Mom knows the best #Myfirstexpert

It was Mother's Day and I called up my mother to wish her. I have never considered Mother's Day only as a specific day to express anything to my mom. It has always been a day when I never failed to wish her. May be, just to keep up with the trend . I happened to see this video on Woman's Day, which is yet another day that the world celebrates. I feel, that everyone is celebrating it just for the sake of celebrating womanhood. Probably, we should be considering everyday as Woman's day or Mother's day. I was Googling these key words just to know what the world thinks about these special occasions when I came across this video. The video has been beautifully made. A message that a woman gives to her daughter. It made me forget about every question I had in my mind just minutes ago. My eyes moistened even before I could complete watching the video. I was missing home and foremost my mother, whom I call with lots of love- ' Amma or Mummy.' ( It has been the same way from childhood days.)

I am married for almost two years now and I have moved into a different city permanently away from my parents and my hometown into a new family. I am going to start another part of the vicious circle of womanhood, just as my mother. I have been away from home for pursuing my higher education after school. It has been ten years that I been away from home and from my parents. I have hardly stayed continuously with them for more than three months. I feel that once a woman enters into the marital phase she starts relating herself more with her mother. That is because she has seen her mother being that way from childhood.

I missed my parents in hostel and also when I was staying alone while working. But I started missing my mom more when I got married. Whenever I come home after work and sit outside in the verandah sipping a mug of coffee, I retrospect about my life. I enter my house unlocking the door only to look at the empty house. Multiple thoughts run in my mind. I am transported to those times when I used to come home from school only to be received by mom. Even now, post marriage when my parents are home, I am welcomed home with a warm cup of coffee made by my mother.

My school days used to start with a cup of coffee made by mom and it was always that way. No matter how tired she would be or how busy she was I always made sure she gave me a tumbler of coffee( that is how coffee is served in South Indian families). I could do anything to help amma during the day, like cooking, cutting vegetables, running errands for the house or cleaning the house but I wanted my coffee to be made by my mom. I waited for my first morning coffee even if it was given to me at 10 AM. The coffee sometimes was not as warm as I wanted and had less sugar. I complained about less sugar in my coffee still I wanted her to make it for me. Sometimes she got so frustrated with my morning coffee tantrums that  she once told me, " If you want more sugar then make it yourself." Despite all this I forced her to mix even the extra sugar and then give it to me. I would demand all this even when I came home during college breaks. Slowly situations changed. Now , I have to make coffee not only for myself but also for family and I cannot throw tantrums at anyone. I come home in the evening and make coffee for myself and have it alone.

I miss even making coffee for my mom. Whenever they come home I make sure I take out time to make the evening tea for my parents. My mom always complained that I never made good tea just because I didn't like it. To be honest, I never made good tea until two months before marriage. Only when I got to know that I had to sometimes make tea for my husband, did I start making good tea and also started enjoying sipping a warm cup of tea. On a lazy Sunday morning I wake up thinking mom would give me a cup of coffee. Soon, I am brought back to reality that I have to make one not only for me but also for my husband and even for my in-laws if they are here. Although my husband makes good coffee and at times surprises me in the morning, I can't really throw tantrums saying that the coffee is not adequately hot or has less sugar. I go to the kitchen myself and adjust it  according to my taste. Oh!! Even while I am writing about this I am missing the coffee connection I had with my mom. 

