Wednesday, December 8, 2010

My Rehman in the making :)

My little naughty kiddo is almost two now. His is a strange mix of all the languages in the world; a sweet innocent permutation of all possible syllables that he can utter. We don’t understand most of it but its music to my ears.

Surprisingly my son seems to pick up songs faster than words.

Any music that plays on television be it cine music or albums or nursery rhymes and for that matter even title songs of mega-serials makes him spring into instant dancing. His all time favorites are the Surya-Karthi siblings. Any song that has them in the hero role brings an instant smile to his face. That too a hundred watt one!!!

Whenever any one of us hums Kilimanjaro song from Enthiran my little one will keep repeating Appappo and Appappo….And if I sing a few lines from Shakira’s waka waka song he will break into a gleeful waka waka eh eh! His uttering Amma or Appa is very rare but these things come to him very easily.My Rehman in the making :)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Dreaded Word- Spread some awareness

The very mention of some diseases can send a shiver across our spine. One such disease of our times is undoubtedly Cancer. The words malignant and Cancer are really feared and dreaded.

Some of us would have just heard it in news broadcasts, stories or movies. Some of us would have seen its horrors in close proximity.

Every individual wishes for a healthy happy life to his kith and kin. Some diseases can be avoided by following healthy habits and a organized lifestyle. For a few awareness is very important to enable early detection and treatment.

Breast Cancer is the most common cancer among urban Indian Women today. Luckily, survival rates are more than 90% if diagnosed early.

I have personally seen and heard cases of overcoming breast cancer in my family due to early detection.

Scientists down the line may invent something that cures cancer the way a crocin can rid you of your fever. Till that day dawns lets spread awareness and pave way for a healthier society.

Indusladies.com is doing an Online Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign for the month of October.


As part of the awareness campaign,

Members can take a Breast Cancer Quiz and raise funds for a non-profit organization
Download a Breast Cancer 101 Awareness Pamphlet
Watch a Video guide to Breast Self-Exam
Receive updates on Breast Cancer Facts, Myths and Early Detection techniques throughout October.

The link for the same is

www.indusladies.com/byebyebreastcancer

DO PASS ON THIS LINK TO THE WOMEN YOU LOVE. IN TODAYS WORLD SPREADING A GOOD MESSAGE IS NOT DIFFICULT. LET’S DO WHAT WE CAN

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Climbing here and there

Does the name Tensing Norgay strike a bell to any of you? It should for it’s so often repeated in Social Studies text books that he is one of the first to have climbed Mount Everest.

We belong to South India but I have a feeling that somewhere in our family ancestry we have a touch with his genes. Well, my little V keeps climbing up all places.

When he could reach the dining table by standing on his toes we were a very proud couple. We did not have much clue about what all were in store for us. My son started climbing on to the dining chair and then on to the dining table. So we moved all the chairs away. Within a couple of weeks he learnt to move the chairs around in the house. He would drag the chairs near the table and then climb.

His next destination was the dressing table. Like a scientist he keeps inventing new methods to achieve his goals. He now started pulling his baby cot close to the dressing table, climb on to the baby cot and then on to the dressing table.

His latest interest has been the kitchen countertop. He used to pull the drawers open (They are at a bottom level) and use them as steps. We tied up all the drawers and shelves with clothes and plastic. Two days he was kept at bay. Now he has learnt that dining chairs can serve not only to climb on dining tables but anywhere that he wants. So he is back to climbing the kitchen shelf now more comfortable by dragging the chair around.

Hats off to his perseverance! No matter how many times I move the chair away he keeps dragging it back to where he wants it. Now it’s a test to my patience to keep moving the chair away and try to make him understand that it’s dangerous. Usually he loses interest in any new activity in a couple of days. Hopefully it should be the case with this one. If Mt Everest were a little closer to my place it would be his next aim hi hi 

Waking Up From Her Nightmare

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Experiences with the ship!

Seeing the title, most of you would have got images of huge white vessels gently cruising through the waves in your minds. Actually, I am referring to theship of the desert a.k.a camelus bactrianus a.k.a the camel.

