Tag Archive | friends

what I have learned

what i have learned from my son this year…

his first trip to OSHO Ashram

his first trip to OSHO Ashram

D is turning two soon and i have seen him much more mature than a 2 year old should be like. well, all moms want to believe her kid is a unique one and i am no different.
He has taught me to forgive, forget and move on. he has been pushed and pulled and pricked and teased by kids his age and even their moms… what i see is, he plays with the same kids a few days later. this really surprises me about him. he has been taunted and even scolded by mothers of other kids for being a menace he is (and trust me, i am so proud of his naughtiness.. aren’t boys supposed to naughty nosy aunty??) yet he talks and smiles at those moms and aunties like they only mean good for him.

feeding the squirrels

feeding the squirrels

if i say for myself or on your behalf too- we have been misunderstood, misinterpreted, scolded, mocked at, pushed , pulled, tricked, pinched… a lot of this happens with the kids too and still they behave like the world is too beautiful a place to keep all these things in mind and lose all those precious minutes/hours/days in which he can play and enjoy, laugh and jump, doze off after play or even show his love for the kind human race and mute animals. my son taught me how selfish was i to keep all the pain and hurt in my heart and mind all through last year. i had best friends who didnt call me for their birthday parties and weddings, a really really close friend never told me she got a job and even left it, it hurts when your oldie besties you shared cuppa tea with everyday at college are far from you emotionally. initially when i get hurt i try to keep mum about it, then talk about it eventually but they refrain to talk because they want their peace and space. i was once very hurt when my best friend didnt pick up my calls on her birthday and didnt call me on mine just 3 days later.

nothing has to be black or white or gray even

nothing has to be black or white or gray even

the same has happened with my kid.. some of our very closest relatives haven’t called him on his birthday to wish, not that he understands anything yet but he simply doesn’t care. i have been seriously very angry and upset about some people, some events and incidents in this past year and after all that i learned from my son i free myself from all that anguish and anger, pain and hurt… TODAY ITSELF

I FREE MYSELF from all the anger i have for her, for regretting not telling my parents how much i have learned from them and how better a person i am because of them. i free myself from all those memos of guilt when i didn’t behave like a good mom should be, when i shouted at my child because i couldn’t cope up with my own emotional upheavals. because i could not handle him for the 22 month old that he is.

let there be light

let there be light

let it all go… let me just live the way D does- carefree, loving, and forgiving! i want to embrace the world and its beautiful things. i want to tell my loves ones and my best friends what they mean to me. my son has taught me a lot more than what just motherhood should be like. he helps me to be a better person every day. i hope some day he reads this and realizes being a parent is not as easy as being a child is. and “thank you my son” for you showed me what self help books don’t. i shall try to be like you and be a good example for who you should be like when you become a parent yourself. (wow! ain’t i talking about something way too far for ??)

“heal the world, make it a better place… for you and for me and the entire human race!”
-Micheal Jackson.

love,
Kunj

we chat now

Bbm is kinda boring these days with a lot of friends shifting to new android smart phones and my smart move was to download wechat… A free app to chat for free with just everyone on my phone book and anyone other than that I wish to… I often had to depend on facebook inbox msgs for people who I don’t want to share my number with or vice versa!!

