First fight

 I might have mentioned around this place that I learn Karate. In Karate I am more keen on the poses and techniques which are called kata. I never participate in any fighting since, well I am not a fighter. I am an escapist. I will avoid an uncomfortable situation instead of facing it. I  will play it safe instead of landing in a situation where I might need to fight. But the fighting and self defense aspect is the major reason why I have my kids and myself enrolled for Karate in the first place. I always encourage the girls to opt for fighting when the teacher asks - the Kumite aspect of Karate. 

Since we had social distancing removed on the 19th of July, we could practice fights. The teacher is very democratic and asks in class what we might want to do. Last Friday during training, she gave the option "Adults who want to practice ground fighting come onto this side." I was standing smug on the other side. When one of the teachers cheered me "come on pick ground fighting" I thought, well, how bad it could be? They are all civilised people. :D 

The teachers showed us some technique of ground fighting. The main aim of the game was to pin your opponent for 10 seconds or make them feel pain that they ask to stop the fight. There was just one other lady, so I had no other option but to fight her. She was a black belt- sensei. She knew way more techniques and grips and arm locks and even nerve chokes than me. I am still a "low belt" who knows basics. I shot a prayer to Gannu Bhaiya with a simple request " Dont humiliate me. Be with me". 

We sat back to back, ready for our fight. As soon as the "fight" command came, we turned to face each other. I had it in my head, that I wouldn't be pinned down. Cos during the demonstrations, I realised, coming out of a pin was not going to be easy. I made the first move and pinned her. But of course my opponent put up a fight. She tried to press some nerves on my neck and shoulder. I was not going to let my 70 kg weight go for waste (she was smaller than me) At that time, I heard the other adults cheering her (They were all higher belts, and of course cheered for their peer who was being pinned by a junior) That made me even more determined to just not give up. I pinned her shoulders even more. She was quite good at wriggling (which did not make me the winner) But I kept at it. 

At that moment, the main teacher came to our area and she shouted "Amrita use whatever you can to choke her" I was like yeah! Why was I thinking I cant just plain choke her just because I havent been taught? I have seen enough movies! I tried, but by that time we were nearing the end of the session. 

I fought her again, and it was more or less an action replay. Papa who played sports back in the day and quite a sports enthusiast used to say "Attack is the best form of defense" And his words just rung in my ears. 

The main teacher did praise my attack. She said, I started quite docile, but fought well :) That was high praise indeed. The next morning I woke to a mild shoulder pain and lots of scratches on my neck. I will not say I enjoyed it. I dont like confrontation. I am not competitive. It was quite a primal and raw feeling. But maybe I will try it again :)

My most favourite person

 Who's that? Meri Maa. Who else would get the coveted title? My mom is not just the super supportive, super clever and super chilled mom. She asks us for our opinion on things, regarding our thoughts as important as hers and Papa's. But the awesomely best thing about her is her constant encouragement to keep my sister and me striving for more and better. She always asks us to take that certification, do that course, go for the workout, do that meditation routine. Not just the professional side, she even encourages us to be better home bodies. Lately I have mastered the art of baking (I know I have bragged about it a few times in this space ;) ) . Mummy one day mentioned "You can bake now, try to make yoghurt too". Since UK has a colder climate, we tend to buy yoghurt since our numerous attempts at making it at home have failed. But there are things that can help, like a yoghurt maker etc. So she asked to find out and get it done. Since Mummy threw the gauntlet, I had to accept it. I got right on with the task of Googling. I found a few positive links and my first start was a "starter-kit" for making yoghurt. I have tried it around 5-6 times and its been working! I can thank the warmer weather at the moment for it too. But it is really amazing to have home made yoghurt. As long as the weather Gods are with me, its success! Once the dreaded darker months come looming, I will get on with further Googling and get some more science to my side. Till then, thank you again Mummy for pushing me! You are the best!

 

Dress Rehersal

 The summer holidays are 2 weeks away. As I have adequately portrayed in my posts, they are  a bittersweet experience for me. More sweet than bitter to be honest. I relish reliving my childhood through the summer hols of the kids. There is a lack of routine which is so relaxing. The bitter part, is the juggle of work. Any day I would love to tear myself away from work and just play play play with the kids. But there are office tasks and with kids being at home, there are a bit more chores at home.

Last week, we had the kids isolating at home. There were positive Covid cases in both Chiyaa and Pumpki's classes. (The schools work on a bubble system. Each year group is a bubble. If there in a positive case in a year group which includes students and teachers, that year group has to self  isolate for 10 days) So they had to self isolate at home for a week. It was a coincidence that there were positive cases in both classes, else one of them would have had to go to school - which would have been hard to manage! It was back to the norm of home learning, which is skill we wont forget in a rush I think :) It was also back to the norm of lot of playing for the sisters. It was back to the norm of stretching the bed times since there was no rush to getting up early and dressed for school. It was back to no more school pickups and drops. It felt like a dry run, a little pre-cursor to the lovely summer vacations that are round the corner.

The kids go back to school today and I cant wait for the 2 weeks to pass soon enough!

