MellowDrama

Reading is a gateway to a world of knowledge, imagination, and personal growth. Whether you're nurturing a child's reading habits or looking to cultivate your own, developing a lifelong love for books is a journey worth embarking on. In this blog post, we'll explore smart and informative tips and tricks to create lasting reading habits that will enrich your life and expand your horizons. Here are some nifty ideas to get yourself or your little ones to build a reading habit: 1. Create a Reading Challenge:  Design a fun and interactive reading challenge to make reading a thrilling adventure. Set achievable goals, offer rewards or incentives, and track progress together. Whether it's completing a certain number of books or exploring different genres, a reading challenge adds excitement and motivation. 2. Make Reading Interactive:  Enhance the reading experience by incorporating interactive elements. Encourage children to create their own bookmarks, act out scenes from thei

 The country has celebrated its 75th independence day. How about you? This Independence Day as I made my ritualistic first cup, the air was filled with patriotism.  I focused on measuring the water for making a cup of tea. I added my standard spice to it and waited for it to come to a rolling boil. Things- feeling of being deficient and insufficient- often visit me during this time. As I don't like being spoken to till I have had my first cup, they have probably begun to get bored and leave of their own accord. Some sweet ones do accompany them at times- reminders of conversations, songs- but I am learning the art of balancing. I measure the tea leaves with my fingers, letting a tactile sense guide me to the flavour. Sometime I flatter myself and think I know how much of which kind of tea needs to be added to which quantity of water for that perfect cup of refreshment.  Another couple of minutes of robust boiling and I add milk. I let this whole mixture boil once more and then cove

हाँ मैं गलत, गलत मेरी बातें , गलती से ही दुनिया बनी  पूरा सही कोई नहीं, ले ले मेरी चेतावनी  (Yes, I make mistakes I am often on the wrong track, this world is made because of many mistakes No one is completely correct, Take my warning) This song has two interpretations in my parenting story.  One is which, I as a parent would want to tell my children that no one really knows what to do in this life. None of us really are aware of how to navigate this life. We all make mistakes and that it is okay to do that- make mistakes. This world came to be so because of these mistakes- mine, yours and ours. Then there is the line of thinking that my (or rather all the kids everywhere in the world) children would presume. The one that every child knows well in her heart till the time she becomes a parent- that their parents are wrong, mistaken and (maybe) foolish.  But I think we all agree that making mistakes is important and natural. Life is full of them and any life which isn

गज़ब का है दिन देखो ज़रा   ये दीवानापन सोचो ज़रा  हम भी अकेले, तुम भी अकेले  मज़ा आ रहा है , कसम से  (Look, what a fabulous day it is WE are alone We are enjoying, By God!) It was a nice balmy afternoon during the lockdown days. He looked at her with anticipation. She smiled. A kiss lingered in the air. But the next moment anguished cries rose from another corner of the house. Soon it seemed that a battle had been launched and the two of them were summoned back to the reality of being parents.  Have you ever lived out this horror story? Today's song choice made itself clearer to me just last night. It wasn't as if I haven't known this truth for the past few years since the boy made an entry but nothing could have made it as crystal clear as what happened last night. And to think of it now, what happened really wasn't all that different or revolutionary from everyday that I should have suffered this revelation just now in life. Yesterday, by chance I man

Don't you think our Bollywood lyricist have been secretly dispensing top notch life secrets subtly (and at times not so subtly) via these songs? Consider today's choice: दुनिया फिरंगी स्यापा है, फ़िक्र ही गम दा पापा है  अपना तो बस यही जापा है, फ़िक्र करें फुकरे  (The world is a foreign nightmare, worry fathers sadness This is our only motto, only pretentious people worry) Or consider this gem जेबों में रख ले यारा, कंघी हैं तरकीबें Anyway, much about the greatness of Bollywood, you must have noticed that I have taken a creative license today and not started today's song with the exact alphabet but this phrase ' Fikr hi gham da papa hai' has since I heard it, stuck a chord with me. How true it is that we worry and we invite sadness! Long back I wrote a poem about the little things I worry about. And I, at least have begun to worry too much about my daughter who exhibits certain worrisome qualities. This is really an offshoot of what I wrote yesterday b

Every breath you take and every move you make Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you Every single day and every word you say Every game you play, every night you stay, I'll be watching you Though the song totally sounds creepy, doesn't this really sum up our lives as mothers. Also because of the similarity in the E and I sound I chose to go with this song  instead of any other Hindi song. So back to the topic. Mothers are by default negative creatures, I feel. I look at my daughter and think of ways in which she will mess up her life because she doesn't fold her clothes exactly the way they had been folded when they were sold  to us. I see my son jumping and prancing on the sofa and nod my head in utter distress thinking about his future in which I see him as a street dancer. It takes special effort for me to dispel such negative thoughts and remind myself that they are just children doing children-y things. That she will learn to p