That thoughtful boy ...

Place : Meghsagar near Sanky Tank
Time : 12:30 PM
Context : 2 college kids,a girl and a boy almost definitely in love ....smiling  at each other or no reason and having lunch.
In the next table, a middle-aged couple dressed quite shabbily ...look very rustic and troubled.
In b/w a lot of tensed conversation, having lunch.
The man finished his lunch and may be out of habit washed his hands in the plate. The waiter who was serving us walked to that table and shouted at the man saying, "you village bums don't know what to do and what not to do ...you shouldn't be washing your hand in the plate" and blah,blah, blah ......
The very embarrassed man said ...sorry didn't realize. But there was no stopping the waiter. Ppl around felt a little bad for them ...as they didn't really deserved to be humiliated that way. The lady was feeling very uncomfortable and was looking around to see if ppl around were all staring.
That was when, the seemingly jovial college boy did some thing very very nice.He waited until the lady  looked in his direction, caught her eye and smiled broadly- seeming to say., "Just chuck it, nothing has happened" . The lady grateful for an understanding gesture, smiled weakly and got back to her lunch.
The boy was not yet finished, he waited for the waiter to come to the table and right in front of him washed his hands in the plate. And looked up at the waiter, willing him to start an argument.
The girl sitting opposite ..a little worried ...but quite pleased .
The visibly irritated waiter said angrily, "yaakri kai tolitheera plate alli ?(why are you washing your hand in the plate?)". 

The boy just said "houdu, yen eega (yes i did, so what now ?)"
The voice was loud enough to carry to the adjacent tables and also to the manager nearby, who didn't want any tussle with college guys, came running and said ,"Just take the plate and get on with it ..no problem"

So out walked the college couple feeling on cloud 10.
You see, just being with Ashu, was  being on 'cloud 9' for me !I was in awe of the smiling, brown eyed ,deep voiced, big hearted guy that day and am still in the same state about a decade after this incident.

Rogue Elephant Terrace Bistro - An Extravagant Lunch affair .....

The Rogue Elephant at Koramangala is just at the corner of Abhi mane (@ NGV) and looked very interesting. So we decided to go there for a lazy family lunch.The lunch started with my sons excited comments about the jungle ! (The rogue elephant has a huge rock and waterfall outside and plants all over. This place also sells artificial water-bodies for homes and has a nursery ...so lots of water and greenery around !!)

They have an impressive list of wines. We however preferred a non-alcoholic Carribean fruit punch .
It was delightful !  A punch of vodka in it would have been heavenly. But there is no alcohol here other than wine :(((
Starters -  First one was the Classic Humus and pita bread with grilled chicken ...Just Yummy !
This got all 3 of us fighting over the last piece of chicken :)
Then came the really surprising starter- 'Mushroom A La Keiv' ...button mushrooms stuffed with herbed garlic and butter ...As our stewerdess Harini rightly explained...the mixture of tastes just exploded in our mouth.This coupled with the a very different 'Bombay Soup' got us all excited abt the main course.

Our main course was : Pesto pasta and Herb Roast Chicken with mash potato.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pasta was deliciately flavoured and had just right amount of cheese and the chicken just perfect !

To end our sins ..we ordered an apple pie with  ice-cream. Not the best I have had (that goes to corner house). But still a good one ...
So at the end of it ...we were in a state of bliss ...waking up only when the bill arrived ;)
A little steep ...but definitely worth for 'Once-in-a-while' extravaganza.

For more info :
http://bangalore.burrp.com/listing/the-rogue-elephant-terrace-bistro_koramangala_bangalore_restaurants/1616107148

Why don't I want a second kid ?

To Have or not have the second baby ??
(Had my parents decided against it, i wouldn't be here writing this blog today !!)

I wish and I wish with all my heart there was one right answer for the question which would fit everybody ...but its not so ...so each one of us need it figure it out for ourselves.
Whats very important to know is ...neither of the decisions is the right one or the wrong one.
What you decide is the best one for you ..which is not going to solve all the parenting problems- but it will be your approach to the life.

All this said, I still cant decide ...am pretty sure Ashu is in the same state of mind.
It's difficult to decide when one set of choices are very measurable (in this case the disadvantages which are my operational issues of how will we manage the second baby and not to forget the first one too :) ...full time maid, leaning more on parents and in-laws (poor ppl ...brought up their kids ...now have to do it for us all over again ! but God they still love it  ...miracles of love :), adjustment at office (or this time around should i just quit- if so, its pretty dumb thing to cut down one source of income when you are growing your family), cut down lot of other things ..hmmm its so predictable and so measurable.
On the other hand ...having another baby ...maybe another boy like Abhi ...or a daughter !
having one more of our kind to be with us all our lives, to bring up a new baby with Abhi, hopefully have well-bonded siblings for a lifetime ..seems all so qualitative ...not measurable and immensely priceless.

But what if it does not turn out so ??
- am i good enough to love both babies equally ...i just dunno ...
- what if both kids strive apart and there really is no such blood-bonding at all ??
- Today Abhi is my world, i shudder to lose that for another baby or anything else ...why the hell shud i risk it ?
- Am going to lose more and  more time being with Ashu ..as i will go crazy trying to be fair to both kids ...spend time with each of them ...same will be the case with him .....where will that leave Ashu and me ..
uffffffffffff ..scary ...
And thats why
I don't want a second baby...
Abhi has cousins ...friends ...so he is not going to be loner ...sure its not just not the same thing ...but its 'something' better than nothing.
So i chicken out of my decision yet again !
So this is my decision ..hopefully am going to stick to it ...

Will i repent for this in future ???
Of course I will ...when I see mothers and daughters shopping together, whenever I see an elder brother hugging an younger one...etc etc ... but am hoping we will have good days too along with the wistful ones .as i said its not the correct desision ...its just my decision ..seeming ok to me.

Wish me Luck !