A start of another wonderful year !!!

Jillu, you turned 2 yesterday :). Happy Birthday, sweet heart. I know, we have all told you nothing else but "Happy Birthday" for the whole of the long weekend that just passed away. And what a weekend it was!  Especially Sunday and Monday. But more about that later.

The year has gone by so fast. It seems as though it were only a few months before that we celebrated your first birthday, why the day I held you for the first time in my arms seems as though it was only yesterday and now the second year is also gone.  You have been such a wonderful delight to all of us. You have won all of our hearts over and all of our every waking moment is somehow or other filled of your thoughts. Your naughty smile, your mischievous look, your cheeky retorts (yeah, you have started that as well, recently), every single thing that you do amazes us and gives us so much pleasure. Now, I cannot even imagine how life was before you came in to my life.

You have turned my whole life upside down, made me weep with joy & anxiety. You have made me want to enjoy every moment of life, made me want to record all that you do. You gave life to this blog. You have made me look at myself hard and evaluate myself all over again. Now, everything I do or say, is looked at from your perspective first, for you learn and imitate all, the talking and the action,  from us directly. You have made me take the alternate path in life, taking care of you full time, for which I am looking forward to with much pleasure.

Though I still wish that time would stand still and we can all enjoy you the way you are now, a cherubic little sweet angel that you are, we still look forward to the future.Your every progress & mile stone is much celebrated and shared with your grand parents on a day to day basis.  No one conversation ends without speaking about you. You have made us all run behind you with a slightest twist of your little finger.

Life has indeed blessed us with you and I am grateful for it.

Happy Birthday da Kannaa (I am allowed to say this again for this is the "BIRTHDAY WEEK").

I Love You and God Bless You !

We all Love You :)

Wrong timing?

I think I should have waited for a couple of months before submitting my resignation. Or I should have done it 2 months earlier. As it is, right now, I am caught in between and these 2 months have been real hectic. I am  coming home late daily these days what with the transition going on one side and year end activities on the other end. It would have been easier if I had transitioned the whole thing before, then I wouldn't have been in this situation. Or if I had waited, then it would have been only me who was doing it and I would have been much faster on my own. Now, I have the over all responsibility, but I have to make them (who is taking the KT - Knowledge Transition) do it as they need to understand as well. So the whole process is taking much longer and resulting in late evenings daily for me :(. Late nights or even working through the nights is not new for me but from the time I rejoined work after my maternity leave, I re-aligned myself and made sure that I was home at a decent time (for IT standards) if not early. Of-course, there were exceptions, but for the most part, I always was home at the same time for Jillu. But these weeks have been really hectic, what with my boss being sick and going on long leave, me being all alone in the team as the one other team member was transferred to another team, then the new guys (2 of them) coming in, training them as well as meeting the deliverables single-handedly.  To top it all, 1 of the new guys fell sick with viral infection and did not turn up for 4 days in this week. I am working more now in my notice period than ever before in the past 1 year. I have been unable to spend time with Jillu at all these past few weeks. 

I console myself saying that this is only for a few more weeks and not for much longer.

The beginning of a new chapter in my life

Note : This post is purely a reflection of my own personal thoughts and feelings and is in no way meant to offend anyone or to preach to anyone. 

At last, I have found some peace of mind. I am able to go about my daily business calmly knowing what is in store for me in the future. No more restlessness. No more non-stop thinking about the same thing over and over again from varying perspectives. As I wrote earlier in this post, there was a decision, a choice to be made and at last I have made my mind. I listened to my heart and immediately, I felt lighter and am at peace with myself.

The choice or the decision to be made is with respect to the age-old, much talked about, much debated issue, causing mental and emotional turmoil, and not to mention the guilt,  in every working mother's (or a stay at home mother who wants to work) mind. 

Yes, whether to work or not.

Whether to pursue my career or not.

    Do I go out there, face the world, do what I like and revel in or Do I take care of my baby? Do I work now when I can,contribute to the family's financial welfare for the rainy days or

   Do I think about now, the immediate need to attend to the tiny being who knows only us and looks upon us to guide her in every way possible?

