Ushering In The New Year

Grouchy Old Man 2015: 

What's all the hullabaloo about bringing in the New Year?

Isn't it just another year like every year?

Or is it the year when people are going to stop worrying altogether?

Maybe it is the year when you breathe air, pure and smoke-free,

And forget being angry with your neighbors all the time.

Will this year make you take oft neglected health more seriously?

Will this year be the year when every 'She' feels stronger?

A year when all celebrate the arrival of the stork with a little pink parcel?

Likely this year you will forget your different Gods,

 And find instead the Human in each of you! 

Happy Young Man 2016: 

Yes, yes, yes to all that, I am that hope for all unanswered wishes, 

Here to free you from the gloom of 2015. 

Set him free, burn him down, that Old Man 2015.

With him burn the desolation and woe of the year gone by.

I come to kindle new hopes and weave dreams afresh.

Bring out your new resolutions and intents,

I will give you the strength of a new beginning.

A fresh chapter to brush the cobwebs of old failures,

I will help you bury old enmities and invoke new friendships.

Your hopes and desires will revive with my robust support,

I will bring back the forgotten smile and rustle up new ones.

Pay no heed to the Old Man, he had his time in the yesterday and whiled it away,

Be here with me, in the now, for I am your today and tomorrow.

Image credit

This post was written in response to a #WritePrompt from @Blogchatter: Ushering in the New Year
Co-hosting the prompt this week with Aditi
You can use the above prompt to write your post and connect with us here in the linky below.
  

@Blogchatter - a wonderful platform for bloggers from every genre, that encourages, motivates and educates on everything blogging! 

Connect with @Blogchatter every Wednesday at 8.30 p.m on Twitter.

Copyright © 2015 KALA RAVI

Home Sweet Home

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On the threshold of her new home, she stood, with tear-stained, sleep-deprived eyes. Her hesitant footsteps bolstered by the warmth conveyed in her husband's firm clasp of her mehendi tattooed hands as he guided her excitedly inside!
The wedding rituals, the send-off ceremony, the long journey from her native town into this big city had all been exceptionally tiring, and yet she found a new spring in her step as she took in her new home. Large wondering eyes that wandered everywhere curiously, a tad coyly.
There was no one here to welcome her, a new bride; in this new place, her husband being an orphan. It felt strange to be alone at last; after all the crowd she had gotten accustomed to having around her, ever since the wedding preparations had started.
Her husband was proudly showing her around the home he had managed to buy and even briefly set it up for her, despite protests from her parents.
She was so proud of this self-made man, who had wooed both her and her parents with his honest, straight-forward proposal asking for her hand, only after he had fulfilled self-prescribed goals.
She shyly commented at the neatly arranged cushions on the floor-seating, at the well-tended plants, and the thoughtfully, well-stocked kitchen.
He nudged her further to the bedroom, and shyly with lips aquiver she entered.
Their room, she thought to herself, as he wrapped his arm possessively around her slender waist. What a tiny room it was, and what a tiny house it was in comparison to her maternal home or the castle of dreams she had cooked up for herself in her dreamy girlish mind!
But the questioning look in her husband's eyes seeking her approval at his years of hard work, melted away all those thoughts! She quelled all her emotions and sought only allay his apprehensions, gushing her appreciation for the beautiful home he had made for her.
To herself she promised, to make her new home....no...'their' new home; so faraway from the one she had left behind, the most wonderful paradise for their shared dreams of the future.


What does 'Away from Home' mean to anybody?
Is it the excitement of going away from home on a vacation and returning back re-energized to home sweet home?
The thrill of leaving home to live independently in a hostel for studies and yet glad to be back home for the vacations.
The trips away from home spent hurrying-scurrying on business expeditions, relieved to be back home to lay your wearied head to rest on your own squishy pillow and bed, after sleepless travails with hotel beds!
But what about the one-way trip you take, leaving behind the home of your childhood dreams, triumphs and failures, that held you as its most dear and cherished member?
As you venture into uncharted territory, with a new partner, new rules, new relations, ignorant of all that is expected of you, you still take the step, inviting it even, reveling in the challenge of creating a new world for yourself; from scratch, with your chosen partner, flawed though your efforts may seem to many, you endeavor to make this place; away from home your very own dream home!

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This post was written in response to a #WritePrompt #Away from home from @Blogchatter - a wonderful platform for bloggers from every genre, that encourages, motivates and educates on everything blogging!

