Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Hamara Bachpan - Came across a lovely article
Came across a lovely article for those of Us Born between 1930 - 1979 in India.
First, we survived being born to mothers who worked and worked while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate Ghee, and didn't get tested and tested 100 times in 9 months.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in cradles covered with brightly colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bicycles, we had
no helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would rarely ride in cars and if we did we had no seat belts, no air bags.
Only bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in a double-decker bus on the top floor was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle ( Forget Mineral water ).
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cake made with Fat, real butter. We sipped on gola and pepsi ice candy.
And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing....that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day & we were back only when the streetlights came on..
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scrap and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After crashing into the bushes a few times, we learnt to solve the problems.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,
no cell phones, no personal computers,
no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and
found them! Never required a networking site.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
We would get spankings with belts, canes, or just a
bare hand and no one would call child services to
report abuse.
We ate imli, karbanda, kala namak made from dirt, and
the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given Bata shoes and 1 full pant for our 10th birthdays,
We made games with sticks, scrap and pebbles .
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Imagine that!!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
And dont forget to tell them that we had a subject called letter writing, they might grow up without writing a single letter in their life.
First, we survived being born to mothers who worked and worked while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate Ghee, and didn't get tested and tested 100 times in 9 months.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in cradles covered with brightly colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bicycles, we had
no helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would rarely ride in cars and if we did we had no seat belts, no air bags.
Only bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in a double-decker bus on the top floor was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle ( Forget Mineral water ).
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cake made with Fat, real butter. We sipped on gola and pepsi ice candy.
And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing....that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day & we were back only when the streetlights came on..
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scrap and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After crashing into the bushes a few times, we learnt to solve the problems.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,
no cell phones, no personal computers,
no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and
found them! Never required a networking site.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
We would get spankings with belts, canes, or just a
bare hand and no one would call child services to
report abuse.
We ate imli, karbanda, kala namak made from dirt, and
the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given Bata shoes and 1 full pant for our 10th birthdays,
We made games with sticks, scrap and pebbles .
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Imagine that!!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
And dont forget to tell them that we had a subject called letter writing, they might grow up without writing a single letter in their life.
World of Hair Dye !
One more persistent thought goes away from my head.
Till now I thought Hair dye is for my Dad/Uncles and elders, but today i get away from this notion since I have also tried this for the first time in my life :) I never thought that one day I will also use and suddenly anything around me related to hair color/dye is not an alien thing.
Date : 9th May, Sunday evening, at age 32, I take this step in my full conscious leave the world of natural all black hairs :)
Thanks to my heredity, the hairs will first start turning grey starting with few, will then take over the complete head and then leave the ground for sun to shine bright on our heads :) when that happens will write again :)
Till now I thought Hair dye is for my Dad/Uncles and elders, but today i get away from this notion since I have also tried this for the first time in my life :) I never thought that one day I will also use and suddenly anything around me related to hair color/dye is not an alien thing.
Date : 9th May, Sunday evening, at age 32, I take this step in my full conscious leave the world of natural all black hairs :)
Thanks to my heredity, the hairs will first start turning grey starting with few, will then take over the complete head and then leave the ground for sun to shine bright on our heads :) when that happens will write again :)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
[Fatherhood] Initial goodies for the coming Angel !
You thought selecting your own clothes/gadgets was hard. Come try what to buy for your coming baby and you will realize that you were thinking wrong. At least you know few parameters about shirt/pants/jeans/at to buy for yourself, but do you know how to buy a baby bed ? Or do you know what a Baby Car Seat comprise of and what parameter you should look into while buying ?
Its really fun to be a kid is realized by parents only. I do not remember what I used to do when from the time of birth to around 4 years old. What I know is just from what my parents say about me. Also after when I was between 5 years old to 10 years old, I remember few things as a flash of pictures in my memory. Same is the situation with us now. We don't know that our coming angel will even realize this now or not, but we are having fun in doing this for sure.
This weekend when we went to get first initial goodies for our coming angel, such memories/thoughts were gushing through my mind. Also started thinking that the kids who have born after Year 2000 or so will/is a separate breed of kids with lot of "prosperity" around them. I remember that we had B&W television in my conscience mind and saw it changing to Color, advent of telephone in our house, coming of mobile phone and then came computers/laptops recently. But post 2000 babies will remember all these things as we remember B&W TVs.
