Baby s day out on a bicycle - Slowing down to the speed of Life!

Let us ring the bicycle bells ting- a -ling -a- ling ----tring - tring - tring. I excitedly arrived at the Valley forge National Park a little past noon on a saturday - all set to take the 6 mile trail bike ride (although i love to call it a bicycle) with my biking shoes, sunglasses, a water bottle, helmet, small map of the trail around the park- tucked into my pocket, quiet acting like a pro biker just following the biking  instructions read previously on the website. The journey began, it was a hot summer day  and after riding a couple of miles I sat down by the soft sweet schuylkill river which had captivated my romantic imagination of France countryside which I have only read about in 'de tour e france' magazines on the long boring air france flight that id travel often during my work days, unfortunately busy work life then got me to experience only the skies of France :(


I sipped some water from my water bottle and glarred at the lush green choppy river as I slowly indulged in  reminiscing some enjoyable good old days -  first thing that flashed was the backwaters of Kerala - or so you say God s own country! To my better half it was home to his Dad s ancestoral - big beautiful traditional home with an outdoor courtyard and temple at the backyard where we lit a hundred diyas one lovely cool evening in September. So whilst better half decided to stay home afterall it was home sweet home for him but to the mischievous and adventurous me it was a feast to my nature loving eyes, ears and senses. I tagged along Sowmya a young energetic niece and  my father in law who was more than happy to give me a tour to a nearby river bank so as to glance a part of the heart of backwaters. It was a 20 minute walk through the lovely wood side of the village and we had our umbrellas opened up to the hazy grey sky. We reached the river bank and i got to see a picture that id often sketch in my drawing book - An old lady washing clothes by the river bank -  who innocently asked me in malayalam  ' Nengla  Yaar' meaning Who are you?  i quickly turned and pointed to my FIL in sign language bcos I could not reply back in Malayalam. ..So there we were at the banks of the beautiful Uragam river in Trissur, I quickly plunged  into the cool green waters with ease.

Uragam river in Kerala with Sowmya!!

As I sunk down memory lane something flashy sparky popped in front of my eyes almost 2 decades back wen I was less than ten years old we'd rent out bicycles (mine was always red hence the flashy sparky imagination) from 'Raju; the bicyclewala( would always wonder why all of them were Raju) my sibling Sandhya and I would rent out 2 bicycles 2 rupees each for 1 hour and whilst she'd teach me how to hold tight and balance my lovely mother would anxiously stand by the balcony to wave out to us as we finish the 400 mt round around our colony and also would remind us to stop by for snacks. Many a times if my mentor sibling was busy bicycling with her friends I would call out to my mom for help to start the bicycle. so in my learning days, I always needed someone to help me start the bicycle,  she would try hard to do the needful of balancing out the bicycle  first then giving it a push as i instructed her but somehow if it did not trigger she'd ask some stranger to help. So it could be a postman or gardener in my colony always willing to help ! Weekends were easier as Dad would cycle along with us. We'd even ride on to Juhu beach.One fine day Dad gifted me a Avon bmx bicycle it was a beautiful surprise and almost all my friends had a bicycle by then and we'd play follow the captain and stroll for hours together in our summer vacations.We'd also exchange each others cycles a few other bicycle names i recall Street Cat, BSA SLR, BSA Champ....

Moments later I was woken up by my 2 year old champ Vivaan, my new biking buddy, calling out to me as he was resting back in his buggy bike tagged along with my bike. Let's get going 'ting a ling a ling  - tring tring tring'cried he.

Life s simplest pleasures are life s greatest joys!! As i hopped back on to my bicycle, i thanked the Schuylkill river for having taken me back to some sweet childhood memories and happy family times. Not little did i know that my childhood bicycle rides would become such a wonderful memory and story of my life. Im sure we all have stories to tell our kids but of course with generations the stories change too. As a child i'd hear stories from my Father, story of his generation, story of his dream to live in the sea shore of bustling Bombay as he visited this city of dreams during his teenage vacations, story of my patriarchal grandfather DS Ramaswamy Iyer who along with his wife and five little children and a sixth one budding in her womb, fled Rangoon - Burma (a British colony then where my grandfather worked for a British Bank) because of a sudden outburst of the second world war in 1942, my grandmother and other women with children were put on to a ship that sailed along the Indian ocean and reached a small village in Tamil Nadu one early morning. My grandmother with a wondrous hope would send her two older boys to the village bus stop everyday to find out if  her husband has arrived, who along with other men was supposedly walking  through the forests of East India with an obligation to carry the  Bank s cash ((INR 12000 a huge amount surely then) safely to India. He did  reach Tamil nadu after 40 days with a white beard having lost 30 pounds, was hard for my uncles to recognise him, rushed to Madras to report to his head office and hand over the Bank s cash and started a new life in the city.The Bank is today known as The Standard Charted Bank. So my father would end the story here... 

