Big Brother, Busy Bee : Achulde

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Chweety pie : Mommolde

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Boys are fun


People often ask me about how I've been able to manage work and home without much hassles with 2 boys around?! Until recently, I used to think that this whole stuff they talk abt managing two boys is a much hyped up non- issue. But slowly, it has started to sink in.Now the sitution some of the time atleast makes me move into ' I couldn't agree more agree more to it ' lines.


Especially after my chetts and family came for vacation(they have two girls), I am forced to accept the theory or fact that, bringing up boys is a different ball game altogether. Girls(at this age atleast) , I think listen and think more. With boys ,the acting comes first and thinking comes later at leisure time, if you have the patience to explain it to them then.Or is just with my boys?!!! I wonder.


Boys resort to fighting physically at the drop of a hat. With Achu, pushing /pulling/beating/pinching Mommo is like second nature. I think girls cry more than boys do, but my lil ones offer competition in that arena too, they can beat any girl in wailing/crying non-stop.


On days when I feel esp bad for scolding them or punishing Achu, I feel miserable and take resolutions on how I would behave from that day onwards. But once back home, resolutiosn fly out of the window, mostly in the first 10 mts - latest within the first 30mts itself.I must admit that this must have something to do with the long hours at work as well, cannot deny that. But the credit due to the boys- they must get that, rite ;)


I dont know why both of them need the same thing at the same point in time and have not qualms abt laying hands on each other to get possession.We made it a point to point to buy anything and everything in twos so that such fights dont occur.But then for certain toys, you just cannot buy two of them like the mini toy car- how can you have two ofthe kind in one home. I think you should not have it at all, if you cannot have two of a kind!!! And guess what, it doesnt stop there, even if you buy two of anything. Theres a competition on to dismantle anything that they can get hold of and its a matter of an hour or two, before the parts are seen lying all over the place. Once this is achieved, both of them would want the better toy all to themselves!!!And the latest trend in this industry is that they mostly want only the thing that the other one is playing with currently and not anythingelse!!!And Achulde, who is quite popular in the class for his penchant for prophesing the joys of sharing with his Kuttaaaar( kuttukaar for friends),is no role model when at home. He is the one who needs anything and everything that Mommolde is playing with. Mommolde on the other hand lets go most of the time (in comparison), but if its something, then he must have, then theres no stopping him either.And mind you, you can't take sides, you need to be impartial- but in my case, one of them is still a baby and not a boy yet, so Achulde gets the advantage most of the times., when the two take in each other.And the moment, I take Mommolde's side, this fellow throws tantrums!!! I'm just waiting for the time, they can take on each other as equals. I'll atleast be spared from taking sides then!!


Another thing I noticed is that the boys speak louder than girls and if you have to make yourself heard, your volume needs to be even higher. Then as the TV would be playing in the background atleast 16/7, your voice needs to be on a higher decibel than the boys and the tv's!!! And I think boys are fuzzy eaters as well. My boys had not had much of an issue in terms of being very selective on food, but post the cousins' visit they've been introduced to the worldly vices of maggi and black juice-'pepsi'. And of course ice creams!!!
All said and done, I realise how much of a challenging task this is. To bring them up well, without any partiality or prejudice and giving them no reason to complain, being there for them, not letting them down - thus paving the way to bring them up as confident , responsible caring and compassionate individuals- thats the bare minimum that we as parents should be able to do for them.(Touchwood, I hope they turn out so!!!)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Certification time yet again


Those who have been regularly following me on my blog would know already, how I've been faring on the certification side, that my company has mandated. Now they have slightly modified the rules. 2 certs in an year has been changed to one cert every 6 months!! So it requires you to take the certification every 6 months, you cannot postpone till the year end :( And I had to take one before Sept end. And since my chetts and fmly are coming over for Onam which falls on the first week of Sept. I just thought it would be best to take it before Onam. And I was feeling quite confident on taking this exam, as I was also involved in preparing the training material for this certification sometime last year, I hoped it would all come to me, while in the certification hall.I just needed sometime to read the material once.I had registered for the exam on 20th and on 18th nite, Achulde started showing symptoms of fever!!!Now , how many times I've warned myself against procrastinating- and I dont understand how I end up doing that all the time. And I had kept most of the material untouched, saving it for a last time read on the eve of the exam!!! I ended up touching the material only by 8 in the nite, after taking Achulde to hospital et al.Ended burning midnight oil and somehow managed to read it all once.


Managed to scrape through, which is more than enough for me. Couldn't ask for more. :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

On Sabarimala and grand parents

Last time the husband went to Sabarimala was before our kalyanam, and he'd been planning to go eversince. So when his cousin called up , informing his plans to go during July, he decided to go alongwith them. So we all went to Aluva and from there they did the Kettunirakkal and proceeded to Sabarimala. It has been raining cats and dogs this monsoon and the Manalppuram temple is already submerged.

