Life in words and pictures

Sid, who was playing with toy cars (He has developed a sudden interest in them!), dashed two of them. Since no one was watching, he excitedly said 'Mamma, see the cars dashed, shall I show you a replay?'
'Replay thorsla?' has become a favorite now. Even if he skids on a mat, he wants to show a replay.

He is also drawing away to glory too, from multi-color dog like unicorns to aliens to abstracts! Here he is, drawing on the street, in the recently held 'Open Street' in HSR Layout.

This one's him trying to be 'Mister Maker', with his own set, complete with props, colors and books!!

No two meanings about it!

We use so many words in different contexts to produce totally different meanings, that it is quite a shock when someone (read the kiddo) understands it at face value. Gives a good perspective on things and sometimes, it is funny too. Have noted down some recent conversations, that I remember, below. Damn, I should note them down immediately, else will lose them in the sands of time! ;-)

Sid negotiating something with me.
Me: Nice try!!
Sid: No Mama, bad try.

Me to Josh: You get the point don't you?
Sid (interrupting): I get more points, not you!

Niceness of it all!

Usually when I am making tea or chopping/cooking something, Sid insists he 'helps', so I make him sit on the counter top and give him important tasks. Like passing me the tea powder box or sugar box (of course, 1 spoon has to go into his tummy!) and he gives them to me and has that look of completing an important assignment! Its fun, and oh, he gets to see how to cook too!

So sometime this week, I was trying to create my own breakfast cereal mix, and Sid insisted on seeing it. I added some cranberries to store-bought wheat flakes, and he wanted it, of course. Then I started cutting walnuts, chopping almonds and he wanted them all. I gave him a few pieces and continued the chopping.
Out of the blue, he says, 'Mamma, you are a nice girl'. :-)
And for that he got a big bear hug!!

The age old conflict!

Saturday was Sid's Sports Day. He was in some 2 races and 1 dance. Overall, it was a very nice event, although it started an hr late! We enjoyed looking at the kids in colorful costumes, running around, dancing, shouting, crying and generally behaving like, well, kids!

But one thing that I observed and which I was vocally against was the sexist nature of some of the events and people!

There was a running race, in which 2 kids had to hold hands and run together. Partner race, it was called. Sid and 1 other guy were partners. They won, by a good margin, but the MC (a lady, mostly one of the teachers, and that scares me!) says this was expected, they are boys or something similar.
I was annoyed! In one other race, the girl who came second was equally good, but no one mentioned how close the race was.

One more incident was a race for girls alone, which was called 'going to the market'! There you go! And to top it, the aforementioned MC, states that, 'girls, now you can help your mommies shop for groceries'!

I was affected by these statements, and I did talk about how this was wrong with Josh and the other parents around. The other parents did not seem to care much though.
I wanted to walk to her and tell her that she just cannot talk like this, typecasting boys, girls, attributing certain characters to each of them. They are growing kids, easily influenced. What will they end up teaching the kids!? I didn't tell her this, but did voice my disappointment to Josh.
Hopefully, the entire school isn't like that, if so, then I have issues with letting my kid continue in such an environment.

Maybe it was harmless and I am over-reacting, but it just didn't feel right. I know my son will be exposed to all kinds of philosophies, all kinds of people, and I cannot control it, but will definitely try to make him and my sphere of influence understand that there shouldn't be any chores, any activity which should be attributed to the sex of the person. Yes, I agree there are differences between a boy and a girl, but we should concentrate on the true potential and passion of the kid, rather than stick to stereotypes, like a boy should train to play cricket or run, a girl should learn to cook! Sometimes, and quite often, it does happen that a boy is not interested in running and a girl in not interested in cooking!
For god's (or whatever it is you believe in) sake, let them be!


A side note:
  I am reading an excellent book, the last of the trilogy - The Aryavarta Chronicles, which deserves a post of its own, but there is an exchange between Uttara and Abhimanyu in that, which talked about the so called equality between men and women.
 Abhimanyu tells Uttara, that seeing her, he thinks that women are no less than men (complimenting her), but Uttara tells him that the very fact that he is thinking about her being equal negates the statement. Truly equal means not even thinking about it! (I am summarizing it and not using the exact words)

Education and learning

Finally its time for Sid to start going to school. Formal education starteth!
As Josh put it 'Time for education to come in the way of his learning!'

