Hello all,To top up to this noisy world that does not shut up even if you say so I dare to be aloud, the difference is I am here back in my private little corner.It was time to share some of my unimportant but very lovely moments. Let me just jump to that…So every night we perform this ritual of reading with Amreen (these days Zahra just squeezes in too, she is the naughtiest of us all who makes me laugh nonstop).Even if that means picking up that funny comic strip from the newspaper we read it.Ummm but but but sometimes we are not able to do extensive reading after a very long day of hardwork.As it appears with kids there is a good amount of time taken in patience …patience …anger and patience!The time to cuddle up would get sacrificed which I did not like….I asked Amreen one night before we opened the book – should we form a story instead of reading ?Her eyes said it all! I saw that joy oozing out shining — the smile so genuine, truely excited..Kids are so true with their expressions its amazing!So there we did our first story in 3 nights and before kissing good night I would tell her to come up with ideas for the continuity.” Bear Fingers “Chapter 1:There was a Bear who had equal sized fingers on his hands and he did not know whyHe was very confused and could not understand why was it so.He wanted to find out and asked all his friends and parents but no one had an answer for himHe knew humans were very smart he knew there were doctors for animals…he knew he could ask them but how..He tried to approach them several times but they ran away..they would try to shew him away..He would find it difficult to interact with humans..but he had to know the answer.So how will he reach out?So I asked Amreen to think over this and build up the next chapter so that he can reach out to humans.And then taken over by Amreen we formed the next part based on her ideas.Chapter2:The bear thought if he could approach humans in disguise of a human and know how to talk in English he could possibly reach out.To achieve this he needed to have a human costume and he would need to learn English.So the bear thought there are Bohra women who have a costume called Rida that can work well to hide his body, his tail would be hidden too and he can hide is face by putting up the pardi in front.So he broke into a fat Bohra lady’s house to get her Rida and left a note there saying “Thankyou, will return it to you soon – Bear“He was happy with the fitting and now he started to wear it to attend English classes.He would remain quiet and not talk to anyone and simply attend the lessons.He was very smart and mastered English in a weeks time because he would only do that all the time..Now he was ready….So I ended it here and asked her that next part should be the last one where he gets to speak to the doctor and he will have his answer so whats gonna happen she can throw in her ideas.She said “I am so excited I cant wait for tommorrow”Those little words…i felt amazing..”cant wait for tomorrow”..it was satisfying to be able to give such an experience to her and it was so simple to do …. quality time is always rewarding!Chapter 3:The bear got an appointment of a vet doctor and he could not wait to see him, he looked at his fingers all the time with a curious face and a smile.The bear got in the clinic, when he was called in, he jumped inside the room and said “Hello Doctor” and stripped off his Rida,The doctor and his assistant were shocked.The bear kept saying ” Dont worry Dont worry”…and he told him his problem and his story of making it possible to reach him.The doctor was very shaken but he felt he should help him and he conducted few tests and concluded there was nothing wrong.He said “Bear, you are different but there is nothing wrong and you are perfectly normal. He is as alike as any other bear.”And the bear was happy to hear that and got back to his life happily and satisfied.He returned the rida back to that lady with a small chocolate leaving it at her doorstep.Story Ends.After this I told Amreen – Everyone is different and they have some weird things in their body or mind, but that makes them special and they do something great because of it.The fact that bear had a concern for his fingers he was the first bear to learn English and do something really fantastic!So it is good to know what is that weird thing and once u know it…dont stop there…make awesome use of it!This made her happy and we stuck to each other a Bear finger hi-five! We slept well with a sense of achievement.I have told Amreen self made stories n number of times with moral values etc in the past and she has told me her silly stories with sweet morals too but this one will stay with us both !Hope all of you are shining in your journeys. Wish you well always!Love,Masuma
kids
Amreen organising Birthday Parties
The mist of joys we have experienced with growing kids should hopefully touch them in future.
This year on two birthdays both for her Dadaji’s once was his varas and the other was his birthday Amreen wanted to set up a party. So very diligently she lay out all the props for the different activities she had set up. She also set a time for the party and invited us the family members. Her invitation was not open to no, it was a compulsory attendance else the tantrum could had been ummhmmm not a place where I want to be.
