Mumbai Helps.

Kiran of Karmic Kids has set up a blog to help the Mumbai terror victims. Please do visit and help in whichever way possible.

The link is http://mumbaihelps.blogspot.com/

Every little helps. Take care and be safe.

Food Allergy Awareness.

Tharini of Winkies Ways has started a Food Allergy Awareness Month. She has kick started the posts with her first post here and Sujatha of blogpourri has shared a wonderful and informative post in her blog. Theres more to come from Tharini and quite a few other bloggers as well. Also, check out Tharinis post on the difference between Food Allergy and Food Intolerance.

If you have done a post on Childhood Allergies in your blog in the past , please pass on the link in the comment space. Or if you have any information to share, please do a post and leave the link here. I ll be doing a final round up of all related posts in the month end, so come back. Lets all come together for this good cause and spread the awareness. Thanks in advance.

High Court rejects Niketa’s plea to terminate pregnancy.

The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the petition filed by Niketa and her husband Haresh Mehta, along with their doctor Nikhil Datar, seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy, now in the 26th week.
The foetus was diagnosed with a complete heart blockage when she was in the 24th week of pregnancy. The couple wanted to abort the child for fear it would suffer for life.

More here.

The never ending debate of what is right and what is not. I really feel sad for the parents and cant help but wonder what the child is going to go through when he/she is old enough to understand. Yes, the laws are there for a reason but why does it seem as if the good ones always have to bear the brunt of it?

Author Padma Venkatraman's Blog Tour.

Padma Venkatraman's debut novel, Climbing the Stairs, for young adults has hit the stands. Find out more about Padmas multi faceted life and her book by following her blog tour.

The book review in Saffron Tree.

Not often do you get to read a novel set in historical, pre-independence India
with a story so wonderful and riveting. Padma Venkatraman undoubtedly brings a wonderful and fresh voice to the world of young adult and adult English
literature with her debut novel, Climbing The Stairs.

Padmas interview with Praba on Saffron Tree.

CLIMBING THE STAIRS is set during a period of Indian history that I find
incredibly intriguing and interesting – a time when the world was engaged in
World War II and Gandhi was leading the nonviolent Indian struggle for
independence from the British. I first fell in love with this time period when I
was writing a short story for younger children, but realized that there was just
so much more to this era than I could fit into a short story for the
middle-grade age group.

The authors guest post at Blogpourri.

One obvious way living in different places has influenced me is the detail with
which I can recollect and thus recreate the ambience of these cities. I can
still remember the Jamun tree that grew along the drive in the house in
Velacheri where I spent my early childhood, and the ripe fruit really did dye
our drive purple in August, just as the tree outside Vidya’s home does at the
beginning of the novel.

Her tips and tricks to find time to write when you are a parent at Desi Momz Club.

Of course, all this changes once the children start school. Then you will have
time during the day to write, when you’re actually awake and alert. So fret not
when the children are little. Your time will come. After all, you can’t stop the
children from growing up.

Happy Mothers Day!

Put your feet up and enjoy in your special way. Have a fantastic Mothers day! :)

The Mega Online Baby Shower - the Biggest and the Best!

Whats the point of this blog being called "Indian Mommies" if I don't mention the recent mega event hosted by most of the Indian Mommies who are in the side bar of this web site?

About a month ago, Tharini of Winkies Ways sends a mail to a dozen bloggers asking if they are game to throw an online baby shower to the Preggies, at least 6 of them when they started the planning. How the preggies list became 10, the hosts became 70 spanning across several countries and time zones, an online treasure hunt involving 49 blogs, secret login and password to be found, Riddles appearing out of nowhere at the same time in all those 49 blogs, how we preggies plunged into the ride and started solving the puzzle even before the hosts let us know what was happening, how at the end of the hunt we were were presented with an absolutely astounding private blog is anyones guess! The blog is loaded with information and good wishes from each and every one of the contributor. The design is divine, the information oh-so-useful and the wishes - just tear jerking! They rightly named themselves - The Doula Gang.

There have been at least 3000 mails gone to and fro across the globe() for this to happen. How they pulled this off is just beyond me! And to think they have a house to run, a job to go to, kids to look after,... and then do this for a bunch of people whom they have never even MET! That's just terrific! (I do wonder if your husbands still love you! ;) And here I was, could nt even put together a birthday party for my kid yesterday with 15 people. Discovered the salad in the fridge after they left! Well, at least I'm eating something healthy for lunch today! ;)

To know the entire story, you can start in this order.

Boo, that's me, writes a clueless post after seeing the riddles in some of the blogs.

The hosts are taken by surprise by the sudden attack and are playing mind games in the comment box to discourage us Preggies from solving the puzzle too soon!

Lavs, Desi Girl, Kodis Mom, Poppins Mom, Maggie aka Moppets Mom and Boo go with a vengeance and after a sleepless night, figure out the riddles. Hopping 49 blogs, putting together 41 letters and 8 blanks, they arrive on the right phrase!

