The story unfolds...

Scene: morning, inside apartment. The hero has just woken up, and has finished his bath. The father comes into the room.

Father: son, have you done potty?
Hero: no dad.
Father: son, do potty! Your grandfather will have to try to fit into an airplane bathroom if you don't do potty now!
Hero: I don't wanna potty now!
Father: son! Drink water, walk around! Move those bowels!
Hero: dad!!!!
(Sadly, potty does not happen at home).

Scene change: travelled to airport to drop off hero and his grandfather. Distraught farewell.
Father: son! You still haven't done potty! Oh the agony! How will my father take care of you! Nooooooooo! Grandfather, pls make sure he drinks a lot of water and does potty before he gets on the flight! What will you do otherwise!!
(Sadly, potty has not shown any inclination to visit at the time of the farewell)

Scene change: father back home, missing our hero, phone call before the final departure.
Father: grandfather, did potty happen!? Noooo!!?? Oh no!!!!
Grandfather: what shall I do! Oh woe is me!! How will I manage the child!!
Father: take care father! I wish you all the best!!! (Chokes in fear).

Scene change: grandfather has landed, hero has still not done potty. Grandmother has stepped into the picture.
Father: grandmother, do we have any symptoms of touchdown?
Grandmother: not yet! What time was the last touchdown?
Father: 9:00 pm yesterday!
Grandmother: I shall take immediate action! Do not fear! Amama is here!
Father: my son! Be well!

And the saga continues, as we wait for our hero to finally make it to the bathroom and drop the vile and vicious potty!!!
(Hero's action throughout the scenes: oblivious unconcern).

Age..

Takes away a youthful energy. A childhood optimism. Focuses your energy more on things that can go wrong and less on the fun that can happen. And to people in art, takes away the very talent, the very soul that drove you for so many years. It breaks your heart to see a singer who cannot sing as well, a dancer who cannot move, an artist who can barely talk, a model who has lost her looks... Age suddenly makes a hero a sudden heart patient. A cool mom a memory.

Old age is cruel... And youth is never prepared for what it can do.

Traffic

Traffic is a normal (yet frustrating) part of our loves in Mumbai at least. And I just realized - we can get through the traffic, if we can only explain what caused it. Our minds want to believe that each day there is a reason for the traffic - a road re-work, burst pipe, festival, car break down. But if we spend 1-2 hours more than 'usual' and don't have a reason for it, we are even more frustrated, because what made us lose that time? There has to be a reason!!!! Else how we get through the next one?!?

Testing

Testing upload cos me changed passwords post the heartbleed bug...

Techno life :)

So I use my phone and technology so much, I could probably have a 'He' movie made in my life, except I do have humans I interact with. But as I always say, technology can let you down so easily, though today's incident was complete human error.

I have alarms for everything. I find reminders with their 1-snooze-only not enough, not to mention the effort it takes me to setup a reminder. So I use alarms. For waking up (expected), for my medicines (yes I'm old), and for leaving the house on time for Kiaan's school and my office (shake your head all you want, I am rarely late). For updating the driver extra expenses. For night meds. Etc etc.

And then comes along my laziness. Holiday for Kiaan yesterday. Didn't want to deal with usual-early-morning-alarms. So turned them off. And set one for my office time. Unfortunately, forgot to set a 'turn all alarms back on' alarm :), and so obviously no alarm went off this morning!

Thank god (a) my hubby was up, and (b) my son is an angel who grumbles but gets up and accepts my apology (grudgingly). So we ended up being only 15 mins late for school.

All alarms are back on now :). Maybe I'll set a 'check all alarms' alarm for the night ;).

Buggy men

Both husband and son are idiots. Love them and take care of them and they have no time for you. Get mad at them and ignore them and suddenly you are the most important and valuable thing in their life. Which means I have to be in a state of perpetual anger to get any attention or perpetual unrequited love (yes I know that sounds overly dramatic and I don't care :)).

Men are idiots.

2013 gone

Good or bad? Does a date change really herald a change in life? Does 'what you do on the first day of the year denote the direction of the rest of the year'?

We did start 2013 in the hospital. And I did have a lot to do with hospitals after that. But what a year it was. Heart attacks, fires, son's 5th birthday, Sherrin's first solo album, dad's new car, 10th wedding anniversary, first Diwali at the new house. So much good, so much bad.

And so much change that I want - but I want that everyday, not just 'starting today'. More patience, more joy, less pain, less frustration. And we all resonate with each other most today, as we all recap our lives and hope for something better.

But tomorrow it will be yet another day. SSDD. A year is only a bracket of days that you can use to maybe compare to another bracket of days. Change is not year or year but day on day.

So happy new year to all. It's just a fun date change :).