The questions he asks!

Sonny boy's little intellect is teeming with questions these days.
Nearly every communication that we have delivers little gems. And while it is with utmost difficulty that I manage to keep a straight face sometimes, I do try to answer most of them as honestly and to-the-point as possible.


Yesterday, we were going through his nightly ablutions. He was doing susu prior to me giving him a body bath, while I was cleansing my face.
Idly came the question, "Amma, you want to do susu...?"
"You do susu fast", cut short the Amma, sensing an imminent barrage of questions.
But the idea had started in his little brain. "Amma, where your susu come from? From your stomach??!!"


Some days back, he asked me if he could do something- I forget what.
And I told him, "OK, but only once."
"Oh! Only ones? No twos, Amma?"
"No, Sonny boy, no twos."


The Acha and I sometimes have radically different ideas of how to deal with Sonny boy in particular and life in general. And we used to talk openly on several things in front of Sonny boy. Once he started understanding what we were speaking, we were amazed at the extent to which Sonny boy absorbed our conversations even when he seemed lost in his toys. Not a good trend, we agreed. So we used to speak on certain things in Hindi.
We thought he didn't notice, till tonight, a very indignant Sonny boy said,
"Hey! What is THAT?"
"What is what, Sonny boy?"

"What is that thing you are talking?"
We'd been talking in Hindi!


Sometimes, its not questions, but statements that leave us dumbfounded and groping for sense. Like,
"Acha, today Nakul is husband."
"Husband, Sonny boy??!" Another husband was most baffled. He looked at me in half bewilderment, half dread. After all, you never know with kids these days.
"Yes, Acha, he have fever."
Turned out that Nakul was just absent that day.


And sometimes, his statements have a perfect kiddy logic to them.
Like the time he told me his bath water was rising up to the ground.
The water had been filling up in the bucket and when it reached the top, it overflowed.
Truly, it rose up to the ground.


Ah, Sonny boy, sometimesI long to keep you this way, innocent and unspoilt yet by external moulding. But life has to go forward, and soon, you'll be teaching me things I don't know.
But till then, my Sonny boy, till then, I will hold your little gems close to my heart.

Money, its a-leaping away......

We're starting the year with a lot of dents in our finances.

1. I lost my mobile last week. From office. Granted I was careless and left it somewhere, (either near the fax machine or in the loo) but does'nt the office have to ensure that employees' property is safe within office premises?
Forget the loss of the phone, which luckily was an old basic model that I didn't pay for out of my pocket, I lost ALL my numbers. Now that, is catastrophy!
The only plus to this is *wide grin*, I got me a new phone. The new Nokia E51. It is' nice for me', as Sonny boy would put it. It is also going to be very nice for my credit card company which will get a billing of 12.5K this month.

2. Like I sighed to you guys, I banged my car. Dished out 2.5K to the 4 men, who are now telling stories in Kerala (Yes, they were country cousins) about the crazy women drivers in B'lore.
We got the workshop guys to make an estimate of dents past and present, and the amount comes to a whopping 18K. C'mon, the big cars are expensive to maintain, but li'l Altos?? Now, we're waiting to see what the Insurance guy will have to say.

3. Our finances are to be set back by 60K next week. And for this, Sonny boy takes all the credit.
He's gotten admission in DPS. YaYYYYYYY!! Very good, Sonny boy!
The admission and other fees at DPS come upto 60K. Not so good for the parents! Any wonder why we aren't going in for a second any time soon?

4. If Sonny boy's got to go to DPS from this June, Acha, Amma and Sonny boy have to shift house so he does not have to travel 20 odd km to school every day. That means buying another house. (Renting is a waste of money) Anybody got a house in and around Sarjapur Road/HSR layout/Koramangala that they would like to give for free? House will be maintained in mint condition.
Which means at LEAST another 30-35 L- going by ABSOLUTE minimum standards- down the drain...

Is the problem with leap years? If Jan itself has so many unpleasant monetary surprises in store, wonder about the rest of the year..???? High time some money leaped in....

Sigh!

Day before I made landmarks in more than my blog.
Marks is so APT. Sigh!

