Penning my Roller Coaster Work Life!

I was just wondering over a cup of coffee yesterday... It has been 7 long years that I have been working. Seven years sounds like a really long time. And when I think of it otherwise, it feels like a fraction of second. Woooossshh,,,, Flashback!

"Dipti, you are very ambitious, but your fate lines indicate, you will not be working! You might work for couple of years maximum, after that you will be a house wife!" this came from a very good friend and a hand and face reader. I still remember how crazily ambitious I was when I was in college. I always knew I want to be independent and work for my own satisfaction. Ambitions are a different thing and coming from a middle class Marwari family and dreaming of being independent is a different.

Today when I look back, I wonder how I have come out of so many hurdles that came my way in continuing with my professional life. It reminds me of the lines “If God creates problems for you, he also gives you their solution along with it"

I remember, after 1 month of my marriage, I started my first ever job hunt. It wasn’t easy to go from office to office just to submit the resume.  Now when I think of it, it was all worth the efforts. First job in IT industry is the toughest part for a fresher and I was lucky to have got it in a very prestigious XE Healthcare in Bangalore. My resume was forwarded by my cousin’s friend and my interview for a trainee post was not that challenging. I cleared it easily and started with my little dream.

I still remember my first day at work. That first auto ride from Old Airport Road to Hoodi Village of 13 km felt unending. And in 2004 when I joined the company, that part of Whitefield, was considered as another planet from Bangalore.

I went through so many security checks that I felt like saying "My name is Dipti, and I am not a terrorist". Those amazingly landscaped gardens, multi cuisine cafeteria serving at least 3 types of cuisines everyday with a lot of facilities like gym (with expert trainer), steam, sauna, TV room, sick room, free doctor visits, awesome coffee and loads of varieties of biscuits makes XE one of the best places to work. Not only that they have grand celebrations on Family day, children's day, Diwali. Every now and then you have a discounted stall for electronics manufactured by XE. So in office campus terms, I couldn’t have asked anything better!

Though I never liked the culture there. Reaching office sharp at 8.30 am was still ok, but leaving office after 8.30 pm was something I couldn’t fathom. If I don’t have work, I cannot pretend to sit for extra 3 hours just because my manager is still in office. But XE rewarded those extra 3 hours more than being extra productive for those 8 hours. So I kind of disliked the culture there.

I was doing pretty well with my work there and made some very talented friends there. Our lunch times were fun and I learnt a lot about corporate world from my friends and colleagues. It was a 6 months training period for me. Looking at the progress I made in XE, my manager initiated an interview for making me permanent even before I finished my 6 months.

I had waited for this day for long, I had taken extra efforts to make sure I am well prepared for this day. But something went off terribly wrong, I was not in the best of the state of mind and I literally cried on my first official interview. A confident girl like me, crying in a petty interview was something I have never imagined in my dreams. But that was the first hurdle in my professional life, I was in trauma for next 1 week as I could have digested not clearing an interview, but crying in an interview,,, so not like me!!

It could have been an end to my career as I had no compulsions of continuing the race being from a well to do Marwari family. But my manager gave me another chance, he asked me to continue for next 3 months and then conducting another interview, which doesn’t happen ever in XE. God's grace No.1

I would have easily cleared the next interview and got permanent without any doubts, but this is my life, it cannot be so straight forward. So here comes HURDLE NO. 2.

Ashish was working with an IT company and he had got a 6 months project in US. And I being a Marwari bride, I had to accompany him without any ifs and buts. It was a lot of pressure from my parents and my in-laws to join him asap. It wasn’t easy for me to leave my just started career and accompany him in US on H4. H4 is the worst Human sorry.,. Women right violation on earth. It cuts your wings and chops your legs and puts you into a golden cage for the time you are in US. You can do everything from shopping to schooling, but you cannot work. :)..Sad but true!

So for next 8 months, I was in a golden cage named US. I travelled the east, lived like an American. Enjoyed every bit of nature there. But something wasn’t correct inside. The fun loving girl in me had given up on the career path, but the career loving girl wasn’t ready to give up. Days passed by and I started with a management course in IT at Harvard. I being a hardcore optimist, dreamt of returning to India as a Harvard return and restarting my career.

Hurdle No. 3, I had to return back to India overnight. My father in law was detected with Stage 3 cancer. He had only a month or so, we had tickets for Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, but it wasn’t important. Harvard was also not important!

We returned to India on 11th Oct and 25th Oct, my FIL rested in peace. I had an offer with a prestigious Telecom company dated 5th Nov 2005, which would have been another ray of hope. Guess what? My MIL was detected Stage 2 cancer and I being a good daughter in law was supposed to be at home, taking care. I am brought up in a family where we can sacrifice anything for the family, so I almost accepted that I am going to sacrifice my career now. But Ashish was adamant that I start with my new work. He supported me and that was God's grace No. 2.

