Category Archives: Kids and Me

New Year, Old Me (Mostly)

Image January 1, 2017 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Welcome 2017. Happy New Year to you.

2016 was an eventful year. It was bad for some, worse for some and few lucky ones enjoyed it too… but one thing that I am sure of is that 2016 didn’t had any dull moment. It was a year of ups and downs; unpredictable and unimaginable things becoming reality, and some insanity coming into existence. This may or may not be a little pointy finger towards Trump’s win.

2016 was the year of Hermit, and it turns out to be true to its nature. A true Hermit it was, especially for me on a personal and professional level. A lot of introspection. A lot of things which were deep down and buried inside in me, surfaced out and were slapped on my face again and again, until I dealt with them. Insane, right?

It was a year of awakening and realization.

If you went through some self-realization or some major upheaval last year, then you could be among the few lucky ones. Your life most probably is changing for the better. 2017 being year belonging to Wheel of Fortune; your destiny may have something better for you this year. Take it as a reward for all the crap you dealt with last year. Or, if you are like me, enjoy every moment; be it sorrow or joy.

If you think that I am going to unload whole Tarot or spirituality stuff all over you… no-no, no such intention. Although I may try that in some other post… well, I love to scare people.

For me, it was a year of observation. I was just a witness and observing, as all who were/are around me went through some major life S#@t last year. Every person I connected with last year went through such major life crisis; it was horrible to even think of the pain they must have gone through. It was hard for me too. Especially when you see your loved ones, your relatives, your friends, and some strangers who turned friends; go through painful life moments, and you are just standing there trying to think of saying something which will help soothe their pain, or give them a right direction. I tried my best, but kind words are not enough sometimes. I wish I could have a magic wand…. Coming to think of it, even if I will have a magic wand, I may not change anything. One thing that I have understood in past 2 years is that each person must go through his own s#!t in order to grow. No one else can do it for you. we can just share some kind words and be there when you need someone to talk to. You must do it on your own. One promise from me is that you won’t be alone.

Another promise, I will not change. Well, I will improve, but I will not change myself. I have reached a point where I am happy with the way I am, with everything in me. So, in 2017 too, my focus will be only on learning new things and improving myself, not to change anything in me. If you are not happy with the way I am now… well good luck waiting for me to change.

Happy 2017. Love you. ❤

Kids and Me, Life, Random

Jungle Book Play by Bal Vihar Students

Image July 25, 2016 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Waltham Library is celebrating Jungle Book in this year’s theme; and what could be better than to have kids on stage enacting this popular story in a play format. Students of Bal Vihar School performed the play ‘Going By The Jungle Book’, which was based on the story of Mowgli, written by Rudyard Kipling in his most famous work, ‘The Jungle Book’.

Bal Vihar school was founded in 1996 to imbibe the values of Indian culture, and traditions in our young generation of Indian American. This school teaches not only Hindi language to its students, but also focus on their physical and spiritual well-being. Doing Yoga, reciting Shloka, celebrating each festival with tradition, and taking part in community work are some of their regular activities.

This play ‘Going By The Jungle Book’, was also an attempt to send a unique message of love and selflessness to our society. When I say ‘a unique message’, I want to emphasize on the work of this play’s writers, and also congratulate them, as they have molded this famous Mowgli Story in such a way that it forces you to think if both the villains of this story – Sher Khan (Tiger) and Baldeo (Uncle) representing the animal and human enemies of Mowgli respectively; were not based on the same ideology of Power and Greed. They both believed in power of control and domination rather than equality of law. In this tussle of domination, one thing that both of them failed to understand was, that Power of a Pack, power of a family, power of a like-minded group standing together for one cause, is far greater than any Sher Khan or Baldeo combined.

