Mantam’s first interview

The girls have been trying to get casual job. I might have been pestering / borderline pushing them to keep applying since they reached the age to legally work in this country. Long story short, they managed to finally create their resumes end of November. We went around our nearby shopping centre and dropped their resumes in a lot of shops there. What we learnt was that most of the vacancies were already filled by September. They said that we had to start applying in July, sigh! Who would have known?

Anyway, they did not receive any calls from any of those places. During the holidays, they applied for some casual jobs online but no response. Tammu had asked told dance teacher last year that she was looking for a job. And yesterday was her first dance class of this year and one of the students’ parents came up to her and asked if she was still looking. Tammu said yes and the lady gave her email address and asked to send her resume. There was job vacancy at a popular bubble tea franchise and on sending the resume. We asked Tammu to check with the lady if Mannu could apply too. And in response, both the girls were asked to come in for interview today.

While Tammu is quite outgoing and can literally start speaking to anyone (thanks to Abbas’s genes), Mannu is completely the opposite. Since Covid, we noticed that she barely spoke to people maintaining eye contact, she would always nudge Tammu to speak when we are shopping or dining. She has definitely improved in the last year or so, but has a long way to go. She was very nervous about this interview and we told both the girls to take it easy. It was going to be a learning experience anyway.

Abbas took the girls to the interview and when they came back, the first thing Tammu said was ‘Mumma, you know what this girl said in the interview? What have you raised Mumma?’. Now this is a very casual joke in this household, I wasn’t sure if it was shade thrown in jest or annoyance. I waited to hear what Mannu had to say. When she came inside, she had tears in her eyes while she was about to say how her interview went. My momma heart skipped a beat. But this girl was laughing while she was narrating and yet eyes were welling up. Apparently at one point in the interview, she told them that she didn’t like people . She was laughing and crying at the same time as she said this. I couldn’t stop laughing because my Satya Harishchandra of a baby had blurted out plain truth. There was a question asking what would they do if there was no customer at the shop. Mannu’s brutally honest reply was ‘Can I make myself a drink while waiting?’. Lol. It cracked me up. They asked her how she would feel if her sister got the job and not her. Her point blank answer was ‘Well, she deserves it’. She had pulled a ‘Raju Rastogi’ from 3 idiots on the interviewers. She said she had answered a few questions well, which were again just her true personality coming out without any ounce of pretense. When they asked about if any customer was rude and there was long queue, how would they handle. She said that she would ensure that she was calm and patient, would communicate to the customers and take extra care to be efficient and not make any mistakes so that they can be served in a timely manner.

Coming to Tammu, she had said all the right things that an interviewer would expect from a candidate. When asked about how she feel if her sister got the job instead of her, she said that they were both mature and that she would not take it personally. The only answer which they told her was wrong was when she said that she would just wait if there were no customers. Apparently, they expected her to say that she would take stock checks, clean up and/or do other chores while there are no customers to serve.

We will hear if they got the job or not some time next week. But I wanted to write this down as the girls can come back to this in future and have a laugh. Whether they get the job or not, I got good fodder for today’s post.

It also makes me wanna continue blogging even after the blogathon. I know, I know, I have repeated history in absconding right after 31 posts every year. But moments like this definitely get lost in the 11 months and even if I recall, they are not the same. Anyway, I will sleep on this thought. Good night!

Fourteen!

Tammu,

The last year has seen your personality change in many ways. You have become very passionate about many things. You like to learn and raise awareness when it comes to many worldly issues. At times, you get on our nerves with your holier-than-thou attitude but we know that your heart is always in the right place. You have also fallen back in love with Bollywood and all those Brown Tiktokers you follow have made you more connected to your roots and feel proud about it. There was a phase where you did not want to wear traditional attire and thought Bollywood movies were so boring. You are making up for all the short-lived phase these days. You recently borrowed ‘Jhumkas’ from me on two occasions and I couldn’t have been happier.

You have also become very conscious of your hair, skin, attire and looks. The amount of time you spend on your hair and skin care routine in one single day makes me wonder who have you taken after? I used to make fun of you earlier when you wore same coloured top and bottom but turns out co-ords are in trend now. You must be a fashion visionary for you thought it was cool before it became a thing. Your outfit choices are always clever and chic. We all love looking at you get ready because you put so much thought, time and effort into it (which neither Baba, Mannu nor me do. Laddoo is the odd one coz she is committed to her birthday suit for life)

I had requested all your friends to send me a video message for your birthday recently. And it was heartwarming to see every single friend of yours said you were nice, caring and helpful. The way they all described you unanimously felt like it was scripted. But it was a testament to how you are as a person and a friend. You are also the one who helps your friends with their homework, spends extra time with them and try to teach them. The best part of it all is that you always detested Maths and thought your were bad at it. But now, not only are you doing great at it, but also helping your friends understand how to solve complex problems. This morning you surprised me by saying that you had Maths test and you had to do well in it because it have you a high. For a Math nerd mom, it sounded like a Mathemetical equation to my ears.