We were on a sight seeing tour of North India after my XII board exams. At this age i.e in the second half of your teens, girls tend to be a little attention crazy. This sometimes causes the ohhhhhhhhhh-chooooooooo-cuuuuuuuuuuuuute expressions for puppies and kittens and babies and piglets. Well, may be not the piglets I guess!! I was no exception. We were touring the town of Pushkar in Rajasthan. It has the only temple for Brahma in India plus a few other temples. Ever since we landed in Rajasthan I expressed this strong desire to ride on a camel. This was half becauseof the attention craziness – blame that on my hormones. Half was because of my so-called interest in doing different things or experiencing different things. My cousin who accompanied us found a camel and its caretaker (I know its mahout for elephants. No idea what you call a camel-care-taker) taking rest in a shady area in oneof the quiet streets of Pushkar. He coaxed the camel guy (Lets call him that! Easier!) to let me take a ride on his animal. He agreed for a small sum. (Things never happen in India outside of business!!)

The camel was in a very bad mood or at least appeared to be. It was munching something and making weird noises. “Goddamn you! Can’t you let me enjoy my siesta in peace? Who is giving you such stupid ideas?” I did not need to be a camel to translate that.

I was anyways pretty excited. The camel guy made the camel sit or rather kneel and I climbed on top. The camel was on its feet and started getting up. I seemed to be rising and rising and rising. Now there are times in life when you realize that your decision is too stupid. But self dignity and ego prevent you from revealing this realization. I was in a similar state. I was totally scared and freaked out. I guess you can’t call it fear of heights because it was just a few feet above the ground. May be you can call it fear of heights when mounted on a camel?

Soon my fear and tension won the battle over my ego and dignity. This victory emerged in the form of huge screams from me. Screaming on a roller coaster ride is acceptable. Screaming on a camel??? Well, I did not care! I was terrified.The camel guy said something like ‘Ut’. Then only it dawned to me that my darling mount had not gotten up fully. Like the dinosaur in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, with all possible grace that it could muster, it rose again and stood in its full height.

Its moments like these when your picture gets taken. I still have that picture. My expression is like I have just bitten onto a green chilly when watching a horror movie. Of course there was a little smile that I tried for special effects. Very artistic photograph!

Then the camel started moving and I was shouting “Enough! Enough! Put me down! Put me down” Finally I was down. Once the fear subsided it was now time to face loads of embarrassment. I took it with honor! Believe me, I did. My family had a nice laugh. Somebody had fun anyways.

I was to have another rendezvous with this creature during my college days. We had gone on a bike ride to a nearby temple. There was this camel ride getting offered there. Oh No! Not the one like before. This was a cart pulled by a camel and all of us boarded it. Now we were engineering students and our duty is to do some showing off by being inquisitive and asking intelligent questions. Like what it ate, what it drank etc.
When we were about to get down I asked “Iska naam kya hai?” (What is its name?). I know you call dogs Timmy, Jimmy, Tuffy etc. I was wondering what they named camels.

For an instant the camel guy gave me a look that was a perfect combination of pity and wonder. He had assumed that I was a terribly-weak-at-zoology girl. He smiled and said ‘oont’. I did not hear it properly and I guess my look was quizzical. ‘Oont-oont’ he repeated and then added ‘kaemel’ and went off.

I still did not get it and was standing when I heard a whole lot of laughter. Friends never lose opportunities to pull your legs and opportunities like these which you serve them on a silver platter? No way!!! Okay!!! A camel-guy from Rajasthan had just told me that the four legged animal with a hump was called oont in Hindi and kaemel in English. Embarassment is a small word to depict my plight that moment!

Once again the camel and I had succeeded in bringing great momentary happiness to those that surrounded us. What a team we were!

My friends laughed over this quite a number of times and narrated this to their friends for a hearty laugh again. Things became so bad that sometimes the introductions were based on this incident. “Hey remember the kaemel girl? This is her” followed by ha ha s and hi hi s. Hmmm!!!!!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Someone puleeez translate

I am sure that quite a few of you might be residing in cities where you don’t know the ABC or Ae-Be-Che or rather whichever way the script goes of the local language. People in such circumstances would have a lot of stories to share.