Happiness is..

 When your 9 year old comes and hugs you. You ask "What happened" And she says "Nothing just wanted to hug you :) "

Rasode main kaun hai

 Yours truly, aur kaun. :D

My kitchen journey is that of a typical 80s girl. I didn't cook as a kid cos Mummy was there. In spite of having a full time job, she never asked and in fact abhorred any help in the kitchen :) She used to work in her own pace and style. When mummy was transferred to another location and sis and I were living with Papa, I was forced to pick up one key cooking skill. Making tea! I was probably 13 years old then and quickly came to grips with the process of making tea. And I started making the most amazing teas! So much so that even if Papa had the time, he would ask me to make tea. The evening chai with a big serving of Milk Bikis and Thin Arrowroot biscuits was standard practice for us three. When mummy used to come on her holidays, she used to be shocked at the full mug fulls of teas we kids used to have. But the love for chai has stayed on with my sister and I. So much so, till date there is a debate who makes the better tea :D her or me :D . (Its me!) I can write a whole post on tea itself and my love for it. I have lived with many tea lovers during my adult life. I had a room mate who used to claim "any time is tea time". I did not have a pleasant stay with her, but somehow having the morning cup of tea before starting to work and the evening cup once back were the moments of peace and weird calm. I also lived with a bunch of Delhi girls once upon a time, who were ace tea makers too. But I cannot talk about tea without mentioning roomie dear who used to make a killer tea.  Every morning a really quiet but super recharging walk, followed by hot parathas  with an unhealthy portion of butter, a cup of tea and The Time of India shared between us. We never needed any retreat. We started every day as if we were in a retreat. Some of the very best mornings of my life!

The knowledge of making coffee kinda grew as a lateral learning. There was some science to boiling the milk to the right extent and pouring it in a certain way to get the right amount of froth. There was also the measure of coffee to make it "light" or "strong". Marrying into a Tamil household opened my eyes to coffee. Its a ritual. I am not ritualistic. But the taste of fresh ground coffee, that is something that words cannot describe. I embraced coffee drinking with as much passion as tea. And I managed to introduce "real" tea in the our circle. The proper tea ;) with ginger, little bit of cardamom, the right amount of sugar, tea, milk and water. Its heaven in a cup! 

Tea, coffee aside, I cooked only for survival before marriage. Cooking when it was my "turn" to cook or when the lady who cooked didn't turn up.  In fact, when K spoke to my mother for the first time, she even mentioned "Amrita cant cook". K replied "She will learn" I chuckled "hah dream on". I thought I was one of those girls, who couldn't and wouldn't cook. Cooking wasn't cool.

Entering a partnership with a foodie changes stuff. Rather entering a partnership with a man changes stuff for a woman. Cos most men value food. They may have different tastes, but I haven't met a man who doesn't place food in the higher echelons in terms of priority ;) kuch bhi bana do is not really kuch bhi bano do :) 

After marriage along with bringing in the delicacy of tea, I also brought in matar paneer, gobi aloo, kadhi, stuffed parathas and vegetables such as pointed gourd, red spinach and Malabar spinach. I also had to imbibe the fair share of kootu, avial and a wide variety of rice dishes. I never fancied myself as a cook, but cooking equated creating. And I am one who loves seeing a tangible output. This post for instance is an output of my thoughts and gives me immense pleasure. I don't bother about who may or may not read it, but I derive immense satisfaction in writing it. Cooking in the sweltering heat of Chennai also gave the same sense of satisfaction when I saw the spread on the table later! 

Migrating to the UK was another culinary exposure. Since I was the solo person in the kitchen ( a first! no room mate or mom or mil) I learnt stuff. I picked up dishes from all over India and started experimenting. K and my Indian palette never wavered much from our traditional Indian dishes though we tried the odd Italian, Mexican or African. We reserved those cuisine for outside dining. When kids came along with their taste accustomed to the European foods thanks to day care and school, we had to drag in some international items into the kitchen. 

All was fine and dandy, but there was one thing I couldn't do. I couldn't bake. I couldn't bake to save my life! Literally. When lock down happened, I felt brave and tried a no-bake tart first. It came out swell! Ahem, beginner's luck? The next step was a doughnut recipe from a channel BakeWithShivesh. That was a roaring success too. The kids loved it since I involved them. They loved watching the video and later making it. I was feeling brave. I was doing all this with weight measurements since I had a kitchen scale. But then I thought measuring cups would be handy. I got them and tried the Devil's food cake with a lot of anxiety. And it came out perfect! There was no stopping after that. From a non-baker, I evolved into one who owns a hand and mechanical whisk, a spring form baking pan, 2 normal ones to make layered cakes, muffin trays, and knows the difference between ganache and buttercream frosting and fresh cream  frosting and is also aware of  how to make them! :D 

Lock down make me find therapy in cooking! I have started making pickles and dry chutneys, nut butters and laddoos and a plethora of other items. I relish cooking so much that a regular complaint from K is "You are always in the kitchen"

I know what I was missing

 A holiday! And I finally had one. Not a day out in the parks, not a trip to the nearby zoo and back. But a proper staying out of home holiday. And the last one we had was two years ago!