Lastest update to your lingo is you calling Mannu as Mazu, Baba as Boba Tea and on me as Moomy Loomy. We all ‘Bro’ each other all the time now. a new hobby you have developed is scrapbooking. Everytime we go for an outing or a vacation, you carefully collect pamphlets, tickets, invoices or some memorabilia and then journal those memories artistically in a notebook. Your obession with reading has peaked this last year and I am loving it. You are still interested in cooking but don’t cook as much as you did last year. But funnily enough, you are the one making requests for dishes although Mannu is the resident foodie.

Mannu,

You have become a unique person although you inherit a lot of my qualities by default. Your sarcasm and wit has only gotten better, you crack me up all the time. And by hearing your friends’ messages, I now know that they all find you hilarious. You also told me that it makes you the happiest to make other people laugh. The other quality of your that has shone through in the last one year especially is that you are chill despite the situation. You are a born procrastinator (just like your momma) and I cannot bring myself to lecture you to not be one. You always appear to be in control of everything, but I know deep down that we are like ducks swimming in the water with a calm facade while our feet are vigourously flapping to get us to our destination. Your attitude of ‘I’ll figure it out’ in any given situation is a gift. I hope you never lose it.

Unlike Tammu, your hair, skin and looks are the least of your priorities. Your outfit choices often make me blurt out ‘You look homeless’. Your fashion mantra is ‘comfort over everything’. Although you are not crazy about clothes, you have a special love for sneakers. I am happy that we share the same shoe size now. 😀 You make up for the lack of your regard for outfits with your passion for gadgets and gaming. You love playing video games and apparently you are good at them too. You have also recently found joy in learning photoshop and editing photos to come up with goofiest creations. It started with editing photos of people in yoga poses by replacing their head with the animal representing that pose. Then you moved on to editing photos of animals by replacing their faces with your teachers’. I though they were brilliant and funny at the same time. You also love making paper stars and gifting them to your friends.

You and I had a big fight at the beginning of this year. You were mad at me like never before. We were cold to each other for some time. It was because you told me that you wanted to quit the band. I asked you why you didn’t want to continue but you wouldn’t tell me the reason and expected me to let you quit. I put my foot down and said that you had to give me a valid reason or continue to go and that was the end of discussion. I know you were mad because I had let Tammu quit last year when she said that she absolutely disliked playing instruments. It was different in your case because I knew for a fact that you enjoyed playing drums. Cut to the present, you tell us every now and then how well you played the drums. I’m glad that I stayed firm although it killed me inside to have been that tough.

You have also joined hands with two other friends and performed at your school’s function. You even auditioned at a youth group for a performance recently. You have joined the school choir with Tammu this year. You have also been going to art class and spend your free time creating marvellous pencil sketches by spending hours togetehr on them. New in your lingo is saying ‘Slay’, ‘You’re done’, ‘The audacity! The nerve’. You are not so much into reading these days but you still enjoy craft activities.

Mantam,

Everyone says, raising teenagers is tough. But so far, I have had the most fun for the past one year since your became teens. Yes, you have had your phases of replying in monosyllables, being unreasonable but they have been far and few between. It feels like I am living my teenage years all over again through you both. I look forward to you both returning from school and spilling all the tea about your teachers, friends, and everything under the sun. I absolutely love the fact that I am in the know. I’ve also become active on Snapchat because you both think FB and Insta are passe. I secretly get a kick out of the fact that your friends think your mom is too cool because she has streaks with you on Snapchat.

You talk about some of the kids in school apparently dating. We keep asking you to let us know if you like someone. But apparently it is still ‘Ewww’. We’ll see how long that stays. Tammu says they ship Mannu with Germany (they have code names for all the boys in their class) and Mannu says they ship Tammy with Jamaica. For all millenials reading this, the Gen Z meaning of shipping is the action of wishing for two people to enter a relationship. I’m having a ball pulling both of your legs by bringing up these two country names and getting on to your nerves. What fun! It feels like being in high school all over again 😀

This has probably been the longest birthday letter I have written so far. Time to wrap it up now. As always, Baba and I are proud of you both and will be forever. Hope you both will always be good friends and great human beings. Be happy, live and let live. Never forget that we will always have your back, no matter what.

