My Khatti Meeti and Burning Hot Spicy Life!

Today we bring to you the winning imlee story by Farida Rizwan- 

 

One day my mother wanted some puffed rice and she sent me to the shop to get it from a neighbourhood vendor whose shop was quite some distance away.

I walked all the distance only to find the shop closed. I dragged myself home and informed my Mom so. For some peculiar reason her response was odd, “How is that? He is always open on Tuesdays. He is closed only on Fridays. He has to be there. May be you did not go all the distance because you felt lazy. He is always there and you better go and get the puffed rice. I am getting late in serving the breakfast”.

Now I started to wonder what I should do now. This was a frustrating and situation which made me angry. My mind started on its evil journey where I decided to get back at my Mommy. I decided to use the word always as much as possible in everything to irritate her. The word would be my trump card in coming days.

I am stood there lost in my world, when my Mommy continued, “Now when are you going to get the puffed rice?" Read More

About the Author:
Farida Rizwan, mother of two youngsters, survivor of breast cancer, an ex-counselor, a teacher, a freelance writer and most of all a person who has total faith in the almighty. As Farida says- "I enjoy being ME despite the roller coaster ride of life.... and I am quite sure after being with myself for so many years that I do not want to be anyone else. I accept things as they are because, I believe God to be smarter than me. He knows what is good in the long run. I never intend to spoil his plans for me with prayers or by asking him to do what I think is right. I did rather leave it to him to choose what is best for me."

You can read more stories by Farida Rizwan here

Best Gift Ever !

What is the best gift you can give your family? Read on to find out!

A father came home from work late, tired & irritated, and found his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door. 

Son: "Papa, may I ask you a question?" 

Father: "Yeah sure, what is it ?"

Son:"Papa, how much do you make an hour?" 

Father: (angrily) "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"

Son: (insisting) "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" 

Father: "If you must know, I make Rs.1000 an hour."

"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Papa, may I please borrow Rs. 850?" The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and think about why you are being so selfish.I work so hard all day, and this is how you behave!"

The little boy quietly went to his room. The father sat down and started getting angrier about the little boy's questions thinking how dare his son ask him such questions just to borrow some money. After about an hour or so, the father had calmed down, and started to wonder if there was something he really needed as he never really asked for money otherwise.

The father went to his son's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep, son?" Father asked.

"No Papa, I am awake," replied the little boy.

"I have been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the father. "It's been a long day and I took out my frustration on you. Here's Rs.850 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you Papa!" He yelled.

Then, reaching under his piggy bank he emptied all the money he had collected coins and notes.The father, seeing that the little boy already had money, started to get angry again.The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Papa, I have Rs.1000 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

Are you spending enough time with your family ? Your parents , your kids? And how often are you in touch with your aunts and uncles, grand parents , cousins - they are family too right? The people who made those birthdays special, those family gatherings fun and have been there for you!

Time is precious so give your loved ones the best gift by giving them your TIME :) 

Whose Culture is it, anyway? Yours, Mine or Ours?

Last month we hosted the imlee stories contest where people could pen down stories about their special family memories. We got a large number of entries and it was a joy ride to read such interesting family stories. Imlee stories is our endeavor to bring you these beautiful family stories.

*This story was Surange Date’s entry that was adjudged the best story under imlee family stories contest 2012* Read on.. 

As long as I remember, there has been a February 14th. (Someone in the family has a birthday on the 13th)...
 
But its only in the last 20 years or so, that I hear it being celebrated here, as Valentines Day . And its only the last 10 years or so that certain pockets of society, and politicians have been objecting to its celebration, with a lot of violence, destruction of shops selling valentines stuff, and shouting from the rooftops. This year has seen the Ram Sene getting into the act in a Mangalore pub, beating up boys and girls, who were supposed to be drinking etc, in direct contravention, of what this Ram Sene says is "Indian culture" .....