Joining new workplace was like starting afresh. We had three months of training, then proper tests after that. The flexible culture in the company helped me taking care of my professional and personal life well.

It wasn’t easy working for 5 days a week and then getting MIL treated on weekends. Chemothearapies, radiation, that hospital atmosphere, the injections, smell of medicines is not only depressing for the patient but equally depressing for the care takers! We cannot compare the pain patients go through while getting treated, but an equal or more pain is felt by the loved ones who are around!

Everyday was new, brought new problems, regarding maids, regarding medication, regarding social pressure, regarding guests coming over to visit my mother in law, regarding high work pressure at times and regarding my own guilt at times! But each day I reminded myself, I have chosen the hard path, now I cannot step back on it. I have to do it, problems are temporary, and things will change!!

There was a stage when I was cooking at 7 am in the morning as I couldn’t find a cook and maid to look after the chores! I was calling 10 times at home to check my MIL's health and 10 times to the doctor and attending 10 calls from the well wishers about her health. I had to concentrate at my work at the same time I had to be there for any emergencies. Those are the days, you really understand, how important is your support system in life.

When it became unmanageable and I thought I cannot handle anymore multitasking, I called my MOM and like my savior she came to look after my MIL. Not only my MOM, my relatives Asha Masi, Meena Masi, Payal Bhabhi, Aditi Bhabhi, Micky bhaiya, Chiku bhaiya, Didi,Jiyaji everybody stood like a tower of support to me and I passed the HURDLE NO. 4 with flying colors :).

My mother in law expired, we had a tough time settling down with this fact, especially for Ashish it was tough! But then life caught up and we continued.

Suddenly one day, I discovered that I am expecting. First three months were hell of a time with morning sickness, nausea, etc. Fortunately my office, was just 4 km from home, so it was manageable. Then we got the biggest gift of God in our life! Our daughter, our angel, love of our life KHUSHI!

While I was on maternity leave, not even once the thought of returning back to office bothered me. I was so much into my little bundle of joy, that every moment seemed special. The world was unimportant to me, forget office work! I clicked 10,000 pictures of my baby in every possible way in just 4 months. Sleep deprivation was a joy when at 4 am my little baby smiled at me. It was a joy close to none! Khushi had become my sole thought for those 4 months. But at the end of the 4th month, we had to decide! And just when I thought I would resign and be with my new found love, Ashish told me that I should try if I can manage both Khushi and work at the same time.

I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to get back to work, leaving my itsy bitsy baby doll home. But then I had to give it a try as I had given my work my 4 years, I have fought all odds to be where I am! So I returned back to work.

Morning 8-10 am, I massaged, bathed, fed and played with Khushi, 10-6 pm worked in office and again from 7-9 pm played with her. From the 10-6 pm I was in office, Khushi slept, ate her food and went to park. And since I was guilty of leaving her home and going for work, I spent more quality time with her. The 5 hours I spent with her were completely for her.

I giggled with her, I was more patient with her, I read stories to her, I bubble bathed her, I taught her colors, I taught her rhymes, I dressed her up in different attires and clicked her, we had a fabulous 5 hours everyday with each other. At 1.5 yrs age, Khushi was able to solve 4 pieces jigsaw puzzle, which can be enough proof of her intellectual growth for me.

That was the time I realized, kids would be happy with us, if we are happy with ourselves. If I left my work, my independence I would have always thought I have scarified my career for someone else, and hence would have always been in the "KAASH..." mode and unhappy with myself. But today when I am happy with myself, I can radiate that happiness to my family. I don’t shout at Ashish when he comes home late, I don’t scream when Khushi gets demanding, all because I am happy!! I get the ME time for myself and at the same time can look after the family better! So I am proud that I went back to work and in spite of the emotional trauma of leaving a small kid home I was able to get ahead in life.

Of course, having a support system at home is very important. If I did not have a reliable live in staff at home, I would have never been able to leave my little doll in a crèche or with a new novice maid. Without a support system, leaving a small kid at home/ creche alone is a crime. You have no right to have a kid, if you cannot give the best to him/her. Today if I am able to manage work well even after having little kids is only because I am not bothered what if I am 1 hour late from office? Who would make healthy food for my baby? Who will take her out for playing? Who will keep her hygiene in check? We are not SUPER WOMEN, so without a support system, we cannot manage house, kids and work. Accept that each one of us have limitations, if you don’t want to be frustrated in life, keep yourself within your limitations, never cross them.

