Rashmi's Space

There is something superbly exciting about an ice-cream shop! Vanilla, Strawberry, Black Currant, Chocolate Chip, Butterscotch, Caramel Crunch, Crispy Chocolate Malt, Rocky Road, Café Mocha, Rum N' Raisin... Ummm... Rum n’ Raisin he thinks, a Café Mocha for her. And a Rocky Road for the little one. A few minutes into enjoying their respective ice creams, the little one asks if they can swap the cones, for a taste. “Of course!” she says. “Huh?” He stares. She gives him a look that says, ‘Trust me on this.’ The little one tastes the Café Mocha and makes a face. Coffee is bitter. Well, you need to grow up to appreciate it. She smiles. Now it’s his turn. He isn’t really happy about this. A nine year-old isn’t a baby, exactly; but not all that grown up either. Reluctantly, he gives the child a taste. This time the face the child makes is even worse. “Weird!” They laugh. The child goes back to his Rocky Road. But curiosity persists. “Why does it taste weird?” “It’s the rum,” s...

"ओळख पाहू ही  कोण?" मी आईच्या हातातल्या फोन मध्ये डोकावलो. फोटोत एक तरुणी, सायकल वर स्वार, ट्रॅक पॅन्ट आणि टी-शर्ट  घातलेली, कॅमेऱ्याकडे पाहून स्मितहास्य करीत होती. "अरे पाहतोयस काय नुसता, ओळख ना कोण आहे ही." पुन्हा आईने विचारले. मी मक्खपणे मान हलवली. "मला नाही माहीत."  "अरे, हि नमिता! छत्र्यांची!" "बरं..." "अरे बरं काय? तुझ्या शाळेत होती ही! नर्सरीत तुझा डबा खायची बघ? आणि तू उपाशी, रडत रडत घरी यायचास..." नर्सरीत ही मुलगी माझ्या वर्गात होती, इथपर्यंत ठीक आहे. पण ती मला रडवीत असे, हे कशाला महत्त्वाचा होतं, कुणास ठाऊक. "आता हिला ओळख..." "अगं  आई काय तू..."  "हे बघ, प्रिया, अनघा, अगदी तुझ्या पक्या चे सुद्धा फोटो आहेत माझ्या फोन वर!" आई अभिमानाने म्हणाली. "पक्या?" "पंकज पाध्ये रे, नववीत तुझ्या वर्गात होता तो? तो थायलंड ला असतो, बरीच वर्ष झाली आता. एक दोन वर्षात कॅनडा ला शिफ्ट व्हायच म्हणतोय." मी आ वाचून आई कडे पहातच राहिलो! माझा हा नववीतला मित्र, माझ्य...

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I am a blogger, a writer. The immediate next question, of course, is “what do you write?” And I say I write on positive parenting, among other things. So they say, oh great, a lot of people are writing about parenting these days, it makes for interesting reading. And I say, but I don’t just write about parenting, I write about positive parenting. There is a difference. (Which reminds me of an advert from my childhood: ____ hot and sweet tomato chilli sauce, its different!) Cheesy, I know, but it is true. There is a difference. All parenting is not positive parenting. But all positive parenting is definitely good parenting. Parenting There was a time when “parenting” was not a term most parents bothered about. Take a look at

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...

I remember being fifteen and telling my parents that I wanted to go to an out-of-town college all by myself . The place in question was only a half hour train journey, followed by a fifteen minute bus ride; but it was still a big leap for someone who had spent the first fifteen years of her life living in one place and being chaperoned to any place that took more than twenty minutes to reach. Being a good negotiator (or believing myself to be one) I gave my parents two options – one, let me travel by the famous Mumbai local train to a college that was an hour’s journey; or two, let me travel, (again by the erstwhile local train,) to a college that was a half hour’s train journey followed by a fifteen minute bus ride. I cleverly presented them with these two options, the idea being, that even if they agreed to the one with the least travel time, I would still get my wish granted of going to a college outside of my small town!   The interesting thing was, it didn...

Simi was running late. School would let out in ten minutes and she was nowhere near it yet! She was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel praying for the signal to change soon when her phone rang. It was her Dad. That surprised her; as her parents knew most of her schedule and this wasn’t their usual time to call. But even before Simi could decide whether she should pick up the call, the signal changed. Later that day, after Simi had picked up her son, ran a couple of errands and taken a scheduled client call; she was just about to settle down on the couch with a cool glass of water when her phone pinged. On checking it, she was surprised to see five missed calls and several WhatsApp messages, all from her Dad! Worried and hoping that everything was alright with her parents, Simi called home. “Hi Dad, just saw your messages and your missed calls, everything alright?” she asked as soon as his phone was picked up. “Yes, yes, everything is alright. I just wanted ...

"These children have parents yet feel orphaned" screamed a headline in the newspaper and I skipped a beat! When I read on, I found that the info in the article was not so much surprising as it was shocking! The article spoke about young children seeking psychiatric help from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans). In majority of cases they evaluated, it was found that parents used inappropriate styles of parenting when it came to raising their children. And this was attributed to the recent trend across the country where working professionals found it difficult to provide effective parenting to their children.  With an increasing number of career oriented professionals in big cities choosing to work full-time, children are left at home almost all day, either alone or with maids in most cases. The decline in the number of joint-families has not helped the situation either; and thus, more and more children are being treated for psycholog...

Each of us is a product of our upbringing and circumstances. Invariably, therefore, we all have our set of likes, opinions and preferences. Some of these have been passed on to us through the elder generation while others are a product of our thoughts and perceptions. It is this mixed baggage that we carry as a person that stays with us when we become parents. This baggage, however, has serious potential to influence our children in a big way.   I recently read an article that says "do not pass on your hatred to your children." It details how parents invariably tend to instill in their children, the dislike they have towards certain things or people. The author's point being - "Just because you don't like something, do not make your children dislike it or just never expose them to it at all!"

"Wow babe! I got a Facebook request from your MOM!!!" I heard someone screech....and just like that twenty or so pairs of eyes around us went in search of the 'babe' in question whose mother had hopped on the bandwagon of the newest breed of parents and grandparents joining the social networking community. It is pretty cool to be a member of the same social networking site where your children, grandchildren and most of your relations are members too! Or is it?