Indian Mommies

Congrats, Kiran!

2012-01-13T08:31:00.005+01:00

If you have nt heard already, the fantastic blogger and a good friend (ahem!), Kiran Manral is out with her first book, The Reluctant Detective! Im sure whoever reads her blog knew it was coming since she is a wonderful, wonderful writer.

To learn more about the book, visit Kiran's brand new website http://www.thereluctantdetectivebook.blogspot.com/

You can buy the book from Flipkart here.

I love the cover and I cant wait to get my hands on it. Wishing you all things wonderful, Kiran!

Crocus 2011.

2011-10-21T17:30:00.005+02:00

Crocus 2011 is here! Saffron Tree's annual festival of books is about to begin! ST is turning five and the theme this year is the FIVE ELEMENTS. Click here for Sandhya's beautiful introductory post and keep checking the web site for more. Reviews, art & crafts, interviews, competitions,... they got it all!

Violence Against Women Awareness Month.

2011-09-30T21:03:00.006+02:00

Similar to the CSA Awareness Month, October is going to be Violence Against Women Awareness Month.

Heres what the core team has to say about it:

We know the subject is very wide and includes multiple aspects. To ensure that this awareness campaign is

effective, we have limited our scope to the following aspects:

1. Domestic violence – physical violence by husband/partner, other family members etc
2. Violence against girl child – including deprivation
3. Sexual violence – including marital rape, date rape
4. Emotional/psychological abuse
5. Dowry-related violence – including bride burning
6. Female infanticide
7. Acid attacks

We invite you to support and strengthen VAWM Oct 2011 as only you can. You can...

Keep up with our blog.

Write about it and send your blog post links or writeups to vawawareness at gmail dot com

(confidentiality and anonymity respected, as always).

Tweet about it – don't forget to add http://twitter.com/#!/VAWMonth .

Join in the Facebook discussions.

Show your support with the badge.

It's the season that celebrates the power of women. Come join in our Stree Shakti special posts.

Twitter Chat on Child Sexual Abuse.

2011-04-04T16:23:00.003+02:00

Anuja Gupta founder of RAHI Foundation is going to a twitter chat on the issue of Child Sexual Abuse on 5th April between 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm.

We will be tweeting with a hashtag of #CSAAM, please login in to twitter at that time for the informative. The chat will be Q&A based and if u have any questions you want her to answer please leave them in the comments or tweet them to us at @CSAAwareness with a hashtag of #CSAAM

A little about RAHI and Anuja

About RAHI –

The RAHI Foundation is a support centre, based in New Delhi, India. It is the only centre of its kind in the country that specializes in working with adult women survivors of incest and childhood sexual abuse and offers services that are uniquely important to their recovery process. The centre is dedicated to providing individual and group services for survivors aimed at their psychological, emotional, sexual and spiritual recovery.

The Foundation was established in August 1996 on the basis of the prestigious Fellowship for Population Innovations of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation received by Anuja Gupta, Director of RAHI.

Website – http://www.rahifoundation.org/home.html

About Anuja Gupta

Anuja Gupta is the Founder & Executive Director at RAHI Foundation, a centre for the prevention and healing of incest/child sexual abuse.

Anuja and her work at RAHI

Anuja started RAHI (Recovering and Healing from Incest) Foundation in 1996. RAHI is a support centre for adult women survivors of incest and child sexual abuse (CSA) and an education, advocacy, training, research and communication in the field.

RAHI is the only organization of its kind in India.

In Anuja’s words – “I am an incest/CSA educator, trainer and counselor. I do individual and group therapy with adult women survivors and their supporters, and with non-abusive family members of child victims. My therapeutic approach is a blend of feminist counseling, narrative therapy, cognitive behavior therapy and psychodrama.
I conduct training with mental health professionals, students and social workers and lecture and present extensively on the subject at universities, schools, conferences, NGOs and other forums in the country and abroad. I help start and mentor other organizations and support groups working on child sexual abuse in the country.”

Cross posted from the CSAAM website.

Are you an adult who survived Child Sexual Abuse?

2011-03-30T14:23:00.003+02:00

We all carry our own demons. Memories we have buried in our subconscious which we wish never to confront again. But maybe writing about our experiences would provide a much needed catharsis. We, at CSAAM April 2011 invite you to tell us YOUR story. Anonymous stories are welcome. We want to know what happened, how it affected you as a child, as an adult. We want to know how you dealt with the pain. Email us your stories at csa.awareness.april@gmail.com. Talk about it. Don’t bury your experiences.

- The CSAA Team.

ps.
You can also send your story as a comment here if that will be easier. And I will post it in the csaawarenessmonth blog.

Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month - April 2011.

2011-03-28T23:09:00.012+02:00

All through April, there is going to be a lot of discussion, posts, expert opinions, helpful information, point to ponder, statistics, dos and donts about Child Sexual Abuse Awareness across many blogs. If its one blog you should nt miss reading, it is this - http://csaawarenessmonth.wordpress.com/

The blogathon begins on April 1st.

Please support the initiative. Here's how.

If you would like to add to the discussion or know somebody else who would, please note that entries are welcome.

a. mailed to csa.awareness.april@gmail.com OR
b. posted as FB notes and linked to Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Month Page OR
c. posted on your own blog with the logo and linked to the main blog OR
d. linked or posted on Twitter tagged twitter.com/CSAAwareness OR
e. sent via some/all of the above methods

If you are wondering what to write about, the list of topics is available here. Or you can choose your own topic related to CSA. Anonymous contributions are accepted and requests for anonymity will of course be honored. Bloggers can publish guest posts too.

Please remember to send in a mail with all necessary links or just your input to csa.awareness.april@gmail.com

Hats off to Kiran and Monika who have been working hard round the clock to put everything together.

The Fungle.

2011-02-27T22:28:00.002+01:00

This is a fun website for kids. Ashu and I explored the beta version of The Fungle together a couple of days back and as expected, the kid is hooked. As a beginner reader, Ashu was nt able to read everything on her own and needed my help to navigate in the beginning. Then I left her alone with it and came back 10 minutes later to see her dressing up her avatar, listening to a story and then playing a game! But being the scaredy cat that she is, she asked me to help because she was afraid of the snake that appeared in the game! Its nice that the stories and books are read alongs since she can listen to them. And I like the fact that theres an option of switching off the read along for kids who can read.

And like I wrote to Narayanan, the CEO, the Bee Mail idea is pure genius. Ashu went to bed asking if she got a bee mail! :) We cant wait for the Fungle to go live.

Please check it out if you are interested.

Heres Utbt's review of The Fungle and a short interview with the CEO.

Cross posted at http://boosbabytalk.blogspot.com/2011/02/fungle.html

RIP, Tejaswee.

2010-08-13T15:07:00.003+02:00

IHM lost her daughter, Tejaswee to Dengue on 11th August. It was heart breaking to receive the news. May God rest her soul.

