N starts summer camp coming Monday. We had enrolled him about 2 weeks back in a nearby school. Let’s not take names (Unless you are really curious. In that case, send me an email and I shall talk). At that time I was told that since he opted for skating as one of the activities he will need to bring his own skates. Point noted. I duly set out on a hunt to get a pair of skates for him, which I did manage to get well in time and easily.
Cut to Dday-3 morning, I called the school to ask when would they let us know about the transport details, pick up and drop times. The sweet lady at the other end said “Ma’m we will get back to you either today or tomorrow some time. I asked will it be an email communication or phone call. 5 sec pause. And the response was “Umm we will either call or send an email. ” Thank you, that was helpful.
Cut to Dday-3 late afternoon, I get a call from the school saying “We are having a PTM tomorrow morning at 9 am for the parents of kids enrolled for summer camp. Please be there.” I asked what is the PTM for? I mean agenda for the meeting? 5 second pause again. “We will tell everything about the camp there. What the kids will do, pick up and drop time, transport in charge nbr and all. ” I told the lady at the other end that I will get back to her with my confirmation in about an hour after rearranging another engagement that I had for the next morning.
After which I did call her back and confirmed my attendance.
Next morning I pushed myself out of the bed and made it to the school on time after juggling around existing plans and the husband and I splitting the task list.
What do I see when I reach there??
The meeting room isn’t ready yet. Extra chairs were being brought in to accommodate the (unexpected?) crowd. Parents were waiting outside, some with the kids in tow, some without. 35 minutes later than the scheduled time the parents were asked to move into the room. The organisers also announced that they would take the kids to the play room while the parents were attending the session. That was thoughtful, but it would be better if this was mentioned in the phone call intimating the meeting.
The principal addressed the parents starting with the basic what, when and how about the summer camp.
The ambiguities started popping up when the parents started asking questions. “My child has opted for swimming/skating. What accessories does he need?”. “My child is 4.5 years old. Will he qualify as primary or pre-primary?” Note: the activities and schedule for these 2 categories are different. The swimming and skating coaches who were present rattled out a list of things needed for each sport. This, for your reference is being done on a Saturday, 2 days before the camp begins. So all the parents are expected to send the kid with all the equipment on Monday or else they cannot do that activity. Why couldn’t the complete list of stuff required for each activity be mentioned when the child was being enrolled a week, 2 weeks or in some cases, a month ago? Wouldn’t that have made it easier for people to plan, research and buy equipment?
Then there was a vague announcement about a 3 days of one activity followed by 3 days of another and so on for pre primary kids. The perplexed parents scrambled to write down the schedule onto scraps of paper, smart phones, on bills, receipts and anything else they could find in their bags and purses. When one parent asked if they could get a soft copy or a print out of the same, you could see the light go on in the school staff’s eyes. Hmm, this was a much better idea than making people write all that down. So it was mentioned that after the meeting they would print and give hard copies of the schedule. It was also announced that 2 sets of ID cards (one for the child and one for whoever picks up the child) would be provided after the meeting.
The meeting ended in about 35 mins. People rushed to one of these 3 areas – the transport in charge to figure out pick up and drop times and locations for their kids, the area where the ID cards were being given away and the reception desk where any discrepancies were being corrected. No one wanted to form queues. Everybody had questions, doubts or issues they wanted to talk about. Names were missing from the transport sheets which then were discovered to be on another version of the sheet (hopefully that is the one the driver shall use). ID cards were not ready yet, some had one or more activity missing or mentioned incorrectly. Miraculously inspite of all the chaos people seemed to get what they wanted!! Maybe alls well that ends well.
But IMO things could have been better planned, organised and executed. It is the little things that help make it a smoother experience! * Hoping the actual camp is much better planned 
Mangoes and love!
N loves loves loves mangoes!! He can eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And is usually ready to accept any offers of extra pieces.
We were sitting at the dining table today and having a mango party as he calls it. I gave him my share of the mango seed/pit/stone/gitak. He counted the number of pieces in his plate and then mine.
N, eyes wide open with disbelief - ”But mumma I have 8 pieces and you have whonly 6! Why do you have less?”
“It’s ok N. Since you love mangoes so much, mumma is ready to share one of her pieces with you.”
“Mumma, but I don’t want someone to have more and someone to get whonly 6 pieces. Next time we won’t do this, okay. We will have same same.” followed by that heart melting smile with a glint of naughty!!
This was followed by a big kiss and hug session and more mango eating and finger licking.
Cheers to mangoes and love!! May there be more than enough of each to go around the world
The kid is growing up!!
He had his first sleepover and wasn’t bothered a bit!! He did not miss me, his mum of 4.5 years 
*sob sob*. Honestly, I am happy, but a part of me is scared.
The same day I chanced upon this video! Beautiful as it is, it will tug at any parents’ heart.
I can see some of the signs mentioned in the video creeping in… choosing and wearing clothes himself, no sticking to mamma, staying away for hours altogether, a calm in the house while he plays with his toys (doesn’t matter that it lasts for only 15 minutes). Sigh! I guess that’s the way life is.
The growing up is also bringing some nice changes. The conversations N and I have are becoming more challenging, interesting, logical and thought-provoking. He is developing more social skills and negotiating skills aka patching up with friends on his own after a tiff and convincing me for more TV or gadget time respectively.
Cheers to cuddles, snuggles, bear hugs, butterfly kisses and smiles!
From N’s mouth
In the train on the way to Bathinda where my sister stays currently, N looks at me and says”Are you excited about seeing your sister?” I say “Yes”. N gives me a raised eyebrow look and says “Okay, but when you see her don’t go all hyper and run to her saying yayyyyyyyyyy”.