This struggle has been going on within me for the past 8 months or may be even longer. While I could have had no one better than my mom to take care of my daughter, it was a daily struggle for me personally to leave her and start for work. She, being a kid, got adjusted soon and establishing a daily routine saw to it that she was well settled. But not me. I could not be with her to enjoy her talk, I could only be there to put her to bed at nights. And I could not bring her up the way I wanted to. Don't get me wrong. As I said before, I cannot have a better care taker than my mom. She in fact looks after Jillu better than I do. But, I cannot expect my mom to do everything that I would want to.

I want to take her for long walks, take her to the park, for her to roam around, run, play, enjoy with other kids, take her out everywhere to give her more exposure to the world, give her different variety of food daily, read to her, hear her school stories when she comes back from school, the list goes on and on, and be with her generally. There is nothing like enjoying life while being with her, looking at life from her perspective and learning from her as well. 

Also, my mom is not getting any younger and I want her to have a break, enjoy life at least now, after all that she has done for me, go to temples (or wherever it is that she wants to) when she wants to and not when I have leave and can takeoff. And, I am not at all comfortable with leaving my daughter in a day care and neither am I comfortable with arranging a baby sitter/ maid to look after her while I am away at work.

On the other side, I am also slowly getting tired of being in the rat race always, running from pillar to post, managing home, daughter, work all at the same time, with no pause for thought and peace. However, all said and done, this is a well earned and highly rewarding, lucrative job and loads of (read years of, in fact more than a decade of) hard work has been put in, to be where I am today. Leaving aside the career perspective, saying good bye to this job (or any other job, in the sense to take a break) when there is the ever present demon called EMI needs a lot of consideration. Also, schools are not getting any less expensive these days. My dad did not spend so much for my entire education as to what is needed today for an enrollment into a Pre-KG or LKG.

All these have been doing a merry go round in my mind over the months - Jillu's cherubic smile, her sweet talks, her innocence, my mom, my career, my job, EMI, schooling, my need to be with Jillu, round and round and round, they come and go one by one non-stop. The merry go round continued for a long time and suddenly it started picking up people to see how they were faring, sometimes picking up people who chose to work while managing the home with 2 kids, while at other times picking up people who were enjoying life at home with the kid(s).

And finally one day, the merry go round stopped, realizing the futility of comparison.  There is only one life to be led and it has to be based on what I want and need and what others do and how they manage (or do not) simply does not pertain to me. Ultimately, I reasoned out that career would always be there to be taken up after Jillu grows up. If not this job, some thing else, may be even in a different industry, in a different terrain,  something would always be there, if one looks around properly. The EMI, too, is not bound to go away any soon, either. The EMI and schooling could be managed if one is alert,conscious,wise and makes a few compromises along the way. Probably look towards wisely investing somewhere and grow the money. Not impossible. 

What will go away is Jillu's childhood, her growing up years and this cannot be recovered. What cannot be compromised is the precious time with my little bundle of joy. When she gets older and has her own set of friends, she is not going to look out for me always. Now is the time when she needs me most. I would have more time on my hands when she goes full time school and that would be a good time for me to resume my career. I could always try out other things that I always wanted to during this sabbatical period and may be find out if I have other talents as well. 
But the last thought that was still lingering on my mind that made me hesitate a little was the financial independence that I have always been used to and the thought of "What would I do ?"  if some unforeseen circumstances force me to look out for a job after I quit? But then, I also realized that there is no guarantee in life and we never know what is in store for us tomorrow. We cannot always plan for the inevitable and can only work along with life's ups and downs. The best one can do is get equipped to handle life's surprises, be aware and then leave the rest to unfold and enjoy life as 
 "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it 'The Present'."

The Ultimate bottom line - I want to be with my daughter. 