This becomes most problematic when you travel, or go shopping, and in case of vegetarians like me when you hunt for food. During my initial few days in Kuala Lumpur, there were instances when I would walk into a restaurant and ask if there was something veggie. Malaysian food is full of fish, meat and if nothing else anchovies for the flavor. People like me asking for vegetarian were a totally rare sight for them. The lady servicing this mad customer would give a blank look.

Okay! You did not understand, is it? Fine! Here I go again! Do-you-have-anything-veggie? I would stress each word to try to make her understand. She would give me a “Where-on-earth-have-you-come-from?” look and say “Don’t-have” with a wave of her hand. “I have better customers to attend to. Good riddance” I can almost hear the words in her mind.

Now the above belong to the “I know some English” cadre. The experience is best when you have someone for whom English sounds the way a tribal language in the deep jungles of Africa would sound to you and me. One such fellow was sent to do some general repairs in my home by the landlord.

I was alone at home with my three month old son. This guy rings the bell and comes inside and says Hi.

“Obang?” he says.

Now it was my turn to give a blank look.

“I am sorry I don’t know Malay”

“Obang! Obang!”

Well, repeating it twice will not make me a Nobel Laureate in Malay Literature.

“Ladder?” I ask trying to help.

“Obang! Obang!” and he starts walking around the house and exploring

“Bathroom? Yes the heater is not working” I say slowly and firmly trying to make the best imitation of the lady who used to come on Doordarshan at 1:15 on Sundays. News for the hearing impaired.

“Obang” and he shows me his hands with three fingers open and the thumb and index finger closed.

“Yes there are three fixes to be done”

“O-baaa-nnn-ggg” now putting so much stress on each syllable is not going to drill any amount of Malay vocabulary into my head.

He puts his hands on his hips and looks to the left and then to the right.

I stand like a school student whose teacher has just asked her “now what is fourteen times twenty-three”. Not those prodigies who have the answers stored somewhere or the other in their brain.

There is a minute of awkward silence.

Now he looks at me with a “Lets try it again” expression and says “Obang” moving his hands backwards and forwards showing three again and again.

Is he telling me that the interiors are superb? I wonder. Naaaah.Why would he repeat it so many times?

“Obang Obang” and he peruses the walls.

Luckily my neighbor is at home and I rush to seek their help.

“There is a guy out there speaking only Malay and I can’t make heads or tails out of it.”

My neighbor’s son, a fifteen year old comes with me.

“Obang!” our man in question repeats with a relieved tone.

“Obang means hole. Is there a hole on the wall to be sealed?” the boy asks me.

Oh dear! All this while he was showing a hole with his thumb and finger and I was looking at the three shown by the other fingers.

Now that was a fix that was not there in our initial list and I had not remembered it. Even if I did remember, it would not have made any difference. I would have still been the non-Malay-speaking-idiot-who-has-landed-from-God-knows-Where.
With the help of my fifteen year old translator I managed to get things done.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Ideal World of Cartoons

Thanks to my toddler I have started watching cartoon channels more than anything else on television. I never knew they were so good and entertaining. I was of the belief that only kids would enjoy these animated series. To my surprise I found that I was enjoying them even more than my son.

I am not talking about cartoons where you have evil forces and super warriors like Animax channel. I am referring to simple cartoons and our favorite channel is Playhouse Disney. Groups of friends, lots of joy, teeny-weeny problems that they solve and happy endings guaranteed.

These days the producers are making great attempts to make them educative as well. There is Mickey Mouse Club House where Mickey and Friends achieve some feat using Mouse-ka-tools. It portrays how simple things that we have can be put to efficient use. Every now and then Mickey would do some counting and numbers. There is Higgly Town Heroes where every episode concentrates on some profession and the people in those portrayed as heroes. It explains what bakers, doctors, firemen, policemen and even marine biologists do. There is Handy Manny where tools talk and its explained how simple repairs are done.

There is no violence and no vulgarity. It’s an ideal world where everyone is sweet, kind and nice and there is no poverty, crime, grief, war, difference in ideologies, etc.

After seeing these channels I am unable to watch any news channel. What a marked difference exists. The former is full of fun, frolic, happiness and joy; the latter full of violence, hatred, atrocities and crime. I’d rather watch Timmy the lamb go to school rather than listen to reports of terrorists, snipers, corrupt men and politics.