In my professional life I have always been lucky. Of course, luck doesn’t come without hard work! In my 7 yrs of career I was never on bench, I was always growing and always learning. I was never scared to learn and my social skills made it easier to work as a team. Today I am known for my customer handling skills, customer’s faith in me is tremendous. If there is a problem, Dipti will have the solution! This kind of confidence is overwhelming at times, but then I know it isn’t build without the hard work I put in! There were self doubts, awkward moments, frustrating jobs, crazy schedules, disappointments, huge questions in mind about the need to work, days when Khushi wasn’t well, days when I had to choose work over festival celebrations, but it was all worth it.

And then another phase of life began. I was expecting Avani!

Khushi and work never gave me time to sit back and think of how time has flown and before I could gauge, Avani was in my hands.

This time I took it slow, took a 5 months leave and enjoyed every bit of my time with Khushi! Yes, you heard it right, with Khushi! I arranged play dates for her, I took her to the park, played outdoor games with her for 2 hours. In fact I had become popular with little tots of her age. Khushi's mummy had become an entertainer and a game organizer for those 3 months of holiday.

I read her books, I played constructive toys with her, painted with her, sang with her. Everyday we had one craft activity and sometimes multiple activities to be completed. I had exhausted all the internet resources for these activity sessions! Internet, especially Google is the biggest boon of our times! :)

After 5 months of fabulous time with my little babies, I returned back to work. This time more confident and more optimistic about my career. I had my support system in place before I returned, hired another full time maid to take care of the physical needs of Avani, hired a driver so that I don’t become lazy in going back home for lunch.

It’s almost 5 months now that I have returned from my second maternity leave. I am giving my 200 % percent to work and 400 % to my kids. Our jars are never too full; we just need to change our perspective.

So to sum it all, today your job is not only your financial independence it is your ME time, time when you are not sacrificing for anybody else, time when you can grow in life, more than corporate ladder, you are growing on your personal scale. Hurdles are temporary, and it’s never too late. Breaks are fine, but before taking breaks make sure you have a timeline when the breaks are going to get over!

I know tomorrow when my kids need me and if God forbid my support system is not that strong, I will choose my family over my career. I am open to that, I wouldn’t have any regrets for that. I may not work 9-7, but I sure plan to take out at least 2 hours of ME time in that 24 hours to write, paint, travel, communicate, laugh, recollect my sanity, to retain my individuality and to be happy so that I can radiate HAPPINESS!!

Khushi's journey to school!!!

She is fairly active and inquisitive child. Though I have always tried to spend atleast 4 hours of quality time with her playing, reading and doing something creative everyday, but still I thought going to school would add to her learning process and so after alot of research about play schools in the vicinity we decided to put her to Euro Kids.

As we have been preparing her for the D day from long, she was very excited about the idea of going to school. School where her Arya bhaiya, Advitya bhaiya, Diya Didi, Janavi didi,,,etc etc goes everyday to have fun. And in that fun, the cherry on the cake was the shopping for bag, water bottle, tiffin and other small stuff which are associated with going to school. Next came the arrangement of the driver to drop her to school and pick her up. After alot of interviews, we finalized the last part of it as well. One parent had to accompany the child for first three days, so I wasnt worried about the first three days, as after two years of being with the child u know what can make him happy and sad.

Now came the D day, when all excited our little princess got all dect up for her fun place. Since it was the first day, both Ashish and I went to be with her. Usually taking a day off from office is a big deal for working couples, but when it comes to the little one, there are no second thoughts.

We were informed by the teacher that only one parent can accompany the child, so obvious choice was I. However close the child is to the father, but its the mother's birth right to lead over the father when it comes to the kid. And with that birth right, I went inside.

Looking at all the colourful toy cars and toys in the sand pit, Khushi refused to go inside the classroom. For her the fun place is here, other things we will explore later. I had to convince her that there are more fun things inside so lets explore everything then come back here. Seeing other children crying and howling, Khushi felt like an elderly kid who

wants to console the little babies that school is a fun place, so no need to cry!! And she was saying some of the cranky kids,, "Maat Ro baby,,,maat ro". And sometimes observing what are the other mischevious brats doing? She is overly sensitive and vulnerable when it comes to voilence, so looking at some kids pulling each other, she was complaining about them to me.

First day was not much of an action. Normal 1 hour session with her class teacher "Hema Mam" telling us all the rules and regulations about the school and anxious parents asking her all sorts of funny and weird questions. I had nothing much to ask as Khushi is generally a silent child and also a quick learner. I was sure I will never get complains from her school as for her age she is very well behaved and intellegent. Eating manners, general etiquettes, cleanliness, patience are some of the virtues which I didnt have to really work upon much with her. Touch wood!! But still I was listening to all the queries attentively. And at the end of it, kids were allowed to play as they wish for another 15-20 min, so as

expected Khushi was more than happy in the sand pit.

