It’s been years since ...

... I have had an ardent follower, who shows his utmost displeasure at my exclamations of love – the frowning of the brows, the angry look, lifting his hand ready to beat up my poor lover. Before you get any ideas let me introduce you to my dearest little 2 year old – who was royally upset with my husband and I.

What not me the center of your universe, he seemed to want to say. But for once we laughed, and hugged and blew each other a kiss. The poor guy realized that he better be inside the circle of love than out, and so came running to hug onto his father’s legs. We picked him up and blew some kisses to his cheek and he sat there happily satisfied – a look in his face that said – see all’s well now! :D

With a great start to the day, husband and I caught up over lunch- an impromptu lunch date. Of course, we ended up talking about our son, the house and work. But what the heck, we tried a new Middle eastern restaurant, spoke in loud voices over the crowds and generally had a great time.

In the evening we made a trip to the temple and asked for Lord Ganapati’s blessings. Then went out for dinner – where for a change Kochunni was on his best behavior. So there ended a beautiful day.

Happy Anniversary, my dear husband. Here’s to many more years of growing old with you! Cheers!

The long weekend

For the past several years we have routinely made a trip someplace for the Labor Day long weekend – it was our annual anniversary celebration, plus the end of summer getaway – sort of the last hurrah. This year though we had no plans, but it turned out to be one roller coaster ride after all.

On Saturday we decided to make a trip to the Palo Alto Junior Zoo & Museum. It’s really a small place, but packed with lot of fun for toddlers. There are rabbits, turtles, fishes and a small pond for the ducks, and a little “bridge” for Kochunni to walk up and down as if some sort of a king! A miniature cage for the rats, while a darkened corner for the bats and the owl. (Kochunni really got scared of the sleeping owl – it was so huge and was sitting with his eyes closed, reminded me of Dumbledore for some weird reason).

The museum area was fun for the little guy as he tried his hands at every toy around. It’s definitely a place to be, when you have nowhere else to be. I am sure Kochunni will outgrow the place quickly, since it is really a mini zoo cum museum but for the opportunity it provides with its clean surroundings and close to the heart of the bay area and light on the purse (they only ask for a merger $3 donation) it is well worth it. (recommended to all bay area moms and dads)

The next day we decided to make a trip down further to the Oakland Fairyland. Now this is definitely a privatized version of Palo Alto Zoo, and no I am not even comparing it to Disneyland with its acres of attractions and fun.Its definitely not a place to be if you have a kid who is over 3 (max 4) once past that age it’s a sheer waste of time and money. But for a two/three year old it can be fun. For a two year old its more about the slides, the whale (Kochunni was so happy trying to get to the little fishes on the slippery slope) and the little carousal. For a three old who knows all the rhymes and nursery stories, it can probably be a wonderland – with the puppet shows, different set ups based on the stories. As for us, (the grey haired oldies) you can be happy if you see a happy child right! Ah well! Of course, you cannot get in without a child (there is a board at the front desk – No child without adult and no adult without a child) so I guess they are fair. One tip: If you are taking a boy – don’t bother with the Magic key – he is not going to have the patience of inserting it into the boom box and listening to the song, when he can rather run in circles trying to make his mama lose some weight. So if you still have a toddler at your house, do make a trip – don’t compare it to Disneyland and you shall have a day of fun.

By Monday I was down with a cold and woke with my eyes burning hot and heavy (I think it was my husband who brought it home last weekend from office, I just hope the buck stops with me). We decided to call it a movie day and ended up watching one of my favorite police detectives John McClane see what he does best – beat up bad guys at their own game in Live Free and Die Hard. So what if the story had holes in it like the size of the watermelon, if he can still say his famous line “Yippee ki yay …” with a sly smile on his face I am down for another movie all about McClane! :D

So that was our weekend, and I am now looking forward to a short week and of course high hopes for a special day tomorrow! ;) How about you, how was your last weeks of summer?

Flashlight memories

Don't you miss someone when they are gone and you realize how much you depended on them. But until they are gone you find so many faults in them that one would think you would rather not keep in touch with them. I am talking about my laptop (in case anyone was getting any other ideas). Its one of the best love-hate relationships I have had for a longest time now. I was happy for a time when I got a Mac, but now that's gone, & with no real hope of getting another one, I am forever in this limbo of "I hate you, but please don't leave me" mode.