Just some few minutes before it happened, I had been running my hands lovingly over the steering wheel of my Alto(having driven to Kerala in a different car for the weekend) and telling him ( I think of my car as a he, I dunno why) I had missed him, and was glad to be back with him.

I drove expertly in and out of the teeming traffic on MG Road.
And then, while the traffic came to a stop, I put brakes on, put the car in neutral, put the handbrake on, and leisurely eyed a white top with blue stripes that was looking oh-so-smart on a young woman my age ...(ok,ok, maybe she would have been some years younger...) Then when the traffic started moving, I changed gears, and started forward idly, with my eyes still on the blue-and-white top wearing girl... when,
KKKKKERRRAASSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!

The next thing I knew was that some 4 men were jumping out of the blue Indica in front and dashing to the back of their car. Which I had banged into (SIGHHHH!!) and dented the bonnet, cutting it too.

Never again will I be able to preen in front of my hubby and BIL, saying that I had never been involved in an accident and that I was a s-a-f-e driver, albeit a woman.

I smiled apologetically and said an abject SORRY to the men. Who gave me dirty and incredulous looks. I mean, if we had been in a mad dash or something, it was understandable. But this??!! In stationary traffic which was just starting to move??!! I could sooooo read their minds. B***** women drivers!!!

Then I got out of the car and went across to them and said I would pay for the damages, whatever. They muttered and mumbled amongst themselves all the while giving me those looks. Crowd support was with me- a poor wee woman and pitted against 4 big hefty men... and they suggested we move to the side, so we moved, while the rest of the traffic flowed on , unconcerned.

And at the side, was where I saw that my covetuous look had led to dents on my front bonnet too. And considerably more than it was for the Indica. (Maruti really should make sturdier bodies).

The man told me it would cost about 5000/- for repairs. The mind boggled. A few hundreds, I could settle easily, maybe even upto 2000/- I wouldn't have batted an eyelid, but 5! The hand went immediately to the pocket and the fingers went to the Hubby's number and dialled. The sweetheart that he is sometimes, he said he'd be right over. So I conveyed the message to my 4 men and waited. And all the while I heard comments from the onlookers... some not so complimentary, some commiserating, but almost all of them admiring... at the many dents in my poor car. Me not knowing Kannada well enough to get pallier with them, I just gave them occasional pleasant looks, after all, the commiserating ones could be counted on to be on my side when the bargaining began.

Finally the hubby landed, assessed damages to me (none) and the car (plenty) and went over to talk to the men. He couldn't really agree with them that his wife was a b****y IDIOT, so he just played on their sympathies and told them that we had puh-lenty more damages to our car than they had to theirs, and why didn't they come down a bit. To their credit, the 4 toughies didn't retort that it was not their fault that our car had more damages- guess their sympathies were totally with the poor guy who had a loony wife who went around banging into cars at the sight of a blue top...

Finally we came down to 2500/- to be paid to them. And we went our separate ways- them followed by my husband to the nearest ATM, and me onward to office.

And you won't believe it, after I had turned around and gotten into mainstream traffic again, THERE was that girl again, in the blue top- walking in the opposite direction this time. Grrr! If she had seen it, she would have been totally puzzled by the dirty look I gave her.

It was all HER fault!

Landmarks...

This is my 101st post.
And I have so enjoyed posting every one of the 101. Starting from this, on Mar 14th 2007.

In her comment on my last post, Moppet's Mom told me that she was my 10,000dth visitor.
I was maha thrilled, but not as much as I was to get that first visitor, who I think was Usha. And I remember MM's first comment on my blog, on this post.

And starting from that post, the relationship with her and several others among my readers has grown into a special one.
I started this blog in the days when I hated my job, and felt totally demoralised to go day after day to a place where I felt totally worthless... I was kept utterly jobless by my boss ( I think I'll hold a grudge against him till I die) and so to look busy, I started surfing the net. It looked better to be peering into the computer than to be just sitting listlessly looking around at other busy colleagues.