Love you both!

Mumma (and Baba) 💕

Tween Mantamisms

On our vacations, we usually eat all the meals outside and try exploring local places and food specialties. This time on our vacation though, we brought a few utensils, and a few basic pantry staples to make rice and dal atleast. There were a lot of border closures and restrictions changing so frequently that it gave us a sense of peace to be equipped with resources to cook a meal if need be. Last night we were really craving for some comfort food and I cooked rice, dal and fried potatoes. We all had a soul-satisfying meal, burp!!

Abbas (Suddenly had a thought): Mantam, when you fly the nest and are on your own, what will you eat to survive?

Tammu: We’ll eat sandwiches and salads Baba

Mannu: Hey, speak for yourself Tam! I’ll go to Maccas and KFC.

Abbas: You’ll have fast food and enjoy it for a few days. But then you’ll crave for home made simple food like this. What will you do then?

Tammu: I will never leave the house insert cheeky smile

Abbas: Seemu, I’m so worried now. What will they do? They have to learn to cook and learn so many life skills to survive

Seemu: You are worrying for no reason. When they will crave for it, they will learn to cook anyway. Look at me, I never moved a finger before marriage. If I learnt life skills to survive, so will they

Mantam (gasping for breath): Wait, what? Mumma, did you say that you never moved a finger before marriage. And here you are making us do all the chores at home at since our childhood? This is unfair!

Me: Yeah, because we had domestic helps at home. They did most of the things.

Tammu: Mumma, were you from a rich family?

Me: Well, kind of!

Tammu: You are saying, I could have been rich too!

Mannu: Tam, if Baba hadn’t married Mumma, I would have been born to Mumma anyway. I would have been rich. You would’ve been born to Baba. So you wouldn’t have been rich either way!

For the uninitiated, Mannu is the miniature version of me and Tammu is spitting image of Abbas.

A dozen years!

Dear Mantam,

The last one year seems to have gone in a blur. (I won’t say the same about the remaining years). You both have shot up so tall as if in a competition to catch up with your parents’ heights. You secretly even wish to grow much taller than Baba and I. You are both growing through physical transformation as you near puberty. I feel very anxious when I think of all the pain you will have to endure during your menstrual cycles. As much as I am vocal about how I hate periods, I would voluntarily take on all the pains from you in a beat, if I could. But alas! It is yours to endure and I am sure Baba will go through hell to see his daughters suffer.

Enough of period talk, let me move over to how you both have taken up many domestic chores. (Yes yes, I admit to making you do them but hey, these are survival skills and I’m only empowering you to be self-sufficient). Your interest in cooking makes me extremely happy and I share with you too many tips and tricks in the kitchen. I always start or finish with my trademark dialogue ‘Nobody taught me this. I learnt it the hard way. But I’m telling you so that you don’t learnt it by making mistakes’. I do silently chuckle thinking of how I have become my mother. She also had her own set of trademark sentences which I recall every now and then. It warms my heart to think that you both will someday be on your own, away from our shelter and you will also recall some of these moments. I hope that you will remember them fondly and feel a warm sense of comfort. I dunno why I’m fighting an eager tear that’s trying to escape my eye as I type this. I do put up a brave face whenever we think about being empty nesters. But it sure is going to be extremely difficult as we are such a close-knit family that Baba and I never even think of taking vacations without you two.

We love spending time with you both and I like to think that you reciprocate the same feelings. Ever since COVID-19 took over our normal lives, I have been forever grateful that I have the best quaranteam that I could have ever asked for. These three months have been a dream. We sure were anxious with all that was going on in the world (still is) but I think we made the most of the situation. You both have always been adaptive to changing circumstances. And this was no different. Whatever we missed doing, you both made it happen magically within the confines of our home, with whatever was available on hand. You missed going to Timezone to play arcade games. So, you spent a whole day creating an Arcade evening with games that you made from scratch and I just can’t begin to describe how mind-blown we were. We missed going for movies, you created a movie night experience right in our lounge – complete with handmade tickets, popcorn, soft drinks, pizza and even numbered seats. Oh, I forgot to mention about the spiders you served during movie interval. We missed venturing out, so you both came up with the idea of a backyard picnic. We prepared picnic friendly food, camped in our backyard and spent a beautiful day out without stepping away from home. Your passion for DIY and the zeal to have fun come-what-may makes my heart swell with pride. I sincerely hope you will keep it up all through your lives.

