Nov -- 1 post to sum it all

November was tense, hectic, weird, upsetting, I-hate-you worthy, and otherwise routine.

We started the month with demonetisation. I usually have ~5000 bucks for monthly expenses etc in 500 and 1000 rupee notes (the denomination that is no longer valid). Suddenly, I was worried about how I would get to office the next day. I finally borrowed money from my dad for my day-to-day travel expenses for a week and asked him to keep an account so I could repay him sometime in the next 15 days. We suddenly realized how much of our day to day transactions was done using cash. When you walk up to your local grocer to buy chillies, you do not swipe, you pay in cash. He will burst into laughter when you ask him if he takes cards. When you get a hair cut for the little one at the local barber's place and not at a salon, you pay in cash. You pay your presser (guy or woman who presses or irons ur outfits), in cash. You pay the auto driver in cash unless you use an app like paytm or use ola autos. The chuntu shop that sells bindis etc accepts only cash. The list was endless. However, most folks agreed to wait a bit for their money and others gave us change without biting our heads off. Nice!
      
At work, I had a hectic schedule. We had a position open and we had interviews almost every day and there was co-ordination, collaboration, meetings, and oh so many interviews. We had to reach office on time, or earlier and I was praying for miracles almost every day. I had no time to work as I was hardly at my desk. I sent updates once a week and it felt like that was all I focused on. After all that, you would think we had multiple good candidates but the results were mixed and I started praying for the second miracle. Grim and really hectic.

Balamurali Krishna passed away. Just when I was accepting this news, I had a shock closer home. My grandma, who was a happy octogenarian fell sick, was admitted in the hospital on Friday and passed away on Saturday. She was a progressive thinker who loved life and wanted the best for her children and grandchildren. While I feel sad that she is no more, her surgery and subsequent illness was very tough on her and so maybe this was better. I will always remember her yelling "Killuuu" as I ran outside without drinking my milk. There are so many memories that tears blur my eyes and so I'll stop with this. Hate November, Hate 2016. Well.. not really, just a bit upset.

Waiting for 2016 to end. Hoping 2017 will be a better year.

2014 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2014 flew past - of course, some parts not so fast and some too fast. Whatever I wanted going fast went too slow and what I wanted handled well, went badly and so obviously I do not love 2014. But, 2014 had a few good moments as well.

The Good - What went well

• Kuku calling me 'Amma'
• Kuku sitting up suddenly and clapping his hands - happened during a vacation and not at home
• Kuku standing up without support and taking a few careful steps before he carefully plonks down
• Kuku turning 1 year old
• Getting a few hours away from Kuku to visit office, visit the parlour, and generally take a break 

The Bad - What could have gone well but didn't

• Striving for work-life balance in my chaos-filled life
• Keeping my cool when I listen to advice on how I should bring up my son or manage my time and also when I receive gyan on how ppl managed their kids with no support blah de blah
• Following a Diet
• Managing Kuku when he throws a temper tantrum or during his incessant wailings

The Ugly - Something which did not work at all

• Cooking
• Managing my time 
• Working with Nannies 

Anyway, I am glad 2014 is over. Kuku begins his terrible 2s (they begin after his first Birthday itseems) and I have to get better organized at handling my time and the lil fella. Hoping for the Best. Good Bye 2014 and Hullo 2015.

Sick Sick Sick -- XVII

Just wen I celebrated one week of continuous posting, I knew I will not be able to pull off 31 days of posting :( Anyway, I hope I can post 20 at least. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, after our trip to get Kuku's mundan done, which happened without major hitches, I was feeling victorious though we were all a bit tired from the short weekend trip. And then his birthday celebrations went off Ok. And just when I was ready to breathe easy, we all fell sick around Diwali. With pollution at its peak with the horrendous amount of patakas that were burst near our apartment and in our street, it is not at all a wonder that we all fell sick.

We have been sick for almost a week. I was off on Monday and Tuesday. The Arien was off almost all week. Kuku is still recovering.Of course, everyone has been calling in and giving me unsolicited gyaan and much needed TLC "Its OK - Do not worry". I just wish we are all back to normal health soon and Kuku starts throwing his tantrums instead of being a sickly toddler.

Writer's Block -- What, How, Why me??

I find it rather rather ironic that whenever I resolve to update my blog with new posts, I am often hit by writer's block. It is almost as if all interesting ideas that were sitting in my head, suddenly sprout wings and fly away. When I am in the middle of my work project, I will be bombarded with so many interesting ideas that there are times when I want to stop working and start writing - to hell with the consequences. Of course, being who I am, I do not really indulge in that. So, when I really want to  write - writer's block appears uninvited!

When that happens - I usually try to identify the one thing on my mind at the time of writing a post - it could be a book I read recently, it could be a game, it could be a family function that I am all excited about, something that is bugging me, something I want to share, a rant on the traffic condition in Bangalore, a wishlist, a new weight loss option, any one of these can be made into a post provided it is exciting enough to write about and I have something new to offer. A new perspective, an analogy, anything that makes the person who reads it connect to it.

I always remember my English classes at School, where many pleasant afternoons were spent writing an interesting one-page essay on any topic that the teacher chose for the day. I can still recall the groans from most of my class-mates while I was away in my dreamland coming up with yet another interesting tale to tell. I recall being told that I have a vivid imagination and interesting tales to share and that I ought to try my hand at writing. I felt the English class was the best thing to happen to me - the same cannot be said about the grammar classes :)

Of course, there are times when absolutely nothing suggests itself to me and I really have to let it go that day.

Those are the times I am really glad that I do not blog for a living! But, then I think, if I did, the idea would hit me a few minutes before the deadline. Sometimes the added pressure of a deadline, makes the brain work harder and Viola! the idea is here and now all you need now is a few minutes of uninterrupted time so you can express it all in a funny, interesting, wah wah way :)

So, how do you handle it?