I’m still here!!!

Hello….

Yeah, I’m still around! I’m sure tired of announcing my come back in vicious circles. But I am truly humbled by calls, SMSes and e-mails by my lovely readers to check if all is well at my end. I even got to know that there are people who check my blog daily to get some updates  on Mantam 😀 I haven’t written Mantamisms for ages now and forgetting all the punch dialogues they come up with L

Last one month has been crazy what with Ramzan going on. Although neither Abbas nor I fast, Ma is here and she has been observing fast for the last 30 days. Weekends are the usual ones for us with delayed yet elaborate meals. I would try to take a nap after lunch but wouldn’t be able to catch any sleep as I would have to wake up and prepare Iftar for Ma. Also if we had to go about grocery shopping or any other outside chore, we had to make sure we came back by evening. And then again start preparations for the latter part of the day.

As far as grandparenthood is concerned, we now have 4 beautiful babies! Two eggs did not hatch due to lack of space in the pot for Potli to sit and hatch them. The chicks grew up in a jiffy and are now occupying most of the space inside the pot. The other pair of Ghotla and Ghotli have turned jealous of Potla family. The two of them keep a hawk eye on the pot and do not miss an opportunity to wage attack on the chicks. We have caught them red handed a couple of times and inspite of yelling at them, they refused to budge. An angry Abbas poured a mug of water once on the predators to shoo them off. He intends to give them away albeit with a heavy heart as they were his anniversary gift. As for me, I have decided to not give him any surprise gift for the life of mine 😀

Talking about the chicks, a fearful incident comes to my mind. A few weeks back the youngest chicks fell off the pot and hurt itself. We spotted blood on one its arms (if I may call so). I was devastated at the sight. It was too tiny to have survived the great fall. Abbas put his hand inside the cage and picked it up in his palm. But the pot is to the far right corner of the cage and his hand wouldn’t reach the pot. I got a ladle and we placed the chick in it and tried to reach the pot. But whenever Abbas would lift the ladle, the enthu chick would try to climb up and the ladle was retreated to prevent another fall. After a while the chick itself was tired and stayed curled and still in the ladle. We then quickly put it back in the pot. The parents immediately went in to cuddle the baby. Thank Goodness, the baby is fine now and growing into a beautiful bird 😀

I have been reading too! First I finished two David Baldacci’s books – simple genius and split second. Then I completed reading Amish Tripathi’s Immortals of Meluha and Secret of the Nagas. Had it not been for SnS’s review, I’m unsure if I would’ve noticed the iterative use of the word ‘frown’ or not. But it did make me frown each time I read it. The most recent read was the The Twentith Wife by Indu Sundaresan. I should be onto the next in the Trilogy soon.

On to a few updates on Mantam too. I know I know, you guys will sue me if I do not speak about them and rant about my own self.

Mention of immortals of Meluha reminds me of Mannu. When I opened the package from Flipkart, Mannu first saw the cover page in which Shiva is standing posing his back with a Trishul. Mannu looks at it and asks ‘Yeh uncle kab turn karenge?’ (When is this uncle going to turn) She is my official reading assistant. She frequently keeps a check on my progress, changes my bookmark now and then to decide which bookmark intensifies my reading speed. Tammu also holds my book once in a while and plucks the bookmark off leaving me with clenched fists trying to control my irritation! Looking at my disturbed state, she innocently  says ‘I’m Sorry Mamma, I’ll put it back right away’ and with a captivating smile puts the bookmark to any random page.

A lot of things have been happening at their school. First there was a trip on road to teach them road sense, traffic signals, crossing the road etc. They had a Farmhouse visit which they thoroughly enjoyed from what I hear. They have been celebrating all the recent festivals – Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami and Independence Day. This time on Janmashtami, I dressed both of them as Radha. Their Ghagra Choli revealed their belly button and both girls were so shy and would try to pull their skirts to conceal any exposure 😀 They were afraid that other kids would laugh at them saying ‘Puppy Shame’. I somehow convinced them saying that Krishnas would be coming in topless. Upcoming next is Fancy Dress with the theme of ‘Community Helpers’. Last year they were dressed as Doctor and Nurse. This year, I’m planning to make Mannu – Vegetable Seller and Tammu – Teacher.

I still have a million things to say… I will be back pretty soon! I am not picking any book for atleast two more weeks. I have to tend to my blogs for they have been long neglected. See you around!