I always tell you that I don’t care how much you score in tests but I do care the most if you are a good human being or not. When one of your classmates was left alone by her close friends, you consciously involved her in your group and played with her. When she patched up with her friends and flocked back to her original group, you were just happy for her and did not have an ounce of hard feelings. When one of your friends lost a tooth and you came to know that her parents didn’t leave tooth fairy money under her pillow, you left your gold coin for her in the classroom so that she doesn’t feel disappointed. For one of your friend’s birthday, you came up with a plan with your group of friends to each get a brownie slice from the school canteen and join it together as a makeshift cake to celebrate. You both reminded everyone to get a dollar each but also took extra money from your own pocket just in case some of the friends couldn’t get or forgot to get. You always make such amazing handmade cards and gifts for your friends and loved ones that it melts our heart. Hope you continue to touch many lives and make people feel special and loved.

You both stepped forward to contest in the election for school leader this year. I was very happy that you did irrespective of the results. Mannu, you came quite close to winning but didn’t. Baba and I were relieved as we always live with guilt if one of succeeds in something while the other doesn’t. Although you both have an open mind and always wish your twin the very best, we are worried sick when the balance is skewed! But later in the year, you both got chosen as the SRC of your respective classes. We could express our joy with abandon! You are going to be in high school next year and we don’t know for sure if you both are going to be in the same school or different. We hope that you have a wonderful final year of primary schooling and make beautiful memories that you will cherish. This is also the final year where you are getting picked up and dropped off to school, staying at after school care. Next year is going to be a whole new experience for you and us. We will have to give you a phone as you will start commuting on your own and also will be teenagers! (I’m trying hard to get rid of my own phone addiction so that I can preach to you without feeling guilty myself)

I wanted to write to each of you individually about the unique personalities that you are becoming. This letter has already gotten too long. I will write a separate post soon.

In conclusion, Baba and I must have done something right to be blessed with such gems of daughters. We love you both more than we ever imagined we could. (I might love Laddoo slightly more than you two, but that’s a debate for another day 😀 ) Thank you for being you and we hope you grow up with your hearts on your sleeves, always choose kindness, embrace every opportunity that life throws at you and never shy away from standing up for what is right!

Much love,

Mumma

Tammy Tales

I have been contemplating on whether to post this or not because no matter how much I dig my memory, I can’t think of a funny conversation with Mannu. Am I being a partial mother? Probably Mannu is not as funny as her twin 😀 Mannu, if and when you read this, just know that your Mumma loves you as much she does Tammu (Not as much as she loves Laddoo and you know it 😀 )

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After finishing our lunch, I asked Tammu to clear the dining table and wipe it clean as she took too long to finish her meal and I ran impatient. I was sitting on the couch and …

Tammu: Where do I keep the leftover rice?

Me (The rice was in the rice cooker utensil. I thought it will be hard for her to put it away in a different dish): Tammu, just put the rice back in the rice cooker. I’ll sort it later

After a while, I happened to turn to look at what she is upto and my heart was in my mouth. Tammu was carefully taking spoonfuls of rice from the utensil and transfering it into the rice cooker.

Me (exclaiming): Tammu, what are you doing?!!!

Tammu: You told me to put the rice in the rice cooker, Mumma!

Me: Dang it! I never thought you would take my instructions literally!! Phew 😦

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I got a new T-shirt for Abbas and he wore it on a Friday morning. When he got dressed up and came to the breakfast table, I noticed that the T-shirt was a bit tight and it was a little transparent too.

Within seconds of me even thinking that, Tammu goes: “Mumma, I think you must have also bought a bra for Baba along with the T-shirt. I can see his nipples through the shirt 😀 ”

 

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I was reading a booked called ‘The Perfect Wife’ and Tammu asks:

“Mumma, why are you reading your biography?” I know, I know! This girl is so cheesy 😀

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I was cooking pasta one day..

Tammu: Mumma, are you going through hair fall lately?

Me: Uhh well, not lately but it’s been going on for long. What makes you ask?

Tammu (She points to the store bought pasta packet which reads ‘Angel Hair Pasta’) : Because all the lost hair seems to be in this packet 😀

Me: Tammu, You are outdoing your dad in delivering clever dialogues

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Whenever Abbas and I have our skirmishes, Tammu always comes to my defence (whether or not I’m right). Mannu used to be biased towards Abbas but these days she calls a spade a spade. On one such occasion when we must have been arguing about something and Tammu has clearly taken my side.

