Owner: Karma Calling URL:http://thekarmcallingblog.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:05:16 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Witty, funny, sometimes thoughtful take on life as a working mom, toddlerhood and parenting. Site statistics:Click here
From A to Z 2008-02-11 12:07:00 This from Orchid.A -Available? For a vacation, totally.B-Best friend: BigGeekC-Cake or Pie? Hmm..tough choice. Cake. Make that a chocolate torte. Nonononnonono. Make that pie, pecan pie. Wait a sec. it’s really cake. On the other hand, I like apple pie too. Let’s do Einee, Minee, Miney Mo. Or someone invent a PAKE or a CIE fast.D-Drink of choice: Right now, it’s hot ginger tea.E-Essential thing used everyday: Toothbrush and anti-wrinkle makeup.F-Favourite colour: None. I like em all. But if I have to pick, I’ll say turquoise.G-Gummi bears or worms: Bears. Always bears.. brings back memories my dad’s trips abroad when he brought those back, when my brother and I would excitedly open the suitcase and smell the wonderful scent of foreign lands.H-Hometown: Small, sleepy, non-descript
Brush, Rinse, Repeat 2008-02-07 10:18:00 I don’t think Chip is alone when it comes to tooth brushing troubles. Like most toddlers, he has a love-hate relationship with the tooth brushing routine. He loves the toothpaste part which is some hard-to-know-which-fruit scented and the tooth brush is sucked dry of the said toothpaste every time and lips dutifully smacked afterwards. He hates the tooth brush part. We have tried all sorts of tooth brushes. Brush
es that light up and sing a little tune after 2 minutes of brushing. Brushes with little Einsteins, with Pooh, with Elmo, with unknown generic cartoon characters. Grown up looking brushes in solid colors. Their fate has been the same. All disdained and chewed until death.Since devious toothbrush marketing techniques were not working, I turned to facts. “Chip”, I said to him o Read more:Rinse
, Repeat
Narcissism 2008-02-04 12:01:00 “What do you do when you reach the end of internet? You know those days when there is absolutely nothing to read anywhere online. What do you do?” BigGeek asked me out of the blue one night. He was reading his cases; I was vegging out in front of the TV. “It is a problem.” I admitted. “Rather, is used to be a problem before I started this blog. Now I just read my old posts. It’s guaranteed good reading.” I said trying to hide a smirk. BigGeek broke out in a wide grin. “I knew there was a really good reason I married you.” He grinned and went back to his work.And here are mummyjaan and then Parul tagging me to be narcissistic (someone knows my secret) and what better person to wallow in self glory than me, huh? So let’s play this game.RulesPost 5 links to 5 of your prev
False Dilemma 2008-02-01 13:53:00 I am stuck in a classic beast of a dilemma where I have to choose between two, undesirable choices. What do I do? Well, write a post on it, for starters. I need to make a trip to Vaishnodevi. If you don’t remember why, read this old post. Cutting to the chase then, I am making a trip to India in March. Just me and Chip. For a just little more than two weeks. After five and a half years long years. After getting married, after having a child, after BigGeek’s “little adventure”. Many people to meet, very little time. To make a trip, from Mumbai to Jammu and then on to Vaishnodevi, in a schedule that is already stuffed to the brim, is no lilliputian task. But make do I must. As much as I would have liked to take a train and chug though sleepy little towns and their dusty train statio
The Anti Jinx 2008-01-31 12:40:00 I am feeling a little silly today. Not to mention uninspired to write anything of substance. By which it is implied that what I write usually has some substance in it and there will be many of you, no all of you, who will jump at this opportunity and say A-ha. Gotcha. You don’t. So, well. Scratch that.We often write about our kids, our homes, our lives. And wise, rational, educated folks that we are, we often say a little prayer to ward off the evil eye before hitting that little publish button. Or if you are like me, you spell a few words backwards or boldly declare the jinxters to go away. So, I thought it would be good fun to be a little creative while doing it. So I created these lil graphics for ya’ll to put on your sites, posts, images to ward off all those evil eyes. Call them c
