The Other Side of Life

Having a baby is so many levels of discoveries daily, it never ceases to amaze. But somewhere in those big changes that keep happening every single day are small moments that just melt your heart.  Little Lego turns 5 months old today. I thought I should write down some of those small moments before he turns older and in the new discoveries, I forget what made me so happy in those moments. For a while, Lego believed all music originated from Mummy. Every time he heard something melodious, he would look at me. That's because I would sing a lot to him. But that look he would give me was precious. Even if someone sang something nice on TV, he would look towards me. For a few days there, I was the best singer on earth for someone! When he was just a month old, he loved the light from the window. Every morning, he would lie on the bed beside me and stare out of the window, have conversations with the sun. That was all it took to entertain him back then! He gleams when he is happy! Like ...

One of my all time favourite snippets from a book has to be the argument about existence of God, from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Context: The book has many hypothetical alien species, one of which is the babel fish. A Babel Fish when put in the ear automatically translates everything someone says in any language to a language you understand. Discussing about the existence of this amazing species, the author says: “Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.  The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,'" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."  "But," says Man, "The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own argu...

So in May this year, I attained the distinction of becoming a mother to an adorable munchkin and with that, I now feel obligated to fulfil my duty of occupying the niche intersection of being a mother and a behavioral scientist. What does that mean? At some point during the first few days of becoming Mom, surrounded by the daze of sleeplessness, pumped up on hormones which didn’t know where to go, with emotions all over the place and suddenly faced with the responsibility of a helpless, little pink breathing mass, I found myself struggling to answer three questions: The warm glow of pregnancy vanished before I could blink. Pregnancy was glamorous. Motherhood didn’t seem to be. The mood swings, the sleeplessness, the guilt, the confusion, the uncertainty, the lack of even the semblance of a schedule. I wondered, why don’t women share how hard the initial few days of motherhood really are? Most mothers I spoke to before my delivery would share some snippets of their experiences, but alw...

My baby blog is a teenager now. 13 years old! So as it happens with every mom, I got an itch and decided I needed another baby. A real one this time. Sorry, bad introduction, but real deal! Introducing little Lego!  Lego arrived in May this year and has kept us on our feet since. I'm tired, exhausted and sleep deprived but surprisingly happy. Why Lego as his blog name? Because Legolas is our most favourite character from LOTR. And like little Lego blocks, this guy is helping us build a small little world of our own.  Now seemed like a good time to get back to blogging given how overwhelming and simultaneously fulfilling motherhood can be. Hence, making this attempt to introduce Lego to my secret blog world early on so I can use this space to write about this new role we have been cast into. That's all for now though. We shall be back once we have a sleep schedule that seems vaguely human.  Till then, lots of love from Preeks and Lego

Or rather, my house has a mood. I wish I was exaggerating. We shifted to this house last year in June, during the pandemic. We had specific requirements. We didn't know how long we were  going to be working from home, so we wanted a good view. After much searching, this is the view we ended up with: The colors of the water change by the hour: It gets spectacular in the evenings: And dramatic when it rains: Not showing off, but this is not a bad view to live with. We hang out on the window, instead of watching TV. And we get amazing breeze from the sea. On most days, we don't even turn on the fan. In Singapore, not turning on fans and air conditioning is like an influencer not going on social media for an hour. Improbable. And yet, we didn't! The problem is, its all dependent on the mood of the house. Almost like the house is a child. A child who has a talent, but refuses to show it when guests come. When we first moved here, we were excited to have guests over and show off ...