So my PC crashed and I was out of it for more than a week. In the meantime, I was loaned an old rickety one, but that meant slow everything! Horrors of all, I lost all the saved URLs and could not keep in touch with blog friends, (yes I should sign up for a reader, but am too lazy to bother, if you haven't noticed yet that is). On the other hand life moved on, my work load piled as I was out of my PC (yes saying it again) and with two colleagues out on vacation I have additional backing up responsibilities. So in the interest of keeping my blogging up, here's something that I had written in 2002 for my speech class, that I found over the weekend while cleaning up - posting it here for posterity! Enjoy!

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Back during the school years, we had the shift system in Mumbai - primary school was in the afternoons while secondary from 5th through 10th in the mornings (7 through 1PM). Pre-primary or nursery was probably the best times for kids from around 10 to 12. One of the episodes that I still remember vividly occurred while I was still in nursery ...


Coming home from schools, on sunny afternoons had special meaning to my little heart. Amma used to pick us up from nursery and once home a nice hot, delicious lunch was always ready. After a quick nap and a few hours of studies it would be time to play. All my friends would gather at the playground and decide what we were going to do that day. It would be fun, filled with laughter and fights.

But on afternoon my playtime would end. I fell down the stairs, in an attempt to 'catch' my best friend. The incident occurred when the two of us were running up and down our apartment stairs playing catch, while my mom was talking with her's at their doorstep. All I got was a piece of red frock she was wearing and then I tumbled down just and broke my arm. My cries brought Amma running to me and she took me home - she put some Iodex and checked my arm when she realized that it was possibly broken - since it looked twisted. Those were the days when only a few houses had a telephone and cars, plus only a few of the people were at home since it was a working day. She called on one of the elderly couple who had a phone too and asked them if they could call my dad and let him know. The kind uncle not only did the same, he accompanied Amma to the nearby hospital. I don't remember much of that day, as I was most of time
in pain, crying and hungry. I must have dozed into sleep often and once when I woke up it smelt like like an aftermath of fire - everything around me was white tiles and people in white as well (I have hated that color since then). Amma later told me, that she was moved around quite a bit in trying to get to meet with a doctor to check me up - the lines long and day melted away in the throngs of people and noise. The only two other things that I can remember from that day, was being seated in a little park area and seeing my dad walk in, I was very happy to see him - Daddy's girl that I was! :) Another piece that stayed in mind was the ride home, late at night and a few visitors that came by to check up on me (I guess the news had spread by then).

Over the next few days I realized what the doctors visit meant in reality - I could not move my right arm. I could not even see it. My fingers were sticking out of a white plaster around my arm (put to straighten my arm, which was broken). In the days that followed, I could not play, write or even wear my dresses properly. The right arm of the dress would be hanging down since I could not put my arm through it. I was ashamed to go out like that. What would my friends think?

On the other hand, I skipped school, no proper baths and was hand-fed from amma for all meals. It often used to itch, but with the plaster around - nothing could be done. The plaster came off only after a month of tantrums and possible hardships my parents - Amma had to visit one of my school friends and copy all the classwork & homework, so that I wasn't left behind when I rejoined.

But I was finally happy. I could wear my dress, play and even write again. To my little heart it was a great achievement indeed!

Roobaroo

When I started to blog my regular readers were my parents and occasionally my husband. Then I started to get some hits and as I started visiting other blogs, reading, commenting; I started to get a steady readership. Few weeks later I had made friends. Yes friends, who laughed and cried at my parenting blues, friends who stopped by while I was asleep and dropped a kind word that lifted my spirits the next day. Friends who became part of my family. Then of course the mega shower happened that helped build bridges across national boundaries, time zones and continents. It was during this time that I grew closer to DDMom – a woman I have grown to admire, respect and love.

Realizing that we were living so close to each other, we emailed on a possibility of meeting and even setting up play date – with her adorable girls and my brat. We decided on a date, the time, the venue to meet. But it was not meant to be. After weeks of emails & phone calls we decided it was now or never, especially with an impending trip over the horizon.

Quick thinking as she is, DDMom suggested we meet for lunch. So on a warm Thursday afternoon we met at Chipotle (a Mexican restaurant). Munching crisp tacos, we chatted about her final days in the bay area, about our kids (what else) and ourselves. Soon the hour was up & we had to part ways. I had to get back to work, while she had to rush back to Dlittle.