Under Weather 2008-01-30 12:54:00 If you open the Mommy Handbook, the first rule says, Mommies don’t fall sick. Obviously what ever virus or bacteria or [insert species] currently invading my throat and throwing all their friends and their mothers a gala party haven’t read the mommy handbook. Obviously. My throat hurts. Ok, that is an understatement. My throat is inflamed, I can’t swallow and it hurts like someone is pounding it with a hundred pound, spiked lead ball. I prefer labor pain to this. I have tried ginger teas, gargling with every liquid under the sun, homeopathic remedies. Nothing seems to be working. Which has now lead me to the conclusion this must be strep. I really should go see a doctor and get some antibiotics, but going to a GP here is a pain in the south. My GP is about 25 miles from where I work
The Object Of My Affection 2008-01-28 15:38:00 The inimitable Kiran tagged me to do this. And I have been having a hard time. Atlases and elephants and bangles. I have no such treasures. Well, maybe I do, I suppose. There is a little steel “gadu” - an odd shaped cup for water that belonged to my mother that belonged to me and now belongs to Chip. But it doesn’t inspire mushy feelings. I have a pair of my grandmother’s earrings and a silver platter that was awarded to my dad. And they are all wonderful things to have no doubt and they will be passed on proudly as such things usually are. They are mine only in transit. The earrings will go to Chip’s wife and the plaque will be given to him as well. They are not mine, not in that sense.When I came to the States nine years ago as a student, I came with two suitcases and a backpac Read more:Object
, Affection
Green 2008-01-23 13:07:00 If you think my blog is suddenly looking like a preppie wardrobe, I won’t blame you. What with posts titled Pink and Green
. Maybe I’ll write a few more posts titled Oxford Shirts and Martha’s Vineyard to complete the look. Jokes apart, over the last year, all said and done, I have come to appreciate the whole Green thing. I have in my own way, tried to be a little more responsible about environment while trying to say away from its faddish, Upper East avatars.Thirty years ago, my mother would have laughed at the Green nonsense and dissed it as yet another Western fad. Recycle? Compost? People write and talk about this? She would have laughed and gone back to negotiate stainless steel dabbas with the bohareen in exchange for her eight sarees and three trousers. I did not know anybody
Near and Far 2008-01-17 13:32:00 As I write this, the snow storm outside is covering the landscape with a shimmering blanket. Big snowflakes floating in the air uncertain of where to go; eventually pulled by gravity, almost unwillingly, falling gently to the ground beneath. Like a million cursed angels. I better not think about the commute. But today’s post is not about snow or about commute. Far from it.Every year in January as the festivities fade away in the year past, my feet begin to itch. The desire for solitude or whatever its redefinition is, in a spousal and a parental context, creeps in. A yearning to escape cluttered thoughts and the monotonous dreary of the everyday. To look at something new in the silly hope that when I eventually get back to my chosen life, my point of view, will somehow be magically alter
On the flip side 2008-01-15 12:55:00 Chip’s swimming classes aren’t going as swimmingly as I would like them to be. The culprit obviously is Chip, but, the proximity of the water slides are also blame. Take yesterday for example. When I went to pick him up from his school, I had to wait until he finished making tea in the (toy) microwave a dozen times. Running out of patience and the desire to use the restrooms, I have to lure him with the promise of swimming. “Don’t you want to go swim, Chip?” I ask chasing him with his coat. He stops mid track and beams. “Yay! Let’s go swimming!” We sit inside the car and I think its time to tell him the truth. “We have to go for a swimming class today, Chip.” His forehead has deep furrows. “Aaj (today) no Mr.Eric, Aie.” He declares in his Minglish. “Mr. Eric yena
