It's raining tags, hallelujah! :)

So many tags , so little time! Tags have been pending ,piling up , doing a merry back flip ,mocking me. I have been ignoring them for a while now. Finally today ,I decided to tackle all of them and finish them all, in a single post :-) Problem solved :-) (Shut up you tags, stop dancing)

Neha of Serendipity tagged me to write on 5 things about me I love. Suma of Aalochane tagged me to do a post on 5 things I love about being a mom/dad. Srivats of My thoughts keyboarded tagged me to write on good old days. Here goes:

Good Old days? By ‘Good Old days’ I am rewinding the clock 15 years back or may be 20. Well, I can call them old but I certainly can’t call them good. I can’t imagine what is so good about being a 17 year old gawky teenager so unsure of oneself, not knowing what one wants out of life, not able to distinguish between crushes and the real thing, feeling miserable because a guy you like does not have the guts to say it to you and thinking you will never get over him.

I also can’t imagine what is so good about not having Internet and mobile phones and having to spend a fortune calling up people if they moved to a different place. While hand written letters have their own charm, (but in retrospect they are charming now because they are out of choice not compulsion) it also meant waiting for 5 days (at the very minimum) to hear from someone you thought you loved.

So while good old days might bring back happy times and fond memories for many, I think for me, the only reason I can call them ‘good’ is because they are over!

Now, 5 things I love about being a mother..

1.It is just the feeling that you are the object of full and complete unconditional, unquestioned, purest of pure love, that I find so overwhelming.The feeling of completeness that is hard to explain till you experience it for yourself.

2.My children tell me at least 5 times a day how happy they are that I am their mother and not anyone else! I tell them that every child will be feeling the same way about their own mother. They say “No Mummy, you don’t know. Some mothers are horrible. Our friends tell us.” I don’t ask what their friends tell them. I really don’t want to know. I am just so overjoyed that my children think I am the best and that is enough for me.

3..My children are 11 and 8 and every night I have to lie down with them for at least 20 minutes to ‘make them sleep’. They use these 20 minutes very efficiently between themselves. My son tells my daughter, " For ten minutes mummy can lie in your bed, then she has to shift to mine." They keep a watch on the time and plead with me to lie with them for some more time. Usually during this time (which does not include the time I read them poetry) they talk and talk about their fears, their worries, their friends, their day. I simply love this time of the day and secretly I look forward to it as much as they do, though I do threaten them that if they fight I am not going to lie down with them to make them sleep. :-)

4.My daughter says “ Very sorry mummy, you are only the second most beautiful woman in the Universe.” Ever since my daughter watched Deepika Padukone in Om shanti Om I have been relegated to second place just like the Queen in snow white and seven dwarfs. My son does not agree with her despite having discovered Angelina Jolie and Geri Haliwell. “Mom you are a hundred million times better than them,” he says. “They are just celebrities and who knows what they are like inside. You are beautiful not just outside but inside too, mummy. I ADORE you.” He stretches the adore and says ‘adooooooooooooooore’ you to emphasise it and gives me the tightest hug. The smile on my face lasts the whole day.

5..Both think I cook well enough to start a restaurant.”Mmmm Mummy—divine” they say as they eat the dal-roti-salad I serve. Where else but from your children will you be crowned Gourmet queen for serving daily food?

Now third tag. (and I am finding this the hardest not because I am modest but because I am wondering how to limit it to just five things. Heh heh heh.)

5 things I love about myself.

1. My ability to laugh and make others laugh. Most people who know me in person will agree I am great fun to have around.

2. My Determination.If I have made up my mind about something I do it no matter how hard it is.

3. My social service streak. I have spent a huge chunk of my time volunteering with an organisation that educates street children. The work was very hard (Street children are not the easiest of people to deal with) in dirty, grubby conditions and you have to endure a lot of --well, to put it mildly--filth. These children come from the some of the worst living conditions on this planet and their sufferings, their battle for daily life, their struggle for what comes so easily to you and me is inspiring. I shall write a full post about it some time.

4.My acceptance of things I cannot change. Many times I try to change some things.I discover I can’t, no matter how hard I try. I accept and move on.That is the way it was meant to be.

5.The fact that I make time for people who are closest to me. No matter how busy I am, I make time for those who are important in my life. Life is short. No one has seen tomorrow. So I choose to spend my time well and spending it with ones I love is spending it very well.

Now as per the tag rules, I have to tag 5 other people.

For 5 things I love about being a mom/dad I tag:

Pink Dogwood

SGD

Life begins

Guruprasad

Niall

For Good Old days I tag:

Ramesh (It will be nice to read a business post from him on his views about what he perceives to be good old days_

Prashant Dhanke (Not sure if he does tags but if he does it would I am certain be hilarious)

Meira (I love the way she writes and want to know what she thinks are good old days)

Still thinking (I follow her blog and like her writing. It would be fun to read her)

Reflections (I love her honesty and approach to life)

For 5 things I love about myself I tag:

Ajay ( Write Write! If you aren’t starting a blog write in my comment box.Pretty please with honey on top. Not that honey.This is a family blog :-))

Suma (would love to read it. She always has an original and refreshing way of looking at things)

Rayne (Her creativity is outstanding and I love her spirit. She battles Crohn’s disease on a daily basis. You would never guess)

Amsko (would love to know more about her)

Prats of emotional ecoclogy (Hopefully this will lure her back to blogging.Last post was in April.I miss her posts)

If anyone else wants to do the tag (do it in my comment box if you don’t have a blog) consider yourself tagged! I will surely read.