Talking to friends is the most important thing.
Now I am happy… Share an i.d and chat with whoever I want to talk to or search new friends too… Yes, Wechat also has this old world charm where I can find new friends in my proximity or elsewhere… Thinking of elsewhere; wish I could add in a few people around this globe and above to my group chat and get done with a lot of muddles that are sprouting in my brain these days. Majorly there are 5 people I would want to add on wechat and talk to them instantly whenever needed….
1.When I was a child my parents used to take me to our family paediatrician- Dr Silhar who has passed away many years ago but he was a genius! He used to hold my hand, feel the nerve on my wrist and tell me what was wrong with me. All my vaccines, all my coughs and cold and all the tiny little things were so wonderfully taken care of that my parents never had to worry about my health and now that I am a mother myself I miss his presence. When my little one cries in the middle of the night, when he coughs out his daily medicine all of a sudden I silently wish in my mind Dr Silhar was here. If only I could add him on Wechat and ask him to track my son’s health record.
2. I only wish it was possible to chat with my ownself sometimes. Whenever I Come across situations where I have to choose between heart and mind which is happening more often these days and majorly the mind wins over the heart. I wish I could talk to the inner me where only the heart talks and I listen. I listen to the solutions ‘it’ thinks is right for me. I listen to how ‘it’ feels about people around me. I listen to compassion and I listen to my real self which gets lost in this materialistic run around to survive life. There has to be someone so secret to chat with all my good and wicked feelings, someone who will guide me to truth and not greed, someone who will be honest and not playful. The heart is the only one who can say all this to me, if only I could chat with that inner self on wechat it would resolve a lot of issues in a jiffy and someday make me a better person.
3. The third person I want to add to my wechat is my husband !! Someone who works for 14 hours a day… Goes to work early and comes home late… His phone lines are either busy or he has 2 little minutes to talks to me. I wish he would download wechat soon or a better idea- i shall download it for him secretly. I’m sure he would manage to reply to me through those 14 hours. Reviving one’s love life after marriage is of utmost importance. And why not, a little romantic chat can make us happy and even not bother his work or my kitchen hours. Right from telling him how special he is to asking for a small coffee date late night; a 2 minute chat can bring back the old charm. How wonderful it would be to re-read what lovely things he replies back to me. Happy in love means happy in life.
4. I want my bestest friend- also a new mommy like me to be a part of this wechat group… Neha ! Hour child is a year and a half now while my son is a month and half old!!! There is so much to learn from her. Everytime I am confused on why my son is crying I text her, everytime he refuses to sleep I look upto her for some lullaby tips. She has been there and done that and hence a super help for me. Would not it be nicer if she was on the same chat window and I don’t have to send her texts across the country ( secretly I even feel if s.t.d sms rates weren’t applicable I would have asked/referred/talked/seeked advice more and more often through out the day. It would be nice to have this experienced momma around all the time everytime I need her.
5. Well, the 5th person I would love to have in this wechat group would be carrie bradshaw ( sarah jessica parker’s character in sex and the city series). Carrie has a huge influence in my life and it would certainly mean a lot to me if she was easily available to chat. Her wit and sensibility is what inspires me the most. ‘ If only I could meet her in person’ has always topped my secret wishlist. Carrie writes in her books the flawless truth, the truth about relationships, the truth about marriage and the truth about finding one’s true inner self that everyone has to face someday. Her words and wiisdom will always keep me cool in days when my husband doesn’t answer my calls, when my peadiatrician says my son has fever, when my best friend says it will take some time for his immunity to conquer so just wait and relax, when my heart says this had to happen someday so just face it. My world revolves around my newborn right now and carrie would have been the best counseller for me so that my impatience will not ruin my friendship and my relationships. A support via words.

Wechat group is the perfect place if all these people can chat with me in the same window. I live a new life right now. Life of a new mother and I need all the love and support I can get. All the understanding and wisdom. All the affection and advises. If you have any of these or need some- we can always share. My wechat i.d is Amomsdiet
Check the wechat commercial here-
http://youtube.com/user/WeChatIndia?feature=chclk&desktop_uri=%2Fuser%2FWeChatIndia%3Ffeature%3Dchclk
Find me there, let’s talk 🙂
Cheers!
Kunj

am i a good mom?

He was in my womb for 39 weeks!! and i was all ready to love and take care of him once he was out and now he is 20 days old while i wonder each day…
am i producing enough milk?
am i giving him enough attention?
do i need to change my food habits?
am i eating the right nutrition ?
is he receiving the right nutrition??

all these are nightmarish questions that google my brains for answers and i fail to provide a relevant one each time….
but i have this set of beautiful mommy friends…
friends from my p101 gang, and we chat a lot over wats app!! we discuss our kid’s cranky situations and share pics/videos of how beautiful our little ones are growing up..
mine little sleepy fellow is the youngest one of all (20days)… with the eldest one 4 months old.

these girls give me a sense of belonging… that i belong to the world of motherhood and that some day as time passes i will be just fine; i will be able to understand why he is crying so much… i wil be able to understand what food i intake makes him gas-prone.
and i am loving every difficult and lovely moments with my little one right now…
a little note of a big thank you to my lovely girls- prachi, payal, shaili, shruti, vijayeta and dhara…
they have been the only and the best friends in ahm now.
we share an equilibrium that is bonded via our little cute ones.

what have i been eating these days to make the milk flow go zoom???
here are the pics:
basically hot in nature- papaya.

suva dana (dili seeds); helps improve digestion .. since i am resting most of the time and eating more than usual.

protein powders once a day in milk… these are two different varieties i tried… a detailed blog on them coming soon.

katlu: one of the wonders of food world! it reduces back pain, increases milk flow and keeps my energy level high! lots of benefits!
a recipe shall follow soon.

a mid night milk and wheat biscuit routine… i know biscuits are not a post- delivery food but who can cook at 4 in the morning?? certainly not me!!

