I ran. 5.6 kms!

It's been 4 years....

....since we left Dubai & moved to Singapore. Even today, given a chance I would move back to Dubai in a heartbeat. I don't hate Singapore, but I don't love it either. Dubai, I do love. I love it for its people & I miss sorely everyone I met there.

ps: This post comes after a phone chat with a long-separated friend from Dubai. I loved hearing your Middle Eastern accent; catching up on the going-on's in everyone's life; and talking about the good old days...it's been so long! :)

The Amusement Park

We went to an amusement park on Sunday. It was my first time in one since (I think) Essel World in Mumbai maybe 10-12 years ago. I wasn't a big fan....the spinning rides made me queasy. But this time we stuck to the rides that basically don't make you want to throw up and suddenly we were 5-year-olds again :)

The water rides were perfect for a warm sunny Singaporean afternoon. K enjoyed the 'choo-choo train' whereas the kiddie roller coaster had him totally upset....Maybe he's too young to get the adrenalin rush?

The Have-nots

A young girl working her second shift,
in a factory on the outskirts of Guangdong,
sticking the last "Made in China" sticker,
just before she returns home by bus,
away from the loud groaning machinery.

Grateful for the big order this month,
for the extra cash that she would send home,
and keep 20 yuan back perhaps for a treat,
She felt like a princess today,
This was it; the last batch of memorabilia,
"The Royal Wedding- William & Kate".

The 2-year old

In the past few months, we've been noticing in K a wonderful new thing that's developed out of nowhere - Imagination.

It started off slowly -- he's been playing with his miniature cars and pretending they made a vrooming sound; he has had a pretend-dispenser for rice & porridge in his toy kitchen because he couldn't be bothered to cook; he has always insisted that Humpty Dumpty did get fixed by the horses & the men after he got an 'ow'; and our coffee-table has been a train-tunnel for many months now. The other day, he held his toy-broom in front of his nose & said, "Mama, I become elephant", and then the same broom was held in his hand & he said, "Mama, I play guitar". The poor grammar aside, he uses his imagination very cleverly.

I think K (and I suspect its true for all toddlers) doesn't need toys or "things" at all to amuse himself (its probably just the working mom over-compensating for not being home all the time). And I can't help but feel at least a little envious of his fun & uncomplicated world where people & things are whatever he wants them to be. I hope he never loses this very-own-private-world-of-possibilities.

The Joys of Parenting

I read this article in the NY Times today. Researchers trying to resolve the debate on whether there is a correlation between happiness & having kids. This is their interesting conclusion:

"The most striking findings revolved around parenthood and age. Whether it is a function of exhaustion, bickering over diapers or something inherently unpleasant about raising little children, the data doesn’t say, but parents under 30 are decidedly less happy than their child-free peers. Then, once parents hit 40, the relationship reverses and people with children are cheerier than those without."

The finding is not surprising, although I think its too west-centric. It would be interesting to see whether Asian parents under 30 enjoy their life as parents more than their western counterparts. The more individualistic the society you live in, the more likely you would perhaps be to resent the loss of personal freedom that happens when you have kids?