The Time I bought

It is about 20 days that I wrote the post "Can't Buy Me Time".
In that post I concluded to include more and more activities in my daily life.

So here is what I have been doing in the last 3 weeks:
I've been doing a Sudoko puzzle almost every day.
We bought a baking oven (OTG-Oven Toaster Grill) and I tried my hand at baking.
My first attempt was a pizza, and it wasn't that bad.
Then I baked some German Weihnachtsplätzchen (Christmas Cookies) and "AngelEyes".
My little son and my sister liked them very much.
Roy and I made a Christmas crib and did some Christmas decorations for the Christmas tree and home.
I got the chance to be the "Master (Mistress) of Ceremony" for our Christmas programme in church. It was a great experience and I am happy that I was able to do it well.

So far so good ....
The last 2 weeks though were pretty stressing ... with so many Christmas programmes in church and other engagements coming up. Now I hope to get more rest.

For my future activities, I feel exercise needs to be added. And more "Me-Time"..
Well, let's see how it goes.

Love to be the lesser one

Had gone for a christmas choir preparation with some people.
An idea came up to stage the nativity scene with our kids. Though mine is too small to participate I was listening to what was being discussed.
The very little ones would enact the angels. One of the group then said that her son and his cousin sister would act as Maria and Joseph. Rest to play the 3 Kings and shepherds. There were no counter suggestions... maybe because there were no big enough kids to play Maria and Joseph.

But it made me think. If my son had been big enough, I possibly would have wanted him to enact Joseph. Why ? Because Maria and Joseph seem to be the next big roles after baby Jesus.
And I started to think again. That thought itself is wrong.
Everyone in the nativity scene - from the shepherds to the 3 Kings, to Maria and Joseph , everyone is important. The nativity scene is not complete without anyone of them.

I guess for the little kids it doesn't matter anyways which role they play.
Only we adults think about the "main" role. This reminds me that I need to think more like a child, more self-less, in so many ways.

Now, I can be happy whichever part my son will play, in the future ...

Circumstancial Conflict

Yesterday I got very upset over something. Rather someone I should say.
I felt that this someone X was purposely (not) doing some things so as to hurt me.
I felt very bad. It affected me so badly I wanted to run away. I was mad.
I imagined already the worst assuming very strongly that this person may just not like me.

But then I was thinking, the last time we talked this person was very nice and friendly. I started to calm down and decided to confront the person and talk it out.

So when I got a chance to meet this person I requested for a chat. Only after talking I realized there were no such bad intentions from X.
This person genuinely liked me. I was very happy and relieved.
What bad things would have happened had I followed my initial feelings ....
I would have lost a very good friend ...

It was as if my feelings were playing with me. They were like a whirlwind storming through my mind and heart. But then calmness prevailed and I was able to think clearly again.

Sometimes circumstances play havoc in our lives which affects our thinking and the actions we take. In such times we must remember that only if we think clearly and calmly can we see the blue sky behind the clouds.

Can't buy me Time

I was thinking, every day there is so much of the common chores to do, I don't get time to do the extra fun stuff that I want to do.

And then I thought "Stop! There is no point complaining like this. Each one of us gets 24 hours each day. Make it or Break it !!"
True. I got to do more. I CAN do more. Even if it means that I will get less sleep. But maybe I can sleep and dream better then, seeing all the nice and enjoyable things that I am doing in my dreams.

This has to be it. It's now or never. For a start, writing my blog has been an activity that I try to be regular with. Fit in each day some new thing, however small or big, a new activity, some new learnings, a new song, a new movie, a new word taught to my son, a new game played with him, a new prayer, a new joke, a new puzzle solved, a new acquaintance made ... .
There are so many so little things that can be done in a day.

At the end of a week I should make a list of all things done .. and hopefully it is going to be a huge tower at the end of a year.

Great! This should keep me motivated to do the monotonous activities as well :)..

You and Me .. Strangers no more !?

There was a theory that between any two people on this earth there are only
"6 degrees of seperation" meaning that the average number of aquaintances seperating any two people was 6.

I am writing "WAS" because this seems to have changed now.
Thanks to Facebook and its so many users this has come down to 4.74.

Just imagine ... any famous personality like Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar or Roger Federer or Angelina Jolie. According to this, a friend of their friend would be the friend of one our friends ... This sounds so incredible.

It is so unimaginable to think that we are no more strangers to anyone. That we could go to any person X and introduce ourselves. "Hello, our friends are friends ! So nice to meet you !"

Still, it will make no difference to our lives, I guess. Mainly because I don't know how easy it is to make use of this theory. And why should we anyways ?
We are destined to meet some people and they will become our friends.
Others will remain far away ... like stars ... even though only 4.74 persons away.

One of Hundred

Chetan Bhagat has made it ... He's entered the list of top 100 influential people in the world. He is one of nine Indians besides our PM Manmohan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar.

If you don't know who Chetan Bhagat is.. Well, he is the author of Indian bestsellers like Five Point Someone, One Night at the Call Centre, 2 States and Three Mistakes of my Life .

What an achievement ! Usually it is politicians, sportsmen or actors who claim these spots. How powerful the written word still is for an author to make it.

Inspiration for anyone writing ...

A Mother Nonetheless

I always feel that I have missed out on the "real" thing in life. That is, to give birth in labour,
I tried a lot for it. I went for Lamaze classes, went for long walks, read a lot about what to do when the time arrives, about the breathing rhythms to be practised during labour. Maybe I was too ready or maybe more and more anxious as the due date approached.

My due date was November 2. I reached the hospital on time with Roy and my parents but it seemed that Ryan did not want to come yet. We waited one day longer and then the doctors planned to induce labour, all the while monitoring Ryan's heart beat. Then suddenly things didn't seem to be OK and the doc rushed me into the operation theatre for a Caesarian section.

Quick moments, tension-filled moments where I was awake all the time due to the partial anaestetic. Finally everything was over when I heard the cries of the baby. Then they showed me in the operation theatre ... my son. I was so happy to see this crying little baby.

I always felt that experiencing labour pain while giving birth was one of the stages a woman had to go through in life. I still feel incomplete when I think about it. But God gifted me a healthy and lovely son. In the end it was a good bargain.