If only by magic we could enter into that world of cartoons how nice it would it be, I wonder. The world of kids has no complexities that we human beings have created on this planet. It’s simple and beautiful.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Patriotism – Starts from Your Minds and Hearts

“India is my country. All Indians are…..” the pledge would get repeated in almost every school in the country and the students would blurt it out in a song like fashion along with the umpteen other pledges and oaths they have to take. How many of us really feel proud to be an Indian?

Generally when it comes to love for the nation it is always portrayed in a highly emotional, melodramatic manner – like soldiers losing their lives or movie heroes like Sunny Deol bashing up all anti-Indian elements.

I happened to meet one of my husband’s colleagues from the West and like all conversations between people of different nationalities, our discussions revolved around comparing various aspects of the two countries. Only when we discuss such things with others do we realize the enormity of the diversity in our country. Starting from food! Every state has so many delicacies to boast of. Take TamilNadu and I would say idly, dosa, sambar, vada , Chettinad items and the list would go on. We explained to our friend that we speak Tamil but our national language is Hindi. A different language is spoken in every state and each language has a unique script. Wow!!! We were watching TV and there was a movie showing Holi celebration. We explained that this is a festival of colors celebrated in the Northern parts of India and that we from the south don’t have it in our list of festivals though we belong to the same religion. I added that we do join the celebrations for the fun part of it. We were talking about weather and I realized that India experiences all kinds of weather, though in different parts of the country. Hot,Warm, Pleasant, Rainy, Cold, Snowy - name it and you can find a matching place. Any aspect that we took, I could not give a simple answer.

Since childhood I have done a fair amount of traveling and have visited quite a few places in India. Our country is a tourist’s haven. Each and every one of these tours has instilled an awe and amazement in me – Brahadeeswara temple of Tanjore, backwaters of Aleppey, Beas running near Manali, palaces of Jaipur to name a few .

Our cinema and television industries are huge and produce some of the greatest shows and movies in the world – in a unique our own way.

We are one of the very few countries to have had women Chief Ministers and women Prime Ministers. We have women in all walks of life. There is suppression and oppression in some places. Agreed! But we are moving at a fast pace towards the positive side. Some of the biggest entrepreneurs in India are women. Do we need anything else to prove this?

The average Indian is much shrewder and has a much higher IQ compared to his counterparts in other parts of the world. No wonder that there is an Indian behind most of the complex computer systems in the world today.

The medical expertise of doctors in India is on par with the best doctors of the globe. We often hear of patients coming from other parts of the world to get their treatments done at the much affordable prices here.

We have not been entirely swallowed by the influences of the West. India is sort of an archipelago of cultures and so many of us strive to safeguard what we have inherited and imbibed. Our festivals, celebrations, weddings etc hold testimony to that.

Indians are one of the most adaptable and adjustable people on earth. We have lived in harmony amidst long hours of power cuts, water scarcity, pollution, overcrowded public transportation systems. This explains the presence of a small coterie of our country men in almost every other nation in the world irrespective of climatic conditions and cultural barriers.

We are technologically savvy. Menial laborers would have cell phones. Even a small thatched hut would have a television with cable connection.

We keep criticizing the political system. We have sects and sub sects and so many differences – religion, language, traditions, and customs. Running a country with such a complex set up is not a joke. We definitely need to praise our ruling parties for the same and we have to remember that in spite of the corruption we have produced some of the best administrators in the past 63 years.

We have a zillion things to be proud of and boast about. The sad thing is majority of the Indians spend their time criticizing the system. They boast about the absence of pollution and the perfect road systems in other parts of the world. Ask them to name one good thing they have given back to the Indian society and they would have to shut themselves in a room and think for hours together to give a response.

The constant complaints about the problems we have and the over-done appreciation of the systems in other countries is our worst enemy. If you really love your country you would not throw garbage on the streets. You would follow traffic rules. You would help fellow Indians, given an opportunity. Above all you would show pride whenever you speak of the country.