Faced with the pandemic we took a very conservative stance towards holidays. As the world opened up briefly last year around summer, we decided it was still too early to go for holidays and trips. We were more than content with the local forests and parks. During winter last year, we made a few day trips to zoos and other outdoor venues. In UK internal travel restrictions were to lifted on the 18th of May. But we had to plan in advance. Again we took a very conservative stance and booked a place close by thus making sure we were within England. Not only that the place was 1 hour from home which made it the same county which would ensure that we would mostly be under similar restrictions if things went downhill.

But planning a holiday is no child's play. Add the fact that we were looking at summer half term which is a very busy time given the probability of good weather. Also there were millions of stir crazy Britons who were desperate for a holiday..accommodations of choice were in short supply. I was close to giving up. But my dear sis nudged me on asking me to keep looking for my sake. It is important to rejuvenate and travel is rejuvenating.

I was getting frustrated. But K happened to send me a link for a probable destination. It had my interest piqued. One thing led to another and I booked a forest retreat with hot tubs. If nothing else, the hot tubs would be a novel experience ;)

There was a month and a half's wait before the holiday. A week to it I asked the kids to pack their stuff. They got super super excited. They took out bags, packed clothes, sweaters, jackets, and started counting down. Me being me had to review their choice of clothes and accessories. And as with any holiday I decided the kids needed new clothes. Nearly a year of lockdown had depleted their clothes reserves and added a lot to their pyjama collections. So 4 days prior to the hols the three girls were sitting all agog in front of the laptop choosing dresses. I ended up purchasing some real stylish clothes for the girls which was a wholly entertaining experience in itself. We made a trip to the mall to collect the clothes and tried them on there. It was novel experience since trial rooms were not available to avoid social contact. Doing something as trivial and mundane as trying out clothes made me feel good. It was some amazing mother daughters time I must say! As a pleasant surprise we met one of Pumpki 's nursery friends and her mom and spent close to an hour talking while the kids played. It was a really pleasant experience.

The day of the holiday the kids could not contain their excitement. Somehow the nice weather made sure that we were in the garden pottering about. It had been a very busy weekend with a lot of washing of winter wear and the likes and packing them up. It was finally warm!!!

Our holiday was quaint and idyllic. The sceneries were just breathtaking. There were few crowds and many places were just left for us. It was very amazing just walking and walking. The kids showed immense will power in walking close to 10k -13k steps every single day. The hot tub at the end of the day was a major motivation to keep them going. Seeing their enthusiasm we are sure they are up for many walking holidays in the future. :) We all watched a ton of TV, I read and finished the good part of a book. We ate take away food and just relished living some where else. 

It was the best 4 days we spent in a long long time. It was just splendid and I daresay perfect! Touchwood.

What are kids for?

 If I cant use them to write my next post :D 

Its been ages since I wrote isn't it? I have been thinking that I haven't written in a while, but there is absolutely nothing to write about either. Things are the same old same old. 

Except of course for the kids who surprise us every day. Last weekend Pumpki had a bit of  a cough. In fact Chiyaa had a cold and cough the week before so it was obvious that Pumpki eventually get it. Now this little one is a sly one. She in complete contrast to her elder sister hates everything. She hates school, she hates swimming, she hates karate (which she even went up and  told the teacher!!) . She finds everything "boring". All she wants to do is "be lazy and play at home". Mind you she is very strong willed. So when she got a cough last week, we asked her to have ample warm water so the cough subsides. She said "But I dont want the cough to subside" We were aghast! But why? "Because they said you shouldn't come to school if you have a persistent cough" God, we had no answer to that.

Anyways, we insisted on warm water and regular calpol to keep her well. On Saturday night, her cough was a bit more raspy. K was worried, though I was smug sure, it was a normal cold. K got in touch with the Covid helpline, who had a quick check and recommended she get a test done. I was a bit worried about a 5 year old getting a nasal swab. But madam was excited. She was behaving as if this was a moment of privilege. She painstakingly picked the jacket and shoe to wear for the test! For the one hour, dad and daughter were gone to the test centre, I was in constant worry. But then they came back and Pumpki had the air of a celebrity. She got a sticker for being brave and was very proud of it. The test results would take a day or two to come back. This meant we most probably would have both the kids home for Monday and Tuesday. It was not a pleasant idea. But, there was no choice.

Monday morning, I was the least prepared parent. I was sure they wouldn't be off to school. So I didn't have Chiyaa's lunch packed. We were lax in ironing their uniforms. I woke up later than usual since I was sure I would not need to do the school run. At 07:15 K shouted, "Its negative!". Woo hoooooo!!! We scurried to get them out of the door. All the chores were done at break neck speed and the kids were out by the usual time. We could not help but be amused at the disappointment of Pumpki at having to go to school :D Poor kid had real high hopes that she would be scot free from all the "boring" tasks for the next two days. :D Dil ke armaan aansuon main beh gaye :(