I must say More than baby, the parents can enjoy a lot when they go out for getting few things and doing arrangement for the new infant. Sometimes I think that are recent parents overdoing the things, since things were fine in our childhoods too. But saying that we enjoyed doing what we did :)
So we set out to buy
1. A Baby Bed with bed guard rails around it (Some are without wheels, with wheels, some are portable like made up of material of which bags are made up of)
2. A cushion for it (3 to 5 cms width is fine)
3. A cover over it with one side soft and plastic on the other side so that the cushion remains dry (5 mm to 1 cm is fine)
4. A soft cottony/towel like cover which will be in direct contact with baby (any soft material will do, mostly cotton) This should be prefrably printed with some cartoons so that the baby gets some good feelings. Not sure baby understands that or not :)
5. A soft blanket for the baby (they are of polyester also but mostly cotton is preferable)
6. A soft cushiony bed guard rail cover so that the baby does not come in direct contact with hard bed sides. (they are different sizes. Make sure the perimeter of the guard is covered). This also should have some design baby will stare at this all time...
7. Some initial clothes to be used immediately after birth (some are with buttons, zips, some are without buttons with strings) Strings are preferable
8. A Baby car seat (Some are small without stands, Some are reclining with stands, turnable, Can fit into seat belt from one side/both sides)
9. A baby carrying thing which enable to carry baby in 4 ways..(toughness of the straps, softness of the material and neck support for the baby should be prioritized)
For buying just those things we were shuttling between 3-4 shops for 3-4 times each and took 3 days to make a decision on what to buy :) since we started from understanding the parameters. But in the end the result of gratifying and pleased with the outcome.
We might be wrong in what we selected, but wanted to share what we settled for in the end.
Few months back I used to search of electronics gadget shops for new Apple goodies or new gadgets, but at the same time my eyes now look for baby shops also :) amazing...this is how the changes get into a person without even realizing it.....
Its really fun to be a kid is realized by parents only. I do not remember what I used to do when from the time of birth to around 4 years old. What I know is just from what my parents say about me. Also after when I was between 5 years old to 10 years old, I remember few things as a flash of pictures in my memory. Same is the situation with us now. We don't know that our coming angel will even realize this now or not, but we are having fun in doing this for sure.
This weekend when we went to get first initial goodies for our coming angel, such memories/thoughts were gushing through my mind. Also started thinking that the kids who have born after Year 2000 or so will/is a separate breed of kids with lot of "prosperity" around them. I remember that we had B&W television in my conscience mind and saw it changing to Color, advent of telephone in our house, coming of mobile phone and then came computers/laptops recently. But post 2000 babies will remember all these things as we remember B&W TVs.
I must say More than baby, the parents can enjoy a lot when they go out for getting few things and doing arrangement for the new infant. Sometimes I think that are recent parents overdoing the things, since things were fine in our childhoods too. But saying that we enjoyed doing what we did :)
So we set out to buy
1. A Baby Bed with bed guard rails around it (Some are without wheels, with wheels, some are portable like made up of material of which bags are made up of)
2. A cushion for it (3 to 5 cms width is fine)
3. A cover over it with one side soft and plastic on the other side so that the cushion remains dry (5 mm to 1 cm is fine)
4. A soft cottony/towel like cover which will be in direct contact with baby (any soft material will do, mostly cotton) This should be prefrably printed with some cartoons so that the baby gets some good feelings. Not sure baby understands that or not :)
5. A soft blanket for the baby (they are of polyester also but mostly cotton is preferable)
6. A soft cushiony bed guard rail cover so that the baby does not come in direct contact with hard bed sides. (they are different sizes. Make sure the perimeter of the guard is covered). This also should have some design baby will stare at this all time...
7. Some initial clothes to be used immediately after birth (some are with buttons, zips, some are without buttons with strings) Strings are preferable
8. A Baby car seat (Some are small without stands, Some are reclining with stands, turnable, Can fit into seat belt from one side/both sides)
9. A baby carrying thing which enable to carry baby in 4 ways..(toughness of the straps, softness of the material and neck support for the baby should be prioritized)
For buying just those things we were shuttling between 3-4 shops for 3-4 times each and took 3 days to make a decision on what to buy :) since we started from understanding the parameters. But in the end the result of gratifying and pleased with the outcome.
We might be wrong in what we selected, but wanted to share what we settled for in the end.
Few months back I used to search of electronics gadget shops for new Apple goodies or new gadgets, but at the same time my eyes now look for baby shops also :) amazing...this is how the changes get into a person without even realizing it.....
[Fatherhood]What to say during Labor and Delivery ?
Came across a rare video which talks about what not to say during labour and delivery, one of the things which was on my mind.
But at the end of the video it again left me thinking what should dad should say to mother if those were the things not to day :)
Do spread some light if already some sentences worked for you, or use your creativity to suggest one if not yet :)
Looks like there is a website dedicated to whats dads should support/do during this lovely period.
Link as follows:
http://www.dadlabs.com/
But at the end of the video it again left me thinking what should dad should say to mother if those were the things not to day :)
Do spread some light if already some sentences worked for you, or use your creativity to suggest one if not yet :)
Looks like there is a website dedicated to whats dads should support/do during this lovely period.
Link as follows:
http://www.dadlabs.com/
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