And soon, pretty pretty soon, I was drawn hook, line and sinker into the bloggy world, with experiences and feelings and views to share and be shared. Momma bloggers, grandmomma bloggers, ageless bloggers, the list just expanded.. and they filled my dull working days with their posts which made me laugh, ponder, empathise and laugh all over again...

These bloggy pals are special. They're almost best buddies, 'cept you can't remember their faces! And in my last post, I was utterly warmed and delighted to have the Best Blogging Buddy award from a certain mischievous moppet's angelic mom.

In my turn am passing the award on to some of my bloggy pals- with whom my only connect is this blog of ours, but oh my Gott! what a connect it is!



Usha
Fuzzy
Gauri
WIN
~Nm



Pass the love on, ladies, pass it on, do...

Of crickets and footballs.

Last weekend, we'd made a sudden trip by road to my hometown in Kerala. Part of the way is very picturesque, us having to pass by wildlife sanctuaries in Wynad.

On our return, we had the windows wound down and the breeze was in our faces and hair, and the fresh air and green aurroundings were very pleasant. Sonny boy was on the lookout for monkeys and elephants, and so were we.

On a particular winding curve, we rounded a clump of thick trees and I could hear that distinctive buzz of crickets in the air...
I clasped Sonny boy and put my face close to his and said,
"Sonny boy, listen! Can you hear that sound? Its crickets. They're somewhere beyond those trees... "
And he put his cheek against mine and the two of us listened.

And then when we were past that curve, the busy buzz died down, and I looked at Sonny boy and smiled and said,
"Did you hear them, Sonny boy?"

Enthusiastically,
"Yes! O couse I did. And some football also!"

Life moves on...

My last post was left unfinished because while I was doing the last few lines of the tag, I received news of a bereavement and I was no longer in a mood to write any more. My oldest Uncle in my Mom's family passed away on Jan 18th. He was 84 almost, and had been ailing for sometime, so it was not unexpected, but still death always creates a vacuum....

Its funny, but I had been reading about Usha's earliest memeory of death, which led me to remember mine, and now I have Sonny boy's first brush with a death in the family- where he is old enough to realise something is wrong, but he's not quite sure WHAT is wrong.

This was the Acchacha who was so frail, that once last year, when both of them were on their feet, Sonny boy gave him a hug, and he nearly keeled over. Ever since, Sonny boy has been careful with his hugs and kisses to this Achacha. But they used to be given unstintingly, on every visit and goodbye, although he used to be a bit stingy with them as far as Aunty was concerned.

This time, on seeing Uncle lying so still and not opening his eyes, he asked
"What happened to Achhacha?"
And then he looked around and assimilated the generally upset atmosphere.. and asked again, "What happened to Achacha?"

I took him aside and told him that Achacha had been very unwell (which he knew) and had a lot of pain, and so God took him away to take better care of him. There were more questions brimming, but he was shushed and then he wandered out to play in the open grounds that were so commonplace there, but are such a luxury in Bangalore.

We were there for the weekend and he had a good time there with all the relatives who had come. There were no more questions about Achacha. Not to me and not to anyone else.

On Sunday, while hugging my Aunt goodbye, she was trying to keep the tears at bay. Sonny boy gave her the unstinting kisses and hugs that he used to reserve earlier for his Achacha. And my Aunt was blessing him, when he looked directly at her, and asked,
"Where is Achacha gone?"

As if she, who had been the one who looked after Achacha so well and put his needs ahead of everything and everybody else, should be able to answer his query.
Where is Achacha GONE?

Just like that..

This was a post I started on Fri, but then, I had to stop doing it for other reasons that suuddenly intervened.. I rarely, almost never, save and edit my posts, but this one, am finishing it...



Was feeling quite out of sorts today in office after a BIG fight with the Acha. (Yes, we women DO mix work and the home up.)

Was hopping blogs, when I found my old friend Daisy, who's mighty ecstatic that she and her HD are finally together.

And I was musing on the fact that these days, my husband and I just seem to flare up at each other at the least excuse. Is this the 7 year itch? Must be, both of us just ITCH to get into a fight.

Well, anyways, found this on her blog, and thought I'd do it.