Boo brags about it in a new post - So this is what is happening! At the end of the post are the links of all the 49 blogs with the riddles.

Then the thanks just poured in from us Mother To Bes. And the Oscar speech can be found below...

Desi Girl
Poppins Moms
Moppets Mom
Kodis Mom

B o o
Lavs
Random Vignettes
Something to Say

Want to hear from the hosts?

The Mad Momma beautifully summarizes the event here - What I was upto...

Kirans short and sweet summary - So we had a party.

Here's Suki, who is 19 I should add, with her post linking to all the said posts.

If you want mind blowing event organizers, these are the people you should contact:

How to pull off an Online Treasure Hunt, write Riddles for 49 bloggers and take care of all the nitty-gritties -

Gauri,

Altoid,

Sue and

Kiran.

You know what I liked the best about the riddles. None of the 49 bloggers knew who they were writing about or who is going to write about them. They had to solve the riddle to find out themselves! Ever worked for the CIA, folks? ;)

And the website design was taken care of by MayG. Shes does nt call herself a graphic designer for nothing! :)

As if all this was nt enough, DDMom comes up with a book idea and a short summary of the Web site complied by Utbt, the list of names of the Doula Gang and all the contributors are mentioned in the book and we all got copies of it! If this is nt a perfect party, I don't know what is!

Sujatha of Blogpourri has written a fantastic poem on the website summarizing the event. I ll leave you with just four lines which is so apt-

If all of this sends you into a tizzy

And you are left not a little dizzy

Rest assured you are not alone

The intricacies of the "Plan" even to me are unknown.

Update:

Hear it from the Horses mouth:

Behind the Scenes summary by Tharini

&

Gauris Ride to Riddleville! ;)

Valentine's Day Craft Ideas.

Mommies don't seem to be too enthusiastic about kids craft idea for Valentines this year. While surfing the net for ideas, I found some which are doable without a trip to the craft store and are easy peasy too!

My favorite is this Valentine butterfly.

More ideas here and here.

Our very own Tharini has two craft ideas as well - Valentine hearts and Button up for Valentines.

Do leave a comment if there are more interesting ideas in your kitty. Wishing everyone a lovely Valentines day! :)

A tale by Tagore.

Thanks to Usha, a lot of us got to read this story of Tagore for the first time. And what a tale! A heart wrenching story of a bird. Of all of us. And makes us wonder what we can do to prevent the same happening to the future generation.

Totaakaahini by Tagore.

The nephew said, "Your Majesty, the bird's education is now complete.''
The King asked, "Does it still jump?''
The nephew said, "God
forbid.''
"Does it still fly?''
"No.''
"Does it sing any more?''
"No.''
"Does it scream if it
doesn't get food?''
"No.''
The King said, "Bring the bird in. I would
like to see it.''

NO - Possibly the most used word by a parent.

Never say No? - An interesting post by Cee Kay on how to say "No" with a postive attitude to kids and why "No" should nt be over used.

Yes, we'll buy that toy some other time.
No, we can't buy that toy right
now.

Yes, you can have potato chips as soon as you finish this cucumber.
No
you cannot have potato chips. you have to finish this cucumber first.

Yes, we will go to the park as soon as you finish your dinner.
No, we
aren't going to the park until you finish your dinner.

Yes, I'll give you candy after you finish your lunch.
No, you cannot
have candy. Finish your lunch first!

And more recently -
Yes, we will think about getting you a laptop
when you are a little older.
No, you cannot get a laptop until you are a
little older.

And,
Yes, an iPod sounds fun, but we'll think about it.
You can't
have an iPod for Christmas. We'll have to think about it first.

Letter to a darling daughter.

Inbavallis honest and heart warming letter to her daughter.

You,
Kutty, are MY baby. Baby not just in the sense of “infant, offspring” but also
in the sense of “idea, enterprise, project”. I insisted that you be made,
retained and delivered. You are here despite the fact that well-meaning
relatives and an anxious obstetrician recommended against you. You are here
simply because I wanted you.

Shes one lucky girl, Inba! :)

Kudos to Kausalya!

Heres an Indian Mommy all set to launch her first book this month. Kausalya, who briefly blogged about her son Babykins at Ammaforever.blogpsot.com, is out with her debut novel - The TamBrahm Bride. Hearty Congratulations to Kousalya and wishing her loads of luck with the book.

For more information on the book and the author, visit http://thetambrahmbridebook.blogspot.com/

Class 8 student shot dead by a class 10 student in MP.

Too bad we had to start a brand new year with the news about two women molested by a mob in Mumbai. And now this. Another school shoot out. My grandma used to say "What is the World coming to?" quite often when I was a kid. Now its my turn I guess!

In a shocking
incident, an eighth class student of a government school in Satna district
of
Madhya Pradesh was killed on Thursday when his senior schoolmate
allegedly shot
at him in the school premises in the second such crime in the
country in a
month.

News via Rediff.

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year to all the readers!

ps.
No prizes for guessing but the resolution is of course to write more posts. :)