I got up today quite clueless about what to do- today's BSK got cancelled and suddenly the whole day seemed to open up in front of me like an endless possibility..With Shankar flying to Goa first thing in the morning it became obvious that it was just the 3 of us.. I thought of things to do but nothing materialized..but one thing became apparent -the tone of the day was set in positivism & gratitude. I checked my FB account and found people thrilled about Chellu's cooking..Also felt very nice to share pictures of our Canada's trip on Vidya Natarajan's request..When you start the day receiving and giving appreciation then it is bound to go in the right direction!
God had already decided the day for me..I got a clue when my house-help got her daughter Shravani to play with the girls..We have been talking about it for quite sometime now. I've been urging Meena to get her child for the BSK class as well as to play with the girls and with the toys in our house. I've often felt that we need to share more often the abundance we have in our lives with those that don't. Meena has been borrowing toys and books for quite some time now and I guess she got finally convinced to get her girl. She also wants Shravani to learn English from us- so the arrangement seemed like a win-win situation for us since I've wanted the girls to interact with more Marathi speaking kids.
From the moment Shravani arrived the girls were thrilled. The 3 of them spent a good 4 hrs completely in tune with each other. Shravani only spoke Marathi while the girls spoke Hindi. But an hour or so into the playdate it was magical as to how they started using Marathi words!! Wow! That's the power of human interactions- THE BEST WAY TO LEARN. Languages can never be taught--they can only be spoke and heard and learnt. I was so happy to see the girls completely share their toys and everything else with Shravani just as they would with their bldg and other friends. No differentiation- thanks to Swadhyay and to a certain extent to the travel that HSing has got into our lives, they have got so used to socialization with all sorts of people irrespective of their languages, classes, background etc..This is IMMENSE & will be such a strength of theirs. To be able to befriend everyone irrespective of how different they are! After a lunch together Meena came to pick up Shravani & thus came a beautiful play-date to an end. We can't wait to receive Shravani again after a week. Also was excited when Meena invited the girls to come and play in their house. I'm sure once that starts, the girls will pick up Marathi in no time! See ? Learning can happen everywhere, anywhere..In fact community based mentoring is the BEST way to learn. To soak ourselves in each others' lives and find our teachers in the most common yet uncommon places. I've started to fall in love with this concept of community based mentoring!!
Next came Henry's bday party. I'm telling you God had chalked out the day for me! Shreedhari asked me once or twice in the morning as to whether it was already evening? When asked why she promptly replied that today was Henry the Chicken's ( her fav soft toy these days!) birthday and that she is throwing a bday party..I didn't give it much attention then but realized later on that the girls had planned it ALL OUT. Once Shravani left they got to work. They wanted to decorate the room first for the party and didn't want me anywhere near them. So I picked up a book and relaxed for the afternoon and eventually drifted off to sleep. When I got up I was utterly surprised- the girls had climbed up the ladder to get the decorations from the loft, used them beautifully around the room including cleaning up and arranging their paintings beautifully and had even taken a bath to become spotless! They had also dressed up the bday girl ( yes Henry Cherry is a girl!) in some chamkili type cloth that I had purchased for Ganpati decorations.
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| Chellu works on the bread cake |
Next thing they wanted to go to the destination center (DC) themselves to buy bread and yogurt to make the bday cake! This is the 2nd time in the week they have wanted to shop by themselves. And DC is a good 15 mins walk ( for adults) one way involving crossing traffic ( inside Magarpatta itself)! I tried to dissuade them but they were hell bent! So off they went and came a good 40 mins later. I can't believe it sometimes- that these girls have learnt to cross the road & to shop by themselves. Shruthkirti has started to show a keen interest in subtraction ever since she started to shop, so that she knows she gets the right amount back. Truly Life is the BEST teacher.
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| Kunju ofcourse breaks into a jig! |
Chellu then got to work and made a bread cake with a topping of chocolaty yogurt- an idea she got from watching Wake Up Sid. They invited Dhriti who arrived promptly and then the party began. It was funny for me to see how in ALL HONESTY they sang for Henry and also cut the cake , that too with the special knife that we had purchased for Kunju's bday. Chellu then got the eco -friendly disposable cups to distribute the cake to everyone--it was as though they had planned EVERYTHING OUT. Amazing!- their sense of planning & execution. This is management at its best!
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| The Birthday cake! |
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| Birthday girl |
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| Toys arranged for decorations |
Decorations
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| More decorations |
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| Cutting the cake |
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| My house help joins the celebrations |
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| Chellu distributes the cake |
Then came the Dandiya! Wow today was truly a seamless flow of positivity. We all got dressed in our best Dandiya attire and set off to Seasons Mall to participate in the Dandiya competition. We didn't go for competing at all. In fact I went purely for Kunju's sake -since she LOVES to dance and ONLY dances the entire day! It was really for her- for her learning and enjoyment. While the girls and I danced separately initially , eventually we started to dance together since they LOVE to dance with me. And I love it too. Its a diffn kinda magic -to dance with your girls.We had the loveliest time together. While Chelul eventually tired up, Kunju was NON-STOP. Danced the entire night...she was in her best form..you could see her spirit shining literally, just like how Chellu is when she is cooking. My gosh- this is TRUE learning. When the body, mind and spirit are engrossed in an activity. Like nothing else matters, like the whole world can go to hell! She came up with all sorts new steps, some funny even that made me laugh! OMG! i'll never forget those hrs of dancing with her..It was a privilege of sorts to have witnessed it! And guess what? When the prizes were announced Kunju gets selected for Best Female Kid Dancer!! Well, I'm not surprised at all since she was really the only kid who literally danced thru the event for a good 3 hrs! She has been thrilled with the prize giving ceremony and asked me to call up her dad & grandparents to convey to them the good news!
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| Getting all decked up for dandiya |
Wow! What a day..A gift from God ? A miracle of sorts? A day that let me witness the magic & miracle that my children are? A day that lest me realize how precious they are? These are the days I thank my stars AGAIN & AGAIN for having chosen HSing, for having prioritized my kids over work, career etc...so that I can live every moment with them and witness their lives in all its entirety and silliness- whether its the birthday celebration of Henry the chicken or whether its trying to keep up with the dance steps of Shreedhari! And they are SO MANY such days. Where the girls keep doing stuff that seem nothing short of miracles..that's the beauty of not sending one's kids to school!
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