Play starts with Raksha the mother wolf, finding a man cub(kid) alone in the forest. Seeing that he could die of hunger, she decides to adopt him and named him Mowgli. Mowgli is raised in jungle as a wolf cub by Raksha, with the help of Baloo and Bagheera and whole wolf pack. On the other hand, Sher Khan see this wolf kid, Mowgli, as a threat to his power, and tries to kill him every chance he gets. Mowgli runs away to a nearby village, where he meets Messua, a kind lady who has lost her son few years back. She takes Mowgli under her care and declare him as his long lost son Natthu; which was not taken well by Baldeo. He sees Mowgli as a threat to his sole inheritance on Messua’s property. His greed for money, takes him to setting a trap for Sher khan too. Mowgli, the innocent boy, who thought that whole jungle was his family, tries to save Sher Khan from the deadly trap, but to no avail. In the end, Sher Khan dies from Baldeo’s gunshot; but Messua do manage to save his son Mowgli from Baldeo’s ill intentions.

Kids performing in this play send out a strong message that whole jungle is our family. We should preserve our jungles and our animals. We should also draw a fine line on where we need to stop our financial gain so as not to hurt our ecosystem. There is power in strength of numbers. We should stand together, just like a pack. This is the power of a pack.

Play was entertaining and everyone played their part perfectly; from baloo’s scratches, to bagheera’s irritation over baloo’s lazy attitude; from sher khan’s growling to Mowgli’s innocence; from Baldeo’s cunningness to Messua’s motherly love; from Raksha’s shield to wolf cubs Aaaooooo; it was just Perfect. Kids did a tremendous job, but It was also the effort of parents, teachers and mentors here, who deserve all the credit for this cultural and moral education to kids through a lively and entertaining play.

At the end, I just wanted to say that it was riveting to see these young boys and girls spread out the message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. Our world will be much safer in the hands of these kids.

See below pics taken from the play.

As originally Posted by Jyoti Singh on MyTrendingStories

Kids and Me

Language of Love

Image June 20, 2016 jcisnowjs 2 Comments

We have developed so many languages to talk to each other but still we rarely understand others. Isn’t it ironic that even after having so many languages, we depend on universal language of human emotions when we share our feelings. Words are never enough. In fact, words, may they be of any language, could not do justice to our true feelings. We need something else to understand each other.

To understand love, we need language of love.

Why I am suddenly talking about languages and Love. Well, I do talk about love a lot actually, but it is first time for languages. There is always a first time. Lol.

We visited a friend few weeks back. They just became proud parents of the most beautiful girl, I have ever seen. She is so damn pretty, just like a doll. It is a beautiful experience to see the miracle of birth and hold a tiny living being in your hands, who is your tiny version. Well, both parents were elated to have her, but most happy were the grandparents of the little one. Taking care of the new Mom and little baby doll… looking after their every small need… fulfilling every responsibility and much more.

They came all the way from Chennai, India to help their daughter in law and son, to prepare them for the arrival of the first-born. They speak Tamil, only Tamil, no other language. Auntie however do try to speak/understand few words of English. No problem, as whole family can speak Tamil. Problem – we the visitors were illiterate in Tamil. No Tamil for us. Only Hindi or English.

Was it hard to talk to them? No not at all. They were so lively and so lovable, we didn’t felt any barrier of communication. It was more so as our friend, their son, was acting as translator between parents and us. We loved their hospitality and pure love. What surprised me was kids.

We grownups were all having dinner and kids refused to eat any food. They were fussy and just wanted to watch their cartoon. We decided to give them some time and then feed them. So we were having dinner, when suddenly I realized kids are too quiet… too much to make me uncomfortable. Looked back, and there they were quietly sitting on couch and eating food from uncle’s hands. Auntie ji was serving dosa after dosa to them, while uncle was feeding them small bites with love. All three of my kids eating silently. That was a first. More shocking for me was that they were eating food from someone who was a stranger to them few hours back. Specially Otu, who don’t even sit in the same room as any grownup; he was sitting closest to Dada and was eating from his hands. Kids called them dada and dadi, as in grandpa and grandma. Dada was smiling and feeding them. Dadi was serving them. Grand-kids were enjoying all the attention and love showered on them.

Surprisingly they have never eaten from anyone else’s hands, other than us (me and hubby); not even their own grandparents. I guess when kids see pureness of heart, they just see love… no language, no religion, no age difference, no culture, no relationship, nothing else…. Only love.

Where there is love, you don’t need any other language to understand. Love is enough. It is always enough. ❤