You know what, every year, during the monsoon, the river overflows and the temple submerges completely, during which time they move the Deity to another place in the vicinity and perform pooja there. And where the area allotted for regular car park et al during the normal times, the river would be just ankle deep when it overflows - making it an ideal place for recreation-the whole town would be present there on such occasions . That evening me and Amma took Achulde and Mommolde to Manalppuram, and both of them were scared in the beginning, but I somehow tricked Achulde into entering into the waters, after which we had a nice time there. He just refused to come out later on.

The husband and cousins had a nice Darshan at Sabarimala and came back by evening of the next day.

After coming over to Tvpm, we've been frequenting Aluva atleast once a month, I guess.My children have been getting to meet both set of grand parent quite frequently. And they are quite attached to them as well.That I think is a very rare thing to happen these times.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Aerobics


Though I'd not put on much weight during my second pregnancy, whatever I've put on has been on the wrong places,and its just refusing to go way. And since you could call me a foodie, there's no way I could diet my way into my good ole' clothes, that have been waiting patiently in the wardrobe all these years. I just had to shape up to get into those , I kept on telling myself, but couldn't bring myself to start attending any session - there was nothing in the vicinity and I was way too lazy to start practising on my own. It was then that the HR team of my org announced a week of activities based on themes. One of the sessions was Aerobics, High speed exercises were never my cup of tea. I preferred the Yoga any day. But in this session, that lasted for barely 40 mts, we were made to do a workout for 15 mts, that left us all out of breath and panting and excited as well. I never thought I could move fast and I thought I needed a long time to grasp the steps. But I guess, I was just imagining thing up maybe. So when this hoarding ' Learn Aerobics' popped up in my neighbourhood, I decided to give it a try. yeah true, it takes me more time to master the steps, but I've been improving and I've not called it quits yet as well(touchwood!!!). Though the results on the weighing scale are not encouraging, I am determined to continue. I would love to wear those dresses before the new year!! No high hopes, as I am fully aware of binging habits and weakness for good food!!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Roller skating




Now that the summer holidays have started, all you can see all over the city are advertisements for summer classes for kids for Yoga, aerobics,painting, musicals- vocal and instrumental and dance.And my excitement hit the roof when I saw advt for skating classes put up all over the city. that is one skill I'd always wanted to master. We'd tried to find out coaching classes while in B'lore, but were quite unsuccessful. One more thing to add to the list of good things that happened after moving to Tvpm, I already told myself, as if I'd already joined and mastered the art. I called up the phone no that was given in the advt and the guy who answered was amused to find that I was not in the age range of 3- 18. he couldn't believe his ears when I told him my profile, I think he just didn't tell me that he thought I'm nuts to attempt at this age. So he told me to call him after the ' Peak season'. So I waited patiently for 2 months and called him up in June, He refused to answer. And finally when he picked up, he said, he cannot spare any time for me. I felt so let down. I was not asking for exclusive time, I was ready to learn along with the others, i couldn't possible understand why he wouldn't teach me and the hubby. So when we saw this write up on The Hindu about one skating academy near Chaaka, which is almost 30kms plus from where we stay, we decided to enquire there. They sounded okay, when I spoke to them over phone, so early morning on Saturday we both went all the way to Chaaka and while passing by the Kowdiar palace, we saw this group skating right in front of the palace and assumed that it must be the guy whom we'd spoken to earlier , who;d refused to teach us . Though we went all the way there, we just ended up watching the trainer and the students from inside our car, as we knew it was not going to work out,the distance was way too much.So reluctantly we came back and on our way back, we spotted the same group still practising in front of the palace.This time, we decided to give it a try and convinced ourselves that if the instructor talks to us, he mite realise how enthusiastic we are about the whole thing and mite decide to teach us. This person turned out to be yet another instructor and he was more than glad to take us in as students. And so we've begun our skating sessions. I just hope, I'll get rolling sometime in the near future.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Achulde turns 3


Achulde turned 3 years old on 28th. Man, time flies!!! He wanted Mickey Mouse cake for his b'day. We'd placed the order at Ambrosia and they were okay with delivering on the b'day morning directly at school. But on the previous nite, we heard rumours about a hartal in the offing. Well this is the land of bandhs and hartals , that too lightning ones, that just gets called on and off at some political party's whim and fancy!!!So we thought it would be a good idea to bring and keep the cake in our refrigerator itself , so that we can avoid unnecessary worries. So we went and brought the came from there and guess what, very soon found that the cake was too huge to fit into our refrigerator, We took it out of the cardboard case and tried to place it inside, but still it refused to go in. Do I need anything more to worry abt and in the huzzlebuzzle that followed, the side of the cake that I was holding , slipped from my hand and while trying to catch, my fingers wen right into Mickey's throat!!! I was in tears. There was only minimal damage, but that was enough. How would Achulde take a damaged one to school?! I mustered all my courage and called the cake guys up. Although it was closing time, they were good enough to wait till I took the cake back and then corrected the damage and offered to safekeep for me and deliver the next day despite the hartaal!!! We have the baddie, the bandh and hartaal guys and then we have such nice ppl also around too, for a change :)


