A miracle

A friend of ours had a life threatening health condition and had been undergoing treatment. After a couple of months, the doctors gave her a month or two at most and asked her to enjoy the remaining of her life. She is a young lady with two kids and the second one only a year old. She was devastated. She couldn't control her tears and was sobbing outside the doctor's clinic. An Indian nurse was watching this and just then another doctor passed by. The nurse immediately came to my friend and asked her to go speak to that doctor. He was a visiting doctor and she mentioned that he was an expert in the field and urged my friend to go meet him. The friend had lost all hope by then, but because the nurse kept pushing her, she got an appointment with the doctor and met him. That was her life changing moment. He checked her and told her that he could try. Now after 3 months of treatment by him, she had her last operation yesterday and is living to tell us about it. I feel that God really spoke to my friend via the nurse. If not for her, we wouldn't have our friend with us.

A sweet...A surprise

It was supposed to be like a mysore bak. But when poured on a plate and allowed to cool, it became hard on top and a bit gooey in the middle. I had to place it in the fridge to be able to cut it into pieces. Hubby took a few pieces to his office ... I tried to make him take only the mysore bak other friends had given for Diwali, but that was not enough...so he took a few of these sweets too. I was not brave enough to take it to my office. Evening, hubby returns and says everyone enjoyed the sweet and wanted some more. I double checked with him to make sure he was not kidding. True to word, he took quite a few of those sweets to his office again (I still believe he did it so that I don't force it on him in the next few days!!!). He then called me from office and asked for the recipe. Seems no one in his office had heard about "7 cups" (lucky for me) and wanted to know the recipe. They thought the soft inside was the way the sweet was supposed to be. :)

Oh Daddy!!

That is how the little one calls his Daddy...with the sing-song tone. We first noted it when we had been to a restaurant after the diwali shopping. The kid started shouting at the top of his voice "Oh Daddy" when his Dad went to wash his hand. The whole restaurant was laughing at his antics. We were wondering from where he could have caught this, when my daughter told "Amma, it resembles the "Oh Doodle" in Mickey mouse club house. And that was it....it was the exact sing-song tone. So now we can say my son has started observing and using things he learns from the TV.

On another note, I like the way Diwali is celebrated in Singapore. The way the govt puts in the effort to light up the Little India area, the shows and concerts that are staged on a big stage near that area, the "Diwali fair", the colorful shops, sweets, crackers and everything that would remind you of the festival of lights. Its nice that there is a substantial Indian population in Singapore and the govt recognises them.

Dance baby Dance

Place and timing is not a problem...surroundings and the people staring is not an issue...its dance all the way! Walking, eating, playing is all a dance.

An airport is no different.

And then the 15 mins of Fame happened...Dancing for the Navarathiri festival in a temple.

Perfect dress

I was trying to decide between two dresses. One was a sleeveless and the other with sleeves. I tried on both and asked the opinion of Hubby and the little girl. Hubby was for the sleeveless one. The girl was on her best diplomatic mode and told me this "Mummy, I would prefer the one with sleeves. Altho both look fine, the first one makes you look like a young person. Not at all like my mother!!!"

Now I know what to wear when we go out for dinner without the kids :))

Film songs and school concerts

I have always been against film songs being used in school annual day concerts. The first time I saw a film song in a school concert, I was pretty shocked. Having been to a convent school, which drilled the notion that films were bad (but they did take us to some of the best films I've seen in my life) I kept asking my aunt how her daughter's school had a filmy song for the annual day concert. Over the years I concluded that that school was a small one (was a kindergarten) and so didn't have the resources to get good songs from other sources. And this has been the thought I've been carrying for so long. And this is the one that took a mighty beating yesterday. My daughter told me that her class was going to dance for 'Jai ho' during the annual day concert! Maybe I should just be happy that at least its a meaningful song, appropriate for the occasion where they graduate out of kindergarten. Going away to lick my wounded pride.

Words of wisdom

Bits of wisdom:

16th Aug:

The Little Girl has been asking for a bicycle for a long time and we told her that we would get it for her birthday. Last weekend we found a good deal and got her the bicycle. We presented it to her, with much expectation and this is what she says,
"Mummy I was expecting a new bicycle as MY BIRTHDAY GIFT and am a bit disappointed that you didn't keep your promise and got it earlier."
:-/

15th Aug: Independence day.

We were returning from her music class when we had this conversation:
"Mummy we should go to India sometime".
"Yes kuttima, we'll go during your school holidays".
"No, no, not like that. "I want to go and stay there forever...like cousin R".
"Hmm, why? Don't you like Singapore?"
"I do like Singapore. It's where I was born. This is a good country, But India is also my country Ma. That is where all our relatives are. We are Indians. So we should return to India wherever we are!"
:-/

Aug 9th: Singapore National day.
We were passing the National Day parade location on the way to the beach.
"Look kuttima, that is where the National Day Parade happens""Oh, that's good. Are we going to see it?"
"No ma, we don't have the tickets"
"Why didn't you get the tickets?"
"They do a balloting for the tickets and so I didn't apply for it." (I didn't even think about it before she asked to be truthful)
"Oh...ok."
At the beach, we get to see the lead helicopter with its contingent flying over the beach carrying the Singapore Flag. Everyone is pretty excited and wave towards it.
"Mummy, look, its the Singapore Flag. How nice! Thanks mummy for bringing me here. I got to see at least this. I'm so happy!"