Its the dreaded party time and that means I need to scour the shops searching for something decent to wear. I am a healthy size 0 or rather a -1. I can hear a sharp intake of breath and tut tuts. This is how I have been for the 30 odd years of my life. The wee bit that I put on was during my pregnancy .. but I lost it soon after. According to my mom when I was born the doctor said 'Aah a bonny baby'. I am sure he meant 'bony'. I was not sickly or weak. A normal child full of energy though on the lite side. I was never bothered by it, though my mom was. Anytime we went anywhere people asked her 'Enda tinnan onum kodukinnilye ?' (Are you not feeding her ?) ... no I only eat 5 meals a day. Looking at me no one will say I have a healthy appetite but then they are pleasantly surprised to see me wolfing down all my meals. . My husband likes my size .. he said he always wanted a wife he put his arms around and could carry easily !! ;).
I never really thought about size untill I came to UK and had to hunt for trousers for my work !! Now UK sizes range from 8-22 (or more). Very rarely do some shops have a 6. When I got my first job here, I spent a whole week going to shops searching for the elusive size 6. Even when I did get one, it was too loose. The waist was fine, but what am I supposed to fill the bottom with ? It felt like I was wearing my husbands pants !! Maybe I ought to pad it up with some pillows. Are there bum enhancers available in the market ? Skirts are out of question since my legs are too spindly and anyways no one makes skirts to make you look fatter !!! Infact all the dresses in the market are designed to make you look slim. That got me thinking.. are there no thin people in this world ? are we all a healthy 8 or a 10 ? What is all this debate about size 0 (UK size 4) ? If there are size 0 models what do they wear ? Designer clothes ... yes designer clothes are the answer to my problem. I think I need to raid VB's wardrobe. LA here I come.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Bye Bye Ms Grumpy
A few days before Xmas, one of our friends told us they were going back to India for couple of years. We were supposed to have a New years party at their place, but since they were going away they had a few things to do and hence party was cancelled. We said No problem we could meet up with someone else ... but who ? I tried to compile a list of my friends and I came up with zilch !! Not exactly zilch but you get the drift.
I have never been a very friendly person. Tend to phone when I can talk face to face, tend to email when I could call. Conversations with me dry up in a few minutes. I also don't make lasting friendship. My interests in things and people fade as quick as they start. Now add a baby to the mix ... I come in from work and my time is totally occupied with my son. Weekends blend into months and then into years, and I have forgotten the few friends that I have.
I must argue things used to be a lot better when I was single. I used to have parties and wild nights and fantastic picnics. Over the years I have become Ms Grumpy. Selfish and mean and nasty. I woldn't mind carrying on if it were not for my little son. I don't want him to end up with no friends because his mom was Grumpy. So 2009 I promise to be better. I am going to make new friends and keep in touch with my old ones. New years eve will not be one sorry affair. Out with Ms Grumpy In with Ms Sunshine ;)
PS: We have been invited to a party at an home of an acquaintance. Maybe the start of a new friendship.
I have never been a very friendly person. Tend to phone when I can talk face to face, tend to email when I could call. Conversations with me dry up in a few minutes. I also don't make lasting friendship. My interests in things and people fade as quick as they start. Now add a baby to the mix ... I come in from work and my time is totally occupied with my son. Weekends blend into months and then into years, and I have forgotten the few friends that I have.
I must argue things used to be a lot better when I was single. I used to have parties and wild nights and fantastic picnics. Over the years I have become Ms Grumpy. Selfish and mean and nasty. I woldn't mind carrying on if it were not for my little son. I don't want him to end up with no friends because his mom was Grumpy. So 2009 I promise to be better. I am going to make new friends and keep in touch with my old ones. New years eve will not be one sorry affair. Out with Ms Grumpy In with Ms Sunshine ;)
PS: We have been invited to a party at an home of an acquaintance. Maybe the start of a new friendship.
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Roman Holiday
Ever since I saw 'Roman Holiday' *ing Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, its been a dream to go there with my own Joe Bradley. Time flies by and its Nov 2008. My Joe Bradley and me finally decide to take a small holiday in Rome .... a twist ..we are accompanied by little Bradley.
