Why I love December ....

December makes me a kid again .... it's my most favorite time of the year!  There is nothing I don't love about the Christmas  season! From the wonderful old classic music, pajama time watching Christmas movies on Netflix, tree lighting at your county and  yes we put up our tree on 12/1 every year pretty much after Thanksgiving but oh boy this year there was a mad rush of events Halloween and Diwali zoom passed with a blink of my eyelid... it was funny to change your avatar from being a witch for Halloween to the magical festival of Diwali lights,  Diyas and Lakshmi pooja it all just spilled over in one weekend but the celebrations were to the brim!!

As a kid we never put up a tree or celebrated Christmas as such because back in good old India it was seen more like a festival for Catholic or Christian religion only however my Dad would deligently take us to visit Santa at Akbarallys a big outlet store those days and buy my sister and me a present. My Catholic friend Natasha would go for a midnight mass to the church and we'd have a Christmas get together at her house next day .. pretty much seen a tree in her house, nice lights, plum cakes and one lovely evening my sister and friends decorated a huge tree outside her house that was the first time I heard the word 'reindeer' it was a ornament that we hung on the tree along with candles and it looked so so pretty I wish we had a camera then to have captured those moments. We received a lot of compliments from  passer bys.

.... as time flew by Christmas was so much in the air even my  most crowded Mumbai city back in India looked magical with restaurants lit up, Santa everywhere, Malls with huge trees and themes and Red sweaters everywhere, Mumbai can be cooler in December ...  it really began to feel like a Magical month. Yes I love December bcos there is something magical,the love in the air, toys, gift wrapping, Santa and the tree itself I love it, so merry!! The very first year itself we had a tree for sunshine in good old Bangalore and then when we moved here to the west we continued the practice of course.



Here in the west it's beyond magic, as a kid I was a voracious reader I used to finish books on Christmas during the Christmas break from school which then turned to movies as I grew up and  my favorite was 'Home Alone Christmas movie', literally everything I've seen in the movies is a reality during this magical month here in the west right from the mistle toe, the reindeer,  the aroma of cinnamon and cookies, the sounds of sleigh bells, sleigh rides, Mrs Claus and Santa Claus, Elf helpers, shopping, the holiday lights everywhere, its all real and so magical, accompanied by  the cool temperature of winters you surely need a hot chocolate if you are out in this frosty weather but who  does not want to right!



So for Xmas 2016 what did we do? It's only December 1st and we put up our tree today did lots of DIY to decorate it, used last year s wreath which was a DIY too, and my boy is in full spirits and his full Master Chef avatar this year so  he is a Baker... yes he baked a chocolate cake just as delicious as he is, aaha yes he did, patiently and persistently followed the instructions in  a YouTube video, Mommy helped of course he also made mac and cheese during Thanksgiving! I boxed some to work and my colleagues love it!! Here is a video of Xmas day 1 and sssshhhh he wrote a letter to Santa and we are counting days to receive his gift from Santa. USPS has a wonderful service for delivering Santa letters and hopefully a reply too :).




 Above all I love spending time with those I love and shop a small gift to express my gratitude and gesture to my friends and family and giving back to kids who need toys. Last year I did 'Toys for Tots' at a local store and at my workplace yet to decide this year s give back but I do want to do a tad different. So that's my doodle do for Christmas! It surely brings out  a good attitude in you and cheers you up after all it's the last month so be merry and be cheerful and be good. Spread love spread joy to the world!



Love.... always! More to come...
Sunshine and his Mommy

The CEO of my family

Last week, during a session, a client thanked me for being a good listener. A GOOD LISTENER! Wow. I closed the door and kept thinking and thinking and then I went into a mini vacation rewind mode. There is nothing more important to me than being a good listener. NOTHING. I get it. Listening is hard. Listening well is a skill, one that takes practice to improve. A 
person can only listen if they are focused, open minded, patient, interested, and humble. Five years ago my Husband and me signed a business deal and brought this CEO to our family. Our son Mr. V as they call him. This CEO with no business suit literally took over my position. Most often its the women in the family trying to run a house the chores especially. Imagine a CEO who just comes and changes the policies left right and center :) Oh Boy! This CEO put us on a schedule a schedule that ran 24/7 literally. From making meals for him every 3 hours and setting it to the right temperature, to the not so long - short naps where even the sound of a burp would disturb the CEO s most important task 'Naptime' my husband and I only had the time to look into each other 's faces with a punch me attitude if anyone of us tried to wake him up.


