My Brother Is Leaving Bhopal

My brother Yasir whom I call 'd', [just a li'l sibling secret :)] is presently working as service engineer in Hero Honda. For past one year he is posted in Bhopal. So, he was staying with us.

Now he is offered another job so he is quitting the present one, as the new company is paying him much more. Of course, I am very happy about it that he is got such a good offer. I feel proud of him that masha allah he is climbing the ladder of success day by day. And I pray to Almighty Allah that may all his dreams come true. Amin.

But what I feel bad is that he will be leaving me. Because he will be posted somewhere else but surely not in Bhopal. Actually right from childhood we have been quite close to each other, infact three of us. Arshi is my elder sister. We shared everything with each other, we laughed ,talked for hours together and also fought. So now I will miss all this.

Yeah, I forgot to say the most important thing that he is getting married on 3rd December 2006. So I was very excited about it as I thought after his marriage my sister-in-law would come to Bhopal and we will have a nice time here. but now I will miss all that.

Anyway, I just pray now that may he have a very Happy Married life ahead. Amin.

Caption: Above, an illustration of me, my brother and sister in our childhood. Nice pix na!

Cleaning Spree

For past few days I was busy in cleaning up my house. let me tell you I had litrally messed up the whole thing. Both my bedrooms had a sight to see. Oh my! It was terrible. I myself could not bear my own carelessness.

May be I should not have done this, but my in-laws were supposed to come so I decided that I should do it now. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to face them. And it took almost three to four days to finish the whole thing.

At last I am done with it. And let me say now that my house looks really great ! !

Iqbal's diwan

Aleena loves newspapers and books. The moment there is a book nearyby she leaves the toys and rushes for the book. Here she has managed to crawl up to Allama Iqbal's diwan. When she grows up, will she read Iqbal or other poets. My husband is a poetry lover and I am not a great literature lover. Let's see if she gets into poetry or physics--or both!

I Have Measles

For past few days I was having itching all over my body. Initially I thought may be some insect has bitten me, then after a day also when it did not subside I thought it may be due to some allergy and I asked my husband to get me anti allergic tablet. He got it after two days. I took the tablet very same day but next day morning when I woke up the problem persisted so I took another tablet.

But inspite of taking two pills still the itching continued and when I saw there were very small boils all over just like prickly heat. Since this is not the season to get prickly heat. It is only then I realised there is some major problem for which I need to consult someone. The first person I can take advice is my mom. I asked her over my next telephonic talk . I described my symptoms to her. she said it is surely Measles. Which even I suspected and all my fears came true.

Actually I feel like laughing at myself that I get the problems which are usully heard amongst children. I think I am strange in all senses physically as well as mentally.

But now I just pray to Allah that my daughter Aleena should not get this . As this is an infectious disease and I can't keep away from her as there is no body to take care of her other than me and my husband. My husband's timings are so odd that he just can't take care. Anyhow, I have left things to God alone.

Aleena Has A Walker Now !

We bought a walker for Aleena. When we first made her sit in it, she seemed to be scared may be because she found some thing new,she tried to look at every part of it and examine it keenly. Then after sometime she realised she can move with the help of it.Then the joy on her face when she made a first move is unforgetable for me. She was infact screaming with joy and was very happy. I am still unable to forget that face of hers - that joyfull beaming face.

Actually, as I am alone to take care of her and I have to do the rest of the work as well, and now since Aleena has started crawling she would go anywhere, try put any thing in her mouth so it was becoming difficult for me to manage. Even to go to bathroom I had to think twice because I was scared to leave her. So we decided to get her a walker through which she can move and may be it is less risky(thats what I thought). At the same time she also wanted attention all the time the moment I leave her alone she would start crying.

So, now she just comes after me, wherever I go she comes and stands by my side holding my kurta. She has the satisfaction that she is around me and at the same time I am not scared all the time that she would put any thing in her mouth in my absence. And ofcourse, she is enjoying walking with it.

Lemon Pickle - II

In my earlier post I had written about the lemon pickle I made some time back in September, and there was some problem with that pickle. It had a slight bitter taste.

All thanks to the suggestions given by Sravani and Radhika I added little sugar to it. Actually to be very frank, when I, myself tasted it soon after I made, that bitter taste turned off my mood . After that I never dared to taste it again. Then last month I sent one bottle full to my mom and dad, and asked them to taste it and give me the feedback. But,because of ramzaan even they did not taste it then. As, in my family none of us are pickle lovers. Actually I made it for my husband whose meal is incomplete without pickle.

Now after my mom tasted it she told me that it tastes superb. And she asked me to taste it myself and see, that it has taste of traditional pickle and no pickle can be better than this. Then yesterday I tasted it and I found it extremely delicious. I really felt very happy. I felt a sense of achievement.

I always felt that to be a good wife and mom one should know to make good pickle without it you just can't be called a good one!!!!!!!

Shahanas of Kakori

Kakori is a small town 15 Km away from Lucknow. It is quiete famous for dacoity during the freedom struggle and The Kakori Ke Kabab. Apart from this there is one more thing which are just made that is hand made in kakori alone, they are a kind of bangles made of clay and then they are beautifully decorated on the top with finely cut tiny mirrors and coloured paper. They are called as Shahana. These Shahana are not found any where else, not even in Lucknow. They are the speciality of Kakori.

This time when I went to Kakori I wanted to buy a pair of these shahanas as I wanted to gift them to some of my friends as this would be a unique thing to be gifted. But to my surprise when I went to buy them the kind of shahana I was showed simply aroused my temper. they were so badly made that I just can't describe. There was no delicacy in the work done on it with mirrors and coloured paper. Usually the mirrors that are put are all cut in same shape and are of equal size. But now what she was showing me had each mirror of different shape and size.

I was so much disappointed to see that work . It simply infuriated me. Infact, I told that lady who was selling it, that it doesn't matter if you increase the price but please do not bring down the quality. I wonder why the neatness , delicacy and finneness of of work is not taken into consideration while any thing is bought by the customers of today.

Aleena's Pictures

I am posting some of Aleena's (my daughter)pictures which were taken in Lucknow

My Visit To Lucknow

I had been to Lucknow and returned just two days back.My in-laws stay there so we went to visit them. Actually they are not in proper Lucknow but they stay in our ancectral house 15 km away from Lucknow in a place called Kakori.

We stayed there for around 12 days, met lots of relatives almost every one came to see our little daughter Aleena who had been there for the first time. Even Aleena enjoyed as she had so many people to pamper her and take her round.

After staying here in apartment where we hardly get to see the sky, going and staying in the outskirts in a pollution free environment with lots of trees and open space was very refreshing. One night I happened to look at the sky and I saw a beatiful sight . The sky was filled with stars, they were sparkling bright, infact it was a cluster of stars. I never saw so many stars in the sky before. I am just not able to forget that lovely sight.

The other thing I really enjoyed is my 6 to 7 hours of undisturebed sound sleep at night at normal sleeping hours that is 10pm to 5 am which was a forgotten thing for me, because of odd working hours of my husband. I felt the day was so long and so many tasks can be done in one day.

My in-laws were really very happy as they enjoyed playing with thier grand daughter.