DDMom, I really enjoyed our quickie meeting. It was what I had hoped for (except for my klutz behavior – I misplaced my keys right in my pocket :D) and much much more. I hope you have reached home safely and slowly settling into your new wonderful adventure.

Here’s to your ride!!! Cheers!

YTT

pushed Inspired by Preethi and Homecooked I started to think about adding fodder to the blog while having some fun to. So here I go creating a tag - I present to you the “YTT Tag”

*** Edited: New Tag name, courtesy Ray "Kal, Aaj aur Kal ***

~ The tag copy ~

Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday (Kal)
Your oldest memory
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Today (Aaj)
Your first thought today morning
If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?
Tomorrow (Kal)
This year ….
What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

~ End Tag details ~

Here's my take at it ...

Yesterday
My oldest memory – My oldest memory is that of when I was probably around a year old when I used to jump around like a frog - don't know why I used to do it, but I recollect doing it while dad used to go to work. I guess it was my way of saying 'bye' :D

What were you doing 10 years ago?- (Ed: lost my earlier comment, in a hurry to hit publish, here's something else from 1998) The awkward first days of college as I tried to make new friends, forming first impressions of teachers who later turned out to be some of the best that I ever came across, the first big crushes from the Poly-Tech guys across from our campus.

Today
Your first thought today morning – Darn it’s Tuesday! It’s going to be a long day, have an evening class to attend from 6.30 thru 9.30 apart from the grinding day at work. Plus the instructor has never been able to finish on time (forget early, he always seems to talk abt the most important stuff past 9.30) :(

If you built a time capsule today what would it contain? - It would contain pictures of family, a strand of black hair (since I am finding a lot more white hairs these days), a snapshot of my blog as it stands today; maybe a little diary with all my thoughts at this moment.

Tomorrow
This year … I shall have completed 8 years of marriage (in Sept). So the 7-year itch is behind us! ;)

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now? 2022 – Dealing with a teenager... shudders!

There simple enough, please indulge me Ray, HC, Preethi and anyone else. Maybe I will come up with a few more!** hee hee **

To make it to 150 ...

I ask you where are the fodders for your blog, when you really need one? No tags floating in the blog-o-sphere these days, no ‘news’ worthy events that need my two cents! I triple checked my drafts folder & even though there are a few things that I have written, it’s just not perfect yet. I should potentially try Preethi’s route and do a walk down memory lane – but me too lazy at this moment, so here I go, I cheat!

No don't be dis-heartened if you stopped by for a wonderful read [such a pompous a**, am I], I am posing a question for you and would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Answer me this – Is there a direct ratio on women becoming working mothers to their moms who did not or vice-versa for that matter? Just a thought that’s floating around in my mind ...

Tall Tales

Some random chit-chat --

Kochunni goes to a family daycare – basically a daycare that’s run in the back of house, its usually limited to 4-10 kids so has a friendly environment. Currently at his daycare he has a new ‘aunty’. She is a Punjabi lady who doesn’t really chat with you – just smiles and bring Kochunni’s bag to me. I assume she does not know Hindi or English.

A few days ago while getting Kochunni ready for daycare – I said to him
“Get ready soon, don’t we have to go play with your friends” Kochunni goes on to name all his friends. I take the opportunity and ask him about his teachers/aunties – You play with aunty S right. He shakes his head and says I play with Deepa Aunty. I say yes you like her. What about the other aunty? What’s her name? He looks at me for a sec and says “Vasudha” I am impressed. I go on to tell my husband about it. We are extremely pleased at his memory.

That evening while picking him up from daycare I ask Aunty S – so is that new lady’s name Vasudha – she looks surprised and says no. No one here was named Vashudha! We are dumbstruck.

When I get home I ask Kochunni again what is her name – he sticks to his guns – Her name is Vasudha. Rather than fight him, I use a different tactic, Who told you so? I ask. He replies “Achan” (daddy)

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I smell poop. Let’s go Kochunni – need to change the diaper. Noooooooooooo! Come on or you will get a rash soon – lets go.

Unjah!

Huh?

Unjah!

