Women are better leaders ??!!??

This is cross posted at Arigatho.

A well educated man, passed out from Cambridge, studied in an exchange program and who has already worked in this global delivery model and a person who understand globalization, questions me in this following way –

Why do Indian companies send Women as their team heads or managers?

I am working very closely with this world famous packaging service company, for them to win a business bid and in turn my organization would also be benefited by winning this proposal. I am working very closely with this well educated, well mannered and extremely nice gentleman who has a broader perspective in understanding things and work in a global delivery model.

Now if this question was as simple as it sounds, I would have left it then and there and wouldn’t have given much heed to this. But this comes from a person who knows that Indian woman is now the most enterprising manager than most of her counterparts. What with Indira Nooyi and all? Need I say more? I couldn’t believe my ears when my counterpart from the customer front, who completed his management study from Cambridge, well traveled and well educated person could ask me such questions.

I was offended initially but then later on thought about his question and felt that might be that was a valid question and that I need to sit and analyze as to why some companies send mostly woman as their team leads.

I finally concluded that we are better leaders. I have my own take on this. But I would like to know your view points as well.

SO ladies, fill me in with your thoughts and ideas!

Ciao!

Tata buys Jag and Rover

Don't know how this is related to the 'momz' club...but thought this was a proud moment for India and wanted to post it ..
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1725543,00.html

Happy Woman's Day

"A tactful wife is one who ensures she spends so much that her husband can't afford another women"

Wishing all the DMC mommies - 'Happy Woman's Day'


Regards
Batul
(http://scribblermom.wordpress.com)

So that's what it is!

Hiya, all.

I read this article today on mnbc, which discusses the forgetfulness many moms experience after having children, and found it very interesting.

I was particularly tickled by the one where 'mom' cut up her husband's grilled chicken into tiny little pieces 'because that's what a mom does'. Right? Right :). I very nearly did that to my husband's omelette this morning.

"There’s probably not a new mother alive who can’t identify and share a smile with Andi Silverman’s stories of memory lapses. Like the time she went shopping and left her groceries in the store. Or when she went on vacation with her two small children and forgot the diapers.

With two toddler sons, Nate, 3, and Teddy, 2, commanding her total attention, this kind of forgetfulness is to be expected, say medical experts. They even have a name for it — “momnesia.”

“It’s a state of the female brain that is a bit forgetful after she’s had a baby,” Dr. Louann Brizendine told TODAY correspondent Savannah Guthrie."

So that's the word - momnesia !

Friends are...

contributed by Priya of Dreaming in Suburbia

Friends are funny beings. You don’t really know someone is your true friend until you’ve shared an experience, a situation or perhaps a problem that’s been eating away at you and they (the friends’ I mean) help you solve it. Well anyway, while I was killing myself over whether I should finally take the plunge and become a SAHM - with all the emotional baggage that went with it - I remember speaking to many many women - but two of them stand out in my memory. Suprizingly, both of them did not have children. One of them was not even married ! But they both taught me something important, and when I look back now, I think were instrumental in shaping my decision to become a SAHM.

(NOT that I’m a huge fan of all mothers being SAHMs. I am however, very much in favor of each mom doing what she feels is the right thing for her own family. So please don't think of this as a flame. Its just something I'd like to share with all of you.)

The first, N, was a colleague of mine at the place where I worked. She was born and brought up in the City (that’s New York City for those of you that don’t know) and lived there until she was well into her twenties. She had a manic depressive mother, and was often had to act as the grown up in the family from the age of 13 onward. By the time she was thirty, she was trapped in a marriage that was going nowhere, a career that was going nowhere, a life that seemed permanently derailed.

