My Daughter, My Blessing!

I remember the day very clearly when it was confirmed that I was pregnant. I  had never thought about the gender of the child and was just hoping that I have a normal delivery and a normal child.

Magali with me, aged 2 months old.

My husband being in the Merchant Navy joined a ship when I was 3 months pregnant and promised me that he would be home on time for the delivery.

But our daughter had different plans. About 2 weeks before my due date she decided that she wanted to see the world and so on 9th of April around 8.40 pm  after a long and painful labour she came into this world.

I say daughters are a blessing because they share everything with you. Your joys, sorrows, pain and sickness.

Magali last month, aged 22!

When I am not well she is beside me all the while trying to make me comfortable.When she is out of the house she calls me often just to say "Hi". I have taken care of her all by myself even when my husband has been away on the ship and with no full time help but I always enjoyed our time together.Even on holidays we enjoy just roaming around new places, sight seeing and shopping.

I love you Magali and hope and pray that you are blessed with good health and all the happiness in this world.

Take care,

Sheila

This post has been written as part of ABC Wednesday.

A for Appreciation

Today being the start of ABC Wednesday I am starting with the Alphabet A.

Appreciation: meaning recognition of the good in a person.

Many a times we take people for granted and never appreciate them.

My Father loved having me around the home doing most of the work he told me, but he never appreciated me or said a word to me.

But I got to hear from a lot of people that he always praised me as being an active and smart person and being able to do varied things right from gardening or going to Churchgate to pay his Life Insurance premium when I was just 13 years old.

I also feel that I should let people know that I have loved having them in my life.

The first person will be my husband Ezy who has given me the freedom to do what I want though I have never abused that freedom. We will be celebrating  25 Years together in a few days.

The next person is someone who came into our life more than 22 years ago.

That person is our daughter Magali. I am happy that she has grown into a smart and kind girl especially to animals. Ezy and I love her and have done all that we can to make her happy.

Next is our families and friends. Thank You all for being a part of our lives.I Thank God and appreciate you all.

Love you all,

Sheila

Why I hate Holi - The Festival of Colours & Hooligans

Holi, the festival of colours celebrated by Hindus all over the world.

When I was a child I loved Holi as I would get the chance to play with water balloons and colours with all my friends.

As I grew up I began to hate the festival as I found that it gave the lecherous men a chance to touch and paw the females and generally misbehave.

In 1983 when my sister, her 4 month daughter and I were walking along J.P.Road Andheri (west)

a group of rowdy children started flinging water balloons on us. I was carrying my niece and a balloon hit my hand and burst.I was thankful that nothing hit my niece as it would have hurt her.

The rowdy children were in a group aged about 12-18 years and I happened to know some of them as they were studying in the same college as I was.There were still 7 days for Holi and the children had begun their celebrations so early.

In 1989 I was in Delhi along with my 4 friends and we were guests at a family friends home. To our bad luck it happened to be during Holi .

Photo by James Khoo.

As our host knew that we would not be able to go out, we were relaxing at home.Around 9 am a group of young men known to the host knowing that there were 5 female guests were visiting from Mumbai, came over and applied colours on our face and drenched us in water and were basically very excited that they managed to mess up our faces and hair with colour. Though our host was not very happy he was not rude to them as Holi is celebrated in a big way in Delhi.

We had to wait till evening to have a bath because Delhi was having a water shortage and the water came only once a day in the evenings. There was enough water stored for cooking and any emergency requirements otherwise.

In 1992 when I was pregnant with Magali and was going to the Doctor for a check up some small boy flung a balloon on my back and ran way.I was in the 8th month of my pregnancy. The most irritating thing is this happened when there were 8 days for Holi.

Parents should teach the children not to throw anything (balloons, plastic bags filled with water) on anyone as it could hurt them.

Just this morning I happened to read of one train commuter dying & several being seriously injured after some foreign substance entered their eyes. Slum dwellers throw everything from stones to chilli powder or other harmful / toxic substances at moving trains & buses.

Have A happy and safe Holi everyone and enjoy yourselves.

Love,

Sheila

Stayfree Indiblogger Meet

A week ago Magali and I attended the Stayfree Women's  Indiblogger Meet at Trident Hotel, BKC.

