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Tag: Pune pinkathon 2016

Women who run with Milind

Things have been unusually quiet on the blogging front because I have gotten very busy with other exciting work assignments. I have been meaning to write about my experience at the Pune Pinkathon (which has really served as a kind of life-changer for me; I have been running regularly since that day) for two weeks…

Why it takes a Milind Soman to make me think about fitness

A regular Thursday evening. Rumi is visiting her grandparents so the house is unusually quiet. I am in my usual Salwar-T-shirt avatar watching something on Romedy Now. I am casually checking my WhatsApp and my eyes fall on some messages exchanged with Isha. Isha is one of the coolest, most inspirational youngsters I know. This…

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Yesterday a friend of Rumi's told her that she should not sing because she has a very 'irritating' voice. Rumi came and asked me with big eyes whether it was true. We had a long talk about using words kindly and carefully, about how much importance to lay on other people's words and when to believe them to be true and about how to make her heart resilient and keep up her enthusiasm for all the things she loves irrespective of the 'feedback' she receives. While she was napping, I thought back to my own childhood. My art teacher in school seemed to be in a perpetual bad temper. Rather than guiding us through the whole process of making something, she provided us with material, showed us once and left us to finish up at home. There were lots of clever and talented kids who would work hard at home and come up with beautiful creations. And then there was me with my clumsy fingers, unable to really manage and stuck with parents who never once looked into my school work (Years later I am glad of that freedom and trust in me). Whenever I showed my teacher the finished piece she would look at me witheringly and say most definitively "You are useless and you are going to fail." I remember the crushing feeling of shame. Of inadequacy. And of the conviction that I can never, ever make art and I should never even bother to try. Many years later, i worked with @theartistsway and discovered many meanings of the word Artist. I started doodling and drawing again. I started having fun with creating stuff and stopped feeling intimidated by 'those creative types'. And now I have fun with Rumi, making and baking and drawing and experimenting. We color and paint stones. We dance and twist in the living room and make up silly songs. We enact scenes from our favorite movies (Rumi does a beautiful Rose from Titanic). And ill be damned if I let anybody's words deter her from having fun with the whole creative process because to me creating anything a blog, a picture, a piece of jewellery is the only way to meaningfully engage with this life we've been given. #creativeliving #artattack #iheartart #artathome #theartistsway #raisingrumi #mommyblogger

Books are one of my life's greatest pleasures. I find it hard to articulate how much they did for me as a shy, gawky child, what peace and solace I have always found between the pages. It really feels like an intense love affair, so personal that I find it strangely hard to say to people that 'I love reading'; always fearing that it is too inadequate a statement. I really love reading to Rumi too but unfortunately the daily reading rituals have taken a big hit ever since she discovered the joys of playtime and drawing. So we have to be creative about incorporating books into her daily schedule: a page or two while drinking the morning milk on the window seat, a short tale in the drowsy afternoon heat on the swing outside. A lot of times we end up telling her stories from our books such as Harry Potter, Amelia Jane or Mr. Pink Whistle but then I worry that maybe we are spoiling the joy of reading those books herself for her. Any thoughts on that? This is a picture of her bookshelves. The basket is for her daily reading dose where she climbs on a chair and chooses her books for the day. #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #fortheloveofreading #dear #dropeverythingandread #multilingualtots #raisingareader #raisingrumi #mommyblogger #enidblytons #picturebooks #picturebookstagram

We have made a conscious effort to provide Rumi with the oppurtunity and access to creating art whenever she feels like it. A corner of our living room is dedicated to all her supplies such as crayons, paints, paper, scissors and glue for easy access. A paper mache tray holds all her 'nature finds'; leaves and stones that she likes to paint and decorate. A huge pinboard above our dining table displays all her masterpieces proudly. Just making all the material available instead of stowed away inside a cupboard ensures that she spends time with her art endeavour at least twice a day. She also carefully curates her art gallery board and decides what should go up. It makes her feel so very proud that her work is displayed prominently in the living room, contributing to the home decor. This makes me think about a conversation I had with my husband where we spoke of whether and how the structure and system determines individual behavior (will write a detailed blog post on that soon). For now the only trouble is that the pinboard can only hold so many drawings and I am wondering whether we could have a monthly rotation or work with themes. Any ideas on how to maintain Rumi's little gallery? #artattack #artgallery #artathome #iheartart #toddlerart #toddleractivities #toddleratplay #coloringbliss #raisingrumi #homedecor #homeiswheretheartis #mommyblogger

