7X7X7X7

Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.
Open it up to page 7.
Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page.
Begin a poem/a piece of prose that begins with that sentence
Limit it in length to 7 lines/7 sentences.

The 7th book on my shelf is...Nectar in a sieve by Kamala Markandaya

"My heart sang and my feet were light" when I remembered you were coming after 10 long years, coming to me, to my arms where you belong. 

Your room is sparkling and bare and I am at the door gazing at the clock , wiping my tears waiting for you.

I look at you from a distance, my heart jumps at your voice, my hands quiver to take you in my arms.

Your face has a few wrinkled lines, some grey strands and a chin under the chin singing of your blessings galore 

I stand there and wonder if you will recognise my touch, if you will still fit in my lap, If I could once, just once carry you in my arms again 

You hug me tight, sweep me off my feet, and carry me in your arms, spinning the world around me, making me believe everything is still the same. 

Arms and laps, hugs and holds, laps and spins, all are same but the baton is passed on to the younger set of hands.

This is in response to the WriteTribe prompt.

Tips to maintain a good sleep routine for kids

I struggled a lot with my elder one and his sleep. He was a very irregular sleeper, would not go to bed till wee hours and would sleep only about 3-4 hours at a time. It completely changed when he turned around two years and one of my friends suggested me to follow a routine. Since then, through a lot of trial and error I have devised my own routine and a check list which has helped me immensely. Now both my sons sleep around 8:30pm and sleep at a stretch for about 11-12 hours.

Following is a list of things that I consider are important to maintain a good sleep routine (Relevant to age 2 years and above):

Follow a schedule: Plan a schedule for your child. If you want your child to sleep by 9pm (Ideally yes) the process for bedtime should start by 8pm. I recommend the following steps for creating a schedule:

• Dinner at 8pm 
• Hot water bath and some fun play time in the tub at 8:30 pm (I know in India a lot of mothers don’t give a bath at night, I also tried it hesitantly but now I can vouch for it) Not only it is good for hygiene, a hot water bath tends to have a relaxing effect and water play will for sure tire them down.
• In the bed by 9 pm

In order for the schedule to work, two things are very important:

• The child should be mentally prepared that he/she has to sleep in next 1 hr. Keep telling him/her during the dinner that Bath time is in 30 minutes and sleep time after that.
• Consistency: If you have never followed a schedule with your child, this is going to be very very difficult. But don’t lose heart, continue the effort and be consistent. It doesn't matter how unsuccessful initial days are, if you keep the consistency your child will gradually pick up the routine.

Avoid late evening naps: If you want your child to sleep by 9pm, avoid a nap after 5pm strictly. Even a half and hour nap in the evening will freshen the body up completely and give them enough energy to be up till 12.

Avoid sugar content an hr before sleep time: In India a dinner is usually followed by sweets. Please avoid this tradition. Sugar in their system will give them enough energy to be up for next 2-3 hours. Avoid

Physical activity: Make sure their evening is packed with lots of physical activity. This is not only important for a good night’s sleep for also for their overall physical and mental development. If you are not able to take them out daily to a play area, plan in advance clear your schedule for the evening and device games to keep them and you physically active for 1-2 hours in the evening. (I normally plan my meals a day in advance and prepare dinner before 5 pm)

Use rewards in the starting: If your kids are late sleepers, it will be very difficult to induce them to sleep early; one of the thing that can support you for some time is cooking up a reward system. In our house we follow a weekly reward system (based on stars), each start represents a good habit/good deed (including good sleep habit) and by end of the week if the total is 10 or more my Kid gets the bigger reward (In his case its mostly 1 hr of television, because otherwise through the week he is not allowed to watch it).

Train them to sleep on their own: The reward system will work for sometime but generally after a few days/months in the routine, they should be able to sleep on their own. Their body will adjust and will start getting tired by the fixed hour of sleep. When this happens, you child should be able to sleep on his/her own. I do not recommend bed time stories/poems etc because kids associate with them for a very long time and it becomes a daily cycle which is very difficult to break. I use to just sit next to my 2 year old when he started sleeping on his own, even breaking this habit became a issue.