PN: Achulde's b'day celebrations went well too :)

Monday, May 25, 2009

Hospital time


Normally its Mommolde who marks his calendar regularly every month for a hospital visit.Achulde would be the culprit though, bringing in the cold n' cough without fail every month. But he doesn't fall sick really. He gets just a minor version of it, but he loyally passes it onto Mommolde who ends up in hospital most of the time.Once we switched the doctor, we were able to contain with just visits and no admissions. So this time around, when Achulde fell sick,I thought it would be like every other time. But his fever spiked by Friday evening and it was well past the Doc's private consultation hours,so we had to take him to the OP.And I knew what was on store for me. They almost invariably manage to get the child admitted, based on my previous experience, but when your child has fever around 103-104, you stop worrying about all that, don't you. My main concern was that, I was so sure, I wouldn't be able to make Achulde stay in the hospital, he would be scared and restless for sure and he would cry out so loud that he would turn the whole place upside down. I was hoping that we'd get a single room.But like I knew already, there were no rooms available and they admitted him in the Paediatric ICU. He placed himself in their hall of fame, when they attempted to have the cannula on his wrist for giving antibiotics, by producing the highest decibel voice in the known history of the hospital!!!I was there in the room, so the Nurse aunties asked me to wait outside and 3 of them managed to hold him and took the blood for all the tests and inserted the needle for the cannula as well. Inside the ICU also, only one of us could be with him and he created quite a tantrum by calling out for Me when I was outside and for the hubby when he was outside. We both knew he just had a fever out of this chest infection , but that was not the case with some other children who were admitted there. Some of them were really unwell and the last thing those parents would want in the vicinity would be an impatient toddler crying away to glory and showing tantrums.He just refused to sleep on the bed and wanted the cannula to be removed and wanted to go home. After a couple of hours he fell asleep on my shoulders and that's when I finally managed to put him on the bed after so many hours.In the morning, he was running all over the place with a couple of balloons and trying to make friends with the other kids prompting one doctor to think loudly ' whether the hosp admits healthy kids also these days?!!!' I was worried for him ,as he mite catch infections from other kids and worried for the other kids due to the kinds of disturbance that he was causing. We were just waiting for our doc to come, so that we would be discharged from the hosp, but that was not to be. Since the fever was persisting, they decided to discharge him only on Sunday. But luckily for us we got a room just in time, so the next 24 hours were much better.I was just hoping that fever would be completely gone by Sunday, the last thing I wanted was Mommolde catching this infection.Moreover Mommolde was pretty upset that all 3 of us were missing from home all on a sudden.Reached back home by Sunday evening, and by Monday morning, lil Mommolde was running a high temperature!!!But luckily it subsided well in 2 days time and we didn't have to get him admitted. I was esp worried as it was Achulde b'day on 28th.
But these hospital visits are humbling experiences indeed.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The City of school seasons

I think Trivandrum is one city that revolves around school and academics year round. While you know places,where you see activities/happenings based on seasons or events or maybe festivals etc, i think I can rightly state that this city has everything running based on school activites and timings alone.Maybe this has something to do with the fact, that majority of the population would have moved in and settled here 'coz of the govt jobs and the sole focus of the middle class has always been education of their children.But they get way too focussed and I think, most of the parents dont have anythingelse in their mind other than the education of kids till 12th and professional degree course after that.Its all about school classes and then the tuition classes before school hours and then tuition classes after school hours. You often see huge crowds gathered in front of houses at odd times- 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning or 7:300- 8:00 in the nite, which would be anxious parents waiting to pick their kids after the tuitions.Am indeed skeptical about being sucked into this vacuum.

