Save my heart! Save your sanity!

February is Heart Health month. Mr.Monk just told me. So I shall have a cathartic rant session with my blog and hope my heart gets back to feeling all rosy and robust soon.

• Being a good mother, not a great one, just a simple good mother is an extremely tortuous task. More so because you happen to be your worst critic.
  
• I hate the fact my friends/neighbours don't drop in for a cup of tea. It's always me who has to go and meet them unless I call them all for dinner/lunch. Not that I don't want to do it but I'm still trying to manage a toddler who thinks she is on wheels and running a smooth family. I guess I am looking for re-assurance that I can be a mother and entertain friends albeit in a small way.
• I hate it even more that when no one has heard from me in weeks/months it is still upto me to call and update everyone on my life or lack thereof. [Everyone who calls me might feel that way but unless they all start a blog and post so, this shall be the universal truth.]
• Why is it so hard for people to understand that I do not want parenting advice? I carried her for 10 months and 5 days and went through a 55 hour labour to bring her out safe. I think I can manage now. Suggestions are a lot subtler.
• The next person I meet for the first time at a social gathering whose opening line is, "So was yours Cesarean or 'normal' delivery?" will be answered with the equally important query, "So was the sex last night reverse cow-girl or just 'normal' missionary style?" Seriously! Unless we are random strangers sharing a compartment in Southern Railways trying to get through the journey with the secret knowledge we will never meet come morning, I shall not talk about birth stories or my innermost fears at our first meeting. And Cesarean is also frigging NORMAL! I didn't deliver her through my mouth.
• Just because I am a stay-at-home mom doesn't mean I am not stressed. I feel it is too much to expect me to be understanding ALL the time of a working woman/man's stress. Try to differentiate one 'Amma'( I want biscuit) from the next 'Amma' (I need new diaper) to the very next 'Amma'( I just called chumma) and still wake up smiling for the 12 midnight 'Amma'.
• I love you all - my family, my friends, my support group - but at times you all get on my nerves...just like I rub you all on the wrong side any given Sunday! 

I wanted to write a long letter to Maye...one of those beautifully crafted emotional types letter thingy...full of sagely wisdom, witticisms and such. That's when I realised, writing a letter to your daughter on a public forum, makes it just that, 'a crafted piece'. As much as you try to justify its sincerity, it is still a performance on stage done mainly for applause and so I gave up. Someday, I'll emerge from under the dirty diapers and mounds of laundry and pen it down the old-fashined way. Till then, I shall write and re-write it in my head as I slowly drift off to sleep.

Now I'm tired.

Let me sleep.

55 WBR - Three many books to list

The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd

Bee-autiful. The no-frills writing brings enough tenderness to this strong emotional tale of a teenager’s search of her mother’s past in the backdrop of racial tension. Like the scent of the earth hours after the rain has stopped, Lucy lingers on your mind long after her story has been told. That is an extraordinary feat!

The Book of Lost things - John Connolly

An incredibly engrossing find. With its insane twists to every known fairy tale, the story hooks you from the moment David hears voices till his adventures end. There are moments of morbidity but which coming-of-age story isn’t? Author could’ve toned down portions on adult David’s life. It made one miss the high of the adventure.

The Hours - Michael Cunningham

Why Pulitzer? For a very thin book, it took me ages to finish. The style of writing was too convoluted for me to grasp the crux of the novel, if any. Too much importance on kisses between girls/women for some arbit reason. Liked the way the three characters come together. An ordinary read for me.

55 Words Book Review - Purple Hibiscus

Okay since I had been postponing writing reviews for a long time, I tried to make it interesting by doing it in 55 words. That way it serves as a writing exercise for me too.

Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

The coming-of-age tale of fourteen year old Kambili. Powerful, lyrical prose that brings Nigeria into your living room – the scents, sounds and tastes. But apart from Kambili and her tyrant father no other character is strongly etched. Jaja’s and her mother’s actions sudden and unexplained. The climax leaves an insipid taste. Yet I loved the book.

Read for New Author Challenge

To read a review that starkly differs from mine go to Ramya's page.