In the eyes of a child 2008-01-09 13:41:00 If someone were to ask Chip what the highlights in his 2.5 year old life are, it would be these and in this order.1. The day the lawn mower ran out of gas2. The day we visited New York CityThis summer we visited some friends in NY and that was Chip’s first trip to NYC. He was completely bowled over by the crowds, the skyscrapers, the lights, the noise and the buses. He wanted to ride on every bus that thundered by. And he was thrilled about the ubiquitous yellow cabs. Sitting in them without a car seat. Hailing them by the curbside. He was amazed to see so many people walking and the congested streets, unlike the suburb he lives in, jam packed with traffic and flanked with stores and roadside vendors. Such an impression NYC made on him – and I yet have to meet a person who is not bowle Read more:child
Swimmingly Yours 2008-01-08 14:33:00 “The County Recreation Center called an hour ago” my mom said as Chip guzzled his elaichi flavored Horlicks and I rummaged the fridge for an after work snack. “To confirm?” “No.” my mom replied. “They said lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays are cancelled. They have enrolled him for Monday and Wednesday and if that doesn’t work for us they will give us a refund.” “Ok. Same time?” “Yes. Same time- 6:20” my mom nodded. I glanced at the clock it was 6:05. “I think we can make it to today’s class. Dang. Why didn’t they call earlier?” I frowned. “Come on Chip, let’s go swimming.” Chip wiped his mouth on his sleeve, leaped off his chair and let out an excited scream. My mom dressed him while I changed and we stuffed ourselves into the car and drove to the Re Read more:Yours
No title 2008-01-04 14:47:00 “I want pink color.” Chip replies without batting an eyelid. We are getting out of the car parked in front of an art and craft store where we are headed to buy wool for my mom to knit a sweater for Chip. “Not blue or green?” asks my mother. “Nooo! I want pink sweater.” I throw my arms up in air. “OK. We will go see what colors they have.” Chip is all about pink these days. And Dora and care bears and princesses. A few weeks ago during the holiday season, Chip and BigGeek went to Sears to get a drill/hammer/random-equipment-for-I-don’t-know-what. Chip had also been in a popcorn phase then. He had kept chanting his popcorn mantra for days, when BigGeek saw huge popcorn tins by the checkout counter and asked Chip to pick one. Chip looked over Cars and other “boy” themed
His Mother's Child 2007-12-28 13:08:00 Chip is peering at her. She is a mother and she has a toddler and she is on TV and she is quite pretty. And she is a toon. “Hanuman’s mother is nangoo(naked)!” Chip exclaims as he watches the toony Anjani toss a baby Hanuman in the air to the captivating strains of Akdam-Bakdam. I am speechless at the observation. “She is not naked. She is wearing a saree.” I say, in my most matter-of-fact, no-nonsense voice. Chip has a deep furrow on his forehead as he ponders the veracity of my statement. A couple of pregnant minutes later, he nods his head. “Ok. I want Hanuman chi Aie pahijey (I want Hanuman’s mom).” Just when I think the issue is resolved and closed, Chip comes with this. “You do? OK. Let’s go change into your pajamas first.” I whisk him upstairs to brush his teet
Time Capsule 2007 2007-12-26 11:46:00 These are the things we often buy over at DotMom's household. I thought it would be fun to keep a record of prices and how things look today.Cheerios: $5.79 (18oz)Juice: $5.79/gal (Tropicana Orange)Oatmeal: $1.92/lb ($5.19/42 oz, Quaker Oats) Milk: $6.49/gal (organic), $3.79/gal (regular) Bread: $3.99 (Organic), $2.69 (Wonderbread)Pasta: $1.25/lbRice: $1.29/lb (Tilda Basmati) Sugar: $0.55/lbSalt: $0.89 (26 oz)Oil: $2.56/quart (Canola)Potatoes: $0.79/lb (regular), $.1.19/lb (organic)Apples: $1.29/lb(regular), $1.99/lb(organic)Spinach : $1.69(regular), 2.99(organic)Chicken: $5.49/lbSalmon: $9.99/lbThe Washington Post: $0.50U.S. First Class Stamp: $0.41Cup of Coffee: $0.69Gas: $2.99/gal (87 octane), $3.21/gal(93 octane)How do things look in your part of the world? Show me. I am looking!(Imag Read more:Capsule
Am Back 2008-03-20 10:13:00 Just got back after a 2 week vacation to India. How was it? In one word - short. I wanted to write so much about my experiences - I hadn't visited India in more than five years, but my crazy schedule kept me away from the laptop. But I am back and no, I haven't stopped blogging. Dear me, no. The tales will come as I slowly piece everything together; sometimes as posts, sometimes as memories woven in other thoughts. And yeah, it was nice to know I was missed. I didn't get a chance to open my reader in more than 2 weeks and I missed you guys too. It's good to be back!