Not to forget the busy CEO had so many employees working for him (The maids, Cook, Driver,etc etc ) and  other business partners (grandparents) that our door bells would constantly be ringing which may disturb the nap time for Mr CEO and our angry faces would turn like Planet Mars literally ready to punch each other and the employees at the door. Picture us as working on our laptops, scratching our heads and trying to grapple some work done and the door bell rings.... The CEO would wake up with loud screeches and scream his lungs out and the we'd sprint from the living room into his bedroom ready to grab him and ask him what he'd like for the next meal. The maid tries to calm him down with the rattle that makes it even worse sometimes.

Days pass and years pass and we move to the west to the US and Mr CEO moves to a higher designation 'Super CEO' I'd like to say  .... And he gets a new car, a car with no wheels essentially a car seat and his schaufers us of course drive him around wherever he'd like to go. Occasionally he'd like to scream sitting there when there is too much traffic sometimes tossing the bottle of milk that has hit the drivers head accidentally ahem so I'd like to say. Then comes a new office for the CEO when he graduates to age 3 preschool and daycare and come daycare  comes sickness and infections.

 'Leaves' or 'Day off 'which he is allowed at Day cares leisurely but our Bosses here in the West do not believe in sick leaves which we have to manage to work out from our PTO days so to say.... Alrite and then Mr CEO in his toddlerhood had a executive gym called the playground or park where a bunch of other 2 - 3 year old CEO s gather together and scream without any agenda and jump and cry and do everything they want to they are CEO s afterall. They know to let it loose pretty much and say at the end of the meeting 'All work and no play makes a not so good CEO'.

Graduating from Toddler to Preschool to Pre- Kindergarten ,today this CEO is a tough Boss. He has taught me  to be focused, open minded, patient, interested, and humble and above all he has taught me good listening skills. Although he is a tough Boss with a lot of opinion we love him dearly.Now comes the challenge to instill listening skills in the CEO himself  and that is not a brand new chapter of my life I've been altering this goal every now and then but remember I'm focused, open minded, patient, interested, and humble ;) 

Thanks for reading... :):)

The world is changing ...

Back home !

So People a big Hello from 'Back to the West'  here i'm blogging back on the 'Baby s day out' blog bcos for those of you who know I did blog under another title for a while titles that were more associated to the bumble bee boy and his and our busy life and so on. But but some of my friends lost track they were just following this blog so they gave me this sweet reminder that Hey why aren't you blogging often. And I had to tell them about the other title but I know I know its taking a while sometimes I just think of a topic but I leave it in the draft for a while but this blog was long calling bcos its about the beautiful staycation back in my very own India and about the baby turned  bumble bee turned big boy now  - big big milestone!!

I can't stop talking about this trip and so does bumble bee boy  he is still giving his brain a quick kick on a few nautanki acts he did there. I don't know what is it is it grandparents s house or just being amongst a crowd that's giving you so much attention right from day zero he had some crazy i like to call it 'sugar high hyperactive' moments and acts. After a 20 hour flight we land in aamchi Mumbai sometime around 5 am Mumbai my beautiful city looks calm and composed at 5 am I was still and silent observing every bit of the curves and streets and the way leading home. 'Home'  Yeah I was heading home after 2 good years isn't it too long? My co workers were like you don't get to see your mom in two years they were shocked at the same time happy for me that im making this month long trip. Well luckily both sides of the family did make trips in 2015 here so what did I miss ? I did not miss my family too much bcos I got to see them in 2015 and they stayed for a good 3 months. Also thanks to social media and apps etc watsapp calling is free video calling is free so all that makes up 
for the time not physically spent but at least virtually  were able to keep up..to keep up with the fast 
changing world... to keep up with the pace of life to keep up with Bollywood... everything is running at this super sonic speed but the good news (sometimes) is the world has shrunk completely thanks to social media and  technology that has got human beings connected in every way. For example I could meet friends from my school whom I haven't seen for over 15 years I meet them at this school reunion that was organized partly by me and another school mate who created this whatsapp group and it started raining names and names from school. Nothing can beat the feeling of meeting your school friends so to say.

Also I have very few friends that I can count on my fingers only one from school who is my best friend from age 8 and 3 maybe from college and 1 from MBA college that's it  these are people I meet even now and few I just met here and there who stayed my friends for life !! Besides when you move 
out of the city and then the country its hard to keep in touch on a daily basis despite the socialmedia
connect. I blame it on myself I'm a social butterfly in my own space and I lack massive social skills I mentioned this in my previous 'Power of being introvert' blog if you read that.

So the highlight of this trip was for a change i was not hitting the parks and play areas with bumble bee boy bcos hes changed  remember the world is changing and he is growing up too of course his friends were me and my sister most often and he would hang out with our friends or his cousins but 
pretty much busy with family no setting up play dates whatsoever that's the advantage when you have a family around.