I am thinking about ------ the fight with my husband.

i said -------nothing too bitter, I wish he'd do the same. Words once said are so difficult to forget.

i want ------- love, laughter and stability in my family.

i miss ------- the past. (You can hardly miss the future, can you?)

i hear ------- background chatter in office

i wonder ------- what my dear little Sonny boy will grow into. And this, I don't mean profession wise, but person wise.

i regret ------- not completing my MA in English Literature.

i am -----------quite happy with my professional life.

i dance ----------for the Sonny boy only now.

i sing -----------when I want to scare visitors away. Not that it works :-(

i cry ------------ tears of rage when I get into a fight with my husband, when I see sad movies.

i make with hands --------- food for my family.

i write -------- when I feel like it

i confuse --------- being accomodating and being a doormat.

i need --------- more time for myself

i should ---------- make more time for my son and husband.

i start ----------a lot of new things that I leave unfinished.

i finish ---------- cooking before I leave for office.


Oo and I tag anyone who wants to pick this up

Down memory lane...

Was reading Choxbox's earliest memories written in response to Usha's post on her earliest memories... and that set me off wondering which mine were...

I think my earliest memory is of me walking crying down a street in Madurai. Mom says I was about 3 yrs old and I was sad/upset because I couldn't wear my favourite shirt with puffed sleeves to school. And so after my Dad had dropped me within the school gates, I managed to slip out and walked crying all the way home...I sure must have been very sad, for me to remember it so well, and that must have been some special puff sleeved shirt... My poor Mom! I can't imagine what I'd have done if Sonny boy took after his mother in every way!

My next oldest/youngest memory is of my Achamma- my Dad's mom. She was bedridden from the time I can remember her, but she always used to have a toothless grin for me, and I think we got along together fabulously. I don't think she would have been very appreciative of my Dad's smoking, but she used to make wonderful toys for me with the aluminium/silver foil they used to cover the cigarettes in in those days (Scissors). We were not staying at my Dad's hometown, but we used to visit every now and then. And I used to collect the foils and take them to her and watch with wondering eyes at how the toys took shape beneath her nimble fingers...
(Hers is the earliest death I remember too, she passed away at the age of 85, which is pretty early for her times, when I was still a kid, but I don't think I was sad, just curious as to what was happening and why everybody was crying.)


The next memory I have is of me running around a table, screaming. It was in my Mom's home where we were staying as a joint family, and my aunt had just brought home the first dog I loved - Chickoo. I was out in the backyard, up a guava tree when he came home, and when I heard the news, I raced inside. Only to race back equally fast. Chickoo was a young pomeranian and they are not known for their love of small children. I must have been about 6. Hearing me run and squeal in excitement, I don't remember what he did, but I certainly do remember running round and round the huge dining table, not listening to the adults asking me to stop running, but finally jumping on a chair and clambering up the table and out of the excited Chickoo's way, who was running frenziedly at my heels.
After that it is a wonder I love dogs the way I do, but then, some things are just meant to be, I guess. I have been bitten by Chickoo twice, but I loved him nonetheless, and every other dog since.

Well, those are my earliest memories. I also have one about me going out to buy Scissors for my Dad, but I've already written about that in a separate post.

Thank you Usha, for that trip down memory lane.

Sonny boy Speak- 3

I AM glad I maintain this blog.

Some days back, the Acha and Sonny boy were playing with his toys, when one went missing and Sonny boy ran to the bedroom saying it was there...
The Acha said, "But Sonnyboy, isn't it drak in there?"
Sonny boy came out of the room giggling and then clapped his hand to his forehead. "Its not drak, Acha, it 's dark darrrk, daRRRRk. You don't know ANYthing"
And he proceeded laughing to his toys. Leaving a highly indignant Acha spluttering. And the Amma laughing at both of them



The new phrase in the household is "you /he/she don't know ANYthing."
We hear this sentence at least 5 times in a day, given that we see him for only about half the day. It all started when we'd gone home to Kerala and my sister was teaching Sonny boy. Now she, like me, learnt abcs without the phonetics.
So there she was teaching Sonny boy that 'see' was for cat, and 'eee' was for elephant, and 'gee' was for grapes.. and Sonny boy at first couldn't believe that here finally was an adult who knew less than him.The he thought she was making fun of him and he was getting irate, which was when I popped onto the scene.
Sonny boy latched onto me instantly and said, "Amma, Moothamma don't know C (the phonetic sound) for, Moothamma don't know A for, Moothamma don't know ANYthing!!
His whole tone was so why am i learning from this ignoramus???