So, in the end, my heart won and the need to be with Jillu and bringing her up in all the ways I wanted to prevailed and thus it is that I am right now serving my notice period and would be a stay at home mom, come January 2010. Now that I have taken the decision and know my mind, I only wish that I had done this sooner, but as they say, better late than never.

I have to be thankful that today, I am able to make this choice, now that I know what  I want. For, I would not have been able to proceed with my decision without the support of my husband and of course my family. I know of so many people, who are unable to do whatever they want to do because of lack of support and also due to other unavoidable circumstances in their life. I know of working women who need to work but do not want to work and also of women who want to work but are not.

I am extremely grateful that I have such a loving family, a lovely kid and that life has blessed me with these most important aspects and I realize that I am one of the fortunate few.

It is endearing

to see a person nearing age 60, learning children rhymes from a 55+ old person.

               -That's none but my dad learning rhymes from my mom to cater to Jillu's demands

to see a 30+ yrs no-nonsense adult, who has never turned towards Carnatic songs, singing Baja Govindam and the likes

              -That's Jillu's dad singing carnatic songs, again to cater to Jillu's demands

At a loss for words

Well, I am having trouble blogging non-Jillu stuff. It cannot be called as a writer's block, for I absolutely am no writer :). Just a beginner struggling to find my way, or rather my words.

What to blog about? I know there are thousand and one things to blog about, but nothing comes to my mind yet. Even if I think of something to write, (having a couple of drafts is proof enough for that), I am not able to work around the topic and get it into any presentable shape. When I read it, it seemed so bad and nothing like the other so nice, lovely, so well written blogs that I read.

Some weeks back, in my car driving class, a fellow student was a 80+ years old woman and she was doing a wonderful job. I was really admiring her and her commitment at this age of wanting to learn and having the energy to enroll into a class and going through with it as well. What a way to live and how much she loves life to do that. I should learn from her, for due to various reasons, I am yet to complete the learning and still cannot drive on my own. I wanted to make this a blog post but could not go beyond a few words.

And, I was searching for my specs the other day and could not find it. I was desperately searching for it, for I cannot go to work without that and was calling my MIL as well to find out if I had left it there when I had been there the previous day. When I was searching, the immediate thought that struck me was that how nice it would be if we had a CTRL+F (Find) feature in real life so as to easily locate anything. I really missed the CTRL+F feature then. You won't believe me, but I have been thinking of ways of writing this for the past 2 days, but somehow it never happened. My first thought was to pen it as it is. Then, I thought, no, let me try out a 55 fiction out of this topic. I thought and thought and thought, I thought on the train journey to office, thought whenever my mind was idle, but nothing came out of it. Then  I thought, OK, let me try out a 55 fiction on some other topic. Again,with the same results.

So here I am, having decided to write something, writing about what to write. Hahaha..

One minute please

The value/longevity of a minute (60 secs) is well appreciated only

• When we are impatiently waiting for the milk to boil and you dare not attend to anything else for fear of it getting the better of you
• When we need to check an important email and the computer takes that full minute to boot and start up
• When we can see the train arriving at a far distance and just cannot wait for the train to pull up in the platform lest we be late for a not so important meeting
• When we impatiently wait for the red to turn green at a busy junction and keep glancing at the lights every other second
• When we just missed the lift and keep jabbing the button as though just that act would immediately make the lift materialize before us.
  

Change for life

People always say that you are never the same after marriage and that wedding is the one important event which changes you for life. This might sound true (especially for the ladies who step out of their home of 25 odd years or so) at that time of transition.

But I have discovered that not marriage, but having kids is what changes you for ever. 

Having a baby changes your priorities, your timings, your lifestyle, your outlook towards life, your behavior, your talk, your thoughts and the list goes on. In short it changes you.

At a loss

How would one feel with one of their arms severed? Thats how I have been feeling for the past 1 week since our PC crashed. Yes, my left hand, our home PC crashed and I am severely pained and distraught and disconnected from people. Imagine !! I can't do a post in JilluYennaPan. That is unimagineable to me !!!

Which is the right hand , you ask? Of course, its my mobile !