So, she sat down and wrote a list of all the things she wanted to do in the next twenty five years of her life. Surprizing, even to herself, she found that she wanted to be a farmer. Have lots of animals, be a homesteader and still have a day job doing something she loved. She quit her then job, divorced her husband and moved up to Connecticut. For the next eight years, she worked toward her degree, she found the rules and regulations concerning owning and operating farmland and began saving up to own a farm. She met her second husband while wish-driving around the neighborhood where she would have liked to buy the land for her farm. For the past eleven years, they are both proud owners of a seven acre farm, two pigs, three cows, two goats and innumerable chickens, ducks and turkeys. They have a proper farmhouse, complete with barn, sty and pond. And she works full time doing what something she loves.

When I asked her, “But what an awful risk. What if you failed? What if you ended up in a worse place than you were before ?” And she told me,”I had two choices, I could either change my dreams and hopes and then make the best of what I had, or I could break out and start fresh. I did the latter, because I could never live with myself knowing that I never even tried because of fear of failure. You have one life, you can’t be afraid to make the most of it”.

I said,”You say that now, because everything turned out OK”. And she told me,”Yeah, but it wasn’t always OK. When you are struggling against something adverse, you don’t know that things are going to be ok. They may actually be going down the pooper. It’s your attitude to change that matters. If you feel like being a SAHM, think carefully, plan accordingly, take the plunge - and don’t ever look back.”

The second person who really helped me was Lynne. She worked at her mom’s sandwich shop (which, by the way, serves the best sandwiches on the entire Eastern Seaboard). She was in her mid-thirties, had quit her job as a junior partner at a prestigious CPA group two years ago then, was not married and had no prospects of doing so. But she was so bubbly and effervescent that I couldn’t help asking her,”Don’t you ever regret quitting your job?”.

She said,”I regret losing the big bucks, but not the job. I was working 100 hour weeks, with no life, no time and no happiness. Look at my life now. Sure, most people would say I’m nuts. My own mother was dead against me quitting my job. I make minimum wage, live with my mom and I’m not married. I’m not pretty enough or rich enough to tempt anyone to make me an offer. I’m thrity six and I don’t have children - probably will never have them. But you know what ? I am happier than I ever was in the ten years I was working. Its about what you want - not about what everyone expects you to want. If you want to become a SAHM, go ahead. Just remember not to compare your life as a Working Mother to your life as a Stay At Home Mother. That’s the secret to happiness - compete, but never compare”.

And because she’s such a funny person, she shared the story of how she quit her job:

One evening she was working late (as usual) getting somebody’s books in order, when she fainted. Clear out of the blue, she fainted. Everyone rushed over to her office and after the first aid was administered and she regained consciousness, her boss called her into his office.

Boss:”Lynn, are you OK ? Are you feeling tired ? Are you planning a little vacation?”
Lynn: "No, I’m fine. yeah, I’m tired, but that’s because I work ten hours a day, for not very much money. Now if I was senior partner….”

By this time Lynn realized her Boss was struggling to say something. She stood by expecting the worst,

Boss (blurting out): “Your pregnant isn’t it ? That’s why you fainted isn’t it ?”
Lynn (with a totally disgusted look on her face): "O my God, like this job leaves me any time to get pregnant ! You know what - I quit.”

Amen to friends like that. :)

Posting GuideLines

(This post is from Sandeepa of Bong Mom's CookBook)

Before welcoming all our mebers I thought I would re-iterate the Posting Guidelines. This is just a guideline and if you want some changes you all are welcome with your suggestions.

1. Post/topic should be related to the subject of Moms and Kids. It can be personal experiences, your views, discussions anything. Just be yourself and post. If you are qouting other sources please put a link. Do not use contents that are NOT for public use. If not sure ask the author.

2. Please start the post with your name and blog name if you have a blog else just your name at beginning of each post should be fine (Ex: "This post is written by X of Blg Y")

3. After writing the post, please attach a meaningful label/category so that it would be easy to search all the posts in that category. Use meaingful labels For e.g.: Play, Infant Book, Toddler Books, Young Adult Books, Learning, Healthy Habits etc.