Abbas: Tammu, you are such a chamchi of Mumma!

Tammu: Did you call me a spoon Baba?

Abbas: Chamchi /Spoon is an expression which means that you are a blind supporter of Mumma

Tammu: No Baba, even with one eye closed and the other open, I will be Mumma’s supporter!

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Day 12 | Return of Mantam-isms

Although these conversations did not happen today, they do bring happiness as I jot them down. So, cheating a bit to get today’s post done with 🙂

All four of us were watching the movie Queen on Netflix. There is a scene where VijayaLakshmi hurls abuses to a guy in French. The subtitles flash with the F word over and over again.

Abbas and I: (share eye contact wishing the kids didn’t notice the subtitles)

Mannu: What does that mean?

Abbas and I: (Again looking at each other yet clueless what to say, each hoping the other one manages the situation)

Tammu (takes charge): Mannu, it’s a bad word. So you don’t need to know!

Abbas and I: (Rolling eyes and trying to control our laughter)

Mannu: What???!! So you know it and I don’t need to know! Seriously?!

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Abbas brought a bunch of greens which is rarely available and I made a traditional Bengali dish with it. As we sat for lunch, Abbas looked at the dishes on the table

Abbas: Haven’t you cooked the greens?

Me: Yeah, I have made this mix veg dish with the pumpkin greens

Abbas: What? Seemu, they were bottle gourd greens and it is usually added to lentils.

Me: No no, they were not bottle gourd greens. I know very well that they were pumpkin greens.

And the argument goes on for a while in a fun way. Abbas makes fun of me and vice versa. We go on to google to look for images but are still confused who was right. Abbas looks for bottle gourd greens Bengali dish on Google and gets the same link as I get when I googled for Pumpkin greens Bengali dish.

It was a laughter riot in parallel to the argument.

Mannu: Guys, please stop it now?

Tammu: Mumma Baba, can you both first decide if you are arguing or laughing?

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Mannu, Tammu and I are walking to the station in the morning

Tammu: Mumma, you know what?

Me: What?

Tammu: I think I am a good person

Me: What makes you think so?

Tammu: Because my friends throw food in the bin, some of them drop food on the ground and others stamp on it. I try to make them understand that they shouldn’t do it.

Me: Yes Tammu, you are right.

Tammu: Actually I feel sad for the food. For example, the other day S dropped crackers on the floor and D stamped on it. Now imagine how the cracker might have felt. It must  have been thinking how excited the day is going to be, I’m going to go inside someone’s mouth. But it got hurt instead.

Mannu (Who was hardly paying attention to the conversation so far, suddenly got alert): What is she talking about? Who gets excited about getting into someone’s mouth?

Me: Mannu, that’s because that someone we are talking about happens to be a cracker 😀

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We went to a friend’s home and her mum had made fish fingers which were out of this world. Mantam enjoyed them so much and asked for seconds.

Me: Mannu, you loved the fish fingers, didn’t you?

Mannu: Yes Mumma, they were the tastiesst food I have ever had.

Me: That’s good

Mannu: By the way Mumma, no offence to your cooking skills, ok?

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Sunday evenings are routinely allocated to folding the truckload of washed and dried clothes and organizing them. Mantam usually help me with this chore. Tammu, being the lazy bum that she is, always gets distracted by the mirror and starts posing or acting weird. Mannu is the sincere one, always tries to learn folding techniques and always tried to improve. Tammu always picks undergarments as they are easy to fold. We named her the chaddi (underpants) girl. She always sits down and Mannu keeps flinging chaddis at her as she drags them from the mountain of clothes.

One day, Mannu wasn’t in her usual spirits and did not turn up to help. Tammu had already begun her chaddi folding business. Mannu dragged herself reluctantly to help us.

Me: Tammu, let Mannu sit down and fold the chaddis today. Why don’t you fold the other clothes.

Tammu (agreed half heartedly): Ok fine!

After a while, she remembers all the chaddis being flung at her by Mannu. She starts taking revenge. It was funny sight to watch and I couldn’t stop laughing. When she ran out of chaddis to flung, she took the ones she had already folded!

That is when I had to take the charge and stop her! (I’m not able to bring the humour through my words, but it certainly was a fun sight as all three of us were in giggle hysteria)

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Me (Hugging Tammu on some occasion): Tammu, do you know how proud I am of you?

