Mother's day gift

We (me, Jr. and the Little One) were all obviously aware of this Sunday being Mother's day. The kids get reminders from school, get to make their little ceramic things with their bare hands as a token of affection and have the surprise planned out.

Daddy is out in the open and unless he has a secret stash of cash he cannot buy anything without Mom knowing it. Actually it is a crying shame that daddy doesn't go to the bank anymore, does not know his bank balance, credit card balance or mortgage balance these years..

San will scream every now and then if I talk about a lens or camera accessory or some long trip somewhere and as long as I refrain at the right times, things are okay.

On Friday we had to get groceries on my way back from work with a detour to Jr.'s dance class. We happened to see a Mother's day sign outside a Nursery and they had a nice Japanese Maple tree for 20 $ .. Knowing that we have been looking for a shade tree for the last few months and they were always around 50 $ thought this would be a great surprise.

Bought the tree, dug a big hole after fighting allergies and planted it...

to get a lukewarm response!

LO : I thought you bought the tree for yourself appa! How can a tree be a gift to Amma?

Me : Every mothers day she can go see how beautiful the tree has grown and you can all go water it. Didn't we buy this tree on a mother's day sale?! It is for mom!

Jr.: If we water it only once a year, that tree will die!

Me : Un vaila nalla vaarthaye varaadha di? (won't any good word ever come out of your mouth?)

San: I was going to spend 20$ on a pedicure. Now me pedicure is planted in the backyard! Don't have a problem with the tree. . just have a problem with it being a mother's day gift!

All said and done, the mother's day gift stands tall and will hopefully outlast all of us. Someday we can sit in its shade and open future mother's day gifts..

Time will tell....


Happy Mother's day to all mother's out there!

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Happy Mothers day

The day started off on a bad note with the usual breakfast struggle. Had promised that Breakfast will be over before mommy came out of the bedroom but that was not meant to be. One should not promise anything when little kids finishing breakfast on time is part of the plan.

Finally after a busy day we did something to make up for it. Ate outside without any fights between family members!

Happy Mothers day to all!


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Mothers day

Mother's day is a lot of things to a lot of people... depends on country, culture, commerce.. etc.

All said and done a day where you thank Mom's with an open gesture. It was conceptually new to me because as a kid growing up in India, do not remember any special plans for mothers day or my dad deciding to kiss my mom or buy her special gifts or cook breakfast for her while she woke up late or do a special archanai in the local temple on that day just like he would on her birthday (the archanai of course).

When in Rome, do as the Romans do is what they say (still don't know how the Roman's celebrate Mothers day, but we do know how Californians celebrate) and that means we should have been on the program and schedule.

As fate would have it, I fell sick and pretty much blotched any semblance of plan or schedule.

Woke up this morning with a terrible stuffy nose and painful sinus. Told the little one "wake up.. we have to wish all the moms on mothers day"

LO : Let us go wish mommy

Me : she is still sleeping. don't wake her up. I will call Madras Paati(grandma) and wish her.

LO : why should you wish Paati for mother's day?

Me : what do you mean? She is MY mother. I have to wish my mother on mother's day!

LO : it is MOTHER's day. Not GRANDMA's day!

Me : we have to wish all mothers we know. especially our own mothers. you go wish Amma. I go wish Paati. Amma will wish Bombay (San's mom goes by Bombay Paati or just Bombay in our house)

LO : Now I get it. should I wish Madras Paati too?

Me : yes. and every mom you meet today!


at that point we decide to call Madras Paati.

Me : happy mother's day

My mom : (very hesitantly) Thank you

Me : enna pannindu irukkeL ? (what are you guys doing?)

My mom : silence.....

Me : Enna maa.. pesave maatengare? (what mom.. you are not speaking?)

My mom : was trying to figure out who was on the other side. You must have a really bad cold. what is wrong with your voice? I cannot even recognize your voice? have you been taking care of your health? is it the job? etc. etc.. she almost went to "are you drinking your horlicks every night or not?" we just stopped shy of horlicks and the ennai theichu kuliyal (oil bath). You know you are in trouble if the oil bath makes it into the list of questions.

Me : Please let me talk. I DO have a bad cold. the weather keeps changing outside. Yesterday we went to a birthday party at a local park. it was very warm when we left and walked around in a T-shirt. Suddenly it got very cold and chilly and by evening I had a stuffy nose. It will get better.

Mom : what is the point of wishing mothers day when you are somewhere and I am somewhere and can only see you in pictures? and cannot even recognize your voice?

Me: you have a point there. will come home soon and we can talk, okay?

that cheered her up, at least temporarily...

the sickness kept going. An afternoon nap that was more than a nap. Then we decided to go out and have a drive. San pretty much said "come on now. just sit in the car and I will drive. let's take the kids and my mom out to eat someplace"

so off we go to do some errands and then hit Baja Fresh for an early dinner for the four of them (just had to watch as my stomach wasn't food ready).

We are waiting for San to come out of some store. There is a huge banner on Saratoga Avenue for Lumix Point and shoot camera's.

Jr. : Daddy, when can you buy me my own camera?

