This and That

You are liked by everyone until you become competition.

I can't agree more. In fact , this is so fu**ing true. Oops , sorry couldn't hold back from saying it. I think that I have a serious issue with being social. My sun sign says that I love interacting with people and people are my strength. But why is it so difficult to find somebody who matches your interests and can be a little honest with you. Why is this world filled with opportunists and what is with the faking everywhere. In the past few years , I have never found anybody who strikes a chord with me , its not that I haven't tried. Sad , isn't it. In fact I have gone above and beyond in making friends. May be that was my mistake. Husband says that you can only make friends if you choose to ignore some of their qualities. How can I compromise on the core moral values of a human being ? I am better off being single than make friends that way.

Whenever the husband watches TV , I get really cross with him and ask him , don't you have anything better to do ? For that , the only answer he gives me is that he is an average individual and a commoner and likes what most people in the world like and not like me with the rarest kind of interests that I have. Really ? Sometimes I wonder , is trying to sleep on time , respecting other people's time and in turn expecting them to respect mine , doing some introspection , staring out of the window for hours, art , music , a little bit of spirituality, speaking the truth and wanting to do something really worthwhile so wrong ? And dont for a second think that I am praising myself. These are the same qualities that are becoming my "cons".

I sometimes ask my parents why am I like this. Why cant I be okay with imperfect things and mediocre stuff. Its like God has created me with an intention of making me fail , in this big bad , imperfect world. Wherever I go , I face the same challenges. People don't like it when you are better than them. And then of course the "gender-bias". How can this "woman" achieve more than me or rather shall I say , "How can I let this woman achieve more than me". This is more on the work front.

I really love this ad from Titan on Gender Bias.
Change the way you look at a woman's success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNqwBTCslMw


I really miss those college days when I had a few ( but very good ) friends with whom we used to share everything and laugh our asses out and forget the world. The older you become , the more necessary it becomes to have good and trust worthy people around you. Otherwise it feels so lonely. And for a person who relies so much on peer acceptance , I am not really sure it is such a good idea.

May be you really need a very big heart to accept people as they are. But what about reciprocation and stuff ?

I almost sounded like I am suffering from a "Mid-Life Crisis". Sigh!

Rakhi 2016

This time Mahati is much more aware of what Rakhi is all about. Initially she insisted that she will tie a Rakhi to all her female friends as well. We had to slow her down and explain to her that this is not something that you tie to everybody ( made a mental note to celebrate friendship's day next year and make her tie the friendship band to all her friends ) and that it is special and needs to be tied only to her brothers and pray for their safety. She eventually understood ( though she did buy 2 rakhis for herself ;-) ). Just after Mahati was born , on her behalf , I used to send Rakhi's to all her cousin brothers around the word. A tradition that I continue even today. You see what motherhood does to you , I can forget my own brother but I will not forget to send it to Mahati's brothers :). Hope my brother is not reading this ;-).

Anyway coming back to the tradition. So this time , she chose all the Rakhi for all her brothers and I showed it to her before placing them into envelopes with their addresses. The only tragedy was that , I posted them a month ago , but they didn't reach until today :(. Some broken hearts out there. So, I am asking my mom to buy and give it to them on our behalf. Screw the postal system of South Africa :(.



Here , she did tie the Rakhi to JJ and Ethan ( actual brothers of Caithlin and Isabella ) who now officially or traditionally have become Mahati's brothers :). Look at these cute pics. I ensured that she followed the Haarathi before tying the Rakhis. Cute little fellows :). Spiderman Rakhis and chocolate coins.

Gearing up for Mahati's first Ballet Concert

We are gearing up for Mahati's first Ballet Concert. It is such an amazing experience.The youngest group in the school. I am actually quite impressed with the way things are done in this Dance School. The kids and the parents are given ample amount of time and notice to practice and prepare for the final day. It all started 3 months back where parents were given enough notice of the show dates , rehearsal dates which included rehearsals at the school and the rehearsals on stage which were open for us to go and watch.  It's not about how best the kids will perform on the stage , but it all about this whole experience of going through each bit of it. First of all , following the instructions and learning how to move and perform. And then , its about facing an audience and remembering what was taught and trying to do exactly the same. And then its about watching the older kids perform and learn from them. And then , its also about their new cute little outfits , make up and lipstick. I can just keep going on and on. I learnt so much from all this. Remembering all the dates and making time to go and watch them practice , and then compiling her costume , hairdo , makeup etc etc.  I don't have any experience in doing make up at all , can you imagine. And it was for the first time that I bought a red lipstick , especially for Mahati.

I am really blessed that she is able to continue her classes and we have a Nanny who can drive her to the practice class and then back home. I and Ravi did make an effort to take permission and go watch her practice sessions. And yesterday was her full dress rehearsal at the Theater just one week before the actual performance. It was such a overwhelming experience for me , to firstly see so many cute kids around , all dressed up in their own costumes. And then , we had to leave them there for the duration of around 3 hours all by themselves. Again , I am blessed , because Mahati and her best friend Caithlin are in this together and we at least had the comfort that they are together and can lookout for each other. We went to pick her up at around 5:30 PM which was the time given to us and the show had overrun for a while and we got to watch some of the performances. At the very end , there was a session where all the kids would run to the stage in groups , one by one with their names on a big banner , bow down for the audience and form a line. Mahati's group was the youngest of all and that means that they were the last to arrive and the first ones in the entire crowd right in the front. And that mean we could watch them all along. Finally the whole group would perform a small tribute kind of a dance called "My name is Prince....".

Seeing Mahati on stage was such a happy experience. The fact that she was just standing there , (whether she danced well or not was immaterial ) was enough and I really felt that this feeling is so worth all the hard work we had put in, in the last month getting everything ready and in order and taking her for practice sessions ( even on a public holiday ).

I really started admiring the whole culture of these dance schools and the way they prepare for these annual performances. I really wish I had this kind of childhood and I feel that Mahati is so blessed that she is able to experience all of this. God Bless !!

Eagerly waiting for the actual show day. More pics to follow then :).