4. Please keep the language pleasant and polite. Don't be Rude and inappropriate, we are all your friends here, keep that in mind. Please don't hurt any one

5. Please participate regularly contributing a topic or responding to topics via comments, so that the community will be alive. As a evolving community, we need all the help we can. Share your ideas about how you want this blog to grow. This is YOUR blog, shape it as we all want. Contribute and comment.

6.If you want post photos I would suggest you do it at your own space in Photobucket or Flickr and just put the IMG url in this blog. That way your photo remains at your private space

7.If you have not been a active member for six consecutive months i.e. you have participated by neither commenting nor posting, the admin has rights to revoke your membership

As soon as you can login and post try to do a short post with an intro about your kids, their ages, interest etc. Just put information which you would like to share. This will help other Moms know you a bit better. Do not mention real names etc. if you are not comfortable

In the News

Happy Diwali Everyone

Desi Momz Club aka DMC gets a mention in the The Telegraph

http://telegraphindia.com/1071028/asp/7days/story_8481948.asp


Please remmeber we need more Kids Recipes for Kids Food Fest. Every Saturday post kid friendly recipes please. More details HERE

Help Needed...and this time Urgent

Hi Girls (ok Moms),
I say girls because that is the way I feel when I am with my friends around. Not ladies, females, women…no, just carefree girls who are also very responsible Moms.

Ok, first the good news is that the Desi Momz Club has made its presence felt is proved :) How ? Because now we now have websites/groups with almost the same names as ours who are trying to invite members from our Club to go and contribute at theirs, HUH ?? If you are still clueless check comments at the previous post.

Now why do I need help ? Because this is your blog and the thing is due to some commitments on the personal front I will be on a time crunch from this month. So I really, really need some help with this blog. I will still do all the admin stuff, but I need help with the other areas like posts, theme of the month etc.
I had requested earlier, but most of you missed. So I hope you will not give it a miss this time.

1. The Theme of the Month is a theme we decide for each month and request Moms to post. This needs fresh ideas. Please opt to take up a month and decide for a theme you think appropriate for that month. Conduct the Theme for the month you choose your way. Please send me a mail to volunteer. Following months are being done by:

Theme of Month for October -- Tharini

Theme of Month for November -- Kodi's Mom

2. Please come up with fresh interesting ideas and how we can implement them in this blog. I keep on telling, this is everyone’s blog so if you have ideas about making this a better community please let all of us here know.

3. Our club is not only about the Theme of the Month as you all know. So please feel free to share stories about your kid, interesting game ideas (remember Puzzles), activities (remember Rainy day Activity) and in fact anything that you think would be nice to share with all other Moms like us. I know many times I prowl around and ask you to post stuff but please please go ahead and share because I might not prowl that often :)

4. Many of the Moms here have a blog of their own where they chronicle their kid milestones. If you do not have a blog but would like to share milestones of your kids, or some incident involving them which you would like to chronicle and at the same time do not mind sharing with others, please feel free to do so. We would love to hear about your kids. Just remember to write "This post by X" for your posts, that way when searched with your name, you can get a collection of all posts written by you.

5. Last and the most interesting bit, after reading this post at Tharini's, Tharini & me ran into this grand idea to have a Kid Food Fest at DMC. The food fest would be showcasing Desi style food for kids that can be packed for school lunches without a mess and should be healthy and interesting enough so that the kids eat it without a fuss. Please,please respond with ideas as to how you would like the Food Fest conducted, would you pick a day each week to showcase Kid Food, does any of you want to conduct it ? Let me know and I will put up the general guidelines for Food Fest

Hope to hear from everyone this time and lets make this a wonderful community

Baby Photography

Posted by Kavitha

Ladies,

How/When do you capture those magical moments of your precious little ones ?
Which camera do you use, what kind of photography skills do you need ?
How to take family/home photos that look like they were taken by a professional ?

Whenever I try to take a shot of my son smiling/laughing/doing something that I want to capture in my camera, he would have turned his face to another direction or gotten bored looking into the camera etc.