Its been a hectic year. New job, new project , stress at home ... by November I am ready for a nice holiday.
Anyone who has been with me on a holiday will know the amount of planning I usually do. I usually surf the net and get a list of attractions to visit. I then compile my own list noting down some interesting facts about the place : some historic or architectural fact. I also have a list of restaurants near the places, espcially a list of vegeterian restaurants. Then the list of things to take. Well this list actually belongs to hubby dear .. he usually helps in compiling the list. I just add a few items to it. This list is v useful when you have a 2 year old to travel with.
well this trip was different. I had no time to do any research. All I knew about Rome was there is a Colloseum and Vatican to visit. I was busy at work with a project and didn't pack our bags untill the night before. We spent the night rushing from room to room dumping things into the bag. Next morning woke up at 4 to go to the airport ..... caught the flight at 6:30 .. the flight took and my Roman Holiday had started.
Just 2 mins into the holiday and we realised we forgot to pack my son's sippy cup. Now my son is very particular about his sippy cups. He likes his yellow cup and absolutely refuses to drink water from any other cup. Yogesh rushed around the airport searching for the same yellow Avent sippy cup, but didn't find one ... oh oh is this a sign of things to come !!! Well anyways managed to convince my son drinking from the proper bottle was a 'BIG BOY' way to drink :).
Flight was good. Aki slept at take off and woke up in time for landing. Don't remember the aiport, I guess it was Fiumicino. There were trains going in to Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome. We were too tired and didn't want to walk around with the pram so we decided to take the shuttle to our hotel. It was basically a taxi which dropped people off at their hotels.
My first impressions of Rome was not very great. As we got out onto the motorway I could see construction sites on both sides. Bulldozers and cranes dotted the skyline. My heart was sinking and I began to think 'Is this the romantic Rome everyone was talking about'. Akshay was thrilled to see it, so maybe its not all bad !! We slowly made our way into the main city and I could see modern buildings and apartments. Suddenly in front of us we saw ancient ruins of the Colosseum. Our taxi went right under a bridge which was surely made in BC. So this was Rome a city where the new and old lived in perfect harmony. It was amazing. We were driving right over millions of years of history. We finally reached our hotel. Hotel Valadier was bang in the centre of the city right next to the famous Spanish Steps. Its surrounded by famous boutiques.. an eye watering number of chic shops were all around me .. Me a person totally devoid of fashion was now in the temple of fashion .. well kind of . I am going to shop till I die I promised myself. But first to the hotel. The hotel was quite nice and comfortable and best of the people were very child friendly. Akshay got a royal reception and that was all that mattered. The rooms were dark (but comfy) and Aki was not too thrilled about it.
First stop Spanish Steps. There is a fountain at the base of the steps. Foolishly I thought it was the Trevi fountain ... Aki loves water and loooooves fountains. Rome turned out to be the city of his dreams. Everywhere you look there is a fountain. Fountains are erected to commemorate anything. They are intricate and ornate and with clear pure water. After an hour we managed to pry Aki away from the fountains and walked the 100 odd steps up. The view from the top of the steps was nice.
Next stop was Trevi fountain ... It was a short walk from the Spanish steps. On the way we made a small detour to the buy some toothbrush and paste ... yep one more thing missed out in the packing. No more holidays without a list !!!! We finally made our way to Trevi fountain. It is the most stunning of all fountains in Rome. Its a two tiered fountain with water cascading down the steps. The central figure of the fountain, in front of a large niche, is Neptune, god of the sea. He is riding a chariot in the shape of a shell, pulled by two sea horses. Spent the evening right by the fountain. Akshay enjoyed splashing the water around, not sure if the people around enjoyed it as much !!
Tummy started growling and we headed back to the hotel. We decided to have dinner at the rooftop restaurant. The night was cold, but there were heaters around us. Akshay enjoyed the view from the top. He saw a dome of some building and shouted 'Taaj Mahal' :). Food was good though the bill wasn't !!!
Most websites recommended taking the open top bus tours. In non-baby days we avoided these tours and would have headed out to explore by public transport. But now we couldn't imagine lugging the heavy pram through the crowd and opted for the less stressful tour bus. Also a 'double decker bus' is something that Aki would enjoy. So we set off in direction of Piazza del Poppolo'. This was right behind our hotel. again a small stopover to enjoy the fountain .. one of a lion. Aki was amazed to see water coming from the lion's mouth !!
