Tuesday, August 1, 2017

The 100 Books Pact - 70/100

61/100 Let Them Eat Dirt by B. Brett Finlay & Marie-Claire Arreita
For the most part I enjoyed this book and found it interesting. Personally for me I found that my mind wandered a bit as they seem to repeat themselves in parts. Much of this book covers microbiota, the connection between the pathogenic microorganisms and how they share our body space. It begins prior to conception to birth and beyond. This book is an all-encompassing, from dirt, to germs, breastfeeding, vaccinations, ADHD, and diet. So maybe we will now pass on that hand sanitizer and get some dirt on our sleeves!

62/100 Hopeless – Hopeless Book 1 by Colleen Hoover  
I am not a kind of person who enjoys all the romances. I usually find them very cheesy or unrealistic. However this book is not one of them. I was on the verge of discarding this book after reading the first few pages (I am on a discarding spree these days, I discard books left, right and center). Glad that I didn’t. It’s an emotional roller coaster. Simply put, this is a beautiful story about love and survival. About hope and healing. About life and death. About coping with tragedy and finding forgiveness and peace. About being strong. About being a victim, but also a survivor.

63/100 The Twentieth Wife – Taj Mahal Trilogy Book 1 by Indu Sundaresan
I had never read any book based on History dating the 15oos. However I always liked History as a subject in my school and was fascinated by the Mughal Empire. I don’t remember what/who prompted me to place a hold on this book, but I am so glad I did. When I started reading this, I was almost sure that I won’t like this book and I was so wrong. I loved this book and finished it in two days which speaks volumes looking at my schedules. This is a book based on the life of Nur Jahan or Meherunissa, the twentieth wife of Jahangir who was formerly known as Prince Salim. The story unravels from the day Mehrunnisa was born to the day she would conquer one man’s heart, hence bearing all the consequences that came with it. Mehrunnisa saw Jahangir at his first wedding and at the tender age of eight, was determined that she will one day become his wife. Even though she only became his twentieth -and last- wife, it is said that she was the one he loved the most. The story is about knowing what you want and making sure you have enough faith and courage to achieve your goal. What an amazing woman she was and full points to the king for standing by her and her unusual ways. It also goes to prove that feminism is nothing new!

64/100 How to talk so kids will listen and Listen so Kids will talk
It is one of the good books I have read on parenting. It was definitely worth a read for me. It’s full of practical and common sense advice for parents. My favorite sentence from the book has to be – “The whole world will tell them what’s wrong with them – loud and often. Our job is to let our children know what’s right about them”

65/100 Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
It’s a love story, it’s a thriller, and it’s a science fiction book. It’s thought-provoking, gripping, action-filled. It makes you think about life and family and what matters most. There is no way to close this book and not ponder tiny, big things in your life. No way to not question some things or not smile at others. I won’t summarize the story, because I read this having no prior knowledge of what it would contain, and the reading turned out amazing for me. You won’t see a thing coming. Even the ending is not what you’ll expect at the beginning. But it’s good. It’s very good.

66, 67 and 68/100 The Room on the Roof, Vagrants in the Valley and Delhi is not far by Ruskin Bond
I read Ruskin Bond after a long time, after a dear friend reminded me of him. The second is the sequel to the first and the third is a standalone book. The Room on the Roof was written by the author when he was just seventeen. It describes in great detail the town of Dehra – its hills, lakes, people and has an old world charm which made me nostalgic. It makes you rethink about your life and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. This is a story about Rusty who runs away from his guardian, who hates Indians and considered them to be inferior, to live with his Indian friends. Great books, loved the feeling of freedom that is portrayed.

69/100 The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
I read this book again and it never fails to amaze me. I always make notes while reading this book (I never refer to them, that’s another matter). It might be strange, but some of the best things have happened to me while I am reading this book at various points since the time I’ve discovered this. Or maybe it’s just that I got to know “The Secret”. It requires many reads though to practice what it says. This was one of those readings and I am sure I will read it again.