The hours of gossip with mom were always a turn on. It could be anything under the sun. I remember coming from school and discussing everything about the happenings of my day even without changing my school dress and continued this until we completed lunch while watching those daily soaps with high TRP's . Now, I don't even feel like watching any interesting soaps(if there do exist good ones)because I don't have my mother for company. My dad shouted at us for gossiping so much while having lunch and watching television at the same time. That is why my mother always waited to have lunch with me. That's doesn't mean we never has disagreements or arguments. We still have. They are mainly related to my clothes. I always ran to her for selection of the dress that I should be wearing for any occasion. In childhood days she decided everything for me. When I grew up, I selected and she used to approve. Then there came a time when she left me on my own to decide but, the confused person that I am, I made sure I gave her three options to select. The irony of the situation was that I never used to wear what she selected. It seldom matched with the choice I had in my mind. She used to get irritated and yell at me saying, " Why do you even ask for my opinion if you have already made up your mind to wear something else?" I used to smile shamelessly at her and give her a loving look only to show that it was just asking her that mattered to me. On many occasions I did listen to her and we came to a common decision. Oh God!! Dress selections are so important for women. For my marriage everything was decided by my mother and I. I was very happy with the selection of sarees, jewellery or even slippers that I wanted as a match to wear with each dress. I was so confident that I even left the gold jewellery selection to her and I was not even a bit disappointed. In fact, our relationship had become just like best girl friends. I had the freedom to even select a hairstyle for her and also the sarees that she should be wearing for specific occasions. Marriage has changed a lot of this because there is a permanent physical distance. I do call her up on phone and seek for her opinion. She practically remembers about all the sarees and dress materials that I have. I listen to her these days. I tried out the same with my husband. I give him multiple choice for selecting any dress that I should wear for any occasion and finally end up wearing what I had decided. He has repeated the same dialogue as my mother did. The only difference was that he swore not to select any dress for me again because I never went by his choice. I was probably looking for a motherly quality in him and I realized later that I was expecting too much. Mom will always be mom. Always so forgiving and loving. 

I have felt the same way as Deepika Padukone feels in this ad. Though I have never ended up late or ever had a lifestyle with which my parents had any complaints. But, I have made them worried many times.

I just wish I could gift her one such beautiful necklace some day. My mom is always worried about my health and my skin. She keeps complaining that I never take care of myself and I have always neglected my skin. Whenever there were any boils or pimples on my skin, mom always had a solution. Even if it took her the effort to take me to a good parlour she would do that. Even now when I Whats App my pictures to her, the first thing she notices is that my skin is not glowing, that I look sleepy eyed or bloated and I have lost the colour on my face. There might be multiple reasons but she has just one question, " Are you happy?" I laugh and I reply to her but I know deep down how concerned she is about me. Till date whenever she reads a home remedy beauty tip she preserves those paper cuttings and reads them out to me and if I don't follow her instructions, she gets upset. She always packed a homemade face pack when I left for college after holidays. Now that she is unable to send me face packs so often, I get instructions over the phone to make it by myself at home. I forget at times but when I remember to make one. Mom is always there to guide me. 

I had jet black, thick, silky and straight hair when I was small and still have some of it left thanks to the natural hair conditioning that my mom used to apply on my hair. Every week she used to apply oil for me and very patiently give me a nice head massage. I miss it the most; as from ten years there is no one to do it for me. At times when I miss a hair oil massage I end up going to a salon but no one can re-create mom's magic. I have asked my husband for help but innocent man, he doesn't even know how to apply oil for his hair properly, how could he apply it for me? I was just expecting too much from a simple man. The realization just keeps sinking that no one could give the feeling of warmth that mom  can give.

My mom suddenly contracted an incurable but controllable disease. There wasn't even a genetic connection. She suffered with Psoriasis and she is still suffering, without a proper cure. Sometime she used to cry in pain and I never understood the reason for her grief when I was a child. 28 years back there wasn't any cure for it and neither were there any discoveries in medical science which could find a potential cure for this disease.  Despite all this my mom never left any stone unturned in my upbringing. I don't remember now exactly how she did it but I have faint memories of her sufferings. Foremost, was helping me in maintaining my silky hair. Mom knew it all and she did everything. As I grew up I started realizing that behind all the normal things, she was enduring extreme pain. She went through a physical, mental as well as a social pain. At times she used to feel extremely low about herself because of her disease condition. As her disease started progressing from acute to chronic, her bones and joints started getting affected. Her condition went from bad to worse and she had permanent deformities in her small joints that could never be reversed to their normal shape. Even with all that pain she did apply oil and did a relaxing hair oil massage for me. Initially she used to do it for more than half an hour but now if she does it beyond ten minutes her finger joints start paining. I know she is having a problem but I still ask her to continue for five more minutes just to make her feel normal. 

