Category Archives: General

#2- Meditate with your kids

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I drove back through rush hour traffic this evening to get home in time for shrove Tuesday and pancakes … Little did I know that my son was looking for time with his dad. 

 

 I carried him to bed, as he said good night to Mini Pui and Daddi ma. He blew his mummy a kiss and we made our way to his bed. 

I sat with him, and he propped himself over my shoulders and I sat and he said “daddy shimmi (simran)” so I began. 

Any agitation he had during the evening started to leave him and he exhaled, yawned and said “daddy bed” and pointed to his bed. 

I realised there is immense power in simran and prayer with sensitive beings. Sid is a sensitive child and he is very attuned to positive vibes. 

He jumps into bed, pulls the blanket up and says “mummy love you” and “daddy go”..

I gave a kiss to him and said “good night” and left.

Simran is a power that I have seen the effect of it in my son. 

#1 Always make time

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Its 5.55am and Sid is in bed with us after a teary sleep. He wanted to have breakfast at this hour, and me being in a rush to get to work wasn’t having it. 

  
I thought, let me see if he’ll go back to his own bed, he’ll sleep then… So after some cuddles and persuasion I managed to get him to his bed, but would he let me go? NOOOO…..

So I’m now cutting it fine to get showered and shaved ready for leeds, and I get the whole puppy eyes from him, so I ask… “Milk?” And he reluctantly gave me his bottle and said “go..”

So I brought him up some warm milk, and the to my amazement. He said “Daddy go.. Work…”

Lesson 1 for me– making time for Sid can go  one of two ways. Either I get late for work, or I get amazed by his appreciation and love even more…

Sun, Sea, Sand, Sid and Sang

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Strategically positioning the main gate to the resort so that sun sets directly inside it is a stroke of genius.   
Perhaps one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen (Maldives had a phenomenal one), this was just luckily captured as we walked past the main doors. 

The doubletree at Marjsn Island is a fantastic resort for kids and has an abundance of facilities to offer… As I compile a fuller review of the resort, here are some pictures of our fun time this week… 

   
    
    
   

When Sid met Sang…

10 days after Sang left for Mumbai, Sid gets reunited with his first love- his mummy. 

We landed in Dubai safe and sound and had a 2 hour wait before Sang’s flight landed. 

I’ve got to say, it was a longer wait than the 6 hour flight. 

Sid could tell he was going to see his mummy, he kept saying “mummy here” and “mummy plane”.

This is what happens when a son sees his mum after so many days…It was like love at first sight – again. I’ve never seen him so excited! He was jumping, spinning, laughing – he just couldn’t contain himself.   

 The beauty of a child’s love for his parents is beyond compare … 

For me, it was a gift just to be present in the moment and experience it. 

 
  And so ended 10 days of separation. And began a lovely holiday, the 3 musketeers back together again. 

 

Home at last

  It took just under two hours to get back from leeds today. A pleasant experience given that it’s normally 3 hours. 

Having not seen Sid for 4 nights, I was wondering how he would be with me. This is the longest I’ve spent without him. 

I reached his Nani’s home and I saw him all dressed in his yellow rain coat and beige beanie ready to go. He was super happy to see me and jumped onto me and said the magic words “daddy home”…(in Punjabi I must add)

Remembering I managed to speak to Sang on my way home and said to FaceTime Nisha (sister in law) to see Sid I asked if she managed to. She hadn’t. So I grabbed my phone and got her on FaceTime before she went to dinner. It’s a 5 and a half hour time difference to india and Sang hasn’t seen Sid for a couple of days. 

We had about 10 minutes of FaceTime and Sid was very happy. 

I think it dawned on him that he hasn’t seen mummy in nearly 10 days. 

But our adventure begins tomorrow! We travel together by flight (my first long haul without Sang) and go to meet Wifey on her way back from Mumbai… 

The countdown begins!! 

A dads tale..

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  “Weekends always go too fast“- something I never ever say.

But this weekend, the first since Sid was born 19 months ago, I got the chance to spend all my time with him.
No wife around, who’s currently in India, no grandparents. No one.

