Time to switch!

Moving from Blogger to Wordpress. I have been planning to take a backup of all my posts, so I created an account in Wordpress and I was really impressed with all the features it has on offer. As of now, I will continue to host my food blog  in Blogspot but have moved this space. Please update your readers to the new link...

http://seemabbas.wordpress.com/

Why? When? What? Where? How?

“Millions saw apples fall, but Newton asked why.” - Bernard Baruch

I choose to be an optimist while I answer the incessant questions barraged on me by not-one-but-two 3 year olds. And my mind has to channelize its thinking in different directions as both the kids choose NOT to speak about a single subject at any point of time. Both demand attention at the same time and expect an answer from me on the spur of the moment. One of the virtues of being the mommy of twins, I guess!

They are generously spending the WH words as if they are serious about taking up quizzing as their career option. It’s fun most of the times, I swear. It gives us enormous pleasure when we see the rational skills developing in them. Citing examples - One day after braving a traffic jam, Abbas sped up on a vacant road and immediately Mannu asked “Why is Bulu* moving fast?” I answered her saying that there was not much traffic. When we got stuck in the next signal, she inquired again “Is there traffic jam now?” While Tammu pitched in “Where is Jam? Where is Jam?” She must have been hungry! One of them asked “Why is the police uncle wearing a mask?” I said “It’s because uncle has to stand there amidst dust and he will fall sick!” After a few days they spot a traffic police without a mask. “Mamma, this uncle will fall sick na? See he is not wearing mask”

Then there are constant questions about day to day activities. Why I keep veggies in the fridge? Why I do not keep potatoes and onions the fridge? Why they are not supposed to waste water? Why are they supposed to brush their teeth? Why they have to put toys back in place after playing with them? Why is Baba not coming home yet? The questions are endless. These days, I even get enquiries about how I made a particular dish that they liked. Whatever silly statement I utter, they have a cross question ready. For instance, I say “I am hungry” and I get a “Why are you hungry Mamma?” I say “OMG, it’s raining” and I get a “Why does it rain Mamma?” I try to explain in simple terms as in “One cloud was coming from left and other from right, they bumped into each other, that’s how it rained” “Why did they bump into each other?” I wanna tear my hair!!

Sometimes, my patience is consumed up to its brim when I ask them to do something and they utter the momentary dreaded word “WHY???”. Taking advantage of my authority being their mother I sternly say “Because ‘I’ told you so!” When I decide to revive terms with my patience yet again I do try to convince them why I behaved the way I did.

Hoping that their questions never cease to come my way and I will be capable enough to fairly answer their queries and not lose out on patience. Hence, ending with another quote by Frank A.Clark – “There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child” How true!

*Bulu – is the name of our car.

Water Water Everywhere

Our washing machine is placed in the living cum dining room adjacent to kitchen. What kind of a nutcase family we are, you may think! Actually there was a water inlet arrangement already made with the basin when we moved into this apartment. And since we had plans to move from here, we didn’t bother much (Yeah, we are nomads). There was no outlet for water to go away so we bought a pipe and connected it to the kitchen sink. Now each time we switch on the washing machine, we have this added task of attaching the extension pipe. Fixing it has to be done very tactfully coz, a slight malfuntion would result to water flowing onto the kitchen floor. Generally the machine is set to run while I am fiddling around in the kitchen. However, one Friday night after dinner we were watching a movie and I had put the week’s clothes for wash. Coz I generally finish ironing the truckload of clothes on Saturday. While we dumped ourselves into the bean bag and got immersed in the movie, we felt our feet turning wet! WTH??? Looking around, we saw that a sea of water is fgushing its way from the kitchen into the living room. I screamed, “Pause the washing machine... Pause Pause Pause”. Abbas had hit the panic button and simply switched the machine off!

And guess what there is no outlet in this apartment through which we can drag the water using a mop and pass it out. We had to literally use clothes, absorb as much water as possible and throw away by squeezing the cloth. We first protected the floor deewan in the living room and the extension chord lying on the floor behind our desktop table by placing floor mats near these high risk areas. While I used a small cloth, Abbas said “Get an old saree. It will soak a lot of water at once.” There was no old saree, but I somehow conjured up his old pajama and my old dress and they helped to some extent! By the end of the whole pandemonium, we were dog-tired and collapsed into the bed.