I would never be able to understand what is so exciting about the sand? I would be excited about the sand which is near the beach as I love beaches, but dry sand? I think i need to go back to my toddler days to actually know whats so exciting about playing with sand!! First thing Khushi will notice in a toy shop is either a book or a bunch of sand toys.

And that was the end of our first day to school. As soon as she came out of the gates she ran towards Ashish and told her the details about her first encounter with Aunty(her mam) and the toys she played with. The rest of the day was more of any Saturday and Sunday (we call it FUNDAY) when its a ritual to do things only keeping Khushi in mind. Going to the bouncing castle, Saphire for toy shopping, swimming in the indoor pool, Doremon time, story time and then Mango icecream as a finishing touch.

For all the expecting parents out there, finish watching the movies you want to see, the restraunts you want to eat out

and also the friends you want to visit before ur bundle of joy arrives as afer he/she is out, your world will revolve round them forever!!

Then second day was also fun as it was the Mom and ME activity day. Meeting other mothers, knowing what they have to say about parenting and schooling and learning ryhmes with them was fun. Surprisingly for me, most of the kids were taught the same rhymes as I had taught Khushi. "Twinkle Twinkle", "Baba Blacksheep"," Rain Rain", "Old McDonald","Humpty Dumpty","Chubby Cheeks", "Crooked man" etc etc,, were all there. And Khushi instantly connected to it and was soo happy and fascinated about the idea of everybody singing along. She also insisted on "Machali jal ki rani hai" and "ringa Ringa Roses" as her rhymers are never completed without them.

We also made an icecream candy cutout, coloured it and stuck it to a wooden stick with her name on it. That icecream candy was treasured by her for quite sometime, infact i wanted to treasure it as her first creativity in school. But as usual she would sleep with it, eat with that in hand, and not leave it even for a second as it was the most priced possesion of her for sometime.

On the Second day to school more kids joined khushi's class, couple of them very soo notorious that the teacher had to

declare play time as nobody could listen to the kids shouting. I was wondering about the poor mother who must be having a tough time with such hyperactive, cranky kid!! Khushi spent the rest of the time in the ball pool and jumping on the fun mats laid in the coridor.

Third day was going to be the last day of me in her school, so I went happily with her. But as soon as we reached there,

we were told, today mothers will be not allowed. They will be called inside the gate only on SOS basis. If the child cries

you need to come and comfort and go back, if she doesnt, you should wait outside. Everybody was anxious, all mothers were not expecting this today. This was the plan for coming Monday(next working day) and suddenly such an announcement led to chaos. I was positive that I would need to stand the whole one hour outside, and that only happened. I was hearing kids cry and mothers being called, but Khushi was happy playing on the sand pit and toy cars. Meanwhile I got chance to discuss with other mothers about the school, their future prospects and their feedback about good schools around. Its always exciting to hear what housewives discuss. Sometimes I feel, can I ever make a good housewife? Their world revolves around hubby, kids, mother in law, maids, movies and food. Well, this is about the typical ones, not the ones I know with great poise and knowledge. Their thoughts and creativity are commendable and they can give a run to any CEO/CFO for their money.

If I am ever required to be at home, I would love to be in the second category, not the first.

Anyways, that day was also over and Khushi was happily coming out of the gates swinging her hands and calling me from the gate. Everybody along with other mothers and her teacher were quite positive that she would be the least troublesome kid in her class. She never cried when she was alone and she never needed attention from anybody there.

Then came Monday, the actual start of her school. When she was going to go alone. Going to explore a completely new world, with complete strangers and nothing in the past was like the one which she was going to just experience. The doll who was never left alone for 10 minutes even at home was going to be all alone with strangers for 1 full hour. And being the first kid she was always explained everything in length if shez not supposed to do something. It was never a NO for her. It was a full story to describe why NO, so who was going to have time to tell her the story behind NO in a school? But because she had a wonderful history for three days, I was keeping my fingers crossed.

But then the inevitable would happen. First day alone to school, didi left her inside the school gates and she started

howling to go out. It might be the affect of other kids crying, but why did the effect never showed up with I was with

her? She knew somebody is outside and she wanted to get back to her comfort zone. She was not ready to be inside.

