The connection…-Guest Post

March 15, 2010 MysTri Mum8 Comments

Its time for the next guest post.This one is from one of my favorite bloggers..infact the one that initiated me into blogging.I read a post by a second time mom on Indiaparenting pregnancy boards and it made me reach out to her.That mom was Tharini and on her encouragement,I started my first blog.Tharini moves me and that was another reason,why I requested her to do this guest post for me.
Here’s what Tharini has to say-

There are many ways to meet people. Both in real life and on the virtual. And the way I met Trish, could fall into the category of ‘regular’….or not. How do you classify something that connected to the exact emotional state in two people?

Indiaparenting it was. On a message board. Where I had shared Thambi’s birth story. Trish read it and reached out. Not only because it called for congratulations, but because it called for that special sentiment, called hurt. Hurt, that a mother’s presence would have made the all the difference, and her absence was a very raw wound for me. And Trish had sensed that. It was the same wound that hurt her too. Girls need their mother when they are becoming mothers themselves, period. And I was lucky to have that blessing the first time around, with a narrow miss the second time. And in all the things that a birth story entails, it was this that Trish keenly sensed and wrote to me about. Ah, the bliss of being ‘got’.

She began blogging soon thereafter, and I learnt a little more about her and her life. But distances are always there, waiting at the corner, to wedge their way in and open the chasm wide. Busy lives with very little time was the distance that wedged itself in our case. We are not in regular touch or completely tuned in to each other’s lives. But when she writes to me about doing a guest post after 3 eventful years, that is the time to pause and think, and remember and reach out once more. So here I am, wishing Trish many many more happy sweet years of blogging and growing in her own right.

A parting thought….this bookmark, with one question, READY? I love it. 5 letters, with a question mark at the end, and the potency of infinity? Oh wow!!! Ready? So open ended with scope for the widest interpretation, the popular one corresponding to your exact situation in life. At that time, for me, it would have been….are you ready to move forward from that point, from that ache and embrace your newly completed family, completely? Now, it is…are you ready to make some serious changes in your life, leaving behind old habits that tend to leach and remember what it is like to be pure once more?

What does READY? mean to Trish? And what does READY? mean to you?

Thanks for writing,Tharini and thanks for sharing this beautiful bookmark with us.
Ready? to me today means-Am I ready to take charge of my health? Am I ready for the next phase,thats going to start in our life,as Aadi starts school?Am I ready to give myself sometime,to wait for nature to take its course?Am I ready to make some changes in our lifestyle to make it better in coming months and years..?I think its about time and I think I am ready!

What about you?What does READY? mean to you?

To read the other guest posts,go here,here and here

Uncategorized

Of New places and New Friends-Guest Post

March 9, 2010 MysTri Mum16 Comments

Its time for the next guest post.This one’s written by the Passionate Goof,known to most of us as the Goofy Mumma.
I was in India,when Aneela told me that another blogger is moving to Melbourne.Naturally I was thrilled and curious.GM got in touch and we exchanged emails and somehow there was no awkward pauses when we spoke.I remember being put at ease,instantly by her sweet tinkling voice..and I knew that the friendship,that I hoped for,when I first heard of her move,was going to bloom..:)We spoke a couple times,while in India and meeting up was the next step…Now,I will let GM tell you the rest…
Here’s presenting,the Goofy Mumma-

“Learning to live in a new place, can be a breeze if you have the right friends around you, said the great GM. 😉 After having moved toSharjah , where I knew absolutely no one, it took me ages to get a hang of the place, its workings, my likings and more. But Melbourne has been a different story from day one. From the moment I announced the move on my blog, the sweetest of people living here, dropped in mails, offering help and advice, and I am just putting it lightly, when I say I questioned them endlessly with all my queries.

Surprisingly enough, Trishna happened to be in Bombay at the same time, while I was there during my transition. She offered me so much information and help, that this tiny brain of mine could neither hold, nor process all of it, I think. She guided me on how to go about the BB’s vaccinations, evaluations, kinder and more. And then we talked some more, about blogs, bloggers we both read, our lives, and the people in it. Somehow the bond formed right then. Having spoken to her just a few times before, did not stop me from calling her up, and go ranting when I really needed to vent, and, she just so sweetly and patiently heard me out. I think I knew then, I had already found a friend in my new home-to-be.

Once I got here, the BB’s birthday was approaching, and as if taking it for granted, I invited Trish and family over, they came, and that is how we first met. And may I say, at the risk of being flung footwear at, I was smitten byAadi , and fell in love with her, more than Trish. She is such a sweet little girl, full of smiles, witty, sweet talk, and just such a loving little girl. I absolutely love that one. Trish, I noticed second, and liked just as much. Though this meeting was not really one, where we were sitting and chatting away to glory, having a heart to heart, but this was where we met. The next time was when we met up in the City, walked around, ate, chatted, and surprisingly for people just getting to know each other, found too many common things connecting us. From our spiritual ideas to our health concerns, there was just so much we had in common, besidesofcourse the very obvious, kids of almost the same age. And it is amazing how calm, and chilled out she remains even when under pressure, is the image I came back with from that meeting.