Every person I meet has this standard question to ask me already ' Are you trying for Loyola admission?'I think its a tmatter of time before I succumb to the pressure , maybe. Cant help wondering how tough it would be on the kids as well.Can't help feeling sorry for them. I dont know whether I'd want my kids to join Loyola. No doubts abt the fact that its one of the best schools. But then you are getting the best of the best, you are just bound to do well. But I dont know really whether they aim at developing all facets of the childs personality, finding out what he is good at and encouraging that, I dont really know abt that. And here you cant ask any directly either, am not sure whether they would understand what I mean to ask. I've heard that Loyola takes admission during UKG and in 2nd standard, and if you dont qualify in their UKG exam, you cannot attempt the 2nd standard entrance exam. And that based on the academic performance they move kids to ICSE , CBSE and state syllabus etc. I dont know how the kids can take this sort of pressure at this young age. I heard that there are people who even conduct coaching classes for the Loyola entrance!!! But the school must be really good, 'coz I've not seen a single loyoloitw who doesnt beam with pride while mentioning abt their school.The one that Achulde goes to currenty is the Early Learning Center of Trivandrum International School. Achulde loves going there and I must admit, if there is one thing that I dont regret on for moving to Trivandrum, it is the school that Achulde has been going to.From whatever I have seen, its based on how they do schooling abroad, its all theme based and the kids get to actually try their hands on the things that they are learning. The cute pieces of work that Achulde brings from his arts classes , the joy and pride on his face , as he shows off all these to us. The other day, he brought this cute cutting of a boy in blue sleeping on a hay stack. They were learning the rhyme ' Little Boy Blue'. But they say, this kind of schooling would not help the child in this competitive world. They quote the results of this school with the results of the city's best schools.So the experts think its best to have the kids in this school for their overall grooming and then move them to where they'd be ready to face this competitive world!!!The sad part is that they have only the ELC in the city, and from LKG onwards, if you plan to continue in this school, my kids would have to travel a good 40 kms every dayby bus.(The main school is almost in Attingal, you could say!!!)

I guess it would be the same scenario everywhere, be it Bangalore or Cochin!!!Maybe not to this extent, I hope.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Coorg Beckons

We had not gone on any pleasure trips since Achulde and Mommolde happened, as in no trips to any locale, - just us et al. So decided to go to Coorg, which has been on the top of our lists from our Bangalore days. We decided to drive all the way to Coorg and though both the set of parents didnt voice any concern, I am sure, they were not comfortable with the idea of us travelling alone with kids. In India, I guess you bring up your kids, even while they are bringing up theirs !!!! :)
Since our Club Mahindra holidays were due for a long long time, we didnt have any issues with finding a resort etc and were spared any confusions arising from that front. I think one of the wisest things that we've done is taking the ClubM membership. You dont have to plan much for a holiday in terms of where to stay etc- you are spared all the confusion from ahving to choose. Plus you automatically plan for your holidays every year when the days are credited to your account.So basically you dont keep postponing your vacation plans.We stuffed in quite a no. of places to visit in between.
Guruvayur was the first point. despite standing in the queue for 2 hours, could not make it toa darshan as the kids got really cranky by then, and the ppl in the queue also started showing signs of intolerance and some even started advising /giving tips etc. Had to pull out of the queue with reluctance , we drove till Kozhikode that nite and resumed our 6 hour journey from Calicut to Coorg in the morning. We were there for jus 2 days and most of the time was spent in the resort itself, where the kids thoroughly enjoyed. We visited the Tibetan monastery as well too, but the kids couldn't care less and were really tired, so had to call off most of what we had planned for, initially.I think the one mistake that we made was that we didnt plan for a couple of days more in the resort , but that can be excused (I guess)as we had not done any planning or travelling since ages!!! Lessons learnt for the next trip!!!And know what, though I had taken swimwear, we did not spend any time in the pool, as Mommolde was not really well and Achulde was way too scared to get in!! Besides the water was very cold too.
But all in all, had a gala time there :)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Of 'Hanuman Pandaram', 'Mahishi', 'Poochandi' and 'Jose'

When I was small and even when I was not that small, I remember being scared of the dark, of Ghosts, of entering into any unlit room, once dusk had fallen. And it took me a long long time to start sleeping in my own room. I remember being jealous of UL, when she proudly used to mention, that she sleeps alone in a room. We used to discuss then, of how unfair it was of adults to scare us children by mentioning about ghosts and all such stuff. My folks used to use words like ' Hanuman Pandaram', 'Mahishi', ' Poochandi' etc, to scare me , when I wouldn't listen or obey and having never seen one, I used to associate these names with the scariest figure, I could imagine then. I remember declaring to UL then, that I wouldn't do such a thing to my children(All this happened, when we were probably 8-10 yrs old).Now I see myself using these very words to scare Achulde, when he is naughty. His response varies. Sometimes its a ' Achulde pedi', but most of the time he just ignores and carries on with his activities.I try and promise myself not to do that anymore, but most of the times, i cant control.I am happy that he ignores it most of the time. Recently, I noticed that, hes pretty scared of the guy who comes to clean the windows and fans etc. He sports a Big moustache and looks pretty scary, so I started using his name to get things done.Whenever I say' Jose is coming', the lil fellow, would go and sit in the chair and say ' Achulde Goo Boy' and then sit there for anothe 2 mts. Now that has also waned after a while. The funniest moment was when I overheard Achulde telling Mommolde ' Mommo, NO, Achu chetta Jose-ne vilichi. No No' :)

