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After much persuasion, my daughter Eva has started calling me mumma from today. Now her every sentence addressed to me has this beautiful word attached to it which I was longing to hear since she started speaking. So it is, ‘Mumma, where are you?’, ‘Mumma, what are you doing?’ or ‘Mumma, shall we go to toy room?’

Every day is full of surprises and I just couldn’t resist writing this blog in the middle of an exciting cricket match. I just don’t know where she catches words from because her vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds even though she still can’t read. Yesterday, I got a pack of story books for her and she started flipping through them. By just watching the pictures, she started telling me the story on her own. It was Goldilocks and the Three Bears and I will never forget that.

Last week has gone in visiting pre-schools in Gurgaon and getting confused. When it comes to your kid, everyone wants the best. Last time round in Bombay, I got her admitted to a Pre-school and thankfully the outcome was very good. But before that when she was just two, we didn’t have a very good experience with Kangaroo Kids. The teachers used to call me saying that your kid is crying and disturbing the class, take her away please. And we didn’t like the overall approach.

So, this time round we were quite apprehensive and the responsibility of her admission was taken over by my hubby. And then we started going round in circles. The first pre-school we visited was Fastrackids, an American pre-school. The director was very warm but way too outspoken. Having stayed 12 long years in US, she wanted it all the American way. I was just about shocked when I saw a projected touch screen which would be used to teach the kids. We tried and made an early exit. I don’t want any technology for her at two years ten months. I guess TV is enough.

When it comes to food, there are people who just can’t resist it. If someone points out their irregular shape, they have hundreds of excuses to support their habit. A recent article about the same opened my eyes as I am myself battling with the bulge (well not that much!) and want to lose some weight and which is oh so difficult!

The excuses would range from diets don’t work for me, it’s in my hormones to simple ones like it’s in my genes or it’s pure water retention. But seriously, we should stop fooling ourself and chalk out a proper diet plan. If you can’t resist the dessert after the meals, just make sure you exercise a bit to make up for it.

Exercise need not mean heavy gymming but walking and swimming are a good substitute. Yoga is the best bet but if you are not up to it, just start with some walking or jogging.

Now that we are shifting to Gurgaon in a few days time, Mumbai has suddenly seem to have lost it’s charm. I went into a comfort zone living here for more than five years not realizing that I will have to leave it one day.

Hoping to the mall next door at the drop of the hat, and going to Breach Candy, Neapansea Road, Bandra, and Dadar had become a regular routine. As a friend of mine remarked, I made it my own way too fast. I have a habit of making things my own. But was it my fault? Don’t know. But I throughly enjoyed it.

I know I will make Gurgaon my own too, more so because I have lived there for a while already. Though I have not yet seen the place/house we would be settling down in, but it is much bigger than the small apartment here. So let’s see.

At a recent wedding, we were exposed to the song, Shiela ki Jawani from Tees Maar Khan. It is so catchy that you inevitably start humming it irrespective of the fact that you have a two and a half year old around, who single aim in life is to imitate whatever you do.

So, finally even after realizing that the damage has been done, I stopped humming the song thinking that she would forget it. But no, one day in the morning she gets up and starts the day with ‘Shiela Shiela ki ja-va-ni, i am sexy for you, main tere haath na aani’. Now what to do. We were stunned for a moment. Incidentally, we have a neighbor named Shiela, so singing the song again and again could have far reaching consequences!