5th May 2014

 today i will be taking 4 little boys and one little girl for a 3D movie ..... spiderman ... last time i saw a movie in a theatre.... was long long ago and that too was a spider man movie .....my little one was still lisping ....

today i realise ...... time does fly ...... 

my kids have already finished their bath etc and are all ready to go watch the movie :)  .....my niece and nephew are here and my main exercise is to open and close the main door every 5 - 10 minutes ...... summer vacations are now fully on!!!! and every one is in full steam to enjoy to their utmost !!!...... kids are great to be in the company of .... so demanding are their ways .....u forget urself after a while :) and become a kid like them ....

HBD Soren Kierkegaard

 Happy Birthday !!! Soren Kierkegaard !!!

All human life could well be conceived as a great discourse in which different people come to represent different parts of speech. How many people are merely adjectives, interjections, conjunctions, adverbs; how few are nouns, action words, etc.; how many are copulas. People in relation to each other are like irregular verbs in various languages—almost all the verbs are irregular. (March 1836)

Soren Kierkegaard

Life is weird...

 Life is weird... But sometimes lessons to new entrants in an industry is Exempt...thanks to governments...

Despite Apple being part of the military industrial complex...at least they Value those who pay and own Apple products...

But ...spend a bomb buying a google phone or take Windows... products like these have Zero value for the money customers spend ...

Windows has a glitch written into their operating systems... check How many people comment on videos--explaining how to solve issues related to laptops crashing thanks to a Windows Update...

google i wish you and the Entire Cellphone Manufacturing industry takes Lessons in customer care from Apple...

My little one's POVs and Isms...

 https://m.facebook.com/notes/she-isms/my-little-ones-povs-and-isms/622669557872360/

11th December 2019

 in 2013 my elder Import who was 12 years old then …. introduced the word Nerd to highly innocent kids in his small experimental school...obviously the word became a mantra in the school …. 

iohh the Amount I had to Pacify his course co-ordinator and the school counsellor and the Principal … to make a statement my kid started wearing socks of different pairs everyday ….. again I had to make a trip to school …. 

the girls from that school are my kids best friends even now …. those kids were sooo united that they used 'co-operation' to change their uniform by refusing to wear it …. my elder Import got kids to stick to wearing the sports uniform on all 5 days of the week …. 

finally the Founder of the school gave up and made my elder import in-charge of a group of kids who designed a new school uniform ….. she was a Cool Educationist and used to give my elder import extra time on weekends …. it was a big help for me during those years of single parenting 

in fact from July 2013 to May 2016 …. I had countless meetings with teachers thanks to my elder Import from Mars ….

Note written on 11th December 2018

 with my elder child I play tricks and cajole and ego massage him to read …. like after watching Raees … I told him to wait outside Crossword as I would take two minutes to buy a Murakami book for myself …. I used to go read in that bookstore those days....   .when kids were meeting friends in the mall …. he got upset at being asked to sit outside and went and bought the latest book in the Wimpy Kid series and read it in one go when we got home …. I realised my unconsciously said words had Hurt him …. we joke about his non reading ways …. and it used to not affect him one bit …

in fact he got some version of King Lear on YouTube …. and refused to read the book in his 8th grade … I was ecstatic when he passed 8th grade from the IB board …. I was expecting him to fail ….the level of math was tough …. I had to read quite a bit to teach him math …. then I took a tough decision to go the NIOS way when I saw the math syllabus for 9th grade in the IB board …. 

in 2016 and 2017 he read the text books and did not memorise much ….. again I was beyond thrilled when he passed NIOS …. this year I have been ego massaging and tricking him to read …. finally ...he got hooked on to Robert Kiyosaki …. I guess I was giving him books by authors he could not connect to …. we discuss R Kiyosaki's work and words and it went further from there …. 

my little one reads and his flow of language is something his teachers used to praise …. I have never had to focus on him during his school years …. he concentrated in class and his teachers used to praise his class participation and conscientiousness in doing homework…. my entire focus used to be on calling up the elder one's classmates to understand IF there was homework …. the elder kid Refused to write in his school diary …. from 2009 onwards I was getting called to meet his teachers on a regular basis ...thanks to his happy ways in school spl with regards to homework … 

this year has been an eye opener …. the elder one settles down easily with instructions ….. whereas the little one will resort to all kinds of shenanigans and cry if nothing works …. we are still in the initial stages of assignment completion …. around 50days left to submit them …. 

my elder Import made a time lapse video of his assignment completion in Jan 2017 when he got bored of writing …. LOL 

I talk to kids in a gentle playfull way …. and then they sit down and do whatever I tell them …. the old way of parenting--the husband & I grew up with will not work with my kids …. plus forgetting the shifting of place of stay ….be it geographical and mental ...they have been through since 2012 is something my parents and their father keeps forgetting ….. 

