James Band

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Sleeping under the stars or sleeping under a starless sky? Which do you prefer? Well, your answer is not going to make any difference in my life. Why? Because I sleep under a roof with four walls a door and a window to the sky around me. Always. Am one of those who are scared to sleep outside in dangerous times as these. Big fat well fed hybrid Mosquitoes can kill...one's appetite to sleep. This confession has nothing to do with what I have to post about.
T needs a claustrophobic combination of pitch darkness and warm close-window-shutter-during-winter room to be able to sleep fitfully. When he got married to me, he (obviously) had to give up his luxury and he got used to the window curtain being thrown open to let the street light in. This, so that I can sleep fitfully. Well, I am also scared of sleeping in the dark. Yeah yeah am all grown up and have a kid of my own but that doesnt drive away all those monsters lurking in the dark corners of my mind. And some under the cot. Sigh, yes I am scared of looking under the bed in the nights. I totally believed in the movie Monsters Inc. and find it hard to sleep for days errr nights on end after watching a horror movie. But my fears can be effused upon in another post or autobiography...whatever. Our little dotzy commands now. We have been adviced by elders that babies shouldnt be allowed to sleep in the dark. (Obviously they did not get this advice from their ancestors who lived the dark ages hyuck hyuck. ) The fact is that I was more than willing to oblige this favour as it provided me with a brightly lit room to sleep in. For five months since the birth of our kid T vehemently refused to stay over at my parents' house (where I had camped). I tried everything including emotional blackmail but to no avail. It is only much later that I realised the reason behind this. We (me and dotzy) came back to T's home and T couldnt run away from sharing our room anymore. After a lot of fuss and arguement about bringing up kid in light or darkness, dotzy prevailed and wailed in the darkness pitched at her. So T (again obviously) had to give up the luxury of a dark room completely. We now proudly (ouch) sleep under a zero watt bulb. True to the Necessity-is-the-mother-of-all-invention cliche T struck upon a wonderful idea. Last year, between T and me, we had flown 16 times out of which half the time we were given eye masks in-flight. We are also the kinds who store such exquisite knick knacks in the fond hope of being able to use them someday. Thus eroding most of the storage space in our already cramped cabinets.

So it is that T wears the eye mask every night and goes to sleep....fitfully. Thus was born James Band. I need to get a trademark on that name!

Dr Asha Benakappa, doctor par excellence

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Dr Asha Benakappa. This name sends the shivers down my spine even now. What a woman!
I went to this lactation consultant for guidance because my li'l tweety's swig taking sessions were unbearably painful for me. Thats besides the point in this post.
It was a rainy night and I was waiting in the car with dotzy for what seemed to be a promise of painless existence. Thats when I got a glimpse of a fiery woman (mehendi'd hair) striding purposefully into the clinic shouting out to her maid for a snack. I dint want to believe that was the doctor. For who had heard of a child specialist/lactation specialist (jobs which require a soft personality, or so I thought) being anything else but soft and demure? Still I dint let my confidence waver as I waited for my turn. In the process I heard her lambasting a small kid albeit for a correct reason. Now I was scared. The first thing I heard when I stepped in was a loud "Have you come about feeding problem?". From then on it only got worse. She scolded me for everything that I did and even chided me for having a baby when I stated a small problem. Ten minutes later I was waiting to run away but my dotzy was hungry so had to endure some more bellows. Another five minutes later my mom was fuming because the doctor kept calling her fat when she herself was twice her size! I had to calm my mum down and restrain her from giving her a wallop. I was due for another visit to her "to answer all my questions", a week later and I swore then and there that that would never come to be. I was a raging mama by the time I came home, enough to feed my baby without a fuss. Lol. By the third day thence I realised that I was not being fussy at all and had actually entered a painless existence. The shock at this discovery left me numb. The visit to the scary doctor had helped me!! From then on I have only been singing praises of the doctor to anyone who cares to listen. Under all the temper, scary personality and loudness lies a good doctor who treats patience without patience. Hats off.
All you new mothers in Bangalore, please visit her clinic in Banashankari if you any problems about swig taking.
The address is :
601 , 1st Cross, 30th Main, Banagirinagar Banashankari 3rd Stage, Bangalore