Tammu (cozily enjoying my hug): Thank you Mumma

Me: I’m so lucky to have you as my daughter

Tammu: It was all due to your hard work, that you have me as your daughter 🙂

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Day 5 | Twin Quiz

These days the twins are coming up with fun questions and testing their parents’ IQ. Well, we mostly fail and then laugh after they reveal the answers. To spread the joy and test all you lovely readers’ IQ, I’m posting a few such questions today. (Will post the answers tomorrow) Let’s see how many of you get them right. (No googling please 🙂 )

Here goes:

1. Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell off, who was still there?
2. What are the twins’ favourite fruit?
3. Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill?
4. Why didn’t anyone give Elsa a balloon?
5. Why wasn’t Cinderella good at Basket Ball?
6. What was Cinderella thrown off the baseball team?
7. How does an alien count to 23?
8. Why was the witch first in her class?
9. Where do rabbits go when they get married?
10. What do skeletons say before they begin dining?

Will reveal the answers along with the winner tomorrow. Good luck peeps!

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Edited to update the answers:

1. Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell off, who was still there?
2. • No one as Repeat fell off after Pete, true to his/her name
3. What are the twins’ favourite fruit?
4. • Pair Pear
5. Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill?
6. • Because it wanted to get to the bottom
7. Why didn’t anyone give Elsa a balloon?
8. • Because she would let it go
9. Why wasn’t Cinderella good at Basket Ball?
10. • Because her coach was a pumpkin
11. Why was Cinderella thrown off the baseball team?
12. • Because she kept running away from the ball
13. How does an alien count to 23?
14. • On his fingers
15. Why was the witch first in her class?
16. • Because she was the best speller
17. Where do rabbits go when they get married?
18. • Bunny-moon
19. What do skeletons say before they begin dining?
20. • Bone Appetit

If you like them, I will post some more. Do let me know 😁

Mantam-isms for a comeback

This post is dedicated to Tara for the sweet message she left on my blog. I am still grinning ear to ear with gleamy eyes thinking of how someone read my blog twice and was waiting for me to write a new post J

 

The best way to make a comeback after a sabbatical is to write some tidbits of Mantam’s conversations. So here goes:

Remember how I had written in one of my previous posts that Tammu had come up with this idea of naming our future puppy with a name that starts with R so that our family name becomes SMART (Seema, Mannat, Abbas, R and Tamanna)?

Now the lass has gone a step further and planned of having her own family called DART. That would D for Darcy, A for Angela, R for Rachel and T for herself, Tamanna. When I asked who these girls are, she replied that she is going to adopt three girls. She is not going to marry anyone. Well, we’ll see! She also hugged me and said ‘Thank God, you are married someone whose name starts with a vowel! How else could we have come up with a word?’

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On the eve of our wedding anniversary this year, Mantam had made our bed neatly and written a message on the door which read “Have a good night Mumma and Baba. Love, Mantam”. Next morning

Mannu – Mumma, how was your night? Did you watch a movie? Stay up late?

Me – Nahh, we played a movie but felt so sleepy that we went to bed soon after you both slept

Mannu – Oh Mumma! How unromantic are you both, huh!!

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Tammu was recently brainstorming on what gifts to ask Santa for Christmas. And I was relieved that they knew we were the Santa and didn’t have to worry about getting gifts as per their wishlist.

Anyway, the funny bit was she could not come up with ideas as to what to ask for. The girl was later found googling for ideas to come with a Christmas wishlist! Can you believe it?

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The latest fad in our lives has been watching the Full House series back to back. It was an amazing feeling as this was one of my favourite series during my childhood days. I had never imagined that Mantam would love it as much as I did, if not more. We even finished the first two seasons of Fuller House on Netflix. Mantam have been so obsessed with it that most of our conversations see us quoting examples of similar situation in Full House.

One of the episodes saw Danny (who was a widower) begin dating and his daughters did not like the idea of their father seeing other women. When he saw the way the girls were impacted, he sat them down and had a conversation. He asked them why they were upset to which they said that he didn’t love their mother any more as he had started dating other women. He explained to them that he will always love their mom and that she would be happy to see him move on. They asked him how he knew it for sure. He told them how mum and dad have such conversations where they discuss what would happen if one of them wasn’t alive anymore. They had discussed this when their mum was alive and that’s how he knew.