Im in awe of IHM and her positive post. Hugs, IHM.

Mother's Day Special Event from Indusladies.

2010-05-01T21:06:00.005+02:00

Indusladies.com, with over 5 lakh monthly visitors, is one of the largest websites for Indian Women. For the upcoming Mother's Day, they are producing a "Mommy Blogger's ebook" with a list of all Indian Mommy bloggers and their best 5 posts. They plan to send that ebook to all their 90,000 members and also promote it among our 6000+ facebookfans and twitter followers.

Participation ends on May 6th. Click here for details.

Update:

I am also copy pasting the details from the website here.

If you would like your blog to be included in that list, please email (to partners@indusladies.com) the following as soon as possible and before 6th May.

1. Your blog URL
2. Your blog Name
3. A 5-8 line description about your blog (or about yourself as a blogger)
4. Link to 3-5 of your most popular blog posts.

We hope to hear from you. Please forward to your fellow bloggers as well.

Indusladies Team.

P.S - If you have any questions, please email

partners@indusladies.com.

Its poll time!

2010-02-24T22:31:00.004+01:00

Please go to Utbts for her latest poll on Language Development. She always comes up with interesting research on child development and I cant wait to know the results this time. Go here - http://utbtkids.com/2010/02/23/time-for-the-next-poll/

And to Shrutis for the February Artsy craftsy challenge. The voting is open at http://mindfull-meanderings.blogspot.com/2010/02/vote-now.html

Thank you.

Valentines Day Crafts.

2010-02-12T15:59:00.003+01:00

My daughters music class teacher did a fun craft today and I thought I ll share it here. Even though I ve visited the DLTK craft site so many times for inspiration, I ve never printed their ready made templates before. Today I was searching for the template the music teacher had used and found many more cute ideas. For some fun heart shaped animal crafts, go here - http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/crafts-animals.htm

For the heart shaped mouse template and many more cute ones, go here - http://www.first-school.ws/theme/animals/crafts/heart-shape.htm The penguin card is very cute too. Thats the one Im planning to make with my older daughter today. Since all she has to do is cut out the shapes and then glue them looking at the picture, it should be easy. Also less work for me! :)

Or if you are immensely talented like Smitha, you can make a Valentine Pizza or bake wonderful cookies or make fruit lollies or even a heart shaped fried egg. :) Me? I ll stick to the ready made craft templates thankyouverymuch and may be ask the husband to get inspired by her blog! ;)

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Let Love rule! :)

Blog Contest - Artsy Craftsy Challenge.

2010-01-21T10:34:00.004+01:00

Shruti at http://mindfull-meanderings.blogspot.com/ organized a fantastic artsy-craftsy challenge. Im sorry Im too late in announcing the contest but take a look at the all the entires here - http://mindfull-meanderings.blogspot.com/2010/01/artsy-craftsy-jan2010.html All of them are mind blowingly good and one can get loads of idea to keep the little fingers busy! :) Please vote for the entry you like best. The voting ends on 28th Jan.

Way to go, Shruti. Hope there are more contests coming up.

Karadi Tales Twitter Contest.

2009-11-03T22:21:00.004+01:00

Karadi Tales is all set to give away exciting prizes to 10 winners in the next 10 days! For details, go here - http://karaditales.com/FormBlogDiscussion.aspx?BlogTitleId=4

I ve copied the details from the link below:

Do you have a story to tell? Can you tell your story in 6 words and under
140 characters? Intrigued? Read on!

Everyday, from November 4 to 13, Karadi Tales will post a new theme on
Twitter, inviting everyone to contribute with their 6 word stories based on it.
We will declare the best entry the next day and the winner will win
himself/herself a gift hamper containing an assortment of Amar Chitra Katha
collections and Charkha audio-books.

Inspired by www.sixwordstories.net,
we tried this idea within our organization.
We gave ourselves the theme:
Karadi Tales tagline
Our winning entry: Surrogate Grandmother. Stories on
compact disc.
Our winner: Shobha Viswanath! :)

Get the idea? Geared
up for 2 weeks of fun? Here’s what you need to do:
Step one: Follow us on
Twitter (twitter.com/karaditales)
Step two: Check out the theme of the day
Step three: Reply to the tweet with your 6 word story

It’s going to
be a whole lot of fun! We promise we’ll be completely fair in judging the best
entry.

Will You Tweet With Us?

PS Spread the word! Get
your friends and family to participate!

PS Is anyone wondering why we
are doing this? It shall be revealed on November 14!

Please note: We
don't have the budget to ship prizes overseas .. so if any winner lives outside
India, we can either ship his/her prize to an address in India or offer him/her
our downloadable products!

Celebration of Reading Other Culturally Unique Stories.

2009-10-27T08:29:00.004+01:00

Saffron Tree has a book festival going on - CROCUS 2009 in which they are reviewing culturally unique books from all over the world. Its not just reviews but author interviews and games too. (to quote Utbt.) The reviews by themselves are brilliant. Go check it out now.

Children's Library Must Haves.

2009-09-19T13:12:00.004+02:00

Check out Ras post on Childrens books. She has a wonderful list of books which are must-reads for kids and adults, as well!

13. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Was delighted when I met Chox recently for all of twenty minutes and her two precious girls and the elder one had her nose buried in this book. Please READ THE BOOK FIRST before watching the film! I received a second-hand copy from friends of my parents who lived in the US, whose son had read it. Read it ’til the pages fell out. It’s all about a bored little boy called Milo, who gets a magic tollbooth as a present and enters a world that isn’t so boring after all. This is a book that reveals something new after each re-reading-it’s full of puns and wordplay and mathematical fun.

The one with the fake mommy blogger.

2009-06-16T18:44:00.008+02:00

I solemnly swear that I am a mom of two little girls. Trust me, ok? And now go read this bit of news about a blogger mom who faked her babys death (are you sitting down for this?) to get hits in her blog!

Twenty-six-year-old Beccah Beushausen had captivated readers with her story of a single mother facing a difficult pregnancy. Her blog, Little One April, drew thousands of readers, who offered prayers and support and help. On June 7, when she posted about her baby's birth and subsequent death hours later, her site had nearly a million hits.

But when Beushausen posted a photo of Baby April, readers got suspicious -- the baby wasn't a baby at all, but a Reborn doll, a baby doll made to look exactly like a newborn. And that's when Beushausen's story began to unravel.

Read Beccahs apology here: http://littleoneapril.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-am-sorry_14.html

I dont know whether to feel sorry for her or angry. But the tonnes of people who followed her blog - how betrayed they must feel! No one likes to be screwed, especially emotionally! What is this world coming to, huh? Above is a picture of a similar Reborn doll like the one Beccah used in her blog. Can someone get it for me, pretty please? I would like to shock my mom the next time she visits me! ;)

Link via DDMom.

Congratulations, Parul!