Patriotism is not saluting the national flag or honoring freedom fighters and army men. It is a feeling that has to emanate from the heart; A pride about our customs, culture, ideologies, beliefs, traditions. Instead of constantly cribbing about the negatives around us we should try praising the positives.

Instead of talking about bad roads talk about the new roads that get built;

Instead of talking about over crowded railway systems express awe and admiration for the way such a huge populace is being managed by the largest railway network in the world;

Instead of cribbing about pollution develop the habit of throwing waste in dustbins and planting trees;

Instead of acting as if you can eat only at Mc Donalds and Starbucks spread the wonders of our pani puri and masala chai to your non-Indian friends;

Instead of cribbing about inefficient governance take initiatives for the betterment of society; Pay for a child’s education; Help someone suffering at a hospital; Donate blood!

The picture some westerners have about India is that it is a poor uneducated country with snake charmers and beggars. This is evident from the books they write and the movies they make.

When you talk to Westerners don’t try to win their favor by trying to imitate their ways or feeling inferior about ours. Take pride in our customs and methods.

No developed country of today’s world received freedom just half a century ago.

We are an intelligent smart shrewd lot with an amazing cultural heritage. No other nation in the world has so much of variety to offer as ours.

We do have ills in the name of corruption, a selfish money-minded political system, poverty, unemployment, dowry, casteism, pollution etc. But change is inevitable. If time has changed us from the prosperous rich nation that we were to a developing suffering nation that we are today the reversal can happen and it will. To start the process the love for the nation in the minds and hearts of us Indians is what is needed. You don’t have to join the army or the police force for that. Cherish our ways and take pride in our pluses. The rest will follow suit.

This post is part of the blogadda contest titled Mera Bharath Mahan sponsored by pringoo.com

Friday, August 6, 2010

Mother And Father To Each Other

The following that I had originally posted on Indus Ladies won the Friends Forever Competition on blogadda

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/blogs/jaishvats/mother-and-father-each-other-3422/

The mad rush for respect

‘Respect’ is a beautiful word. It means a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity. Respect is something that has to emanate from the heart. In India respect is demanded, quarreled over, fought about and enveloped in falsehood.

Statues, garlands and posters top the list of means to show ones respect. Every other day it’s the birthday of some leader – freedom fighter, or political leader or a literary genius. We would have politicians thronging the places where their statues are kept. Huge garlands would be put around the statue and there would be big news coverage. Party followers would be shouting slogans in favor the person garlanding. I don’t think statues are given this much hype in any other part of the world. If you really respect the person do something to spread his ideology, start some program to create some awareness about him.

Even Raja Raja Chozhan would not have had so many ‘respectful’ terms behind his name. The posters we see struck everywhere in the city carry so many honorary titles for our ministers. The lower ranked members of the party try to get themselves in the good books of the ministers and in turn a seat in the Assembly by uttering these titles at every possible opportunity and adding a few if possible.

We have the culture of the ministers falling at other minister’s feet. Ask them to give one reason why they are doing it and they would reply that he is a great man. Are we living in a democracy or not? They are just elected members of the community. Why make Gods out of them?

Even doctorate degrees have fallen prey to this game of giving respect. Universities try to get funds and popularity by giving honorary doctorate titles to the most underserved of the lot.

Actors are no exception. In Tamil film industry, an actor who has completed three movies expects a ‘sir’ after his name whenever somebody refers to him. In the Western world actors are treated just as actors and referred to by their first name. I have not seen any actress being referred to as ‘madam’ here. These actors are also crazy after titles. I think we have contenders for almost all the titles in an infantry in our Tamil film industry.


Respect problems start from the family. There are parts of Tamilnadu where the way the banana leaf is folded after a meal indicates respect or the lack of it.
There are families where a marriage invitation carries a thousand names on the ‘With Best Compliments’ list and family feuds result when some name of an nth relative gets missed out. Of all things on earth coffee can be told to cause lack of respect. So often we hear ‘The girl’s side did not even offer proper coffee. They had no respect for the guy’s side.’