Also linking this post with #SaturdayWordPlay12

Aquiver (adj) : Trembling with strong emotion (quivering)

#SaturdayWordPlay -Saturday Wordplay is a weekly word prompt series started by my #blogbuddy Aditi Kaushiva. 

This week's word 'Aquiver' has been suggested by my #blogbuddy Reema Dsouza co-hosting this week.

Join us, get inspired and write whatever, fiction, humor, poetry etc. catches your fancy, using this word and link up below.

 

Copyright © 2015 KALA RAVI

#UnwrapChristmas With Kindred Spirits

It only takes a spark to get the fire going.

And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.

That’s how it is with God’s love,

Once you have experienced it

You want to sing

You feel like spring

You want to pass it on…

A few of us gathered together for Secret Santa tidings, divided by names and united through a common Christmas spirit of sharing. And it is in this spirit that we bring this blog chain to you.

I am thankful to Apoorva Kapoor for passing on the baton of spreading Christmas joy and spirit to me.

And now it is my turn, as I Unwrap Christmas with all you Kindred Spirits on my blog. 



6.00 p.m, 24th December, 2015


On this festive eve, as I ponder what this wonderful celebration means to me, I am reminded of a very soulful tale I read as a little girl. 

Gather around ye folks, both old and young, on this cold Christmas eve. 
I bring you a tale that is old yet evergreen, to warm your hearts and kindle a flame. 
It is the tale of the Happy Prince and his faithful friend the Little Swallow.

Many of you may be familiar with this one, but even if you have read it, read it once more with me, maybe with the li'l ones.....

This beautiful tale is not of the living Happy Prince who led a blissful, woe-free life within the Palace of Sans-Souci and died as such. And yet it is the story of the same; the ever-smiling Happy Prince, who after his death is immortalized as a statue inlaid with precious stones, covered in gold leaves and placed high on a pedestal overlooking the city.
From his vantage position, the 'Happy' Prince is compelled to see the miseries of human suffering that move even his inanimate self to tears.

Image Source

A little Swallow who is delayed in his migration to the warm lands of Egypt due to trysts of the heart, finds makeshift shelter under the large statue of the Happy Prince.
While he is preparing to join his friends, he is drawn by the Prince's unhappiness at all the suffering in the city that he sees from atop. He agrees to the Prince's plea to deliver a precious ruby from his sword hilt to a poor seamstress with an ailing son, and thus alleviate their travails. As he returns from doing this act of charity, the Swallow feels warm all over, despite the cold - it is the warmth of a kind act, informs the Prince.
The next day as he plans to start on his journey to the Land of the Nile, the Prince begs him to stay over and deliver one of his eyes, made of beautiful blue sapphire, to an impoverished playwright. The reluctant Swallow does so, and his sympathy for the suffering, increases.
The following day again as the Swallow prepares to fly forth, the Prince requests him to pluck off his other sapphire eye to help out a poor little match-seller. The Swallow though unhappy about doing this, is compelled to do so and delivers the sapphire to turn around the poor girl's fortune.
Now that the Prince is totally blind, the loyal little Swallow decides to stay with him forever. 
The weather gets colder, but the Prince and the Swallow, are helping to warm many hearths everyday, by distributing one by one, the gold leaves covering the Prince's body. 
Soon all the gold leaves are given away, and by now the winter snow and frost have truly set in. The poor faithful Swallow, frozen and unable to bear the cold any longer, just about manages to fly up to kiss the Prince goodbye and falls dead at his feet! The shock of the dear Swallow's death, breaks the leaden heart of the Prince. 
The townspeople decide to pull down the bare grey lack-luster statue of the Prince, and dispose of it along with the body of the Swallow.
When God in Heaven asks one of his Angels to bring him the two most precious things from the city, the Angel brings him the broken leaden heart of the Prince and the body of the dead Swallow! And God is well-pleased with the Angel's choice!        

Read the complete story of 'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde published in 1888.



That was so lovely and yet so sad wasn't it?
Well, the story is but allegorical. The message it conveys is that, 

What little good we do when we are alive, is what endears us to God. 

The story highlights the importance of Love and Charity in our lives.
Love and Charity that are synonymous with the spirit of Christmas. 

Let us help unravel the true spirit of Christmas, by sharing our love and being generous in helping our fellowmen in need. 
It need not be a big act of generosity, small acts of kindness qualify as well! 
Loving words to one and all, affection for the little ones, patience with the old and compassion for the needy.
Let us inculcate this spirit in our young ones from early on....

