Rashmi's Space

It was a weekday evening. I was outdoors with my little one. The sun was shining down brightly on us. We were both happy to be out in the open after being cooped up in the house for over a week when the little one had had his exams, and I had been fighting deadlines; not to mention the cold we had both been battling the past ten days. And so it was, that breathing in the fresh early evening air, we were both looking forward to our time out in the open! The little one had big plans of taking his bicycle for a spin. I was planning to take a good long walk on the greens around the apartment complex. He had his helmet and ipod on. I had my playlist ready on my phone. When we stepped out of the lift, we were greeted by the wonderful chirping of birds and a light breeze that was blowing just then. I took a big, deep breath. We bid each other goodbye, and my little one rode off on his bicycle in the direction opposite to the one I turned to, for my walk. All was right with the wor...

We are all taught right from childhood that being merely ‘okay’ isn’t enough. That we should be first in the race, not be in the ‘also ran’ category, because, of course, there is always room at the top; and that we can get there if we can only push ourselves to the maximum possible extent. And we believe this our entire lives and keep pushing ourselves more and more and more. And when we have children, we teach them the same thing. We teach them to be the ‘top of the bunch,’ to ‘push themselves to excel in whatever they do.’ We tell them, “if you want to do something, do it the best, otherwise there is no point doing it!” We tell them, “no one remembers the second best, but no one forgets the best! So be the best!” We tell them, “It is important to be someone people look up to, and not someone who isn’t even noticed!” But have we, even once, thought if it is really necessary to excel at everything we do? Why is it that we have this compulsion to be ‘the best’? And reall...

Many different teachers come in our lives and initiate us in this world through their passion and with the help of their own experience and knowledge. And while each of them do justice to this calling in their own special way and while every single one of them is special, there is always one or the other who is a particular favourite with children. Of course, this has more to do with the children than the teacher herself/himself; because one seeks and relates to only what one can appreciate. And so, if you want to know if there’s a certain teacher your little one thinks is special, and why, the best way to do that, is to ask the little one directly! For me, this was much easier till a few years back, when, like they show in advertisements, I could sit with my little one, a plate of cookies between us on the table, and pretended to ask him casually, who his favourite teacher was. Because, that time, you see, he was so young and so naïve, he would be happy to chat. But as he gro...

“Mum, I want rasam to drink.” the little one declared. “Sure, give me ten minutes, will give you. But why rasam? Are you feeling a cold coming on?” I asked worried. “No, no, I just felt like it. Just for the taste.” he said nonchalantly. I stood in the kitchen, trying to come to terms with the fact that my little one, who has till now never asked for rasam specifically, in fact, who has even refused to have rasam whenever I have offered it to him as a cold or cough remedy, was suddenly asking me for this concoction, no demanding it just for the taste! And even as I was still taking this in, I heard him go out and speak to his Dad. “I am having rasam before dinner Dad, would you like some too? I can tell Mum to make for you as well…” he asked his father. “Sure! Go ahead,” the father happily replied. So in walked my little one again to deliver the order for one more bowl of rasam and as he went out, his father asked him “You like rasam, is it?” “Yes.” ...

This is a sponsored post for Eureka Forbes AeroGuard and was first published on MyCity4Kids.com When we think of air pollution, our first instinct is to look outwards – exhaust, combustion, burning fuels, vehicles on the road; the works. But we rarely think of pollution in terms of indoor pollution – inside our homes, inside our offices, inside our schools – and maybe that’s why, we pay comparatively less attention to it. But this weekend, returning from a week away from home, we were greeted with a sight that made me look at indoor air pollution from a whole new perspective! You see, our apartment is close to a main road where hundreds of cars move about all day, every day; and a lot of dust enters our home. We keep getting it regularly cleaned and dusted so as to ensure that there are no dusty surfaces. But this weekend, as we got back after a week out of town, we discovered that the house was dusty despite all our windows being shut tight. Not only that, there was also...

हम में से शायद ही कोई होगा जिसने बचपन में ये दाँट ना खाई हो। बच्चों के अलावा हर किसी को लगता   है की राय सिर्फ़ बड़ों की पूछी जानी चाहिए। बच्चों से क्या पूछना ? बच्चे तो बहुत छोटे होते हैं , उन्हें क्या पता ? बच्चों का काम है खेल कूद करना , पढ़ाई करना , वक़्त पर खाना खाना , और माँ बाप को बिना परेशान किए " अच्छे बच्चे " बनकर रहना। बस। ये कोई नहीं सोचता की शायद उनके भी कुछ समझ में आता होगा , शायद वो भी कुछ सुझाव दे सकें जो वाक़ई में बड़े काम के हों ... पर ना साहब , हम बड़े , और ख़ासकर हम से भी बड़े , सिर्फ़ इतना मानकर चलते हैं की बच्चों को अनुबव काम होनेसे उनमें सूझ बूझ , परिपक्वता हो ही नहीं सकती ! अब पिछले हफ़्ते की ही बात ले लीजिए। हम छुट्टियों के बाद बंबई से लौट रहे थे और हम लैंडिंग के बाद हमारे समान की प्रतीक्षा कर रहे थे। हमारे साथ हमारे काफ़ी सह प्रवासी भी इस इंतज़ार में थे कि कब समान आए और कब वे निकले घर ...