Riz smiles with Reason

After a hearty meal, its time to sleep. I have a towel covering my head and face because I had oiled my hair. And at some point, Sumit clicked this photograph of June and me! And now its a favorite! June, since he was a kid, has a sleep habit of digging his legs into the person next to him. To keep them warm. No one taught him this, its just his way to cozy up before slipping into sleep land. My mind flips back to winter afternoons in Lucknow, when I see this picture. I remember returning from school and cozying up to bhai like a little teddy bear, for a quick afternoon nap. I remember Mummy getting angry at me, for encouraging him to sleep in the afternoon, because that would mean he'd disturb her at night. Not sleeping at night, is something he still does...:) Even now, after all these years, if i say "Bhaiyya mujhe ninni karao", he pats my face with his hand, like elders do to babies. His patting is strong and painful, but the emotion is in the right pl...

June with his Mom-Mom I lose my patience so often with June. I shout at him, I ignore his requests for play. I scold him and avoid him. Why do I get angry? Agreed there's a lot on my plate with Mummy unwell. But will I be so easily irritable with my child when he's two. Or will I make allowances and bend backwards all the time? I wish I had more strength and definitely more patience. Being a mother must be tough. Every time my period is delayed ( which is every month, because I STRESS A LOT as my Gynaec puts it) I get into a strange zone mentally. Is this the right time, can i handle a kid? Can i bring up a child selflessly, will i wake up from my sleep to take her/him to the loo, will I cancel a trip to take care of my child? Embarrassingly, the answer to most questions is a blatant, brazen no. So, what is this space that people need to fill with the presence of a child in their life? May be with Bhai in my life that space is already full. I get my chance to mo...

Written By Meera Jafri We've had new neighbours move into the flat adjacent to ours. A young friendly girl with a pet dog are the new occupants of that apartment.  One evening, our friendly neighbour came up to Sona and me and introduced herself and her dog Kabi, whom she claimed was a therapy dog. The concept of a therapy dog was new to us and we were curious to learn more. Apparently, Dogs are great stress busters and Kabi was used to playing with cancer patients at a centre. So she volunteered to send her pet over if she could help Rizwan as well! We had several dogs as pets when the kids were younger.  Rizwan  had a special tacit relationship with each pet. He was shy of touching them but one could see there was a special bond between them.  I remembered an incident from June's childhood. He was 7 0r 8 years old when this extremely shocking incident took place. My husband and I were not home and my mother was baby sitting  Rizwan ....

We went to play Ball. June Chiggu Bhai and Me! Taking a photo break! With Chiggu Bhai! Fun!!

Mummy went to Mysore to attend Mysha's first birthday. And i got to play Choti Mummy to June. Initially, both Mummy and I were apprehensive about June Bhai staying away from her for 5 days, but we managed well! This was the first time, I was babysitting him all by myself. Also, i couldn't have done it without Sumit, my husband's support. First day went smooth, because June thought it was just one of his night outs at my house, and then the second day onwards, he was bored, sad, introspective and naughty to say the least. Over the years, June, has become very sensitive, he understands a lot more than he used to a few years back. So, i gather he made sense that mummy was not in town. Partly,  also because i kept telling him 'mummy ghummy karne gayi hain' (she's travelling, my nonsense talk that probably, only June understands!) So, we were pleasantly surprised when June declined my elder brother's offer of returning with him to his home, and inste...

(An Article written by our mother, Meera) 3yr old It was a happy day when I had my second baby boy.  Everything was so beautiful and new.  But, on the third day my baby fell ill with a stomach infection and started having motions. By the fifth day he was totally dehydrated.  Then began the rush with high dose medicines. A cut was opened in his vein and drips were administered. We were all praying.  Seeing my three day old braced with medical paraphernalia made me anxious and nervous. God heard our fervent prayers, Rizwan recuperated.  All seemed to go well till he was 7-8 months, but then we realized that he still could not balance his head.  From there commenced a saga of many trips to doctors and hospitals.  My June (Rizwan) was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. This came as a shock.  Honestly, we had never heard of it before.  After recovering from the initial shock began the reality of everyday life.  June was sp...

I keep telling myself I''ll write regularly, but in vain. I do actually have a lot to share with the world about Rizwan. But laziness and other things keep me away. However, this post is just a collection of photographs of Rizwan, with me or mummy; groggy, half awake or just nonchalantly having his bottle of milk or green tea! This post is a slice of our life with bhaiyya! All photos are taken on my bad quality phone camera, so please excuse the quality! Clinging to Mummy and still not quite up! Poser, since he's not a big fan of stuff toys,. He an out and out cars and bikes kind of a boy! My baby!  At my place, he hates staying away from mummy, but I bribed him into spending the night at my house. Picture clicked to be BBM'ed to mummy early in the morning!