This was the second meet that we attended.

Stayfree has teamed up with UNICEF to educate 5,00,000 adolescent children from two districts each of Jharkhand and Bihar.

Mr Clement, a french man from UNICEF (working in India for the past few years) spoke very well and made the bloggers understand the need to educate the children as the girl child from these areas are not given a chance to even complete their education in schools let alone going to a college. He also gave statistics that one in every two women were anaemic and that many girl children in villages were married by the time they were 16 years old.

We being born and brought up in a city like Mumbai do not really experience the hardships as these girl children but we can help by making our house help understand about hygiene and also about being clean. We should also make them understand that a woman does not become unclean when she is menstruating and that it is only a normal occurence in a female from the first time until she has her menopause.

I still remember very clearly the first time I menstruated before my fourteenth birthday and was wondering if I was sick because of the blood stain I found on my panties. I did not  know exactly what was happening because though we were given a sex education class in the ninth grade by a priest during religion class no mention was made about menstruation. Though an older friend had hinted about menstruation I was completely unaware of this happening in a girl's life. Also my Mother had not explained anything to me so I was very afraid. I then told my mother who replied very casually that it is normal and that it would be happening every month from then until I would have menopause. I was so relieved that I was not sick and that menstruation was a normal occurrence.

I did not make the mistake with Magali. She was a smart and inquisitive child and I remember her asking me as how children come out from their Mothers tummies. I told her that the Doctors make a slit on the stomach and take out the baby but she very smartly replied that she could not have come out from my tummy as I did not have a scar and that her uncle had a scar even though he was operated over 8 years before she was born. I did not tell her right then but when when she was nine I explained to her about menstruation and it was good that I did that because she started menstruating quite early.

When I was young I used Carefree Sanitary napkins that were completely different from today's ones, they were 'belted' & very uncomfortable. But nowadays there are really good Stayfree napkins by Johnson and Johnson which make life more comfortable for those few days in a month in a girls/ladies life. Also they are donating a bit of the proceeds from every pack sold to the UNICEF to help make the rural Indian girl's life a bit better.

I was happy to meet some other great women bloggers too. I really enjoyed the meet. {Here is a picture of Magali & me at the meet, tweeted by the Stayfree team}

Thank You Indiblogger & Stayfree for arranging this meet.

Love to all,

Sheila

Holiday in New Zealand

Hello everybody. It has been a long time since my last blog post.

These last few months have been busy and my husband and I have had a holiday to New Zealand where we spent Christmas 2011 and New Year 2012.

My friends who are settled in Auckland since 2002  had been inviting us to visit New Zealand since a long time and last year we decided to visit them. We have known each other for over 25 years and were colleagues at Bombay Hospital.

We have had many holidays abroad to Disney World  Florida in U.S.A., Penang, Mellaca, and Kuala lumpur in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand.

Ezy & Me.

At all these place we booked into resorts and really enjoyed ourselves. We spent a minimum of 2 weeks at each resort and all the holidays were lovely. All these holidays were as a family. Magali always accompanied us. But this time she did not want to come along because she said we were going to live in someones house and that she did not like that. 

We left India on 21st December and were received at the Auckland Airport on 22nd December by my friends.

We were our mad selves all the while and the men were wondering whether we were drunk (not possible since we hardly drink) or taking drugs (also not possible since none of us does drugs).We laughed and laughed remembering our old jokes and cracking some new ones and Ezy added to the fun by telling some funny happenings on board the ship.

Almost all of us.

Ezy is normally very quiet but there in Auckland he was quite talkative and my friends were quite surprised.

We visited all the places in Auckland and went for overnight stays to Coromandel and Rotorua.

My friends have a good social group and there were lot of invitations to parties and the days just flew by.

I missed Magali a lot and was sad because this was a first holiday abroad that she had not acoompanied us but she enjoyed herself too with her parents out of her hair.

We spoke regularly over the phone, on skype and also exchanged messages on twitter. So it did not feel like she was so far away.

On 20th January 2012 Ezy and I celebrated our 22nd Wedding anniversary and it was Ezy's birthday also.

So the three of us had lunch at a  mall food court followed by a lot of shopping.

