As i took my 4.5 year old daughter for small ride on her pink bike on a saturday morning , it seemed i was repeating a ritual that my dad did for me some 30 years ago. He had gifted me my first bike some 30 years ago. It was a red colored smaller bike with rims of creme color. Like my daughters one now , which is of course more flashier , it also had two smaller wheels on the sides of rear wheel to prevent me from falling. It had taken me some time to pick it up and learn moving the handle in the right direction , which of course my daughter picked up much faster given the generational shift. While this is chronologically only 3 decades ago , but then in India , seems like eons ago , given the amount of change our generation has seen in last 3 decades. Yet , few things won't change- idle chatter of mine to my dad , is the same which i get from my daughter. As i don't remember all the things i had said to my dad, so won't she later in life. But then , this wont come back to me ever again ....she wont be 4.5 years old again....and i wanted to savour every moment of this , even though , it is so boring to hear her same stories over and over again. It is some divine logic , which makes you feel like holding sand , which you know is slipping and you like it both slipping away and holding it at the same time....i fell in love with my parents once i became a father ...
Moving on to my bikes story ...that was first bike....second one was even better. It was a 6 years old Saine Raliegh cycle which my father had bought in 1971 , when he joined his first job. My mom says that i used to sit in the front rod of the cycle on a small child seat. It was definitely a luxury.And my parents used to walk for kilometers make me have a ride across the small town called Sindri. That cycle gave way to new Vijay Delux scooter parrot green in color , which was added to our family in 1977 , when my younger brother came in. This scooter was my best fantasy come alive with me standing in front of dad holding on to the handle. The air blasting past my ears while dad used to drive was so much of a whizz....i turned 10 , when i tried to first hand on my dad's bicycle. Believe , it was an experience to feel so high perched on the top of the moving metal. I was not tall , so it took me a while before i could climb up the perch easily...which i did eventually and much to my delight , circled around the colony that we lived over so many rounds that in the evening , my mother had to put my legs in salted hot waters to relax my thighs. Then for so many years that was stable companion of sorts , i did most of my home errands on that for my mother. i carried vegetables , took wheat for grinding to the local grinder shops , all on my dad's bicycle. That old man stayed with me for another 20 years , when finally in house , my wife tried to be kind with some local washerman , and gave that to him which he never returned.
Then as i moved to Tata Steel as a GT in 95 , i still remember that first week of August sometime , when all my friends had already bought their Yamaha RX 100 , the bike that stirred our generation, i was destined to purchase a cheaper 4 stroke version of Kawasaki 4S bajaj. But this was a compromise that i had to live with. Yamaha was Yamaha...it could start at the 4 gear directly . Only Yamaha could , others of that generation of bikes could not. It was not era of Pulsars and Hayabushas in India. Yamaha was the best. That synchronous sound of the engine that went past the hostel rooms were so exotic. And yet , each day , i pretended that my 4S was equally good , which i did it was not. Yet , it was faithful , like the wife and Yamaha was the sexy neighbour that i could never my hands on. So much so on Yamaha...even today after 15 years , as i look at old ones whizzing on the road ,not comparable to newer flashy ones , i still cannot get over the high that i gave me then , like an old wine , it gets sweetened with age.
Today , i believe , may be as i would turn 40 , may be , i can purchase the king of the roads the
Royal Enfield Bullet ...may be a show piece , to showcase , my remaining manliness. Indeed , you start needing that 40 onwards perhaps ....
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Top 12 Family Fun Activities for Holidays
We all just love holidays, don't we! They provide a great opportunity to spend quality time with family or friends, give in to hobby fever, do some outdoor activities, or just laze around. There are many things we like to do on holidays with the usual ones being travelling, playing indoor or outdoor games, watching movies and believe it or not, sleeping! Though I personally feel sleeping (during the day at least) is such a waste of time. I would rather do something more interesting, like shopping :). I wait and wait for my hubby to be at home on the weekends. And when the weekend comes, hubby dearest keeps dozing off!:)
Enough about that. Here are a few fun activities, some usual and some not so usual, to indulge in with your family on a holiday. You probably do some of these already and you can try those you arent!