But, honestly I had the most fun over dinner at Trishna’s beautiful home, and not just because of the drool worthy food ofcourse. It was such an easy-to-be-in home. They are just such a friendly and informal bunch of people, its just so easy to be with them. The BB and Aadi hit it off like a house on fire, playing, laughing, screaming. Aadi, the lovely baby, started treating the BB like her pretend baby, and actually fed him with her own hands, and then wiped his face with her tissues. My boy completely enjoyed the attention ofcourse. Trish and I had loads to talk about, and did, while the husbands seemed to have hit it off well with each other too. It is such fun to find like-minded people who are just so so easy to be with. I just loved that evening spent at their home, and if there is one moment of the evening, that is forever etched in my mind, it was when we were leaving, and Aadi said, “BB, my friend. He should not go”, and she burst into tears. The sweet, loving little girl, so precious. God bless you my darling.

Its so wonderful knowing that I have a friend just a phone call away, who is always there, and who would not need too much explanation to understand me, nor do I fear being judged. And who is plain and simple honest. All this compounds, especially when in a new place, where I know very few people. Trish, thanks for being my sweet sweet friend.”

Thanks for writing this post,GM..It means a lot to me..here’s to a new friendship..which doesn’t seem so new anymore.5 months back,I didn’t know you or your blog..now,you are my feel-good call and the blog,is my morning coffee break!

oh and to read the first guest post by Aneela,go Here

Uncategorized

Happiness Ka Ek Rule-Guest Post

March 4, 2010 MysTri Mum6 Comments

Drumrolls Pleaseeeeeee…I present to you the first guest post…by Aneela

But before that,the reason why I asked Aneela..
When I first arrived in Melbourne,I was so lonely.I didn’t know anybody,except a couple from our initial married life..but they were busy with their life.I commented on Aneela’s blog and she got in touch with me,right away..and after a few failed attempts to meet,we ended up meeting in the city.You remember that Aneela?we had a nice time.But thats not the reason why she is so special to me.Aneela and G-man generously included us in their holiday plans with friends,making us feel more comfortable in a new place.If it wasn’t her calls and pep talk,I would have gone mad because this move was stressful in more ways than one. If I like/love Melbourne today,this woman has a major role to play!

Now,without further ado,here’s what Aneela has to say-

When Trishna requested me to come up with a guest post on How to Stay Happy, it was very difficult to reply to her email what with all the laughter in the background. The sound of laughter was from close family and friends who know all too well about my Naina Barse Rhim Jhim Rhim Jhim avatar and who over the years have marvelled over my Fine Art of Getting Into a Funk. The Pursuit of Happiness and to get out of this funk has been a non-stop battle for me over the years with the emphasis on as Will Smith’s character reminds us on the very act of pursuit.

So what have I learnt over the years? I have been told that Happiness is an Aberration, as in sorry for the brief lull in transmission, normal programming will resume soon. I was also exposed to the phir hum khush hoaayengey (And then We will be Happy and How can We be Happy? ) school of thought which is basically the anti-thesis of We Will Overcome declaring as it does that Life is an Endless game of snake and ladders and one can only be Happy in Heaven. There is also some stuff about endless rivers of wine and a full on“ may tully hogayee” program but that will come later

What have I done in the pursuit of happiness? This has ranged from the very Organized (As a teenager I would collect clippings of “happy things” –shades of Amelie. Knowing as you all do about how obsessive compulsive I am and the disease to “control” things, you will not be surprised to discover that I filed this shoe box collection in categories of “newspaper clippings about political boo boos”, “cartoons”, and “random funny stuff” . These were later graded leaving the really funny A Grade stuff for really depressing days and the relatively mediocre for an ordinary day …Im pretty sure my mother threw all that out when I moved on to uni and the world will never know my own version of chicken soup for the soul),

to the Imaginative (for a whole month I watched a Govinda starrer every evening, I was inspired by a woman who laughed her way through cartoons and cured her cancer. Don’t know about my chronic cold and air of gloom and doom but it sure cured my video rental guy’s blues who skipped happily all the way to the bank)

and the down right Silly (when disappointed by a particular election result I swore off reading op/eds and watching news programmes for a while).

My mother by the way has always been a firm believer of walking away your woes. I will tell her about a colleague who is bi-polar and struggling with meeting work deadlines and she will say nonsense, she needs loads of fresh air, get her out and about. I will tell her about a mysterious mole and she will query me about the last time I was out of the house in recent days. If it was not a question of her being a twinkle in her dad’s eye during the particular period I would have questioned her regarding advising Gandhi and his Salt Walk to Freedom.

And one fine day I discovered what our grand mothers were trying to tell us all along as they recited tales about the parrot which held the life of the djinn. Such a biiiggg giant and the puny prince could slay him by twisting the neck of the parrot (yikes!!). Quick phone call- to- our- local- RSPCA moment aside what our grand mothers were telling us were to search within us for our strength, our happiness rather than depending on The Relationship, That Handbag or This Job to do the task for us. Guys and girls will come and go, the child prodigy you hoped to raise will continue to stick his finger up his nose and ask Whattdatt? and our political leaders will continue to mess things up royally. But you dear reader can continue to be Defiantly Happy if you have learnt to be comfortable in your own company (a trait my dear partner-in-crime has taught me…to be an Indian with a Pakistani wife and an Australian son, a lesser soul would have renewed his life insurance policy twice over)

Next step deconstructing the cautionary note in the fairy tale of not looking back lest you turn to stone (and whats the happiness in that?). Seriously these old dames knew a thing or two.

Thanks Aneela,for making Melbourne feel like home & Thanks for writing this post 🙂