There were many such situations during my school days when she refused to come to collect my progress report card from school or attend any of  my award functions at school; mainly because she had lost her confidence due to her health conditions and she was withdrawing herself from the people around. Social life did suffer in such conditions. I felt sad at times thinking that my mom couldn't accompany my dad for such functions. I used to come back and tell her that she should have come as all my friends' mothers' also came. She used to smile and tell me, " I am not lucky enough for you. I want you to do good in life. I don't want anyone to ask about my health condition. It gets very embarrassing." These words still ring in my ears and my eyes well up with tears. It took her years to get out of that insecure feeling. She still travels to that mode at times but over the passing years life has taught her to be more confident and positive. I could somehow convince my parents to attend my graduation function despite having many family commitments. It was a major milestone in my life and I wanted them to be there. This time my mom was more open and confident. Thanks to her self confidence and the medicines which made her feel little better.  I remember the same situation when I see this Ad. 

My parents wanted me to be an engineer but I chose to become a Biochemist. They were initially not too confident about my career options but when they saw me complete my higher education with flying colours they were carefree. That was when I started getting cold feet and they seemed to be pretty chilled out. I was worried about various job options after studies and went crazy searching for jobs. Mom was a sport that time. She boosted me with extra confidence.

Her prayers during my exams and results, her sacrifices for me so that my studies don't get affected, her staying up late at night to listen to my school presentations, oral lectures and also listen to all those chapters of History that I had learnt by heart cannot be forgotten. Even till my 10th standard board exams I made her listen to history lecture notes. She sat with me at times burning the midnight oil just to make sure I didn't need anything. 

She was a part of my job hunt too in the initial days when I was looking for internship opportunity in my hometown. I got a secure job as a Biochemist and I was working for almost two years. Even then she was a constant reminder telling me that I needed to look out for better job opportunities. If she found any Ad related to my career interests she would take a note and send me the links. She made sure that I applied in all the sectors. Her dream was to see me working in a government sector in the health science field where I could have a secure job and I would be able to do service for others. She pushed me to keep looking for better opportunities rather than slipping in my comfort zone. She did all this even though she had no clue about my subject. It was just her interest for me that made her scan through newspapers and articles in magazines just to look for a better job opportunity for me. She wanted me to work in a research based government organization and told me to try applying there regularly. There were many posts available during a particular vacancy. I knew I wouldn't be selected but still she told me to apply. I did not get through the first time . She told me to visit their website again and again. I missed one such opportunity due to my negligence. That was when I realized that it was a great opportunity that I had missed. I started taking her words too seriously. I was on the outlook for a job daily and finally one day the right opportunity knocked at my doorstep. I applied for a post where I could be eligible and also could submit the application within the last date. I got my call letter one day and my happiness knew no bounds. My parents came home just the day after I received the offer. That day my mom received another letter telling that my interview had been postponed. She got a bit dejected but I was happy that I had time to study for the interview. I got the job in fifteen days and when I showed my offer letter to my mom her happiness knew no bounds. She told me to get into this job even though it was paying me less. I didn't think twice and took this bold step with utmost support from my husband. The day I joined work there my mom called up and told," Didn't I tell you that you would get it here?” My job was for a fixed tenure and a temporary one but the happiness in my mother's voice makes me work with extreme motivation even today.

Just like mine every mother is special for their children. No matter what mom does she is always the best. She has always been the #MyFirstExpert for her children. I have different memories which I share with my mom and they are really close to my heart. What is yours? Don't you relate yourself and feel nostalgic and emotional when you see all these Ads?? Mothers' are always there for us. Wish I would be able to play the same role when I become a mother. 