Stumbled upon SJ's post where she talks about storing and organizing pics, but not about actual shooting though. Would love to hear from you all about how you shoot great pictures of your babies.

Admin Updates

Hey some interesting updates on DMC Admin.

Have you checked the right hand column at DMC ? Scroll down and you will see I have added a section "Daily News For Moms" which is aggregated RSS feeds from some interesting parenting related sites. These feeds are frequently updated. Check them out everyday. If you have some other parenting/women/kid site that provides a daily updated content let me know I will try to add it to the list.

See your Browser Address Bar when you ar at DMC? Do you see something ? Tharini sent me an icon which she made from the “Mother” icon here and suggested I use it as a favicon. And now we have our own favicon !!!!!!!!! If you are on Firefox, you should see it. On IE I think you have to bookmark to see the favicon. Thanks Tharini, should I say Thanks Lovely Tharini ;-)

Thanks to all of you who had written in for Motherhood May. We hope to hear from the rest too…… Come on girls, share with us.
Many of the members have neither posted nor commented on any of the posts. Please let me know if you have any issues or if there’s something stopping you. We want this to be an active as well as interactive community, so please come and join by sharing your stories, your ideas, your views, anything………

Asha has something up her sleeves for June. Just wait and watch.

BBMM: Bangalore Blogging Mommies Meet

This post is by Poppins of http://babiesanon.blogspot.com
I put this up at my blog, I thought I would cross-post here with the hope of more exposure...

Calling all Blogging Mothers in Bangalore! I suggested a play date to Aqua, since we're both in Bangalore, but she came up with an even better idea. A blog meet. And we would love to see who else we can round up. You are invited to this event if:

1) You are from Bangalore
2) You are a mother
3) You have a blog
4) You are social..er I mean you want to meet new people.

Wait, that sounds too clique-y. Let me change that..You are invited if:

1) You happen to be in Bangalore at the time of the meet. You don't have to be from Bangalore. Not many people who live here are, anyway :)
2) You need not be a mother, but must be able to tolerate discussions on poop, breasts and other unmentionables that mommies talk about. And it would be nice if you told us that our kids are super-smart and that we look sexy.
3) You don't have to blog, but it would be nice if you knew what a blog is.
4) You don't have to be social, we will ignore you anyways :)

Seriously, it would be great if we could all meet up. Venue and Time is up for grabs. Please email/comment on Aqua's or my space.

I vote for any feasible Sunday afternoon outing at Amoeba, Church Street. They have a huge kiddie play area above the bowling floor, and a pretty decent European style cafe (20 ft high) on the top floor.

Crossposted at my blog : http://babiesanon.blogspot.com

Mother Day Event Update

Hi Everyone
Hope my post on my food blog did not confuse people. Please check Asha's post for details of the Theme for May. I am just giving a quick overview

Ok, so if you are a member just post anything you want related to Motherhood on this site itself as you normally do.You can repeat/reproduce posts from your own blog.

If you are a non-member you can share your story by sending me a link or post by e-mail.

The theme is good for the entire month, try to post theme related posts from Tursday - Sunday, rest of the days can be for general discussion. Label theme related posts with "Mother's Day" and "Theme for May". Since we are going to have themes for every month this labelling should help in future.

Some suggestions/ideas from the comments, but you can go ahead and do anything you feel befitting. Do not let anything restrict you, just go ahead and post what you feel from your heart

How about posting a very memorable pic/incident (or providing a link to it ) between the mommy and baby, for a mother's day activity ? -- Dee said

May should be for mothers indeed,can share anything you like,a memory, or differences in raising between us and our mothers would be great too. -- Asha said

maybe we can add a bit of humor to it by adding a story/incident which happened during/immediately after the birth of the little one.[cant forget how A-SENIOR reacted to my labor pains ;-)) ] -- DR said

