On parenting

My greatest stress buster these days is Facebook. Maybe I like to observe people online. Sitting on a park bench in a virtual world, observing people around, how they walk, whom they hangout with, how they laugh, where they eat, how they eat, exploring the expressions.

There are many groups which I am part of, but I check mostly the mommy groups first. Being a parent, especially a novice in the matter, you try to note down all the information you get, hoping that brain would register a few of them when needed.Continue reading →

On recycling and crafts

Recently, we did some interior work at home through an interior designer, and there were some wood pieces, veneer pieces, and pieces of laminates left at home. I also have some aluminium sheets which were used like a kolu ladder at my rented home. Then there are the granite slab pieces cut for inbuilt gas stove and kitchen sink. There is packaging boxes of LED’s used in false ceiling. Leftover paints, POP, and so many small items too.

I do not know why I don’t have the heart to part with them. Some voice inside me advises to retain them and find some uses for them.

Having always used to recycling from my parents, I have been part of some Facebook groups which recycle used goods. The Second to None group is now growing into a market where you can sell your  used items, but I never know there is another concept of free-cycling too. I was totally surprised when I got a car seat for free from a member, which otherwise would have costed me thousands! This has literally invoked a bigger picture of life in giving away things. Recently I gave away the computer table and metal shoe rack to my maid, altogether for Rs.500 . I did want to give it free, but then hesitated. Atleast sparks of thought came. Maybe a good sign. I have some old clothes, some torn, some not being used, some baby clothes etc. Many advice to give to Goonj and I do follow them. But seems they are busy at the moment with the Uttarakhand floods.

The disaster happened in the North reminds of the Badrinath yatra we did in October 2009. I did plan to write the travelogue after reaching back Bangalore, but never materialized. Realized that travel writing needs to be planned beforehand.

So back to leftover pieces now, I am thinking of learn some hobby with wood, maybe painting wood block first, with the help of Woodooz blog tutorials, and then more crafts along the way.

Deep thinking on retrospection

Yesterday, I was searching through my email for something, and ended up finding some Google chats I did with RK before marriage. It tickled my philosophical part of my brain, and I went into retrospective mood immediately.

On retrospection, normal route is to feel that you have grown mature, but I feel, I am still immature. Or for that matter, every person is immature with respect to the current scenario. Everyone is learning with new situations, and just lives by their instincts. I believe that everyone has a viewpoint and need not be right or wrong. Those view points are formed based on how their minds imbibe the lessons from their experiences. Some take bad experiences negatively or as mistakes done and some consider them positively as opportunities to learn from life. Whenever people say, especially my parents, that the others were better and they were wrong, it really hurts me. How do I explain to them, that they were never wrong, but did their best in living their life? Reminds me of another post on similar lines by Jeena Papaadi.

Refreshing old memories or incidents sometimes enables you to understand or evaluate people more liberally than how you did at that time. Though its easy to make it a rule that you should not judge people, it rarely happens. The natural instinct of human beings, as far as my understanding, is to collect data about the other person through his mannerisms or behavior and speech and analyse it to form an impression (Maybe that’s what they call first impression in layman’s terms). Repeated interactions develop this data  more and more and  you rate ( is there any other word) that person as you go, based on experiences. At a later point in life, when you analyse this data, with your other renewed experiences, maybe the rating would get different. In short words, the person whose viewpoints you never agreed with, could be understood better now. And some persons whom you valued great earlier may lose respect now.

Another point I noted is the traits which never changes in person. Even before marriage, RK had found out the main problem in my behavior which was the root cause for me feeling depressed or picking up arguments with others . And that is, I think too much. And I realize he had been cool always and had the quality of letting go, and not thinking too much about something.

But if I don’t think too much, would this blog have ever been born? So is it a boon or a bane?

The thread of thought has started again.

Catching up with you..

As blogged before, N started playschool last month. There were tears as expected but after two weeks, she has mellowed down and has got adjusted to the water like a fish. Just that she cries or rather shivers a bit when she touches the cold water initially.

Last week, after one whole month, they gave us the uniforms. Initially, I was thinking it would be too much for a two-year old to wear uniforms, but now after one month of struggling to find what to make her wear in the morning, the uniforms are a boon, atleast for the three days of the week when they are to be worn.

As far as my childhood memories goes, I do not remember a single thing except for one scene. I am lying on mats for afternoon naps, with half eyes closed. Some teachers were commanding us to close your eyes and sleep. That’s it.

Another scene which I remember is of the Class 1. My mom and her colleague is trying to put on uniforms on me, while I am making a fuss and crying a lot. I also remember the class, as if taken from an art movie scene, where I am standing outside the class, actually not me, but my silhouette. Not sure, whether it was after mom leaving me there, or some other instance while studying that year.

On other hand, since this gives me some free time, I have been reading blogs lately. There is a blog marathon by Preeti Shenoy, who always have some positive vibes to cheer you up daily. And one of the other blogs I frequently read are the email blog posts by Indian Homemaker, which is shared by the readers of the blog. This gives an insight to the plight of Indian women, and some men too, who are trapped in abused relationships of all sorts, say love, marriage, sex, etc..  This actually makes me think of the big picture and the stark reality of the world we live in, and helps me forget the small silly disappointments I have in my life.

In parallel, the home decor craziness is not leaving me, even after I did some interiors of the home using a designer. Though the experience is mixed, I would still recommend going through an interior designer for doing up your home,  especially because of the value for money service. And since I have some plywood pieces left over at home, I am seriously reading up woodworking blog by Woodooz to plunge myself in.

And then, there are some things which I have always wanted to do when I get the free time. Like reading a book, going out independently, driving alone, working for my satisfaction etc. Lets see where the time takes me..

Thinking of blog title

By November this year, the domain subscription for archanaonline.com is going to terminate. After long thought, I have decided  not to renew it. Its tough to maintain a blog, keeping it updated frequently and I do not want to bother maintaining a domain name redirected to wordpress.com. Sometimes I tend to forget renewing it. Sometimes, the redirection does not work and I have to sent mails to people who are already busy with their lives. And I am not that professional blogger who is planning to use ads or enter the race for SEO page ranking and all those. Hence I plan to drop it.

The problem now is, what to rename the blog title. Till now, I have been using Archanaonline.com as the blog title and to prepare for the upcoming de-linking, I thought of updating it all now itself. My mail signature, gravatar, online profiles and lastly the blog title.

Any ideas /suggestions for the blog title?

musings.. thoughts.. rambles by Archana.. archonline.. or how about melange?

Entering the second toddler year

N is turning 2 next week. And this June we are enrolling her in playschool too. All these are making me confused and emotional. Whenever I do retrospect her birth, there are so many situations playing back to back, scene by scene, which we came across. No wonder they say pregnancy and childbirth changes your life. At the end I would say its just a mixed bag of emotions. Continue reading →