Made to order

The dull sound of the wet grinder was looming low from the kitchen. Tomorrow’s breakfast was slowly making its shape in the machine. Meanwhile, my elder son ( who’s almost 6) had a burning question in his tiny mind. ..

Kid : What’s for morrow’s snack box?

Before heading upstairs to retire for the day, he makes it a habit to come down to the kitchen to ask the million-dollar question. He observed the batter being made and declared
Kid :“Nice ! So , morrow’s idli.”

His large beam about his favorite breakfast made me frown.

Me : “Close enough baby. It’s dosa”

Now it was his time to frown.

Kid : "I don’t like dosa in the box. It’s more like a papad !”

I rolled my eyes and looked at my maid. She agreed in unison.

Maid : “Yeah, he left the dosa and ate all the jam last time”.
Oh, this is something I somehow missed, I thought.

Kid :“I just want idli and sugar with ghee”

I eyed on the left-over rice I just cooked for dinner. I thought of making a remix version of the rice, adding some of his favorite paneer.

Kid : “Uh No! Paneer is only for lunch, mama”.

I wanted to convince him, while his daddy dearest came to rescue. He stared at me and said,
Dad :“ You are gonna put this left-over rice for morrow?? No way !” .
I wanted to throw some water on my husband’s face for giving unwarranted suggestions and making my already-difficult task even more difficult. Instead, I just washed my own face. Anger management.

I turned to my kid, who was still waiting for today’s answer about morrow’s breakfast.
Me :"Okay baby, I’ll make you a sandwich."

Kid :"No, That’s what I ate today."

Oh my God, This kid is starting to become impossible. But, frankly and secretly, . I started liking the way he was interacting with me like an adult. I was soo enjoying this Man-to-maam talk.

Me : "That’s fine, I’ll do something in the morning. Don’t worry."

Kid : "Ok..but please don’t put papad dosa.."
I giggled and nodded.

And then, did I mention that I was dreaming of swirling dosas and angry mutters on my face the entire night? Funny dreams, I say.

Nature won't stop and so dawn broke and so did the suspense. I made upma. A breakfast which he just started to develop his taste for, apart from his western appetite of PBJ sandwiches and pastas.

Once ready, he saw me fixing his box.

Kid : “ Cool… and yeah, could u put that tomato ketchup on a separate plate and not over the upma? “

Gosh !! I wanted to tell him that’s not the right combination, but what the heck? The same kid who used to make me literally break down into tears and frantically search for websites for increasing the kid’s appetite ( when he was a toddler) is now ready for “made to order”. And mama chef is more than happy.

Am still searching for those websites. This time, its for my younger son.(who’s 3 yrs old) But, maybe its time I realize that he would outgrow his lack of appetite soon enough and start ordering me what to cook, in a year or so, following his brother. I just fervently hope that their tastes match. Or else, you would be finding me making sandwich for one box and dosa for the other. Heheh.

The chronicles of Schoolnia...

And so, the little warriors of my house, who used to be a little less than bringing the entire house down with their antics, are now ready to face the world. Already? Their schools started, and so I thought.

The first day, as you read earlier, has been less eventful than we anticipated. Everyone were satisfied, and the routine of me waking up at the wee hours of 6am(every single day, without fail).. only made me sleepless for a little while, until I got adjusted to the routine. Trust me, I never woke up as early as I do now even when I was preparing to be an engineer!! Aaah... those were the days... Despite me knowing that I had to catch the college bus by 7.30 am, I couldn't drag myself out of my nest before 7'O clock. Now I know how was this possible, with mom waking up atleast an hour before me, and toiling herself in the kitchen for my lunch-dabba, while I used to have early morning dreams about my Prince Caspian !!!

Yes, History repeats... and it did very early in my case. While the rest of the girls are still honeymooning or contemplating about their first kid, I have two major trouble-makers tugging along me the entire day, and with piles of worksheets (already for the kg standard !!).No complaints to that... but, look who's complaining? It's my mom who says that am not making my presence to their house ( despite me being in India)...but my stand on this?? "The kids need to attend schools, Ma... their holidays are mine now"... And my mom sulks. History as I said repeated, with she getting nostalgic about her mommy who used to have the same complaint. Full Circle !!!

So, how are the little princes coping up with this huge change? Pretty well. Touchwood. Especially, I am really glad I came back at the right time ( to India)...their teachers say that they are in the most flexible age, and when I visited their school and happened to sneak in their assembly.... I was really proud of my decision to give them a proper Indian education when they were crooning loudly to "Jana gana mana" !! An awesome patriotic feel, which cannot be bought abroad. :D... No offense to all the NRI's... You are an Indian wherever you are. ;)

My older one is the class leader...Did I mention that? Am I proud? Am more surprised actually. But, he seems to be a very different being when he goes to school. And since he has a better knowledge on phonics( this I should rightly attribute to his American schooling).. he's given the responsibility of distributing books to his classmates and since he's the tallest, he takes care of the blackboard. Nice !! But, I was still anxious if he's making any friends yet. And so he did. A certain Subbalakshmi.... I split into peels of laughter. Not only the name sounded very much like the 50's, but also a telugu girl in the land of Odisha !! Hmmm..Tej seems lucky.

And the younger one? He's having a ball with his Mona Darling aka Mona miss. He was obviously smitten with the delicate looks of his nursery teacher, but little did he know that his dreams shattered when she tied him a Rakhi. I was saved that day bcoz he didnt know the meaning of rakhi. He thought it was a gift from his mona darling, and refused to remove the "love band" (according to him) even the next day. Talk about puppy love !!! heheheh

And so, amidst those weekly worksheets and monthly mandatory Parent-Teacher meetings and with the daily routine of my 6 hourly sleep... all I long is for the weekend, where the kids have a bit more of the usual TV dosage and me tucking for a bit longer in my nest. This time, the dreams aren't about any prince Caspian. After 3 of them in my life now, I realize that these chronicles are never-ending. :) Ciao for now. Morrow's the weekend. I gotta REST !!!!!