In this mad rush for respect so many people who actually deserve respect are forgotten. But they neither ask for it or feel having been denied it. Aged people deserve respect. They are called as ‘perusu’(literally translates to big). People in buses don’t offer them seats. Their age is not given any importance in government offices where they go for something or the other and are still made to undergo torturous hours of waiting and begging. People who do social service without any political motives need respect. The labourers who toil day and night to provide us with all our luxuries need respect. Recently in Singapore in one of the papers I saw that the Govt inspected public toilets and gave away awards to the workers for the best kept public rest rooms.

I feel that we need to respect every individual who ignores society’s ways and gives respect to the deserved in a deserving manner.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

AutoDrivers-2

AutoDriver-1

stories from Dad

When we are kids dads are generally our role models. As far as the kid is concerned the father is an epitome of perfection in all that he says or does.And the child would believe every word that the father says as well.Things change once we become adults.Now we take them as dad's opinions rather than as facts.

One of my earliest memories of dad is when we used to go to movies. I remembered that we had gone to see Tamil movie 'Vikram'. It was my habit to make him repeat the story of the movie after we got back home.And my dad would patiently repeat the story as many times as i ask.Both me and my brother have troubled our dad a lot for story telling and my dad was really good at that.

My brother loved the story of a deer called 'Munni' a segment of my dad's imagination. He would make him repeat it every day and would not permit a single deviation from the original version or rather the first version. The sequence of events, dialogues and characters had to match.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Laugh Baby Laugh

One of the first things expected of an infant is to recognize faces and smile.Kuttu was of no exception.The first thing that made him smile was the tube light. I have no idea what fascination a 25-day old would have in a tube light but he would look at it and break into a smile.
Its wonderful to hear your baby laugh!! It gives you a wonderful pleasure and satisfaction that your kid is happy.When he was around a couple of months old my husband's father would say "Laga Laga laga" and he would burst into laughter.V is a happy-go-lucky kid,always smiling.I am referring to an instance here where he would laugh out loud.Then when my dad and mom played ball with him on their laps he would laugh for every throw and every catch.My husband would sometimes put him on his lap in a kind of vertical position with his head on his knees and his legs leaned against his chest.He would gently press his legs as if massaging it and say "Papa ku kaal ellaam valikkum.Papa nerayya nadanthuttaan "(Baby has walked a lot...Baby's legs would hurt) and V would break into a sweet laughter. What amuzed our kiddo was totally unpredictable.Some of the things I said used to make him laugh.For instance once I said "Oh..Oh" for something and he found it so funny.Same reaction was for "Achacho".I often used to repeat these to him just to see him laugh.
During our visit to Chennai we took him to one of the so-very-crowded garment shops and he was sitting on my husband's lap in one corner while we ladies were busy selecting.Vidyut was laughing uncontrollably.I have no idea what made him so happy;Whether it was the colors or the crowds or the lights.
Now he is seventeen months old.We have this advertisement on TV for a Super-Mom show in one of the Tamil Channels.We see mummies competing with each other in some athletic adventurous events like rock climbing and motor-bike riding.One mother comes running passing the rubber tyre hurdles lined in her way, trips and lands with a crash. This scene evokes instant laughter in my son. They have this serious music playing when she falls but he finds it totally amusing.ha ha

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

In The Play Area

These days I have started taking my son to our apartment play area in the evenings.Our junior is very very interested in anything he can lay his eyes on there.This includes the toys of the other kids coming there.His own toys? No way!!! They do not arouse his interest.
The first day I went without taking any toys.Kids here have these cars and bikes in which they can sit and somebody can push.He was totally engrossed in exploring the cars and cycles of the other kids.The next day I took his car along.It did not match his speed requisites.His interest shifted to the balls that the other kids brought.So the next day we took his ball.Now he became interested in the walking sticks of the old ladies coming for a walk.
He always goes in the reverse direction in the slides.And of late his practice is to climb on to the play pen(using the reverse slide method :) ) , come to its edge and just fall or rather jump freely.And mummy is supposed to catch him.
There is a shuttle court there and he loves running there and picking up the rackets of the kids playing there.These rackets are pretty expensive and the kids' parents most probably would not take any damage to those lightly.He would take the badminton racket and drag it on the floor.And I would go running after him to save the racket from him and myself from any unexpected expense.

