C'est La Vie;That's life

I am talking about approval and acceptance. All of us like them. Regardless of age, regardless of who it's from, we crave for those acknowledgements of whatever we do. Agree? Small children need them the most and rightfully so. For e.g, the wee ones do a scribbly art work and look earnestly to the nearest adult with lots of expectations. One smile or nod from we, the grown up makes them so happy and motivates them to enthusiastically churn out more chicken-scratch-turned-picasso-work for the rest of the day. Until after 50 pieces of scrap, our patient smiles change to a little exasperation and the clenching of the teeth begin. Hey, we're all humans, not pre-school teachers, who the last time I checked, are zen masters at large. When children get to the age of building their newfound knowledge on the world around them and start airing them to anyone and everyone, again, those adult 'nods' sends a resounding assurance that the world is all right and that their small obser

I always end up volunteering for my child's class field trips, partly out of sheer guilt that I don't participate in other school activities and partly because, my daughter loves when I go with her. Not every day, you get to be a mini-celebrity in the eyes of your child and I wouldn't want to miss that chance for the world. Now, to the trip. We boarded a public train to San Francisco, noisy 2nd graders, teachers, parents like me, et al. My group had about 5 kids. I don't know why this happens only to me, but I always get the brattiest kids in the class. What gives? No clue, but as a result I always end up with a permanently jarred larynx. Like a broken record, I go,"Follow the line". "Hold hands". "No, no lunch yet". Only about 60,000 times. Sigh. But, the bratty kids turned out to be the lively ones too. When we went to the art museum, it was quite a comic scene. The museum had a docent to narrate mythological stories to the children. S

Let me sum it up in one simple line. After 16 years of staying in the United States of America, a number of X+1 equations planned, yahoo groups participated and debated to the minutae, spreadsheets filled up with so much statistical data that if these printouts are kept end-to-end we could have literally walked on them to reach the point of our destination, pros and cons beaten to the death, every vacation back home nostalgized and plans to return rekindled, then put out, finally......the moment has arrived. Yes, we've got our tickets to go back home. And, the feeling is sad, nervous, excited etc. but it's also sort of a relief, because at least, we don't have to take up this topic at the dinner table any more :-)

Are you a person who plans a lot or someone who does things at the spur of the moment? Heavy into detailing or the easy-going type? Hmmm, let's see how much your poor psyche can be tortured and drilled on this issue, till it can take no more and starts swearing &*#%@# back at me. Not that it'll hamper my thought process in any way, mind you. Read on. Planners are people who are always meticulous and at times, even ridiculously detail oriented. Usually, their actions are always thought out way in advance, broken into smaller tasks, deadlines laid out and executed to the tee, with perfection. Sounds like a corporate level merger plan? Nah. It could be as mundane as going for a haircut or washing their car. Highly cautious is these people's approach to life even if it borders on paranoiac tendencies, because they do not like any deviations in their plans. If their car needs a wash, darn it, they'd be standing at the carwash - even if it's raining cats and dogs out

So much is written about motherhood (by yappy mums like me), but little is spoken about fatherhood. Why? Because most dads would rather bungee jump into a deep, dark canyon than write their intimate, emotional feelings. Anyways, be as it may, I feel that this is very unfair and decided to appoint myself as the universal spokesperson behind every male who's either a brand-new, novice or a veteran father. Let's start with dads and daughters. They share an deep, unconditional love for each other that can last a lifetime. Also, fathers do have a fiercely protective bonding with their girls. It's that 'no-one-dare-say-anything-about-her' kind of feeling. This starts immediately after birth, right at the cradle, when a newbie dad refuses to hand over his baby to the nurse for a shot, and goes all the way to the teenage, when he wants to bash up all the boys who dare to have a crush on his "little girl". They (meaning experts, those ghostly people who only appear