Now there are atleast 5 different open top buses running in Rome. Since I had not done any research we had to make some on the spot decisions. Had to let a couple of buses to go by before we finally decided on CitySighteseeing bus. We took at 2 day pass (don't remember the cost) which would let us hop on and off. We could also switch between the 3 lines (red, blue and orange). There was some confusion about the direction of the bus and when we sat in one, we realised it was going in the direction of Vatican (we wanted to go to the Colloseum). So Vatican is where we went. We reached the Vatican and saw huuuuuuuuuuge crowds. We could hear someone speaking on the microphone. Looked up and saw the Pope himself adressing the crowd. We had reached in time for Sunday mass. We wanted to go to see St Peters Basilica but dropped the idea when we saw the huge lines. Aki was getting a bit upset too so we took the bus and went towards Pantheon. We walked from Piazza Novona, a cute little square to Pantheon, ancient Roman temple. Reached Pantheon and another fountain greets Aki. There is also a little tap which keeps him busy for sometime. We then made our way in the temple. Some facts taken from wikipedia . 'The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus), the Great Eye, open to the sky. A rectangular structure links the portico with the rotunda'. or as Aki said on looking at the roof 'Amma circle.. big circle'. There are huge spheres made of iron just outside the Pantheon. Aki enjoyed balancing on them. He also tried his best to push them.
We then decided to walk towards the Colosseum. Grabbed a pizza slice on the way and some roasted chestnusts. Those chestnuts are the best I have ever had. Warm and succulent. Walked past some buildings that I knew had some significance, but I had no idea what they were. I felt very lost without my research , but in a way liberated. Since I could enjoy and admire them without having a preconceived notion about it. We finally reached the Colosseum and found it closed. The last entry was at 4:30 and we had reached just after 4:45. So it was sad walk back to the bus stop to take the bus back home. Had a shower and then hit the streets again in search of grub. Finally made our way back to the Pantheon and ate at a restaurant in the main piazza. Akshay enjoyed his meal surrounded by lovely Xmas trees and lights. After our meal we headed back to hotel. It had been a long and tiring day.
Last day in Rome and we had still to see Sistine Chapel and Colosseum. So headed off again to Vatican on our tour bus. Another error because of lack of planning became evident , when I though the Sistine Chapel was within St Peters Basilica. So we spent an hour in the Q and headed inside searching for the famous Hand of God ... no not Maradona... famous painting by Michelangelo 'Creation of Adam'. Finally asked the guards and were told it was in the Vatican Library. So ran off .... finally made our way to the Sistine Chapel ... and saw the famous painting. We were surrounded by so much beauty and artistic things, i hope a bit of it rubs onto my son. Well he has become a michelangelo ay home .. busy painting my walls with his crayons. Everytime i think of admonishing him I remember the paintings in Sistine Chapel. Who knows .....
Again a quick slice of pizza to go and we were on our way to see the Colosseum. This time we made it in good time.. and it was well worth the wait. A slice of history right there in front of us. We could almost hear the roar of the crowd egging the galdiators in their fight for survival. The roar of the lions and the tigers. Another tiny growl which sounded quite close.... oops that was just my tummy. Akshay was enthralled by the story of the boar and the lion and tiger that Yogesh spun out for him. He still keeps talking about it.
Soon it was time to take the cab back to the airport. Our hectic trip to Rome had come to an end ... and I didn't even visit the shops which were right at our doorstep.
The people are amazing. Everywhere we went people went gaga over Akshay. Every restaurant we went they were keen to make sure Aki was happy. I guess thats what made this trip a real pleasure. One downside was the absolute lack of baby facilities. We have resorted to changing diapers in the park. Akshay loved the open places .. he could run around and play and best of all he loved the fountains. I have enjoyed my trip to Rome, I hope the coin tossed in Trevi means I will be back soon
Its been a hectic year. New job, new project , stress at home ... by November I am ready for a nice holiday.
