exactly what happened that day, but I wish I did. When I grew up, I was taken to my maternal home by him during the vacations. I used to vomit throughout the journey in the bus from Trivandrum to Valakom. I used to fight over trivial things and run behind to hit him. All aside, comes vacation again, he’ll be there asking permission from my parents to take me to his home.

I remember fighting with him for pronouncing ‘Add’ as’ Aad’, for teasing me for writing Malayalam poems and inserting words like “kudmalam” which meant flower bud. He came and cleared all my doubts regarding Maths before my 10^th standard exams.

We lost him to a bike accident on 23^rd March 2008. The newspaper report said that he was returning from his sister’s house(my home) in Trivandrum which was not true. My mother could not bear to loss him, she was crying outside the house late night. Since my father was working away from home, my neighbour dropped us in our car at my mother’s house. The whole street was empty and looking eerie in the darkness when we reached. My father came with my mother’s sisters from Thiruvalla. No one had the courage to go in to the house to which he would never return again.

My younger uncle had to be called from the India-Bangladesh border. He was heartbroken, sitting in a corner, he did not cry, he did not move…he could not believe. Five days after his death, we buried him. All his relatives from abroad had to reach. His body was kept for “pothudharshanam” in his school and later in his house. That is when I realised he was not what I saw, he was much more than that.

How I wish he was among us today…to be there with me on my wedding, to watch me and my husband live as a family, to see my daughter and pinch her like how he did to me.He must be watching us from the heavens and smiling at us.

It is a big loss for my little plum, I wish she had him. Nevertheless she has Renimummy (his wife) to mother her. We owe our lives to her for being there always, for all of us.

Our salutes to him for the salutes we receive when people realise we are part of his family

Battle against "The Guilt"

Yes, I’m already in the middle of it.” The Working Mom’s battle against guilt”

I had to join back to work when Jiya was exactly 4 months, 2 weeks and 6 days old. Though I requested for an extension of leave, my company’s HR policy did not allow me to do that. But the silver lining is that we have a creche run by a third party within our premises and can bring our child from 6 months onwards. I had almost quit my job as I was in the pessimistic end of the waiting list for the creche. But by God’s grace, there was some rearrangement after which I was confirmed admission for Jiya.

Since Jiya was only little more than 4 and a half months old then, I had 6 long weeks before I could take her to the office creche with me. So I send SOS signals to both my mothers who gave a heads up for me to proceed. My mom came in for the first week, more than that she could not stay as she’s also working. She started the procedure of weaning which was painful for me, for any mom, in fact. But nevertheless, I did not want Jiya to be crying while I went to office. Children are happy when they are fed well, right? I was imagining my mom’s plight when I did not eat anything when I was small. Scary it would have been for her also.

So the first week went off quite smoothly which gave me confidence to continue. By “smoothly”, I meant she was not crying in my absence but my heart definitely was missing her. She was feeding on my milk (expressed and stored in fridge), Bottle milk, dried banana powder and ragi. She quite enjoyed her menu, much to relief of the family, my extended family also. They were all happy that Jiya did not inherit my eating habits. What no one knew was that the only 2 things I prayed while I was pregnant were:-

• My child should not be reluctant to have food ( because my mom had tough time with me)
• My child should be able to sing (which is yet to be confirmed)

Before the first week concluded, before my mom returned to Trivandrum, we got a domestic help from Kerala. So my mother briefed her about the roles and responsibilities of the new post and conducted the induction training. So my MIL joined us to help us through this difficult journey. Now Jiya is being looked after my MIL and the maid while I’m away at office.

This is the fourth week of the journey. And ask me how it feels. I’m picking my pace at office. Jiya has got used to her schedule without me from 10.30am to 9.30pm. But she gets restless from 8pm until I return home.

The best part of it is…she laughs out loud upon seeing me come inside the house and she kisses me too, and that too thrice (not less, not more). Nobody taught her all that…kids are too fast and understanding. Grownups need to grow up to them and preserve their qualities all through the life.

