Swine-flu and School-Part 2

Yes-I have written enough on the subject and hopefully this is my last post on the topic. Have to maintain the parity in writing about them too-so here is Elena’s story,

The wise old lady-did not even argue about the mask.

She, like her mom, always takes the path of least confrontation-and then goes ahead and does what she means to do anyway (not like her mom though).

She was more concerned about the now essential accessory-the Sanitizer.

The experience, far-sighted teachers, after explaining the need to keep hands clean, told the kids to carry their own sanitizers because they wouldn’t be allowed to rush out to wash their hands, every time.

So Dad was contacted on email and phone and sent a reminder lest he forget, and pestered till he came with the new sanitizer school packs.

Two days later........
a very contrite looking kid with her eyes on the ground comes to me with her coin box, Mamma you can keep this.

Where did that come from?

I am sorry I lost the Sanitizer, I need another one…

Actually Mamma, I don’t think I lost it. I am very sure, the girl who sits behind me, flicked it, she had that kind of expression on her face….but I am still very sorry..

Yep-I fell for the “senti” scene again! Told her to keep the money (which she promptly did) and promised to get one more…

Oh and Mom.... can you please ask Papa to get a pink one this time, Komal also has one…

And Ma’am told us the Himalaya one is the best….

So we get ready to stock up on the latest accessory in school, with full specs on brands, fragrances and colors…

Swine-flu and School-Part 1

Aurora, our the queen of drama agreed to wear a mask because she liked the idea of a masquerade.

She practiced wearing it and kept it carefully in her pocket as she left for school.

It was nowhere in sight when she came back.

Mamma it looks so weird!

I tried to make her realize the importance of taking precautions…. there was a kid in their school who had the flu and was still at home recovering from the after-effects.

Do you know, that boy was absent for one week because he was sick, and then he is staying at home for another week so that he can become stronger, and he may stay at home for longer…his teacher is taking care of all his notes so he won’t even need to copy his work when he comes back…

I quickly turn the direction of our conversation and try to explain the gravity of the situation without scaring her….

But Mamma, that thing is suffocating. I can’t even breathe. I can wear it only if you cut a hole through it…

And there goes The Mask…

Swine flu paranoia

Ten years of driving two wheelers of every shape and size and I never wore a helmet, because I liked the feel of wind through my hair!

Yes all logic and traffic regulations didn’t make sense; people die any way, don’t they? And so many of them still live anyway!

Today I am really scared. I’ll do anything to keep my family safe.

Yes this supposed to be just another version of the flu we all keep having and getting over, but I never heard of people dying from cold before.

The casualty rate is a bare .01percent-But isn’t that just statistics? That one from the entire population might be the entire world for someone.

My kids’ school declared a week’s holiday after a student tested positive.

How do I know if it is safe to send them now? How many more could be infected or carriers? They could be travelling in the same stuffy van, sitting in the same classroom, playing together, eating together…

Should I insist on their wearing masks all day? But I know those won’t last a second after the van is out of sight.

Should I keep them at home?

I know I am being paranoid, but I can't help it.

Safety has somehow taken on a completely different dimension for me.

A Mills & Boon reading Mom

I’ve got mail

In fact I've got sixteen Mills and Boon ebooks painstakingly forwarded, one by one, at close to midnight.

Thanks Poonam. For the pile of cheesy romances which the wise scoff at, the lofty won’t even touch with a barge pole and the “educated” types would sniff at in disgust; you read those: those tacky, cheesy, paperbacks!!??

Oh yes, I do.

I love the templatized predictability of these sometimes simpering, sometimes steamy romances, the exotic locales, the cuisine, and the haute couture; the fluttering heroine who finally finds her vertebral column; the ill-mannered, arrogant, alpha hero coming down to his knees on page 186; the familiar twists and the gallons of shed and unshed tears; the lost and found themes; the escapism and the promises of eternal love.

I love them just as I loved the fairy stories of years ago.

So like a true MB reader, I forwarded the books immediately to some more women like me, who like reading so called "crap" and aren’t coy about saying so.

Why have I posted this on my Mom Blog? Because Moms also read crap, even the ones in their thrities and with two kids, Moms who should be knowing better than lapping up teenage-stuff...

Dedicated to alchemistpoonam

Name Change and the Identity Circus

In full agreement with Shakespeare’s logic, I willingly and cheerfully changed my second name to represent all that the family I married into, stands for.

Yet, there were so many people out there who knew me by the name I was born with, and it had been my identity for so long, that I retained my “original name” also.

And no, I did not string it to form a three part name (would have been a mouthful and a un-musical one at that) but used both.

So I have Email ids with both names, a Driving License in one name and a Passport in another. All education certificates in one name and job certificates in another. A PAN card with one name and Bank Accounts with both names-just in case I have piles of “black money” to stash away some day.

Add to that my penchant for signing my name according to the logic of the moment, and it resulted in more that one returned cheque. I nearly lost out on a job-offer too when the company issued the offer in one name and my consultant didn’t recognize it. To contain the chaos, I decide to use only my first name as my signature. After all, that was my identity.

Except that many a times I have to add “Elena/Aurora’s Mom” while introducing myself because my identity is not complete without it.

And there are those who take a moment to recognize my first name also, having always identified me with the nicknames I was stuck with.

But then those too are a part of my identity.

I am me, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend-and I use all my names to show it!

Yeah-the Rose smells just as sweet, using all other names just makes life a little complicated.....

//I am glad my daughter as already decided to stick to her surname (although she has forgotten her original reason http://thehypermom.blogspot.com/2009/04/pehla-nasha_18.html)

“It is short, it matches my name and I like it” //

A Promise to Cherish

Elena has to “learn” an essay on “Raksha Bandhan”

“Rakhi is a festival on which sisters tie a Rakhi on their brothers’ wrists and the brothers promise to love and protect them forever…….”

But what do people who have no brothers do on Rakhi?

My girls tie Rakhis to each other.
After all when it is about a promise:

to care and cherish

to be there for each other in sickness and sorrow, in tussles over pencils and party-shoes, in the moments of making up and fighting other kids for each other

to cry for each other exult in each other’s joy

to create memories that sustain through a lifetime

to celebrate a relation which combines the joy of being friends as well as family and so much more……

Isn’t it all about sisters too?

It's Friendship Day

Another day to increase consumption, hyped up by the brands, lapped up by the kids.

Well maybe not by all kids-

The elder one made a list of people she wanted to tie “friendship bands” to, shortlisted it to a reasonable five and then threw in a few spares-just in case she’s forgotten a friend or two.

The younger kid didn’t care much but still dug out some friendship bands received last year and decided to take them to school and tie them only to the friends who tied one for her.
And what if you need more-I can always untie on from my hand and use it, can’t I?

Yeah-she’d rather spend the money on chips.

And for me-the supposed to be staid, sensible, mom-of-two with three grey threads in my hair to show it---today is again a reason to reach out to the people who have mattered more than anything in the world.

To the friends who grew up with me and made me grow up (or tried to). To the ones who taught me to smile and move ahead, to the ones who have put up with me for better or worse, to the ones who till day are standing by me and to the ones who have drifted away.

And wish them a very happy day…..and thank them for being my friends

Is it because I am the sort of Mom who still has a lot of growing up to do? (who exchanges MBs in the office parking lot, who has still kept cards and letters from decades ago, who still misses her friends and cherishes every moment spent with them; http://thehypermom.blogspot.com/2009/03/wind-beneath-my-wings.html)

Or is it because the girls are yet to find out what friends really are?