For sometime after that, whenever anybody was an ignoramus as per Sonny boy, he'd go ,
"You don't know ANYthing. You're like Moothamma!"
and he'd chortle along with the rest of us who'd be guffawing. Moothamma is most indignant at this, but the phrase has stuck.



Sonny boy just might grow up to be an economist, maybe...
For he's been making new currencies.
The other day we were in the temple on New Year's Day. Sonny boy loves to put money into the temple 'bhandaram' as he loves to hear the tinkle of the money falling down and joining its mates below. So, as usual, when he saw the bhandaram, he said,
"Amma, I want paisa, give me paisa".
I took out a note and gave it to him, when he said,
" Amma, I don't want this. I want circle paisa. I don't want rectangle paisa"
He got his circle paisa.



He's a pastmaster at the art of conning people. When we're really mad at him , he comes with a forlorn face (you'd think he was taught dramatics in playschool, with the expressions he can cook up on his face) and asks, "Amma, you happy to me?"
Given his naughtiness quotient, and my (and the Acha's) impatience quotient, now this has become even more frequently uttered than 'you don't know ANYthing'. To the extent that even the Acha and Amma and assorted relatives have taken to asking one another at times of differing opinions, "You happy to me?"



You stu not work so late.
You stu come home early.
You stu be happy to me.
You stu tell me story....
Stu is the new should.
You stu all use it, my bloggie friends. Its great.

Happy leaping to all of you....

Its that year again- a leap year. And leaping or creeping, a very HAPPY new year to all of you dear ladies and the occasional gentlemen! May this year leave you happier, healthier, wiser, wealthier and of course older. *wicked grin*

I can't wait for the next one- 2012- when maybe, Sonny Boy who will be 8 yrs then (Phew!!) will have his own unique take on it.

These past years, every year, the first day/week would see me pondering over, deciding, re-deciding, making and even breaking (yeah , in the first week itself) some resolutions.

I'm a very practical person, if nothing else. I know my strengths and weaknesses too, so I never was one to fill in pages of my diary with my resolutions. Why go to such pains over something you know is not going to happen? So my resolutions would maybe be to overcome/work on max 3 or 4 failings which made a difference to my life. The pondering was over which of my numerous failings I should work on, and which I could POSSIBLY make at least a dent on.

This year I had very little pondering to do. Everything just fell into place with crystal clear clarity. I have just two things to work on. Alright, maybe a third one too can creep in, after I have attended to the first two.

No 1. Be patient, patient, patient, PATIENT with my darling little Sonny Boy.

No 2. Learn to balance work and my baby.
Of late, I've really begun to enjoy my job, and sometimes I find myself thinking of work from home too. It might be because of the pressure, but sometimes I do find that pressure stimulating, and never a burden like it used to be earlier.
Earlier, while there was nothing that kept me from giving my 100% to my job (other than the fact that I didn't want to give my boss/senior colleagues another opportunity to take credit for a good job done), now I have one little boy who would much rather his Amma played trains and ball with him 24 hrs, instead of maybe 24 minutes.
So now I've made a conscious decision to make and stick to some quality 'Sonny boy time.' Work will have plenty of opportunities hopefully, but with Sonny boy, time gone is time lost, and with that time, so many memories, for me and more importantly for him.

No 3. Snap less at the husband.
Even if he snaps at me 24 hrs. TRY and be more docile. Not for his sake. But again, for Sonny Boy's sake. I can only remember my parents arguing with each other while I was in my teens. I certainly don't remember them having even disagreements earlier. Now I know that they certainly had their share of fights, but my Mom never let me know it. I would like to do the same for my child.

So these are my set of resolutions for 2008. Any of you gals want to share yours?