I could only get in her shoes and think why this drastic change in behaviour? Whats the fear of strangers? I can never get answers to it as i can never think the way a two year old thinks. But we had to be strong, we had to let go of our

protectiveness towards her and be tough to her. It was for her good, but it wasnt easy for us. The rest of the day was

tough for both of us. Seeing or even imagining her crying for one hour was very painful. I remembered something told by Ravi Jiyaji long back when he visted us in Bangalore " Kids are stress busters, bundle of joy but parenting brings with it equal amount of pain, when u see apple of ur eye in pain" and that I experienced second time that day.

Its not easy to raise kids. The constant conflict of loving and being correct in ur upbringing makes it a tough job. When

you are giving her joy, you need to be sure u r not spoiling her. For example, when I first gave her choclate after 1 yrs,

I knew she would love it, but then I had to make sure I am not over doing the joy!! When I bring her toys, I need to

restrict Ashish of buying her everything she wants as she will not learn the value of gifts/toys if its over flooded to

her. When I am listening to her good and bad stories, I have to make sure I dont promote lie and I am strict in not

allowing unexpected behaviour from her. There is no good book for parenting, you have to write your own rules and follow them. Hence I would say, there are no good and bad parents, everybody is learning.

Next day I was very nervous. Kept my fingers crossed and prayed that she doesnt cry. And God heard me, she did not cry that day. And that was the day when she got her first star. When I heard about the star, I couldnt wait to see it. It was my baby's first star, and I was the proud mother that time. I knew it wasnt anything to do with any achievement, but still getting a star feels like a rock star :).. When I went home, she had not washed her hands to show the star to me. She has got one star in each hand. It was not a very hygenic thing at her teachers part, but then the happiness of Khushi made me forget the hygene and kiss her hands as if she has received a Noble prize from the President of India.

Now, the khatta meetha stories of her school have become our routine. She is still crying while leaving for school, but as

soon as she enters the gate of school she is busy and happy while coming out. So we have compromised on it. The new words she is learning, the improvement in her drawing skills are noticeable. She plans her new drawing in advance and discuss with me that she is going to get a butterfly/flower/moon on her hand tomorrow. She remembers some of the names from her school all the time, but she isint the age in which they have permanant friends. She gets an organizer from school in which they request whatever the school needs or about the holidays and PTA's. For her that is her book and the photo on that book makes it special for her.

Ashish attended her first fathers day in her school on Tuesday. Khushi gave him a Invitation card for the same which was handmade (ofcourse with the help of teacher) which made it very special. They had a fantastic afternoon together in the school. They played games and made a joker cap together. As usual, men are not great in expressing, so I couldnt get the petty details yet from Ashish, but overall it sounded like they had spent some quality time together. I was a bit J of the fact that it was Father's day first and not Mother's day. But have to live with it at times.

Khushi's journey of education has begun. Now there is no looking back,,, once it starts,,it is there forever with you. You

feel great about it but at times, you miss your small cuddly baby who would convey everything through you. Khushi's

vocablary reminds me of the first year where she used to hardly speak and we used to teach her small small monosylables like YEs and NO. And today, she has a brain of her own, with alot of immagination and expressions in it. Alot of things to learn from her... the Journey begins!!

Photographs a new perspective to life!!

"Wow,, those were the days!!","Hey dont I look beautiful in this pic?","Please dont post that picture on FB, I will be finished, my friends will hate this look","Wow, wish I could visit that place", "Baby is chooww chweet"...there are innumerable exclamations you come across when you see photographs.

Why are photographs such an important part of our life?

Photographs has the power of making/breaking ur day, they can make u cry and laugh, they can make u love someone or even hate someone, they are ur past and your present and sometimes ur future too. Sometimes, photographs are your best friends, and other moment they are ur worst critics.

I got the photography keeda(bug) from my mom. My Mom always loved clicking our pictures and even in those days of photo studios and pricy photographers, there is not one occasion in our lives that we are short of photos(read memories).All thanks to my Mom. She is an artist, right from flower decoration, salad decoration, mehendi, painting, embroidery, gardening, etc etc, she has a click of all her art. Her albums are a bible for people who come to get ideas from her for various competitions. (On a lighter note, unfortunately I haven’t got 1 % of her creativity in me!!). Not only that, she is a social worker too, and amazingly she has captured every social service events in a proper scrapbook with pictures of every occasion. I used to find it very silly at times, that why is it so important for her to waste time on these useless scrapbook which nobody would be interested in seeing after sometime.

But today, when I am a little more mature, have seen a little more life, and finally learnt to put myself in others shoe. I know that tomorrow when she is playing her second inning in life, she will have a humungous treasure of memories with her. Right from her Neetu Singh style bell bottom pants picture clicked in Kashmir to her brilliant creations with inanimate objects. She will be proud of her social work and will always have something to remind her of her goodness in life. Pictures are so much a mirror of what you were, are and would like to be in life. Pictures will remind you of the good things you have done and never let you forget the lessons of the bad things happened in your life.