He is going to learn, discover, play, fall, laugh, cry, make new friends, fight with them, be embarrassed (mostly by his parents, as all kids are at some point in their schooling!), take things seriously, not take things seriously, look up to people, be disappointed, be confused, make mistakes, regret them and then do it all over again. I only hope he has lots of fun going through this phase of his life and most importantly be happy for the most part of it!

Wheels of the bus

At his play-school, Sid has been taught to say 'wheels of the bus go round and round..all the way we go' and the version he knows is '..all through the town'.

So yesterday, he started singing this song and paused for a moment after 'round and round', and I offered 'all the way we go'.. He said 'No, that's in school. At home it is 'all through the town', and miss won't be there at home right, so it is 'all through the town' and not 'all the way we go'! :-|



In other things, in true Bollywood Istyle, presenting a sequel to the color identification post. Let's call this, well, 'Colors 2'!

Ajjayya

Saturday was Ajjayya's (my grandfather's) 19th death anniversary. He was 91 when he passed away. He had a heart-attack in the wee hours of one winter morning. He got up, went to the loo, drank water, sat beside his wife and withdrew from this world, just like that.

It was as if he knew he was going. Strange, because just the previous night during dinner, he was telling my father that in the next elections, he would vote for so-and-so party. :) Very politically inclined, and very oral about it too! I remember, on every festival or gathering, we would have quite a few uncles (his sons) and him arguing about the diff political parties and people, state of the country and such stuff.

He was a health-inspector in pre-independent India and would travel around Karnataka (maybe other South Indian places too, not clear on that) for the same. He finally settled in Bangalore after retirement. We (my sis and I) grew up with him and my dynamic grandmother (a joint family, if you want to call it that). He was a man of rules and had a strict time table everyday, and he followed it religiously too. Even when he was 90 years, apart from being a little short of hearing, he didn't have or complain of any ailment. He was solving Deccan Herald's crossword puzzle and word jumble every single day even then! And that he did without the aid of spectacles! He did not need them for watching anything or for reading!

Other than the above, there are lot of observations, talks, interactions that all of us in the family remember. But I have 2 cherished memories (one of which i quite don't remember that clearly, but have grown listening to it). He used to play building blocks with me when I was maybe 2-3 years old. Whenever we played, apparently he used to only make Tulsi katte out of the blocks, and I used to protest "tulsi katte beDa!'

The other memory is very dear to me. Education was always given a very high importance in my father's family and my grandparents were very particular that all the kids, grandkids study properly! So it used to be that after every test/exam that i would attend, my grandfather used to quiz me on the paper. He used to have this reclining chair and i used to come from school after the test or exam, give him the question paper, and stand behind him. He then would start asking all the questions again, and I would rattle away the answers. Except Hindi, which he din't know, he used to cover all my subjects. :)

I still don't know if he knew all the answers (he must be knowing, as he wouldn't quiz my sister who was in a higher grade, and he couldn't comprehend the syllabus), but it generally made me alert and more studious. Even if i had not answered a question right, after the test, I would make sure I found the correct answers, so that I could tell it to Ajjayya! He then would declare that I did well (or not) in the test to my father!

Fond memories of growing up and now back to the present. Who knows, I might just create some (good) memories for people to remember me by too!

jaane kya chaahe man baawra

Feeling blue and what better than to think of life and death in such a state of mind huh!?

Heard news of some deaths recently, one of them caused by an accident and another by a long illness.
This got me thinking about whether to live how you want to, or live with making some compromises for accommodating your loved ones.
What will make you happy? In this pursuit of happiness, will you trample over other's (your loved ones') wishes and happiness. Will your loved ones' hopes and wishes really matter or will you adjust for the sake of loved ones? Is there a middle ground? Or rather should there be a middle ground?
Sometimes you are better off thinking of the 'big picture', that you are inconsequential in the grand plan of the universe and let things be, ignore, move on, but sometimes your universe is only you, so be greedy!?

What if you live for a 100 years, will living greedily make you happy? But then, if you die tomorrow, what use was living for others?

my simba!

Ishq pyar mohabbat etc etc

I wasn't sure why I wanted Aashiqui 2 to work, apart from the lovely songs that is. There was something in it which appealed to me. I think i now know what and why.

http://moifightclub.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/whats-happened-to-love-in-movies-today-or-%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2-%E0%A4%8F-%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%81-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%9D%E0%A5%87-%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%86/


p.s: Its a Must-read for all the movie-buffs out there. Brilliant piece of writing.
p.s2: no, haven't watched the Aashiqui 2, found out how the movie ends and do not want to see it, not yet.