The Goddess and the Demon 2008-03-21 10:17:00 “It’s bigger than I imagined.” I said, looking down the window as the plane started its noisy descent into Jammu. From the air, hundreds of feet above the ground, it looked like your typical B-class Indian town. Neither big nor small. No visible character, not from that distance anyway. A few minutes later, we touched down, deplaned and walked into a small, dreary airport. My mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law and me. We were here for the Vaishnodevi Darshan, of course (read this, if you forgot why). We got into a rental car and began our journey to Katra from where we would start the famed arduous walk to the shrine.We were Vaishnodevi illiterates so to speak. We had small pieces of disconnected information: from the shrine websites and Google and friends who had mad Read more:Goddess
Chalta Hain 2008-03-26 12:25:00 Despite trying hard to have some sort of a family reunion dinner, my father dashed away to London the day after we landed. Chip and me and my freshly root-canalled brother and my mother and my uncle all drove him to the airport for a quick good-bye and most importantly some family pictures. But this post is not about reunions but about umm.. for the lack of a delicate word, well, it is about, err, pee-pees. Consider yourself warned. Now is the time to stop reading if you do not want to hear supremely funny tales of a young lad’s momentous journey as he battles his conscience and his body. Bolt now, if you must.No? OK. Read on, oh, brave ones. As our car negotiated the orange cones at the CSI airport, Chip announced he had to go pee-pee. We were almost out of the airport, headed on our wa
03/29/2008 2008-03-31 16:01:00 Never has a date looked so inviting. Never have I waited with bated breath for something so much. Perhaps Chip’s arrival would be the only other thing I can think of. On the little fabric board next to my desk at work is a piece of paper. A calendar actually. With some dates blacked out. Mostly weekends, some whole weeks. For almost two years I have stared at this bit of paper, my eyes transfixed on this one date. March 29, 2008. And not just because it was the day BigGeek turned 34 (Happy Birthday, honey). But because he’s done. With his MBA classes. All done. Finished. Finito. I had saved writing this post for the day he actually graduated. Which is the middle of May. But I can’t contain myself. I am happy and relieved and teary and many other things.What started as a 22 month e
Two Tired 2008-04-02 15:15:00 I am glad I am done with the morning. What started as yet another boring, hour long, commute to work went quite the other way. I was on the interstate cruising after what seemed like an eternity of bumper-to-bumper traffic when I hit a small piece of something black. A piece of shredded tire, I thought. Or something like that. I hate these flotsam and jetsam on the road – especially interstate. But this was a piece of something soft and it was around a bend so I could not see it clearly even I wanted to avoid it. But I couldn’t avoid it and drove over it. A minute later a strange clanking sound started to come from the car. Portentous metal grinding. I thought the little black piece was caught somewhere. I drove for a few yards and felt the car drag. I pulled over to the shoulder- the
Better late than never 2008-04-08 15:21:00 Apya and Bubbu tagged Chip. This tag is so long overdue, its not even funny. I have been down with a mother of all colds, so blogging has been super-light. Will resume when the wretched virus has let go of its congestive clasp. But here's this for now.8 Things I am passionate about (right now):1. Lawn mowers2. HVAC Units3. Pressure Washers4. Tractor trailers5. Giant Pandas6. Dumpers7. Back hoes8. Airplanes8 Things I do that drives My Mom crazy (Just 8??)1. Assume later = no. Make a big fuss about it.2. Eat a few bites of breakfast/dinner and then twist Aie's arm to narrate endless stories about one of the above things I am passionate about, changing location and characters. All the while forgetting to eat.3. Tell the overhead light fixture in the foyer to not fall on my head. Or to scold m
Out of sorts 2008-04-11 11:36:00 It has been a rough week in the kingdom of DotMom. I have been down with a horrible sinusitis. It is so bad that I feel my eyeballs are going to just pop out. But, no I won’t bore you with my tales of cold and sinuses and nasal drips. I shall bore you with tales of Chip. These are not amusing tales. Far from it. These are the tales when a mother throws up her hands in the air and howls for providence to rescue her. OK. I am exaggerating here. But hey, I am a blogger.On the issue of Chip. Chip has been out of sorts since we got back from our trip in India. And he had good excuses too – jetlag, stomach bug, cold, getting back into a boring routine. But since all that is behind us now, there are really no more excuses left as to why he is so cranky and tantrummy and most importantly, very