Outdoor Fun
1. Travel
Travelling is and will remain the most popular thing to do on a holiday. Be it a weekend trip or a longer vacation, it will break the routine and give you ample time to have fun together as a family. Once on vacation, you can plan for sight seeing, picnics or just simple relaxing around in the hotel. For day visits, you can just pack everyone into the car and go to the zoo, the beach, the botanical gardens or an easy choice, the local park.
2. Sports
Outdoor sports are a great way to bond with your loved ones and keep fit. Choose any game that your family enjoys such as football, baseball, tennis or cricket or for the more adventurous, rafting, surfing, rock climbing, paragliding or skiing. Let each of you choose the family fun sports for the holiday, turn by turn.
3. Community Service
Volunteer for a community service in your neighbourhood. You can help out in a retirement home or a homeless shelter. You can also collect and donate useful stuff to needy people. These activities will teach your children the value of sharing and give them a sense of social responsibility.
4. Star Gazing
Star gazing with your family is a cool way to learn exciting things about the sky as well as spend quality time together. On a clear night, you can look for the brightest stars and figure out the constellations. And, if you have a telescope, you can delve deeper. Look at the moon and search for the planets. Your kids will love it for sure.
5. Exercise
Exercise as a family. This will make exercise fun. Yoga, aerobics, jogging or swimming, whatever it is that you can do and enjoy together, do it. All of you can lead the exercise routine, turn by turn.
6. Shopping
This never goes out of style. Its fun to go shopping with family especially for stuff that you would use together at home. Maybe a new stereo system or a new computer. Good idea! Perhaps we'll go stereo system hunting this week. Actually, shopping for clothes together isn't all that bad too, though your kids may feel otherwise, especially if they are at the 'I am grown up now' age :)
Indoor Fun
1. House Work
Though these might seem more like work, believe me, if you do it together in the right spirit, it will be fun!
>> Painting - Paint the children's room or the garden fence. Children running around in their paint-laden overalls..thats a 'Kodak' moment for sure!
>> Gardening - Plant new roses or attend to existing flowers. Let your children plant some seeds themselves. As their plant grows, watch their faces light up.
>> Cooking - Make your kids head chefs and assist them to cook a meal for all of you. Extra cookies for them if the meal turns out great! Dad dear can cook too, if he wants, or if Mom pushes him to :)
>> Arranging Photos - Bundles of photos piled up in no particular order! Those memories need more respect. Gather together, sort them out, laugh at the old ones and put them in albums. Sure, you have many of them on your computer too. Its a digital age after all. But nothing beats the good ol' photo album, right?
2. Build Together
Building something as a family is exciting and gives you a sense of achievement as a team. Be it a school project, an aeroplane model, a handicraft decoration for the living room or a family jigsaw puzzle, do it together and see how much fun you have. Reward yourselves with icecream when you successfully complete what you started.
3. Reading Time
Have a family reading session, at least, once every week. You can get together to read aloud stories or general material. Select different themes every week - entertainment, religious, spiritual or educational.
4. Watch Movies
Watch TV or movies together. You can have a small home theatre show with comfy pillows and a big bowl of popcorn. Its really nice to watch old home movies together too: weddings, birthdays, the baby's first step, grandpa snoring and the like :)
5. Photography
Who says the camera can come out of its case on special occasions and when you go out? Any day can be 'snap' day. Photograph each other in jazzy costumes, funny poses and doing silly stuff. Fun to shoot and fun to watch later!
6. Gossip
Last but not the least, get together and gossip! Nothing mean, you know, just fun stuff about your relatives, neighbours or friends. Nothing like relaxing with a cup of coffee/tea or milk (for kids, I mean) and talking about others :)
Of course, there is other fun stuff you can do, but I jotted down the ones I liked. You are welcome to share other fun stuff you do with your family, in the comments section.