Skin Care Day

Today was skin care day for my son.In the morning I was busy in the kitchen.There was absolute silence in the house.Kuttu with no noise is kuttu upto some definite mischief.I came into his room and saw that he was washing his toy car with calamine lotion.I had placed it on the bathroom shelf and he had somehow got it.Now he had opened it and he had the pale pink lotion all over him,his legs,arms and face.And he was happily applying it all over his car.
In the afternoon I was preparing lunch for our little brat.I came to the hall and saw that it had been whitened.He had caught hold of the talcum powder and had somehow opened its lid.So there was talcum powder all over the floor and he was rolling away to glory in that.He had the powder on his hair , nose,cheeks and was a funny sight.And the nice rose fragrance lingered throughout the day in our home.He was playing in the spilt powder as if it were snow.

Friday, May 28, 2010

No Curd Day!!!!

Today its a no curd day for us.Not that we are into some kind of fasting.It just ended up like that.Yesterday after we finished our dinner, I placed some milk on the stove and came to the hall.I got so engrossed in the latest reality show that the milk on the stove became a totally forgotten event.After some time I felt something burning.I rushed to the kitchen to check if I had forgotten to switch off.Now this part of the story is something I myself am not able to comprehend.I found everything in order in the kitchen.The flame was probably in a very simmered state and I mistook it to be off.I came back to the hall announcing that its from somewhere outside.My husband said that probably its the barbeque party downstairs.I even grumbled and cursed the partying folks for producing such obnoxious odours.After some time the memory of the milk I placed on the stove came crashing out of my memory.You should have seen the sight.The vessel was pitch black and the kitchen smelt horrible.I somehow heated some more milk on the microwave and poured some curd and retired for the day.The next day our Kuttu woke up very early as usual.I found him playing with his toys and I went to the washroom to brush and freshen up.It would have been hardly five minutes.When I went to the kitchen I found that my darling tall toddler had toppled the set curd from the kitchen counter and had spilt it all over the floor.And he had curd on his feet as well.So first chore of the day was cleaning up the curd on the floor.So mommy and sonny together ensured that daddy gets no curd today!!!!

Friday, May 21, 2010

I hate sitting in the pram!!!

My kiddo is now nearing seventeen months and one of the latest developments is that he can climb on to the stroller all by himself. When we are all set to go out he would come running,climb on to it and secure the safety latch also.But the other side of the coin is that he can also climb out of it.Well not exactly but he can free himself of the safety belt and stand on it like Houdini who has just freed himself from a tight lock.Obviously we cant push him around like that.The end result is that its becoming a tough experience going out now.As long as the pram is in motion he is fine.But if I stop at some point immediately he would be up on his seat.This becomes all the more difficult when the things in the shop arouse his curiosity.And most of the shops that we visit would very much fall into that category including any department store.No amount of tightening of the belt has been of any help.So now the only option is to carry him around!!! Its fun in its own way though.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Chubby Cheeks Dimple Chin Purple Lips Teeth Within

This afternoon I was having my lunch...kuttu was going around here and there inside our house....i got immersed in something on TV for around ten mins...that was more than enouogh for my daring tiger to wreak havoc...i went around looking for him and he came out running from the bathroom with purple hands,feet and lips....i took a look inside...he had climbed on top of the covered toilet commode and picked our Regaul Liquid Blue used for whitening clothes.And that was the source of the color change.I quickly washed his hands,feet and mouth and brushed his teeth....Luckily its not poisonous or anything.....what a sight he was with chubby cheeks and purple lips.....

Laptop becomes key less

Yesterday we accidentally left our laptop on our mattress and thats one place easily accessible to our little brat...it was hardly five minutes after that...we noticed that he had skillfully plucked out the X,B,N,<,V keys from it.....And b was missing also.....my husband painfully spent an hour and somehow managed to put the keys back in place...Despite that some of them are standing at an angle of the Leaning Tower of Pisa right now...i searched all over the place for the missing B but could not find it all....Full of frustration i started typing a message on facebook when i realized that the space bar was not working...and viola!!! our missing B was under the space bar....we used my tweezer and managed to pull it out and put it back in place.....

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Save Me!! Scream our belongings!!!