The Bird Feeder 2008-04-14 12:00:00 Chip, ever since coming back from India has been suffering from a lack of random audio-visual stimuli. Operative word being random. Looking out of any window in India reveals a smorgasbord of sensory delights. People walking. People chatting. People calling out. Cats. Dogs. Crows. Pigeons. Cars. Bicycles. Scooters. All this in a much greater quantity than what can be seen from any window of our quiet, back-to-woods suburban home. There is simply nothing to see here. Sure, the view is pretty, a red-stained deck with flower baskets opening out into a nice green lawn edged with maples. But there is no activity. Save for the odd squirrel - who have decreased in numbers thanks to a neighbor’s newly installed ultrasonic deer/squirrel repellent. The front windows are no better. Sure, they face
Mama's Mojo 2008-04-18 10:58:00 When I was pregnant, I poured over parenting books. How to put your babies in a feeding schedule, how to discipline them, how to encourage them to sleep on their own. Books that pigeon holed babies and children into neat categories and then gave advice on how to “deal” with them. Deal with them? Like they are some sort of a problem that got in our way? These books I felt, did not really acknowledge me as a parent who had feelings and instincts and did not acknowledge my child as one with a distinct and a unique personality. No, my child did not fall into Tracy Hogg’s six categories. And I thought the Ferber and the Brazelton methods bordered on child abuse.What was missing from this advice? I asked myself. It was only later, many months later, I realized that the books had been writt
Labor on 2008-04-23 10:57:00 A puzzle swirling in my head, well not all the time, but in a now on, now off mode, was precipitated while surfing my new Verizon FIOS cable service. I am a sucker for TLC-like channels and food p**n and house p**n like Food TV and HGTV. After making sure FIOS was giving me my daily dose of fat chefs, home designers with six figure budgets to decorate a backyard and fashion stylists who did unbelievable makeovers on pretty but dorky women and I turned to their other offerings. And guess what? They had another TLC-like channel. Forgot what the name is. But when I surfed, there was a show like the baby story and bringing home baby. This one was about delivering the baby. The mother-to-be was in the LDR and discussing her birth plan on the camera. She wanted to go “natural”. OK. But what
Riddle-me-ree, who can she be? 2008-04-24 09:22:00 Greetings wonderful MTBs!!!and good work to all of you!For having solved the riddle beforeI give you all this clue.The letter " N "Write it down, add it on...And let’s move on to the next little song.“Happiness is a choice she tellsSlimy food she repelsHer blog is a colorful bandHer daughter and son are her dearsOld things she does gatherThis is how we are, she cheers.”Solve it and you get your leadMisguess, and you lose your speedSolve it slow but solve it nowAnd before you go, take a little bowGo to 'Comments' and leave me a clueTell me which blog you are off to.Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.You have your work, cut out for the day! Read more:Riddle
Chip’s Fishing Expedition 2008-04-28 12:46:00 Only, this one did not involve a creel or a bait or a rod. Maybe I am wrong about the bait. I was the bait. Chip loves fish. In every way. To watch, to eat. Mostly to eat. The first time he saw live fish swimming was over a year and half ago in a store that old adventure gear and clothing. The store has a huge stone aquarium filled with, I think, Koi fish. Chip ran excitedly to it, he was only 18mo then and I pointed the fish out to him. Chip saw them for a bit, then promptly asked to eat them.A few days ago, bolstered by the wild birds coming to our back yard, I decided to give in to Chip’s demands for getting a fish tank at home. We got a small plastic one, a live plant to put in it, some gravel, water conditioner, some food, a thermometer, a net and of course some live fish. We set up Read more:Fishing
No title 2008-04-30 12:27:00 Sticker shock. I have never ordered a cake from a bakery. Never. I like baking. To me, it is a BIG stress buster and since I am always stressed, I am always looking for opportunities to bake. But what with Chip’s upcoming birthday and his school banning home cooked food in fear of allergens like peanuts, I had to resort to ordering his birthday cake from a bakery. That also would bake egg-free
The artist formerly known as DotMom 2008-05-02 12:11:00 One morning as DotMom was waking up from anxious dreams, she discovered in bed she had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. She lay on her armor-hard back and saw, as she lifted her head up a little, her brown arched abdomen divided up into rigid bow – like sections. From this height the blanket, just about ready to slide off completely, could hardly stay in place. Her numerous legs,
Fun, anyone? 2008-05-05 12:50:00 It all started two weeks ago. We had been meeting up with some friends for dinner, and later went to their house to play Guitar Hero 3 on their new Wii. I had played Guitar Hero 2 some months ago at BigGeek’s aunt’s house. I was no match for BigGeek’s teenaged cousin and I was boo-ed off the stage every time. For AC/DC numbers. Played at easy level. It was no different at our friend’s house but I
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