Anyone who has been with me on a holiday will know the amount of planning I usually do. I usually surf the net and get a list of attractions to visit. I then compile my own list noting down some interesting facts about the place : some historic or architectural fact. I also have a list of restaurants near the places, espcially a list of vegeterian restaurants. Then the list of things to take. Well this list actually belongs to hubby dear .. he usually helps in compiling the list. I just add a few items to it. This list is v useful when you have a 2 year old to travel with.
well this trip was different. I had no time to do any research. All I knew about Rome was there is a Colloseum and Vatican to visit. I was busy at work with a project and didn't pack our bags untill the night before. We spent the night rushing from room to room dumping things into the bag. Next morning woke up at 4 to go to the airport ..... caught the flight at 6:30 .. the flight took and my Roman Holiday had started.
Just 2 mins into the holiday and we realised we forgot to pack my son's sippy cup. Now my son is very particular about his sippy cups. He likes his yellow cup and absolutely refuses to drink water from any other cup. Yogesh rushed around the airport searching for the same yellow Avent sippy cup, but didn't find one ... oh oh is this a sign of things to come !!! Well anyways managed to convince my son drinking from the proper bottle was a 'BIG BOY' way to drink :).
Flight was good. Aki slept at take off and woke up in time for landing. Don't remember the aiport, I guess it was Fiumicino. There were trains going in to Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome. We were too tired and didn't want to walk around with the pram so we decided to take the shuttle to our hotel. It was basically a taxi which dropped people off at their hotels.
My first impressions of Rome was not very great. As we got out onto the motorway I could see construction sites on both sides. Bulldozers and cranes dotted the skyline. My heart was sinking and I began to think 'Is this the romantic Rome everyone was talking about'. Akshay was thrilled to see it, so maybe its not all bad !! We slowly made our way into the main city and I could see modern buildings and apartments. Suddenly in front of us we saw ancient ruins of the Colosseum. Our taxi went right under a bridge which was surely made in BC. So this was Rome a city where the new and old lived in perfect harmony. It was amazing. We were driving right over millions of years of history. We finally reached our hotel. Hotel Valadier was bang in the centre of the city right next to the famous Spanish Steps. Its surrounded by famous boutiques.. an eye watering number of chic shops were all around me .. Me a person totally devoid of fashion was now in the temple of fashion .. well kind of . I am going to shop till I die I promised myself. But first to the hotel. The hotel was quite nice and comfortable and best of the people were very child friendly. Akshay got a royal reception and that was all that mattered. The rooms were dark (but comfy) and Aki was not too thrilled about it.
First stop Spanish Steps. There is a fountain at the base of the steps. Foolishly I thought it was the Trevi fountain ... Aki loves water and loooooves fountains. Rome turned out to be the city of his dreams. Everywhere you look there is a fountain. Fountains are erected to commemorate anything. They are intricate and ornate and with clear pure water. After an hour we managed to pry Aki away from the fountains and walked the 100 odd steps up. The view from the top of the steps was nice.
Next stop was Trevi fountain ... It was a short walk from the Spanish steps. On the way we made a small detour to the buy some toothbrush and paste ... yep one more thing missed out in the packing. No more holidays without a list !!!! We finally made our way to Trevi fountain. It is the most stunning of all fountains in Rome. Its a two tiered fountain with water cascading down the steps. The central figure of the fountain, in front of a large niche, is Neptune, god of the sea. He is riding a chariot in the shape of a shell, pulled by two sea horses. Spent the evening right by the fountain. Akshay enjoyed splashing the water around, not sure if the people around enjoyed it as much !!
Tummy started growling and we headed back to the hotel. We decided to have dinner at the rooftop restaurant. The night was cold, but there were heaters around us. Akshay enjoyed the view from the top. He saw a dome of some building and shouted 'Taaj Mahal' :). Food was good though the bill wasn't !!!
Most websites recommended taking the open top bus tours. In non-baby days we avoided these tours and would have headed out to explore by public transport. But now we couldn't imagine lugging the heavy pram through the crowd and opted for the less stressful tour bus. Also a 'double decker bus' is something that Aki would enjoy. So we set off in direction of Piazza del Poppolo'. This was right behind our hotel. again a small stopover to enjoy the fountain .. one of a lion. Aki was amazed to see water coming from the lion's mouth !!