When did I ever do that???
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At my in-law’s place, I was helping my mother-in-law in the kitchen. N wanted me to play with him. I told him to wait till I was done helping daadi (grandmother). He crosses his arms and says “Hmmm now that you have got a mother you have forgotten your son. That is very nice (said with a sarcastic twinge)”.
Huh, too many Bollywood movies I say!
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N was having a candy bar. My mother asked him if he would share some of it. N paused, looked at the half eaten candy bar and said “Here you can have the wrapper. I can share that with you!”
I swear this is not what I have been teaching him about sharing!!
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While watching a show on Discovery Kids about how salt is made,
N: I know where salt comes from. It comes from water!
Me: How do you know that?
N: When we were in Thailand and I was playing with my friends in the water on the beach and the water came on my face, I licked it and it was salty. So I membered (for remember) from there.
Me:
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Walking back from the library nearby in Bathinda, N while walking in some sand: I am in Egypt mamma, want to join me?
Me: Why are you in Egypt? Where is Egypt here?
N: See there is sand below my feet. Egypt has sand dunes and camels. So this is Egypt. I read in Diego’s adventure in Egypt book.
Me (to myself): Fine! I will not hold a prejudice against Diego and Dora!
Moral compass
What defines your sense of right and wrong? Who decides it for you? Family, friends, society, religion or you?
If other people tell you something is wrong, is it wrong? If you say something is right, is it right? They say, If we live in a society, we have to live by certain moral codes, standards and values. I say, isn’t that violating a basic right to freedom of thought, expression and action.
I should be free to express what I feel and do what I want. You might say, well then what about violence, guns, rape, murders and the likes. After all isn’t that what some people do because they want to…..
….and the debate goes on!
The simple pleasures of life!
I got up today while the husband and the kid were still sleeping. Looked around the apartment and saw suitcases, big black trash bags holding stuff other than trash and a few heaps of laundry piled up. We are packing for a move, across countries, yet again.
It was quiet in the house. My tummy was rumbling. I walked out to grab a coffee and muffin from the tiny yet fully functional hole-in-the-wall coffee place just as I walk out of our building. I wonder if I will do that again some time soon. The coffee was heavenly and the day started on a good note. I had started one more round of laundry, folded the previous set, was done with my day’s social media catching up and had my breakfast. Ah the simple pleasures of life!
Last night I swore not to move again, no across cities, across countries moving. I want to settle down in one place and have a base. Packing for trips and holidays is just fine 
But like I say and believe “Never say never”. I think I will be ok if I have to move again. This particular move has imparted its share of learnings though.
1. Prioritization – The move to and from New Zealand has resulted in a whole lot of prioritizing. It ranged from things like which clothes to carry, how many shoes, what accessories, which books to what to leave behind in storage, what to donate, what to discard, what needs to be sold, what needs to be done first and last! It has forced me to see what actually figures on the top of my list compared to what I thought would.
2. Emotional detachment – The above process also resulted in breaking those bonds of emotional attachment to that dress that you love but haven’t worn in a year or more! It also taught me that everybody has varying degrees of emotional attachment. I was cool and emotionally unperturbed about giving away or selling furniture from my Bangalore apartment but my mother and my mother-in-law were a little concerned and asked me if it really did not bother me parting with all that stuff!
3. Sorting – My sorting abilities have definitely improved. When one does the exercise of keep, throw, donate for every material thing that they own, twice in 8 months it is bound to do some good in the related part of the brain. I guess! I wish I could do that for my emotional clutter too. Keep the happy memories and throw the sad ones.
4. De clutter and donate – S and I were discussing that we have cleaned out closets and donated stuff more than ever in our life time. If not for this move we would still have a lot of random junk that we did not use, wear or like! A lot of cleansing up and feel-good has happened. Of course the cleaner, less crowded closet shelves have prompted a few shopping sprees also. But I am also doing what I learnt from my mil, “When you buy 1 of something new, give away 2 of something old.” Try that, eh?
Life is nice. It is not all smooth, perfect and happy always but it is nice. I could ask for a li’l bit of this and that. But while I sip my mocha, looking out at some lovely downtown landscape through ceiling to floor glass windows it seems just fine in the big picture!
Day 30 – A limerick for Marathon Blogging
Today is the last but one day of our month-long blogging marathon. All the activity, buzz, chatting and frenzy will end tomorrow. There will be a void like the one after the annual school function finishes – you sudden have nothing to do and miss all the practices, masti and gup shup. I guess I will miss it, till something else fills that void. But I will definitely not miss the posting-every-day bit.
All of us will nod, when I say, we would like to take a break from blogging for a bit.
Here is my version of what this marathon was, in a limerick -
An idea struck a lady called Monika who was always on the run
She discussed it with some friends who wanted to have fun
They pledged to write a post a day
And keep their writer’s blocks at bay
They all thought they couldn’t do it but ended up writing a tonne
The marathon had its highs and lows
Some got bogged down by its blows
Others continued to churn out post after post
About kids, pets, work, life, love and even coffee and toast
They all made new friends and no foes
Secret Santa was a mystery and thriller
It was like playing “Who is the killer?”
Outings were planned, meet ups scheduled
Wherever needed, people even pooled
To help, to heal and to write that occasional filler
Theme posts made us use our head
Didn’t matter if we sat on the desk or on the bed
This blogathon was like a trip to the zoo
All you wonderful people, it was a pleasure knowing you
Here is to Marathon Blogging and to an awesome year ahead!
Now I shall go and enjoy the next 7 days of my holiday Happy Sunday!!
This post is part of the Marathon Blogging December 2012