Oh you want to wait 5 minutes?
** nodding his head in a yes **

That’s too long sweetie, let’s go

Moo-nah

Three? Now you want to wait 3 minutes!
Darn! When did you become such a good negotiator?

Celebrations galore

Saturday morning dawned in the K3 household with a flurry of activities. Of course, Kochunni awoke earlier than usual and was surprised to see the front hall decorated with streamers of blue and green. He pointed out the Y and A from the Happy Birthday sign, and called the streamer a W because that’s what it looked like.

The theme for the party was Mickey and friends since we just had a Disneyland visit and Kochunni really loved hanging out with Goofy. Of course, when we decided this initially we had not realized how hard it will be to find Mickey stuff … Safeway has only one Mickey cake - with Mickey and Minnie holding hands sitting on the bench – it looks more like an anniversary cake than one that can be used for a kids party! Friends suggested trying some other specialty cake shops but I was running out of time and this would be pretty expensive too. Suddenly I had a fabulous idea – how about I find some plastic Mickey and friends and use that instead of the topping. I made a trip to the local party store Diddams and all I find is that it has is a teeny-tiny section devoted to Mickey while there are aisles devoted to Thomas the train, Cars, Winnie the pooh and of course 2 aisles the Princess/Pink themes (girls have all the fun - hmph). All poor Mickey got was some cutlery, hats and a little candle. I bought the candle as a backup and went back to Safeway and ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake thinking I can substitute the Pooh to the candle. Luckily the nearest Dollar store finally came to resume where I found Mickey, Goofy and Donald all for a buck!

Now we were all set to rumble. The jumper (bouncer) arrived on time at 10 and once that was set up I quickly showered and dressed up for the party. Honey got a few more chairs from our friends house and our first guests arrived around 11.30 AM. Some great Punjabi food and a Cheese Pizza for the kids was delivered to our doorstep & by lunchtime and we were all set.

As friends trickled in, Kochunni seemed to get more clinger and moody. I wasn’t sure if it was stranger anxiety or something else. Finally of course, he said "Toh-lelah chaachi" (let me sleep on your shoulder). Ah! He wanted his afternoon nap. I was mighty surprised … usually he would not take a seconds rest if we had kids around, but I guess waking up early and the Friday activities took a toll on him. So I put him to sleep. I was a bit sad about this, because he had still not climbed the jumper nor had cut the cake. But what to do if your baby wants to sleep …

The party continued, conversations’ flowed, kids bounced on the jumper. A couple of kids took naps as well. I set up the Step ‘n Splash sprinkler for the older kids and they had a whale of time in water. Then it was time for desert with ice cream and some more jumper time.

Two hours had passed and I decided it was time to wake up Kochunni. I enlisted his best friend and chechi’s help (our friends daughter who lives nearby) to help me wake him up. I knew seeing her he probably would not throw a tantrum. And I was right, and after his usual glass of milk, we decided to cut the cake. Finally Kochunni was smiling and seemed to enjoy all the attention - the nap had worked its magic.

It was almost 4 by this time, but folks hung around, kids played some more. Poo-amma (m-i-l) and her sister set up tea for everyone and everyone relaxed in the backyard. I was finally able to persuade little Kochunni to try the bouncer while I sat on the edge of it. As expected once inside there was no coming back!

Come evening as the last of the guests left, I changed into a more comfortable churidaar and climbed aboard the jumper too. Even the oldies (mil, her sis + husband) tried their hand (leg) at jumper. All in all the party turned out to be a great time for all of us.

Of course, Kochunni’s birthday was not until Monday, but that was just a small family affair. I took the day off and played all day with the little guy – circle time singing songs, hide-an-seek, ring around the rosés. In the evening we went to the temple. One damper came in way of a light cold and cough for the little guy – I guess 2 –days of non stop partying is not such a good thing for him! :D He is much better today, though he gives an occasional cough and then demands “Amma velam” (amma water).

The party is officially now over, but with family around for another week and with a couple of “cool gifts” (yet to be opened) I am sure I can extend the joys some more ...

The party begins...

No drum rolls

No petals dropped from the skies above.

But a baby stepped up into toddlerdom, and the K3 house celebrated it with all the pomp and celebrations it deserved and more.