A beautiful quote I read,

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time!

- Laura Ingalls Wilder

And indeed, year after year I am excited about bringing in the Christmas fervor, delighting in the beautiful Christmas tree, basking in the glow of a perfect Christmas bake and mostly reveling in spreading warmth and smiles across the lives of all I can reach out to, as I Unwrap Christmas yet another time! 

May all of you lovely folks out there, reading this, have a merry Christmas and a Glorious New Year ahead!

Image Credit: Corinne Rodrigues

A Big Thank You to the two superwomen, behind this wonderful Secret Santa initiative, the lovely Richa Singh  and the effervescent Corinne Rodrigues for motivating the whole team with their infectious energy and enthusiasm. Thanks! Stay blessed!

 And now, I invite my friend Ajay Kontham to spread the message of Christmas and New year on his blog.....

I hope my Secret Santee enjoys my gift to him/her, just as I enjoyed receiving a gift from my Secret Santa!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ring Out The New, Ring In The Old, I say!

Skimping, Sparing, Salvaging sound like such obnoxious terms, most likely to be attributed to someone's miserly demeanor. 
In today's times, living life king-size is the Mantra everyone is chanting! Nothing is too much, you cannot go overboard enough when it comes to luxe-living. 
Be it exotic food commodities, high-flying lifestyle products, globe-trotting exclusive holidays etc. Splurge, splurge and splurge some more! 
Our life-carts are over-brimming with all sorts of goodies and unwarranted requirements, that are pampering to the senses, detrimental to health and pandering to an insatiable demand.

Overflowing carts at marts!

             

E-commerce has made Shopping a global Affliction!

These contemplations triggered flash-back images and memories of the spartan lives our older generation led, when needs were simple, means were average and resources scarce!

I am delving into personal and shared memories that unravel the nostalgia of simple middle-class living replete with small pleasures and large memories. And adding to these memories is a sprinkling of thrifty tips on leading a parsimonious domestic life from grandma's cornucopia of wisdom.....

• Of contended vacations spent in the ancestral village home playing board games, cards with cousins under the slow-moving blades of the sole fan that worked when the temperamental electric supply permitted.
• Grandma walking 3 km to the lake and back to have her bath, wash her clothes and return home with a bundle of laundry and a pot of clear drinking water on her hip.
• The excitement of wearing your cousin-sister's hand-me-down pavadai (long skirt) at the family wedding, teamed with another cousin's blouse and a third's bangles.

 

Tip#1: While cooking, avoid cluttering the sink with vessels that can be reused for cooking with just a simple rinse. Keep refrigerated items to be reheated outside at normal temperature for some time, to reduce reheating time and save heat resource.

• The thrill of the chilly, sweet ice-lolly hitting your tongue on a sweltering day, after waiting eternally to hear the solitary ice-lolly seller call out his lusty.....'ICE-CREAM' pushing along his wooden cart.

• Viewing, reviewing, appreciating, criticizing every millimeter of each of the thirty-six 4"x6" B/W photographs neatly pasted in the wedding album with thick black pages interspersed with gossamer thin patterned tracing paper. The ecstasy of finding your tiny face peeking out in between the newly married couple is incomparable!

• Grandma and other womenfolk churning out tins and tins of savouries and sweets from the smoke-filled kitchens. The aroma of fresh ghee infused Mysore-Pak could turn you delirious with anticipation. No Lays/Kurkure/Chocopie can take their place!

 

Tip#2:  A thin slurry of rice/ wheat/ gram flour depending on the dish, added with proper stirring, and bringing the whole mixture to a gradual boil, thickens your preparation's consistency and thereby its quantity.

• The evening supper for the kids - wholesome curd-rice doled out onto the outstretched palms of the ravenous little monsters sitting in a group. In a matter of minutes a large vessel of the same would be empty, the large platoon of kids satiated with minimum fuss!

Read my Post: Common-Place Curd Rice

• Entertainment was, playing Blind-man's buff, Chor-Police, Sakhli, Pandi/Langdi, with friends, learning to cycle on hired cycles, or if you already knew cycling, practice slow-cycling/hands-free cycling! Exploring the hillock behind your home always was a thrilling adventure, you never knew what new insects you would encounter there or how many luscious berries you would forage that day. You never realized where the day went by, and if you felt lazy to go out, you could just spend time curled up with your dog-eared novels and bound comics or team with friends to create magnificent artworks with pencil shavings, old craft-paper, broken glass-bangle pieces, pebbles and shells. Boredom did not exist!