Now there are atleast 5 different open top buses running in Rome. Since I had not done any research we had to make some on the spot decisions. Had to let a couple of buses to go by before we finally decided on CitySighteseeing bus. We took at 2 day pass (don't remember the cost) which would let us hop on and off. We could also switch between the 3 lines (red, blue and orange). There was some confusion about the direction of the bus and when we sat in one, we realised it was going in the direction of Vatican (we wanted to go to the Colloseum). So Vatican is where we went. We reached the Vatican and saw huuuuuuuuuuge crowds. We could hear someone speaking on the microphone. Looked up and saw the Pope himself adressing the crowd. We had reached in time for Sunday mass. We wanted to go to see St Peters Basilica but dropped the idea when we saw the huge lines. Aki was getting a bit upset too so we took the bus and went towards Pantheon. We walked from Piazza Novona, a cute little square to Pantheon, ancient Roman temple. Reached Pantheon and another fountain greets Aki. There is also a little tap which keeps him busy for sometime. We then made our way in the temple. Some facts taken from wikipedia . 'The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus), the Great Eye, open to the sky. A rectangular structure links the portico with the rotunda'. or as Aki said on looking at the roof 'Amma circle.. big circle'. There are huge spheres made of iron just outside the Pantheon. Aki enjoyed balancing on them. He also tried his best to push them.
We then decided to walk towards the Colosseum. Grabbed a pizza slice on the way and some roasted chestnusts. Those chestnuts are the best I have ever had. Warm and succulent. Walked past some buildings that I knew had some significance, but I had no idea what they were. I felt very lost without my research , but in a way liberated. Since I could enjoy and admire them without having a preconceived notion about it. We finally reached the Colosseum and found it closed. The last entry was at 4:30 and we had reached just after 4:45. So it was sad walk back to the bus stop to take the bus back home. Had a shower and then hit the streets again in search of grub. Finally made our way back to the Pantheon and ate at a restaurant in the main piazza. Akshay enjoyed his meal surrounded by lovely Xmas trees and lights. After our meal we headed back to hotel. It had been a long and tiring day.
Last day in Rome and we had still to see Sistine Chapel and Colosseum. So headed off again to Vatican on our tour bus. Another error because of lack of planning became evident , when I though the Sistine Chapel was within St Peters Basilica. So we spent an hour in the Q and headed inside searching for the famous Hand of God ... no not Maradona... famous painting by Michelangelo 'Creation of Adam'. Finally asked the guards and were told it was in the Vatican Library. So ran off .... finally made our way to the Sistine Chapel ... and saw the famous painting. We were surrounded by so much beauty and artistic things, i hope a bit of it rubs onto my son. Well he has become a michelangelo ay home .. busy painting my walls with his crayons. Everytime i think of admonishing him I remember the paintings in Sistine Chapel. Who knows .....
Again a quick slice of pizza to go and we were on our way to see the Colosseum. This time we made it in good time.. and it was well worth the wait. A slice of history right there in front of us. We could almost hear the roar of the crowd egging the galdiators in their fight for survival. The roar of the lions and the tigers. Another tiny growl which sounded quite close.... oops that was just my tummy. Akshay was enthralled by the story of the boar and the lion and tiger that Yogesh spun out for him. He still keeps talking about it.
Soon it was time to take the cab back to the airport. Our hectic trip to Rome had come to an end ... and I didn't even visit the shops which were right at our doorstep.