A special memory that you have of your mother; an anecdote of a moment that forever stands out in your mind when you recall her.And on a similar note...the most outstanding memory that you have in relation to your childkids in lieu of being thier mother.
If you were to get a break from being a mother....what would be the ideal way that you'd like to spend it. (Here's everyone's facies can run a little wild and we can dream up the most bizarre things for ourselves...it's our daydream/fantasy/etc ain't it? :) -- Tharini said

We should come up with an event for mother's day. Something to do with mommies and babies. Something interesting!! -- reena said

What Motherhood has done to You ? Differences that you observe in your and your mother’s Mommy techniques. If you have a Mother’s Day memory or tradition to share please do so. -- Sandeepa said

Note: If any of you members need the Mother logo on the right sidebar for use on your space, let me know. I can send it to you but use it with credits and link to "Desi Momz Club"

What ,Why, How and When of Mother's Day!!:)

(This post is written by Asha from "Foodies Hope" blog)

Hello everyone,

May 13th is THE day for celebrating motherhood which includes all of us moms and our mothers too.So let's begin the month of May, devoting 2-3 days of every week to mommies discussing mom related articles.Of course in India we don't have a particular day to celebrate our moms.Wonder why Mother's day is not catching up over there, when we choose to "celebrate" Valentine's day etc!!Hmm...! ;p

A DMC reminder:
As Sandeepa has discussed before here (please read the article and the comments to get an idea of what's expected) and this too with all of you, from Thursday to Saturday you could share greetings,experiences and funny stories about you as a mom and your mom too.(Let MOMS be the focus for a change and keep the kids issues for the rest of the week this month!) Other days of week are open for any other subjects you would like to share.Now that's said and done....

Do you ever wonder how did the Mother's day come to be? Here is what I read about the real background of what it's all about in a nutshell.

The Story of Mother's Day:
The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to ancient Greece when they worshiped mother of Gods.

During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday",commonly known as "Mothers' Day" in the United Kingdom, has no direct connection to the American practice. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent (exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday). It is believed to have originated from the 16th Century Christian practice of visiting one's mother church annually, which meant that most mothers would be reunited with their children on this day.They would honor their mothers by baking special cake called "Mothering cake".

Mother's Day in the United States was first proclaimed around 1870 in Boston by Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation, and Howe called for it to be observed each year nationally in 1872.

In 1907, Mother's Day was first celebrated in a small, private way by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, to commemorate the anniversary of her mother's death two years earlier on May 9, 1905. Jarvis's mother, named Ann Jarvis, had been active in Mother's Day campaigns for peace and worker's safety and health since the end of American Civil War. The younger Jarvis launched a quest to get wider recognition of Mother's Day.

The celebration organized by Jarvis on May 10, 1908 involved 407 children with their mothers at the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton (this church is now the International Mother's Day Shrine).Grafton is the place recognized as the birthplace of Mother's Day.

The subsequent campaign to recognize Mother's Day was financed by clothing merchant John Wanamaker. As the custom of Mother's Day spread, the emphasis shifted from the pacifism and reform movements to a general appreciation of mothers. The first official recognition of the holiday was by West Virginia in 1910. A proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day was signed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on May 14, 1914.

While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May." (Info from WIKIPEDIA)

Wasn't that interesting?! Now that you know the history of Mother's day,why not tell us about your experiences as moms and celebrate your moms with your posts. DMC will love to hear from you from Thursday to Saturday!

HAPPY (month long!) MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU from me and DMC,have fun this weekend!:)

Before I say bye to you,let me say "Happy Mother's day" to my own mummy in B'lore!!

The Club Tenets Revisited

(This post is by Sandeepa of Bong Mom's CookBook)

Hi Everyone

Firs let me Congatulate all of us Mommies on our Desi Momz Club being listed in India Blogs 1.0. Lovely Tharini is there too and of course Saffron Tree. I had asked Amit Agrawal (the You Know Who of Blogging) to include our Blog and he sent me a mail saying he found the blog "Pretty interesting" and went ahead and added it.