70/100 A Quiet Place by Seicho Matsumoto

This is the first book I read of a Japanese author. It belongs to the genre of mystery. For me it was too plain. Maybe the writing was lost in translation. It was a little slow but the Japanese aspects were interesting. Not so much of a mystery but it was more like an account of the murderer’s mistake which led to his downfall eventually. It was not to my taste.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Conversations



Angel(lost in her own world): Mama, I feel like we are in a dream, but that's not true, we are real.
Me (to humour her): What if we are actually in a dream?
Angel: What if somebody is dreaming about daddy, daddy is dreaming about us, you are dreaming about me and I am dreaming this!
I wonder if the idea of nested dreams in 'Inception' came from a child! :D

*********


I love the song "Chanda re, chanda re" from the movie Sapney and sometime last year, it was stuck in my head and I was singing it on a loop. That's when Angel picked it up and surprised me by singing the first two lines!

A few days back I was singing the song after a long time and she exclaimed it's a space song (because moon, I had to ask for an explanation)

When I explained the meaning of the first few lines she started laughing hard.
The song is -                          "Chanda re Chanda re, 
                                               kabhi to zameen par aa
                                               Baithenge, Battein karenge
                                               Tujhko aate idhar, laaj aaye agar
                                               Odh k aaja tu baadal ghane"

(A very) Rough Translation - "Oh Moon, Oh Moon, 
                                                come to Earth some day, 
                                                we will sit and chat
                                                If you feel shy while coming here, 
                                                wrap around some dense clouds and come"

She said it's so funny it doesn't make any sense!!!

I will never be able to sign the song without laughing again because when I think about it, it actually doesn't make sense! 


********

Yesterday, she reminded me of the same song and asked me to sing the next lines, I did and explained the meaning to her.

It goes like this       "Chanda se puchhenge 
                                hum saare sawal nirale
                                Jharne kyon gaate hai, 
                                panchhi kyon matwale?"

Rough Translation: "We will ask the moon 
                                all kinds of questions.
                                Why do the waterfalls sing, 
                                why are the birds so merry?"


Angel: Moon doesn't have a mouth, whoever has written this song is not very smart!

Monday, June 19, 2017

Angel turns FIVE!



Dear Angel,
[if you are like your father, you will groan at another letter from me, but if you are anything like me, you are grabbing each word greedily!
You can look like him, but please love the words like me :)]

You are FIVE. Five.
Can you believe it!

It seems like yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, and now you are five.
It took a while for me to come to terms with the fact that I was a mother and was going to be one forever. But today after five years of looking back, I cannot help but smile. It is a feeling of fulfillment beyond words.

Although I am still not sure if I am a great mother, I feel that I have done some justice to the role.

And in this journey of motherhood, I have learnt so much from you. Here are the five things on the top of my mind - how to love unconditionally, how to enjoy small things, how to observe more, how to be more inventive, how to be a better listener and I am sure I will continue learning more from you for the years to come. You have a far better imagination than I can ever have! You listen to my blabber about my day with such rapt attention and you retain things, I think I share about my day with you more than I do with J* ;) and in turn tell me about your day. Your ‘I love yous’, hugs and kisses make my days.

I am proud to have you my dear baby. I am not going to wish you happiness and success, I want you to get it by your own.

Fly as high as you wish to, claim the mountain peaks. I have your back.
I will always have your back!

Happy birthday!

Love,
Ma.

PS - You had your party at the circus academy. All your friends from school were there and all of you had so much fun! On the actual day, you celebrated it in school and I baked this for you since you are fascinated ‘Outer Space’ these days.

                    It’s a white chocolate-laced, checkered, solar system cake!

The cake cutting was followed by the dinner in a Mexican restaurant. We also planted an apple tree to keep the tradition going J

PPS – The accounts of her previous birthdays can be read here!