When I was a child, explicit socializing between boys and girls was non existent. Yes, we were aware that in certain more emancipated sections of society such as Christians, the armed forces, and a few Parsees, a western lifestyle that was followed, allowed the practice of such socializing. And while my parents were extremely broad minded about us mixing with boys as a part of your school,college, sports etc, it was understood, that any extra attention from anyone, secretive meetings, fibbing to parents etc was simply not on. And we never suffered from the Friday night syndrome. Read more...
 

 About the author 

Suranga Date is a woman in her 60's, married and has two children. With a physics master from the university of calif at Irvine, Suranga was one of the few Indian women who took the challenge to explore IT while it was still growing in India. After being associated with India’s leading Software Company and premier engineering institution, Suranga decided to take a break from work to devote more time to her family. The prose and poetry she wrote as a child, simply came back to her when she started blogging. With a knack for writing, suranga likes to write just about everything.

Don’t believe us? Here’s her work-

Gappa- a prose blog

Strewn Ashes - a visual poetry blog

Apnathyroid, a blog about everything Thyroid

Limerickwala- where she contributes Limericks. 

And here's a film Suranga made on her household help(bai) Phillumwali...:-)

Humor in the family :)

Son: Dad, Who amongst father and son is more intelligent?

Father: The father, naturally.

Son: Really? Then why did Columbus discover America and not his father!

Wife: Darling now that we are engaged, can you give me a ring?

Husband: Certainly, what's your phone number?

Son: Father, how much am I worth to you?

Father: Why son, you're worth millions to me.

Son: Please can I have some advance of that sum?

Wife: Wherever we keep the money, our son steals it. I don't know what to do about it.

Husband: Keep it in his textbook. He never touches it!

Mom: Can the children travel in the bus on a half ticket?

Conductor: Yes, provided they are less than 12.

Mom: Thank God, I have only 9!

Happy World Family Day!

We wish you and your family a happy family day. 
Take a moment to thank the almighty for blessing us with people who are always by our side - our family.  Our family is like our roots , from where we grow. Giving us a strong sense of belonging our families prepare us to face life and learn from our experiences .

 

 Why do we celebrate the world family day? 

 May 15th is celebrated as the international family day. The united nations proclaimed the year 1994 as the international year of the families. Since then , 15th May is being observed as the international family day to celebrate the importance of families in societies and cultures around the world. 

 Imlee celebrates world family day

To make the world family day exciting we hosted the imlee  family quotes contest. The response was great and our fans linked us to beautiful family quotes. Here are the winning quotes from the contest-

Hope you all had a great time with your family. 

Love & best wishes

Team imlee

Welcome to the imlee family blog!

"Why imlee?" asked one of her friends, and she said “Because our families are like that - khatti meethi!”

Just as you like to bond with your family, we’d like to bond better with you. Welcome to the imlee family blog!There is a lot we would like to share here - feature updates, what goes on behind the scenes, some beautiful family stories, interesting tips, family fun activities and many other exciting things. But today we  would like to share with you the story behind imlee.

Did you ever wonder if your best friend is your distant cousin? Your colleague is your relative? You and some celebrity share common ancestors? Guess what can help you find this? - Your family tree!

Introducing the unique concept of family trees imlee helps you discover and connect with the people in your family network. Family trees are a powerful networking tool, because when you discover a new relative on imlee, you get connected to an entire family and your network grows faster! Not only that, when someone from your tree discovers a relative, the new relative and his entire tree become part of your network. Talk about exponential growth!

But the essence of imlee is not just discovering your family network. It is to help you bond better with your entire family. Our fast paced life and tight work schedules leave us with little time for family. Imlee solves this problem - it simplifies things and makes it easier to say that you care. You’ll never miss a relative's birthday or anniversary and the chance tell them how special they are to you. It’s easier for you to share stuff - even things that you feel are silly. Don’t worry about privacy issues. You’re safe. We promise.

The best feeling in the world is being able to go to a place you can call home - place where you feel like you belong, a place where no one can hurt you, a place where you can learn something new each day from the ones who love you the most. Imlee is here just to help you do that!

Love & best wishes

Team imlee