Back to Scool

 

It was indeed a pleasant day today as sun shone brightly  very much making us happy as we could dry the clothes in sunlight. The interval from torrent rain was a mood uplifter. We were planning to make our school shopping at Police store to save money but the rain and condition of the car changed our plans and we went to Sabari and finished our shopping. When  Mohid started throwing tantrum  on using old notebooks that looks brand-new with only very few pages used, my sister's son came to rescue on phone and   pacified Mohid over the issue and  made him realise it's not necessary to buy all the notebooks new and there is no harm in using unused old note books. Spider man umbrella, water bottle ,shoes and other accessories for school purpose bought illuminated their face and they happily volunteered to bind the books and put name slips on it and I had to simply supervise and lend a hand in between. 

We followed the instructions from School and I smiled when I heard Manha reading it aloud for Mohid.  

After two months of library book reading. Tv watching, family gathering, gardening, experiments and cooking sessions,fun,  laughter, giggles and bonding with kids and fight sessions now we are back to 'back to School mode' Hope you are also excited and in good shape to welcome the new academic year with mirth and joy. I wish you all good health,happiness and lots of love and patience yours Shabina Sanad

Summer vacation tales

 

Listening to the tune of the lashing rain I finished reading Agatha Christie's somewhat mystic novel, my other half has been listing the troubles and dissatisfaction one face while working in Kerala, I just wish to forget his Serco Dubai metro accommodation in Al Nahda and my late-night inspection visits ( we used to stay near Dubai metro accommodation a stones throw away distance to be precise) it was a single yet chic and cosy accommodation provided to him. we used to pay rent and live near Serco Dubai metro accommodation next to Emirates Hotel Apartment and Istanbul Supermarket, almost all his Dubaimetro colleagues knew me, I really miss the naughty smiles of his friends and colleagues when I snoopingly travel in Dubaimetro to reach my office in Airport Road Dubai where I used to work as a creative writer. Our meet up in the evening and window shopping, siblings and cousins join us to gossip and laugh at each other over queer habits especially they all know my husband drink like a fish and iam always on the lookout of catching him red-handed,God how I miss all those shawarmas I ate and the metro stations wrongly passed while listening to music and daydreaming now I feel guilty to deviate my kids attention from junk food I wonder how could I supress my own sweet tooth, may be the magic of motherhood, on this summer rain I wish to proclaim my love for Dubai and my love for my better half whose lavish heart could forgo all the lavishness and facilities of a metropolitan city for the sake of family.

The coconuts,passion fruits and all the flowers and plants in his garden are the symbol of patience, love and care mother earth bestowed us for Manha & Mohid. Our summer vacation resolutions went on pretty well visited library many times,was too excited to welcome my smart sister,her son ,mother and brother to our somewhat old retreat and kids enjoyed playing together and converted one room to a DJ ambience with the studio lamp Manha received from Yippee Noodles and with the speaker system. I enjoyed cooking for them(as they provided parties to us many a times) though had a row with mother over cleanliness in kitchen (who is a supermom raised 4 kids and managed tending to her mother-in-law as well) so as to prove my efficiency I  washed the whole area and sent the photos the very next day though I regret being so harsh on the phone. We did munch on the snacks they brought  and resumed our somewhat laidback life striking the checklist where they suggested attention like putting bulb in places where no light is there, changing gas burner and deviation tips to bed wetting and tantrum throwing, after my in-laws absence God has been leading us and when my mother and siblings came I felt so happy to bond, his relatives stopped coming to our house may be because of the property disputes and misunderstandings, our neighbours often reassures and inspire us through good words and good deeds by giving us sweets and gifts for kids I wish and pray that his parents blessings and love towards us would make our every steps more bold and optimistic  bingingly,gardeningly,homingly yours Shabina Sanad

Our unsolved mysteries

 

It's raining heavily in Kerala very much giving us all relief from scorching summer heat. The rhythm of rain drops prompts me to exhort your help for solving a myriad thread of mysteries we have been experiencing for many years.

Somebody has been deftly taking almost all our digital gadgets, iphone,apple Ipad, Sony vio laptop,HP laptop and Apple Mac, we both worked abroad Sanad in Radisson SAS, Dubaimetro and myself in various firms across Dubai all our cherished memories with friends,colleagues and relatives are there in the stolen hard discs, we never worked for FBI or any sort of secret service as we were always busy finding means for settling rent,loan and leaves to continue infertility treatment, by God's grace and Credence Hospitals expertise we are gifted with a baby girl named Manha now she is in fifth standard and our son Mohid in third standard. Though we both have overseas experience in prestigious firms our State so far is keeping a blind eye to it and Sanad supress his frustration and his BP shoots up quite often and take Lasix shots for quick relief, with regard to me my mother and siblings are pillar of support though I doubt them also sometimes for our Paradise lost status.

