Parenting

 I heard a character in a serial say "having a child is like watching your heart walk outside you"! I was stuck at this as it describes the feeling accurately! No one could have expressed it better! 

During the initial years of my writing blogs, I used to write about parenting. But I have not touched the subject in a very long time. I guess most of my generation agrees that it is like a roller coaster ride. I am specifically pointing out my generation because before our generation, most of our parents and ancestors used to have at least 10 or more children and sail through life. Of course there were challenges, but they accepted those challenges and lived life. Our generation has 1 or 2 children and are juggling between 100s of emotions as a parent. It makes me wonder if we are over analyzing everything because we don't have anything else to do. 

There is always a dilemma of whether -

to let children be or advice them

to be like a friend or like a parent

be strict or lenient

to say yes or no

to always say positive things

to watch our words and not utter negative words lest it scars them for life

- the list is endless. We have been told now that all our struggles are because of the experiences we have had as a child, because of the negative words we have heard as children etc. But honestly whether we had a great childhood or a tough childhood, each one of us turned out exactly the way we were supposed to turn out. Though we can easily blame someone else for our life, we are responsible for the way we are.

From what I see, the new generation children are resilient, confident, bold. So I think they are fine and will be fine. It is us, adults who need to take a step back and just observe the children and nudge them when needed. That way we get to enjoy the roller coaster ride 😊

 

Being child like

 It was Children's day, and as I am around children all the time, the excitement was even more. It is said that we become like the people we are surrounded by. I am not sure how true this is, but we definitely get influenced or affected by the people we are with. 

What does being like a child mean? What does "keeping the child in us alive" mean? Is it even necessary to be like a child or keep our inner child alive?

Aren't children the purest form of humanity?

Aren't children the most innocent?

Aren't children the most curious?

Don't children forget and forgive in a jiffy?

Children are probably the only versions of humans living in the present

Aren't children the most authentic version of life

Children get excited at every little thing

Children are happy for no reason

Children are playful

I had a very sweet and interesting conversation with a new friend yesterday. We were talking about 'learning' and 'procrastination'. It reminded me of how as we grow up, we hesitate to learn new things (even though we know we love doing that) and as a result prefer to procrastinate. Children on the other hand want to do things or learn new things (that they love) immediately.  

Children hardly have filters. They think, speak, and act according to their true nature without any pretense. 

Let us try and ignite the child that we once were! 

Let us forget the past! (because it doesn't exist)

Let us not think about tomorrow! 

Let us live for today!

Let us keep learning something new everyday!

Let us find joy in everything we do!

Let us be happy for no reason!

Let us be in awe of everything!

Let us bring the child-like excitement into every single thing we do!

The 3 monkeys

The joy of eating 😝

Love every sip of my coffee!

😍💗

Draw, jump, sing, dance, monkey around, laugh along = sail thru life 

Deepawali

 Yes one of my favourite festivals, Deepawali was here at the beginning of this month 😁

Someone asked me recently which was my favourite festival and I wanted to say all the festivals! Each one has a different flair right? 

Deepawali is celebrated for 3 days usually here. It was a pleasant time. All of us had a fun time. Even though I was recovering, managed to dress up, eat yummy food, light diyas and do pooja. 

I used to have a tradition of giving diyas to friends and families during Deepawali. I used to buy diyas from an NGO called Fameindia. I was fortunate to be able to buy diyas this year as well from an NGO called Antharbhava Foundation, which is run by one of my aunts. 

 ( https://www.antharbhaava.org/ is an amazing organization for empowering people with special needs. They have a grocery/vegetable store called "My store next door" in Jayanagar, Bangalore, run by people with special needs. )

Here are pictures from our Deepawali:

Trick or treat!

Rangoli addiction :)

When home-made coffee looks like this :)

Making my favourite sweet - Yariappa

Tried rangoli in a limited space :)
And this is my own creation

All of us love sitting on the floor and eating together during festivals

LIGHT

Mangalore diaries

 I hardly remember if I had visited Mangalore as a child. So I can consider this as my first visit to the city.  A close friend of mine is from Mangalore and hence the trip. We booked an overnight sleeper bus on a Sunday night. I was very excited for 2 reasons - 1. I was travelling by a night bus after a decade 2. I was travelling with my friend. We boarded the bus from Rajajinagar metro station around 10.30 pm on a rainy night.

We settled down on our sleeper coach, chatting away. I could not sleep the whole night as I felt my body move with every roll of the tyres . But it was a very memorable experience. The bus stopped around 12.30 at Kamath for a washroom break and we reached Mangalore around 6.30 am.

We took an auto from the stop to my friend's place. We freshened up, had breakfast and tea and stepped out to visit the famous Mangala Devi temple. The city has derived the name from Mangala Devi temple. We spent time leisurely here. The Devi moorthi was huge and peaceful and we sat here for sometime. After having fresh sugarcane juice outside the temple we headed back home. 

We went out for a walk nearby in the evening. I am always in awe with how different almost every single place looks and feels, whether it is within the state or within a country. We enjoyed the walk, did some shopping and got back home. 

We hopped into an auto again to visit the famous ice-cream shop of Mangalore - The Pabbas   I fell in love with ice-cream all over again 

The next day, I woke up early and headed out for an amazing walk. Felt so good to be outside in a new place, it felt like a different country! 

Kingfisher

Got back home and ate yummy Neer dosas that my friend had made. We had planned to go out to Kateel and Polali. My friend's friend runs a car service and it was very generous of him to take us to these places. We first went to Polali and visited the most beautiful, huge and gorgeous Rajarajeshwari Devi temple. I could not take my eyes off the Devi who was adorned in a red saree! There was no rush, and we could sit here for sometime. The idol is made out of clay and is said to be 5000 years old.

After Polali we went to Kateel to see the famous Durgaparameshwari temple. We had a good darshan of the Devi at the temple. The Devi is udhbhava moorthy - meaning, formed naturally. One of the many things I remember from visiting old temples during my childhood is eating at the temple. I was thrilled to have lunch at the temple, where we sat down and were served hoooot rice, rasam, sambhar, buttermilk and payasa on a steel plate. After a sumptuous prasad lunch we walked down to the river flowing by which is the Nandini river. 

We headed back home and rested for a while. I could not leave Mangalore without seeing the sea . Our friend came to pick us up again, this time we went in an auto to Panamburu beach. 

I loved dipping my toes/feet/legs in the water . The sun was setting and the view was beautiful! I was covered in sand and water. 

We came home, changed and had dinner. Soon it was time for me to leave. Bidding goodbye to my friend I left and boarded the bus around 9.45 pm. It was a solo journey back home. 

This time I tried sleeping better. We stopped at Sakleshpur for a quick washroom break. The bus reached Bangalore earlier than expected. It was still dark at 5.30 am when I got off the bus and I was home by 6 am. 

It was a short and sweet visit. Thanks R for this amazing trip!