Technology has done us and these days it is so difficult to survive without a mobile or a computer. This post is a result of my beg and borrow of my hubby's official laptop. 

A couple of weeks back, my mobile conked off and I was left without my right hand. We have become so lazy that it is a wonder to remember the numbers of even our very close circle. I know some people who don't even know their own numbers. Thats how lazy we have become

They always say, "everything comes in threes". First, it was my mobile, then PC (which is still under repair). What next I wonder and dread?

Equipped for Emergency ?

How many of us are equipped to act instantaneously in case of any emergencies? Be it may for us or others?

In today's fast moving and unpredictable world, anything could happen any time. The bus, the lorry and the auto drivers drive so rashly. There is absolutely no thought or value for life. 

The sad truth is that many would be just bystanders watching the proceedings (if one indeed had the time to even notice what was happening around them). Sometimes, people would want to help but would not know whom and which number to call.

I came across this post of a blogger who praises the effectiveness of 108 EMRI service. Its good to know that its effective and pretty quick. Thought would share with everyone. 108 EMRI also responds to fire and police related emergencies. To know more about this please visit this link.

What I like about this is that, 108 can be dialed from both land-line and a mobile.

Be aware and help others !

Choice

Have you ever been in this situation? 

You know what you ought to do. You know what your heart tells you to do. You know that it is the right thing to do now. You know that there will be associated risk(s) with any decision/course of action. You know that the risk taken now is well worth it. You know that, if not now, then it is never. You know that there are always bound to be other avenues later, sooner or later, if the decision that you take now does not work out well in the long run. 

And yet, your mind does not heed to it. You don't make that decision. 

You dilli dally. You procrastinate. You look for opinions and advice from others. You get influenced by others. You look for excuses for avoiding the change. You get cold feet thinking about the risk and the change. And then, you still have the audacity to envy others, the case of the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence.

You know that change is the only constant thing in the world!.Yet it is so difficult to adjust to change, let alone welcome it with open arms.

Transformation

Girl 1: A very simple girl, who cannot be quite called shy or reserved, just not the type to talk to strangers first and make friends. But once a friendship is made, it lasts forever. Not one to talk too much, but better at being a silent spectator and listening.

Girl 2: A very simple girl, but one who is known to talk to strangers first and make friends, if and when warranted. Once a friendship is made, it lasts forever. One who can both share things and listen as well.

The 1st girl is me 2 years back and the 2nd girl is again me, as I am right now. And what is the trigger for the change? Being a mother. I am unable to believe the transformation in myself. These days, I just don't hesitate to make the first move when it comes to gathering information for Saathvika. 2 years back, I would not have mailed people whom I did not know, would not have joined a public forum and also actively participated in it, would not have initiated talk/conversation  with an unknown person. Why, 2 years back, I was not blogging as well!

Now, I actively participate in a parent community, initiate talks with other parents (there is so much to share and learn - about kid's health, discipline, schooling etc), do not hesitate to approach other people, and in the course of time, have become pen friends with a couple of them.  My! I have come a long way and all because of Jillu. She brings such a joy to me and makes me swell with pride with whatever she does and invokes the "shout from the roof-top" kind of reaction for all that she does :) and I have never been a "shout from the roof-top" kind of person :)

Motherhood has brought about such a transformation in me. I know all of us change in some way or the other when we become parents. But, in my case, the change is significant. I have changed in the way I do things, view life altogether differently now. 

Would love to hear from others as well. What about you ? has being a mother or father changed the "core" you ?

Heaven

is

The sun descending on the crimson colored horizon leaving way to dusk and a starry moon filled night,

Soft, sweet, melodious, music emanating from the guitar strings resonating through the speakers,

Soft & fresh cushioned pillows on the bed and bed sheets being invitingly turned down,

Your cheeks being lovingly caressed by sweet lips in the name of goodnight kiss,

The cute little bundle of joy lying beside you face to face and embracing you,

And last, but not the least, small tiny fingers tightly curled trustingly around your thumb,for want of additional security in spite of the habitual right thumb sucking!