The people are amazing. Everywhere we went people went gaga over Akshay. Every restaurant we went they were keen to make sure Aki was happy. I guess thats what made this trip a real pleasure. One downside was the absolute lack of baby facilities. We have resorted to changing diapers in the park. Akshay loved the open places .. he could run around and play and best of all he loved the fountains. I have enjoyed my trip to Rome, I hope the coin tossed in Trevi means I will be back soon
Present ... and past
Its Xmas time we have 2 birthday parties to attend. I am frantically running around the shops searching for some presents to buy. What do you buy a kid who has the latest electronic gadgets to play around with. Do you get him another game to play on the computer or the latest wii game ? I was confused. Was still worrying about it when I started to think about my childhood. What did I play with when I was a kid ? I didn't have a computer till I started my first job and our old television could never have connected to a video player let alone a playstation or a Wii. My childhood was filled with sunny days spent running around the building with an army of kids. Sunburnt and hot we used be out there climbing trees and scraping our knees. We hired out cycles and rode around the neighbourhood shouting and screaming. We used to look forward to school holidays because they meant long days filled with excitement and fun. The building backyard transformed into a place of adventure with a new story formed in our minds everyday. Even my older sister and her friends used to to join in our games of 'Teacher Teacher' and 'Home Home'. The stairs became hideouts in 'Hide and Seek'. Lagori and Cricket and 'Dog and the Bone' were staple games. We had imagination and thats all we needed. I am sure we had toys but don't remember sitting home playing with them. Parents weren't worried about sending us out and neighbours were just extension of family. I used to spend hours in their house before amma pulled me away kicking and screaming.
Kids just don't have that kind of fun now. Maybe back home they do, but out here when I see my son all alone I feel a twinge of guilt. On a cold winters day we go to the park and its deserted. Where are all the children ? I hardly know my neighbours. A hurried hi before the bye. Are we so busy we have no time for the simple things in life ? What kind of life will my son and kids like him lead ? Will they ever know the pure simple joy of childhood or will their childhoods be consumed by the Wiis and XBoxes ?
Time to wake up and do my shopping. Bought a construction toy for the birthday boy something his dad could help with. Hope they have a nice time.
Kids just don't have that kind of fun now. Maybe back home they do, but out here when I see my son all alone I feel a twinge of guilt. On a cold winters day we go to the park and its deserted. Where are all the children ? I hardly know my neighbours. A hurried hi before the bye. Are we so busy we have no time for the simple things in life ? What kind of life will my son and kids like him lead ? Will they ever know the pure simple joy of childhood or will their childhoods be consumed by the Wiis and XBoxes ?
Time to wake up and do my shopping. Bought a construction toy for the birthday boy something his dad could help with. Hope they have a nice time.
Friday, 30 November 2007
Shutter Bug
I have got the shutter bug. Just joined a photography club and now I am on the rampage. Anything and everything is clicked and stored in a camera. No one is safe when I am on the prowl.
H,, if only .... I have never been one of those 'creative' kinds, but I am determined to spool out some decent pics. My project is 'Joys of childhood' ... With this project it certainly helps to have a 15 month old .. Will keep blogging.
Bye for now
H,, if only .... I have never been one of those 'creative' kinds, but I am determined to spool out some decent pics. My project is 'Joys of childhood' ... With this project it certainly helps to have a 15 month old .. Will keep blogging.
Bye for now
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
Working Mom
I have been a mom for a year now and working for 6 months of it. One day my colleague told me 'Oh we would love to see a lot more of you in office'. My son had been sick for more than a week and I was working from home. That comment made me realise that career and motherhood don't go well together: especially in the first few years of motherhood. Well to make things clear, I never had a very high-flying career before my son was born, but I was quite ambitious, worked hard, stayed late to complete projects and generally gave 100% into my work. The general opinion was that I did a good job. But things changed quite drastically once I became a mom. My priorities had to shift (quite naturally). I now had someone who depended on me for everything. Balancing work and motherhood is quite tough. I do feel the tussle between professional ambition and motherhood from time to time. How do you kill that feeling of guilt that comes seeping through when you hear your child cry as you leave for work ? Or that sadness that envelopes you when he doesn't seem to mind when you go. How do you concentrate on that all important meeting when you know you child is down with a cold and fever and is refusing to eat whole day ? How can you explain to your colleagues that you are going home at 5:30 cos you came to office long before they arrived and that you need to be with your baby after being away for almost 12 hours ? How can you tell all this to your colleagues all of whom are men ? Most are fathers but somehow they don't seem been wrecked by these thoughts, but then all of them had wives who opted to stay at home to look after their babies. So I have to ignore comments regarding my work ethics and just continue doing my job.
Having a working mom in a company may seem like a bad idea to many, but I think there are many skills that we moms have to offer
Patience : How else can you handle an hyper-active toddler who refuses to do anything you say. These skills will definitely help you tackle any wayward colleague
Time management and Multitasking: Try looking after the house and managing a baby for couple of weeks, you will know the value of these skills.
