The blue sky

As the clock ticks away and the figurative year 2013 comes to an end, I have amazingly managed to catch up on writing and post a few articles here and there, which should have been a fairly regular affair. I always say that and end up not writing. Nevertheless, I would today like to jot down a few random things that gave me an insight into the people and my life in this soon to be over year 2013. In 2013, I realized that - there is nothing like a 'bad' mother. Every mother, who is newly born with her baby faces, does face challenges and devises her own ways to cope up with them. - Motherhood is not always blissful. It can be extremely tiring and mundane and exhausting sometimes. One need not feel great about it everyday. One can feel miserable about it sometimes! - Euros can buy you anything and everything under the sun, alas not your loved ones. - Euros can't always balance out the mental satisfaction one derives in working what one really really likes. - Ger...

As I mentioned in my earlier post about Atul's absence and Tanay's illness and the impending and boring atmosphere during the biggest festival of Europe, I was actually saved by my loved ones and how? Definitely with the help of technology to a great extent. Usually, I am of the opinion that the technology has enslaved the mankind, but in these 3 weeks, I was connected with my family and close friends through mobile phone, who gave me mental strength to be alone here, in this cold and hostile environment. My colleagues, Mrunal, Shweta, Gauri made it a point to check on me daily, either by their presence or through whtapps. They stayed with me in the first week and helped me to sail smoothly through the first week. But in the later weeks, they all had already made plans for trips and hence they couldn't be there thereafter. My sister-in-law's brother and his wife, Jignesh and Rita stayed with me the longest and supported and helped me through the major tough times of ...

December is my most favorite month of the year. In India it is the best time to go for picnics, outings, sit and chit chat with friends and yes, most of the weddings happen during this month, so it is a great time to catch up with relatives and friends. In Europe, in Germany, it is the beginning of Winter and the most important festival, Christmas falls in this month itself. The festivities begun right from the first week of Christmas here. The shops and streets are lit, there are discounts all over and people are as usual on a shopping spree and in holiday mood. This year unfortunately, it was the most boring month for me, here in Germany. Atul was away in India for a holiday. Tanay and myself stayed back, though I so very wanted to go to India. But somehow, I convinced myself that I would be able to manage this front alone. I was so very wrong!! Barely 1 week passed by well as we both were busy with my office and his creche. But then suddenly my little baby developed conjunctivi...

After a fun filled celebration of Diwali, ‚the festival of lights‘, it was time to celebrate ‘The Laternefest‘ in my son’s crèche. It literally means the lantern festival, something, similar to our Diwali festival! It was organized by the crèche authorities and the notice was displayed almost a month ago asking the parents to confirm their presence. I had put my response long back and was looking forward to the event. It was going to be our first event at the crèche with the German kids and their families, so was little excited and nervous. 11 th November, Saint Martin’s day is the day when this Laternfest is celebrated every year. We gathered at 4 pm in the crèche and the turnout was quite good. Many parents had prepared the lantern at home, I hadn’t! So I had the option of picking up one from the lot which was kept for parents like me who couldn’t manage doing it at home. The director, Miss Schiffer was the only amongst staff who was participating in the procession with a ...

India, as everybody is aware of, is a land of festivals and one of the festivals celebrated on a grand scale is Diwali, festival of lights! It is a festival celebrated elaborately for 4 days depending on the lunar calendar. This year, this festival was all the more special, because I celebrated it with my extended family. We met here in Stuttgart, on the basis of our common mother-tongue and slowly we became stronger and closer and organized. This year, we celebrated many events and one of it was the grand get-together for Diwali celebrations and it was a great success. A preparatory meeting was held to discuss about the proceedings for that particular day and the girls quickly chipped in with ideas, games and of course the main thing, delicious Indian food, homemade food by all lovely girls in the group. Responsibilities were taken, decisions were made, arrangements were taken care of, and hall was booked. And the day dawned. It was Sunday, 3 rd November 2013. The weather w...

The seasons in Europe are clearly marked and they make their presence felt during that time too! Dec, Jan, Feb - Winter Mar, Apr, May - Spring June, Jul, Aug - Summer Sep, Oct, Nov - Autumn So, right now Germany and of course, I am experiencing Autumn and I can't describe it in words how beautiful the trees are looking right now with their orange, yellow and red shades. Slowly all the leaves will wither and the trees and the mountains would look sad and barren and frightening. The first-timers to Germany are looking forward to the snow and the beautiful sight which it brings with it. I have seen the snow 2-3 times now and I am really not waiting for it eagerly. It is a beautiful experience when one is at home, inside, in a cozy little place with some nice music and a coffee to sip and a favorite book to read. Not when one has to walk and catch the train and go to office or bring the child back home from the crèche, struggling with his pram, trying to make wa...

My best friend, John is on a writing spree and I feel good to see him like that. He rightly pointed out to me that I have not being writing for some time now. The last post was from 19.09 which is almost a month ago. What has happened to me? Why am I so lethargic when it comes to my favorite activity, writing?  I dread to sit with my laptop at home in front of my little one. He immediately comes running from any corner of the house that he is in and sits in my lap waiting to pounce on the keys and 'appear' as if working very seriously, just like his dad! My laptop has once crashed, thanks to his unceasing pounding of keys with his tiny hands. Had to get it repaired and then it has become dead slow. I do not want to work on it anymore and thought of having a Tab where I could easily work on it. Tab arrived with my mom as a gift from her and my little one had another toy to play. He just does not want to play with his toys and he does not even let the tab charge, when I put ...

When I came to Germany six months ago, I didn't have the slightest idea of what was in store for me with regards to the day care scenario for my boy. The day care system here is very different than in Indian. I had the responsibility of taking my lil boy to the day care, sitting with him there for some time and bringing him back and it was a different experience all together. My boy is a stranger friendly person, he doesn't get intimated with new faces. Initially he liked the new toys and new friends to play, but when he realized that he was going to be left alone there without me or his daddy, he started crying his heart out. It pained a lot to see him cry like this, but I thought, there is no way out. He will learn to be there. He will like it there. His care-taker took a lot of efforts on him. Language was the biggest barrier, which I thought was a hindrance in the feeling of being at home. I spoke to him some words in German, but basically, it was German the whole da...