......As my mind drifted back to take the trail ride, i retreated myself riding along the beautiful green banks of the Schuylkill river - utterly a foreign river to me that changed my reflective outlook, that made me realise that the longevity of generations and recalling the 'family tree' can bring out such a refreshing color to your life, touching deep spiritual bonds of family and indeed they live on for  generations..sometimes haunting us through adversity, sometimes giving us a bitter sweet taste of  the generation gap, sometimes giving us an exuberant display of emotions but ensuring that the blessed circle of life continues forever. As I fought back tears that magically appeared, I quickly made paper boats for my son, let it into the river and watched it all along as we rode back to the smiling sun,  humming 'Let us ring the bicycle bells ting a ling a ling --- tring -tring tring'. We surely had an awesome saturday :)

The buggy bike ride @Valley forge national park

Baby s Birthday Letter!

Oh Dear! Oh Boy !You are 2 already! Oh yes nothing speeds the clock like motherhood!!
It just feels like yesterday when i first held you in my arms and fell in love with your lazy yawn saying 'Yes so  here I'am'. Sometimes i wish i could keep you little forever. At the same time, i love watching you grow and discover new things. I'm trying so hard not to forget what your tiger 'rawr' sounds like and the cute little fingers you would stretch out to show ' twinkle twinkle little stars' or give out your tiny little palm to say 'hello' all this when you were just 6 little months old.

Now that you are TWO,i must say the journey from one to two has been the most fun,exhausting,memorable and challenging years of my life. In just a year you've gone from crawling to walking to jumping and now running. You've gone from knowing your colours to SAYING your colours (even the complex ones like Beige and purple, thanks to the I pad). You've gone from saying simple words like koooo to Train and Station. You've learnt to climb up and down the stairs by yourself and count 1 to 10 missing out a few in between :). I love the way you confidently announce what you want to do and also have a opinion on your meal preference, i also know you have quietly relished a mud meal during your sand play times :)) Oh boy, you are' nt the kid who sits calmly in a stroller or a kid you can distract with a simple toy. You are the little boy who figures how to climb out of the shopping cart, opens the doors he knows he should'nt and laughs with glee as he runs from me in any populated public place. The truth is we would 'nt have you any other way. And although i do not like your tantrums and i know have to deal with it patiently as you advance your toddlerhood, but i see the spirited you who'd keep fighting for what you want and never let any dream die.

 When the house becomes a little too quiet, i know you are either busy with your water jug in the garden or you are the curious  'baby einstein' learning the apps on your ipad or sitting on the floor with your head in a book. I love that you' re a reader like Mommy. And i hope and wish that you'll continue to read books - Readers do have interesting opinions. See Im storing these memories away, tucked snug and tight in the back of mommy brain lock and key. I have a feeling they might come in handy later in life.

And whilst this past year has bought remarkable changes, you are still the same rambunctious, remarkable little boy i fell in love with at first sight. On your birthday i want to thank you for coming into my otherwise stereotyped fast life - busy trying to build my networth, Thank you for making me your dance partner, thank you for helping me stop,slow down and pick up your running ball or car.Thank you for making me realise the value of time and patience and rediscovering happiness and newness to life. Thank you for encouraging me to let the dirty dishes pile up a wee bit longer to play pee ka boo, camp in the swimming pool splashing water or read one more book.Thank you for making me a non perfectionist -  follow the schedule -  follow the clock types - just to finish cooking a meal on time or draining out doing  the household to knock off that extra dirt ,  'Nahhh 'I'd rather spend that time filling your water jug to nurture our little garden and you've indeed helped it BLOOM yellow and pink!!