• Envying your friend for possessing a near immaculate copy of BalBharti which he inherited from his elder sister, while trying to paste the loose pages of your own third-hand copy.

Tip#3: Always prepare a little extra handful of rice/couple of extra rotis - or whatever you prepare. It is handy to have a little extra of something filling, with growing children in the house.

• Glugging with relish the freshly prepared 'Rasna'- 36 glasses pack, after helping Mom prepare the rather 'complex Concentrate recipe' (when you compare how easily you can prepare Tang!). Regularly checking the fridge to check the level of the 'Juice Concentrate' stored in the carefully saved glass 'squash' bottles.....just in case your sibling had downed a few extra glasses in your absence!
• Handing over the not-yet-through toothpaste tube to Dad, who would then beat it to a foil to extract the last bit of paste. Then saving the used nickel foil for recycling.
• Wrinkling your nose in disgust every time you came anywhere near the bag of stored milk packets saved for recycling.....do people still do it?

 Tip#4: Freshly washed Hibiscus/Shoeflower leaves rubbed against a rough surface and then squeezed yields the most natural Chemical-free hair shampoo, while soaking orange peel in milk for an hour and applying that milk acts a wonderful skin whitener and toner!

• Stamp-collecting, coin-collecting and letter-writing to pen-pals were considered top-notch hobbies one could indulge in. Envelopes with foreign stamps were treated with utmost reverence. The stamps carefully dislodged from them (under expert Grand-parent supervision) and proudly added to the stamp-book. The envelopes were then secreted away for safe-keeping and revisiting.

 

• The high-point in life was shopping for new clothes, only Diwali, your birthday, and functions in the family warranted such extravaganza. This activity was a month-long-sometimes-longer entertainer! From fabric procurement to getting the same tailored and fitted to satisfaction!

Read my Post: Shopping For A Dress

• Weekend recreation was landing up at relatives’ homes, of course unannounced! The once a month (actually longer than that) eat-out was at the Bhel-Chaat shop, with dessert of the best Kulfi – 100gms in mixed flavors of Mango, Chickoo, Malai and Pista!

Tip#5: Frayed Terry Towels cut up to required sizes with edges hemmed, make for excellent washcloths.

• The joy of haggling and bargaining hard is a lost art in today's mall/online shopping culture! The satisfaction one got post this exercise - unbeatable! In fact both the buyer and the seller enjoyed this healthy banter, so much so that, a seller felt cheated if you - the regular bargain queen decided to promptly pay the stated amount and walk away with the purchase!
• The thrill of sleeping in an Air-Conditioned room, either in a hotel or at a prosperous relative's home! When having a Car, Telephone and A.C were like the point of arrival in society!
• Ordering food at the restaurant all the while looking at the right-side of the Menu card!

 Tip#6: Buying foodgrains like rice, wheat, millets, pulses in bulk works out cheaper. One can preserve these naturally by keeping them in bright sunlight over a period of 2-3 days, and then storing them in containers with bunches of dried Neem leaves as an insect-repellant.


There is no telling how long I could go on, reminiscing the good ol' days, but then I want to hear your stories too!

Do share some tales from your repository of happy memories.
And don't forget to share your share of Tricks and Trivia to help save some pennies! 


The gist of the whole post is that, sometimes it may not be a bad idea to look back in life, at our past, at our origins. We owe a large percentage of success in our present day to past learnings! 

Let us rewind life a little, learn to relax more, care and share more time and love. 
Reduce Reuse and Recycle where-ever and whenever possible.

Ringing out the New and Ringing in the Old can be good for us!

Take care of your pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves!

And don't heed the - Penny-wise, Pound-foolish - thingy!

Saturday Word Play 11: 

Parsimony(n), Parsimonious(adj.)

Parsimony (n): Extreme unwillingness to spend money or use resources.

#SaturdayWordPlay -Saturday Wordplay is a weekly word prompt series started by my friend and #blogbuddy Aditi Kaushiva. 
This week's word 'Parsimonious' has been suggested by yours truly and thus I am co-hosting this link up together with Aditi. 
Get inspired and write whatever, fiction, humor, poetry etc. comes to your mind using this word and link up below.

