R-Rated

11.December.2013 -  11:04 AM, 11:05 AM. The exact time a year ago today, 2 Angels decided to be part of our lives thereby making every possible aspect of it more meaningful and beautiful. That you turned out to be a Girl and a Boy made it much more thrilling than we could have ever imagined. People often said - A complete family in one shot!! (Disclaimer: Our family would have been complete even if we had 2 Riaans or 2 Rivikas). We always maintained that we wanted 2 healthy babies no matter the sex. And we thank God every single day for that. But that's not the point now. The point is that it is your First Birthday and it means 365 wonderful, tense, funny, fantastic and emotional days have passed since you first cried your way into our world - and more importantly, became  our world. Time has flown so quickly and memorably that words will not be enough to justify the joys that you brought for us (but I will still try). I know, I am being too wordy and adje

Another August and another trip outside Mumbai. This time, a trip to the northern most Indian state of J&K to visit the Vaishno Devi shrine near Katra. Thanks to my friend's initiative, who has been visiting the place once a year, the air travel and hotel reservations were done pretty peacefully. A unique way of spending the long weekend as the cheapest possible trip schedule came out to be Sunday-Monday. Alas, at the very last moment, Mayank canceled his tickets due to ill-health. The person who was most looking forward to the trip couldn't make it. As they say, ' Mata ka bulawa aaya nahi is baar ' . So the 2 Mulundites made their way out to Jammu during the wee hours of the morning on a tiring and excruciating journey to Mata's abode. With the first leg of the journey from Mumbai to Delhi being uneventful to say the least - except that the seat left vacant by the absence of the third musketeer was occupied by a young good looking lass :). For the fi

Dear Riaan and Rivika, This is a letter dedicated to you guys because this day is possible only due to you guys. Get it yet? It's MY first Father's Day - and with that comes a few wishes, a few expectations and a few niceties. It is quite possibly the best 'non-birthday, non-anniversary' day of my life. Mark this date: 15th June 2014. Years from now when you get yourselves on the internet (with or without my permission) and stumble upon this post, I want you to know how much you both mean to me and how cherished and fulfilled I am this Father's Day. You came in to my world 6 months back (well, technically - 15 months back) and life has been simply surreal. For the most part, it's been beautiful and FUN (a very underrated part of this period). People asked, "Is it tough with twins?". I replied with, "It's just two ....Awesome". Life is tough, but you guys were worth the wait. I wouldn't have it any other way. With Mum's

Disclaimer: This post contains crude language, so kindly do not proceed if you are offended by those. Incredibly, for me, I voted in the General Elections. It's the first time in my life I have voted at any level (internet surveys do not count). How I got the Voter ID card is another question altogether but that I even got one in the first place is literally mind-blowing. Unfortunately, for several lakh eager voters in Mumbai, their names were not found on the voting lists (what the fuck happened, EC?) Another first for me is that in my adult life in India, this is the only time I have had the opportunity to soak in the election hysteria (2004 and 2009, yours truly was in the US). I have had keen interest in the US Presidential Elections in 2008 and while that was hotly contested and they had several shit-slinging matches between the Republicans and the Democrats, it was nothing compared to what I am witnessing here in India. For starters, it might get confusing to a casual

As the twins grow up, we are getting a glimpse of what their personalities will shape up to be if they continue the actions they do on a daily basis now. This is at least till they start going to school and get a formal education. With great joy, I predict R1G to be the "Class Monitor". Ever so obedient on most days and the teacher's pet. She is going to maintain decorum and ensure her homework and assignments are submitted on time. The observation is based on how methodical she is when it comes to her feeds (touch wood) and her play habits - I will play only from 'this' time to 'that' time. Beyond that, if provoked, I am going to yell and scream till I get my way (that is, the class needs to behave when the teacher is away - no goofing around during free lectures). R1G has done a complete U-turn a.k.a The Kejriwal as I had great expectations from her to be the Gunda of her batch. Times change and this one is getting things in order already. She is

Just yesterday, I was chatting with a friend and she reminded that I hadn't updated the blog for a while. Just casually, she mentioned that I had 2 Good Reasons to write. Duh!! So with the kids - whom we codenamed R2 - who our friends and family fondly refer to with the moniker, turning a quarter of a year old, what better time to write something about them. Here goes the quarterly results for R2, Inc. With the twins at 3 months, we feel like we have already put in 6 months of work. While they grow up gracefully, the scene at home (at times) resembles a scene from The Walking Dead - you know, the one with Zombies and all.. Just kidding, both parents and all grandparents just resemble as if they walked with the Dinosaurs.. Again, just joking. I've got to stop with these co-relations :) Bad for investor relations. It's been good times generally with a bad few days when the mood in the house had been somber due to the kids not feeling well and running

During our growing up years in college and beyond, there were a few of us who enjoyed “Single” status while some had a Girlfriend/Boyfriend tagging along their respective coat-tails. At any social gatherings among friends, there used to be groups where conversations (always, eventually) veered towards the “significant other” and all the ‘single’ junta would let out a collective groan. Raise your hand if you have been a willing (or unwilling) participant in these soirees. Then as the singles started playing “Doubles”, the GF/BF types graduated and got married (may or may not to the initial partners they showed off in earlier years!!) and then again in social outings, the doubles would cringe as the married crowd would just blabber about how wonderful their new ‘status’ is. An exercise in strangulation might have been more fruitful, some would argue. I have known a couple who had been a “couple” for years, took their relationship to the next level, were their obnoxious best at parties

Between the hoopla surrounding a certain cricketer’s retirement and 2013 drawing to a close, a life changing experience happened – twice!! While the eventuality of it was known, the sheer element of tension and surprise was unprecedented. A little baby girl and a little baby boy entered our lives on 11-December-2013, rendering the planning process entirely ineffective (for the most part). Consider this, the original planned date was 15th Dec (I prayed they “stay in” until the 15th, so I could officially be on leave starting 16th Dec until the New Year), and after some careful planning and discussions, we narrowed it down to the 12th, thereby entirely eliminating 11.12.13 as the probable birth date of our twins. In fact, we even called our doctor to inform the date as 12.12.13. Heck, K worked till about 1 AM on 10th planning to take 11th off for the delivery the next day. God, were we in for the shock of our lives, when the kids prepared to announce themselves a day earlier. The saying