Life could not be any better. I am loving it.

Love to all  of you,

Sheila

Rebecca Bonbon helps keep my hands warm!

I was first introduced to Rebecca Bonbon through my daughter. She is a very cute French bulldog, born in Paris but now living in NYC.
A while ago I joined Chictopia, a fashion website. I love how great the community is, it's so much fun to spend time there! (You can see my ChicBlog here.
Anyway, a while ago I redeemed Rebecca Bonbon gloves from Chictopia. And they arrived within three weeks!
Here they are:

The size mentioned is 'juniors' but I am glad that they are stretchy because they fit well!

Thanks Chictopia for these super cute gloves! I really love them.

Love,

Sheila

Happy Birthday Ezy and A happy Wedding Anniversary to Us!

Hello everyone. It has been a long time since I have done a blog post and it is because I have been lazy to do it.  I am a person who loves to talk face to face with people or over the phone with family and friends who I cannot meet regularly. My daughter  Magali has been pestering me since such a long time to do a post so I decided that today is the right day that I should do it.
Today being 20th January happens to be my husband's birthday and our 21st Wedding Anniversary.
Happy Birthday Ezy and a Happy Wedding Anniversary too.
It is 21 years ago that I gave up my career since my husband who is a Captain in the Merchant Navy wanted that I should sail with him and that we would be able to spend a life together rather than being apart when he would join a ship.
Time has gone by like the seas, sometimes smooth sailing with not even a ripple on the waters and then sometimes were like the choppy seas and bad weather but basically we have managed to keep ourselves together without allowing any outside interference to break us apart.
I really do not know what life has in store for us but I hope and pray that we keep in Good Health and have a happy life together along with Magali.

I love you Ezy and wish that we have many more Wedding Anniversaries to come.

With all my love.
Sheila

I've been lucky!

I know I have been a bad, bad blogger. My last post was two months ago! I get really caught up with work and of course those addictive Facebook games. Also, I hate typing!! So my daughter has offered to type while I dictate.
This is just going to be a happy-happy post where I tell you that I won something beautiful! A while ago, Franca over at Oranges and Apples had a giveaway on her blog. The winner got to choose from two beautiful necklaces by Marie Bee (both available in her etsy shop, The Blue Balloon.) Marie is a really talented photographer & her antique jewelry is so pretty. I don't usually enter giveaways but when my daughter showed me this I knew I had to enter. And guess what, I won!
The necklace I won is called Rainbow warrior. It is made from a crystal clear vintage chandelier prism. An antiqued copper filigree cone is fitted over the top, which makes the entire pendant about 3.5 inches tall. The brass chain is 30 inches, and slips over the head.

Rainbow Warrior Necklace

Isn't it gorgeous? Thanks, Franca & Marie. You made my day. I am sure my daughter is going to click a ton of photos & feature it on her style blog the moment it arrives.
Now I am off to spend Christmas & New Year in a beautiful resort in Goa with my husband. So happy holidays everyone. Have fun & take care.

Love,
Sheila

Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars is a multiplayer browser game created by Zynga. It is available on Facebook.

Addicted to Mafia Wars

I started playing Mafia Wars after I registered on  Facebook in April 2009. My daughter was playing the game and she invited me to join. When we were in Goa I played a little when we went to the cybercafe. After that we went for a three week holiday to Bangkok and when we were not sightseeing or shopping the three of us used to go to the cybercafe at the resort. With the high speed connection at the resort I played a lot and got addicted to Mafia Wars.
After our return to Mumbai in June 2009 I continued playing at home and when Ezy used to see me playing when he was at home he teased me and said that I did all the jobs in Mafia Wars New York such as Mugging, Auto Theft, collect on a loan, bank theft etc. and enjoyed myself.
Right now I am on level 955 and I really do not know when I will be bored and stop playing the game.
Till then I will have fun by robbing and looting in the game.

Take care,
Sheila.

This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

Lego

Lego is  a line of construction toys manufactured by a company in Denmark.
I remember the time when Magali and I were sailing on a ship with my husband and I purchased the first Lego bucket for her in Singapore. Some months later we were in a port in Thailand and since it was December 1994,

Some of the minifigures from Magali's lego collection.
Photograph by Magali.