Always put them to bed happy: Following a routine for the first time can be difficult and will result in a lot of tantrums however try to make them sleep with a happy face as much as possible. I always always tell my elder one that I love him a lot and I am there in the house with him, so he doesn't need to worry about anything.

Bedroom environment: Though I read a lot about creating a special environment in the bedroom, I strongly suggest to NOT follow it. Reason is, if the child gets use to of sleeping only in a typical environment like only with lights on, soft music playing, with a favorite toy etc etc, he/she will become dependent on it for sleep. The child will find it very difficult to sleep in any alien environment, or with/without light, with noise. This is why we see a lot of cranky kids on trains. My goal is to maintain a good routine with basic things, that i can replicate anywhere even during travel (A bath can be replaced with a hot sponge)

And I strongly suggest avoiding TV in the bedroom. It will tempt them.

These points have helped me a lot and I sincerely hope that it is useful for each and everyone who reads it however do note that each child is different hence not everything I discussed can be applied to every child. The key is to realize the importance of a routine and discipline and take it forward from there. 

Best of luck, lets build beautiful memories

Image courtesy peasap

Ripples

We sail on ripples

Of a thought

In a quest to grab its shadow

This Haiku is shared with Haiku Heights - Ripple.

Image courtsey Jason Nahrung

Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -Confucius

Did you ever notice?

The green of the washed leaves just after rains

The pink of smiles and brown of stains

The small mud foot prints on the floor

Stained postcards in the store

The pit pat of rain drops on your window

The smear of hands on your pillow

Smell of a new book

Rush of blood at that first look

The dance of joy on the street

The chuckle of Grand Ma when you meet

Blackened window by the kitchen

With smoked patterns that are hidden

The dark green circles on her wrist

Peace of night and morning mist

The crackling of veggies in the pan

The red of December and yellow of Jan

Ring of glass on the table

Mr. Thumpkin and game of pebbles

Smell of rains and rustle of leaves 

Footsteps on the door and shuffle of keys

Did you ever notice?

Everything has poetry but not everyone can write it

Everything has music but who can sing it ?

Everything has beauty but no one ever sees it -  Confucius

A special thanks to my dear friend and blogger Leo for inspiring the theme

Image source:commons.wikimedia.org

High heels unlimited

My dream gourmet party is a grand bachelorette party in honor of my best friend. Lets start with the Invite!!

A grand bachelorette party for my best friend Jodha (Calling her this because of her fascination for Drama, Mughlai food and huge neck pieces) with the theme “High heels unlimited”. The theme is in accordance with Jodha's love affair with high heels since she started walking. No one has seen her wear anything but a high heel (this includes all outings...Spa, shopping, camps, college, office, home etc etc).Jodha aka J is stepping into marital bliss in a few days and like any good friend I want to make sure that she makes the most of last few free days left in singlehood. Hence “I am throwing the biggest-baddest” party for her.

Now let’s get to the nitty gritty of the party

Number of guests: Just our core group of 15 uber cool divas.

Ambiance: Miss B (A dear friend of J) who is famous for throwing the most outrageous and fun parties is helping me with the arrangements. Her farm house on the outskirts of Mumbai has been converted into a Diva place and we are re-christening it as “Club Gorgeous”

The overall feel of our party is chic and trendy and going with the theme of party except for the black cocktail dress nothing black is allowed in the party room.

The floor will be donned with different colors of balloons; the room will be branded with high heels all around: 

• High heel standees placed at entrance and few other spots. 
• High heels cut outs hanging from the ceiling 
• High heel styled chairs will be used for seating arrangements 
• Special care has been given on a lot of branding like cutlery, Glasses, decoration around the room like lights etc have been styled as high heels 

Food: J' loves Mughlai food hence I have tried to blend Mughlai with our chic theme. 