That brings to the point I made absolute 'Me time' bcos my boy was busy getting pampered by his grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins so much so that he did not want mommy during bedtime either this was a big big change he is such a clingy kid both me and my better half were shocked that he can sleep without us. The kind of attention he was getting was keeping him totally busy totally filled with pampering and love and new toy everyday by my Dad, feeding all meals, 
getting everything in hand getting spoilt I'd say to myself but its ok he was enjoying it and the grandparents deserve this.





He is enjoying my sister s birthday!!



A favorite hangout with my sister and V - Leaping window café and library !!

Amidst all this my  'Me time' centered around 
Everything I like to do or haven't done for ages. I went and bought a pair of roller skates for myself bcos I knew I was heading to Bangalore and could skate with my neices last time I got them a pair of skates for their birthday and was going to teach them I couldn't do it for long bcos I 

discovered bumble bee inside me :) . Well so I got on to a pair of roller skates after 15 years exactly in my 10th std vacation we were a group of 5 - 6 girls we'd skate day in and day out it was this newness and in thing besides just learnt it so that excitement I loved it that I could get back to it but wasn't too confident initially given i've doubled up in size :)  but to tell you the truth what you learn in your childhood stays in you and I had a blast skating with my 12 year old twin nieces. I also rented out a bike or bicycle with my childhood best friend just like we used to in our days from Raju or Bablu the cyclewala in lallubhai park road  it used cost 5 rupees for 1 hour and 2 rupees for half hour I remember that very well bcos I used to carefully carry the money with me trying not to get late and pay late charges. So the bike ride in short was just like good old days. The world has changed and for the good. I see acts of kindness. 
I see karma realization . I see massive work for giving back to the society. I was fortunate I could do some of these thanks to my friend Manisha who introduced me to this NGO where I volunteered  I woke up at 6.30 am to visit these kids in Bandra and teach them their academic subjects like Economics, English and Science. I loved it!





with the kids !!

Lets talk about Food  my better half and I were just excited about this part the most the foodie that we are and tits and bits we miss staying here in the west. My day zero attack with my sister and our childhgood friend was 'Desi Chinese' I had paneer chilly, hakka noodles and Manchurian at a local adda it was mouth watering and satisfied the taste buds craving for it for 2 years. I ticked off other Mumbai favorite street food to name a few:

• Vada Pav  (its like the burger of US :))
• Naturals - mango and malai ice cream
• All sorts of Bombay chat - bhel puri, paani poori,  my favorite - sev poori which I feel I did not eat much
• Bombay sandwich  (This is special bcos it aint like a sandwich in the west - this is a combination of 5 - 6 spices grounded into something called chutney added to it veggies and cheese and tomato ketchup piled up to 3 levels grilled and served hot :))
• Mysore masala dosa (A creppe filled with lots of spices and veggies and cheese is a option too:))
• lots and pots of Manogoeesssss - aamras (so they say in Mumbai)
• the 5 course Thali

the 5 course indian meal!!!

The Bombay sandwich

All of this inside the tummy not at one go of course thankfully. It would be like a tummy tantrum at one go. :))



The party people !!

Oh Boy ! I  was so so insomnic and felt like a zombie sometimes my head would hurt during the day for the lack of sleep but the excitement of what to do tomorrow or non stop chat with friends would keep my brains thinking all night there was a energy inside me to party every Thursday or Friday and of course Saturday night, doing this after ages i'd say but I have the party spirit inside me im so glad about it and it just woke up I felt like a teenager again and this gave us a great time with the better half especially and our  totally enthu friends who partied with us all night and yet made it to work the next day. They made it a  fun night for us. The trip was made for us just us learnt to juggle around everything and everyone friends, family, favorite places to visit, things to do etc etc. Im not a mall shopping person I hate wasting time roaming in malls so that adds to more time on you to do stuff you like I;m totally impressed with my city s infrastructure the airport is a beauty in itself, the metro train ride, worli sealink, to top it all I don't know if a regular mumbaikar would notice this but the pollution levels are zero the PUC has paid up very well. Commuting with apps on the phone makes life so simple. Drive back home in a Uber or Ola cabs at 3 am that simple!! Mumbai touchwood is the safest city at night !! Made good use of free time at home browsing the laptop and making use of online shopping thanks to E- commerce its super simple to order a book or clothes or just anything under the sun. Returns are easy too if you dislike it. ... Well people this is what happens when I blog after a while I can go on writing I think I need to pause. 

That's the change - Mumbai s very own metro train ride !!

All in all all of this is a big big change so when the world is changing i'm so glad my country and city is changing for the better Amen !! How are you preparing yourself in a rapidly changing environment? our kids are the best example they are growing so so fast. So Pause breathe think. watch this video and tell me what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwWhvm5RHZE