a detailed wat to eat and wat not in the 40 day confinement period in my next blog.
till then,
to all the mommies out there…
be happy to make ur kid happy.
a happy mom = a happy kid!
cheers!
kunj

busted happy weekend

 Even when a lot of things went wrong on the weekend that just passed by; it was still so beautiful with all its flaws…
the gobbling up of a whole pizza— i have never eaten the whole of this thin crisp tomato gravy oregano n cheese at one go!


 and while i ate all of this i surfed the internet looking for good online deals 

totsy.com is a good website in case u dont mind paying in $ for shipping.
the later half of the day saw me mingling with friends over dinner… they got me this <3 <3 how i have always loved cham cham from 'bengal sweets'
bengal sweethttp://awomansays.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bengal-sweet.jpg
compensating for the 1 and 1/2 piece i ate i let the meal be strictly salad types!
they way i did the other day . and added this to the after meal snack,
 

all this happened on saturday… i believed i managed to balance my calories but sunday turned out to be the same… (ewwwww)

why is it so difficult to stay away from ice creams??? why do they make my will go weak??
mint milk chocolate has always been my fav! 

 
a friend forwarded this to me… and i so agree with the thought!!! immediate action was taken.. and results were seen…
 

all is well that ends well… i had a wonderful weekend even when it had lots of unplanned calories… lots of rubbish gossip with my girlies… and a lot to be happy about!!! 
how was ur weekend??
btw… my march giveaway has ended, will announce the winner tomorrow…
do catch up on the blog !
cheers!
 aavjo 🙂
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my last potluck

 I remember when I came to Ahm, I  didn’t like the place initially… truely speaking its more happening city than my hometown but somehow the streak of being lonely without a bunch of good old friends made me dislike the place… INITIALLY.
Later I made some friends, and found a good job with a publishing house as a creative director and the whole free time got converted into busy working hours. I realized I needed more friends to feel fresh once in a while but could make only a few- friends who are friends to my husband.
Until P101 happened!
I met some amazing girls and I knew I could fit in right there and make myself a bunch of friends who I could chat around and hang out with, share a meal or just talk about morning blues over wats app!!

a few months with them had been amazing, meeting them every morning for our ritual class sessions, talking over silly mid night cravings and loving every movement we spent smiling and laughing over conversations. we even had lots of potluck sessions. at my first one I was really shy, I didn’t know what to do and how to go about it… I was a newbie back then. the others that followed were fab nevertheless i enjoyed all of them

And here comes that time I had my last potluck session… a lot of food and saying good byes with a heavy heart!
my last day at P101; VJ wanted a foodie farewell to me and my bump! and why not, i practically grew larger with all of them *giggles*

 
From pasta to infamous gujju handvo and poha and cholle bhatura and halwa… it was a delight!
we gorged into all things with a lot of delight!

geeta(the tall mommy to be)- also clicking away pictures… i wonder why she hasnt shared them with us yet…

 the entire meal… and hiding under the silver lid is the halwa VJ’s mom made… it was awesome 🙂

VJ- she just delivered a baby girl last evening… mwaaahhh… u are one gorgeous mommy!

Godmother to all the kiddos- Rita… she has been there during our mid night cramps and shallow mood swings, from cribbing about m-i-l to pushing us to exercise and make ourselves fitter as we gain baby weight!
ohhh… the goodies she prepares for us and the laughs we share with her… her lovely morning smile and the way she greets us with her special ‘how are you today?’ is filled with so much of warmth.
I truly miss her a lot now.
p.s rita, i am sorry i have a very different looking pic here… but this is how i remember u, in your tracks smiling away, running around for us making us feel at home.

 
and here is a picture of all my beautiful girls- with vj missing.

 
i love u all <3 <3
cheers to a wonderful motherhood !
🙂



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diwali potluck 504

Diwali had one more potluck to see, last night !

yesterday morning was dull. had nothing much to do on a sunday post diwali… woke up late to be greeted with a dry (sans butter/jam/sugar) breakfast.

potluck


the day began with a potluck planned for the evening, and i was thrilled as it was at my bestie samina’s place- block 504. the bengali miya-biwi lives alone in a gujju land so i carried some typical new year snacks for them and tried a little hand on baking

potluck

tried baking brownies in microwave! 10 minutes and hot fresh raisin brownie was ready to hog into!

diwali


it definitely turned out good because we had it before dinner! moist, aromatic, delicious… loved it! 