Ezy told me to buy some toys for Magali for Christmas. I went to the toys department and bought lot of mini figures and different sets of Lego. Every morning when Magali woke up I used to give her one box and would love to see the excitement on her face when she opened the box. She was small (about 2 years and 8 months) and thought that Santa was giving her all those gifts.When Ezy  was free all three of us would sit on the deck (floor of a ship) in the cabin and make all the sets and really love to try out different things that could be done. Magali really loved Lego and some were used and thrown out while some are still there and displayed in our show case. Magali was just clicking some photos a few days ago.
I remember those lovely days we spent as a family on a ship and made all different things with Lego.

Love to all,
Sheila

This post is part of ABC Wednesday

My New Domain

Hello everybody,
I'd like to tell you that I have a brand new domain- http://www.Chila.in
I chose the name 'chila' because of my daughter Magali who plays with me when she is in a naughty mood & asks me what my name is & I playfully tell her that my name is Chila (pronounced as Cheela... obviously a kiddish way of pronouncing my name Sheila.
When I fianlly decided to get myself a domain, I chose Chila! Also I chose a .in domain because as I mentioned in my last post I am proud to be Indian.
Best wishes to all,
Sheila

PS. Thanks BigRock for the domain.

G for Goa

Goa is the smallest state in India. A native of Goa is called a Goan in English,Goenkar (गोंयकार) in Konkani, Govekar (गोवेकर ) in Marathi.

This collage is made by Magali after our last holiday.

Though my husband and I are born in Mumbai our parents were from the same village in Goa and the families knew one another. When our fathers were old enough to leave Goa they came to Mumbai to make a living because in Goa there was nothing much to do. They earned enough money and later went back to Goa to find Goan wives and brought them back to Mumbai where they started their families.
Goa is visited by large numbers of international and domestic tourists each year. The beaches of Goa are famous and quite clean. We love Goa but only for a holiday but now with all the drunken driving and drug dealing going on, Goa is not a very safe place and  we are used to the fast pace of  life in Mumbai.
Though we have a holiday home in Goa we visit only once a year in the summer vacations as a family because Ezy is usually home at that time.
We also love to spend time at the resorts in Goa since we have a membership and spend a lot of time on the beach just enjoying the cool breeze and relaxing.
I look forward to our Goa holiday every year and maybe this year we will be visiting Goa in the Diwali or Christmas Vacations.
With lots of love,
Sheila.

This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

F for Freedom

Freedom is defined as the condition of being free of restraints, Liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression.

As an Indian woman I have seen and heard of many cases where women do not have the freedom to choose their career, life partner and anything what so ever. They are controlled by their fathers before marriage and then the husband tells them what to do or not to do after marriage.
When I was young I always wanted to be a nurse. My father was against the idea of me making a career out of nursing. But I was adamant and got my way by agreeing to do my graduation in Arts before I joined the nursing course. I completed my nursing and really enjoyed myself. I made so many new friends and am in touch with two of them even though they are in New Zealand. My father was also particular that we siblings married a Goan Brahmin and he was lucky that all of us managed to find suitable spouses even though three of us had arranged marriages. For me it was not so bad as far as freedom was concerned.
After I got engaged to Ezy he told me that he wanted me to leave my job as he wanted me to sail with him after we got married. So I left my job just before I got married.
After that when little Magali came into our lives I had all the time in the world to look after her and I enjoyed myself. I am lucky that I married Ezy because he has given me  lot of FREEDOM. I do not work but I have enough of money to spend lavishly. I spend about 5 hours each day /three times a week at the Home for the aged. I help out many people in many ways I can and i am happy that I have a family that allows me to do what I want.
Thank you Ezy for giving me my freedom and I love my life the way it is.

Love you both.
Sheila

This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

E for English

English is the language that was spoken by the British & since the British colonized India for a long time, they started schools & colleges that taught the language. Every state in India has it's own language & since I live in Maharashtra, the language spoken by the locals here is Marathi along with Hindi (Our national language) & a few people speak English.