Vidyarambham

On the 2nd week of Mar, we all went to Mookambika for Achulde's Vidyarambham. We'd been plannning this from quite sometime. It has to be done before the lil one turns 3 and this is next month.And long weekends and holidays, it would be so crowded, so we decided to go during march, when we calculated it would be least crowded as, it would be exam time for all the kids.Though we heard , at the last mt, that it was the utsavam time there, the temple authorities informed that, it would be crowded only during the Rathotsava time, so we decided to goahead with our plans. We went by train from Tvm to Mangalore and from there, took a cab to Kollur.The last and only time, i'd gone there before was over 12 yrs back and I'd loved the place then. Right in the middle of the forest, small township, lush green and all peace and quite and just being in the temple, calms you down and makes you feel blessed .Last time we could spot Pea-cocks and deers even on the road sides, they were not scared as they were not harmed by humans.
This time around, I noticed that its become more of a large township, but still the sleepy one only still, luckily :) But the pea-cocks and deers were not there, though.Offlate Guruvayur has been so crowded, that Darsan takes a min of 6 to 8 hours. We were glad to see that , it was not much crowded in Mookambika.Came morning and Achulde declared that " Innu Achulde HariSree Venda". But by the time we reached the temple, he was not protesting, and when the priest started chanting the mantra, he looked interested and sat quietly on his father's lap and did whatever he was told to. The function went off well and even lil Mommolde didnt cry thoughout the ceremony and was watching curiously.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

issha shada dattada

That was the new tune, Achulde had been humming for the last couple of days and neither self nor the husband could make heads or tails on which song it was.Normally we make out the song from its tune and then the words would make sensei.e, the resemblance would gently appear. But this time around we had no clue.But next morning, when I went to drop him at ELC, his teecha there, tells me that they are practising an action song for the School Founder's day, based on Disney's theme song ' Its a small world after all'.Over the course of next couple ofweeks, issha shada dattada became issa shollel attada :)we found ourselves singing 'issha shada dattada' all the time.Once when the husband sang it aloud in Achulde's words, the lil singer corrected his father with ' Damesha, angane alla, say ' Mole', mole, mole(for small) with his hands cupped like a ball to show 'small'.April 1st was the D- day, and he was to perform to a packed audience in Tagor theatre'. Already i was thrilled and tensed for him.We all were seated an hour in advance and the stage was all set. The tiny tots' group action song was the first item. All of them walked in and was forming two rows from either side of the stage.Achulde walks in and his attention gets diverted to some prop on the stage and he stops right there, deciding to watch it furhter. His teecha comes to the rescue and carries him to where he should be standing . His is not the only case we find, as the ' teecha's have to run here and there on the stage to bring back toddlers who have chosen different spots than the ones intended for them.The songs starts on the background and the all the lil one are looking to either side of the stage at the teachers and imitating what the teachers are showing them from either side. From where we sit, we can see the teecha raising her hands, turning around etc.And on the screen set at the back, they were screening photos taken during the last one yr during the various functions/activities in the school.Halfway thru the dance , while doing a turn around step, Achulde notices the photos on the screen and he decides to dance while watching the photos !!! From then on , he's 90 deg turned , ie., hes standing sidewise on the stage, but hes dancing nonetheless, doing all the steps, just that he almost had his back to the crowd :) It was so much fun to watch the show.In between, the lil one standing next to him decided that enough is enough and did a ramp walk across the stage,towards where her favourite teecha was standing!!! and then there were many faces, who were on the verge of breaking down into tears, seeing the huge crowd in front of them.All in all, it was such a nice experience, all the proud parents assembled and enjoying.I can imagine the effort that has gone into putting this up. To get them all to stand and perform is such a major acheivement I must say

Monday, March 23, 2009

Unaccustomed Earth


Everytime I read a work of Jhumpa Lahiri, I end up sad and depressed for days on end. I thought this plethora of feelings that I go through, had something to do perhaps with my ageing process ;) or to the fact that I empathise a lot and thus create all such trouble for self.But I was kind of relieved on browsing the net for her works, almost all the reviewers admitted to being haunted /daunted on reading her works. I read The Namesake when I was pregnant with Achulde, it did not leave a nice feeling and I decided not too read her work again, atleast for a long time, then.
So when one of my closest buddies, gave 'The Unaccustomed Earth', her latest work, as a gift, I was initially reluctant to even start reading it. But I soon found myself, sitting late into the nite, such a page turner effect the book had.Its a collection of short stories and what is common across the stories is that in each of the story, one of the characters , mostly, the protagonist would have a secret to reveal that would turn out to be the crux of the whole story.And in each story, the secret is brought beautifully , in a unique way, mesmerizing style of writing.She is a skilled writer, enviable indeed, engaging , confident and completely in control.I loved the first one on Ruma and then 'Hema and Kaushik' the best.The latter haunted me for days on end. The only glitch was that , the moment the venue shifted to Thailand and clue was given on the timeline(2004), it suddenly crossed my mind that , Tsunami would become part of the backdrop and it turned out to be right. That was the only time, I found myself out of the book and not engaged/engrossed, the surprise element (if she intended any) was lost.But that didnt reduce the impact of the grief by an iota even. I was saddened and disappointed by the decisions taken by the protagonist(Hema), and somehow I wanted to shake her into making the right decision, all the time knowing and to be honest ,consoling self saying its just a work of fiction!!!
Maybe it was reminding me of one of my best friends, who is now in a very difficult situation in her personal life, and has not been doing anything abt it, I just dont want her to be another Hema. I want her to take control of her life and make things easy for her and others in her life. This is to you girl, hope you reach where you ought to be, where you belong to, pretty pretty soon, touchwood.