the food is not something i would want to paste pics of here… the kitchen was messy and so were our plates n bowls. but it was a lovely day spent together… late night we craved for some more dessert.
no place in town was open to serve us ice cream… we landed up in tgb’s 24hour coffee shop.

diwali

the fruit pastry i ordered. could have been more soft and moist and less creamy and more fruity…

diwali

the choices i had… oh! let it be.. i prefer local bakeries more. somehow these only looked good. samina’s chocolate dessert was not so good!


the lights on my way back:

and the ones i lighted at home:
diwali

happy diwali guys 🙂 and wish u all a prosperous new year…
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aavjo 🙂

diwali potluck 101

Diwali has always been my favorite part of the year… its like christmas for us at home. the christmas we see in hollywood movies… certainly diwali that is shown in bollywood movies is a little more than realistic. there are no women clad in heavy clothing ready to dance in the background as the kuwari girl sings and dances to lure all the kuwara-s of the tinsel town- things like this doesnt happen in real. what happens in real is lots of lights, colors, new painted houses, well furnished homes, rangolis, new clothes, lots of delicious food and of course firecrackers!

i had quit bursting crackers since middle school. the whole pollution and hurting the birds and environ factor had seeped in too deep and now i believe in an eco-friendly diwali. this year was my first diwali in sasural… my in-laws made sure its a great one with lots of love and care. hubby darling made sure i dont miss my home, my friends and my family. such a swweettheart!

even at P101 we celebrated with one more potluck!
this time i made sure i make a dish that is favored n loved by all… i began searching the whole town for taco shells. being new to ahm it was difficult to search for it- for a moment i felt the whole ahmedabad was eating tacos last night, i didnt find shells at the best places in town but i managed to find a few at the dead of night ! 12 midnight… 10 hours before the potluck.

we made some color-flower rangoli too before the potluck n movie marathon began…

diwali

what more?
food food n lots of food
payal’s bhel… actually she is d one who has made us all girls go ga-ga over food parties! her food is addictive!
 

potluck

from right to left- shweta’s gatte ki sabzi and parantha, my taco beans with veggies and cheeze, and swati’s yummmmmyyy sandwich! cant believe that girl can cook so fab! loved it ! and oh yea… next to my red beans are the amazing pasta by Dhara! loved it to death! 
 

potluck

the muthiya and the idli, the dhokla and the mango milkshake!! what a spread! it was like a grand wedding menu 🙂
 

diwali

ending on a high sweet note. brownies and chocolate cake.
 

potluck

i had half servings of all 3 sweets keeping calories in mind. the mango milkshake prachi made and the brownies …. errr.. i forgot her name! it was spongy n yummy ! ekdum jhakaas. 

potluck

the rangoli stayed up the whole time… with our dumbells in the corner 🙂

diwali

we were all fed with lots of food and love n laughter… by the time movie began… we were moving towards a sweet sleep hour. we decided to postpont the movie plan and 4 hours later went home to sleep and dream of all the yummy time we had. 
i suggest every pregger lady to join p101 because of the all the happiness and good health we are surrounded by. 

more of diwali blog coming tomorrow. its time for a good night sleep and waking up to more beautiful colorful gujju new year. 

cheers!
aavjo 🙂

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indulges

Spend the beginning of this week at my parent’s place. there’s nothing more wonderful than spending time with mum dad and the most cutest nephew in the world! i can give up anything to see him smile 🙂

before i left on Sunday evening… my Sunday morning began with making coriander Khichu payal style but it didnt really look or taste the same…

indulges

and i indulged on a pop-sickle candy to make up for the amazing taste i was craving at the navratri festival that evening… no! i wasnt allowed to play this year (health issues) , i simply watched, ate and enjoyed 🙂

indulges
the most wonderful three days of fun and comfort followed after that evening, a short visit to my parents place…
and the things i poked my teeth into-
vegetable hakka noodles- indian style !  the way i demanded it.
thanks to my closest girl friend VT. i had requested her to make these splly for me. 
indulges

they were piping hot and i had two plate-full of it… craving to have more of it the next time i am there…

indulges

a tall glass of what i would call as… fererro rocher sin! a ferrero thick shake at 2am in the night with my love- PG. 


and the most awaited thing : mango pulp! awwwww…. this tastes so yummy even after season.


the trip was over even before i could fully enjoy it.
by the way, guess who greeted me in the parking area when we were back?

yay! three of them.. cute puppies for everyone in the building to play with. hahah…

so how was ur week? what all marvelous things u ate/drank?

cheers!
aavjo 🙂

the Burrp ! Brunch

It was a beautiful morning today, i was up and ready a little early than usual , had my daily dose of almonds with milk and a quick rush to the friday exercise class at P101. little did i know i would be greeted with food (read starry eyes and watering mouth) by payal and vijayeta… 
oh my! 
all the exercise and calorie-output got squashed by my love for food!