This post has been written for #MyFirstExpert contest on IndiBlogger by Godrej Expert on Mother's Day. 

Do check out their website for the product http://godrejexpert.com/single_used_pack.php and the interesting commercial which yet again shows the bond shared by a mother and her daughter. 

Champi for Mummy

Probably the creator wanted one individual in each family who was always there for the family, a person who took care of the needs of the entire family, someone who could manage and hold everyone together, could bear innumerable pain to give birth to a new one and extend the family, one such soul who is selfless and full of love. The almighty wanted to bring someone as strong as him on this earth. That's when he sent Eve in the form of a woman who later on would take the role of a mother. From then on every family has a mother. I always wonder seeing my mom that how could she be so selfless? I would also be a mother in the future but I have this question in mind- Would I ever be able to be like my mom? I agree that they are the hormones post childbirth that helps a woman to mature emotionally and become stronger. The bond that is created between a child and his/her mother makes mothers be selfless and extremely loving. Giving birth to a child is not easy and also managing the family along with a growing child. We all are so attached to our mothers that we know- anything on this earth mom has a solution for it. We grow up eventually and there comes a time when we might have more knowledge that our mother but she is the one who always knows the best. 

In the modern day scenario women and being given more opportunities and with a good family support system mothers in families are trying to juggle between professional as well as personal lives. That doesn't mean that their responsibilities reduce. They have an additional responsibility of taking care of their career interest along with personal life. It has always been a mother in the centre of the family and the entire family around her is dependent on her. She has to divide the pie chart of her life equally in order to manage a family peacefully. 

Like all mothers my mom has been the pivot for our family. That doesn't mean fathers are any less but a family is dependent on a woman no matter how modern they can get. No one can eliminate a woman from their lives who later on will become a mother. My story is different because my mother had to undergo physical hardships just after my birth. She suddenly contracted an incurable but controllable disease out of nowhere. There wasn't even a genetic connection. She suffered with Psoriasis and she is still suffering without a proper cure. Sometime she used to cry in pain and I never understood the reason for her grief when I was a child. 28 years back there wasn't any cure for it and neither were there any discoveries done in medical science which could find a potential cure for this disease. Despite all this my mom never left any stone unturned in my upbringing. I don't remember now exactly how she did it but I have faint memories of her sufferings. She never made me feel that she was suffering; Right from getting me ready for school, packing tiffin for me, waiting to have lunch with me, giving me whatever I need, taking me out, staying awake at night with me so that I could concentrate on my studies, worrying and praying for me while I wrote my exams, sharing my tensions during exam preparations, worrying when I went out alone, had a strong heart to let me go to another city for higher education only to make sure that I become successful. Her gesture of waiting outside the gate when I came home for holidays, making a list of all the dishes I like, talking on phone for hours together sharing her feelings and most of all helping me maintain my long silky hair; mom knew it all and she did everything. As I grew up I started realizing that behind all the normal things, she was enduring extreme pain. She went through a physical, mental as well as a social pain. At times she used to feel extremely low about herself because of her disease condition. As her disease became chronic from acute her bones and joints started getting affected. Her condition went from bad to worse and she had permanent deformities in her small joints that could never be reversed to their normal shape. It was that time when she started refusing to even oil my hair. She couldn't even comb her own hair and make plats. I helped her till the time I was there at home. When I went to college she couldn't do everything alone so she was forced to cut her hair short. I felt deeply affected when she had to cut her long, silky straight hair short. There was no one to even apply oil in her hair. Post marriage I feel even worse that I was staying away from her. I miss doing things for her. 