I've heard some mommies say that their kids make them a better person - a better woman - a better version of themselves. You do more than that - Quiet simply-  You make me.
Happy Birthday my sunshine! Lets have double the fun, double the talking, double the play time for now you are 2.

I love you more.

Mumma

Baby s day out and the baby boom story!!!

It was 8th november 2010 afternoon hours when better half and I were returning back to Bangalore after spending 2 weeks of diwali celebration times in mumbai like we do every year whence a 'chance remark' from around  pumpkin faced lady receptionist  transformed our whole life this  telephone conversation still beats my heart she  screeched through her nose aapka report tayaaar hai aajao collect karlo  (you can come over and collect your reports its ready) although in the morning i was told you can get it only in the evening but did my best to convince that pumpkin faced receptionist to give it early as i was going back to Bangalore and was shitting bricks out of curiosity to know the results -this ain't any online exam result or school report card for a change this time the result read' there was  a little baby inside me already'  - feeling of pure blisss!!

So like every other Indian family the news travelled 7 seas and there pours in pages of free advice from all over the world  from your aunts to his aunts to some so called best dieticians and i adore the positive attitude most experienced mothers share i could swear by every one of them because the best part is no one tells you the climax hour the message is just enjoy the Bump for 9 months after that doctor is God and thats so true!!

For the aunties in my life almost every aunty including my gynac aunty told me morning sickness  will push you to the wash basin first thing when you wake up in the first 3 months...and the grand aunties with additional positive affirmation would say your baby is growing hence this sickness :)
But to my surprise i would be fast asleep till about 9 am and my so called morning sickness kept getting pushed to the late evening hours when i would return from work so i named my baby 'US baby' and conveniently changed the medical term 'morning sickness' to 'evening sickness' and my Doc Gynac would give it a hearty laugh whenever i exaggerated my evening sickness story to her.

Long waits at the Doc s place with a idiot box running over your head and the same bump every woman carried sometimes would make me feel im in some galaxy of stars. Ultrasounds were like biology lessons in school in a fraction of second  she'd move the grandfather looking telephone receiver kinda instrument (excuse my ignorance on science especially this advanced medical science im from a numbers background only know profit/loss) from the head of my baby to the toe and then suddenly would say see the 'baby moved' and we all would stare at the screen wondering if it really did remember my curious dad would wear his spectacles  and try hard to glare at the screen and frown hard - honestly i could' nt understand a shit in that so called ultrasound.

Finally the long wait spilled to a little over 72 hours post the due date - curiosity, anxiety, goose bumps,sweat described my family and me finally the 'Baby s day out' struck at the 19th hour and 23rd minute of 18th July my 2011 and the Baby Boom journey began from thereon............. So  'That s him' a sweet little baby boy and' i almost caught this boy yawning at the very first hour of his arrival into this world as he lay next to me all wrapped and pink cant forget that sight!!!

So What did we decide to name him? Okay thats a story again being a Tam Brahm and having married a Malyali is actually very very tricky . both are south indians or  as my gujrathi and marathi friends would say both are Madrasi s  Just so you know One is a 'no frills no frocks' genre and the other is an enthusiastic bunch on traditions and social skills. I belong to the later yes i proudly belong to the latr!! - We decided on a name that did not qualify a tam brahm long name for sure, but is one of the name of sweet Lord Krishna. 'Vivaan' means Lord Krishna and this keeps both families happy thankfully!

 Tweet Tweet 'its time to press the  publish button sorry for this abrupt ending its the usual me for people who know me well im  always in a hurry running a marathon :)  although im not a regular blogger and do not follow blogging protocols this is just a plain english writing i hate using conjunctions and being a perfectionist in writing  -  Yes the blogger in me struck  today 18th March 2013 exactly 1 year and 8 months from the 'Baby s day out' -  Vivaan  is 20 months old and what a beautiful journey it has been Im proud i chose to be a stay home Mom and spent so much time watching him grow and ignored unwanted passerby  heads who remarked on loosing the career instinct in me having left my fat salary I Banking job. Well i can revert back now with just a smile and thank my better half who supported my decision all throughout and of course like minded mothers who i met in this last one and half years. I can say to all the momies out there enjoy every moment as a first time mom i surely did  afterall these are moments that cannot be relived everything else can wait including blogging :):)