Becoming Momma

I was so sure that I would be very active on my blog during the lockdown. Instead I found myself intensely busy in my role as The Only Adult (TOA) at home. TOA had to clean, cook (until MIL started packing up food for us after the first few weeks), do the laundry, feed and bathe The Only Toddler (TOT) (!!). All this, while of course meeting Work From Home (WFH) commitments. Luckily (somehow I always feel I get lucky in my role as a mother to an adorable-at-times-whimsical TOT), WFH commitments were manageable. In the first two weeks I had an intense schedule. I was staffed on a project that required me to turn-around multiple documents within a very short span of time. I was working weekends and late nights, negotiating with counter parties on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons, revising documents until the wee hours. This was before I had help from my family. This was also the period when my brain was still coming to terms with the new unknown, the spectre of hor...

The little one has been home from pre-school for more than 3 weeks now. In the beginning I loved it - I had a delicious thirty extra minutes each morning. I wanted to conquer the world - catch up on piano practice, read a magazine, sip hot chaai. On most days I just slept till it was time to get ready for work. And then the global pandemic began.   I have been trying to work from home since last week (actually every alternate day - since I work in the telecom sector which is an essential service -our office is doing 50% of the workforce every day). I am definitely less productive than while being in office. It helps that I am not working on any big project currently. But having this time at home and with the stress of school admissions in Delhi finally behind me, I had much more focus and quality time to give my little one. I have become intensely aware that much as I want to just sit and complete my piano piece at one go, read at least one paragraph of the b...

I write this as I sit in a cafe that has a dedicated play area. Correction - this is a play area with a small cafe for adults. ( I do not get the Bollywood music playing in the cafe though - shouldn’t it be Disney songs?  Wow - The moment I typed out this line - it felt like someone read this along with me and changed the music to play the familiar 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed!  For anyone out there reading this  - I think adults also should get some alcohol in their time out! ) I am stressing because my little one is out of my sight and with complete strangers. Trained strangers. Strangers who are paid and trained to do this. I loved the idea when I heard of it - but now that I am here with books and iPad to chill and let my feet up, I am battling my demons. I have gone and checked on my little one 3 times in 10 minutes. The third time I tried to drag my daughter to a place I could observe her from. To no avail. The toys, miniature kitche...

I realise its been over a year since I posted. I can cite many a reason - motherhood, work etc. But I suppose it mostly comes down to essential laziness/ inertia.  Let me begin at once chronicling a few moments of my journey with my toddler so far.  This  video  has me in splits EVERY TIME. No - people with no kids HAVE NO IDEA! That is what I felt when last Sunday I attended a dear friend’s daughter’s first birthday. The venue was a nice restaurant with a play area set up outside. This area was a nice child-proofed space festooned with bright paper lanterns and buntings. The kids made a bee line for the slide and see-saw and little tricycles arrayed there. It was all very nice but for the heat. The harsh Delhi heat that beat down mercilessly on a humid August noon. So there we were - a bunch of hapless parents watching over our brood in the mid-day sun while we watched our friends - the other kind - the kind without children, through the ta...

I have had more experience in travelling with my baby. I think it would be useful to set out a few pointers - a lot of it can seem obvious - yet I see people around me making these avoidable mistakes all the time. Plan ahead. At the very least, having a mental checklist 24 hours before travel is useful to give youself time to plug loopholes (wash that extra set of night wear, buy baby a hat, get food bags to store meals, decide whether to carry a steriliser etc). If you don't already own one, invest in four wheel bags. I cannot emphasis just how important this is, irrespective of whether you are travelling alone or in a group with a baby. Once out of the airport, if you do not have a partner (or even if you do actually), it can be very tricky to handle luggage and baby at the same time. Carrier/ pram/ stroller is a must. I have realised this the hard way when travelling alone with my baby as well as when I was travelling with my husband. You need all hands on deck and sans carrier ...

She walks now. And with fierce determination indicates her wants deploying all means of communication known to her - tears, smiles, jerks of her head, low grunts and soft purrs. Many an hour in the dull work day is spent watching videos of her running up and down on  tiny feet on Marine Drive and pointing at the sun dipping into the horizon. She is a keen observer and cries till we let her have her tooth brush so she can brush her teeth like the grown-ups do. Not much gives her as much joy as scraping up plates and bowls with a spoon and 'feeding' everyone in the room (or the kind gentleman in the seat next to us on the flight!)  And she loves to dance! Any  music evokes squeals of laughter accompanied with careful swaying on unsteady feet - her moves are so spontaneous and so full of joy, a roomful of adults will get on their feet to join her. She is growing into a fine young lady, with many more demands on my time and attention. Yet she no longer cries when I drop her o...