The celebrations started Thursday night when family arrived. Somehow the advent of family and friends really brings out a little cheer that any celebration deserves. The next morning, when Kochunni learn't that his ettan had arrived from Texas, he was too exited to do anything but go meet them all. Of course, he clung to my hip like I was going to take him to the butcher, but within minutes apprehension gave way to pure joy. The morning rituals done, he was happy to play with his “chachu” and ettan. Elephant rides; non stop singing to the tunes of Lakdi ki kathi and the nursery rhymes enthralled the visitors.

Finally around 10, I pushed honey to take the little guy to the daycare. (We had already planned for a little celebration at the daycare – so he had to go). The house suddenly quiet I turned to get some work done, while honey continued with the house cleaning and last minute shopping. During lunch hour, I set up the goodie bag for the kids at the day care and we were all set to drop by around 3. Every minute passed, looking at the clock – is it time yet I wondered. It felt like the last day in school before the summer vacations – you can’t sit still but you still have the last Math class to attend.

Finally at 3, we set everything into the back of our car and headed to daycare. Instead of going straight to the play area, we stopped at the front, waiting patiently with the teacher S to ensure that kids had woken up from their nap time. After another 10 mins we went in, looking into the 7 pairs of surprised eyes, looking for one pair that almost immediately showed confusion and happiness. Kochunni ran to me and then to his dear Achan, hugged our legs and cried "Aae-daku" (life me up). As I laid the carrot cake down, he came running to me. All the kids, still groggy eyed from their sleep sang beautifully to the “happy birthday tunes”. The cake cut, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. The kids were more than happy to get their hands on the ice-cream and goodie bag later.

All in all, it turned out well. We said our good-byes to everyone and the teacher hugged little Kochunni good bye.

We got home with a small piece of cake and remainder of the ice-cream for rest of the gang at home. The sugar rush seemed to give the little guy extra energy that I left him at home, to get some t-shirts for dear honey, whose birthday was the next day.

At the mall I decided to treat myself to a pedicure session that turned into a waiting game of – please can you finish this soon? From the looks of it, the girl doing the manicure on the lady sitting next to me started to have some sort of an argument with another girl – possibly about whose turn it was. Its amazing how even without understanding a word of what they said in an Asian language we could figure out what the argument was about.

We finally hurried home to the little guy, who still seemed to be on a sugar rush. A quick dinner and some more games later I put him to bed, hoping that tomorrow he would sleep in so we can get some of the at-home party preparations out of the way!

[To be cont ... ]

2 Year Old

Kochunni

(img courtesy Disney)

Flick'ed

Thanks Ray for this c[cube] (cool, complicated, creative) tag.

Here it is -
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food? right now?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you?

12. What is your user name?

My answer:

Can you guess the answers?

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The preparations for Kochunni's 2nd Birthday party are in full swing. Today there is a small party at the daycare, tomorrow one for all our friends. We have family visiting us so its a full house. So going to be a lull in my posts until next week, in the mean time, enjoy the tag and you guys ( ~nm, Kaycee, Mystic Margarita) go ahead, spend some time idly picking photos! :)

Yes to weekends

Utah is the first to vote for a 3-day weekend, due to soaring gas prices, and according to few an environment friendly action. Whatever it is, would you say “Yes” to longer weekends?

Growing up “weekends” as a concept never hit home. My school (being totally weird) had Thursday’s and Sundays off. Dad had half-days on Saturdays (though he probably made it home on time on Sat about 10 times only) and Sunday’s off. So Sunday was the only day when the entire family was together. All this changed when I landed in US - the meaning, the luxury of having two full days to yourself to do as you please started to make sense. And now that it has, I can be greedy enough to move to Utah just to get the 3-days off :)

Wouldn't you?

More time to spend time idly “Kaling” (coloring) with Kochunni, finger painting butterflies, the suns and stars?

Of course, there are the chores – the cleaning, the scrubbing, the dusting that we need to attend to … but it pays when in the evening you can sit out in your own backyard listening to the birds up on the lemon and orange trees; pluck ripe sweet apricots from the tree and eat to your hearts delight. Read late into the night and sleep in the afternoons, go on long drives ... just about anything to take the monotony of life out.

So what do you say?

Who is that?