Recently I heard about a family wall, which one of my co sisters flaunt on her drawing room wall. She said that she has a picture of everybody in our family including me (newest member) on her wall. She says it is amazing to see the happiness one gets to see themselves on her wall. And in a way it reflects the importance of that person in her life. I thought its a wonderful idea, and why only family? I would like to have a Memory wall in my house with pictures of everybody who mattered in my life. And I am sure, each one of you who is reading this will be delighted to see your pictures on my wall.

Coming back to photographs, I know some people who are totally uninterested in photographs. I feel like an alien when I click pictures when they are around. It was difficult for me to digest initially why are they not interested in pictures? What makes them feel it is a waste of time when for me taking a picture of every moment I would like to cherish is so important? The answer lies in a small incidence which I remember when I went to Niagara falls for the first time!! Niagara falls are the most beautiful falls on earth and when you first encounter it, it feels blissful. (Not that I haven’t seen more beautiful falls than Niagara in India, but the idea of seeing Niagara itself makes it very special). When I had my first encounter with the magical falls, I enjoyed every bit of it. And suddenly remembered, ohhhhhhh,,I haven’t clicked it yet!! Not that it was going to run away, but the thought of missing that click, made me forget to enjoy the beauty of it and start clicking it. Not that I had participated in a competition to click Niagara, but instinctively it came to me. And there I was, clicking the pictures instead of enjoying the moment.

I think that is the reason some people feel that it is a waste of time to click pictures, who sees them later on and why bother to show it to others. And they make you forget to live in the present. Yes, in a way they are correct. But whatever said and done, I still remain a photograph lover!!

I always liked getting clicked. As a child, I had done some immensely foolish things for getting clicked. As stupid as coming in between the bride and groom in all the pictures of their wedding. And I am still embarrassed when I meet those relatives in a social function. As a normal teenager, I also had that phase of HATE being clicked. But it soon faded away when in college I used to get complimented for my wonderful pics. After that there was no looking back. Pictures on every occasion was a must. We had a group of 4 close friends, "Agrawal Sisters" as others use to call us in college. Though one of them was not Agrawal, still staying with us, she was tagged like us. And we had a photo session in the last year of our engineering. Those pictures are something which we still cherish.

The biggest boost to my photography skill was when I got a Sony digicam for the first time as a gift from Ashish. He knew about my fascination for photographs, so he gifted me that. And that really kicked my creativity as far as photography is concerned. I wasn’t working for 8 months in US, and Boston is indeed a very beautiful place. So I clicked every detail in my surroundings and enhanced it with various photo editors. I also thought why am I not into creative computing like animation etc. I use to work on editing for hours and never felt little bored or tired doing that. And owing to this my in-laws got to see every part of our trip to US with their own eyes. I had such huge collection of amazing pictures there that I started making a video slide of it. Every time I did something creative with my pictures, it was appreciated by everybody and that’s where I got encouragement to do something different every time. Taking pictures and editing them and uploading them on yahoo photos was the purpose of my life every weekend in US. :)..

Now, you will ask me, where are all those pictures? Alas, I lost all my creations due to a laptop crash before we came back to India. I still feel the pain when I remember that. And those days, USB or DVD burning was not that common. So I learnt a lesson after that incident that you should always have a backup of everything important in life.. :P..ofcourse not people.

After coming back to India, I have been clicking pictures here and there. I have a huge collection of pictures on all occasions. Going through them even now feels good.

And now I am a proud owner of Nikon SLR D5000, which I thought will change the way I click pictures. Though it is an amazing instrument, and I have been trying my hands on it very often, I don’t think I am doing justice to it. Using Auto mode for a nice click is good, but that’s not what pro photographers do :P. I still have to learn the shutter speed and ISO details. And somewhere I feel, I am better off being a spontaneous photographer rather than a technical one.

I have been clicking Khushi profusely everyday and in one year I had more than 10,000 pictures of her. By pictures I mean portfolio pictures! Choosing 40 pictures out of 10,000 was very tough job for me. But her scrap book needed only 40, so I did that tough job in about three months. For those who have seen Khushi's scrapbook, they know how much time and creativity I had put into making that masterpiece of my life. Some even asked me to make the same for their kids. But dear friends, its not only the pictures that you need to put together, it is much much more than that. That scrapbook is my motherhood expressed in pictures and words; it cannot be prototyped for anybody else.

Khushi is also very happy or rather obsessed by her own pictures. Her favorite time pass is to see her own pictures on laptop or on my mobile. She is ecstatic when she sees herself in the pictures and even poses with a plastic(plastic because it is for the picture) smile.

