Hooked - #RealTogetherness

There was time when I was hooked to Television. I could watch 6-7 hours of TV. I could watch and re-watch episodes. I had evenings and nights of ‘back-to-back’ watching all those detective series. And then I cut it off at the source. Yes I cut off cable. Its has been six years now since we cut cable at our house. Since we moved from the US to india, there was a mild urge to get cable back on the pertext of the kids watching Discovery and Animal Planet. But considering that I am so ‘hooked’ we have progressively been able to push of cable by buying DVD’s with the wonderful soothing voice of Sir David Attenbourgh talking about the ‘Life of Birds’.

You could say I found freedom from the addiction. And while that lasted a good deal of time, here I am again with yet another ‘issue’. Social media and its kind has taken over my life. I am hooked once again. Don’t get me wrong. I love Facebook and Whatsapp. I like that I can send my DH a picture of my little girl crying in an instant or post this blog for a hundred friends to read via my Facebook page. But truth be told – I am hooked.

As the convenience of keeping in touch becomes easier, as the world becomes smaller, as we network faster, the addiction is growing stronger.

A few days ago a nephew of mine told me for a 100^th time that I was hooked to ‘whatsapp’. In his words, ‘Whatsapp was becoming my idol’. So I decided time to cut the tree and pull of the addiction from the roots.

Well, I wish it was that easy. Considering pretty much all communication for me is via Whatsapp and Facebook. I rarely pick up the phone anymore to call anyone. But there has got to be plan of action. At least let social media know – They do not rule my life.

The Kissanpur ad (see link below) is phenomenally cute and got me a little teary eyed. But I decided there were a few things I was already doing and  I just needed to add a few more things to my list and I would be on my way to freedom again.

A few months back I quit my vegetable garden due to a monkey menace. I recently started planting seeds again. I even plucked a few lady fingers this past week. But better still every morning last week from 6-7 am, DH and I went up to the terrace and started cleaning up the area to make space for my kitchen garden. We cleared up the pots, planted a few seeds and sad down with our cup of tea afterward to enjoy our menial work. We never took our phones up with us. This was step one to freedom.

This week I decided I would turn off my phone internet at least for a couple our hours during the day time and all night! I really do not understand why I have my phone data plan or Wi-Fi ON while I am sleeping. Unfortunately current communication methods, I cannot cut off WhatsApp completely – but I am on my way to freedom.

I have two more plans and if they are successful, I will blog about it. But for right now enjoy this simply cute Kissanpur Ad!

Kissanput "Real Joy of Togetherness" Video 

This blog was written for ##RealTogetherness

http://www.kissanpur.com/.

And then life changed forever! First time parents!

Every so often I do this thing where I check time in another country. Usually it is either US, if hubby is travelling or UTC because I forget to turn on my work timer.

Today I am thinking of a time long ago. 6 years to be exact. And so I typed into google ‘Time in US’

7:39 pm: Washington DC.

That sounds about right and since I was about 50 minutes from Washington DC I think I was in the mall right now. Columbia mall to be exact. I was eating my last meal as a married woman. Tomorrow I would be a mom! Yes October 15 2009 about 7 pm, DH dragged me to the mall for a walk and a meal. All I wanted to do was sit on the sofa.

I had hoped ‘Isaac’ would be born on October 15 since it was my father’s birthday. I really wanted him to be birthday partners with my dad whom I had lost about 18 months before. But Isaac decide he needed just a few hours more to come out, drawing the date to October 16 2009.

I still remember I ate ‘gyros’. Probably the worst ‘gyros’ every. DH ate his favorite ‘five guy burgers’ and I think he did share a few fries with me.

I waddled all over the mall. Yes literally waddled like a duck. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Little did I know that the night was going to get too exciting to sleep. Just as I hit the bed, I had to ‘pee’ yet again for the umpteenth time. I sat up and then it happened.

‘Suresh … my water broke!’

DH who had probably drifted off just a little into dreamland jumped off this bed. You could see the excitement on his face. I think he probably expected the baby to be there. Time on the clock was probably midnight. We had to wait another 15 hours to see our little boy. He took his own sweet time to arrive and could not be rushed any sooner.

The rule in the US was if you are not in pain you do not come to the Hospital. So when I called my midwife, she told me to eat something and try to sleep some. SLEEP some!!!! I was going to be a mom. There was no way I was going to sleep. We waited for a few hours and then unable to hold in our excitement drove to the hospital and got settled in.

And then the wait began. They say ‘No pain .. No gain’. Well whoever wrote that has obviously never been induced for labor pain. The actual labor pain started at about noon. By 1 pm I was begging for the epidural. At 2 pm I was fast asleep enjoying some pain free rest!

Finally at about 5 pm, Isaac decided to it was time to make his grand entry into the world. And just like that he opened my womb!

The beginning of a long roller coaster journey called motherhood.7 years of waiting, 15 hours of labor and then all else is bliss!