Lost on the street’s kindly put me on the tag roll that I had been secretly dying to do! So thanks! :) Don’t know why, but I still want to be tagged before I actually post! :)
**Secretly hoping for a few links to get my blog read by millions! Total World Domination (evil laughter resounding)**

Since this tag was first about literary characters and then "twisted" by Ray , I have decided to spit down the middle to do full justice! ** Am such a good girl right! **

1. Betty (from Archie’s) the eternal girl next door with a good heart, happy go-lucky girl friend!

2. Batman: Like Ray said, the only superhero that is still completely human with no superpower – just gadgets, money and brains!!! Perfect! He remains my favourite among superheroes.

3. Garfield – the perfect smart orange cat

4. The common man by R.K.Laxman the one sane character who generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic "You Said It". When I laid my hands on the Times of India, this was usually the first thing I read.

5. Supandi – Growing up one of staple comics during the good old days of Tinkle (do they publish this anymore?), he was my favorite simpleton (One of his stories below) apart from other regulars like Shikari Shambu, Tantri etc

And now for the Literary characters

6. Darcy + Elizabeth Benet, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The perfect yin-yang couple!

7. Elinor Dashwood, from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. A strong, sensible daughter, who loves her family and has a keen sense of responsibility towards family and friends.

8. Portia, from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Definitely one smart cookie, beautiful, rich and intelligent. Not only does she obey her father’s will she has the determination to pursue her heart.

9. Sirius Black, from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. A perfect example of an uncle who loves to care and lives to play mischief. He is a rebel with a cause.

10. Perry Mason from numerous novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. A great lawyer and possibly even better detective, he became my next logical jump from the Nancy Drew series as a schoolgirl.

There is my first ten, might have to do another one to include a few others that I have come to like … some day, soon.

So to continue the tag I ask Friendly Stranger, Ladybird, Preethi, Swati … anyone else want to take up the tag, let me know.

A Suppandi Story (posting from a Flickr post from hexod.us')

Roots

Yesterday evening after dinner we sat around in the living room discussing our options – where will be in the next few years (in terms of a place to call home). Why this sudden urge to discuss such bland topics – because ... no idea, I guess we somehow landed on it!

I remember my childhood days very well; Bombay school (sorry it will be Amchi Bombay to me) was in shifts – primary school in the afternoon and secondary early morning. Either way, after school we would rush home, throw our stuff after a little snack or homework we were off to play. Everyone knew everyone else in the neighborhood. This was our ‘adda’ and we were the rulers.

I don’t see if the same would happen for Kochunni – here the neighbors are friendly but not enough to drop by any time of day to borrow some sugar and chat about the daily grind. People don’t meet each other at the 7:27 local and walk back home together talking about this & that. Here everyone is afraid of stepping into someone else’s space and keeps their distance. Yes it definitely has its moments when you don’t have to worry about a neat and tidy house – you know that no one will come unannounced, and of course you don’t want nosy neighbors. But I wish there was a balance.

I would want a ‘settled’ life for Kochunni from at least age 4 onwards – one place to call home where we can all grow old together - a place that he can fondly remember even if he moves out of it - like I do today. But will I know my neighbor, will there be other kids for Kochunni to call upon – or will I need to set up schedules to have a play-date? Will Kochunni have summers where he and his friends can play what they want – cycling down the street, a heated game of cricket, have hard-core fights over why one played better than other and then make up a minute later; and if nothing else just sit around and chat.

Couple of months back when Amma was here, I was discussing something else and realized that life back in India has changed too. Parents are enrolling kids in all sorts of classes for the kids – computers, music, dance, swimming, apart from the regular tuition classes. Its competitive and the wheels are turning, I wonder if I am looking back with rosy tinted glasses and not seeing the full picture – I mean, I took tuitions too during the last years of school. But I can still relate to time spend idly among friends – the incessant chatter that would stop the moment an adult passed by, the parents meeting up for coffee or just sitting by the large garden and chatting.

Buying a house definitely a first step towards staying put, but with both sets of parents still in India and not many family members here, I wonder if this is place to be. Or am I turning more like my dad who always wished to go back to live in his hometown and still continues to do the same! (Dad, if you read this, please know I totally understand how you feel, more today than when I was a kid & crib about not ever leaving Bombay!)

No decisions yet, I don’t know where I will be 2 years from now, but I hope I can reach a resolution by then – at least I think I need to.

Hack or Spyware?

This is just weird!!!

