Arav and Aarav

When my son was born way back in 2005, not only was it my first experience staying in a hospital in US, I was also new to the many nuances of the American system. I knew that I needed to chose a name fast for my son unlike India where there is no hurry to do so but I still wasn't prepared for a birth certificate form to be handed to me while my husband was away preparing the house for the baby's arrival. So there I was all groggy with painkillers and in my hand was the power to shape my son's future identity.
We had tentatively agreed on the name "Aarav" except that at the opportune moment I could not remember that it needed to be spelled with two "As" instead of one!! My hubby's phone being switched off didn't help either. So now my son stands tall at four and a half years, a very precise Arav in a world full of Aaravs thanks to the wide settlement of the the Indian diaspora.
I had almost forgotten about my little folly till I was reminded again by the presence of an Aarav in my son's swimming class. The swim instructor now has to deal with two Aravs' in the same class (with different spellings) of course!!!!

Childhood lies in the details

As a mom it amazes me to notice the small details of our lives through the eyes of my four year old. There are so many thing we overlook or take for granted as adults until they are pointed out to us by a child. For instance, a boot is L shaped and different from a normal shoe or an airplane and a fish are shaped similarly!!
Recently a childhood friend (Stutie) posted a picture of a cloud on facebook and asked for interpretations of its shape. Not surprisingly, the response was overwhelming with so many of us pitching in while jogging our creativity till it became a cloud of different possibilities just like the budding mind of a child. Reliving the details of the minuscule tidbits of life reminds me of the tales from Gulliver's Travels which fascinated me dearly until I learned as an adult taking literature classes that the book is not intended to be a children book but a satire on mankind!!
For now, my hope is to hold on to this amazing process of seeing life through different eyes and reliving the details once the innocence is gone.

Its a Deal!!!

So what do you do when you have a vacation hangover?? Simple, plan your next one which is precisely what I have been doing over the weekend!!!The desirable destination this time is Hawaii and I'm already dreaming of sitting under a lanai. For this dream to not fizzle out like many others (sigh..), we need to clinch THE vacation deal which will leave us beaming in a very "desi" way and leave our friends "wowing" away.
Not surprisingly,I have been spending a lot of my internet time on travel sites and I'm really amazed at how a slight change in flight hours or shifting dates by a day can make a world of a difference to the figures which define a vacation package!!! Hmm, need to speak to a friend who works with Travelport and figure out how these things work.
Till then..the Lanai and Luaus beckon......