IT Babus ki Motorcade

This article titled “IT Babus ki Motorcade” was published in Time Of India’s (Pune Edition) supplement on 27th Feb., ‘08.

Winner of Femina’s Reader’s Letters

For three years from 2004, I subscribed to the Femina, a women’s national magazine in India. I occasionally wrote letters for the “You to Us” section on issues that I felt strongly about. Being an ardent Formula One fan, I felt hurt when the October 2006 issue ran a feature on Fernando Alonso, that year’s world champion and also the year Michael Schumacher retired.

It was just before I left for the delivery of LG that I wrote a letter to them. I forgot all about it and in the months that I wasn’t here, a pile of Femina had gathered that I neatly stacked away on my return to read later. There are still about 10 unopened issues. This Saturday, with V away for a haircut and LG sleeping, while cleaning up the cupboard I saw this stack of Femina and set aside the bulky 48th Anniversary for reading. Within minutes, I was lying on the couch browsing the magazine. A few stories later I was in the You to Us section reading Reader’s letters (wondering who reads that?). Before moving on to the next feature, I took one last glance at the winning entries as I usually do. Nothing seemed familiar. Then I see the name spelt exactly as mine and what a coincidence I thought to be from Pune as well. It all came back to me; I vaguely remembered sending a letter before I left for my delivery - this was over a year and half back. I re-read the letter and realized it was mine - the passion for Schumacher and apathy for Alonso was unmistakable. The letter had appeared 2 months after I had submitted and was awarded a Mexx watch which obviously never reached me.

I’ve tried reaching Femina in vain. Doesn’t matter - it’s been too long to even follow up now. But I’m happy and that’s what counts Every time I see my name in print, it’s like scoring cent percent in school.

We’re back!

After a long hiatus, the Lil’ General family is back in action. This has probably been the longest break since the birth of this blog with no activity. LG and I were on a vacation at my parents’ for a month. Though, it’s been over two weeks since we returned, I’ve found little time to blog and find myself caught in the daily grind more than ever. Blame it on a active 1-year old who hates his mom spending minutes (mind you, not hours!) in front of this funny looking thing that shows his pictures all day (the screen saver on the laptop is a collection of LG’s pictures since birth). Or, maybe I am just a master of procrastination.

There is no dearth of things to write about; a lot of posts are swimming in my head right now. It was difficult to find words and form sentences for the first week after my return. Then a good thing happened. An assignment came my way and another short deadline for a 2500 word travel article. I tried my best in giving reasons that I didn’t have the ‘bandwidth’ to complete them; it was sheer lack of confidence (this is what staying at home does to one). But the gentleman on the other end had more confidence in what I could deliver. When I ran short of reasons, I just took it up and didn’t think about about it for a day. The next day, it all fell into shape in one sitting and I was relieved as I hit the “send” button. This helped a great deal for I couldn’t complain that I was falling short of words for my blog posts. Deadlines and assignments do that to you what self-assigned tasks don’t.

This break for a month was a good thing for both of us. He got more adult company - sane ones, to hang out with than the looney ones he is forced to bear all day long here. I got a well-deserved break from the parenting routine by watching NDTV Profit all day long until I got tired of it. A lot happened over the month. First, the markets crashed and I was out of action, watching the free fall. Which ensured I would have little work to do on my return. And, who cares about losses (big ones) on vacation. A good part of the holiday was spent drinking cough syrups and taking antibiotics as we took turns in ensuring the cold virus doesn’t leave the house. Mom to LG to me and then it started all over again.

It’s back to work now. More coming soon…All of LG’s antics and milestones at LG Rules. It’s too late to catch up on the monthly milestone posts now. Maybe, I will do a quarterly one henceforth starting next month when he completes 15 months.