Mrs Homemaker Part 2

The next round was GO Karting and Cricket both on the same day !!!

Early morng 6.00 o clock we all met at the office of Twilite Corpos...Irrespective of age ellarum oru jean and top/t shirt!! Believe me every homemaker was lookg smart...In diff cars, we all set our foot for Kart Attack on ECR....

My preparation for this round....again zilch !!! I asked my husband what is this "Go karting"...Romba kashta pattu he explained...and i dint even know to drive a car then...so din know where the brake/ the accelarator is...

Now cmg back to the contest, the drive was really good...car la breakfast( smebdy had got !!!) .The instructor at the Kart Attack explained the nuances.We were given a chance to test drive...and the real contest starts...three in a batch..and I was in the first batch !!! Aiyo...

Slow and steady wins the race nu..side boards mela modina marks cut aaidumnu ninaichu...aamai madhiri ooti...did 6 flaps in 5 mins....there were others who made 9/ 10 flaps as well !!! ithuvum pochu...when we did the flaps we werent told who made how many rounds...this was a nice trick!!! nobody wud know where they stand !!!!

We all came back to RT dead tired ....sumptuous lunch was served...next cmes the instruction "Change and get ready for Cricket round".We were divided in to two teams-Red and Blue.We were given specific T shirts with logo and the wordings-Mrs Homemaker-Not missing the miss.It was real fun to play in the hot sun, a game that I have only enjoyed watchg,din know the nuances and rules...Luckily our team won...I think thats how my points increased !!!

Now the catch is ,we never knew what our score is at the end of each round....Tension thalaikku yeri ukkarndhu irundom...The chief guest for this round was our Chennai 28 Hero Shiva !!!

From this round onwards we were told that we will have many more rounds ...all scores added up and end of it there will be elimination and only 15 of us will go on to Grand Finale !!!!

End of the day, as a dead meat....I came back home...butterflies flyg....thinkg abt the next round...."Village Round"...the thought that was running at the back of my mind. "There r a lot of things to learn in life...and there are so many talented women out there !!!!"

the rounds were devised in such a way to prove, adupu oodhara pengal can go karting as well !!! And to be frank, i learnt all these and much more only when i contested in those rounds....before each round, i did little homewrk for each n every round...and that is when i learnt them...

Couple of days before the village round, we were asked to cme and show all our costumes for the round.Each one was supposed to wear a village costume representg any state...there were participants who were all decked up in rajasthani/gujarathi costumes...remember those bangles running all thru the hand !!!!

east west north south...i cud see everythg there...even madisaar !!!

The D day came...we all dressed up frm home and arrived at the office as usual at 6 am !!! Again I was expectg smeone to bring break fast for me...My mom tied the village style saree for me...she also did my hair...a long plat( ofcourse with false hair !!!) with a kunjalam and flowers running all thru the plat...My husband jus laughed at me !!!! I quietly kissed my sleepg daughter , said goodbye and arrived the at the office....

The journey to a village on the onskirts of Chennai was wonderful !!! We all were singing...dancing..having so much fun...I knew couple of village songs of Vijaya lakshmi Navaneetha krishnan and Pushpavanam Kuppusamy(Tks to my school music teacher !!!) They were the ones who saved me...My friends were quite surprised !!! In all the previous rounds I was totally unnoticed... and suddenly I was in the limelight and everybdy enjoyed the songs so much...I was made to sing again and again...ithhula shootg vera...padaradhu aadaradhu ellam !!!!

When we went there, ammi was ready !!! Yes we had to araichuvy chutney/ thogaiyal in ammi !!! Jus a day before I went to my mom's place and tried the ammi... for the first time in my life !!!! So I was actually confident...Again I was in the first batch...But with all the costumes and jewellery....it was so difficult....i stood....i sat....i bent....mmmmm

eppadiyo peerkanga thogaiyal arachachu !!! We were relaxing and here cmes the instruction-"Get ready..U have the next round !!!"Everybdy had an expression of "Now what??"You know what was awaitg us.....viragu aduppula samaikkanum!!!To cook rice with logs of wood like the good old olden days !!! It was a surprise round...every contest had sme surprise element in it !!!!

I was already tired and my entire hair had cme out of the false hair and I was holdg it in my hand !!! But since its a contest we had to do it....We were given all the essentials...includg the vessel...With the help of other homemakers I learnt the art then and smehow managed to vedichufy sadam !!!!

By now my entire hairdo was in my hand.The judge,Chef Dhamu was already judg the contestants...tastg the rice to see the padam and also tastg the thogaiyal...

I threw whatvr I was holdg in my hand, took a rubber band ,put it as a side ponytail...a piece of flower on it...On top of it we had to present creatively whatvr we had made...kolam, mud vessels, vazhai ilai, flowers...what not... people r creative to the core !!!

And don forget all these were happng in front of a camera !!!

I don think we all wud ve ever done all these and trust me we may not get an opportunity to do it again !!! Another tiring yet fun filled day...Back home by 9 pm.....

