Teenager in the house

We have a newly-minted teen now! I started this blog when Ads was around 3 years old, so that also means my blog is about a decade old :) What a decade its been, since this whirlwind came into our lives! The first few days and months after Ads was born were filled with sleepless nights, pain, exhaustion and moments of pure joy as we fell in love with our adorable and exasperating baby. I have to say nothing much has changed since then! I still worry disproportionately about him, no one can frustrate and exasperate me as he does and he still fills me with immense pride and joy at the young man he is turning into.

Methodical, ethical, honest to a fault, puritanical, finicky, intellectual - these are all adjectives that come to mind when I think of Ads. His integrity, well I don't know where he got it from :) Suffice it to say it's very inconvenient at times! His penchant for following rules and his horror at flouting any, is a source of great amusement for all of us at home. He is obsessed with cleanliness and I have to tell him off for washing his hands so many times a day that they are completely dry and cracked with excessive use of soap. He can't stand disorder and untidiness, and used to routinely pick up bits of trash thrown in the common areas in our community in Bangalore. He still does it here :) 

My young man is quite unsocial. "Why do I need friends" he asks. Errr... so far, he seems quite happy in his own company. He loves science (physics and especially quantum physics is his thing), cricket, reading (non-fiction only). He spends a lot of time on Khan academy and has been teaching himself calculus and trigonometry. We keep asking him to work on the social skills (Make eye contact! Be interested in other people!) and hopefully it will make a dent at some point in the future, cos it ain't making a dent now, that's for sure!

As Ads enters a new phase in his childhood, I see in him all my experiments (failed and successful), my own uncertainties and struggles as a new mother. I am sure parenting this particular teen will be harder than parenting this toddler. So bracing myself for a wild eventful ride! 

On creating a village

I feel like I've been the newbie all my life. The new kid in school, the new mom in the group, the new neighbour, the new employee, the wife of the new employee :) When I was in school, often I left after just a year. In the last 18 years of married life, we have moved 8 times. I have studied in 12 schools, held 6 jobs, moved cities and countries and spent vast swathes of time dealing with packing cartons :). 

The physical exertion aside, what has been hardest is to create a network and a community of friends/neighbours wherever we go. People who will have your back. People who will welcome you into their homes, tell their children to make friends with your kids,  provide sage advice on the best places to eat, shop and thread your eyebrows :) People who, as busy and as submerged they are in their own lives, stop you from feeling lonely and adrift. 

In my 30s, I realized I am unlikely to make any more good friends. My best friends know me from an earlier life- school, college, b-school, work. I'm too set in my ways to tolerate the flippant, the flaky, the ignorant, just because they happen to be neighbours or colleagues. In the 40s, most of us realize we don't have to please anybody or be a different version of ourselves in order to be liked. At the same time, we all need a village to call our own. I remember a playdate invitation back when Advaith was a toddler. We drove several miles to a very nice suburb, full of large houses and BMWs/Mercs parked in the driveway, to meet an Indian mom and her kid. I had nothing in common with the mom, but as our kids played and we sat nursing our coffees, I was struck forcibly by how lonely she was in that huge spotless house with no one but her toddler son for company. She seemed to know very few people, unlike me who had joined a large moms club and had plentiful social opportunities. I invited her to be more regular at club outings but she never came. I think she was too introverted to be able to make the effort.

I call myself a "forced extrovert". Years of forcing myself to make the first move, blend in, and make new friends quickly have made me adopt a veneer of confidence when all I like to do most days is sit in a corner with a book and not talk to anyone. I can talk loudly at parties and dance at weddings knowing that the only situation I am truly comfortable is with myself, some family, some close friends. 

Extroverted or not, creating your own village is important for everyone. A community of acquaintances and friends is critical, catering to different needs. Some friends are great for movie dates. Some great for a cup of coffee and general gossip. Some are walking or fitness buddies only.  Some you only meet at the school bus stop and nowhere else :) 

Often I have felt, walking into a new environment, that I was the one needing company, and help. It took me some years to realize that I needed to be there for others too, to offer help as needed, to be their village. I was needed as much as I needed others. 

In all these years, one thing I am sensitive to, is how can I help the other newbies. I know what it's like to be in those shoes. Being welcoming, helpful, caring to someone new, is rare. People are well-intentioned but their own busy lives and schedules get in the way and oftentimes, that much-needed assistance never comes, remaining just in the form of a few polite words. 

These last few months, I have set about creating my new village here, and have been thinking - "Oh no...not again!" :))