Now to the rules of the game, errrrr, Club....

I think I should re-iterate some rules about the Club which either you missed or we did not mention explicitly

I realize that as Mommies, everyone is very busy and if you have a blog of your own it becomes more so. This is the reason I had mentioned that you can share posts from your own blog. What I had meant is that you can repeat/reproduce your posts from your blog at DMC, if and a big IF it is Mom or Kid centric. No way was it our intention to make DMC a place where you can just link posts to your own blog. There are places for that I am sure, but not the Desi Momz Club.

We just do not want DMC to evolve as an index page do we? No, we want it to be a community where everyone shares their views, ideas, story and then we have a strong arguments through the commenting box :D. So we can have general gup-shup, air our views, vent, rant and also focus on a particular topic …blah, blah, blah.

If in your posts you just put a link to your own Blog Posts, I don’t think it’s fair to The Club. It is no longer a single stop then, readers then have to blog hop to your blog to read the post.

• If you want to share a post from your own blog (a individual blog or a a group blog) or a blog which lets you reproduce the post, please repeat the post in its entirety at Desi Momz Club. You can add a link to your own original post saying its being shared after you have repeated the post at DMC.
• If you want to share interesting posts or stories from sources you are not responsible for, say newspapers, blogs you don't own etc. you can link them with appropriate excerpts and with proper permission if needed. We don't want a copyright violation right here. It would be good however to have your own view on the story/post you are sharing
• If you come across cool products or services for Moms or Kids you want to share please do that with an accompanying review and appropriate links. This might be review of daycares, school, kid products, kid food, products or service that makes life easy for Mom anything.
• If you want to share a post on Mom & Kid issues which you have on some blog/site which does not let you reproduce it any place else, let us know about your acclaimed post and we can put it on a sidebar bulletin board
  
  

We do really hope that you understand this and keep contributing to the club in true spirit.

Update: Lovely Tharini is maintaining a Craft Corner at her blog. Please share your craft ideas with her. If you are planning to make something for Mother's Day along with the little ones share at the Club and with Tharini.

The DT is having a event Kids Safety in The Kitchen. Check it out

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Maheshwari who is soon going to be a second time Mom.

Club Theme: Rememeber Theme for May is Mothers Day, so gear up with your views for the Month of May . Look out for Asha's post on this and also check this post.

Club Feature Question: Do you think a Bulletin Board on the sidebar would be a good idea where you can link exciting stuff from your own Blogs or other Blogs every Month ? Let me know and we can work towards it

Calling all DMC members!!!

Hello to all the members of DMC,
(This post is written by Asha of "Foodie's hope" blog)


Here is a short post from me to motivate and request all of you to start a discussion about a topic which interests you and others.Most of the members still have not introduced themselves to us.If you are the one who have not yet, please do so before May 1st,when we are going to start our own "Mother's day" month!Sandeepa will confirm that later as well:)


By now ,some of you have introduced yourselves to us all which was truly wonderful.It's great to know you and your lives ,families and your trials and trepidation as you through life.We enjoyed the tidbits and hilarious incidents about our kids,laughed together and sympathized hearing about our kids when they went through rough times as well.


Now,it's time for us to get serious about topics and posts which are really enlightening and helpful to all of us and your concerns and questions as well.Please think about these things and start posting them.It doesn't have to be serious subjects though,something light and funny as well if you like.


May will be a month for remembering and paying tributes to mothers including all of us moms and our mothers for all that we did and will continue to do.Mothers day is celebrated at different times and dates in different countries.

We will dedicate every Thursday to Saturday of the week in the month of May for that reason instead of just on the 13th of May,so we all get to share our views.Rest of the week is free to discuss all the other subjects you like. We would like to encourage you to think about that and write something about your mom or your experiences as a mother,even about your sweet MIL and even grandmothers who might have raised you as some of us are!!