2009-06-10T10:23:00.004+02:00

Its exciting that a blogger whos linked here in the sidebar and who I read regularly is out with her debut novel. Congratulations, Parul! We are proud of you!

Check out her announcement.
"Oh my god, oh my god, I screamed (silently, remember Adi was sleeping) and then, oh my god, oh my god for effect. I followed it up with some oh my god, oh my god for good measure and then stood up and jumped up and down several times. I then proceeded to run from one end of the house to another at a somewhat high speed, breathless and unimaginably happy."

You can read the blurb there too. Cant wait to lay my hands on a book a "friend" wrote! :) Good luck, Parul.

Mothers Day Contest.

2009-04-29T16:08:00.003+02:00

Im too late to announce about the contest. But the polling is still on. Im talking about the Indus Ladies Mothers Day contest. Please go here for the contest details.

The poll is here - http://indusladies.com/partners/poll.php Its open until 9th May.

For the second and final round of voting, go here - http://indusladies.com/partners/poll1.php

And you can read all the entries here - http://www.indusladies.com/forums/blogs/phoenixritu/thank-you-so-much-people-1850/

Good luck, contestants! :)

Learning Disability Awareness.

2009-04-01T22:03:00.005+02:00

Kiran came up with this idea to dedicate the month of March to the awareness of Learning Disabilities in Children. Many bloggers have contributed valuable information and tips on this subject. Check them out.

Tharini on Types of Learning Disabilities.

Lak writes about the self esteem of a child with learning disabilities.

Kiran - How Parents can work with their child.

GnD on Treating/managing the disability.

Cee Kay on ADHD.

Cee Kay on Being an advocate for your child.

Sue talks about her brother - Examining Disability.

Priya talks about her daughter - "We Have Come Such A Long Way"

Will update the post as and when more posts come up. Please leave a link in the comment section if you have any information or experience to share on this subject. Thanks.

Mumbai Helps.

2008-12-02T17:40:00.004+01:00

Kiran of Karmic Kids has set up a blog to help the Mumbai terror victims. Please do visit and help in whichever way possible.

The link is http://mumbaihelps.blogspot.com/

Every little helps. Take care and be safe.

Food Allergy Awareness.

2008-11-03T22:27:00.006+01:00

Tharini of Winkies Ways has started a Food Allergy Awareness Month. She has kick started the posts with her first post here and Sujatha of blogpourri has shared a wonderful and informative post in her blog. Theres more to come from Tharini and quite a few other bloggers as well. Also, check out Tharinis post on the difference between Food Allergy and Food Intolerance.

If you have done a post on Childhood Allergies in your blog in the past , please pass on the link in the comment space. Or if you have any information to share, please do a post and leave the link here. I ll be doing a final round up of all related posts in the month end, so come back. Lets all come together for this good cause and spread the awareness. Thanks in advance.

High Court rejects Niketa’s plea to terminate pregnancy.

2008-08-05T10:27:00.003+02:00

The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the petition filed by Niketa and her husband Haresh Mehta, along with their doctor Nikhil Datar, seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy, now in the 26th week.
The foetus was diagnosed with a complete heart blockage when she was in the 24th week of pregnancy. The couple wanted to abort the child for fear it would suffer for life.

More here.

The never ending debate of what is right and what is not. I really feel sad for the parents and cant help but wonder what the child is going to go through when he/she is old enough to understand. Yes, the laws are there for a reason but why does it seem as if the good ones always have to bear the brunt of it?

Author Padma Venkatraman's Blog Tour.

2008-05-25T10:30:00.005+02:00

Padma Venkatraman's debut novel, Climbing the Stairs, for young adults has hit the stands. Find out more about Padmas multi faceted life and her book by following her blog tour.

The book review in Saffron Tree.

Not often do you get to read a novel set in historical, pre-independence India
with a story so wonderful and riveting. Padma Venkatraman undoubtedly brings a wonderful and fresh voice to the world of young adult and adult English
literature with her debut novel, Climbing The Stairs.

Padmas interview with Praba on Saffron Tree.

CLIMBING THE STAIRS is set during a period of Indian history that I find
incredibly intriguing and interesting – a time when the world was engaged in
World War II and Gandhi was leading the nonviolent Indian struggle for
independence from the British. I first fell in love with this time period when I
was writing a short story for younger children, but realized that there was just
so much more to this era than I could fit into a short story for the
middle-grade age group.

The authors guest post at Blogpourri.

One obvious way living in different places has influenced me is the detail with
which I can recollect and thus recreate the ambience of these cities. I can
still remember the Jamun tree that grew along the drive in the house in
Velacheri where I spent my early childhood, and the ripe fruit really did dye
our drive purple in August, just as the tree outside Vidya’s home does at the
beginning of the novel.

Her tips and tricks to find time to write when you are a parent at Desi Momz Club.

Of course, all this changes once the children start school. Then you will have
time during the day to write, when you’re actually awake and alert. So fret not
when the children are little. Your time will come. After all, you can’t stop the
children from growing up.

Happy Mothers Day!

2008-05-10T10:20:00.001+02:00

Put your feet up and enjoy in your special way. Have a fantastic Mothers day! :)

The Mega Online Baby Shower - the Biggest and the Best!

2008-04-28T15:09:00.014+02:00

Whats the point of this blog being called "Indian Mommies" if I don't mention the recent mega event hosted by most of the Indian Mommies who are in the side bar of this web site?

About a month ago, Tharini of Winkies Ways sends a mail to a dozen bloggers asking if they are game to throw an online baby shower to the Preggies, at least 6 of them when they started the planning. How the preggies list became 10, the hosts became 70 spanning across several countries and time zones, an online treasure hunt involving 49 blogs, secret login and password to be found, Riddles appearing out of nowhere at the same time in all those 49 blogs, how we preggies plunged into the ride and started solving the puzzle even before the hosts let us know what was happening, how at the end of the hunt we were were presented with an absolutely astounding private blog is anyones guess! The blog is loaded with information and good wishes from each and every one of the contributor. The design is divine, the information oh-so-useful and the wishes - just tear jerking! They rightly named themselves - The Doula Gang.

There have been at least 3000 mails gone to and fro across the globe() for this to happen. How they pulled this off is just beyond me! And to think they have a house to run, a job to go to, kids to look after,... and then do this for a bunch of people whom they have never even MET! That's just terrific! (I do wonder if your husbands still love you! ;) And here I was, could nt even put together a birthday party for my kid yesterday with 15 people. Discovered the salad in the fridge after they left! Well, at least I'm eating something healthy for lunch today! ;)

To know the entire story, you can start in this order.

Boo, that's me, writes a clueless post after seeing the riddles in some of the blogs.

The hosts are taken by surprise by the sudden attack and are playing mind games in the comment box to discourage us Preggies from solving the puzzle too soon!