My daughter Magali is in first year of her Bachelor of Arts degree & she has joined the English literature association, she has been assigned to teach English to anyone who does not know the language.
She went to her school to try to help poor students but the timings for the extra classes were clashing with her college timings.. She was looking out for somebody & suddenly we came across this mother & daughter who are interested in learning English. The mother is not illiterate, she has done twelve years of schooling but with Marathi as the language of teaching.The daughter is in Kindergarten & studying in a convent school. So Magali & me will be teaching the mother & daughter to speak and write English . We hope we will be able to help them learn the language
Love,
Sheila

This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

D for daughter

Today I dedicate my post to my daughter Magali.

My daughter Magali when she was a baby.

I do not know when and how it all started but I have seen it in many families that the parents always favor the sons. I do not know the reason for that behavior but it really irritates me when the daughter is completely ignored and made use of in all ways while the son is the Lord and Master in the house. Maybe it has to do with the dowry system here in India that parents find that the daughters are a burden on their finances.
My parents too were always partial to my brothers and quite ignored my sister and me. It really hurts that now when the brothers are married and all the assets are taken over by the brothers their wives want nothing to do with the Mother because she is old and not useful to babysit and now that the children are grown up they do not need the unpaid maid servant (the Grandmother).
When I was pregnant my husband always wanted a girl but I told him that we should be happy with either a girl or a boy but  my only prayer was that I should have a normal delivery and a normal child. God granted me my prayers and I am thankful that I  have a daughter.
My daughter is 18 years old and a blessing to me and my husband. Though she may pester me for many things that she wants she is a good and loving daughter who is kind to all and loves animals. I am really happy that I have a daughter and do not wish for anything else in this world.
Dearest Magali, Dad and I love you and want you to continue being  a good person that you are.
May God bless you and keep you safe always.

Love,
Sheila

This post is part of ABC Wednesday.

C for Captain

This post is dedicated to my husband Captain E Vaz and all the Captains in the Merchant Navy.

Our family on the ship.

Most sailors are away from their families for at least 4 months when they are out at sea sailing from port to port and have wives in every port.... that is only true for the unfaithful kind.
It is really good  that the contracts for higher ranking officers are  not more than 4 months so they can be home more often. I remember the time when Magali and I were sailing with  Ezy for 18 months at a stretch. Magali had forgotten our home in Mumbai and for her the ship was home and when I came home when the ship was in Mumbai port she was crying to go back home (the ship). We really enjoyed the time spent together as we got to visit a lot of Asian ports though Magali does not remember much because she was between 18 months and 36 months of age.
So for  all the Captain's I pray that you all have calm seas and following winds always.
Since you are in charge of the ship and all the lives on board may you always have God's blessings and guidance.
Take care,
Sheila.

This post is a part of ABC Wednesday.

I've done this

Graduated high school.
Kissed someone.
Smoked a cigarette.
Got so drunk you passed out.
Rode every ride at an amusement park.
Collected something stupid.
Gone to a rock concert.
Helped someone.
Gone fishing.
Watched four movies in one night.
Lied to someone.
Snorted cocaine.
Smoked weed.
Failed a subject.
Been in a car accident. (was knocked down by a car and have been in minor motorcycle accidents when I used to go out with my Dad, He had a Royal Enfield)
Been in a tornado.
Watched someone die.
Been to a funeral.
Burned yourself.
Run a marathon.
Cried yourself to sleep.
Spent over 10,000 bucks in one day.
Flown on an aeroplane.
Cheated on someone.
Been cheated on.
Written a 10 page letter.
Gone skiing.
Been sailing.
Cut yourself.
Had a best friend.
Lose someone you loved.
Got into trouble for something you didn't do.
Stolen a book from the library.
Gone to a different country.
Watched the Harry Potter movies.
Had an online diary.
Fired a gun.
Gambled in a casino.
Been in a school play.
Been fired from a job.
Taken a lie detector test.
Swam with dolphins.
Votes for someone on a reality TV show.
Written poetry.
Read more than 20 books a year.
Gone to Europe.
Loved someone you shouldn't have.
Used a colouring book over age 12.
Had a surgery.
Had stitches.
Taken a Taxi.
Had more than 5 IM conversations going on at once.
Been in a fist fight.
Suffered any form of abuse.
Had a pet.
Petted a wild animal.
Had your own credit card.
Dyed your hair.
Got a tattoo.
Had something pierced.
Got straight As.
Known someone personally with HIV or AIDS.
Taken pictures with a webcam.

