Rashmi's Space

This is a sponsored post for Kellogg's Chocos #Khuljaye Bachpan Campaign and was first published on MyCity4Kids.com The first two months of the year are done and dusted and here we are in the month of March. Yes, the very month that brings with it a lot of special things – it brings the season of Spring to town, it brings us celebrations of womanhood, it brings us the extravagance of colours that takes family bonding to a whole new level, it brings us the  anxiety of exams ; and the most special for me, it brings my little one’s birthday! Bang in the middle of the exams, right on the day when there will either be Science or a Maths exam, is when my little one’s birthday usually happens to be! And while all my family “tch tch”es at this –  ‘bechara, birthday ke din exam likhega!’  – neither my little one nor I are ever too concerned about it (so far). In fact, we take it in our stride; and this year decided to up the ante by having a birthday party in the e...

This is a sponsored post for Kellogg's Chocos #Khuljaye Bachpan Campaign and was first published on MyCity4Kids.com  It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and the much awaited weekend is finally here! As I open my eyes to this blissful realization, I turn to look at the time on my phone and end up looking at the date. In an instant I am awake and my anxiety levels are soaring!  There goes my weekend; and the week after that; and the weekend after that too!  I almost cry. It’s the weekend before my little one’s exams are to begin! And while he continues to sleep, oblivious to what I am going through, I panic, thinking how I am going to cram the entire portion – four chapters each of six subjects – in just two days! Yes, only six subjects; and only with four chapters each. My little one is only in Grade II. But if you are a parent who has a child in the same age-group or older; I am sure you can probably understand this better. You see, it is much easier...

Baffled by the title? Let me explain. I was recently watching the 1980’s classic Bollywood movie  Khoobsurat  and there was this scene where the female protagonist breaks into an impromptu song and urges us to think  what if?  – What if birds swam in the ocean and the fish flew; what if coffee was available every time we opened a tap and candy and toffees grew on trees; what if the Sun was blue and the Moon was red; what if we slept on a table and ate on a bed…what if, what if, what if…. And that got me thinking! (Now you see the problem with having a vivid imagination?) Well, it got me thinking,  what if things weren’t the way they always are in the real world? But, I wasn’t indulging in as ingenuous thoughts of the lyricist as mentioned in the song ( watch here ); but something else entirely – You see, I had just read the morning papers and checked my FB feed; and was raring to have a go at the things that were really annoying; b...

It was raining heavily. What had begun as a little drizzle yesterday had turned into a steady rainfall by night. Today had dawned bleak and grey, and there were reports of flooding in most low lying areas of the city. This was precisely why Nysa was forced to stay at home today. Might as well , she thought; as the water droplets rolled down her bay window. I better make the most of this forced shut-down she thought. I’ll check out the box today, she decided. She was supposed to clean out a box of memorabilia sent to her by her cousin last week. Her grandmother had passed away last month and this box contained the items she had left Nysa. She went into the spare bedroom to retrieve the box her cousin had sent her. The first thing that caught her eye, was the name “Auwa” written in bright red marker by her cousin. The word meant ‘mother’ in Kannada, and Nysa remembered her grandmother had always been called Auwa – by her children and by her grandchildren too. Looking at...