Copyright © 2015 KALA RAVI

Shopping For A Dress

 

There done.....finished the chore of ordering online all our Diwali clothes, for the four of us! What a big load off my head! So glad I have done all my shopping from the comfort of my home, that too a whole week before the festive frenzy takes hold of people as they mob the malls....I will be escaping all that! 

And then out-of-the blue I remembered something....while ordering a dress for my daughter, a lovely vision in pale rose....the childhood memory of shopping for my Birthday dress! 

The high-point of my childhood was shopping for new clothes, only Diwali, birthdays, and functions in the family warranted such extravaganza. 

This activity was a month-long-sometimes-longer entertainer! Firstly you had to go shopping for the fabric (pre-Amazon/Flipkart/Myntra era) since ready-made shops were few and virtually unaffordable! And then you got the material tailored.

My birthday was a month away, and this time around, we decided we would be smart and get the dress ready well in advance! Accordingly, after visiting three shops (may have gone to more, had they existed!), Mother and me decided to buy the fabric we liked at the first store! The indulgent and boisterous salesman complimented us on our selection and added that, we had been lucky to get the last piece from the bale!

This purchase was triumphantly carried home and exhibited to all and sundry to be ooohhed and aaahhed and for everyone to offer their designer suggestions! 

Then came the poring over various patterns from magazines and straining our memories to recollect what Mrs Vohra's Chinky had worn last Diwali! 

Once we had zeroed in on our aspirational design we decided to take it to the best tailoring shop in town - 'Stitch-Well Tailors', a crummy, stuffy old place in a crowded market. This 'Haute-Couture' fashion house, was famous for its ladies tailoring in latest designs and also known for its particularly nasty and bad-tempered proprietor-cum-Master Tailor.....known as 'Masterji'!

The power this diminutive bespectacled man wielded over the brawniest of women was note-worthy! Brusque no-nonsense womenfolk were found gushing and cloying around in his shop, in the hope that he would tailor their clothes better than others or at least deliver them on time. And heaven forbid if you raised a voice of dissention against the 'Master' at an unsatisfactory creation or at the delay in delivery!

He would vent vengeance on them the next time they came to him! While measuring them he would mention in clear hearing, that their waist size had shot up....again! That would make any weight-conscious lady cringe and wilt....especially in the presence of an audience of her contemporaries!

To Stitch-Well Tailors we headed. Mother nervously stuttered to explain the design we wanted and even displayed my zealous sketches of the same......only to be waved away by the 'Master'! No one but he decided what we wore! We meekly handed over the material and measurements and returned home fervently praying that he would be in a good mood while cutting out the pattern! 

My last experience with Masterji had been a happy one!
Oh! The ecstasy at finding a perfect fit was unbeatable! Immediate requests for dress trial and ramp-walking were only too eagerly obliged! Strutting around and posing in different angles/lights was of course mandatory! 
 
And then of course you couldn't always be so lucky! After half-a-dozen visits, post the delivery date scribbled on the bill, the dress finally arrived! I remember being practically delirious by then!
 
The Master's  bad mood could sometimes result in a creation so agonizing, you wondered whether he had meant the outfit for you or the midget Joker from the visiting circus! This was one such creation! :(

The tears that followed this debacle, mandated an alteration trip to Stitch-Well. If Masterji had been surly earlier when we came in with virgin cloth on our hands (for massacre at his hands), it was nothing compared to the attitude he meted out when we came in for repairs/alteration on his creation! 

Mother began delicately, 'Masterji, this frock fitting has gone a bit awry, could you just fix it, her birthday is just a week away.' Masterji cast a sidelong glance at the offending garment, and nonchalantly continued ironing his latest 'masterpiece' to set it on display. Mother continued in her best cajoling voice, 'Masterji, just see what you can do....kids nowadays I tell you, so fussy about fashion and all!' I was looking at my feet with a shameful look....after all how ungrateful was I to come to him...again...after he had gone through all that trouble to....MESS UP MY NEW DRESS....I was seething inside!!

Eventually, he absently nodded his head and said, 'I'll see what I can do....but I am not sure I can fix it by her birthday! See that huge pile of pending new orders? If I sit down to resolve all the fussy customers with already delivered items, when will I complete the new ones?' 
A very valid theory when you consider his viewpoint!

A distressed pair, me and Mother walked back home, racking our brains to come up with some brainwave to wade through this trying challenge! Father noticed my wan face and discreetly asked Mother what was bothering me. Mother's outpourings on the tailor's ill-fitting creation, disturbed this otherwise non-interfering-in-parenting-matters-man!