See the screen shot – that’s one of comments sections from my last post. Now I know I did NOT delete any comments, then how did this happen? Creepy!!

This is the second time this has happened! The last time I was so creep’ed out; I changed my passwords. How can it say Comment deleted by AUTHOR when the Author has not checked the site in that time period?

Is this an early sign of schizophrenia!! **shudder**

Please anyone any thoughts!!

With a pinch of salt

Possibly everyone has seen the desi version of the Simpsons but even as I watched it, I couldn’t help think – please don’t go with the stereotypes again! But of course they do – a 3 year old reading a book on arranged marriages (?!?) well I guess she is reading so I should be happy.

It’s not that the video itself is not funny and I am sure if its going to be a full-fledged show it will be funny, but I am so done with the stereotypes. Especially some that has been exploited in media for the millionth time! Here are few that gets my blood boiling

- South Indian “madrasi” – always with “nariyal pani” (coconut water) and bad Hindi, painted forehead, in the traditional white mundu, and faces painted Black (to showcase darker skin tones).
- Only a “woman” – dressed in sari (or some Indian outfit) can get the man of her dreams. Example - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (The character played by Shah Rukh only sees beauty via saries, heavy make-up and soft gestures, it’s the same sub-plot in Main Hoon Na, where the girl transforms herself to win the guy she loves – at least here she chides him before accepting his love.
- Goans – If you want to show a Christian family – then they have to be a Goans, of course the dad has to be a drunk, the mom a devout Christian and the heroine – oh so pretty, in short micro-minis running from goondas straight into the arms of a guy (if its a typical Hindi movie it will be Hindu guy from a rich family of course).

The point is that yes, the stereotype might have a grain of truth in them – Hindi is not the first language for many south Indians so yes, they do have an accent – M sounds more like “Yem” when you hear it from a Malayalee – but why not rejoice in this difference?

Moving beyond India and the Indian movies, its still the same – its a Punjabi cab driver you meet in almost all Hollywood movies and tele serials. Its not just limited to India, no I see we are all given the same treatment – its always the Korean grocer, Martial arts specialists etc. Hollywood seems to have built a fantasy for most countries even – romantic get-a-ways always leads to Paris, anything magical/supernatural is explained as part of Chinese/Japanese mythology. Of course this is boost for tourism for Paris and probably interest in Chinese culture, but the stereotypes are unmistakable.

To me the distinction of a negative and a positive stereotype is not about if its funny than it’s appropriate because what is funny to one may not be for another. It’s like the toddler saying the F word without knowing the meaning. When you see it on the tele, it’s funny but if your child said that you would be embarrassed. Why? Its not like the toddler understands the meaning, might even forget the word in a day, but what bothers you is that YOU understand. You know that’s it’s a word that is considered impolite in society. Same thing here, if you come from that part of the world where the stereotype is coming from than its no longer funny, you understand instinctively what it means.

There are a million stereotypes out there, possibly about every community and society, but my biggest angst is that these stereotypes are taken at face value by people and it gets ingrained into their minds – that becomes a true tragedy!

A window into the soul

Mama-mia tagged me to do this tag – present 6 quirky things. Quirky–moi, no way. I am just a great gal, no quirks! :) But lets give it a shot!

These are the rules:
1.Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog (here they are!)
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours...
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So here I go:
- My knee knuckle breaks (in a sound) ever time I squat. Sorry no-control over it, and I know it drives some people nuts!
- I love making up stories – though when I try to put it in paper, it never flows beautifully.
- Bathroom singer, who isn’t?
- I love music – in the car, on my laptop, at home. And if its good– I sing and dance to it! In office I try to mumble the words to the song and tap my feet. Happy to note, Kochunni is following his Amma’s tradition :)
- Except for the noise of the fan, I like the house and everyone in it to be silent for me to sleep. (One of the things that mom used to use against me, when I would not get up – she would switch on the radio)
- Total visual person – can remember faces but no names, can tell you the way to my house but won’t be able to name the roads. *** evil grin ***

I tag Wonder Yearz, Dottie, Preethi, Lijy, Little Aryan, Ray. Go on tell us about yourself!

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I really like using Firefox – the tabbed browsing, the shortcuts everything so would like to promote their little mission to make it to the Guinness World records, so please do you bit and hit the download D-day tomorrow!!! Lets make browsing safe and fun!