Upon his Doctor mother's demise we still don't have any clue as  where the house and flats property document vanished I like to believe the Howdiney is none other than his sister who so far took the lion's share with regard to his mother's earnings. Here iam like a female thug shouts and shows holy cross to scare them away and promised the ownership of my mother in law's consulting room to my son to compensate my 5 cents land I bought in 2008 and sold in the year 2016 to settle debts( though he keeps on changing his ambition from Doctor to  Driver  and Fireman) I find solace in gardening and household chores and brainstorm with kids to find answers to all the mysteries.

In another words we have been going from pillar to post ,even approached mosque authorities as well with no solution offered. Now what we have is strong faith in God and the innocent smile and laughter of our kids to tackle the brainy web weaved by the mysterious someone, hope your views on our delusions would keep our wit in tact. Lovingly, laughingly ,rainingly Shabina Sanad

Vacation tales

 The love hate relationship between me and my two kids gets a new dimension this summer vacation. The gadget savy naughty kids observations keeps my already jumbled up hormone levels a hilarious ride. It's my son who reported the missing of our cat and he revealed innocently and mimicked the action of the cat he met when he went out with his Dad to a nearby hotel and he reasoned the cat needed more food and that's why left our house in search of more food and he reaffirmed that it is not a look alike cat and mused over the cats desire for freedom and gut.

It was indeed a refreshing experience to attend our cousin's wedding amid the recent loss of a family member. We did touch base with everyone.  Indeed received coolness to eyes watching little versions of our cousins and their curiosity witnessing Indian Muslim wedding. we scheduled activities to spend vacation productive and less cumbersome as my brother postponed bringing his family to Dubai we dropped our plans of taking an international vacation. doing the math of finding fund for settling debts already amassed for educating two kids scarred taking trips further. So we went to Library and brought books from children's section. My daughter nagged over the kitchen utensils while baking bread (Her Home science session in my in-my mom in laws kitchen) I did show her the photos of oven,toast maker we had in our Dubai accommodation almost 17years back. Just to deviate my kids attention from mobile games I bought them coloring books and color and gave them sermon on the side effects of junk food while feeding them junk food pretty ironically and told them that mashmellows taste like rubber so that they won't pester me buy it and involved them in beating the summer heat with natural resources available. We decided to walk our talks on summer vacation and  bought refreshments to keep the energy levels intact when they went for cycling. Would love to hear from you as well on your vacation resolutions. These are all the tales from Kerala so far.  Enjoying the cool breeze and starlit nights  and missing vibrant Dubai life once in a while and finding peace and contentment watching greeneries around and the growing plants planted newly for a more fruitful connection with Nature. Feeling blessed and wishing everyone more blessings.with lots of love and prayers Shabina Sanad

Transport Lesson

 

As I have been trying to teach my son about transport prior to exam I couldn't help talk about the evolution of transport in my life to them. I talked to them animatedly even I could sense that for convincing them I needed proof and pitied my irresponsibility in losing the gadgets and documents that speaks volumes about our overseas social life. I shared my nostalgic memories about my father's ancestral home Thacharazhikam in Paravoor with manaveli mathil( a traditional wall and gate that divides within the entire house ) around the half acre land. We used to play hide and seek inside the pathayam (a traditional wooden storage used to keep grains and rice) bullock carts come  home carrying coconuts from the nearby 25 cents of land my father owned (funnily it belongs to his friend now) and the ancestral home belongs to his cousin now ( can sigh atleast in relief as the property did not go to outside hands. Like Raja Ravi Varma my artist brother using charcol used to draw all over the wall as in Mural Paint and my mom sent him aptly to Raja Ravi Varma School of Arts to learn drawing . We both used to go to madrassa together and even a small drizzle come he would bunk the class. And my brother had to take the pain of standing throughout the entire anganwadi session (old version of prekg) as I would cry if he would go out of sight and he tries to escape by bribing me with green color Parry's candies. My clear and deep memories of my father's place and people often moistens my eyes. I told my kids about my constant road trip from Paravoor Kollam to Trivandrum to my mother's place in my grandfather's car a sort of juggle from village to urbane society (mother's home brings back memories of BonyM, Rambo, my childhood friend G for whom I used to keep aside icecream and in return he would selflessly give his coloring book for me to color, the aroma of fryumes form the pebbled courtyard when I peek through my window draws the bulgan of his French Professor Dad and nurse mother and a cute granny who is smartly dressed and pleasant always. All the cousins mostly boys used to play cricket,badminton,carroms and do all the pranks to each other (the situation is still the same lol) when I was in standard 8th my father moved to Trivandrum disposing Thacharazhikam and bringing all the antiques including the pathayam wood and pettakam (my grandmother's wooden case) I wrote a story in Malayalam when he sold it off along with other furnitures after the Trivandrum Restaurant Fiasco at Aryasala Trivandrum in the year 1998 I was studying in women's College for Predegree and had to switch to college bus from normal bus transportation. My Literature batch year in women's College too was splendid and all the lovely and brighter friends still cherish the friendship. Soon after graduating I joined imanager Learning Solutions as Front office Executive and joined for Business Management course, the firm moved to Technopark and my friend circle got widened yet I was homely and after my parents found my life partner  sanad my office transportation changed for a while till he went back to Sharjah after our engagement.