Lavs, Desi Girl, Kodis Mom, Poppins Mom, Maggie aka Moppets Mom and Boo go with a vengeance and after a sleepless night, figure out the riddles. Hopping 49 blogs, putting together 41 letters and 8 blanks, they arrive on the right phrase!

Boo brags about it in a new post - So this is what is happening! At the end of the post are the links of all the 49 blogs with the riddles.

Then the thanks just poured in from us Mother To Bes. And the Oscar speech can be found below...

Desi Girl
Poppins Moms
Moppets Mom
Kodis Mom

B o o
Lavs
Random Vignettes
Something to Say

Want to hear from the hosts?

The Mad Momma beautifully summarizes the event here - What I was upto...

Kirans short and sweet summary - So we had a party.

Here's Suki, who is 19 I should add, with her post linking to all the said posts.

If you want mind blowing event organizers, these are the people you should contact:

How to pull off an Online Treasure Hunt, write Riddles for 49 bloggers and take care of all the nitty-gritties -

Gauri,

Altoid,

Sue and

Kiran.

You know what I liked the best about the riddles. None of the 49 bloggers knew who they were writing about or who is going to write about them. They had to solve the riddle to find out themselves! Ever worked for the CIA, folks? ;)

And the website design was taken care of by MayG. Shes does nt call herself a graphic designer for nothing! :)

As if all this was nt enough, DDMom comes up with a book idea and a short summary of the Web site complied by Utbt, the list of names of the Doula Gang and all the contributors are mentioned in the book and we all got copies of it! If this is nt a perfect party, I don't know what is!

Sujatha of Blogpourri has written a fantastic poem on the website summarizing the event. I ll leave you with just four lines which is so apt-

If all of this sends you into a tizzy

And you are left not a little dizzy

Rest assured you are not alone

The intricacies of the "Plan" even to me are unknown.

Update:

Hear it from the Horses mouth:

Behind the Scenes summary by Tharini

Gauris Ride to Riddleville! ;)

Valentine's Day Craft Ideas.

2008-02-12T15:32:00.000+01:00

Mommies don't seem to be too enthusiastic about kids craft idea for Valentines this year. While surfing the net for ideas, I found some which are doable without a trip to the craft store and are easy peasy too!

My favorite is this Valentine butterfly.

More ideas here and here.

Our very own Tharini has two craft ideas as well - Valentine hearts and Button up for Valentines.

Do leave a comment if there are more interesting ideas in your kitty. Wishing everyone a lovely Valentines day! :)

A tale by Tagore.

2008-02-09T10:00:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Usha, a lot of us got to read this story of Tagore for the first time. And what a tale! A heart wrenching story of a bird. Of all of us. And makes us wonder what we can do to prevent the same happening to the future generation.

Totaakaahini by Tagore.

The nephew said, "Your Majesty, the bird's education is now complete.''
The King asked, "Does it still jump?''
The nephew said, "God
forbid.''
"Does it still fly?''
"No.''
"Does it sing any more?''
"No.''
"Does it scream if it
doesn't get food?''
"No.''
The King said, "Bring the bird in. I would
like to see it.''

NO - Possibly the most used word by a parent.

2008-01-25T15:38:00.000+01:00

Never say No? - An interesting post by Cee Kay on how to say "No" with a postive attitude to kids and why "No" should nt be over used.

Yes, we'll buy that toy some other time.
No, we can't buy that toy right
now.

Yes, you can have potato chips as soon as you finish this cucumber.
No
you cannot have potato chips. you have to finish this cucumber first.

Yes, we will go to the park as soon as you finish your dinner.
No, we
aren't going to the park until you finish your dinner.

Yes, I'll give you candy after you finish your lunch.
No, you cannot
have candy. Finish your lunch first!

And more recently -
Yes, we will think about getting you a laptop
when you are a little older.
No, you cannot get a laptop until you are a
little older.

And,
Yes, an iPod sounds fun, but we'll think about it.
You can't
have an iPod for Christmas. We'll have to think about it first.

Letter to a darling daughter.

2008-01-10T23:19:00.000+01:00

Inbavallis honest and heart warming letter to her daughter.

You,
Kutty, are MY baby. Baby not just in the sense of “infant, offspring” but also
in the sense of “idea, enterprise, project”. I insisted that you be made,
retained and delivered. You are here despite the fact that well-meaning
relatives and an anxious obstetrician recommended against you. You are here
simply because I wanted you.

Shes one lucky girl, Inba! :)

Kudos to Kausalya!

2008-01-07T09:05:00.000+01:00

Heres an Indian Mommy all set to launch her first book this month. Kausalya, who briefly blogged about her son Babykins at Ammaforever.blogpsot.com, is out with her debut novel - The TamBrahm Bride. Hearty Congratulations to Kousalya and wishing her loads of luck with the book.

For more information on the book and the author, visit http://thetambrahmbridebook.blogspot.com/

Class 8 student shot dead by a class 10 student in MP.

2008-01-03T15:29:00.000+01:00

Too bad we had to start a brand new year with the news about two women molested by a mob in Mumbai. And now this. Another school shoot out. My grandma used to say "What is the World coming to?" quite often when I was a kid. Now its my turn I guess!

In a shocking
incident, an eighth class student of a government school in Satna district
of
Madhya Pradesh was killed on Thursday when his senior schoolmate
allegedly shot
at him in the school premises in the second such crime in the
country in a
month.

News via Rediff.

Happy 2008!

2008-01-01T14:40:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to all the readers!

ps.
No prizes for guessing but the resolution is of course to write more posts. :)

Child Swapping.

2007-11-12T22:31:00.001+01:00

When this piece of news came in the Parent Center Newsletter today in my mail box, my stomach just flipped.

RIYADH (Reuters) - Two boys, one Saudi and one Turkish, will swap homes four years after a hospital gave them to the wrong parents, a Saudi newspaper said Wednesday.

"Mistakes are always possible, but we will try to find who was responsible and hold them to account so it doesn't happen again," Prince Mishaal bin Saud, governor of Najran in the far south of the kingdom, said in comments in al-Watan newspaper.

Saudi health authorities had been reluctant to accept the Turkish father's claim that his son Yacoub was not his, but DNA tests carried out this week proved him right.
Published pictures show a distinctly Saudi-looking Yacoub.

The father of the other child, Saudi national Mohammed al-Monjem, had no inkling that pale-skinned Ali was not his. He will press a 50 million riyal ($13 million) compensation claim against the health ministry, al-Watan said.

Courtesy: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071107/od_nm/boys_swap_dc

Of course I had to drag Hd and put him in this situation and ask what he would do. He of course knew he was getting into trouble and said that he saw Ashu coming out of me and hence he ll never be in this situation technically! Men! Anyway, after much prodding he said he ll swap if that's what the other parents want! WHAT? Who cares what anyone wants? What do you want, Dude? You mean you will just give up Ashu just because shes not biologically yours? Now he knew for sure he was in trouble and said he had no choice and turned the table and asked what I would do. Hah, that's easy! I ll take Ashu and disappear from the face of the Earth! Why would I give her up? So he tried to make me feel guilty about abandoning my biological child. But then, its all Math, is nt it? 9 months in my tummy Vs 2 1/2 years of being together every single day and seeing the child blossom. Tough but then that's what came to my mind instantly.