Last but not least, please remember that Desi Momz Club is created for you and should be running successfully by all of you! We urge all of you to contribute and enjoy your club.Thank you!:))

Tell me what you want...

Hi Everyone
The Club rocks and thanks to all of you for that.!!! You are so forthcoming with your posts, ideas and comments that the mood is really upbeat around here and that is what makes it a thriving community,
Some of the members are a little busy I guess but as soon as you get some time do drop in with your news and views too. We would love to know what you would like around here, a chilled Martini or Nimbu Pani or may be both in moderation and for that we want you around :D

To keep the community thriving I had a certain idea which was further triggered by Sheela’s post.
Now tell me what do you think ?

Every Month from May we will take up a particular issue/topic and that will be “The Club Topic for the Month”.
However as Asha had said we don’t want to narrow down things and so we will assign a single day each week when we will discuss the issue. So say, every Friday of a Month we will devote to the topic for that Month. All other days we can discuss all else under the sun. Does that sound right or do you want more days for it?
We can also revisit posts that have been already discussed if they are aligned for a particular topic

Now for the Month of May we have to choose a topic.

Following are my suggestions. Please let me know your suggestions too and let’s Vote for a topic for May.

May 13th being Mothers Day. We can devote it to Motherhood. What Motherhood has done to You ? Differences that you observe in your and your mother’s Mommy techniques. If you have a Mother’s Day memory or tradition to share please do so.

If you have any suggestions please please put in a comment.

So come on and lets pick up a topic for May and also pour in your suggestions

Hello from Sheela

Hello Dear Fellow-Moms,

Thanks Sandeepa for giving me an opportunity to be part of this wonderful community.

Just a little about me: My name is Sheela. I am originally from India. I have been living in the US for the last 14 years. I am thirty-something. Yes, indeed, I am one of those who can't bring herself to admit her exact age - not because I fear growing old, but, because I am afraid I haven't achieved much in the time I have been given so far :)

I am currently living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my husband Dustin and my soon-to-be-two baby girl Ana.

I work for a software company as a developer/programmer, which I enjoy for the most part. But, my "real" interests are cooking, sewing, crocheting, reading, photography, hiking/camping (which we restrict to Summers, especially after the wee one arrived).

I wear my Mommy Hat, Wife Hat, Daughter Hat, Sister Hat, Chef Hat, Yellow-Green Hat, and Crazy-Craftswoman Hat as best as I can. While I am the same person, I feel the Hat I wear adds distinct value and responsibility to my Life, hence I started three separate blogs last year and tried to keep them focused on three different aspects of my Life that meet and mingle beautifully - viz., Mommy, Cook, Just Another Speck In The Universe.

Blogging, when I started it, was intended to be therapeutic. Just my corner to record my thoughts and deeds that I am willing to share voluntarily, no pressure, no expectations. It is hard not to get addicted and obsessed, but, I think Dustin and Ana have kept me balanced so far.

Sandeepa was kind enough to mention that one of my posts struck a cord in her and suggested that I share it here: last July, early in my blogging life, I shared my thoughts wondering if I was asking for too much... Circumstances have not changed, and it scares me a little to think of welcoming another wee one into our lives now.

On a cheerier note, I am looking forward to reading and contributing as best as I can . Perhaps as the community welcomes more moms and we settle into a nice rhythm, we could pick a topic a month and have contributions from all member moms so we have a collective input on the chosen topic... just a thought :)

Peek-a-boo! Hi everyone!

I'd like like to say thank you to Sandeepa for allowing me to be a part of DesiMomz.

As there are certainly many out there who do not know me I thought I would just introduce myself for my first post.