My desk in office has photographs, every room in my house is filled with Khushi's photos, my mobile, my wallet, and even my mirrors have photographs. To make her familiar with the people around her and with the people who matter in her life, I have made a special collage which boasts of all the people important in her life. And religiously, she will go after morning puja to take blessings from Nanu/Nani/Dadu/Dadi as taught to her.

So what are photographs actually? They are what you want to be, and also what you don’t want to be! They are memories, which will make you smile when you are sad. They have the power of rekindling the love and childhood in you. They are mirrors of your life. They remind us again and again that life is so beautiful. And they remind you that you are fortunate to have so many special people and special things in your life.

We throw away or burn the photographs of people who have hurt us, but as this poem suggests. http://www.promiseofgod.com/reason/ . Everybody in your life is here for a purpose. And their pictures will tell you their purpose in life later when you try to analyze.

So my lovely friends who are reading this blog. Don’t be shy of taking pictures, collect a lot of memories in life. Enjoy the present and create nostalgia for the future. Nothing in life is permanent but memories can be if you have captured the moment in a photograph. Those might not make a great pic on Facebook, but definitely down the line when even Facebook friends have forgotten you, you will live every moment again in those photographs!!

Mauritius Travelogue - July 2010 - continued

Continuation...

Our next destination was a ship making factory. Here models of ship were made out of wood. The efforts taken to make small parts of the ship was worth appreciating. I learnt that the white cloth to make the winds of the ship was dipped in tea solution to give them that dull finishing. Every detail of the ship was carefully crafted and they looked very real like. Ashish was specially fascinated with a model Harley Davidson and we bought that as a memento from this place. We also bought a small ship model for our showcase. Another fascinating thing in that factory was colorful globes. They were lit from within and the bright radium colors made it really exciting for me. But since they were too bulky and costly, we did not get one for our showcase.

Then there were a couple of branded stores from Boss, LV. We met Vritika and Aditya the love birds there. Though our private taxi was very comfortable but we still missed our group in the bus whom we met the first day. Anyways, next destination was an Indian temple and a Sacred lake, the Grand Bassin/Ganga Talao which we dropped due to lack of time. There was a nice view point from where we saw a beautiful view of Mauritius with a huge water line and mountains kissing the water. The sky and the water became one at the horizon.

Then we had lunch in an Indian restaurant where fortunately we got very simple home like rice/dal food. After a nice hearty simple meal, we went to see the "Trou aux Cerf". It was told to us that this was a dead volcano which is dead from last 10-20 years. When we went there, I expected at least something close to a volcano, but this was just a small crater in the middle of the valleys where rain water was collected. Though it was disappointing as a volcano, it was a good view point and the climate was amazing up there. We saw couple of small water falls and Black river gorges in the way to Chamarel. Chamarel is a 7 colored rock garden and that was another disappointment. The 7 colors which they mention were maroon, black, Red, brown, yellow and steel blue types, which was nothing distinct or great to see. Somehow it reminded me of the butterfly garden we visited in US in the Museum of Science which was a small balcony with 10-15 butterflies in it and we paid some 80 $ to see that. Anything and everything can be sold if the marketing team is strong. The only exciting thing in the rock garden was the giant tortoise which was a new species for Khushi. She has 3-4 tortoise toys which she was able to correlate with this giant turtle I suppose.

Our South tour was over and we went back to the hotel. After resting for couple of hours we realized we haven't booked for our dinner tonight. Yes, many of these big hotels have this booking system. You have to book in advance where you want to have your dinner. You have a choice of Italian, Indian, French, Chinese etc. So this time we tried to book in the Italian restaurant where we got the booking after someone else cancelled. The Italian restaurant, "La Faya" is located near the Nirvana area where kids below 16 years are not allowed for all valid reasons. Nirvana is an exclusive area for honeymooners and love birds with a big swimming pool and exclusive beach area for them. You can drink and chill out around the pool bar with complete privacy. So coming back to La Faya, it was a perfectly located romantic restaurant with sea waves touching the edge of the platform and tables laid down with candle light dinner arrangement on that platform. We preferred sitting inside because it was very cold as it rained few minutes back.

We had a three course meal with excellent cream of tomato soup, salad, pasta and pizza and for the first time in my life I had tamarind sweet. Yes, 'emli' as a sweet with coffee ice-cream, it sounds only, sour. But it was pretty decent. Then after our romantic meal, we ladies went in our rooms and these boys had a boy's night out. They were going to hit the disc and enjoy the night life there. We would have joined them, but I wasn't keen on going out with Khushi to any noisy and smoky place, so we chickened out. Meanwhile I and Priti were enjoying the photographs on the laptop. It was amazing to see them.