The worst part is, today I had to detach her forcibly from me to catch the office cab, and it was heartbreaking. If it is a battle, someone has to get hurt; sometimes all are hurt. Jiya cried but understood me and went to my MIL. It was me who was disturbed all through the day in office.

Life, as they say, is like this…

For him

She was hurt,

He was there...

She was more hurt,

He was there...

She was writhing in pain and looking at him

He could no longer stand and watch her pain

With all the strength he had, he fought back

Their love grew and could no longer crack

Over the years...

Above the fears...

They are one in love...

A miracle from Above...

I'll tell you what happened...

It has been ages since I even turned back to this part of the world. Sigh…

What all happened in my life after the last post and this one?!!! I left my first job in Bangalore, took rest for a couple of months, got into a new one and now I have blossomed into a mother of a little ball of happiness.

It was in October that I got to hold her in my arms after so many months of waiting and working. And she was so punctual that I delivered on my due-date itself. I definitely should be rewarded for on time delivery and accuracy. Hehehe…

Working through 8 months of pregnancy made me feel like a superwoman, in fact. I would have continued for another month, if I had someone to help me at home, at least cook for me. Moreover, I had to travel down to Kerala for delivery, so I had to put down my working cap and enjoy the days of idleness and rest in September. It was tough to live away from J and be happy for the life inside me, at the same time.

God Almighty was gracious enough for preserving the companionship I had with J during my delivery as well. My calculated due date was October 7^th but the scan result said October 8^th. So the doc asked me to come to hospital only by the evening of 7^th, unless I feel otherwise.

My mom who’s still working used to worry about me breaking my water or something like that while she was away at work. Her colleagues used to roll eyes at her for leaving me at home. So finally she began to be with me but that meant restrictions for me and of course, more eating apples, dates etc.

I was literally tired of waiting by the time J rode down from Bangalore to Trivandrum on his Pulsar on October 6^th. Coincidentally, my neighbour who thought I had another 2 months to deliver came and invited us for a lunch out, to which I nodded a big NO. But then they convinced us for dinner, I was ok with it, provided J reached by evening.

We went out to a restaurant at around 7pm. J was so tired after the long drive but food is always welcome na? So we ordered Appam, beef fry, fried rice, chicken Manchurian, egg roast, vegetable curry etc etc.  Burrp, happy stomachs, happy people, what else we want… But eyes were popping out seeing a full pregnant lady, me (giggle) gorging her plate and I was a walking wonder all the way to the car. Oh shy me…

We returned home with a contented heart and even more contented stomach. J was finally getting some sleep or so he thought. My tenant started pushing and pulling by 10 pm in the night. When I told J that there are “knock knocks” from inside, he was too sleepy to reply. So I told him to sleep until I get it confirmed from my mom that it is “that”. By the time I whispered to my mother to wake up, my dad was already up with the car keys. J had to resume his sleeping in the hospital room later in the night.What a day for him!!!

By 12 in the night, we reached the casualty and I was taken into the Labour room. While they monitored the contractions, they asked me whether I had referred the Internet while in pregnancy for how the labour will start. Anyways, they made me relax and sleep through the night as the contractions were mild.

Next day morning they woke me up at 5 am and made me ready for the procedure. My water broke as a result of the enema, no wonder. Refer the menu for last night’s dinner.
Moral of the story: Eat less during pregnancy at least on the eve of your due date.

The contractions were induced  at 6 am. At 10.18 am, my little plum was out into this world. The pain, the tiredness and the hunger vanished when she came to kiss me on the delivery table with eyes wide open. She was 3.05 kg and 50 cm at birth.

We named her after her Dad’s maternal grandmother. But we call her ‘Jiya’ at home. In fact, I am still calling her “lallu”, I can’t help it. I love her.

My little girl, I love you for what you have turned me into.

P.S. So, what inspired me to blog again? “I too have a Rainbow” now, Thanks to Aisha and her mom…