I miserably began counting down the days to my birthday 6,5,4,3.......I could not bear to think of facing all the friends, family and neighbors wearing the 'almost brand-new hand-me-down dress' from a cousin living abroad.....it was the only dress people had not seen me wearing, reason being - my cousin was at least 6 inches taller than me! Imagining myself in the said costume, now altered by Mother, set me off on a fresh bout of bawling! 

Enter Father: Carrying a large plastic bag bearing the logo of 'Milan' (not sure whether this Children's clothing store in Dadar, Mumbai was named after the famous Italian fashion capital or the boring Hindi word meaning....getting together, I prefer to think it was the former!) 

He came up to me and handed me the bag with a lovely smile, a wink and a pat on my head. I could not believe my eyes when I opened the box within to reveal in between layers of tissue paper, the most beautiful dress I had ever laid my eyes upon! 

It was a light peach chiffon creation with a printed profusion of English country roses , a beautiful lace collar and a lovely satin bow at the waist!

 

My parents watched me pirouette in the dream creation with all the love and indulgence that only parents can have! Mother managed not to cringe at the exorbitant figures even as she surreptitiously snipped the price tag off the dress!

That was/is/will remain the best dress a little girl can desire! 

This hallmark dress was duly showcased on the said Birthday and many future events, and every time I wore it, it received compliments like never before! 
Even Mrs Vohra had to concede, her Chinky's new dress that her husband had bought on his UK trip wasn't as pretty as mine! 

And what happened to Masterji's repairing/altering you wonder? Well, the old rascal finally found time to rectify the garment, only by that time I had shot up a few inches taller! This dress was handed down to one of my younger cousins (poor thing, wonder whether she ever wore it?)

Sighhh.....will I experience that kind of thrill for a new dress ever again? 
Will my daughter feel the same about the dress I ordered for her? (after browsing four sites and buying from the first site!....heheheh....Yes! Somethings haven't changed!)

I seriously doubt it!



What do you think of online shopping? 

Does it satiate/thrill you just the way shopping at a regular store does? 

Do you miss the simple pleasures of the years gone-by? 

Do share your thoughts,would love to hear......

Copyright © 2015 KALA RAVI

A Beach party

Oh! Wow! A beach party! What fun that is going to be! There will be beach-ball matches, sand-castle making marathons, shell picking trails and the super-yummy picnic lunch hampers with colorful cooling drinks under the shady beach umbrellas! 

I can picture myself in my new off-shoulder flouncy yellow and white polka frock, the lovely straw sun-hat, the delicate sunflower flip-flops and...oohh...yess, my brand new psychedelic glares!

A frisson of excitement runs through me just imagining the treat in store!

All the while, I wonder....will 'He' be attending the party? Was he even invited to it? After all, our parents are close friends! But the moment is too thrilling to worry about anything. I dismiss the fleeting doubt with a happy laugh and assure myself that he will be there! 

I run to my wardrobe, peek in to check on my short-listed outfits for the party! The yellow frock looks soo deliciously cool and pretty...but on second thoughts how about...a more sophisticated look?

I try on the other new outfit I had picked up on last week's shopping spree with mum. Hmmm.....the teal-blue crop top paired with  the ohh-so-cute ripped denim shorts does look good on me! I fail to see how this one will not attract all eyes, including my sought after pair....those warm brown ones!

Yes, all fixed and decided! I can hardly wait for the party now. Tomorrow seems so far away! All that's pending is to tell mum to do up my hair in that dainty french braid that suits me so well! It's not everyday that one gets to celebrate their Tenth Birthday party on a beach, is it?!

Image credit

Afterword: 

I realize many of you are voicing your surprise/indignation at the precocious behavior of a 10 year-old!

Believe me when I say this, kids are maturing both physically and mentally at alarmingly young age! 

No thanks to the influence of modern unhealthy lifestyle and an over-exposure to information from various social media. 

Ten is the new Fifteen....sad but true :(


References:

Daily Mail UK - Kids ARE growing faster up faster today

Whatever Happened To Childhood?

Washington Post - Are kids growing up too fast?


What do you think? Do share your experiences/trials, raising children in an age of media and information overload.

 

Saturday Word Play 10:Frisson

Frisson: (n) a sudden passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill

#SaturdayWordPlay -Weekly word prompts of forgotten words, being revived by my friend Aditi Kaushiva, the brain behind this interesting initiative!

Copyright © 2015 KALA RAVI