Miss Malini is certainly a name you have heard of before. But I felt even more connected to this lovely lady, as she took me, the reader down memory lane – back to the good old days of ICQ and when asking someone “ASL?” was the norm. This was long before we became Insta-influencers and thought it perfectly sane to share advice about the various shades of baby poop and how to wash diapers. How far have we walked down the digital revolution lane! In her latest book ‘Under the Influence’ Miss Malini talks of the perils we all face when we choose to live digital lives and are faced with our dreaded TROLLS. Not a stranger to this phenomenon, Miss Malini offers practical solutions on ‘How to Survive and Thrive Online.’
Continue readingCategory: MommyT time (Page 1 of 3)
Are you tired of battling frizz and hair fall while trying to maintain your gorgeous curls? As a curly haired girl myself, the search for the perfect hair products is somewhat endless. Until I came across this brand called Little Extra. I tried their Coco Onion Hair Fall Control Pack which in my view has been a God-send for my curly hair care. This innovative shampoo and hair oil combo is specially designed to cater to the needs of all types of hair from oily, combination, sensitive, dry or normal hair, providing a host of benefits that will leave your curls looking and feeling their best.
The best part?
Continue readingScene – In the car on the way to Dhamma Pattana, Vipassana Centre at Mumbai
So the day is finally here. I’m leaving for a 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat today (29th November’23) and I’ll be back home on 10th December’23. A whole 12 days away from home, people I love, my comfort zone (or is it?), work (not a good place to be, for me) and my friends, ,colleagues et al. I am feeling nervous and anxious! This last last weekend I’ve felt pangs of anxiety, constant nausea, lost my appetite, sleep’s been erratic (isn’t it always for me?) But today as I am all set to leave I’m feeling calm, and looking forward to getting there and turning my phone in after I say my goodbyes.
Continue readingI’ve never been a morning person. Early morning school when I was a kid was a nightmare. Even as a grown up, I found that I was at my best in the evenings. My energy levels suddenly went up, I had blazes of creativity (like now at 11 pm) and work would be great quality and super quickly, especially if it involved creative writing (like now, at 11 pm)
Even when we had babyT, he was never the one who would rise and shine at the Crack of dawn. Both of us would lay in, till the sun warmed our cheeks and crinkled our eyes. I would slink away from the bed and he would follow in no less than 10 minutes. Somehow, they know when you’re bodily warmth slips away from them.
So this past year when Tasmai started full-time & in person school I knew my days of that late morning start were over. Kaput, vanished into thin air just like that. Now I would have to wake up even before the sun had risen to cook up 2 meals, a snack and a treat. It gave me the shudders.
But wake up I did. Cook up elaborate meals I did. I mean freshly made pesto for pasta. Who was this woman? Salad, roti sabji, Dal rice – a full thali meal? In fact the teacher sent home a note saying, can you tone down the elaborate meals you send T, as he struggles to finish it in time. Oops!
How? I don’t know! Has my wiring changed? Have my poles interchanged? Not at all. I’m still the night owl that i am. Awake after all the lights are out. I now survive on very little sleep on weekdays. Weekends are the time to lie in.
Question to be asked is why? And it’s not as simple as just love for my child. Well mostly it is. But it’s also purely practical – T cannot consume food outside until all eating places became more conscious of food allergies and started learning that dairy free needs to be a thing. And food for kids needs to rise above cheese and butter, the so called nutrient powerhouses. That or T has grown up enough to understand the ingredients that go into cooking the meal and asking pointed questions. “Yes this is vegetarian but does it have milk cream or butter?”
Utopia is still far away, but until then, I shall wake at 530. I shall waft sleepily to the kitchen. I shall rack my brain to think of creative ways to make fun meals, and I shall wait for the weekend to laze in bed till the sun warms our cheeks. Good night!
2019 is a big year for me. Firstly, 2019 is the year my husband and I complete a decade of being married. I also turn a big milestone age. Most importantly 2019 marks the year I return to work. A return to the corporate world, which I thought i had left far behind and would never return to.
And in the midst of the #10YearChallenge that has been taking the internet by storm recently, my post today also puts into sharp contrast two periods – 2009 and 2019.
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When is your Independence day? The headline jolted me out of my lazy morning on 15th August when I was checking my phone notifications. I had planned to have a regular day but a bit more relaxed because my husband had a holiday and would be taking on the prime parenting role for the day. But this line, that titled one of the many promotional emails I received in my inbox made me think.
Yes, we have been blessed to have been born into a country which saw us living a free life. Free from being ruled by another country, race & people. But I am sure, many of us agree, that we hardly live lives that are truly free & independent.
Between the hustle bustle of earning livelihoods, trying to increase our standards of living, paying high school fees, fighting traffic, functioning in bad work cultures or a judgemental society, where do most of us find the time to follow our passions or even focus on a hobby? Our lives are not our own in many ways and whether we agree to it or not, most of us are slaves to a system that manages our physical and mental lives! Continue reading
Have you ever seen videos of nails being shaped & polished & painted? More than makeup or apparel fashion, I love nail fashion. One of the first visual treats I enjoyed when I joined Instagram was poring over accounts which showcased Nail fashion & art. There’s something very therapeutic about watching nails being coloured and painted. Somewhere I harboured a secret wishlist to get my own nails fashioned.
When Laque Nail and Lash Lounge in Mumbai invited my friend Raising Karma & I, for a free trial session I was excited to go. However, I did have my apprehensions because I had never got nail extensions done and I had a toddler around the house to be looked after. When I shared this concern with the team at Laque, they assured me that nail extensions feel very natural and do not hinder the normal course of the day where we are needed to be hands-on moms. Continue reading
I just got back from a 4-day break amidst the emerald hills of a small town in Kerala. Our college friend was getting married in her hometown in Kerala. It was a typical jhatt mangni patt byaah kinda scene which had us booking our tickets and leaving for the airport in less than a week. We were excited by the thought of our friend’s wedding which we were waiting for eagerly since the time she announced that she felt ready to get married and settle down. And the idea of going to Kerala was the icing on the cake.
But first I want to share with you the outfits that I wore for the wedding events because I got a lot of compliments for them. And I am pleased to bits because I put the whole outfit together in a matter of 2 days before I left. But most importantly in a great budget. Continue reading
In my circle of mommy friends, I am perhaps one of the oldest. Sometimes I feel like an old fogey and cannot make any sense of what the mommies are talking about. Other times I feel like the enlightened one who has had the privilege of seeing a few more (or decades) of summer than the gang. For the longest time I felt trapped and did not know if I was part of this cool gang. Nor did I feel comfortable with the older lot of mommies whose children were finishing school and exiting their teens. I thought something was wrong with me. Then I discovered I was not the only one.
1979. This was the problem. It was not me or you. It was the damn year that I was born in. Continue reading
Would you like to see how our typical school day mornings go? I scamper behind my toddler son to brush his teeth, change out of his sleep-suit and diaper. Most days I win only the brushing round. He needs to be constantly reminded to finish his fruit and that goes ok as long as its bananas on offer. Then comes breakfast with milk… he wants to climb atop the window sill, run from room to room and even watch his favourite shows on YouTube. I have to be within his eyesight, so that means I cannot go have a shower or use the restroom.
And then comes his bath… I usually have to drag him into the bathroom or lure him with promises of treats or threats of no treats. Then comes the real fight.. Continue reading
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