Next morning, as per our schedule, we had a North Tour to Botanical Garden, Port Louis, Caudan Waterfront and some "Marie Reine Da la Paix" (view point in short). Out of the above locations, we had already seen the Port Louis and Waterfront which were the main attractions. And none of us are Botanical garden types, so we dropped the plan and decided to enjoy the water sports in the hotel.

We tried booking for a glass bottom boat and other water sports, but they informed us that they were full and we have to book well in advance for the activities. So we hired a speed boat and went for a dolphin ride. In a speed boat they took us in the deep sea and showed us 6-7 dolphins coming on the surface to have food. As I had seen dolphins number of times, it was not a high point for me. Then we went for feeding the fish. Mauritius has no sea life near the shores. The shores are filled with dead corals and rocks, so you cannot see any fishes in the vicinity. Considering this, feeding the fish was an exciting experience. We fed the fishes with some pieces of bread. It was so exciting that I woke Khushi up from her sleep and made her feed the fish. Initially she was so disoriented that she wasn't able to figure out what is mommy trying to do. Then after sometime, she enjoyed the activity and fed the fish herself. Then we saw some clean and crystal clear beach on our way. We all were very tired by that time to go and play in the beach, so we returned to our hotel. Then we planned to make food in our rooms. We carried a rice cooker for Khushi, so I made some Khichadi (rice and dal) for everybody and Mahesh made some Haldiram Bhelpuri for all of us. It was quite nice to have homemade food in our rooms. It somehow contends us from within. And this is when you realize the value of home made food. The rest of the evening, we relaxed that day.

Next day, we were booked for glass bottom boat in the hotel. So after getting ready and having breakfast, we went for the glass bottom boat. I was astonished to see the clarity, with which the sea bottom was seen in the glass bottom boat, but unfortunately we were not able to see very nice corals or fishes as it was high tide and with kids for security reasons they were not ready to go in deep sea where you actually find good corals and fishes. After returning me and Priti decided to go for pedal boating. This activity was an amazing experience and I had fun for almost one hour in the middle of the sea doing nothing. Cold breeze, water splashing on the face and our boat floating on the water, it was more soothing than anything else on the earth. We also wanted to try canoeing, but Khushi was about to get up when we finished Pedal boat. It was very sweet of Mahesh and Ashish to baby sit while we went pedaling.

Then we went and had our lunch in "La Croque" (Indian restaurant Cumin converted into multicuisine restaurant in the day). We had some sandwiches/pastas and pizzas there. After that we decided to explore the hip malls and night life of Mauritius. So around 7 pm we went for Grand Baie which was supposed to be a hip market in Mauritius. It had some designer and branded shops with some fancy looking Chinese/Italian restaurants. And we had a horrible experience with the driver who knew no other language than French. He was a Rangeen(colorful) guy with love for music and almost forced us into his French hip hop music with volume which almost tore our ear drums. Also when we requested him to take to some bigger mall he took us to a hyper market like big bazaar in India where you get all cheap stuff for less. It was an experience in itself to surf a local hyper market in an exotic place like Mauritius. Then we realized its better to be safe than sorry, so we quickly asked him to take us back to the hotel. Though its a tourist place, it doesn't have great night life, all the shops are closed by 8 pm and 5.30 pm for the local market. The night life consists of a disco and some sleazy bars which becomes alive only at 10 pm.

Next day was the last day in Mauritius and we had to reach airport by 5 pm and our checkout time was 12 pm. So we had booked ourselves for a Blue safari, it is basically a Submarine ride in the deep sea. But in the morning, when we called Christine, we learnt that due to high tide, the submarine ride is cancelled. We were quite disappointed by it and on top of this; the hotel people were not ready to extend our timings. So we decided that we will hire a taxi and go for some sight seeing around Mauritius. So after 12.00 pm we left with our luggage to Jumbo Mall. This is supposed to be a low budget shopping mall with a lot of options for kids entertainment. So we drove there and we learnt that Mauritius has a concept of hyper mall along with branded/non branded stuff. We bought some souvenirs and indulged in a tub of Haagen-Dazs Belgium Chocolate icecream.There was a kids parlor where Khushi enjoyed the Micky Mouse ride and other cartoon character rides. Then we went to waterfront and had our lunch. We spent a quite time in Waterfront for sometime and then went to airport.

So this was an end to my fabulous trip to Mauritius. Though I would recommend Maldives far more than I would recommend Mauritius to anyone. I still feel every vacation is special in its own ways and when you look back after few years from now, we will remember only the wonderful moments we spent as a family :).