On seeing this, Mantam paused the episode, turned to me and asked, “Have you had this conversation with Baba?” I was stunned and was speechless for a moment. I blurted out “Errr….. No!”. They said, “Then you should have it Mumma. Not that something will or should happen. But you should have the conversation anyway”

I didn’t know what to say! When did my girls grow so old and mature?

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Once I caught them doing something that they weren’t supposed to. I can’t remember what it was, thanks to my declining memory!

But I was sure that it was Tammu who was the culprit.

Me: Tammu, I know it is you who did it.

Tammu: How do you know Mumma?

Me: I’m your Mumma. So I know it’s you.

Tammu: I’m not innocent, I’m not innocent. (She meant that she is innocent)

Me: There, you confessed it.

Tammu: What?!

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They have these spelling tests every week.

Me: Girls how many did you get wrong today?

Tammu: I got one spelling mistake wrong.

Me: Tammu, you are so talented. You even get mistakes wrong?!

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Mantam usually have this habit of giving me instant feedback when they are served a meal. Usually it’s good with words like delicious, yummy, really good, scrumptious etc etc. Occasionally I hear, I don’t like it, it’s too spicy . One day Tammu gave me a feedback that I will never forget. Actually it was one of my experiment dishes that did not turn out as expected. Honestly I didn’t like it either. Tammu had a spoon of it and without batting an eyelid, said “This does not taste like anything” Can you beat that?

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I did a health program recently for 6 weeks and lost 7.5 kilos. Before starting the program, I was explaining Mantam what it was and how it works etc. Mantam understood that I would lose weight with the program. But Tammu had another serious doubt – “Mumma, will you grow tall when you do it?”

 

Last single digit birthday!

Every year I open my letter on your birthday like a broken record quoting my favourite ‘time flies’. How very true when we remember the day you were born and realise how far we have come together in what seems like no time at all. In the initial few years of your lives, when our lives had become topsy turvy, I would always wonder when you will grow up! I couldn’t wait for your next milestone and wished if your growth could be fast forwarded in some way. I longed to enjoy the luxurious ‘Me’ time. Now I can have as much time for myself as I want, as you both have become so independent. But I sometimes do wish to go back to that phase where you were still dependent on me for the most basic of your needs (though I was the one who was in a rush to teach you those skills). I miss those innocent questions that were asked by the dozen, even if I would get annoyed at times. At times like these, I can’t pat my back enough for having started blogging and recorded those simple moments of joy along the years. No matter how many photos or videos we have collected, these snippets of conversations are much more precious as they bring the magical moment alive, which would have otherwise got long forgotten.

 

Mannu,

Like I always say, “What would I have done without you sweetheart?”. You are my Girl Friday. I could barely function if it were not for the assistant like you, who is blessed with so much care, love and responsible nature. You are a leader and always impose your own rules and/or orders on Tammu. As much as she enjoys you taking care of her, she detests your bossing her around even more. We keep talking to you to work on this, you have improved to an extent. But I can’t blame you in totality as Tammu does act kiddish all the time and you cannot handle it. You are an adult in a child body, aren’t you? Abbas and I absolutely admire your ‘never-say-never’ attitude. Tammu and you both joined Gymanstics class, Tammu was a natural due to her body structure and flexibility. It was an uphill task for you, but you refused to give up. We learnt heaps from you, dear, to step out of comfort zone and punch your scariest demon in the face, and with gusto. Atta girl!

Cleaning is something you are obsessed with and I can’t thank my stars enough (Abbas still thinks I have used some kind of black magic to brain wash you into this because we have hardly seen adults work with such precision) I remember the day when we went to our Tax Consultant’s office and it was extremely untidy. When we came out of there, without a moment lost, you commented “Mumma, how dirty was that uncle’s office. I was so tempted to clean it then and there” I was in stitches laughing at your craze for orderliness. You follow me like the proverbial Hutchison dog wherever I go. I declared that I would start going for walk over the weekends. You started setting alarm next to your bed so that you could accompany me, even better wake me up in case I bailed out in the morning. During our walk, you started picking rubbish strewn on the way. Your tiny little hands weren’t enough to hold the amount of rubbish we encountered. So we came up with a plan to carry a garbage bag along. You teach me to do a lot of good dear. I wish you never let go of your attitude towards life and care for people surrounding you.