An affair to remember

1 Daughter
2 People
0 Affairs
6 Honeymoons
7 Adoring Nieces & Nephews
Inseparable like the circles of 8

Equals

30 Years of Togetherness and Still Counting.

Yes, that’s my parents for you!!! :)

Happy Anniversary!!!

Who packages these things?

In India, at least until a few years ago the local baniya or nearby general store used to be the place to buy almost everything from dal's to flours, from cookies to spices, from stamps to books, bulbs, scissors, almost anything. The stores are very different from today, in that the shopkeeper would hand out things that you asked for, rather than customers browsing around the shop looking for items. So apart from the packaged brand items like Haldiram sweets or a canned soup everything you get was in loose plastic bags that was wrapped up right in front of you. For example, you could ask for 4 cookies, and two AA batteries. The cookies would be picked out from a glass bottle, while batteries from the shops cupboards. They would be put in little bags for you & you could start to use them right away.

The first time I started encountering individually wrapped items was in US. Apart from vegetables and few other things everything is neatly wrapped away. Not that its a bad idea, but unpacking some of these things needed time, effort and understanding. Its not as simple as opening a cookie box. If you don't check the packaging well you might miss the small text that says "tear here" like on the little ketchup packets and go nuts over not being able to open them while your fries have gone cold.

Apart from this comes the weirdness surrounding packaging. Blub's - a handle-with-care item is packed in little paper mashe while scissors are packed off in this high quality plastic that you would need another high end scissors to open - what if you were buying them for the first time?

Worst offenders now seems to be kids toys.

Last weekend Kochunni got a little School bus from a family friend. She handed over the gift bag to me and today I finally got around to open it. My biggest mistake of course was that I showed the toy to the little guy & he got really exited since he loves anything that remotely looks like a vehicle.


But I still needed to open up the toy from its box- it looked easy enough, just a little cut out box. But I was in for a surprise the bus was held tight with these small hard plastic wires that were twisted around possibly a million times over! Now twisting and turning these 4 wires, held in place with a little green plastic took time and effort. I was glad that honey was holding a now starting to cry baby in his arms. Finally all I was able to do was to remove the bus out of the box and hand off the toy to him with the wires still sticking out.


I guess to remove these would take another 10 mins which I was sure the little guy would rather not wait to lay his hands on his toy. I learned my lesson the hard way, next time open up the damn thing, before I even show a new toy to the little guy!

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Edited to add: Found this Washington Post article that seems to highlight some of the main offenders and the awards that manufactures have won for doing the same!

The K 3 Way

Last week one of my visitors asked me – what K3 means. So here is the story!

At home, my dad used to call me by my pet name (that he coined) which started with the letter K. When honey and I were married, I told him I cannot do the Malayalee traditional way of calling husbands “ettan” or “chettan” for that sounds to brotherly to me (Please understand if you do, I am not saying its bad or good, it's just that I never had an elder brother (not even an elder cousin bro) so the words to me were sort of revered for I always wanted what I could not have - an elder bro!). So after much discussion we came up with, you guessed it – pet names that started with K for each other. This was not intentional, just something that occurred.

Later in US, while I was still an unemployed girl waiting for my work visa to come through, honey knowing my interest in writing and knowing that I was BORED at home introduced me to Blogger and I decided to set up an account more out of curiosity than anything else. Of course, we had numerous discussions on privacy issues prior to this, plus I wanted to come up with a cool name, but I could never settle on anything. So undecided was I that I went from Bag lady, to Girl-Next-Door, to Just-A-Blog to anything in between.

During these days internet had become my new pal and savior. Every day I would browse around to find unique things that piqued my interest. One time, it was Greek mythology, and I came across the name Kyra – the meaning (lady) and the letter – seemed perfect for my profile. Unfortunately I could not get the blog address with this name and had to come up with something else. It was one of the hot summer days that Dallas is famous for and my brain just fa*ted! Since K was the hot favorite of the day and 3 my lucky number I settled on it.

Now of course, back home, with my little Kochunni I was able to continue the tradition of K’s for pet names. So that’s the story of K 3.

Of course, now that I am using blogger a lot more and visiting cool sites with even cooler sounding names, I envy it. Maybe I should go for Kyra since it still does ring like a "cool" name to me! What say you?