What would you do?

Happy Diwali!

2007-11-08T13:21:00.000+01:00

Dhamaaka Diwali Wishes to all the Mommies and their families! Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!

Click here to see some wonderful Diwali cards done by Children from the UK which they sent to the BBC. The above picture is one of them.

"The Mom" Song.

2007-10-23T22:41:00.000+02:00

Check out this hilarious video "The Mom Song" performed by Anita Renfroe. What a mother says in a 24 hour period is condensed into a 2 minute song and its just awesome.

My favorite lines are:

Get a dose of,"I don't care who started it!
You're grounded until you're 36"
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once, for heaven's sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump, too?
If I've said it once, I've said at least a thousand times before
That you're too old to act this way
It must be your father's DNA

Link Via Broom.

How to move from Blogspot to Wordpress.

2007-10-22T15:30:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Poppins, moving from Blogspot to Wordpress has become easier now. Just follow her step by step instructions and Voila! you are done.

Ten Steps to Wordpress Nirvana by the Super Nice Poppins.

Resilience in Children.

2007-10-13T20:21:00.000+02:00

A very informative post by UTBT.

All
parents have an in built reflux that wants to reach out and wipe away all their
child’s misery. But are they really that delicate? The truth is children are
pretty resilient. Much resilient than what we give them credit for!

She has also written about the childhood of Nobel Laureate Dr.Mario Capecchi. Very inspiring. We are waiting for a follow up post too.

School of thought.

2007-08-22T09:49:00.000+02:00

Lakshmi remembers her school days fondly while dropping her daughter at school. And also wonders if moms today have become really competitive.

These kids are
three-and-half-years old, for God's sake. And what is worse, there
is immediate pressure on the child to perform well. Usually the competitions are
for stuff like "Bhagavat Gita Recitation". These kids are not even past their
kid-talk (my child cannot even pronounce "R" yet, and it is still "Labbit eat
Callot"), to actually recite heavy-duty Sanskrit slokas from the Gita AND BE
JUDGED FOR IT. Yes, it is probably a good idea to catch them young and
having them lisp the Gita is probably the most beautiful sound to a parent's
ear, but competitions? Why? Why induce the attitude of one-upping at
this age?

I hear ya, Lakshmi!

Link via The Visitor.

Female Foeticide and Infanticide in India.

2007-07-25T16:17:00.000+02:00

Usha and The Rational Fool have written touching posts on Female Foeticide and Female Infanticide in India. Thought provoking.

Ushas post touches on why Indians seem to prefer a male child and wonders what we women can do to change the situation.

We can be examples of what a woman can be and can do.We can help
change the mindset.Or we can simply ignore the statistic that half a million
girl babies are killed every year and read the supplement on woman power that
came with India Today.

The Rational Fool writes a touching letter to his little sister who is no more. He wonders about the things which force women to abort female foetuses.

I'll pose you a hypothetical situation. Let's say a woman is raped,
and she is pregnant against her will. A staunch feminist, she decides that if it
were a female fetus, she'd carry it to full term, but she's absolutely opposed
to bringing forth a male progeny of the rapist. She wishes to have a gender test
done before she made the choice. I don't think that the State or anyone else has
any business interfering with her choice, do you? Abortion against your will is
a different matter altogether.

Mad Momma joins in.

Don't fool yourself that it's only the poor and uneducated who are
doing it. They can barely afford the sex-determining ultrasound. They throw away
new borns. The foetuses are thrown away by us. The middle class. We're the ones
who can afford the expensive ultrasound in a shady bylane. We're the ones who
have so little value for human life .

DotMom suggests a solution.

I think the only true solution to female infanticide and female
fetus abortion is to give practical solutions. Let’s start by changing the
International Adoption laws in India. It is nearly impossible for international
parents (who are not Indian citizens) to adopt an Indian child today. I know in
the US alone there are long lines at adoption agencies to get a baby. The
adoptive families will be happy to give a sum of money to the mother of the girl
child for her routine medical care, food etc, along with footing any other
medical bills and then some. Isn’t this a sensible solution?

My two cents on this topic - I do think literacy is the solution. Making education compulsory for all children and strict laws against child labor might help. But then, bribe and dowry are illegal in India. Child labor is illegal. Female foeticide and sex determination tests are also illegal. But are all these laws stopping anyone? I mean, the doctors who are performing the illegal abortions and the ultra sound technicians who are performing the illegal gender determining scans are educated, right? What good is that doing? I think the laws should be more strict on these people first. On an individual level, we all can help by sponsoring a girl child. Its a start.

Do leave your valuable suggestions, solutions or any other information on these issues in any of the above blogs or here. Let us be the change.

Talkative toddler is trouble on a plane!

2007-07-15T20:32:00.000+02:00

A Mom and her 19 month old Toddler have been kicked off a plane because the kid was repeating "Bye bye plane"! So from next time, I have to cello tape my toddlers mouth as well! Its no fun flying with a kid and these incidents only make it all the more terrible!

At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, 'It's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,'" Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, "You know, it's called baby Benadryl."

Link via Manchus.

Not without an audience!

2007-07-13T23:28:00.000+02:00

Go on, have a laugh at the other-peoples-kids expense! ;)

Link via The Visitor.

Happy Weekend! :)

Sign Language.

2007-07-03T17:10:00.000+02:00

Every post of Utbt is worth linking here. Very well researched and informative, thanks to her interests in child development. This recent post of hers talks about Sign language in children. The pros and cons.

At one stage the baby realizes that every object in her wold has a ‘name’. THIS correlation is a major milestone and her little brain is working hard, to rewrite a new, slightly complex schema that accommodates this new realization. This correlation occurs irrespective of words+object association or words+sign association. This association takes place much earlier in a baby who uses signs. Also the communication and the gratification because of the communication enriches her experience and her schema is getting more and more complex. On a two year scale, sign language baby vs non-sign language baby, the sign language baby definitly has the cognitive edge.

This post might also have answers for Lakshmis questions about brining up a child in a multilingual environment.

Mommies again!

2007-06-29T23:08:00.000+02:00

All three of them second time moms. All of them busy buying pink and all of them have June babies. Congrats CK, Rbdans and Noon. Wishing all things wonderful to the baby girls.

Welcome to Planet Earth -
Baby M,
Dlittle &
Kutti Girl.

Help Vinay.

2007-06-29T10:48:00.000+02:00

28 years old Vinay is suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. There are nt enough South Asians in the bone marrow registry. It is important that many Indians register to help Vinay and others like him who need a donor.