He used to work at Radisson SAS Resort Sharjah and we had a brief courtship as he used to come to office to pick me in his Maruti 800 after getting consent from his Doctor mother and my homemaker mother. Though it was an arranged marriage we both were in head and heels over in love very much making many prospective suitors to gloom and doom lol those who got lucky in other words to be frank(though we used to fight a lot afterwards over silly matters) yet God's hands always made our bond stronger though however erratic we both turned out to be after losing overseas status, for him it's a span of 20 years abroad and mine half of it.Our constant flight trips to Sharjah and Dubai makes me yearn for a trip for the sake of our kids just to show them Radisson SAS, Dubaimetro where Sanad worked and to show them Alphamed, whom generously sent me to Iran Kish for visa change and brought to Dubai the very same day.Gowealthy in Emaar office if they are still there I worked at Gowealthy Sharjah office in Sharjah Airport International Zone and got the wonderful opportunities to attend prestigious press meets and property tours in and around the emirate. Rare and opulent GulfHoldings in Sharjah  the royal dignitaries office however short the association may be, then  Asia Pacific Tours and Travels and Oasis Palm the amazing opportunity to work for their magazine and portals.

Finally at Dar Al Asalah in Mamzar where I  attended Zayed giving event at Emirates Palace. Throughout the Emirates we both travelled a lot and met friends and relatives 

It wouldn't be fair if I don't mention our current transport system  my in-laws indigo CS so rashly and carelessly used by us declared strike by not functioning very much sabotaging my wish of taking up driving license at my old age of 43 my mom in law advised it when I was 23can't help laughing at the jokes cracked by my colleagues on the speed limit of my walk over my pedestrian crossing fines in Dubai pls don't think that iam that much absent minded after becoming a mother of two kids I have become more alert and conscious by God's grace.  I pray to almighty to make our wish a reality during this holy month and provide us health and eeman to weather our tougher times as always lovingly playfully emotionally and hopefully yours Shabina Sanad

 

Ramadan Mubarak

 

Ramadan Kareem to all

When the holy month of Ramadan started filling our hearts with anticipation and piety to make the most out of the blessed month I wish all my friends relatives would also be taking the resolution to do good and to bring a smile on everyone's face 

I wish to pray for those who didn't make it to  this Ramadan. 

Our cat cheered our spirits by catching one of the rat who has been a source of trouble with regard to hygeine in our old kitchen. 

Our sons curious ramblings on food brought back memories of our expatriate life in the Gulf, it is raining in Kerala and I long for a rain of blessings on the career prospectus of Sanad at the same time I wish how could I stop sulking about the missing Apple I pad, hard discs of our laptops, I kept on guessing the culprits and the list gets so big that I dream one day a good Samaritan would  emerge from nowhere to gift me all the photos we have lost so far through the gadget magic game.

I pray for health,happiness and healing for everyone this Ramadan. I hope all our genuine wishes gets fulfilled to feel elated and contended throughout this month 

Lovingly , mystically devotionally yours Shabina Sanad

Please remeber us in your prayers

 How could you patch up with friends and relatives who misjudged you by observing the snippets of your glorious career phase that faded into oblivion by your own IT investigation and over blunt remarks on social media (mostly boasting opulence and luxury in reality myself and Sanad were always struggling to survive)

How could you remove the clouds of disbelief (as my father's sister gifted my sister a Honda Amaze on her wedding day, it was a decent and fat Muslim wedding as my mother sold her 4 cents of land gifted to her by her husband's sister to build a house of her own and to lead a dignified life after my father's demise yet selflessly she sold it to meet my sister's marriage expense   (as my father came to Trivandrum from his ancestral home in Paravoor Kollam in the year 1994 and disposed the house he built in Pravachambalam in the year 1996 ) and from 1996 till 2025 my mom has been living in rented house thanks to my artist NRI brothers efforts and sacrifice we were able to overcome many difficult phases. So I keep asking myself the question is that me who created confusion and unnecessary competition among our cousins and siblings? Does someone felt like teaching us modesty and empathy when I was on a blocking spree when I suspected hacking ?Does someone wanted to make us mellow down as we all inherited bit of domineering and adamant nature guess it's creative people's birthright to be different from the rest. Anyway my mother got sick all of a sudden and she is in pain and worried over lot of issues including the hospital bills, shamelessly as always ,the secret reporter of family ego clashes and emotions yours Shabina Sanad hope and pray that Iam not hurting your egos anymore