Just me, and my baby boy.

It’s Sunday evening and I’m not ready to leave him. 

Just one more morning to make him breakfast before I go back to work and not see him for a few days, but I’m sat, 120 miles away from him, writing this message, and I count the days till I see my son again.

People ask me “how are you coping/managing?” As if I’m a baby sitter on an extended contract… In response I just say “it’s fine- it’s like we’re father and son!

Dads often get the rough end of the sick- were often seen as the babysitter and not the parent. As if somewhere in our social network mums won the battle of the parent crown, almost as though there actually was a battle somewhere.

Dad’s, and I can really only speak for myself, take on as much of the parenting as the mums do.

So where in our equality driven society did we get the perception that we aren’t as capable as a child’s mother? As though the mother is the only person in the child’s life that knows what’s best for the child?

I don’t know.

But I do know this. Being a dad, is as much of being a real parent as being a mum is.

My wife and I share a lovely link in this – We are both right, until Sid proves one of us wrong.

Which he takes great joy in doing. to whoever he pleases.

Please don’t let them win

A father’s plea

The moment you find yourself feeling enmity towards someone of a different faith, you’re letting them win. When we judge them because they look different to me, you’re letting them win. When racism expands in our society, we’re letting them win. When EDL or far right groups allow you to think a faith is the enemy, you’re letting them win. When your own community leaders tell you that another community is at fault- you’re letting them win. 

IS want to divide us, they want us be led to division and point the finger, they want us to begin the war. 
We will only defeat them if we stand together. All of us. 

#Pleasedontletthemwin 

Leaving a bit of my heart in Paris

 The 12:13 from Gare Du Nord left on time, and we sit in the carriage, with a mixture of feelings- anxiousness, relief, sadness, excitement, and above all gratefulness.

Arriving on Friday 13th, in one of my favourite cities in the world, I was so excited for what I had planned this weekend with my wife to celebrate her birthday.  

Dinner on the Eiffel Tower, Disneyland Paris, and then a day of sight seeing on Sunday. 

We had a beautiful time on Friday, with dinner at 58 Tour Eiffel, and then a lovely walk around the neighbourhood. Missing our train was a godsend as it meant we got a taxi back to our hotel in Port Des Versailles without venturing towards the hotels and bars affected by the attacks. 

I woke up at about 7.30 knowing that we had a busy day ahead of us in Disneyland Paris -and saw about 100 missed calls on my phone over night, and my immediate thoughts were- is everyone ok back home??? Little did I know that we were caught up in worst attacks of terrorism in decades in Europe. 

Feeling very on edge, and a little confused we called the embassy and asked the hotel about our options. Turned out that Paris was on lockdown so we were stranded in the hotel and surrounding area. 

We couldn’t keep our eyes from the news, even though we didn’t want it to pull us closer into the feeling of sadness we were already keeping at bay. 

We spent the next day walking, talking to locals, trying to spread smiles and compassion to a people rocked twice this year by violent extremism.  I wondered, would the people pick on me given that I have slightly middle eastern features? How much do they know about other cultures? The backlash of 9/11 on people of eastern heritage was terrible, would the Parisians be the same?

Much to my surprise – no  they seemed more comfortable and understanding with us, making conversation, and trying to make us, clearly tourists, comfortable. 

I have grown fond of Paris, and the people here. I hear the stereotypes of the French “arrogance” for my fellow Brits however, I find people are innately filled with love. They just want to enjoy life, watch their families grow and earn to provide for them.  I see them as my own. This, I feel is synonymous with all people, I cannot help but feel warmth for all. 

Leaving Paris, a warm, eerily quiet city today (Sunday) I feel a sense of connection to the beautiful city.  I feel I have left a part of my heart in Paris.  

A city I love for so much, now a city in mourning. I leave a piece of my heart for the people of Paris, because we were just there, because people do not deserve to be treated like that, because we neighbour them. 

I saw the resilience of the Parisians, their defiance against what was, and their strength for what will be. 

Paris, you have kept a piece of a fathers heart, and I will never forget 13/11/15. 

#parisattacks #terrorismhasnoreligion