P.S : And I thank God for providing me this heaven as part of the bed time routine with my little bundle of joy day in and day out

Make your own B'days & Anniversaries

Did you go out and freak out on your birthday ? No?

Did you spend quality time with your spouse on your anniversary ? No?

Did you treat your spouse on his/her birthday? No?

Did you celebrate your kid's birthday ? Yes?

If your answer is yes to all of the above, then you are awesome and you can ignore the rest of the post. For those, who do read on,

With us being caught in our own very busy world and time putting us under tremendous pressure, I think the answers above would be more or less correct for many folks.

Leaving alone birthdays and anniversaries, let it be any occasion, its getting very difficult to go out, spend time on days that is normally ear marked for such things. Because, more often than not, only on those days will there be important "meetings" that cannot be skipped, important "dead lines" due to which taking off is not an option, so on and so forth. The only exception to that may be our own kids birthdays (may be that too only when they are little toddlers) when we some-how manage to put together some thing of sorts

So what do I do about it ?

I dont get disappointed when we are unable to make it on those days. In fact, if they are on week days, I almost write it off :(. However, I decided to make the most of the time we do get unexpectedly. Like yesterday, when we decided to go out for lunch, we made a celebration out of it and went to Radisson Kabab factory, which was on my pending list :) for a long time and had a very long, relaxing lunch, which is how I would have to wanted to spend my b'day anyways. You get what I mean ? Not that going to Radisson itself is a celebration but Radisson or the likes cannot be your every time eat-out (unless you happen to own them yourself :) ).

Make your own birthdays and anniversaries and make the most of the time that you get then and there!!! Don't wait for special occasions or days to do what you want to do. Do them when time is in your hands and the time is right !

Like I celebrated my birthday yesterday, or may be his birthday or may be our anniversary? How does it matter ? :) It matters only that we were able to get some quality time together

Heel Hell ?

Whoever invented heels has a lot to answer for. I personally am not a heels person. I feel the pain straight in my back the moment I look at heels, esp pointed heels. Whenever I look at a person wearing high heeled slippers, I always look at them with a mixture of awe, fascination and what not. And almost every time, the same thought process goes across my mind : How do they manage to walk in that in the first place? Won't they fall down? Will they be massaging their foot and back at night?

I know it  is a symbol of style, fashion along with the bonus of a few extra inches, but, I know I might get a lot flak for this, but then that's how I am and heels give me the creeps!

So you can imagine my surprise, or rather shock, when the other day, I notice a 3 year old wearing high pointed heels and being made to climb the steep steps in the railway station as well. My God !!! While I can relate to (if not understand) why adults wear them, kids doing the same is beyond me !

I am in fact surprised that they manufacture such stuff for kids that age!  What happened to convenience, comfort and more importantly safety ? And, more surprised that parents actually buy such kind of high heeled slippers for their kids. And when parents dis-regard safety and well-being for fashion, why am I surprised that they are being produced for kids in the first place?

Tick, Tock :Tick,Tock : Could you please stop ticking ?

Time and Tide waits for none !

If I am asked for one single wish to be granted today, I would wish for time to stand still until further notice :)

Yesterday evening outing with you was such fun and so poignant, Jillu. You looked so grown up and a big girl last evening even though you are only 21 months old!

I had made you wear full pants and full sleeve T-shirt yesterday (to avoid mosquito bites) as it was pretty late when we headed out for the near by park. And my, you looked so tall and to prove that fact, the pants were an inch or so short. You were able to stand in the front of my bike for the ride to the park, a 1/2 Km away. The way you sat in the swing (for whole 10 minutes) alone, holding on to the ropes on both sides while I pushed the swing reinforced that you have indeed grown. I still remember the times when you needed 2 people, one to hold you in the seat and the other to push the swing! And, we (My mom and I ) were so amazed when you climbed the couple of stairs alone without holding on to anything and entered the grocery store. You talk so much these days using words that we never knew you knew! You are so inquisitive and want to know everything!

