musingswhileunlearning

Credits: quickmeme.com What do you do if you pass on an undesirable gene to your child? Amongst many traits I may or may not have passed on to my kids, this is one trait I have passed on to my daughter- utter dislike for school! Credits: imgflip.com From as far as I can remember till the very last day of my twelfth grade, I strongly disliked (I have been actively practicing to avoid use of the word hate) going to school. Without exaggeration, I had a stomach ache every morning before I left home and nearly always had tears in my eyes. When I was in kindergarten, I used to roll in the mud outside home, crying, even as my mother and the maid would unsuccessfully try and get me up to walk to school which was nearby. An Army Officer, our neighbour, used to emerge from his home for work at about the same time with a baton in his hand much to my mother’s satisfaction and my horror. My mother who happily used fear as a weapon (very successfully) to keep me in check had told...

Insomniacs and light sleepers would know what it is like to lie there waiting for sleep to take over or wake up after an hour of dozing off, feeling both groggy and awake at once, desperate to salvage the remaining hours available for shut eye! I have been battling this off and on for years while trying a number of remedies suggested by many, sailing in the same boat as me. My final resort, usually, is to accept the fact that sleep is not written for me on that night and I just commit myself to keeping my eyes shut and chanting “Om Namah Shivaiy”. I do eventually get sleep on such days about half an hour or an hour before the alarm goes off! I love the stillness and the almost sinister quiet of the afternoons but at night I am restless. I cannot appreciate the night because the thought of getting on with the chores of next day without being able to rest creates panic in my system. Last night was one such night. We had gone over to my parents’ place for lunch a...

Credit:Luggagegear.com Hi! I am Kamiliant of the American Tourister family, before I got adopted that is! I am a beautiful purple with a trendy white design (which I am honestly not too proud of) and soft bodied. Now, don’t catch me blushing! I have been with my new family for over a year and the way I was subjected to travel within days of being adopted, overseas that too and ten countries (are they nuts?) had me excited and later a bit dizzy. I was sure that my life was going to be an endless series of travel (well, I have been made for just that, I guess) by air, by road and by sea. I haven’t experienced train travel yet but it can’t be worse than that roller coaster ride which I absolutely hate- in case you are wondering, I mean the conveyor belt at the airport! They have no respect for the likes of us, believe me. After that huge vacation where I was wondering whether I’d get some rest and I did crib to the others of my tribe all over Europe, we got back and I was emp...

Credit: Youtube Recently, a friend shared a post on one of my many whatsapp groups which I happily ignored as I glanced at its length till another friend, whose opinion matters commented on the post. Her comment got me reading the longish text which turned out to be a story- “The Little Boy” by Helen Buckley. A mandatory read for all parents and educators across the globe. Credit:Pinterest.com A little boy goes to school and his teacher announces that the class was going to draw. The boy cannot contain his excitement and begins to draw from a plethora of images that run through his mind when he is stopped by the teacher who says they were going to draw a flower. His enthusiasm doesn’t get dampened, instead, he pulls out his pink, orange and blue crayons and begins his work when the teacher stops him and turns to draw a red flower with a green stem. She now asks the class to draw. The little boy liked his flower more but he keeps that to himself and begins to draw wha...

Credit:Pinterest The Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson starrer, Bucket List was a movie that touched me and it was inspirational enough for days later, my bucket list was ready. Unlike the old men who had been given limited time and hence a small list of top priorities, when you have this misconception that you have loads of time, your list tends to be longer and almost greedy, I realized. In fact, I had to prune my list as it was fast becoming a daily to-do list!! The bucket list is a list of things one would like to do in their lifetime before they kick the bucket. In the movie (a must watch) both the protagonists are diagnosed as terminally ill and so they decide to have a blast doing things they love rather than staying in hospital; the fact that one of them is a millionaire certainly helped! Our routine life is not as dramatic but I am sure we have come across a number of quotes like “Live like it is your last day on Earth” or the famous Roman poet Horace’s part...

Credit: www.scoopwhoop.com Recently, I was answering a questionnaire and one of the questions in it was just this- What would I do if I had the permission to do anything for one day and not be penalized for it? I even added quietly to myself, what I would do if I had got the said permission and also a blanket clearance that the people who matter and would be affected by something outrageous would never get to know. I was deeply disappointed at my lack of imagination and at the fact that I had been tamed by the ego and super ego so much that my Id refused to exist! Didn’t I want to walk into a fancy store and keep the most coveted item on its list? Did I not want to walk into a showroom and drive out in a Porsche? Didn’t I want to date a hot hunk that caught my fancy? I was heartbroken that I had no zing left, no excitement at these supposedly juicy scenarios! Is it because I know that this is just a question and would never come true; that Mr. Darcy was but a dream? Could...

A long while since I wrote anything at all and when I say anything I actually mean it- nothing at all- No to do lists either! April was spent in packing and shifting to a new house which feels different from all the transfers and shifting of the past, which I have seen since childhood owing to my father being in the IAF, followed by me and then my husband! Well, this time we move into our own home, not the usual rented accommodation. Also, this time I shall not be moving in a hurry and I plan to stay put for a long, long time- unless of course the Lord Almighty has other plans! We moved in on the 26 th of April and are nearly settled, ‘nearly’ being a word that can be stretched at will. My husband and I were determined to keep this new home of ours basic and devoid of clutter but in the fortnight that has gone by, I realize that it is not minimalistic at all. A major change to our current set up is colour! I have always been turned on by hues of various kinds and iron...