Who am I? I am originally from India. However at the age of two I left India for good and since then have lived in many countries around the World. Mostly in the Middle East and for the past 14 years I have been living in Germany. I am going to be 35 in June and have a small but cute little family. My little man, Soeren, who turns 5 this August, and my big boy Tom who turned 38 on Wednesday!
I work for a software company and look after the International Affairs. This basically is Marketing, PR, Customer Care for all non-German speaking countries. I enjoy it extremely and as I work from home it allows me the flexibility I need.

My passions are cooking and photography and last year when I started my blog What's For Lunch, Honey, I combined both together. The rest is history! LOL!

My dream is to write my own cookbook with my own photos. I hope in the future Tom gets a job that pays him enough so that I can quit and live my dream ;-) Right now I try to sell a few of my photos whenever I can through my shop.

I also write for the Daily Tiffin, a team blog, which concentrates on a balanced and healthy family lifestyle. So, I hope to be able to contribute and link to interesting topics on this blog with the Daily Tiffin and vice versa.

Look forward it!

Welcome To The Club

If you are a Mom...

Has this ever happened to You?

You have had a hard day as a Mom and all you want is to have someone patiently hear you without judging you -- come be a part of us and rant
You want to discuss about your kids education, play, achievements, next project or maybe plan a birthday party or a play date -- come share with us.
You are a Mom who has hit that amazing routine that soothes the baby and makes her sleep in 15 minutes flat -- before you apply for a patent come teach us
You are ready to go back to work or maybe taking a break from work to stay at home and you want to talk it out -- come let’s talk
You have ideas, plans, anecdotes about yourself the kids, the neighbours kids -- come tell us
You have concerns, worries, issues and you think more Moms should hear you -- come discuss with us

This is going to be your blog, the Mom's blog, for The Mom, Of The Mom, By The Mom

It’s you who is going to post and help others out if necessary. It’s a place where we all Moms meet at our own time and still have fun

Why This Blog ?

I have a 3 yr old and as a Mom that's my age too. As my daughter grows there have been questions and more questions. I have spent a considerable time Googling and asking around. I have also spent (and still do) discussing various aspects of my daughter's growing up with my friends. Numerous questions always -- Gymboree or MyGym ? Puzzles or Books ? Should I feed or let her eat on her own? Am I right if I get stressed out and scream sometimes or do I clench my fist and mix honey in my speech?
When my daughter first started day care last year I was so worried that I would call up my very dear friend N and giver her hourly updates about my daughters status and my emotional status, seems funny in retrospect, but yes that was what I did.

I am sure many of you have gone through similar situations and then bonded with someone who is going through the same or called up friends and family at odd hours to talk

There are many of you who are bringing up your kids beautifully and I feel it would do us all good if we could all come and share and talk. You need not have a blog, you can just come and join us.
I bounced off my idea with IndoSunGod of DailyMusings and Asha of FoodiesHope and Aroma, two very experienced Moms and they were kind enough to come and join as administrators

Since we can't meet at a Coffee Place and chat let’s have a virtual place of our own and we meet up at our own time, maybe sipping that chai or coffee...

Why The Desi Momz Club ?

I felt that a common background would help us bond better. There are many Mommy sites but I wanted to have one where at least we all share the same roots. But even if you are not Desi aka Indian, it’s good enough if you are an Indian at heart.

What You Can Do?

If you want to be a part send an e-mail at mailto:desimomz.blog@gmail.comand when you get an invite, come and join

Post whenever you want as often as you wish but remember the posts should be either Mom or Kid centric. It can be anything either your own experience or any information you have gleaned from somewhere that you would like to share. Remember to give a link if you are quoting some other source.

Since everyone is on a time crunch, if you already have a blog and you have a post in your own blog you want to share, you are welcome. That's easy yippeeeeee !!!

Come and check the posts and comments and actively comment to agree, disagree, discuss.

Get other moms to come and join, spread the word and let the club grow

If your a not a Mom, don't fret, you are important to us. If you have a post you would like to share, e-mail the post to desimomz.blog@gmail.com and you could be our guest contributor. Also please drop by and leave your comments, views, suggestions on the posts.