And yet, at the same time, you are a baby still. You still need to grow up to play on the slides on your own. I helped you on the slides yesterday. You still continue to babble things like "Minima Minima", "Gaaya Baayaa Gukki" for which only you know the meaning. You cannot pronounce "f" still and say chone and choto. You still believe that "Kaakaa" or the crow is capable of taking things away from you. You are such a baby when you climb on top of me before your sleep time. You have got a long way to go, learn a lot and you are only a baby still.

But yesterday, the feeling of the ever passing time was much more significant and I just wanted (and still want) the time to stand still.  I am reminded of all these words like Maasum (Hindi), Sisu, Mazhalai, (Tamil), cherubic, innocence, etc when I think of babies and especially when I look at you. I am not in any hurry to see you growing up fast and losing all that innocence that is unique only to kids and babies.

There's so much more to tell you about how I feel but I can't describe or express everything. I never imagined motherhood would be like this! And whatever happens and how much ever you grow up, I think you will always be my baby and I love you so much!

Tick, Tock :Tick,Tock : Could you please stop ticking ?

Stem cell banking - Part 2 - How to go about it ?

Step 1  : Read about stem cells and understand the need and how it can be used

Step 2 : Find out the players in the field in your area

Step 3 : Call them up to fix up an appointment and they will send a representative home for explaining everything to you and they will take you through a presentation with all information about stem cells.

Cost & Payment Options

The representative would also explain to you about the various price aspects. The cost is basically divided into a one time harvesting fee (for extracting stem cells from the cord blood) and storage fee. The storage fee could be paid every year or could be paid up front for 20 years or so. They would store the stem cells for us as long as we pay the storage fees. In addition to this, there is also an EMI option. Note: These terms are pertinent to Lifecell. However, I am not sure about other bankers

Step 4 : Once you opt for preserving your baby's stem cells, you need to fill out certain forms and make the payment based on the pricing plan you choose.

Step 5 : On payment, you will receive the cord blood collection kit along with the instruction manual. Read the instructions carefully and keep the gel packs in the freezer immediately. You need to take the whole kit and the gel packs from the refrigerator along with you to the hospital while going for delivery. On reaching the hospital. again keep the gel packs in the refrigerator.

Step 6 : Discuss with your doctor regarding your plans well in advance as he/she needs to know about this.

Step 7: Keep the contact numbers safely and inform the bank before you head for the hospital. They will send a representative to the hospital you are headed to.

Step 8 : After delivery, the cord blood sample taken from the umbilical cord will be sent to the laboratory and various tests will be taken to confirm it is fit for processing. Once the stem cells are extracted, the preservation certificate will be sent to you. Preserve the certificate carefully.

Stem cell banking - A must read for all, esp To-Be-Moms

I am doing a post on stem cells as I think this is very important and everybody should be aware of stem cells, their importance and the effect it could have on anyone's life.

A timely mention about stem cell banking from a friend of mine when I was carrying got me to read and research a bit and what we learnt made me go through with it and we have preserved our daughter's stem cells.

What are stem cells?

Stem cells, as the name suggests, are the basic cells in our body, from which various kinds of cells are formed. They are blank cells with no specific function and given the right environment, they can regenerate into any kind of cell -say a blood cell, a nerve cell or a muscle cell. They can divide repeatedly and replenish cells within the body thus aiding the repair system in our body. They are also called as adult stem cells.

How do we benefit from stem cell?

As stem cells have the unique capability of transforming itself into any type of cell, they are being looked at for replacement of various cells and tissues and stem cells transplantation is becoming more viable and successful in curing lots of diseases. Stem cell is being looked at to cure various diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, etc. One type of stem cell therapy that we are already familiar with is the bone marrow transplant.