That was an easy one. Finished it in 2 minutes.Really fast.
Thank you Magali for the tag.

Take care,
Sheila.

B for Blessings

Blessings are there is every persons life. But we fail to recognize them and thank God for them.
I thank God for my parents. My father passed away 12 years ago and my mother lives alone in Goa out of choice.

I thank God for my three siblings though I may have many problems with them.
I thank god for all my relatives, friends, good and bad.
I thank God for everyone who has come into my life and I have not really appreciated them.
And last of all I thank God for my lovely family.
My husband who has been a good person, worked hard for his family before marriage and now works hard for Magali and me, and gives us a very comfortable life.I  have not been a working woman since over 20 years and I have had a lovely life so far though I may grumble sometimes.
I thank God for our daughter Magali who was a surprise for us. She knows why I am saying that.
So thank you God for all the Blessings given to me .
With love,
Sheila

This post was a part of ABC Wednesday.

Being lazy and not blogging

Hello everybody,

It has been a very long time since my last blog post and though my daughter Magali has been after me since a long time to write a blog post, I have been very very lazy.

After my husband arrived on 11th April from Brazil we packed our bags and left for Goa the same afternoon.

The time we spent in Goa really flew fast and we enjoyed our stay there especially at Haathi mahal at Mobor.

After coming back to Mumbai we spent 5 days at a resort here and I was in no mood to blog even though the internet was not disconnected at home.The little time I was at the computer was spent reading the newspapers and doing other things like checking mail and replying back.

We left for Kovalam Kerala with high hopes, because until this holiday we were lucky to have really great holidays in India and abroad. But I was really sorry that I had booked into a resort where the people as well as place was not really to our liking. Everyone in Kerala was out to take us for a ride and to add to it was the weather with Thunderstorms and heavy rain which forced us to spend our time in our room . We did not even have cable TV for 10 out of 14 days we were there at Kovalam. The only saving grace of the place was the scenic beauty.

Life is busy now as my husband is at home and is hungry all the while.So I spend time making some different things for him to eat. Even Magali has cooked a lot of food for him and he jokingly tells me not to get her married soon as she has to cook for him when he comes home. And sometimes when he is angry with her he tells her now that she is 18 years she can get married and go live separately.

Will try to take a tag a few days later.

Take care,

Sheila.

Happy Birthday Magali

Today my daughter Magali is 18 years old.

I still very clearly remember 9th April 1992 when I was all alone at home and waiting for some news about the return of my husband Ezy from Gibraltar.

Around 7 am I started feeling restless and a few minutes later I felt the first contraction. Actually the due date for the arrival of my baby was 21st April but after all the football playing and kicks that I got, I was very sure that this baby would be wanting to see the world earlier than the date he/she was supposed to arrive. Having been a nurse I knew that her father would never make it for the arrival of his child because he had told the Doctor that he wanted to be in the labor room when the baby was making his/her entry into the world.

I ran up to my Aunt's house to call my sister since at that time we did not have a phone at home.

MTNL connections were being given after 2-3 years and we were staying in that house for only about 10 months. My sister and her husband came and picked me up and took me to the hospital.

By then the contractions were more frequent and painful but naughty Magali was not coming out. I had to wait till 8 40 pm before she decided that she had put me through enough of pain and with the help of forceps she made her entry into the world. A few seconds later I heard a loud angry cry and saw a red angry baby yelling. She looked so cute like a small chimp.

After that ordeal the only thing I wanted to do was to eat something since I was very hungry as I was not given anything to eat because the Doctor thought that if a Cesarean section had to be done then it was better that I should be (nil by mouth) hungry. An Intravenous drip was started in the morning itself so as such my baby was getting nutrition through that.

My sister and brother then went out and got me some hot food which I ate and fell off to sleep completely exhausted.

The next day onwards till to date I have been taking care of her single handedly with no help whatsoever.

The years have gone by really fast and I thank God for all my blessings.

Ezy will be coming home tomorrow and then we are off to Goa .

Summer Holidays begin.

Lots of love,

Sheila