You can easily register with the Asian American Donor Program (AADP) Registry at http://www.aadp.org . The procedure to register is less than a minute and is not invasive, just a simple swab of the mouth. The AADP recommends that people read about the actual marrow donation procedure on the website before registering.

Go to http://www.helpvinay.org/ for more information.

Mommy Meets.

2007-06-22T10:19:00.000+02:00

Kiran is planning a Mumbai Mommy bloggers meet and I hope I am not late in announcing it. (Sorry Kiran, totally slipped my mind.) Please go here to her post if you are interested to meet up with fellow mommies. Have fun!

Kay invites Mommies from Toronto for a get together. Click here for details.

And I think the first ever Mommies meet was initiated by Poppins(You will go down in history, P!) in Bangalore and here are the details from the meet which happened early this month.

Any Moms in Zurich interested in this lonely soul?!

Piyush.

2007-06-20T15:23:00.000+02:00

The brave little guy, Piyush passed away last evening. What do you tell a family when they lose a child? How do you console them? Especially after the child has battled a long fight and given up. Wishing Piyushs parents and everyone in his family a lot of courage and peace. God bless the little soul.

Heres Sunitas posts on Piyush. Take heart Sunita. You are a wonderful person and a great inspiration to Moms like me.

What a Wonderful world!

2007-06-18T19:47:00.000+02:00

Visitor had sent me a link where an American couple have adopted a boy from India and while reading that blog, it led me to couple of other people whom have also adopted children from India. Its absolutely touching to read them and their entire journey just amazed me. My belief in God has been strengthened after reading these blogs.

Do check out the fascinating stories of
Sananda,
Samedh and
Ben.

Fathers Day Special 2

2007-06-17T11:33:00.000+02:00

As expected more posts are pouring down. I am constantly holding a tissue and wiping my tears away. And to think that I forgot to wish my dad a Happy Fathers day when I spoke to him today! duh!

Dees heartfelt letter to her Appa. *Your dad helped your mom in cooking? Awww....*

All of four months and Mittu has a way with her words in a letter to her Appa!

Malini describes the day and writes about her father and surprise, surprise - her FIL too! ;)

Promises are made to be broken, Noon! Especially to husbands! ;)

Sheela as usual waves her magic wand and creates exquisite stuff. Check out here and here for some craft ideas.

Heres our dear MM's posts on three generation of fathers! *Warning: This post is a real tear jerker*
And last but not the least, here are both the Trishnas and their poignant posts on their Dads on their Birthdays - Happy Birthday Papa and Daddy...

Long live Dads!

Fathers Day Special.

2007-06-16T23:27:00.001+02:00

Its raining "Fathers day posts" at the Mommy Blogdom. Make sure you have a box of tissues before proceeding to read them.

Kiran tells us about her dad and the brats dad.

Moppets Mom is a Daddys girl!

Poppins' valid fears about Daddies and their Cholesterol.

Sunitas touching post on her dad.

Tharini as always paints a picture with her words in her post - Pops!

Wishing all the Daddies a very special Fathers Day! Go on Moms, make it an unforgettable day for the dads! ;)

Flying with Kids...

2007-06-14T21:34:00.000+02:00

... is nt as easy as some people think it is and I have a recent experience to prove that. Not all parents are irresponsible and some like me are obsessive about the co passengers comfort and I would do ANYTHING to keep my daughter quiet. I talk to her, play with her and let her do whatever she wants as long as she is quiet. Luckily for me, she does nt want to walk or run around the plane. So that's a relief.

Here's Sundars post on the same subject and his plan for a kid friendly airlines! :)

1. I will have wide aisles for kids to run around
2. the walls will be painted with Disney , Sesame street, Barney, Dora characters.
3. I will hire daycare teacher turned air-hostesses or air-hostesses turned daycare teachers only!
4. Will not have any carbonated or sugary drinks on the flight that would make the kids hyper.

after reading this article by Vir Sanghvi.

What is it with us? Why don’t we recognize that as much as we love Chunnu, Munnu, Pappu, Bunty or Pinky, the rest of the world is under no obligation to regard them with similar indulgence? Worst of all is the feeling of entitlement that prosperous parents have.They believe that because they are rich, their kids have the right to do whatever they feel like. It’s a funny thing but the children of less-wealthy or poor parents never behave quite as badly as the children of the rich. Perhaps this is because the social inequalities of India mean that their parents themselves lack the confidence to cause a stir in public places. But rich kids—they are even worse than their parents.

Personally, this popular opinion that "mothers want the entire world to praise their kids" gets my goat! I dont go to all that trouble of traveling with a toddler so that some tom, dick and harry can say how cute my daughter is! For all you know, I would be happy if total strangers ignore my daughter in this bad, bad world we currently live in!

Links via The Visitor.

Congrats!

2007-05-29T00:23:00.000+02:00

Uma describes the first time she saw Baby A at the adoption agency.

It was a sunlit Friday morning, a morning perfect for love. Baby A was asleep, his pink cheeks flushed with the heat, but as we bent over him to look at his tiny sleeping form, he opened his eyes. We took him all around the neighbouring school campus. He looked at the trees, crows, children with sleepy interest. He smiled.

Congratulations Uma on the new addition to your family. Wishing the baby everything wonderful!

Multilingual Children.

2007-05-18T00:11:00.000+02:00

Lakshmi ponders about raising a child in a multilingual environment. This is her interesting background:

1. My mother tongue : Tamil
2. LG's dad's (The Seniol) mother tongue : Bengali
3. LG's dad speaks with his dad in : Punjabi (as he grew up in Punjab)
4. I talk with LG's dad in : English and Hindi
5. Language of the environment : Marathi (we live in Pune)

Tricky indeed!

The Good Wife's Guide.

2007-05-15T09:24:00.000+02:00

Krishnapriya finds a gem while looking for good housekeeping tips. Any of you want to try? ;)

My personal favorite point is this one:

Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.

Happy Mothers Day!

2007-05-13T11:48:00.000+02:00

Wishing all the Mommies a very Happy Mothers day! Have fun!

A Play Date Problem.

2007-05-09T10:05:00.000+02:00

An Indian Mommy is facing a dilemma. This is how she explains it:

"A friend of mine keeps calling my kids over for a play date with her kids.They're all the same age. For some reason, my children don't want to go to her house. They haven't said why, but they are most reluctant. I suspect it's because the parents yell at their children a lot, and that scares my kids.I don't know how to say no to this woman. I usually don't reciprocate by calling her kids over, but she doesn't seem to get the hint. In fact, she'll call and invite her kids over. I have run out of excuses now. I can't tell her what the problem is to her face - Indians simply don't do that."

She also adds that her kids have no problem if her friends children come to their place. They just don't want to go to her friends house.

Any suggestions?

Adoption in India.

2007-05-07T23:58:00.000+02:00

The Visitor has done a fantastic job by putting together some information on how to go about Adoption in India. I am reproducing the entire post here as per his(?) suggestion.