We took help of J’s one of her best friend  

J' is an avid cook and loves her food but like all working women she has little time at hand. I remember her struggling in the kitchen for hours to dish up yummy Mughlai dishes....but it use to be so much work that we would have the pleasure of tasting it very rarely....but one day one of her colleague introduced her to ITC's Kitchens of India and cooking changed for J' after that.

Not only she regularly uses ITC's Kitchens of India masala mixes but whenever we broke into her house uninvited and demand delicious mughlai food...ready to dine options from ITC's Kitchens of India have rescued her. 

So in a way ITC's Kitchens of India has become an integral part of our friends group and all our get togethers. So for one of the most important party for J' I decided to blend her two best friends High heels and ITC's Kitchens of India!!

We used different vegetarian products (Because J' is strictly vegetarian) which are J’s favorites and blended them with our chic theme. The result is the food and drinks menu shown below:

Cocktails/Mocktails 

Orange bolds

Orange juice,shredded mango and fresh mint

Red Stiletto

 Vodka/Sprite with strawberry and mint conserve

Hot heels

Vodka/Sprite, orange juice and tomato and chilly chutney

Sling back

Vodka/Sprite, Pineapple & pepper and hint of lime

                                                                Sandals

Gin/Sprite with Pineapple juice and Mango jeera

Boots

Vodka/Sprite with Mango & saffron conserve & chocolate syrup

Starters

Spicy triangles  

A variation to our friend Samosas. These triangles will be baked and we will have two kind of fillings ( We will use two of J's favorite from ITC's Kitchens of India's Ready to dine options and the gravy will be dried off a bit to use as filling for triangles)

For spice lovers like me Mirch Salan fillos 

And for Panner lovers, Mughlai Paneer triangles

Vegi wedges

Crisp carrots, bell peppers, potato, mushrooms baked after coating with yoghurt mixed with Vegetable Biryani Mix, roasted in oven and served hot n fresh

Dal fritters 

Yummy dal fritters...deep fried for calorie lovers. We will mix ready to dine ready to eat Dal Bukhara with chickpea flour and basic spices and deep fry the culprit!!!! 

These starters will be served hot and fresh with two special chutneys from ITC's Kitchens of India

 and

Main course

Makhmali kofte

Paneer Malai mixed with chichkpea flour and basic spices. Shaped into koftas and deep fried. Served with a gravy prepared with Paneer Makhani Mix and fresh cream

Baked mushroom and vegetables 

Marinated paneer stuffed in pepper

Kashmiri khatte baigan

Brown rice pilaf 

Twist to the traditional biryani with brown rice. Will be cooked with Vegetable Biryani Mix to enhance the flavors.

Roti/Naan/Wheat bread 

Desserts 

White chocolate, cardamom and Moong Dal Halwa pannacotta

       

Almond fudge with chocolate icecream made with Awadhi Badam Halwa

And last but not the least Shoe styled “Bachelorette cake”

Entertainment: I have planned numerous fun games for the party. Since the theme is High heels most of the games are styled around heels

1. First and foremost entry to the party zone will be allowed only after getting branded by the "High heel Unlimited" stamp at the entrance.

2. Awards” Best heel”: Ofcourse we will have the biggest award of the night "The best heels". This will be judged by J. And the winner will get a sachet specially printed for the occasion "Miss best heels".

3. Whoz heel is it anyway: Snaps of each pair taken at entrance. All the girls will be provided with cue cards and the snaps of heels will be projected. We will have to match the heel with the face. One with highest correct guess will win 

4. Dress up the heel: All the extra ugly heels will be thrown together in a basket. Girls will be blindfolded and they will pick up one random pair without looking. Each will have to provide a makeover to the heels with the decoration material they are carrying in next 10 min........turn the ugly ducking into cindrella, the one with most creativity will win. 

5. The Shoe quiz? Not a serious but funky shoe facts quiz and the winner will receive a specially designed sachet "I know the heels".

And last but not the least we would groove to J's favorite Rock bands Pink floyd and Metallica till wee hours in the morning..

This shall conclude one of the most happening parties of this year of our group!!

These are the nitty gritty of my grand party......Got to run, have to post invites, shop and order from ITC's Kitchens of India....