Brunch

 shaily and vijayeta were the first ones to help themselves…

Brunch

mwaah to Payal Shah who once again created the same khichu magic she did the last time here. this time i got the recipe too 🙂

Brunch

 who can resist those cute idlis (as shruti calls them); the chutney and sambhar were irresistible too… wish they were piping hot as well… but hell! who needs steamy food when we have hot ladies around! 

Burrp

as we all indulged in idli-sambhar-chutney and ‘world famous’ khichu (as Rita calls it) i kept an eye on what Vijayeta had brought for us.
Dangeedums is a pastry shoppe i had heard about, never tasted its delicacies since its not near to my place… the good thing- my friend here (in the pic) got it for me 🙂

Burrp

Burrp

don’t these babies look like they need to be eaten away right NOW??? 
killer look!

with due respect to the exercise i just had… i had only half of it… though i could not resist and had two spoons of the other half resting in the left corner later. (punch me on the face for all those calories!!)

the

by the time i cleaned my bowl of every delicately baked morsel.. i went burrpp… it was full house inside my tummy.. no space for lunch so i kept it simple. (a small) coconut water… wish it was chilled :/

the

and my gooseberry (replacement for vitamin C) with some iron and calcium’s before i left for work.

the

what awaited me at the workplace??


a huge juicy gulab jamun with cardamom seeds and lots of sugary syrup oozing out! a colleague got it for me… could not say ‘no’ to her. 

what a day it has been… the rest of the evening has been planned to be calorie free… only IF that happens… fingers crossed… i am too stuffed for anything today.. munching on one more gooseberry while i write this post.

what has been your greatest indulgence by now?

cheers!
aavjo 🙂 

my first potluck

I haven’t made many friends since i have shifted to ahmedabad last year. i only remember hanging out with PG and his friends and all those fellow hometown people who have shifted here/or on random visits. 
so here i was on my first potluck with a bunch of beautiful women at P101 in Prahladnagar. so far i only know their names… i am sure i am gonna make some girlie buddies soon 🙂
my entree for the potluck. a chick pea-bell pepper salad loaded with a high level of protein and vitamins.

my first


the music therapy before the potluck by Prachi was awesome (no pictures, will capture a few next time). she is a psychologists and knows just how well music helps sooth our mind and heart. i have never had such a unique experience before. regret not taking pics.
the lunch spread that afternoon-

potluck
my chick pea salad and aloo paratha on the right corner…i m not sure how many liked it. sorry for the dull picture. i took it all on my phone. the bread bell pepper pizza were amazing, there was some handvo, idli… the most amazing coconut chutney i have had (no clue who made it!) samosas… i had a small one.. wanted to avoid high calories. 

potluck

the biryani and curd- touched my taste buds… spicy and lovely aroma! just perfectly cooked rice. i totally dig it, and muthiya… no clue what’s it called in english/hindi !
more idli sambhar n chutney and aloo parantha 🙂

my first

some pau bhaji… just the way i like it- beautiful color with lots of veggie and medium spicy. i cannot handle hot spicy food. so i loved it. and the entry on the left corner. rice khichu! the most most most delicious dish on the table. i need Payal to give me its recipe soon when we meet next. she got some oil n spices as add-ons 🙂

my first


the spread was so grand i could only taste it all and i was already filled up.
though i knew some special sweet dish was to arrive and kept a little space for it. 
had three platters- 

my first

the incredible khichu with oil n spice add-ons. i wish i began with that and could eat more of it. felt a little shy asking Payal for packing a little more to take it away. :/


the sweets soon lined up. our host and owner of P101 Rita had spread out bananas and candies and wheat pie/sukhdi for the pretty ladies-

i had an amazing chocolate fudge prepared by meenakshi-

and another sweet lady got these for us, i picked out all 5 colors thinking they are different flavors. but they are all the same, and they taste really good. pocket sizes and a grt grab in case meal is atleast 30minutes away and your tummy is growling. you may buy some here.


off to home after a grand meal… will post on the chick pea recipe tonite. meanwhile just boil some water and soak chick peas into it… around 200 grams, go out to the market and buy bell peppers- in yellow green and red! 
see ya all later…

do u have any quick potluck recipe that isnt very messy to carry around and eat as well? plz do share folks.

cheers!
aavjo 🙂