Me : I told you that I will buy you one before your next birthday and if not will give it to you as a birthday gift, no?

Jr. : Amma cannot take pictures with your camera anymore. the lens you have there is too complicated for Amma. she doesn't know how to use it.

Me : stop. I can teach her.

Jr. : NO! you cannot. It is very complicated. I have seen it. It has many rings and you keep moving buttons on it and she thought about it that other day and told me "it is too complicated and I don't want to break it and get in trouble with your daddy". We need to be a "camerologist" or something to use your camera. Can you buy me something easy where I can just see the picture on the screen and click?

Me: A camerologist? don't you know a word for someone who takes photos?

Jr.: (sheepishly) Oh yeah! Photographer!

Me : okay. we will think about it.

by the time this conversation was over San showed up and we were off to Baja Fresh..

we were happy, mad, silly, sad and all of the above over a 45 minute period.

Somehow we were all happy that we had each other.

Then we got home and Jr. and the little one insist I sleep with them for a few minutes.

Me : cannot lie down now. Nose is completely blocked. have to inhale vicks

LO : otherwise you will die?

Me : no. I won't die. will feel miserable.

LO : okay. we were worried.

Me : don't worry. everything will be fine.

LO : When is father's day?

Me : Don't know. But don't do anything special for father's day. just pray that we will all be healthy.


Mother's day went with the true realization and appreciation of what Mother's do for you and why they hold such a special place in your heart..

Here is to moms, who make you feel better, who support you when you are up or down and teach you constantly it is not a bad idea to listen to them...


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Happy mother's day

Wishing all moms out there tons of worthless trinkets from their school going kids,

as well as the real gifts..

the hugs and kisses!


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We pick up where we left off, with hopes that the trinkets, hugs and kisses would round up the day. There was more.

The day started off with a phone call to India that went from bad to worse in under 2 minutes and there was no turning back after that. On a scale of 1 to 10 we were at -5 by 10AM.

Even the roses in the livermore temple seemed to consipire. Pollen don't know its mothers day. Two moms were sad to see that I was trying my best to keep spirits high on the way back from livermore with a sneeze a minute and watering eyes. They told me "good job"! We were still below zero.

You try to make it up to one mommy too many and what have you? A row of unhappy moms. Finally a round of mini golf and a chirpy grocery shopping session with the girls ended the day in a positive note. That note was just above zero.

Sometimes cannot help think that if today had been just another sunday, it would have turned out much better.


Happy mothers day!



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Happy Mother's day!!

A belated mother's day wish to one and all, including my own mom!

This morning I called India and forgot to wish my mom and SIL a happy mother's day. Worse, I didnt call my sister at all. But we normally don't wish on mother's day in India and they do not hold it against me, or so I hope.

Jr. made mom the usual trinkets with "I love you mommy!" written all over, and needless to say the stuff was presented in a surprise party at the daycare. Somehow, I feel they could do a better surprise.

As for me, I had plans to be the nice husband for the day and failed. If I were to take today as a "mother's day exam", I got a 40%, a D- by my own admission.

1. I had an allergy attack. So enough said on that front.

2. Expected Jr. and baby to somehow understand "Mother's day" and co-operate with me on making mommy happy. What was I thinking ?! Jr., the drama queen that she is, was going at around 34.5 tantrums/hour this morning and she sprinkled it with 3 crying spells/hour.

Baby, not to be outdone decided to get her earing caught in Jr.'s bike helmet when no one was looking, and yanked her earing out of her ear! This was the gold one that we put during her ear piercing ceremony in India just three months ago. We have one broken earing (the stud split in two !), and a very sore baby ear. Needless to say, the whole street heard her wailing, the Mrs. screaming in shock and Jr. crying with guilt because somehow she knew that she had started the whole thing with the helmet.

3. I forgot to get the diaper bag! To a new reader of this blog, this might sound trivial and raise questions like: "So, he forgot the diaper bag! Big deal, People forget. So why even mention it ?".

Let me explain. If you quiz Jr. on the human body, she would say that a "man" has two hands, two legs, two eyes, 5 fingers/hand, one nose, one mouth and one diaper bag. Considering I am the only man in this house and also considering that the bag was attached to me like a body part, it is ironic that I should forget it today, of all days. What makes the situation even special is that baby decided to do her thing in the diaper when we were shopping for furniture! I got the "eye of the basilisk", from the Mrs. when she asked me about the bag!

Somehow, the evening was salvaged partly because my allergies worsened and the two mommies in the house decided to be more sympathetic, and also because I managed to make San's one wish come true. I got her a subway sandwich!

The woman does not ask for much, and I still disappoint. We did have our little moments though! I made breakfast, we got baby a new earing, saw Jr. and baby giggle away during our drive to subway and back, danced with the kids every chance we got, shopped for the kids, etc. etc.

My hope is that next year, mother's day should be a lot better because the kids will be older and might actually behave on that day as a special favor! and yours truly will watch what he eats a couple of days in advance.

Once again, Happy Mother's day to all those mommys out there! Without you, blokes like me don't have a chance.



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