Please do leave a link in the comment box if any of you have any relevant information.

Thanks a tonne, Visitor.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today CNN-IBN was flashing a 'news' item about baby Shiv being given for adoption to a family after a court battle - read Court gives abandoned baby to millionaire family.

In my youth, after reading 'inspirational stories' in Reader's Digest, in a bout of idealism, I too had often harboured visions of having adopted children. I remember that some friends of ours, a childless couple by choice, had adopted a boy and a girl. I used to be surprised that they had decided to have only adopted children, because I think it requires mental maturity and strength to be able to do it. Today, if I ask myself whether I am mentally prepared to adopt a child, my response would be no. I think I dont possess the mental reserve to take up such a commitment.

From what they said, I gathered that the legal adoption process in India, was a rigorous and often times a time-consuming process. And not without reason - they check the background of the prospective parents, their marital stability, financial stability, mental preparedness and various other parameters.

Recently in Indian Mommies, in a debate on whether one should have the second baby or not, some mommies had expressed the desire to adopt a second child.

I thought it might be useful to share some information regarding the adoption process in India. (Courtesy: Google) :)

To start with one can see the FAQ section of indianngos.com - which gives a brief outline of the process through its FAQ.

ICHILD - India Adoption Resources - is a website and mailing list, that gives support to persons who are thinking of adoption. I quote from their web-site:

The purpose of the ICHILD WEB SITE & MAILING LISTS would hopefully be to offer a source of inspiration, information, support & resources for those interested in adoption from India and the subcontinent. And of course, to help bring together prospective adoptive parents and children in India who wait for their families.

This link takes you to the adoption process page from their site.

Alliance for Children is an adoption agency that places children with adoptive parents.

The Alliance for Children, Inc. is a non-profit international adoption agency based in Massachusetts, serving families throughout the USA.

We have placed thousands of children from around the world in permanent adoptive homes.

They are currently not accepting applications for adoption of children from India.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) - This site also provides some info on in-country adoption process, costs etc.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) is a Social Welfare Organization promoted by Kale Consultants Ltd., India, a reputed IT Consulting Company with global presence. CSA commenced operations in September 2002. We work on Child Welfare which includes Adoption, Foster Care, and Institutionalised Rehabilitation. Our specific focus is on Adoption. A key role for us is to work as Catalysts / Change Agents. Our aim is to enhance the total number of adoptions in the country. Also, to work towards better child care while the child is institutionalized.

CARA - Central Adoption Resource Agency - this site provides information on adoption in/from India. One can download relevant forms too from here.

Central Adoption Resource Agency is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, which functions as the Central Authority of the Government of India in matters related to adoptions.

Read their FAQ.

I have obtained all the above information from the web. The information is neither comprehensive nor definitive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diaper Dilemma.

2007-04-30T11:14:00.000+02:00

Itching to Write compares Cloth diapers and Disposable diapers in a very informative post.

As parents it is left to us to decide what we wish to use without feeling guilty either way as the impact of both on environment, wallet, convenience, comfort in total is more or less the same. Depends on what is the key to one as parents, is it comfort, convenience, cost, water or landfill.

Lesson learnt: Potty trained children are good for the environment! Are you kids listening? ;)

Kids are happy little things.

2007-04-29T15:41:00.000+02:00

A wonderul post about kids. Some articles instantly get you into a mellow mood and this is one of them.

The best part about being a kid is that you don’t have to think much. You just run around happily, bang into things, start bawling, have mommy come to you and cradle you in her arms, mollycoddle you and mutter sweet-nothings that sound like incantations to conjure a cute fluffy little elephant from Happy-goo-goo land and then you’re happy again.

Link via The Visitor.

Is child rearing boring?

2007-04-27T22:19:00.000+02:00

Gauri asks,

Boring ??? Humdrum ??? Lackluster ??? – Are these sentiments that one would normally associate with bringing up a child ?

Maternity help.

2007-04-26T16:42:00.000+02:00

Ceekay writes about her decision to manage alone without help from the family after her delivery.

Ever since we declared that we are expecting a baby, the one question that we get the most is "Who are you calling to come over and help you?" And then they are stunned to learn the answer - No one. Almost all desi families here do that. As soon as there is a baby on the way, one set of parents is recruited to come help them when the baby arrives. And I think that is a very good arrangement - if it works for you. That's a BIG if.

You go Girl! All our wishes are with you even if they are only virtual!

Tips to travel with a child.

2007-04-25T23:04:00.000+02:00

Artnavy asks if you are an elephant or a bird! :)

Elephants take their young everywhere with them. Remember the elephant patrol in Jungle Book? Birds leave their young behind. My own experience as an Indian mother of a 20 month old, tells me you could enjoy being the elephant.

Outsourcing Breast Milk.

2007-04-24T11:16:00.000+02:00

Big Zed reacts to this article in Time on Wet Nursing and Cross nursing.

Now, I'm a fierce advocate of breast feeding but if for whatever reasons, I can't breast feed my baby, I will not, for one second hesitate in giving her formula. But there is absolutely no way I would let someone else breast feed my baby.

What are your thoughts?

Virginia Tech Shooting.

2007-04-20T14:12:00.000+02:00

The world looks a lot less safe after becoming a parent, does nt it? We start reacting to terrible events like these as a parent and personally, it scares the hell out of me. God bless the victims and their familes.

Sundar, Orchid, Fuzzy, SS and the Desimomzclub share their fears.

Birthday is on the air.

2007-04-18T23:04:00.000+02:00

Mommyof2 celebrates a a double bonanza.

Sunita celebrates her daughters birthday. Pretty frock! :)

Moppets mom makes it a Happy Day.

SM plans a double whammy.

If I have missed any recent birthday bash, please comment with a link. I know for sure four more birthdays are coming up. March and April seems to be a busy month! ;)

Left Vs Right.

2007-04-17T19:06:00.000+02:00

Left or right – which is right? Manchus asks the right(!) question!

There should not be a stigma attached to the left handedness. I remember my brother used to use his left hand more than his right hand and my parents corrected him and changed him to a right-handed person. And then when he was old enough, they used to complain how bad his handwriting was. Hellooo!! You were the one who changed him. I am sure he would have had a better handwriting, had he been a leftie.

That said, the World is definitely easier for Righties than Lefties. Very unfair.

Thumb sucking.

2007-04-16T17:15:00.000+02:00

Poppin wonders why there are nt that many posts on thumb sucking at the Mom blogs. Do you have some tips?

My mom says that I should use bitter tasting juice or mittens but I'm loathe to try it. It feels wrong somehow, besides it may not work anyways. I am seriously at a loss on what to do for this one.

New Moms.

2007-04-15T11:39:00.000+02:00

Congratulations to the two brand new mommies, Trishna and Mona. May God bless the little ones Aadya and Hana with all the good things in the world!

