The 40-year old virgin

Okay, guilty of the clickbait title. It's been a year since my last blog, so I needed something to "prop" up my post. Pun intended, keep reading.

I left India right after college in 2003. And I never had the chance to cast a vote. Whether it was related to age, voter registration paperwork or not being an election year, I don't remember. Once I was in America, I started that journey from immigrant to resident, which has been the past 15 years of my life. Then in mid 2019, I had to opportunity of being sworn in as an American citizen with my husband. A life changing experience for both of us, we finally earned the right and privilege to call ourselves American. From being born into the largest democracy in the world, to living in the greatest one, I have never had the opportunity to play my part in either democracy.

I'm super prepared this time, people. I've done my homework: I've keenly watched both of the presidential debates, the vice-presidential debate, presidential rallies, studied all 12 of the California 2020 ballot propositions, looked at a sample ballot on Ballotpedia.com, you name it.

2020 has been a tough year. Be it COVID, helping kids with remote-learning or turning 40 (the worst); it's been a year of one crisis after another. But as I explain to my second grader trying to decide between Halloween costumes, asking me why there are villain costumes sold at all: there is no value in being a hero without having villains to overcome. You cant appreciate a sunny day without a cold, cloudy one. You cant appreciate a 2019 without a 2020. Like everyone who has lived in a democracy, I have questioned the entire concept of democracy countless times, when there were times of political or social unrest, a pandemic escalating out of control, schools shut down until further notice, peoples' jobs and lives hanging in the balance. But I know in my heart that growing up and living in a democracy, being free to live my life, making my choices is a privilege and a responsibility. Casting that first vote, gives me the butterflies. On the eve of the 2020 election day, I feel empowered, excited and hopeful about the future; however dismal the present may be.

Cannot wait to pop that cherry. :)

Go vote !

Tough Chicks

I picked up this kids book from the Costco book collection a few months back and it instantly became my favorite kids' book the first time I read it.

Here is a quick synopsis of the book:
From the moment Penny, Polly, and Molly hatch from their eggs, the whole farm knows they are truly tough chicks. They wrestle worms, rope roosters, and are often found under the hood of the tractor. All the other animals and even the farmer himself tell Mama Hen to make her chicks good. "They are good!" Mama Hen replies. But could her chicks be too loud, too independent, and too tough?


This is a very cute story about some "tough chicks" that do not behave like the other chicks. These chicks are always up to something and curious about everything around them. Everyone tells them to be good, but in the end, having tough chicks around saves the day. The book can have different interpretations for different people. Popular opinion says it is a resounding feminist endorsement for letting girls be girls (even if they're loud and tough and like to play with tractors.)


I have a different interpretation:
I love the book because it reminds me of my free spirited, sometimes rambunctious, always over-energetic boys who often seem like a menace in social settings.  I feel the worlds' stares asking me to "Make them be good" like in the book. I reply "But they ARE good !". But I worry they may be too wild for their own good.
My spouse tells me it takes one to know one: friends who have grown up in an all-brothers family setting with short age gaps understand when they see our sons squabbling but not everyone gets that sometimes boys need to be boys.


My boys are inquisitive, stubborn, and extremely independent. They are 17 months apart and feed off of each others' energy. I take them to the sandbox and find them throwing sand on each other moments later. I'm folding laundry and I find sand, pebbles, snail shells in their pockets: like they want to bring the outdoors home with them. I find them performing surgery on their bikes and trucks. They play so hard with all their remote control toys, smashing them into walls and bumping them into furniture that the toys break down within a few days (if not hours) of opening them. They chase puppies in the park trying to pet them, often scaring them off or setting off a barking fit. They turn on water outlets in the backyard and frontyard, having an impromptu sprinkler party. They throw their soft toys at the chandelier to check if the toy will get caught in it and then use the Swiffer stick to knock it back down on the ground. They know how to push my buttons and give me anxiety attacks.


I often find myself wishing they could be more like their peers who are calmer, quieter, more low-key. This story, about a mother hen’s faith (and occasional doubt) in her trio of “tough chicks” is a reminder that my rough-and-tumble sons are each special the way that they are. That someday those characteristics that are frustrating now will maybe become the things that are most admirable about them (I hope). That my kids may not do things like other kids, but they each have impressive and unique qualities that I am excited to see mature. That someday, the same curiosity that makes them take apart a remote control truck, will feed an innovative mind to do something creative or novel.


To the world: Being different isn't bad. Being tough isn't bad. Being curious isn't bad. Be more accepting of kids who don't fit the mold. Think of the Robots quote: "You can shine no matter what you're made of !"




My wild animals

Plumbing and pumpkin croissants

After weeks of earfuls from my husband about a thumping, buzzing, noisy guest bath toilet and considerable run-around from plumbers, Roto-rooter drain experts and our home builder's handyman, I decided to take matters in my own hand.

Roadzilla

This blog/rant is going to be my Friday therapy. It's Friday and it's the end (or a long pause at least) to my to-and-fro work commute. Heck yeah.

Birthday blues, beaten black-&-blue.

When you get to a certain age, something terrible starts happening to you. And it keeps happening over and over again.

It's called "a birthday".

A place beyond powerful

You know good cinema when something you watched yesterday stays with you the next day. And the next day. And the day after.
"A place beyond the pines" is a compelling relationship drama about dysfunctional fathers and sons stuck on two sides of a flawed legal system.

Typecast me not

Never thought I will say this, but I think I am a closet Salman Khan fan. How many other bollywood actors can claim to have played a buffoonish small-town cop (Dabangg, Dabangg 2) and a cool-cat super-spy (Ek Tha Tiger) convincingly in the same year ? I watched Dabangg 2 during Christmas week 2012 and thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie's simple format and common man lingo is both a delight and a relief after a string of flops produced under his family's production banner. Kudos to Salman khan for breaking the bollywood hero stereotype, stepping out of his comfort zone and deciding to play Chulbul Pandey: the crime-busting Robin Hood cop with a penchant for garish shirts and spontaneously breaking into loud song and dance sequences.