I took an FB break quite late yesterday and while I was listening to something …. I could hear all 3 of them talking ….today morning I had a mutiny on my hands …. wrong choice of words with teenagers means I am back to Square one with everything … after quite a bit of talking in the morning ...finally I got them to settle down to writing …. 

the saddest part about homeschooling is the interference …. however ….. in India even when one has a full time job and loads of other responsibilities …. the minute kids grade drop ….the mother gets All kinds of advice, taunts and what have yous …. 

I grew up in a household where my dad taught us initially and from high school onwards we did all our studying on our own …. however the husband grew up in a household where the mother looked after their studies and then they had pvt coaching highschool onwards …. so the husband never helps with studies …. except for a once in blue blue moon interest …. looking after and helping with school work has been my area …. 

sometimes I get tired of pushing the older kid to read …. however I doubt I will give up on making him read …. sometimes I use CR7's name in all kinds of ways to get him to read …. cite his business ventures and Fib Happily about how much CR7 might be reading ….. and blah blah blah :D 

few days back when I was going on about something …. my elder kid said something about living alone and I said you have some hope ...to which my little one told his older brother …. mama will come and find us no matter where we live and make us read or listen to whatever she wants us to do …. and I said you can bet on such a possibility …. lol 

the nuns in school ensured we said …. 'may we' and 'please' and 'thank you' …. and I keep telling my kids to use the magic words and sometimes I refuse to reply IF they do not use those words …..however in public they shock me by always forgetting to use Please …. repeat repeat and repeat some more …. I can not force my kids to go to college ...however if I can Ensure that they read and have an enquiring mindset and are Respectfull in their talk and behaviour …..these two years of homeschooling would not have been in vain ….

I realised they are in a phase when I suggested the little one take a Master class by Monsieur Ramsay …. and he did not want any kind of class … which made me think about the last school he went to ...he cried before and after school most days…. because we have been hearing about Mr Ramsay from him for the past 2 years ….every meal and sweet dish is judged from Mr Ramsay's pov (imagined) so much so that we have to make him seal his lips at dinner time on many occasions ...

2018 has been very tough on kids with the sudden shift back to Pune ...however … it has also been a year with the most relaxed pace of life we have Ever seen ….. 

 

their father grew up without reading literature ...his parents and older sister read books and told him stories …. I tried my best to make him read when he was in Pune and then I would courier books to him from Mumbai …. till I realised he read half of the 3rd book I had sent him …. after marriage I had to tell him stories from books I read and the regional films I watched on DD … after a point I gave up …. 

now to go check on assignments given ….

Ant and the Grasshopper...a novel twist and it's Relevance...

 Ant and Grosshopper - Indian Version of story - too good and a reflection of reality ...... in a humorous way 

Original Story:

The Ant works hard in the heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the draining intense heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs dances plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

Mayawati states this as 'injustice' done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven & Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the 'Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act'[POTAGA] , with effect from the beginning of the winter..

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, BBC, CNN.

Arundhati Roy calls it 'A Triumph of Justice'. # Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'.

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley ,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ,

....AND

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, India is still a developing country...!!

N.B.: I have no idea whose creative mind this has come out from, but this piece is awesome.

Now This Story...

The pandemic started and a month later I started going on and on and on and on and on and on about Islamic Banking...it's based on Simple Interest as opposed to Compound Interest charged by Banks World Over...

I Also am a Huge Fan of a Small Island Nation called Bahrain...as it had Zero Income Tax...

Notice How The Rest of The World labels Muslims and Arabs 'Terrorists' and Ironically these So Called Terrorists have Financial Systems which are The Most Benevolent ...

Zero Income Tax and Simple Interest and Nearly Zero Oil and Yet ...a Teeny Tiny Itsy Bitsy Beautiful Island Nation called Bahrain is a Financial and Tourist and Entrepreneurship and StartUp Hub in the Arab World...