Next day, each muscle in my body worth its salt was twinging with pain. I was telling my daughters how the living room was full of water the previous night and my body is aching due to all the clean up. Tammu said “Why Mamma? Baba ne idhar hi su-su kiya kya?” Duh!!!

Pizza Saga!

They spotted a “Pizza Boy” delivering Pizza to a nearby shop while I picked them up from day care. Tammu said “Mujhe bhi Pizza khana hai!” Although I am not the kind who entertains all their demands, I suddenly realized that the last time I had pizza (not made by me) was before they were born. I make Pizza at home mostly by buying store bought pizza bases and we all enjoy them. But because Abbas is not so fond of Pizza, we have never entered a Pizza joint together. I have always had my pizzas with ex-colleagues in Kolkata! So, I promised them that we’ll order Pizza home.


Last Friday evening, I told them with all dramatic affects (I love the excitement that glows up their faces and all our spirits)

Me - Mannu Tammu, I’m gonna make a call to the Pizza Shop. Tring Tring Tring Tring

Mannu - “Aaar??” (Meaning and)

Me - “Hello, Could you please bring a Pizza for Mannu Tammu, Mamma and Baba?”

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - and after some time…

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - the Pizza Uncle would carry the Bi...g square Box

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - with round Pizza which is Ho...t

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - A Pizza uncle would ride a Scooter (with fist action) Vroom Vroom Vrooooom

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - And come very fast to our house

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - and rings the door bell Ding Dong Ding Dong

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - We three will open the door

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - And Uncle will say Tantada Here is Pizza for Mannu Tammu!

*Mannu Tammu together jump and shout - “Yay”*

Mannu - “Aar??”

Me - We will eat the yummmmy taaaaasty delllllllllicious Pizza.

After all this I proceed to make a call. The guy asks me the location for delivery. When I tell them the name of our area, they say “Sorry Ma’am we don’t deliver in your area”. It was hard to decide who was more sad with this news among us three!

Called up Abbas who was heading back home. But he had driven way past the Pizza joints and asked me if he should drive back! I was confused? I finally said “No, you come home. We’ll see.” I called the other pizza joint which is near kids’ school and it is quite close to our home too. They denied delivery to our area again. Sigh. It was as though the whole universe was conspiring to deprive us from having Pizza. Consoling kids was a tad easier than consoling myself. They forgot about Pizza but I was strolling across the house restlessly and was at my wit’s end. (The thought of rustling up a dinner at that point of time was bugging me actually) Abbas came home and looking at three of our faces, he offered to take us out to eat Pizza. And then as usual, Abbas and I procrastinated our Pizza plans and ended up dinting at a Multi cuisine restaurant. (Dinner sans rice or Indian bread puts us both off!)

The next Friday I left an hour early from office, picked them up from the day care and went to the Pizza joint near their school. We were happy or what!! As we waited for our Pizza to arrive, Tammu pointed towards the TV and said “Mamma, ye dekho TV!!!”. Perhaps she thought TV was a luxury only our household owned… Lol. Then she said “Ismein Chota Bheem nahi aata hai?” I told her “It’s not our TV. So we can’t switch channels here”. She was constantly eyeing the nearby table. When they were served Chicken wings, she screeched “Ye dekho, uncle yellow chicken kha raha hai. Mujhe bhi chahiye” I said “Ok, I have already ordered for today. We’ll have it next time”. And thank god those uncles were foreigners and didn’t understand her speech.

And then like a typical Indian mom, I was planning to shove in those packets of herbs that we had not used any way sneakily when nobody was watching! What? I’m not cheap. It comes as complimentary with the Pizza I bought!!! When I finally managed to thrust it in my bag, Mannu said on top of her voice “Mamma, ye bag mein kyu ghusa rahi ho?” This girl has got a loud speaker in her throat and I whispered to her that I’ll make pizza for her at home using that. That was incentive enough to keep her mum.

Mannu Tammu finally waved at all the uncles and aunties there as though there were some celebrities. When we came out and were waiting for an auto, I saw that a mother-daughter duo was looking at Mannu and waving at her. She tells me “Mamma, ye aunty mujhe ‘Look at’ kiya”. And those 2 laughed hearing her words. So did I.