Since I have got my hand on Parachute AdvansedAromatherapy oil I thought I could relieve her of her tensions and also massage her hair when she always used to do for me. It was time for me to give her a nice hair oil massage that would help her feel relaxed and calm. It was the right time for me to create a situation for her just like the times when her mother used to oil her long tresses. Her hair is still short but I hope that I could help her maintain the current length. I will ensure she will not have another chance to cut her hair shorter and be unable to maintain it. Hair oil massage is scientifically proven to increase blood circulation in the scalp and also relieve tension. When we massage the scalp with hair oil, blood flow increases in our blood vessels that are present in the brain. As blood flow increases it allows more exchange of nutrients and oxygen. The stress causing hormones like cortisol and epinephrine increase. Proper blood flow helps in reducing the levels of these circulating hormones and increases endorphins. I had read in some research articles that reducing stress could help my mom feel better and her medical condition would also improve. The amount of stress she has taken for all these years is nothing compared to what I would be offering to her but I could be slowly helping her release all that has been built in from 28  years. She deserves every bit of this relaxation. Since this oil is available in different fragrances like Lavender, Rosemary and Bergamot, I would choose the one she likes and feels the most relaxed with. I would prefer doing it twice a week so that she relaxes and feel fresh despite her physical ailments. Wishing this could help in improving her condition because research says that Psoriasis management can be done well by leading a stress free lifestyle.  This could be the best possible and easily accessible way to de-stress my mother. The number of pills she has popped from year together would someday affect her system. De-stressing would reduce the risk of side effects due to medications. Whatever it takes I want to see my mother relaxed and happy with herself. She has become so withdrawn and less confident about herself that she needs to be relieved of all the worries. I wish I could get ten percent of the strength my mom has got to endure any kind of suffering. 

“I’m blogging about why my mother needs to de-stress with a Parachute Advansed Aromatherapy Oil massage for the #StressFreeMom activity at BlogAdda.”

Image courtesy : www.google.com 

Finally!! Airtel makes life easier.

I have been using Airtel network on my mobile since 2005. Airtel network has been very friendly with me in Tamil Nadu as well as in Karnataka. I could manage to be well connected always with my parents when I was in hostel. Even now, I am using the same Karnataka number which I got in 2008. There were problems with roaming connectivity when I travelled in the train to my hometown during college holidays. My parents got worried endlessly and I waited for network zones to inform them about my whereabouts. In 2008, the network connectivity improved and I could stay connected while travelling with my folks at home very well. In 2012, once I moved out of my home town again for work, I still didn't want to change my network. That's when I started getting many benefits through Airtel offers. I could travel without worrying about connectivity problems. Slowly my problems started differing when it came to Airtel. I was bothered about recharges. Initially the only option to recharge phones was through scratch cards or some Airtel recharge boothw/shopw. Since Internet has taken confidence over everyone, people forgot recharge shops and started recharging online. I used to stay in a place without a proper Internet connection. I started going to a local recharge shop where mobile phone recharge was done in minutes. Those times I used to always have problems calling up home because of ‘0’ balances. I used to wait for the next day until a recharge shop opens and then I got to recharge my phone. Slowly Wi-Fi and easy net connectivity forayed into everyone's lives by 2012 so as mine. I started recharging online. Seven months ago I used to struggle to recharge even through their website. It used to hang many times showing 404 errors. I used to get charged from the bank but recharge never happened. I also use Airtel Broadband at home. There was a time when I had to wait for a week to pay my Broadband bill. We even raised a complaint on their website. The issue was solved in a couple of days after their response. 

In 2015 they have introduced the new website which seems faster, easier and simpler. I haven't faced any problems so far. Hoping it remains the same. Now, because of the Airtel Loan facility and easy Internet recharge I don't bother about zero balances ever. I was happy thinking about the revamped Airtel website when they introduced us to their My Airtel App (http://www.airtel.in/myairtel). It is certainly making me feel more confident about Airtel now. I don’t even have to go to my desktop or laptop to recharge. I have it handy with me. All I need is an Airtel 3G balance to recharge my phone. Phew!! It has given me such a relief. 

I can only say that I am loving it!! I logged in and they say that I am a ' Platinum Member'. 