I would get irritated with my American Online Friends I found on FB ...due to some work I did with a group I found thanks to A Lebanese Literary Big Wig I follow on FB...my American friends would feel bad that I lived in the Big Bad Backward Middle East and ask questions about Hijab in Bahrain and more jazz and I would Keep Repeating as to how Liberal Bahrain is...

I could not convince them about the Systems in Beautiful Liberal Bahrain... and after a point I let them wallow in their ignorance as Bahrain is an American naval base and hopefully some folks from the American Navy I met during the Bahrain Writers' Circle meetings would take on the Onus of Educating the American public about just how Liberal and Foreward Thinking The Monarch in Bahrain is... Ditto about the Monarch's Ancestors...

So if Bahrain with it's meagre oil reserves can Function Well with Zero Income Tax and Simple Interest...

Why Not The Rest of the World...

The Pandemic Practically Taught Us Nothing...

Individuals and Governments are Neck Deep in Debt... BUT...no one wants to Hear or Read about Simple Interest 

Once upon a Time in the Distant Past ... America too had Zero Income Tax...

So my Question to the World is This...Why do we Want to Punish and Belittle...

Let us Be Encouraging... what Happened in Russia and France after the Nobles were Killed Brutally...

Animal Farm is Highly Educative... Kindly Read It...

My point is This...we have Ancient Systems in Education, Taxation and Militarianism and Governance...

Why Can't We ∆ for the Better???

Why can't we go for New Ways to Tax ...so that Tax Avoidance is the Norm and Not Tax Evasion...

We can Never Cure Greed in Rogues who join Politics for monetary gains and Machiavellian Power games...But ... Keep Aside the dirty politicians and rogues 

Take Only Industry and The Ants of This World...

Take Artists who work in their 90s like Zohra Sehgal Ji and look at the level of Tax levied on such an Artist...is it Fair that we Refuse to See the Efforts she put in at such an advanced age when people are mostly bed ridden and taxing such an Artist is a crime I feel...

Similarly I take the Tatas and the early 90s ... insurgency was at it's Peak in assssssssssam and the Tea Executives at Tatas a soft target for the dirty insurgents...

Media and government officials harassed Tatas to the Nth Degree...I saw the Actual Ground Realities in assssssssssam and the effects of sic putrid Insurgency first hand... and I realised How Very Wrong the Government and media were in Hounding the Tatas...

Tea Company Executives have very little insurance coverage and Zero Lobbying and Zero Safety Nets...so when one gets kidnapped in assssssssssam and made to stay in the bungalow of another executive... Two Tea Companies are involved in some kidnappings and No One in India knows Or Cares as to How Very Bloody their cups of tea are...

My point is...if we Can Not Promote Industry at the Very Least let us Not Harm Industry and Everyone who Slogs their butt off to earn what they Do ...

Why do we as a Society believe in Greek Tragedy and Greek concepts of Retribution and Gory Gunky Poetic Justice???

Hmmm doesn't anyone Think about These Systems...

Zero income tax and Simple Interest???

I mean you folk Don't Like such Benevolent Concepts or it Pricks Your Conscience a Tad Too Much ehhh???

So Much So that one J Leader ordered a ban on me messaging for a Week ...mind you... for mentioning Islamic Banking and Simple Interest and mocking the Bank of International Settlements...

Ok I know that I am Not Diplomatic and Rude and Rowdy at times...

But tell me Kind J Sir ...am I to Blame for the Cruel Ways of This World that Honed my Rowdyism to a Kinda Dazzling Sheen ...

Why does the World keep Labelling Religions ... Christians labelled the Jews and Everyone Labels Islam and Few don't like Buddhists and from now on Hindus might get Labelled as India seems Hell Bent on becoming Post World War I Germany:( bigoted and Cruel in the Most Macabre and Barbaric way...

Yes the World could Do with More Charity and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives ...But 

Killing the Spirit of the Entrepreneurs who make up just 3% of the World Population is a Crime we should Rectify

Zero Income Tax would definitely lead to more CSR and charity and Exponential Increase in the Velocity of Circulation of Money

The Multiplier Effect of Just The Velocity of Circulation of Money will be Enough to Bring in a post pandemic Boom which could be Sustained For as long as the world is sensible and sane about Taxation and Militarianism

I Rest My Case 🙏🏾