Oops, we did it again!

It is exam season here and I've been working extra hours in the kitchen to satisfy those "I'm hungry' cravings. Understandably, my mood's not that great. So yesterday was a holiday in between his exams and S was sleeping in. I was at my sudoku puzzle, sipping my tea and G, was busy doing what he does best , asking for the zillionth cup of tea. The point I'm trying hard to make here, is that Ive been working hard, very very hard, not hardly like certain people who I live with, would like you to think!

So there I was, listening to old Hindi numbers, and solving my Sudoku puzzle, when my mobile rang. Annoyed at the disturbance, I glanced at the number. Unknown! I generally avoid picking up calls from unknown numbers,because then I have to tell the caller who is generally peddling some scheme or other,  to go to hell, and I do not want to spoil his/her day and mine too.  But this call I did answer, probably because I was in the exam mood and hence jusified in wanting to give someone a piece of my mind. Besides, I've been working too hard for my own good.

Female Caller: "Mrs R?"

Me (in my gruffest tone, already annoyed at the audacity in presuming that I was a Mrs) : "Haan ji?"

Caller : "Mrs R, I wanted to know if S is coming to school today?"

Me(spluttering) : "erm..whaat?"

Caller, patiently " I'm T, his teacher"

Me,( in a total unrecognizable squeak)  :"Good Morning, Mrs. T. No, No, S doesn't have any exam" while my mind feverishly tries to recall his date sheet which he and I had glanced through two days back.

Mrs. T(really really patient) " erm..ma'am, he has his Art I, Paper today!"

Me: "Are you sure? oops, didnt know. Thank you for letting me know. Sending him right away".

Mrs. T (In a very relieved tone) : "Yes, Im sure, Thank you," 

She kept the phone down before I could utter a syllable more. Yes, she is a very impatient lady.  I thought so too.

Knowing S would be  shocked, I sprinted off to wake him up, resolving to break the news to him gently.

Threw his bed sheet cover off and shook him, (whaat? that's as gentle as I can be) screaming "Get up, get up, get up, you have your Art paper today"

S : "Amma, don't joke, let me sleep"

"Seriously", I think to myself, " this child has chosen the wrong day and time to be like me!" 

Shook him some more till he got up, still in disbelief that we had forgotten about an exam. Both he and I were convinced that surely his teacher was mistaken. We pored over the date sheet intently and then looked at each other.  Oops, we had looked at next week's schedule. In our defence, who puts Art in between heavy duty subjects like Chemistry and Geography. Who?! It's all the school's fault. Always!

I pushed S to the washroom and sprinted  to the other room and barked at G : "S has an exam today, get the car out"

His eyes popping out assured me that he had heard and I sprinted back to the kitchen to make a sandwich for the boy. And then sprinted back to S and then to G again.

10 minutes later, they were on their way to school, and I heaved a sigh, partly from relief and mostly from all that sprinting. Thought for the day, sprinting in the morning is injurious to breathing. Please don't try it. 

Then I remembered this, and this (click on the links) and I chuckled. Nothing had changed much since then, and the Apple hadn't fallen too far, from this tree either!

I then practiced  a suitably chastened and apologetic expression to face G, when he returned from the impromptu school run.  He should be happy though, both S and I are not likely to forget an exam ever. I have it all planned out. We just need to print the date sheet in bigger fonts. Maybe color codes will help too.

Yes, that should work!

Yes, poor G, indeed!

Let's just call it fiction?

She had walked her son to school, waved brightly to two friends' husbands, walked to the local supermarket and met a lot of friendly people. A wonderful morning!

And then, she glanced at the mirror.

She had done it again, walked all over town wearing her shirt inside out with the label flapping merrily away!

when a wish came true!

When school starts after a two week break, it's going to be tough and exciting. Tough because the free spirit has to be caged into a routine, esp after all the unrestricted fun of the past days and exciting because it is after all a new year in school among familiar faces and different teachers.

We've had plenty to do the past 15 days, with libraries, waterparks, and the science centre being our favorite haunts, not to mention overdosing on high energy food. I really enjoy these days when there is no need to adhere to a set timetable and when we take the day as it comes. So it did not come as a surprise when the 6 yrold wished he could have extra holidays. :)

Still we thought we had prepared pretty well for the new term. Polished shoes, ironed uniforms and a packed school bag were set in its proper places, giving the first day of school its rightful importance; even though we all knew that the remaining weeks would be spent in the last minute flurry of packing school bags, and hunting for the right pair of socks at the last minute...



Monday morning dawned a bit too early and it was back to the routine of waking up with the birds and trying to coordinate your limbs which seemed to be having a mind of their own.





Lunchboxes packed, waterbottles filled and prayers said, we were ready and waiting for the bus, which never arrived.





Fifteen minutes later, we were still waiting...and i mentally prepared myself to drop them to school!





Finally i called the bus driver in irritation...and got a puzzled reply 'But school reopens on April 7th!!!'





A call to a friend confirmed the same...





Sheepish looks all round, a burst of laughter, a moan from the 11 yrold for having given up his precious sleep for nothing and a yell of delight from the 6 yrold who was quite thrilled that his wish came true!

Ok so i had forgotten the actual date, but really it's not my fault! Whoever reopens school on a Tuesday, anyway?

Forget-me-not (2)

The end of a week and the beginning of a lazy day. A piping hot cup of masala chai and the settling down to read a few blogs, in peace hopefully. A sip and a thoooooo...a grimace and a sigh...

It was plain ginger flavored watery milk! I had forgotten the tea leaves..Again!

I sneak a look at the hubby. He is still sipping the warm drink, probably thinking that its another one of those concoctions i churn out once in a while, disguised under the mantle of health drink.

And when i read this, ( a post i wrote long back), i realise not much has changed.

Reminded me of the recent time i had left my handbag in the train in Sydney. I got down and had walked out of the station when suddenly i felt different. I felt very light (not lightheaded, but light as in the opposite of heavy). That's when i realised that i had left my handbag in the carriage. That handbag is what gives me the perfect balance, stuffed as it is with everything I may need! So, we rushed back, the 11 yr old enjoying this reversal of roles and proceeding to air a few mean sound bytes. The official made all the appropriate sounds before finally telling us to wait for 15 minutes, we were lucky that the train had terminated at that station and it would make its way back at the same platform. And that's how i got my bag back..

and of course just because the hubby was extremely mean to me that time, he forgot his wallet and card holder at the security check at the Perth airport, the boarding tickets at a check in counter in Melbourne. and i made a few loudly appropriate noises too.

Every time i leave home, i invariably do a few patting exercises...pat my pocket to check if my train/bus card is there, another pocket if my mobile's safe... my handbag to see if the money's there...my ears to see if I'm wearing BOTH my earrings...someone watching would be forgiven for thinking that I'm practising the latest dance moves!

So a few days back, kid senior came back from school, and sheepishly informed me that he had bought lunch at school...He had forgotten that i had made lunch for him (burgers with homemade veg patties, that too waking up at 6 am, people!) even though he had put it in his bag himself, with his own not so little hands!

'Where did you get the money from?' i asked.

Scratched his head and said "I don't know, it was there" giving the impression that it was a miracle! Turns out that the miracle occurred when two friends returned the cents they had borrowed on different occasions.

What do i say?

Lage raho?

(PS.Abha, don't make me stand in a corner, I've not YET forgotten your tag, just a few crucial details! :)