Thanking every single blessing and more

Last week, Vaibhav and Shriya were down with  nasty virals. Their temperatures fluctuated all the way till 104 and the poor things braved their way through an awful time. They were complaining of limb aches and headaches and all kinds of never-before -mentioned aches and pains!

One night suddenly Shriya developed some blood clots on her leg and was writhing in pain. V was down with the fever and my husband was away on work. I had no clue where S might have developed the clot... not that I remember her banging into anything.  I googled and browsed and finally panicked. What if the clot had something to with the fever and pain??

It was midnight, Sunday. I first called for a cab. Then packed stuff for Shriya, bundled her up, left V with the housekeeper and took the waiting cab to the children's hospital. The hospital was busy and bustling even at that time. The nurses swiftly checked her temp (it had shot up again) and administered a dose of paractamol. After blood tests, we were taken to a doc who already had the results!! She assured us that everything was normal and that it could all just be a bad case of a viral relapse.
I heaved a huge sigh of relief!

What I went through those few hours are inexplicable. How much we take for granted. Kids playing, laughing, talking....everything is a wonder. And yet, we casually view them as normal. Anything not 'abnormal', we treat as 'normal' but never as 'wonderful'. That night, hearing Shriya question the doctors/nurses in her sweet, clear voice reminded me of everything I'm thankful for.

I am grateful to the taxi drivers who at anytime in Singapore will arrive at your doorstep and help you out like gentlemen. Where else would I get medical services in a jiffy on a Sunday night?  So thankful that I can return home even at 4am without a worry!

So thankful for every blessing, little and big and everything in-between!

Golu Galata!

Gosh!!The past 9 days have been a whirlwind of activity! Sarees, pavadais, sundals, visits....lots of excitement! For once, V & S had their mid-term break during a festival (or atleast during the beginning of one)! They were as always very enthusiastic about setting up the golu, adding their own special touches to it.

The decorations started early and they used up their holidays to make some of their own dolls for the golu. Next, it was the rangoli....I am absolutely pathetic when it comes to this and happily let the kids take over. As always, the kids had their own section of the golu which they conceptualised, managed and constantly modified :-) It was lovely watching the two imps plan which toys to add and how to make their airport look 'real'.

In the midst of visiting and greeting friends, I gave a dance performance for which I had been sweating it out during rehearsals for the last 1 month. The  kids were seeing me perform live for the first time and were completely enthralled! Vaibhav brought all his friends backstage to see his amma who looks 'scary from near' with all that makeup. A bunch of 5 year olds giggled away while some others dared to come closer just to make sure it was only 'Vaibhav's mom'!

We did maximum golu visits this year and had the most number of people visiting us too. Shriya dutifully gave away the vethalai pakku and the lovely bags we had lugged back from pudhu mandapam, Madurai! Another aspect of our golu visits that I loved was the immediate willingness to sing. Both of them sang at every golu without any inhibitions and cared a damn if anybody listened to it or not.

After all that Navratri  frenzy  I'm now busy tending to two sick children. The poor things are very hungover from Navratri and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they are up and about before the Diwali mania hits us!