Bhakti Margam


Nowadays Bhakti is the flavour of the season and the TV channels are loaded with Bhakti serials, atleast the malayalam channels. My Achan was an ardent fan of Swamy Ayyappan which ran for almost 2 yrs and , when they started running short of original stories on the diety, they introduced stories on experiences of Devotees and in no time, it got so boring that even Achan gave up after sometime. But even now I see a torrent of such serials like Devi Mahatmyam, Krishna Guruvayurppa, etc etc.Since Achulde and Mommolde play with the remote quite often, the TV would be running in the background, most of the evenings in our home though no one would be watching as such. One such day, it was showing a story on the Goddess killing an Asura and most of us sitting in the family room were passive viewers. The Asura entered the scene,the make up was intended to be scary, the blackpaint on the face, the Jada , the big moustache etc, he was doing the roaring laughter coninuously for 5 mts on entry, the tyical demon laughter and I was beginning to wonder whether Achulde would appreciate this act at all. I didnt want my child to have a disturbed sleep and was abt to reach out for the remote to turn it off, when the monster on TV decided to do the Attahaasam once more and immediately from behind my chair , I hear a meek 'return' ' Hee haa haa haa'. That was Achulde standing there and imitating the Asura's laugh. He was enjoying the show. Apparently, he had not even realised that , it was something that was designed to scare the viewers!!! He was enjoying it thoroughly thinking its a joke :)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Happy First Brithday to you Mommolde :)

Its been a long time indeed and what better excuse do you need - it was Mommolde's first birthday . The star birthday was on 31st, but I had to be at work on that day, eventhough it was a saturday!!
And on his DOB, the husband was away in Beijing, on a 5 day tour!!! So we decided to celebrate on 14th , Valentines' day.
Achulde's First b'day was a gala affair, we'd even roped in an event manager, who managed the whole show for us including getting the return gifts, caps and blowers and all things nice. We had asked for a live cartoon character(in attire ofcourse) (Winnie the Pooh, as that was the theme for the party)- that was the anti-climax of the whole show, the guy was so thin, he looked awfully thin even in the Pooh attire :), now all that brings a smile to one's face.
We wanted Mommolde's b'rthday to be equally good.We had Pooh as the theme, this time too. Out here in TVM, they've event managers doing weddings etc on a large scale, but nothing on a small scale. We'd booked Travancore Hall of South Park, we but we had to do most of the arrangements ourselves, with the help of the Hotel boys. This time we were not planning on a large scale anyways, just family . And we didnt have much of friends in TVM anyways.
We'd purchased party poppers and snowflake spray, when we went shopping for the return gifts , and I gave clear instructions to a couple of hotel boys on how to just twist it to pop it and to spray on a certain height so that it would snow down beautifully. All was set. The cake cutting was set for 7 in the evening and all the folks arrived on time. Though we had party caps and eye masks, most of the kids refused the eye masks and opted for the cap only.
Achu and Mommo were sporting Offwhite Sherwani'is and both the kids for a change, didnt resist self''s attempt to dress them up in this attire, that by itself was a major achievement for self. :)
And at 7, we 4 got together to this side of the table and the crowd assembled on the other side and all started singing the Happy Birthday song.I was trying hard to get Mommolde to touch the knife atleast. Achulde was already blowing the candle and then suddenly the Hotel boys made their way into the crowd . The one with the spray had atleast forgotten half my instructions, for he was spraying the snow at just his level, the spray didnt have time to turn to snowflake, so it decided to just stay as lather on the guests' head. Same is the case with the popper man - he was miles away from the party scene, pop goes the contents into air!!!:) My attention wandered from the cake cutting and I couldn't control my laughter and I noticed that the whole crowd 's attention was in that direction, all laughing loud and running away from the scene. Then the "Snow Man", decided to focus on us and all of us were like ' Run for your lives'. The husband was like' M, focus here, we should be cutting the cake, not looking elsewhere!!!' etc.
Finally off went the boy and we returned to our second attempt at cake cutting. By then a naughty lil friend of Achu's(Kanna Baby) decided to join our side of the table. Kanna baby for a change had decided to wear the eye mask!!! He walked over from the other side in style sporting the Cap and eye masks and Mommolde got all curious as well a lil worried at the same time( He was seeing someone in a mask for the first time in his life).This lil fellow decided to position himself by my right side, a lil behind me and Mommolde who was on my left arm took a sprint and landed on my right arm and started climbing over my shoulder, trying to take a good look at Kanna Baby,with his back towards the cake and the crowd, there was no way we could get him to look at the cake , let alone making him cut the cake!!!
It was so funny, this time for a change, we were quiet relaxed and laughed our hearts out.
Finally, the husband somehow managed to get Mommolde to look our way and all of us cut the cake together :)
Achulde was really happy as he got to play for a long long time with all his friends. And we had a nice time with family and very close friends.
Man, Mommolde is already One, one year just whizzed by!!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Broken