Kuttu has started exploring things and there are some tiny things that only his little fingers can reach. For instance my husband's watch. It was a gift from me for our first wedding anniversary. And now one of kuttu;s favorite play objects. The other day we were sitting on our bed discussing something and our little one was sitting beside us happily playing with daddy's watch. After some time I found a tiny screw on the bed. Soon we figured out that it was the time adjustment screw of the watch. Now as long as we dont have to change time my husband's watch runs fine.If we have to reset the time we dont have an option.

We have got a new LCD TV. And another of kuttu;s favorite pastime is to remove the cover of the remote, pull out the batteries and play with them. Now the latch connecting the cover to the remote is broken and I have to resort to some repair means like a rubber band or cello tape.

And as long as kuttu is in the house we can expect a whole lot of things in the most unexpected places. The other day I found the weight of my pressure cooker in his baby bag. And every now and then he will remove things from my kitchen and place them in some corner in the house or worst case in the bathroom.

We have two cupboards and both their drawers are now damaged; result of Kuttu constantly trying to pull them out and sometimes trying to empty their contents and stand in them.

Every now and then the internet connection will have a problem.No the connection is perfect but our son would be really interested in the network and would have pulled out some wire. But I have to admit that I learn some new things because of him as well.For instance I had no idea that our modem had a stand-by switch.When the internet connection was not working I examined the connections and figured out that there was in fact a stand by switch that my baby had happily pressed.

Every day is an adventure saving some of our precious belongings from our darling brat!!!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

mobile charger!! my fav toy!!!!

We have given our little son a name in Sanskrit that roughly translates to power,energy etc. His dad works in Energy domain and grand dad was in the TNEB workforce. I dont know what is the root cause but my son adores electric gadgets especially wires. We have half of the stuff in any toy shop at our home but his favourite has always been the mobile charger. He has around five drag along toys...thats the first gift that people can think of for a toddler who has just started walking. Those he uses only to discover how to untie a knot and remove the string from those toys. His favourite drag along toy has always been the cell phone charger. He would hold it by the socket end and drag along the plug to wherever he goes.Our maid used to say "Avan a paarthukkarathu romba easy ma....oru charger a kayila kudutha athumbaattukku irukka poguthu" (its very easy to look after him...if you give him a charger he;ll cause no trouble)...in fact when my Nokia cell phone got damaged beyond repair i went in for a new Sony Ericsson one...and the now useless Nokia charger was given to our little kiddo in his play room...But he is very clear...he is not interested in the ones which we dont actually use....when the cell phone is getting charged he would get attracted to it as if it were a magnet and he were made of iron....he would first disconnect the mobile from the charger....and then toss it to one side on the floor...then with one hand he would pull out the charger and then start using it as his drag along toy....who cares what happens to mamma's mobile...i am interested only in the charger....and yes there are so many who get alarmed and say thats so dangerous.....for kids to play near plug points...yeah true...but despite all possible baby proofing my sonny always finds a way to reach his goal....i can be proud of that fact ...he has a never-ever-give-up attitude ha ha

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Highly Sociable

I would definitely do a flash back and post certain sweet sweeter sweetest memories of my kiddo but for now i think its best to just write away current happenings and anywayz i guess we are in the most interesting days now.

One of the first comments I get when anyone sees my son is "He is so friendly". And he is. Whenever we get into the lift he would give a big grin to everyone else. If the other occupants say a hello to him he would give a squeal of delight. Else he would make a lot of "You better give me some attention" noises till those people react. When some guests come home V would usually be asleep. He would get out of bed come running to the hall and fling himself against the guest and go running into their arms with a big big smile. And most guests usually say "I have never seen such a friendly baby"..Call it mommys-bragging but quite a few have actually said that to me.I went to buy vegetables and he willingly jumped from me and went to the billing lady.She was like "You come in the morning and we;ll play.Aunty is a lil busy rt now"
Restaurant and he is the waiters pet...and go visiting people at the hospitals and he is surrounded by the nurses there....His only criteria of not getting restless on an MRT train is "There should be someone making friends with him and talking to him and that too strictly a non-parent" ...i mean neither me nor his dad ha ha...