I can get to know my balance easily without typing or sending any codes. It saves me so much time. I struggle with recharges but now it will just be a click away. I can view different offers instead of calling up customer care and waiting in call center queues to know the best offer for the day. I can easily store numbers which I want to recharge frequently. If I use Airtel Money then I can buy products also buy recharging my wallet. 

With every recharge there are offers. Who wouldn't want a voucher or a discount coupon? I frequently keep recharging my phone as I spend a lot on talking to my parents at home. I can get to know the day to day STD calls offers and recharge accordingly. I get a bonus voucher for recharging. The offers are also useful, like on Pizza Hut, PVR, CCD, Flipkart, VLCC etc which form a part of our regular lifestyle these days.

Airtel seems to take you by surprise also. I shake my phone and there are multiple offers with promo codes exclusively for my phone. Offers and discounts are so elusive. Who wouldn't want to use them?

I can also save names and numbers to which I need to recharge frequently and set as my favourites. Every time ' I want to' Recharge for those I have to just click. Their payment gateway is very secure so I needn't worry about my account security. They allow card details to be stored also but it is secure.

Now Airtel will not allow me to go to '0' balance. It will alert me whenever I have low balance and force me to recharge. 

I am enjoying the App and I am also sure that there will be more surprises for me in store from Airtel. What are you waiting for?? Download the My Airtel App right away and don't forget to check out their page http://www.airtel.in/myairtel before downloading the App. 

Ek Nayi League- Revolution in trading!

The videos of Kapil Dev talking about a different kind of cricket must be making everyone very impatient. All cricket fans would like to know what is this all about. I was also confused looking at the short fifty second and one minute videos which were posted on Ek Nayi League website. Guessing by the video where Kapil speaks about a different kind of cricket, I feel it is not about playing cricket but about playing a game in a very different way.

The line where he says," Itne din saare khiladi dil se khelte the, par ab dil se khel nahi sakte." This could just mean that the kind of game which he is going to introduce is not just about playing with our heart and soul but it is about technicalities. Any player who wants to be attaining success by winning these kinds of matches should know about the theoretical as well as the practical aspect of the game. One cannot win just because luck favoured the player for that day. If we play with just the heart and with anxiety may be a bad shot can be ruining us. I feel that Kapil would be training celebrities on such aspects.

#EkNayiLeague would be about finer aspects of trading which cannot be won easily. Players would have to struggle to get past such a game. There would be strict rules yet they would manage to ensure that players know how to handle such a game and they play it the right way. Money games involve the mind and not the heart. If one's mind is not focused while dealing with money and trading money it could create major losses. Kapil is helping the common man who has the knowledge and the money to invest in the right stocks and trade a good amount from it. There are also chances that if one registers into India's newest trading platform one can win an amount as huge as Rs. 1 Crore. One can also get a chance to become India's Smartest Investor. Investment is a mind game and winning it is very difficult but not impossible. Many investors learn the art of trade through their family business, through forefathers and some study about it. Kapil here brings a platform where anyone can become a smart investor by knowing the details about the trade and also investing smartly.  It is the Indian Trading League (ITL)which is a pan India competition that will allow participants to showcase their investing and trading skills where they compete with other market participants in a real market environment across asset classes including stocks, derivatives and commodities. In this way participants or players can win the ultimate title of being India’s Best Trader and win a Cash Prize of Rs. 1 Crore and many other prizes. This competition is open to Intraday Traders, Investors, Positional or Short Traders , Systems/Algorithmic Traders and Female candidates. Everyone who participates in the Indian Trading League will have only one clear goal , which is to generate the Highest Possible net percentage return. This league will commence from 19^th May 2015 and will go through the entire financial year till March 2016. The competition is divided into different timelines- Weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. Prizes will also be announced accordingly. Participants can participate in these anytime according to their will. 

To know more on what Kapil Dev has to say about Ek Nayi League, do check their website - http://www.eknayileague.com/ and also Indian Trading League.