Sources of Stem cells

Bone marrow, embryonic tissue, amniotic fluid or umbilical cord blood. Of these, rich sources of stem cells are the bone marrow and  umbilical cord blood, which is the blood left over in the umbilical cord and placenta of a newborn child. In fact, research has it that "Cord blood is found to contain 10 times more stem cells than an equally sized portion of bone marrow.The major advantage is that umbilical cord blood stem cells are easier to gather than stem cells from the bone marrow. They have the unique ability to regenerate/reproduce into over 200 types of tissues.

What is stem cell banking?

Normally, the umbilical cord is discarded after birth. However, as the umbilical cord blood is a rich source of multi-potent stem cells, umbilical cord blood is collected soon after birth and stored in a stem cell bank, where stem cells are harvested from the cord blood and preserved in an appropriate environment . Umbilical cord blood stem cells hold immense potential for stem cell therapies, due to their versatile nature and easy availability.

How can the stored stem cell be used ?

Stem cells, collected from the umbilical cord of  the child, can be frozen and kept in a bank, which can be used later. God forbid, if something untoward happens to the child, there won't be any need to turn heaven and hell to find a matching donor.These stem cells can be surely used for the child, siblings or can even be donated to any patient (if there is a match) just like donating blood.

Pros

The advantages speak for themselves as stem cells therapy is a major breakthrough in the field of medicine and the medical research continues further to advance the technology. Stem cells have been proven to cure a lot of diseases. Refer to this link  and this link for a couple of success stories. There can be no doubt that it is definitely to our kids' advantage that we store their stem cells.

Cons

Right now, the cost for stem cell banking is high and not all can afford. There is also the fact that having spent so much, it may not be used at all. But whoever can afford it, they have to look upon it as a health insurance and health insurance always comes with a cost. That is how we looked at it and went ahead in spite of the high cost.

However all is not lost as there is also an EMI option in the pay structure for those who cannot the pay the whole amount in a single shot

Leading Stem cell bank in India

LifeCell 

Lifecell is one among the leading players right now. The website has detailed information about stem cells and related information.

P.S

Disclaimer: This is not a product or service review. I am not advertising and no one is paying me to write this. This is a genuine wish to spread the knowledge and awareness of stem cells

I wish I could

sing ! I never felt the need for it before and did not regret having a rather not so trained or tuned voice. I always wanted to learn to play an instrument but not singing. But now after Jillu is born, I really feel the need. I want to sing to her properly, especially, when I put her to bed, I want to be able to sing all those nice thaalaatu (lullaby) songs. Now, I envy all those who can sing even moderately well, mmmm... sigh.. I have to make do with the cassettes and cds..

A good find

Tired after the shifting (of my mom's residence) yesterday, we were all ready for a hearty meal and were also in a mood to try out a new eating joint. So, we, my parents, my husband and I, (Jillu being under my MIL's care), headed out to Mylai Masala, a pure veg restaurant. It has branches in Nandanam (near to Venkateshwara hospital) and Alwarpet (I think near to Anjaneyar temple) and we headed toward the Nandanam branch.

When we first entered, there was nobody to be seen. (Expected though, because we went at an odd time of 5:45 PM or 6:00 PM, well before the starting time, but we were tired and hungry and had to eat). So we were the only one there. We knew our choices would be limited because of the odd time and as expected, the Chinese and the tandoori items were not available. But most of the standard items were available and our plan B of going elsewhere did not materialize.

Now, to the actual part : The food was good. I won't say it was first-class variety. But the food was good and it was in the range of other chains of restaurants like VB, Sangeetha etc. Also, the price was not as costly as Saravana Bhavan and was fairly priced. At the end of the day, you get the value worth the money spent and it was money well spent for us yesterday. Our bill was around Rs 400 for the following items

1) Bonda - 2 plts

2) Pani Puri -2 sets

3) Adai avaial - 2 plts

4) Chana Bhatura - 2 plts

5) Podi Oothappam - 2 sets

6) Masal Dosai - 1

7) Noodle Dosai -1

8) Chocolate ice cream - 1

9) Coffee - 1

This restaurant has been open only for 6 months now and the rates may go up. But for now, Mylai Masala is a good find.