Riz in the Morning He's a light sleeper.  Early riser.  Tea lover.  Sun - Chaser.  Has a great sense of time, and just as most other children like him, he knows his schedule better than us.  So, he wakes up, lounges about for a bit in bed, then urges Mummy to prepare tea for him. Which means a bit of sweet smiles, kisses and hugs. Then he gets out of bed, to lounge a bit more on the sofa in the living room. Collects his bottle of tea (drinks tea from a baby bottle, because he has weak finger dexterity,) and enjoys it. And then whether, he's in his Lucknow home or his Mumbai apartment, He finds the Sun! Groggy, sleepy boy! The Sunflower! Tea lover! True Poser!

I shall sit here, serving tea to your friends; , a photo by recent realisations on Flickr. "Perhaps you can write to me." My self-possession flares up for a second; This is as I had reckoned. (lines, from Portrait of a Lady) Apologies for the horrible water marks! So I made a Self Portrait after ages! And I'm glad the way this one's come out. It's amazing, how one grows in any Art they do. What may have looked too bare in the past, may look too much just yet! And, of course these are new clothes! They were bought off a sale from a fairly expensive store. The cheap thrills of wearing cheap-expensive clothes! If you know what i mean!

Please have a look at my etsy shop. I have photography listings at very affordable prices. Also introduced so some crochet stuff. I'm new to crochet and my latest additions would be amigurumi stuff!! Here and also on the right hand of my blog, the link is given out. http://www.etsy.com/people/recentrealisations?ref=si_pr                                                                                             Place your orders now!!!!! Some listings are on sale, so hurry!!

I used to have a house, , a photo by recent realisations on Flickr. a house that was protected, a house that was mine. Now i just have a heart.

लवली  आमलेट! The Best Omelette in The WHOLE World!!! Pranati, my friend and I were loitering around Mall Road, in Mussoorie. We were hungry and cold. So, we tried looking for some fast food. Momos shacks were in big numbers, but since anyone who's eaten a veg momo would know excatly why we kept looking for more options mostly we looked for hot maggi but in vain!Till we chanced upon this quaint omelette shop. The idea of having an omelette in Mussoorie, somehow took me back to my hostel days in DU, where Ponta, Sapna,  Anshu and I had spent many evenings eating bread anda and maska bread at Chacha's near Madhuban's on Civil Lines! So we walked in, shared a bench with a few students from an engineering college in Dehradun. We chatted with these kids till our  Cheese Omelette was served to us. Everything about this place even before we took our first bite, was enchanting! The omelette of course, was LOVELY indeed. We thought it was fortuity and that we had just ...

My name is Red! , a photo by recent realisations on Flickr. My close friend's wedding. I travelled to Mussoorie to attend it. Love this photo of hers. Anticipation, excitement and nervousness- all wrapped in one expression! Also, she looks so lovely here, she always does! My best wishes to the couple!

He's a baby, He's a boy He's a man. He's so irritating, He's so naughty, He shouts, He screams He laughs, He is my brother - He's Riz, and he smiles. He's special. Very special to me.

Beauty! , a photo by recent realisations on Flickr. My trip to Ooty was just what i needed to get away from the rains and maddening rythym of Nasik Dhols in Mumbai. I got back feeling rejuvinated and in love! In love with nature, blue skies, tall trees, small wild flowers and an all pervading smell of eucalyptus!! I will be posting a few pictures from my trip. This is a rock lizard/gekko i spotted on my way to Lamb's Rock in Coonoor. He's beautiful!!

I'm posting after 4 years! 

There once lived a man named Tarantula. And a woman named Quentin. Tarantula’s parents had been avid aracnomanics (Spider lovers) and Quentin’s parents were movie buffs. Quentin’s parents were film school graduates. In the early days of their career they has started a company called “White and Black Feather films.” Unfortunately the company couldn’t survive after some south East Asian countries banned film making and American film maker Quentin renunciated the US of A for Buddhisism in Tibet. So as a tribute to much of their success, they pledged to name their only child, a girl Quentin. Tarantula’s mother was a lucid dreamer, she could control her dreams. She loved her spider named “Spider” so much that it even over shadowed her love for her husband. She once dreamt of making out with Spider in a webby situation. Nine months later, when a son was born, she was disappointed and refused to even look at him. Weeks later when two eunuchs, named Shola and Shabnam came on their regular roun...

When frogs rain from the sky, things can get really messy. Each slimy, slithery, green, orange, brown, and black thing falls flat on its soft belly, bursting into even slimier squashed liquid splashing on everything around. If you have children playing outside, “its advisable to get them indoors” says the met department. Frogs hate kids. ‘It is best to keep tubs of hot water in your garden and on roads,’ says the article in the First and Only city magazine. Frogs can fall in, dissolve and become jelly, gooey and slippery. You can then eat that stuff. “Rain frog topping” or “whipped frog Irish cream” on a simple day with coffee and conversation. Or fill it up in bottles and gift it to your child to throw it on frogs. Why did you think frogs hate kids? One frog cannot take another frog in semi solid/liquid state on its skin. It’s creepy for the poor thing. They hate skin on skin, that’s why they mate when they are extremely bored and have nothing else to do. So imagine that much skin! No...