Innovation and Problem solving skills : Need to think of a 100 different ways to entertain a fussy toddler while he eats his dinner. or think up a different story each night to put him to sleep. What product/creative company would not love to have a person with such imagination ?
So anyone looking for an ambitious, hard-working, talented working mom: you know whom to call ;)
Having a working mom in a company may seem like a bad idea to many, but I think there are many skills that we moms have to offer
Patience : How else can you handle an hyper-active toddler who refuses to do anything you say. These skills will definitely help you tackle any wayward colleague
Time management and Multitasking: Try looking after the house and managing a baby for couple of weeks, you will know the value of these skills.
Innovation and Problem solving skills : Need to think of a 100 different ways to entertain a fussy toddler while he eats his dinner. or think up a different story each night to put him to sleep. What product/creative company would not love to have a person with such imagination ?
So anyone looking for an ambitious, hard-working, talented working mom: you know whom to call ;)
Paris Revisited
September 2007. We decided to revisit the magic of Paris once again, but this time with extended family. I had very fond memories of our last trip to Paris and was hence quite dewy eyed thinking of this trip. I was looking forward to seeing all the romantic sights of Paris.
Pre-trip preparations
Travelling with a toddler is always stressful , atleast for me. I am always asking qts like 'Have i taken enough clothes ?' 'Does he have enough food?' 'Should I take more diapers' ... By the end of my packing I think I had enough food to feed an army and enough diapers to sell in a market !!! Its also funny how travelling with a toddler changes your perspective of the attractions. My only criteria for an attraction was availability of baby changing facility and stroller accessibility !
To and Fro
I would recommend taking the Eurostar if travelling with kids. They have more freedom to run around and enjoy. I cannot speak for our fellow passengers though :D. Return trip was a bit of a nightmare since my son refused to sleep and we had to move away from our assigned seats and go to the area between 2 carraiges to entertain him. Next time I am going to pack more toys for my son !!
Now Paris is a city for the fit and healthy. It can get quite tiring for those who cannot walk long distances , as we soon found out.
Metro
Almost none of the stations in Paris have an escalator, so we spent most of our trip lugging the stroller up and down the numerous stairs. My in-laws were also quite tired walking up and down the stairs. Also, the exits at most stations were not very stroller friendly. There were couple of places where the exit door nearly slammed into the stroller !!! The interchanges between lines is also quite a long walk, but we found that it was much easier to transit between RERs. So we took the RER whenever possible.
People
What Paris lacks in facilities, it makes up with people. We were prepared for a cold reception to our toddler in most places, but to our amazement we found Parisians we quite baby friendly. One of the stations I was lugging the stroller on my own when 2 teenagers came upto me and carried the stroller all the way up. I have never experienced such good manners in teenagers in London !! Also, my son loves to look at people and talk to them and the surprising thing was most of the people responded back. Funniest moment was when a tough looking punk climbed in the train , our son babbled to him and the punk smiled and did a little dance for him !!
Eating
We had 2 issues when searching for a place to eat. 1. We needed a place that would accept babies and 2. We needed something that served vegeterian food. I had printed out a big list of places based on our iterinary, but since we didnt stick to the plan we did have to scourge for places. We found a Korean restaurant near Notre Dame (other side of the river). The food was fantatsic. They didn't have a high chair for our son, but they didnt mind letting him sit with us.
We had dinner at Pooja restauarant in Passage Brady. Passage Brady is full of so called Indian restaurants, but Pooja was the only authentic Indian restaurant. Food was good and we sat outside so our son enoyed watching the rush of people. The last restaurant we visited was an Iranian restaurant on a street off Champs Elysees. The food was yummy and service was good too.
Attractions
I did have a plan of what we could do each day. Given that we were travelling with a toddler and quite elderly in-laws, we knew that we would not be able to see all the attractions. We managed to cover Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees and Montmarte. We did Eiffel Tower at mid-morning when it was a little less crowded, but there was still a long queue for the tickets. I wish there were advance tickets like they have for the London Eye and other London attractions. I did have high hopes of doing some shopping, but luckily for my husband we ran out of time.
The trip was nice but quite tiring and unlike my last paris trip I was looking forward to coming home.
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