Catastrophe.

So some time back, I was feeling unsettled..
Waiting for something to happen. Now something not-so-good-at-all seems imminent. Its almost as if I were clairvoyant. Tho' in my wildest dreams, I'd never have thought I'd be in for 'this'!

More on 'this' later. Right now, I'm hoping and praying with all my heart that 'this doesn't come to pass, and things go on as before.

Good people, please send up a prayer for us, very much in need of it.

Where I'm left feeling like Dennis' mom.

I used to LOVE Denis the Menace when I didn't have one of my own. I still love him, but I frequently end up feeling HUGELY empathetic to Dennis' Mom.

Yesterday, Sonny boy and I were covering all his new text books (for the new school term) with brown paper. The Acha had gotten some labels custom-made for him- with all his favourite characters- Chota Bheem, the characters in Ice Age and Rio and Cars, Ben10, Phineas and Herb or Ferb or some such person and some others I can't remember now... and Sonny boy was totally thrilled to be helping me- which means that he was simply sitting opposite me, poring over the labels and asking every 5 minutes when he could stick them on the covered books!

As ususal, the art/drawing notebook was a horizontally long one, and I had to scrimp on the brown paper to be able to use one single sheet to cover that as well as another regular book. To ensure that the paper would not come off the cover, I thought I'd better use scotch tape to stick the small inside edges to the cover.

"Sonny boy, bring me scotch tape...."
"Where is it, Amma?"
"On top of the fridge, or in the drawer in front of the mirror, or on your study table.

After some ten minutes ostensibly spent looking for scotch tape, but in reality spent mulling over/picking up whatever of his toys he found in all those places.

"Sonny boy, WHERE is the scotch tape????"
"I don't know- I'm still searching, Amma....."
*Ominous silence from me*
"Amma, I can't FIND it anywhere..." and he comes back to me...

*Looks at him irritatedly* "Sonny boy, it HAS to be somewhere in this house, right? I told you where to search also! How do I always find things??? Where do I search for these things????

*Meets my glare wonderingly* "That is what I am also thinking now..."

IPL tidbits.

So the Acha and Sonny boy were watching IPL...

Sonny boy's fickle loyalties as of now are like a chameleon- tho' its the background of a different kind that matters. He's on the side of the winning team, no matter who. However he does have his favourites, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin and Dhoni being among them.

Saurav Ganguly was apparently batting (no, I do NOT watch cricket, unless its the World Cup)this evening. And he was a novelty to Sony boy, who had not heard of him during the World Cup or in the last few matches he's been watching with his Acha.

The Acha was aghast that he didn't know who Ganguly was!!

Acha: Sonny boy, Ganguly was one of India's best captains! Better than Dhoni even!
Sonny boy: Then what happened to him?

Acha: He stopped playing.
Sonny boy: Why?

Acha: Because- because he was tired!
Sonny boy: Then why is he playing now?????

of casteism and vegetarianism

We've introduced Sonny boy to ACK and every night, he chooses one for his viewing delight. As of now he can't read.. he just mostly goes through the picures.

Last night was Mangal Pande's turn. He'd seen Urumi during Vishu and was quite taken with Prithiviraj's exploits against Vasco da Gama.
So last night after seeing the cover picture with uniformed sepoys, he decided that Mangal Pande it would be. As usual, it fell to Amma to start the reading...

And once I started, I got confused.

The comic had casteism, racism, religious differentiation and vegetarianism.
All of which I'd rather not have Sonny boy ever introduced to.
Sigh.

Thankfully Sonny boy got bored of all those nuances in the story he had no understanding of, and went off to sleep.


I want him to feel proud of being an Indian, but I don't want him anti-Britishers. They did do their bit for India, and I want him to appreciate that. But for all that, the Britishers did bring India down to her knees and I want Sonny boy to know that too and appreciate what a strong people we were/are. Maybe a little later.

I hope he doesn't ever have to know about casteism. I hope that particular method of stratifying society goes obsolete in my generation itself. I hope, if he has to know about it, he learns of it like we learnt of Ice Age and Stone Age. Almost.

I don't want him to think that eating meat is below dignity. If he wants to eat even snakes and lizards, its upto him. There are people in this world who eat them and it is food like any other leaf/root/fruit. I do not want him feeling superior to, or looking down his nose at people who eat fare other than his, be it vegetarian or non vegetarian.

Every religion has its good and bad points. (Mangal Pande had Indian sepoys worried that the Britishers were going to convert them to Christianity, and thankfully, Sonny boy went off to sleep before I reached there.) I want him to respect all religions for their good values and understand that no religion is bad per se, only fanatic opinions make it so. I want him to treat people of all creeds as his friends, and to look upon humanism as the greatest religion of them all.

Sigh. Bringing up a child is a balancing act!

a question for Shiva

So the other night, Sonny boy was reading an ACK. I forget which one, but it was one with Lord Shiva in it.
He'd just been to the Bannerghatta National Park where they'd seen a snake swallow another one whole and was still a little dazed by that..
And so Sonny boy was looking with new eyes at the serpent coiled around Lord Shiva's neck.

Amma,look at this snake around Shiva's neck!
*Immersed in Ramesh Menon's Mahabharat* mmmm, Sonny boy....

Amma, is that a COBRA!??
Yes, Sonny boy.

Why is Shiva wearing a snake like that around his neck, Amma? Isn't it dangerous?
The snake won't do anything to Shiva, Sonny boy. Its His pet.

Pet?? Like Trinity?
Yes. *by now distracted from the Mahabharat*

A pregnant pause and then- Amma, but why does Shiva have it on his neck?? Why can't the snake crawl after him everywhere? Like how Trinity walks after you?



I was stumped.
And I was reminded of this question of his long back.....