JLT

Parenting is an art or science ..the debate is endless and will continue. Bringing up a child when both the spouses work can be challenging as you are constantly plagued by guilt and wonder if you are spending adequate quality time with your child. This guilt coupled with the notion of ..lets bring up our child without raising a hand ..talk it through to them can be quite stressful especially of you have had an office situation. It was one such day where the temper tantrums of Vaanya was getting the better of Bhavana and she was at her wit's ends. Not only was she feeling guilty but helpless on how to handle the situation. Discussing with a colleague about the situation she got some advise. The senior colleague told her about a method which had been tried and tested by her. Make a large chart and create incentivisation . A golden star for every good deed and a black dot for wrong doings. This sounded a different approach and Bhavana got very excited and came back the same even...

There was a huge anticipation of seeing the tiger on our recent Corbett yatra . We tried to assess what would be good time to go for which safari and accordingly booked ourselves on a Elephant and a Jeep safari. 4 adults and Vaanya atop Lachmi went for the safari. Swaying and rocking with a rhythm Lachmi was in her elements and was being goaded by Mubeen ( the mahout ) to get into the forest. Ominous with dense green trees and huge overgrowth we were all awed and afraid at the same time with Mother Nature and at the helplessness of the situation . We tried our hand at nervous laughter and jokes however returned back after seeing some spotted deer only. The next day morning again everyone awoke to a cold wintry dawn and got into a open jeep all wrapped up for a glimpse of the tiger . The entry was from the Bijrani gate. 3 hours later the only hope we had of spotting the tiger were the fresh pug marks on the path. While we were sitting around the bonfire reminiscing about the mi...

This 2 year old went with her Mother to a Mall in Mumbai for a de-stressing visit to do window shopping. The mother took Vaanya to Liliput and she immediately took fancy to a dress and just wanted to buy the same. "I WANT IT" seemed to be the chant and insistent one at that. The mother thought about it and wanted to teach the value of money so said that she did not have the money and therefore she would work hard earn the money and then buy Vaanya the dress. 6 Months pass by and Bhavana goes for a residential programme at Agra. She decides to take Vaanya along and Mummy( Grandmom ) is roped in to look after Vaanya . The two spend a lot of time in the hotel and bond. They fight over the remote and what programmes to watch and Vaanya ultimately gets her grandmom to see Tom and Jerry umpteen number of times. To again de-stress the Grand Mom decides to visit a mall and take her granddaughter along with her. They spend some time and return back in the evening. When Bha...

Edit Delete The start of the day was like a horror story with cold war declared between the newly weds. The tigress occupied one end of the bed while poor me grappled with the deathly silence, anger at the other end of the bed. Tossing and turning we awaited the alarm to call out loudly at 3 a.m. Finally the moment arrived , the couple dressed up and were up and about with the bags and of course 10 bottles of smirnoff to raise spirits. The motley group consisted of the not married , newly married to the married long time ago kinds. Four cars" nana prakar ki caren as princ said" were there in the convoy which started of for Ranthambore to see the majestic Rajah sahib of the Jungle. The departure was as s cheduled at 5.30 a.m, merely a hour and half later than the scheduled time but that was okay... IST . The pace was set we touched the pink city at around 8 a.m . The weather Gods had decided to be kind to us. Sun God played hide and seek in the clouds and there was a ...

The visit to the Kapital of Bong land is always a memorable experience. It is elevating and misleading because everyone manages to convince oneself that he/ she is doing a great job. Calcutta is the pitts-the weather sucks and you soak the 42 degrees of heat and 95% humidity levels to sweat like a pig. It is also a consistent city - Every question is met with the same response of “ Haube Naa”. The start of the conversation is like the splutter in the Ambassador taxi’s which come slowly to life.. Everyone wants to offer advise on any goddam subject. Some memories from 1993 are refreshed . It was early in the morning , around 5 a.m. Saket and me were trying to board the steel city express for Jampot to reach XL. We wanted help with our luggage and therefore approached a couple of porters sitting on the platform. They not even shooed us away but commented on how we disturbed their conversation about world politics ( Gorbachov and Regan) ..... There are managers in the branch office of my ...

Where there is a will there is a way - April 2006 A perk seen by other functions is one of the most painful events for a marketing team i.e organizing a sales conference. The have not’s envy the foreign jaunts and trips on official expense. The priviliged crib about the night out, last minute tension and not getting adequate time to explore the yonder lands on such trips. I guess having been in the profession for some time this is one of the classic coffee- toffee arguments which will sustain. One such event was a conference to be held in Hong Kong in 2006. We had been desperately trying to ensure that we seal up all the dealing well in time to deliver the experience which the sales team remember for some time. Unfortunately that was not what was destined and we had to evaluate to towns Macau or Schenjen. Both between 45- 60 minutes ferry ride from Hong Kong. Macau – The gambling haven of the East it was. 28 odd Sq Km with a population of 500,000 people and infrastructure whi...