Scroll to left, and then to rite, scroll up and down’ was my New Year’s resolution!! Before you jump into conclusion that this mite be a new form exercise that I plan to start practicing this year, let me clarify,
No ,no, I did not mean scrolling in person, but ‘scrolling throught the recipient list of my compose mail window, before I click “ the sacred” send button !!!
Don’t believe that? Well , that’s just a subset !
My being absentminded is not by design, I’ve resigned to the fact that I am just designed that way!!! So my resolution for the new year was the latest in the series of the futile attempts at trying not to be very absentminded and careless atleast during workhours.
Checking recipient list was included in my mental checklist, after I caught myself just in time before clicking on the ‘post’ button after composing a weekly status report’. Now ‘post’ sounded unfamiliar, where’s the ‘send’ I normallyclick! That’s when I realized, I was about to post in BB (my company's Bulletin Board) my project status report!!! Heights of carelessness and that was when the mental checklist was revisited , re-vamped and re-introduced!!
All was well in my world, until today, when I got a mail from ‘A’, my team member , cc-ing my supervisor ‘B’, citing reasons on why he needs a release from the project and asking me to commit on a specific release date that he had in mind. Now,the project is in a very crucial phase and he is one of the key personnel in the team. I could not commit to any certain date, until the KT was complete and the new TM has scaled up well. But the same time, I did not want to discount that fact that the person had a genuine reason for the release. I decided to draft a mail noting down all points and send out a mail to my supervisor and once I was done with the composing, instead of saving , I clicked on ‘ send’ and went on about my activities. It being an exceptionally busy day, I had //commented the mental checklist process for the day.
The very next moment I get a ping from A, “I got your mail, you sent the mail to me, not to B!!!
Jaws dropped, I didn’t plan to send it at all ,rite-away in the first place, wasn’t it still in my drafts?!!
I cross checked my drafts and sent, no surprises here, it was in ‘SENT’ and not in ‘DRAFT’.
Ms. ‘Carelessness Personified’ had ’ replied ‘ instead of intended ‘forward’.
‘No problem, I’ll forward him,myself’ stuttered the embarrassed self .
’ I’ve done that for you’—he pings!!!
Then comes his reply, just a oneliner “‘ Looping in ‘ B’”!!!!
I ran to my supervisor’s desk and updated him, before he could sit down and read the mail himself,and he, who by now is so used to my “speaking on ‘mute’ during conference calls‘ and ‘moving files to wrong folders’ syndrome couldn’t contain himself and laughed out loud.
I was back at my desk, embarrassed, trying hard to contain it all, realizing how I’d royally broken my ‘New Year’s resolution’
Can it get better than this?
Stupendous Achievement , even before first month of 2009 is over!!! :)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The effect of my Nazar

My amma always says that we should never talk or even think that our kids look healthy now or thats its been sometime since the last infection. The moment you think/say, your baby is bound to fall sick the next day. The beginning of this week, I couldn't help noticing that its been atleast a couple of months since Achulde's last tryst with antibiotics , though Mommolde has been very regular with the attendance!!! And I even went to the extent of admiring his chubby cheeks!!! The very next day, got a call from his day care at noon. A call from the day care is something I am yet to learn to take with minimum composure. The moment I see the caller ID , I panick and I dont even bother to say Hello, its always ' What happened?" This time, its fever and I couldn't believe my ears, he was bsolutely alrite, in the morning. We took him to the Doc. He did try his best to behave and when the doc took out the thermometer, i could see him trying so hard to control the outburst, he managed not to cry for the first 1 or 2 mts and then , started out full volume. Then it was 3 of us holding him, while the doc examined, and Achulde as usual was in top form!!!
It turned out to be a middle ear infection, and that happened thanks to me , alone. Achulde had a mild cold last week and a running nose. So the good old very knowledgeable self, did the good act of making him blow his nose forcefully, very well knowing that , it mite lead to ear infection!!! As always, I thought that its just for the books!!!
Now he's on antibiotics, and we are all plotting new dramas and trying old tricks, to get him to take his medicines.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Happy B'day to you Happy Nuyea