Although honestly none of us adults were really keen, probably we are so pre-ocuppied with our own interests and priorities that a beautiful opportunity would have just passed by. Amreen kept saying i have organised such a wonderful party and have put in so much effort and no one is showing the excitement..she was skeptical that we would honour her time..it was set at 5:00 p.m which got delayed to 7:30 pm and it was me who actually pulled everyone into attending it..and guess what.
Before the party she gave us a tour..of what is set up and explained everything and asked us if we had any questions we can consult with her and she was happy to explain.
it was exhilarating honestly!
so she had a
- sports corner
- dance corner
- modelling ramp
- food counter
- water counter
- singing feat
- one challenge – to stack pegs in such a way that it can hold two slippers.
- Last birthday cake cutting.
All of us family members had to have a go at everything..so u can imagine we and inlaws must have had a real fun time…and we build such lovely and joyous memories.
In our backyard a magical evening was laid out. Thanks to Amreen.
Her second party was more advanced where she had treasure hunt with a treasure map. She made us play parcing the parcel and her sense of gifting was very innovative.
I had to push this post for a place to come back and live the moments !
Pictionary Zahra acts food
Amreen’s friend Kathya had come over for a sleep over. This special evening was very exciting for our young Zahra.
I thought of playing pictionary with the girls and i would give them the words to act out.
It was the very first time that Zahra, Kathya and Amreen were introduced to this game format and they were extremely excited.
Amreen had a go
Kathya had a go
And it was Zahra’s turn – I had to give her a simple word – so I gave her the word “food”.
She showed the action of eating food and after that she started doing cartwheels.
The girls did guess the word food.
Although all of us were wondering why was she doing cartwheels and we asked her.
She said because I have energy now as I ate food.
oh My Gosh – we could not stop laughing.
Context to her act is:
I have always explained to her that she needs energy to do various things and eating food will provide her energy. So Zahra little Zahra Oh my Zahra!
Swimming
All along zahra accompanied Amreen for her swimming lessons. Very hopefully she would always be geared up dressed in swim suit and carrying her arm bands. Occasionally she would have a dip with me in the pool when I would feel jumpy and mostly she would please herself with just a swim shower.
Yesterday evening her dream came true when she went for her first swim lesson.
I am very happy to see her drenched in water delight.
Amreen feeds Zahra
Zahra finishes her dinner tonite with one chapati, as she feeds herself she stops when she thinks she is done.
Although it would be a great satisfaction if she ate more but I dont overdo forcing.
Noticing this Amreen comes to me as I was about to do the dishes and says mum I would like to feed Zahra one more roti.
I looked at Zahra with a question and she too confirmed. So negotiation between the girls was a done deal.
So there AMreen took a plate with one chapati and some dal.
Now showtime.
Surprisingly to me Amreen took her shape cutters for modelling clay/playdough to make small cutouts from chapati.
Chapati bits in forms of butterfly, tree, stars….
Those were dipped in daal and fed to Zahra by Amreen. Every feed was an enthusiastic gulp with a short wow fact along.
And a second roti achieved.
Wo boy! I am in love.
Kaju Katri
The story I made up to inspire my kids to write.
Once upon a time there lived a boy called Kajukatri with his parents in an apartment that was crumbled in concrete forest of a very large city. Kajukatri is an Indian sweet dish that is mainly prepared on Diwali. His parents were very fond of this sweet and named their son after it with the belief that their son will bring sweetness to anyone who would have a taste of him 🙂
Kajukatri was a very loving eight year old boy who was very observant of his surroundings and he loved making special effort to give pleasant surprises to people around him. He would make cards, do chores, sing songs, help without asking etc.
Kajukatri observed his mum daily just to study how she is and her ways of life and his understanding convinced him to believe that his mum gives a lot unknowingly without being appreciated.
He got very involved in the context of his mum’s daily decisions and was motivated to write them down. With this intention his started painting his mum through his choice of words.
Every night before retiring he would spend 10 minutes gazing outside his bedroom window and reliving the vivid flash of all that he remembered from the day. Then he would sit down with his diary, flushing out the details keeping focus on his mother as the subject/object :-). He would also provide either humorous or very well reasoned analysis on the events he described.
So he continued this for a year and had managed to finish all the pages from his diary. He was surprised that he had developed a closer understanding of his mother’s expectations and could effortlessly make her smile and also improvise her expectations.