Enough about that. Here are a few fun activities, some usual and some not so usual, to indulge in with your family on a holiday. You probably do some of these already and you can try those you arent!
Outdoor Fun
1. Travel
Travelling is and will remain the most popular thing to do on a holiday. Be it a weekend trip or a longer vacation, it will break the routine and give you ample time to have fun together as a family. Once on vacation, you can plan for sight seeing, picnics or just simple relaxing around in the hotel. For day visits, you can just pack everyone into the car and go to the zoo, the beach, the botanical gardens or an easy choice, the local park.
2. Sports
Outdoor sports are a great way to bond with your loved ones and keep fit. Choose any game that your family enjoys such as football, baseball, tennis or cricket or for the more adventurous, rafting, surfing, rock climbing, paragliding or skiing. Let each of you choose the family fun sports for the holiday, turn by turn.
3. Community Service
Volunteer for a community service in your neighbourhood. You can help out in a retirement home or a homeless shelter. You can also collect and donate useful stuff to needy people. These activities will teach your children the value of sharing and give them a sense of social responsibility.
4. Star Gazing
Star gazing with your family is a cool way to learn exciting things about the sky as well as spend quality time together. On a clear night, you can look for the brightest stars and figure out the constellations. And, if you have a telescope, you can delve deeper. Look at the moon and search for the planets. Your kids will love it for sure.
5. Exercise
Exercise as a family. This will make exercise fun. Yoga, aerobics, jogging or swimming, whatever it is that you can do and enjoy together, do it. All of you can lead the exercise routine, turn by turn.
6. Shopping
This never goes out of style. Its fun to go shopping with family especially for stuff that you would use together at home. Maybe a new stereo system or a new computer. Good idea! Perhaps we'll go stereo system hunting this week. Actually, shopping for clothes together isn't all that bad too, though your kids may feel otherwise, especially if they are at the 'I am grown up now' age :)
Indoor Fun
1. House Work
Though these might seem more like work, believe me, if you do it together in the right spirit, it will be fun!
>> Painting - Paint the children's room or the garden fence. Children running around in their paint-laden overalls..thats a 'Kodak' moment for sure!
>> Gardening - Plant new roses or attend to existing flowers. Let your children plant some seeds themselves. As their plant grows, watch their faces light up.
>> Cooking - Make your kids head chefs and assist them to cook a meal for all of you. Extra cookies for them if the meal turns out great! Dad dear can cook too, if he wants, or if Mom pushes him to :)
>> Arranging Photos - Bundles of photos piled up in no particular order! Those memories need more respect. Gather together, sort them out, laugh at the old ones and put them in albums. Sure, you have many of them on your computer too. Its a digital age after all. But nothing beats the good ol' photo album, right?
2. Build Together
Building something as a family is exciting and gives you a sense of achievement as a team. Be it a school project, an aeroplane model, a handicraft decoration for the living room or a family jigsaw puzzle, do it together and see how much fun you have. Reward yourselves with icecream when you successfully complete what you started.
3. Reading Time
Have a family reading session, at least, once every week. You can get together to read aloud stories or general material. Select different themes every week - entertainment, religious, spiritual or educational.
4. Watch Movies
Watch TV or movies together. You can have a small home theatre show with comfy pillows and a big bowl of popcorn. Its really nice to watch old home movies together too: weddings, birthdays, the baby's first step, grandpa snoring and the like :)
5. Photography
Who says the camera can come out of its case on special occasions and when you go out? Any day can be 'snap' day. Photograph each other in jazzy costumes, funny poses and doing silly stuff. Fun to shoot and fun to watch later!
6. Gossip
Last but not the least, get together and gossip! Nothing mean, you know, just fun stuff about your relatives, neighbours or friends. Nothing like relaxing with a cup of coffee/tea or milk (for kids, I mean) and talking about others :)
Of course, there is other fun stuff you can do, but I jotted down the ones I liked. You are welcome to share other fun stuff you do with your family, in the comments section.
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