Achulde thinks 'Happy Nuyea' is something similar to 'Happy Birthday'.
Once he noticed people wishing each other a Happy New Year, he also started doing the same. He even went one step ahead. He wished Happy new Year a Happy Birthday.
When one of his Appuppas called us to wish , he grabbed the phone from me and started singing.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you Dear Happy Nuyea
Happy Birthday to you!!!
:)
His 'Teecha' at the day care was telling me that one whole day, he was going on abt saying ' 'Achulde Happy Nuyea' 'Achulde Happy Nuyea' :)

Mommolde

Extremely unfair, not to have a post on Mommolde, you'd think.
Lil Mommolde has started taking baby steps. He'll turn one next month. His star birthday is on 31st, but I have to be at work that day, we have a major deployment on that day. He turns one on 10th Feb. Maybe we'll celebrate it on the following weekend.
I'm sure I'll have a tough time, convincing Achulde that its not his b'day and Mommolde would have to be given the privilege of cutting the cake.
From a practical PoV, it would be better to let Achulde do the honor,lil Mommolde wont mind this time.He can just initiate the process and leave it to Achulde to take care of the rest of the matter

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Kochu Poochan

Did I hear it right? ' Kochu Poochan , Kochu Poochan' ,(meaning Lil' Kitten) Achulde was chasing a cat, all excited and I could see that the not so 'Kochu' Cat was running for its life. We'd gone to J. Ngr, visiting my ammumma and thats one of the visits Achulde loves. He has a lot of fans in there and he loves being the centre of attraction. Its like his stage over there and he just starts performing, the moment he reaches there, songs and dance and all masti stuff.
Plus, since we live in an apt, going to J. Ngr is a diff exp. for him. And the added attraction is this cat, that visits our home , once in a while. Achulde has learnt this malayalam rhyme 'Kochu poocha kunjinu' from Manjadi. So whenever he sees the cat, he thinks its Kochu Poochan ( I dont know how this Poochan replaced Poocha, though!!!)
On a general note, I must say his vocabulary has improved and he can repeat full sentences now.

The URL of my blog

Its indeed been ages, since I even visited this page, let alone thinking of scribbling something. I was so sure I'd not be able to type in the URL correctly.I even came up with this very clever idea of going to UL's blog and taking my link from her 'friends' list'!!!! :)

The promise that I thought I’ll be able to keep, that I’ll post a note atleast once in a week has been broken and in what way!!Have not posted in the last 3 months!!!
So what excuse do I have for myself. Shall I blame my employer this time? The company that I work for has mandated that all the employees should take two certifications an year, one from the technical stream and one from the process or domain stream. If you don’t clear that , your ratings get affected and that affects the pay package. And worse is, these exams get carried over to the next year and one would have to take four certifications the next yr!!!

Last year, which was my first year in the company, I’d thought that I don’t have to go through the grind , as I’d joined sometime in June, but the rule was relaxed for people joining from July onwards and I came to know of that only in Dec!!! 2 certifications in two weeks time –looks tough enough for a full time student. And I had a toddler on toes and was in the last trimester of my pregnancy, had my regular project work and the last thing I wanted to do was study like in college days!!! But that’s what I found myself doing, the husband, poor guy was doing the cooking and managing lil’ Achulde and there I was going through oodles of books and even walking to and from in the room, with the laptop on my hand , trying to recollect stuff and memorize stuff!!!

I managed to clear both the certs and I remember buying a book, as treat for myself ' The Hindi Bindi Club', dont remember much of the book, other than that it had lots of recipes in it.

This year also, I've managed to clear the certifications by Nov itself and I've not got a treat for self. Is there any book that you would recommend?

Happy new Year

A very Happy New Year to you folks.
One resolution that I would like to take, is to post atleast once in a week, or maybe a fortnight or atleast once in a month?!! I just hope I can.
Work wise, its been really hectic, the las quarter, I've not worked like this in the last 4-5 years, I must say. And to top it all there were the yearly certification exams!!!!
But I just should not stop blogging because of all this. After all one of the reasons for this blog, is that my Achulde and Mommolde can take sneak peek into how naughty they were , in here. I need to keep this promise. Hope I can
So whats yours?

Bad Server - No Donut for you!

Hey thats the only reason, I didn't have even a single post during the last 3 months!!!
Well, hows that for an excuse. Good enough?
Have you ever heard such an excuse before? :)