All in all, we had fun. Abbas was glad coz he was spared as he doesn’t like Pizzas and more so, coz his daughters finally got to eat Pizza!

Thumb-print and Palm-print Art

When I recently saw Shruti's blog and all the artworks done by her daughter, I was awestruck. I felt like a laid back mommy. I hardly did any crafts with my kids! I went through her archives and picked up this and this to be done during the weekend. We all enjoyed painting. My hubby also got inspired and pitched in, drew those small plants in both the paintings. (Yeah, he also took digs at me numerous times commenting on the octopus!) Ultimately, it turned out to be a family activity... I am really glad to be a part of blogopshere and know such wonderful mommies all around. Thanks Shruti and li'l P for all the inspiration.

Here are the pics:

Mommy Guilt

RS tagged me to write about Mommy guilt:


1.Write about 2 instances where you have put yourself before your child/ children… been a wee bit selfish.

2.How did you feel? Did you feel a pang of guilt or were you comfortable?

3.Tag 2 more moms

Mmmm, well! I have had my share of outings by leaving kids with their nannies, grannies and at the day care as well. I did not feel guilty, at all. Period. Why would I feel guilty when all these getaways only let me enjoy some ‘me’ space and breathe free. Abbas is the one who feels guilty about leaving kids behind even when we go house hunting or any such place where taking them would end up all 4 of us being stresses out at the end of it. So, there are far and few instances when we actually went out to dine or watch a movie without them that I can count those using my fingers!

But yes, there was one such incident which made me feel guilty big time and it will be etched in my memory for ages to come. Here are the links to the long story in 3 parts: Part1, Part2 and Part3.

Other than this, like RS quoted, there are times when three of us come back home exhausted on weekdays. My patience gives away many a times and they easily become my stress balls to vent out my aggravation. There was a strenuous phase during my previous job which badly affected my personal life at home. I would get irritated with trifle things and shower my wrath on kids unnecessarily. But I’m glad that phase is over now. However these incidents are highly unavoidable with a full time job to handle, a household to manage and two kids to tackle. After such emotional outbursts from me, I feel guilty to no end. When those innocent souls rush to me with nobody else to go to for rescue and say with tears trickling down their eyes “Please don’t be angry, Mamma”, I join the crying club too. They delicately wipe my tears and make me wanna kick myself. Yeah, in my defense I complain about logging 9 hours a day at work but what I seem to overlook is that that they too have been out of the house for the same duration. All they need is some quality time with me! So most of the days now, I spend some rock ‘n roll time with them till they go to bed. Once they are asleep, my chores begin. Isn’t it taxing? You may ask. Ofcourse it is. But at the end of the day, their giggles and the spark in their eyes mean the world to me and they sure are my stress busters (and theirs too)!

RS, I am cheating but I can’t resist adding a few more to the list.

There are times when they are sick and you can’t afford to take the day off from work! In my previous company, day care was within the campus which was an advantage. But again, dragging them to office while they are sick is again painful. Mommy guilt is like that Vodafone dog – wherever you go, it follows!

I have this crazy weakness: I cannot start cooking till my kitchen is spic and span. There have been a couple of incidents when we would have gone out during the weekends, and came back only by late evenings. With my obsession to start the kitchen chores only after putting things in place, kids’ dinner would have got a bit delayed and Mannu would have dozed off by then. Aaargh! She would not wake up no matter what till dawn. That would make me guilty to see her asleep without a filled tummy.

Last one is this: Abbas and I will always be guilty of depriving Mantam from their maternal grandparents. We eloped and are still awaiting acceptance of our marriage from my parents. We are reaping the outcome of what we’ve sown. But my kids have missed out on everything that maternal grand parents’ house has to offer for no fault of their own.

Now I need to tag two more moms. I am very new to the Mommy blogosphere. And most I know have already done this tag. I’m gonna tag the first mommy cum food blogger I got to know – Rachu and the blog that I recently bumped into who is a mommy of twins - Momfrs

First few drawings

Dolphin and Fish

That's supposed to be Mamma's fridge!

Supposedly a ball!



The Ball then became sun!