Reflections, Banter and the Honest Truth

Do you remember the 1982 song, Words? Well I am writing about something, totally unrelated. Today my eight year old daughter asked me the meaning of a particular word, that I am almost sure I have never used. Besides, I don't think I knew the meaning of the word until I was twice her age! I don't even want to mention the word!! I almost feel sorry that little girls and boys even know these words! Why or how would they even learn words we hardly ever use!!? I am not into cursing, or using profane language, both in front of my children or otherwise. I find it ridiculous to start swearing or using foul language, whatever be the reason. I do admit that on a few occasions, I have used a few swear words with people I am really close to, but just in jest.  It is probably because most of my  early childhood, I never heard my parents, or sibling swear or curse. But then again, I know lots of people who do use profane language any chance they get, but I know that they never ha...

This post may seem a little 'here and there' since there is so much I wanted to say, and did not know where to start and where to end. As far as I can remember, I have been overweight since I was in my 20's. That together with my height  (only 5'8", but that is tall for an Indian lady) and huge bone structure has made me really heavy. Over the last month, or maybe a little longer, I have been making an extra effort to do something about it and bring my weight down and get healthy. The reason? Oh there are so many things to do, so many reasons to live as healthy as you can! I have read so many articles saying to weigh yourself only once a week. But I weigh myself everyday, at the same time. And what joy to see the weight dropping (even if it is just 0.1 kg). If you want to know why I weigh myself everyday, it is because I want to keep a check on my weight, and what I have eaten the previous day so I will know what food is working for me and what isn't....

At 40, it has finally hit me!! My health and well being should be one of my priorities. I had let myself go, and hit an all time high of something over 100 kgs! I would rather not disclose the actual number. I always wanted to get fit and eat right. One of the main reasons, is that I want to be able to look after my children and husband and not have them look after me. Another is that I want to feel good, look good and not be so heavy that I can't get up and go play outdoors with my girls. The other is that I have a family history of heart disease; and my husband's family has a history of hypertension. Both really dangerous!! Who better to care for and raise my children, than me and my husband. That's when I realised - It's now or never! Once a habit has been formed, it is really difficult to kick it. I had got into the habit of being lazy and eating any food, whatever it was! Breaking the habit that has been on for the last almost 40 years was bound to be diff...

My Mum died in 1984, when I was 10. I don't remember much about her, but I do remember that she was a gentle, pleasant lady.  (just like her Mum) I also remember that she was quite a giggler. When she got a fit of the giggles, her face used to turn red, and she used to cover her face with her palm, and you could see her shoulders shaking from the giggling! My dad died last year on May 2nd, almost 30 years after my Mum. Obviously we were all terribly sad to lose him, since he had played the role of both mother and father to us for all these years. He was an honourable man, kind, wise and warm hearted. The days after his death and funeral were sad days at our home. As each of my siblings arrived in Bangalore for the funeral, the tears would start again, and the quiet sadness would envelope the whole house again. Somehow at the end of each day, we would all huddle up in my Dad's room and sit there and recall all the fun, happy times we had with him. Sometimes we were sad t...

March 14, 2004 was an important day in my life. It was the day that my husband and I got together. So, this year, it made it a decade.... We have gone through so much together, each of us losing a parent within these 10 years, the birth of 2 lovely girls, moving to another country, moving back home, losing jobs, getting employed again. Those were some of the major things we have gone through. Besides all that there are so many other small, but significant things that we have gone through in  these 10 years.  - the midnight chats when we were first dating. - the late night visits - the doctors visits - surgeries - the arguments about how to raise children - the differences in opinion about money matters - the nights we got drunk together - the wedding and Christmas dances - the minor accidents - the separation when we moved countries - the discussions about religion and God - discussions about family - discussions about love - spending quiet time t...