Do you know how all to-be parents idealistically imagine life post-kids? We make a long list of all the things we are going to get right: play classical music, not allow screen-time, make the healthiest food etc? And then when reality strikes, you laugh at your ludicrous imagination when all you want to do is feed your child, dress them in whatever you can find and hope for one meal without being interrupted by a toddler's urgent bowel movement? Today seems like a fairly manageable day. Rumi is enjoying her painting. I have actually managed to cook in advance so I can sit with her. Instead of the TV on with reruns of Friends, we have remembered to play classical music haha! It is feeling pretty damn good right now. But Instagram and Pinterest are actually just a very tiny slice in the whole messy picture. There may be a tantrum in a few minutes because of a wrong color shade. I will eventually succumb to the temptation of that idiot box. Then again it might just be a perfect evening. All I want to say is life looks easy and perfect and envy-worthy on social media but there is so much more to it 'behind the scenes'. Not to be preachy about gratefulness being the key and all that but just a little reminder to embrace the mess and reality of it all; indeed I truly believe the only way to fully live is to romp right through the mess and chaos and learn to not just make peace with it but actually enjoy it! #raisingrumi #toddleratplay #toddleractivities #mommyblogger #togethertimes #happinessis #eveningswithrumi #eveningslikethese #familytime

Early morning yarn-weaving. Rumi has a very fertile imagination, she makes up stories fast and spontaneously and has been doing so since she started talking. Recently, she has been blurring the lines between reality and fantasy: just the other day i overheard telling her theatre teacher 'Mumna mala khup maarte' and sobbing realistically! 😂 I was like this when I was a child before I got told off for 'lying', for being a 'daydreamer' and for feeling greatly ashamed of the stories in my mind. But we view Rumi's storytelling as a special gift, a very unique strength. We marvel over her language and encourage her to make stories across all the languages she knows. What became a source of shame and low self-esteem for me may well just turn out to be her superpower. What's your/ your child's superpower? #raisingrumi #mommyblogger #storytellingvideo #earlymorningshenanigans #storiesonthewindowseat #mychildssuperpower

Rumi's pink party She bunked school today because of my dad's birthday celebrations last evening that went all well into the night. So what to do, what to do with all the time on our hands? We normally do a lot of picnics, visits and the like with the toys because role-play is her favorite form of play. Today she thought of a tea party for all her pink babies. She had a blast running through the house grabbing everything pink right down to the plates. I allowed her to use her very best pink china set and made the little girls tea that they could pour out of the teapot and even add the sugar themselves. It was as gratifying for me as it was fun for the girls to plan and execute it all. Now about all the pinkness: Rumi truly loves pink. It could be all the media inundation but we have never bothered to nudge her towards another color for the sake of fighting a stereotype because I know how much she enjoys her tool-kit and building blocks too. She does not enjoy Barbies at all and blows hot and cold towards her kitchen set. She just absolutely adores the color pink. We just have to be aware that her love for the color does not seep into her thoughts in the form of "this color is only for girls". She sees her Baba wear pink and cook. She has watched me climb on a ladder and change bulbs and make a garden seat out of ply. As long as she is does not feel restricted as to what girls and boys can and cannot do, simply because of pink and blue, I am fine with all the #pinkpower. #pinkteaparty #afternoontea #imaginativeplay #roleplays #toddleractivities #funthingstodowithtots #playtime #toddleratplay #mommyblogger #raisingrumi

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