Live traffic....

Its not the traffic on the road that Im talking about..Its the traffic on my blog...Im so happy with this Feedjit ...It makes me happy by saying that there are people who read my blog !!! :-))) And from all over the world...from different sites ...they reach here...
But is there any arrangement to make people comment???Don know why the equation isnt correct...when so many people read the posts,why cant they say somethg??? Good ...bad...better...
I always treasure the comments here...They encourage me...motivate me...sometimes allow me to introspect...Hope my readers give me an opportunity to experience all these !! :-)
Let me take an opportunity to thk all my followers who read and also comment..They know what I look fwd to;-))
Tks buddies for being there for me !!!

Mrs Homemaker 2007 Part 1

Hey...Im in some kinda blogging mood...may be the celebration mood is inspiring me to write more....
Recently one of my friends had posted Our Mrs Homemaker 2007 pics.And tht was jus enough to set me in a rewind mode...Wow !!! wat a wonderful experience of 3 full mths...It was jus like back in school college days jus tht we had known each other only now...Republishing this blog which was a grt hit in chennaimoms ( nammale sollikka vendiya dhan !!! )

I din have a blogspot then...Now, that I have one,this post definitely deserves a place here....Days which are permanently sculpted in my memories...Jus the word Mrs.Homemaker are more than enough and I can jabber on and on...
Tks Gayathri for postg those lovely pics and kindling my memories !!!

Now, the story dates back to Aug 2007…I saw an ad in the paper for this contest.After delivering Shreya in Sept 2006,it was jus baby, baby, baby….( ellarukkum athe dhaan !!)

I was looking for smethg interestg, smethg adventurous.I asked my husband, he said go ahead and apply….One fine day( on my b day !!) we went to Twilite Corpos office and filled my appln.Met Sumathi mam and Dharma Sir.Since this was the first time I was participatg in such a contest I was a little apprehensive and mandai fulla ore qns…They answered all my queries….

After a few days I got a call sayg, out of the 250 odd applns, they have shortlisted mine as well and the first round was “ vegetable carving” and “dining décor”.Both on the same day at Residency towers…Appo residency Towers enga irukkunu kooda ennakku theriyadu…ippo thummina RT than !!!

Vegetable Carving- I had a full time maid then and vegetable cuttinge…. “totally out of touch” ithula ennatha carve pannaradu…. dining décor... I was a little confident about…coz people who have dined at ,my place always spk high abt the presentation( ellarum evvalo poi solli irukkanga nu contest pona appuram than therinjudu !!!!)

With bags and baggages we all gathered at the venue. We utilized the waiting time to get familiar with each other…made new friends…exchanged nos….I met homemakers of all age…one who was very recently married to the one who has celebrated her silver jubilee !!!

There were separate tables given for everybody.... almost all veges in the centre.When they said” time starts now”..everybody jus ran and picked all the veges reqd..back at table… and the wrk starts…I din even look at anybdy…lest I know Im jus going to be more tensed…. Etho ennakku therinja scraping, cutting…thuruving ellam panni carving ra perla kuduthachu…

Dine décor…We all had got all the crockery reqd and decorated the table accordg to our creativity…When I finished it, I went around to see how everybody had done….Oooh…my God…what creativity!!!!

I quietly messaged my husband “ I m out” !!!!

Revathy Shanmugam and one more person( she was the owner of sme boutique) were the judges...we werent given the results immdly...suspense continued for a few days...when I suddenly got a call, " You are shorlisted !!!!" I thought I was day dreaming !!! But s I had cleared this round...

Jingle Bells...Jingle Bells...

It was time for Christmas and New Year celebrations at my gym.They come up with something or the other every now and then.And I like it…There is so much fun…Nobody gives you an opportunity to exhibit your skills once you are outta school and college.May be in some work places…Now tht I don wrk full time, I utilize every available opportunity to let my hair down…

It was the day I rejoined gym,I was informed of the celebrations the next day !! And my instructor says “ Mam I have added your name for the dance contest.And anyways Shreya is there in Fairy walk” Which means we both are in…and its time to do some brain storming and head breaking :-)))

Ransacked the CDs available and played each one to see which one wud be easy to make everybdy believe that it is indeed dance !!!Finalised on Ayyasamy..Avoji samy from Or Iravu…Visualised the steps ( point to be noted- no practice).3 yrs back my cousin’s daughter Harini had taught me the steps..But happily forgotten…Tried my best to recollect…and cud only gaze at the empty wall …clueless…Filled the lyrics with expressions tht she had taught me and the music with not-so- difficult steps.

For Shreya- taught her a few lines which wud suit a fairy’s costume…When I was searching for couple of lines,she came up with
Iam a fairy Iam a fairy ( Sing jus like I hear thunder… )
Here I come Here I come ( This is frm another v rhyme)
I am going to fly Iam goin to fly…( Ithu sontha sahityam )
Later I changed it to I will make you happy

But she refused to practice  .Shreya has become very adamant these days…and pretends to have short term hearing problem !!! Jus cant hear whatever I say !!! Thot its gonna be a flop….