 

Tammu,

 

My cute little baby, hope you always remain my teeny tiny bundle for life. While Mannu acts all mature and grown up, you are still holding on to innocence to a certain extent. You are a happy go lucky personality with a jovial persona. Your creativity never ceases to amaze us. The funny stories that you spin spontaneously, the hilarious expressions, weird poses you strike in front of mirror, the minion language that you speak… bring so much of zing to our lives. You care a damn about the worldly responsibilities and rever in your own beautiful dreamy space. Due to this nature of yours, you inevitably get to hear the lectures from us about how it is important to do your duties, take up responsibilities, yada yada yada. You try to adhere to the best of your ability. But the carefree soul in you takes over more often than not. Well, it’s not all that bad as I have realised that it is this very trait of yours that makes you forgive, forget and move on like a piece of cake. You hardly ever carry any baggage. So, be the same little nutcase that you are!

 

Your love for dolls and toys are still in tact. You really take care of Johnny like your own son. He is one fortunate doll, I tell ya! This year around Grandparents day at school, you cried because you have never seen your maternal grandparents. That was the day I felt so helpless and incapable of consoling you. Thank you for always cheering me saying you would go to Kundapur when you grow up to convince them to speak to me. You have been going to different classes but you don’t seem to keep your excitement for long. The only thing you have consistently kept at is writing and drawing. You wish to become an author and illustrator one day.

 

Sweethearts,

 

No matter which path you choose in your future, all I wish is for you to be great human beings. Always be kind, helpful and caring towards everyone that crosses your way. Remember to celebrate the simple joys of life as they go a long way than any material possessions. Never be afraid to take chances, as you would either end up with success or a lesson. There is nothing you will lose. Live, let live, be happy and spread happiness!

 

Love,

Mumma

Testing the waters

I always wished to learn swimming some day in my life. But I realized that it was more of a need than want when we booked a Snorkeling tour a few years ago during our Goa trip but could not get into the water as the coordinators warned us not to try if we have don’t possess this basic life skill. Imagine going on a boat to snorkel, where rest of the folks enthusiastically dived into water and we were sitting inside the boat like stupid dumb spectators killing time by watching others do it. That day I decided that I will learn swimming some day. Like a lot of other things on my checklist, this one was forgotten soon. Well, there weren’t many opportunities to learn when we were in India. We moved to Sydney, got our kids admitted to swimming classes and inquired for Adult classes. Unfortunately there were advanced classes for adults but no basic ones. Last year our local Aquatic centre launched Beginner lessons for adults. We kept procrastinating as there were other priority tasks (as is always the case). One fine day when Abbas went to renew Mantam’s swimming lessons, he called me and said “We’ve been pushing this to the backlog for ages. I’m getting both of us enrolled. Let’s do it.” I was shocked, “Whattt? We can’t afford it now, we have too many things going.” Abbas “Arey, we will always have too many things going. Let’s do it.” Me replies “Errrr, if you say so, fine! Let’s do it then!!”

 

Each group has 4 students and one instructor and they conduct 30 minutes class every week. Abbas and I were in the same group and two other men. I missed the first class! Abbas came home and told me that other two guys are also not complete amateurs. I was a nervous wreck before my first class. Abbas could float and also move ahead in water, although he didn’t know the techniques. In my case, I could hardly even stay under water for more than a few seconds. The D day arrived and when I spoke to the instructor, she asked me where should she begin from. I told her that from the most basic level as I have never ever done anything in water! She tried to hold my hand and drag me forward, and told me to lift my feet from the ground. I was worse than the kids who learn swimming. My feet refused to budge. She gave me a pool noodle but nay, my feet were as adamant as before. She then procured a kind of waist band that helps people float from somewhere. With too many gears to lean on to, in my first class I learnt just lifting my legs from the ground but they were still diagonally immersed in water. Phew!

 

We started going on Saturdays to practice. We bought a pool noodle for me to practice. The fun part about going over the weekend was that a lot of other parents came with their children to teach them. In our case, the roles were reversed. Mantam were my teachers, strict ones at that. I was the tantrum throwing child saying I just couldn’t do it. They would comfort me, encourage to do better, applaud when I did better. I thoroughly enjoyed being a kid to my doting daughters. These practice sessions helped me so much. I let go of the waist band in my third class. With due progress, I learnt to float without any clutches. I was on cloud nine the day I floated by myself, without any help. I missed one more class due to flu. Altogether I took about 7 classes, at the end of the term, I was able to float and swim the distance of a metre on my own. We have decided not to go for any further classes. We need to practice more and more with our patient, in-house, loving instructors.

 

Any of you who has been thinking of learning some new skill, but never got to do it due to fear or other commitments taking priority, I insist that you do it on a whim right away. Trust me, tomorrow never comes. Live in the moment and make the most of it.