So it was his mum’s birthday and he thought this diary will be a good gift but then he had apprehensions what if his mother finds it boring or unimaginative or dislikes so he first asked his dad to read it and giftproof the idea 🙂
His dad was stunned with joy after reading through the narration of daily accounts of his wife and was very very happy to tell Kajukatri to go ahead and wrap the book nicely and present it.
So Kajukatri changed the diary cover to look like a reading book and titled it “The craziness that flowers”. On the day of his mum’s birthday gifted to her with a lot of excitement. His mum was surprised to receive a book as a gift and felt really happy to think to herself that her son thinks she would enjoy reading or needs to read 😉 and gave him a huge hug.
Days past by waiting for his mother to get back to tell him what she felt but mum did not say anything. He almost lost his heart after a week or so and cried to his father saying his mum did not like the book and it was a bad idea. The dad realised that mother has not read it yet and felt really sorry. He asked Kajukatri to have patience because sometimes feedback takes a while and assured him that mother is still in middle of reading.
After this the father rushed to his mother for her to know the story behind the book. She cried to herself with guilt she thought it was a book from the store did not know Kajukatri had invested a year in it. She started reading it almost immediately, it took her couple of hours but she was on the top of the world and that made her do something extraordinary. She resolved to publish his writing and approached a number of publishers with a lot of pride and had prepared her talk as to how she would convince the publishers. She won a deal with one big publisher and got this book published.
“The craziness that flowers” – written by Kajukatri
it took almost 2 months for his mother to sort all of this and get a first paycheck in the name of Kajukatri and this book in the stores.
His mother then on one late evening presented Kajukatri his first paycheck with the published hard copy of his writing. Kajukatri was amazed. Mother told him it was a magical gift for her. She was extremely pleased with his thought process and hardwork for which he deserved a wider recognition. She hugged Kajukatri and told him that his boook was outstanding and was very very happy to read about herself through his world of perception. Kajukatri was very relieved that his mum loved his book and was very motivated with the recognition his mother could get for him.
The money did flood Kajukatri’s piggy bank and so he had to open a bank account! 🙂
Kajukatri continued writing as a hobby.
The END.
Reaction at home: Amreen says to me – I want to publish my story too and she has just started building a context on her storyline.
Although to motivate her to complete it will take more such stories 🙂
#nationalstorytellingweek
Jelly
The story goes like this.
It started with my desire to get a body massage, the idea of transcending into a state of complete relaxation…gosh that can check check not happen.
There is absolutely no slot for it in my life..but my desire is very strong.
My kids love me and they love playing with my cosmetics and my lotions.
I moved quick with my thinking and very nicely asked my kids if they would like to give me a massage on my hands and they were very very excited.
There both my kids with lots of lotion started playing with it on my arms and hands and gave me a good rub..later my younger one said mum should we give a massage on ur belly and i was like nooo i am fine..but then both insisted so there u go they started on my belly..
and oh my lord they were boxing, rolling and playing. They fell in the joy of play with my belly..they found it very soft, thanks to two pregnancies..and they gave my belly a name “jelly”. Mum your belly is just like jelly.
After that everyday they would demand to massage the jelly and now my stomach official name is jelly.
After this addiction of over a month or so..my younger daughter has developed the habit of sleeping next to me touching my jelly..and she always says mum can i touch your jelly! i want to touch your jelly!
🙂
A writing brush!
a right angle
a bright bangle
a figure of speech
a bejeweled sheep
a toast with milk
a ghost in silk
a cry of fear
a forgotten tear
a book read
a chapter dead
a deadly dance
a farting stance
a step in woods
a beetle and brooms
a swing high
a clapping five
a strawberry pain
a fever flame
a goodnight peace
a morning breeze
a lot of things
a mum and kids
-Masuma
A straw put to use
Did not want to let this beautiful memory get lost and hence penning it dowm.
My elder daughter Amreen was just idling with her eyes set on the ceiling..i have observed her lately she keeps thinking into nothing.
so she came to me and said “Mum you know a straw can be used to seal open crisp packets” and I was like show it to me how.
So she slit the straw and used it to slide it on the open crisp packet to seal it.
Beautiful, I told her that was really really smart.
Later I asked how did she come to this idea..and she said was feeling bored and wanted to put this used straw to some use..
🙂
Swabhaw - where you Feel WORDS 