Picked up the clothes in the morng on the D day…tried to play the music and practice it for a couple of times.Eve I dressed up Shreya…reached the place and got to in to my costume.Thot if I drove the car with tht Kurathi costume, I cud imagine the four legged ones behind me !!!

Amma ,Ambika n Chinnu were our cheer leaders…The show started off with a wonderful Magic show.Followed by kid’s Fairy walk and then the dance.Then we also had couple of games for kids and members.

Time to announce the prize…And we were quite surprised tht we both had won the 1 st place !!!Hurrah !!!

It was indeed a time for celebration…and the show ended with a Dance Floor helping both of us to vent our excitement!!

Personally felt nice to step in to the New Year on a good note inspite of a few set backs and the challenges tht Im looking fwd in the coming New Year !!!

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman

Rejuvenated !!!

Hit the gym after 2 mths…Though I had renewed my membership in Oct end, I took a break…Initially in the name of my sis’s visit frm US.Then jus blamed the rains and the weather  Oh!! jus need sme reason…Knew I was quietly piling a few grams here n there.But din have the guts to stand on the bathroom scale.

As my status msg on FB said,I added those extras happily...I knew where I was heading after this..

Though it’s a short drive,I enjoy those siesta hr drivg when the roads are empty…gettg in to my comfort zone…the right leg only on accelerator and the car on 3 rd gear…less traffic..less tension.

The icing on the cake is humming your favorite melodies along with the beautiful voices on the FM !!

It was good to see all those old faces,enquiring ur whereabouts…Stepping on the treadmill was truly rejuvenating.Said hi to a few other machines and bade goodbye for the day…

PS: My instructor says I have put on weight  Drilling sessions ahead !!

LKG or IAS ???

Though there are lot of thots fighting constantly in my mind asking me to blog,this one took over others....The Big poster on LKG Admission at the school gate is the culprit...I jus stood still for a  moment when I quietly made a journey to the past....Pona jenmam illa... a year back....;-))

In 2009, I had sought admission for my daughter in a preschool.Things happened like the flow of a stream without any ripples….,we felt “Blessed”.

As I am always, I din want things to sail smoothly… After lot of brainstorming at home, we decided to look at 2  schools for LKG admission this year.The only reason being, the present school ( “A”)was startg their main school at a place which is far off.And I din want my little angel to travel a long distance atleast now.

The hunt started ….Initial discussions with friends…blogging on all possible parental sites…reading reviews about different schools in our locality…and all the warnings abt recommendations and donations really horrified us !!!

we shortlisted 2 best ( accordg to me) schools.Lets assume these are “B” and “ C”.

Next comes the application form…Luckily for “B” school they were issuing the forms online.One ordeal saved….

For  "C" school - 10.30 pm the day before - Surprisingly , we found that a few were already waitg there !!! Came back home..got up at 3.00 am …brushed…we stepped out and it was raining heavily….we went to the school to find that they were makg a note of names ....We were asked to come at 7.00 am to get tokens….In the morng, we asked my father to stand in the queue to get the tokens.The no. - 152…

Went at 9.30 am to collect the application form !!! All these were jus for the appln form!!!  Half hope lost !!

Date of interview

“C “  school - Parents with kid were supposed to report at 1.00 pm. Frankly we din do any preparation apart from tellg her to answer for all the qns…While she was eatg, jus put her old educational DVD on…My husband was supposed to join us at the school.While startg,Shreya created a ruckus in choosing her dress…After all the convincing, by the time we reached it was 1.05 pm and her name was already calld!!!

We had to wait for another 40 mins to be included in the next batch….But…my husband din join us either…I was frantically callg my husband’s mobile and he wasn’t pickg up…I had lost all hope and decided to get back home….When they calld “ Shreya”…

With no choice, we went in, jus explained the situation to the Principal.Shreya was taken separately..I dint even know what they asked and whether she answered or not….I was spkg with the Princi…After a few routine qns. She said, “ We will send u an intimation”…With a sigh of relief we left…Shreya had lot of chocolates in hand…and said I answered all the qns…I dint even believe her !!!

“B” school-Everythg happnd the way I wanted it to be….including a person who can push things!!

Admission

Got the admission at “ C” school wherein there was so…much tension right from day 1….

And in “B” school – they asked us to follow up after a mth…(inspite of a recommendation)

Should there be so much stress and running behind admissions…Shd kids be subject to an interview…

Hundreds of qns might eat ur head but the hardships continue...year in and year out the experience continues...and gets tougher by each year...

After the initial hiccups Shreya had with the new school...crying..howling..throwingup tantrums...me cursing myself for putting my child to such ordeals...

she is finally settled down...Tk all my stars...yes, now I know I have made the right choice...Shreya is enjoying her school...and afterall that is wat every parent looks fwd to !!!

My best wishes to all those parents holding heaps of hope in their eyes !!!