Noodlehead, you are next! :)

Separation anxiety.

2007-04-14T23:16:00.000+02:00

I am dreading the day my daughter will start play school. I am finding all sorts of excuses to not let her fly the nest anytime soon. So I could relate to this touching post by Fuzzy.

There have been days and times during this one year where I have longed to get back to work and now when the time has actually come near I am feeling sad that the year is going to end.I had a wonderful time watching little baby Ina soon to turn into a toddler.I am now worried how will I stay away from her and go for work.I will surely miss her terribly,miss all those little naps we took,those leisurely walks we went for,the stories we read and games we played,the songs we heard together and danced to,I know by the end of the day I will still come home to her and she from her daycare and we will still have fun but it would still not be the same way as being around 24/7.

Hats off to all the working moms who take the tough decision to leave their babies first. I cried when starting school, college and even work. I realize I have issues!

Sleepless in Babyville.

2007-04-12T00:50:00.000+02:00

A round up of some of the posts on the Sleeping issue.

Rohinis very informative post is here.

Mad Mommas emotional post is here.

Mine is here.

Desimomzclub has two posts here and here.

ps.
Do leave a link in the comment if you have done a post on the same subject.

To have or not to have...

2007-04-06T20:11:00.000+02:00

Below is the mail I got from a reader. Since Im also sailing in the same boat, it would be great to hear your thoughts on this issue. Is a family incomplete without a second child?

It seems like everyone of our friends is pregnant again. After a difficult pregnancy and first year, we have decided not to have another child. Most of the time I am fine with this decision, but every now and then, it feels strange and scary. I find myself revisiting the decision every few weeks and tormenting myself over whether it is the right thing or not. I feel guilty that I may be depriving my son of a sibling and then I wonder whether that is the right motivation for another child. Should I have another one only because I am afraid that this one will be lonely ?

As Indians, we live in a society where 2 kids is the norm. It is something everyone takes for granted. It is really difficult being the exception rather than the norm. I am working on coming to terms with this tough decision and was hoping to hear some words of wisdom from parents with one child who have found peace with their decision, instead of regrets.

I would really appreciate it if you could address this issue in indianmommies.blogspot.com

Sahithis Mom has written a post on the same dilemma here. Seems like yesterday when I was going through the same dilemma for the first one. It never ends, does it?

An open letter to all Toddlers.

2007-04-06T19:44:00.000+02:00

I am planning to frame this letter and hang it in Ashus room! Hilarious!

It's NOT yours. You seem to have adopted a mantra of "If I can see it, it's mine. If you have it, it's mine. If I think about it, it's mine." Let me tell you something, kiddos. You know when all of us leave in the morning, only to return home 8 hours later? We're at work earning a living. And while we're firm believers in the "mi casa es su casa" philosophy and don't really mind sharing our things with you, you need to ease up a little, ok?

I'm sure every parent with a toddler will relate to this one. Why don't you try writing an open letter too? Do mail me the link if you do.

Summy and the Doctor.

2007-04-05T23:55:00.000+02:00

This post has stayed in my mind even after so many months. I totally relate to it now. Hubby and I say "And the Oscar goes to..." and laugh out loud whenever our daughter Ashu pulls a fast one on us. And I always remember this incident with Summy fondly.

Her regular doctor was out, so we saw another doctor. "So she has a stomach ache?" the doctor asked. I waved my hand and said "I don't know ..." thinking about how to put it without hurting Summy's feelings.

Belated Birthday wishes, Kiddo! :)

Having a baby in Bangalore.

2007-04-05T11:31:00.000+02:00

Congratulations to S and N, soon to be mommas who mailed me and since both of them are in Bangalore, I thought this post will have lots of information for them. If you are planning to have a baby in Bangalore, this is a must read.

I lucked out with a very good doctor who was willing to listen to all my concerns (I talked to her about not wanting a C-section, for example; I was pretty nervous that I would be pressured into having a C-section), explain to me why something was prescribed and generally make the birth a collaborative process. This was a pleasant surprise. I had heard that doctors stood on a pedestal and told patients what needed to be done, without any explanations.

Don't forget to go through the comment section for lots of useful information on Hospitals and Doctors.

Have your say.

2007-04-05T11:16:00.000+02:00

This website is going to be a link fest for the most part. You can send emails with links and they will be published here. It can be either your own post or any other post/article related to parenting.

Mention if you don't want to be given credit.

It would be great if you can keep this site in mind when you are reading something interesting or informative on any issue related to Parenthood and send a mail to indianmommies at gmail dot com with the link.

You can also send me an email if you need any information and I can post your query here.

Your suggestions are most welcome. indianmommies at gmail dot com is the email id to contact. Hope to see an active contribution from all of you.

Are we giving up too much?

2007-04-04T18:12:00.000+02:00

I would like to be a working mom, yes! But I have never heard a more ridiculous reason to be one. "Oh What if my husband dies at 47? What will I do?" Please, give me a break! Have you never heard of Life Insurance? And when the father of my children "drops dead", I'm supposed to console my children by saying "Well, at least I have a job"? What Bull! And what a negative way to look at life! Chee chee chee!

Is it really worth it to be home when your second child loses his fourth tooth if something happens to your spouse and you end up losing the home entirely? Your children lose their rooms, their local area, their friends and their school. For them, the cost of having a stay-at-home mum is high indeed.

Thanks Akkare for the link.

What do we learn from our kids?

2007-04-04T11:35:00.000+02:00

I have always wondered if mothers can be atheists. This post has made me realize its almost impossible. What do you think?

I’ve learnt that my womb has only been an instrument to bring this soul into the world and once brat is an adult my work will have been done, and what I do to bring brat up is only repaying my karmic debt to my mother for bringing me up. I believe now in the verse written by Kahlil Gibran which says your children are not yours to keep.I’ve learnt that the sky is different colours at various parts of the day and Jai Jai Bhagwanji actually sits up there with his crayon and watercolours to keep changing the look.

This reminds me to publish the post I have in my draft for a very long time on Moms and their belief in God.

Winkies Women.

2007-04-04T01:21:00.000+02:00

As Kodis mom has written in the comments, only our dearest Mommy Blogger, Tharini, can write such a touching post on Tomato Jam!

Many days passed by in this manner. Then one day, she rolled up her sleeves, got into the kitchen and made some jam. Tomato jam. Red, ripe, juicy tomato jam. And that first batch was a killer. She offered it to him. He looked at it dubiously,and then at her with suspicion.

I always thought that I started blogging inspired by you. But today I found out you started blogging a couple of months after me. Anyways you are my inspiration Tharini! :) Heres to you.

Hello World!

2007-04-04T00:46:00.000+02:00

Welcome to Indianmommies!

Do let me know
i) if I have missed any Desi Mom blogs in the blog roll.
ii) if you want to link some interesting mommy posts here.
iii) if you have any suggestions.

Email me at indianmommies at gmail dot com