Conversations with my little one

We have moved...

2011-10-16T14:01:00.000+05:30

to Wordpress.

I guess this would remain for a while, meanwhile, cya @ http://stickybunbook.wordpress.com/

Contest @ Lets do Something

2011-09-30T19:32:00.000+05:30

Lets do Something (the activity center @ Velachery) is celebrating its 2nd anniversary on 2nd October. There is a Drawing and Painting competition for children 4yrs + between 3 PM to 4 PM. Prizes sponsored by Crossword bookstore, Chennai.

They are also offering discounts on their regular classes. You can call 9042806148.

Basket full of....

2011-09-20T23:04:00.000+05:30

We went to this unique and wonderful story telling session by Anita Ratnam at Oxford bookstore last weekend. She came there with a basket full of sounds. Yes she had a basket full of instruments that make such unique sounds and she beautifully combined rhythm and different types of sounds so seamlessly into her stories. I have never come across so many musical instruments and some were so unique - a pipe that whistles gently when swung in the air, drum with pebbles inside that gives a wonderful effect, Bamboo rain sticks and something else that croaked like a frog, chirped like a birdie and a lot more. The kids had a great time trying out all of these.

There's another storytelling session at The British Council Library on 24th of this month between 3 to5 pm by Dominic Kelly. This is for ages 12 and above..yes, even adults are welcome apparently...so catch it if you can.

This one is for my Bangalore friends - Acoustic Traditional is organizing some very interesting festival called Confluence, which is a festival of indigenous story tellers. They are organizing it at the Fireflies Ashram between 30th September to 3rd October. They are apparently flying down a few tribal storytellers. I hope they come to Chennai as well.

Party Update

2011-08-31T12:48:00.001+05:30

Warning: Ms Modesty was reading this post with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on her face. Very annoyed, I packed her off to Mars with a one-way ticket.
____________________________________________________

Party was a soooper doooper hit! Kids and the moms and the few dads had a whale of a time! We had a good turnout too - around 67 turned up out of the 80 invited. Party started at 5.30 and went on till 9 PM. We had organised 4 art and craft activities and 3 traditional Indian games. Our wonderful neighbors volunteered as organisers for the events - party wouldn't have been a success without them. We managed to have a Healthy and Green party that was also interesting (thoroughly enjoyable; the best b'day party ever- said the kids). Yay!

The art and craft activities were:

1. Bead key chains and bracelets: Initially the boys shied away from the beads. One little boy made a key chain and that triggered the rest of them to follow suit. They even made their own little variations. I saw these key chains on many cycles later. Girls made some very pretty bracelets too.

2. Block Printing: We had plain white hankies and two types of blocks. No two printed hankies were alike. After the beads, boys didn't shy away from anything else.

3. Decorative Terracotta Diya: We had the large size diyas. Some metallic colours, glitter and stones and the kids made magic! Again each diya was different ranging from simple to complex designs. Some kids were so interested that they made two diyas...

4. CD Painting: Borrowed the idea from utbt. We prepared the CDs beforehand - spread glue and smeared our own humble kola maavu instead of coloured sand. I made couple of samples so that the kids got an idea. Since this is a bit time consuming and effort intensive, we packed it for them to try at home.

And we had made newspaper bags for the kids to carry these back home.
G akka, Pattu's caretaker deserves all the credit for preparing the CDs and the paper bags. MIL pitched in too.

Kids and moms had total fun with art and craft. A mom of a sleepy 2 yr old dropped her son at home and came back to do crafts. Lot of moms further borrowed the CD idea and newspaper bag idea for the kids' reuse-recycle school projects.
All party decor conceived and executed by my mom. She also put up with resultant party mess in her house.
Pattu's hairdo (which was very pretty and attracted many compliments) and dressing by G akka. Pattu also liked the b'day frock that G akka bought for her so that's what she wore at the party.

.........doing a virtual dhrishti.........I'm blessed to have such lovely people around......

Coming to Games:

1. Cycle tyre race - we had big and small cycle tyres for different age groups. Made some people nostalgic. Kids were oh so excited.

2. Gilli danda - Everyone (including some adults) had a go at this...

3. Bambaram (top) - Surprisingly, not many were adept at this. By the time we started bambaram, it started to rain and we had to cut it short and shift indoors.

All procurement for games by our driver and and event management by hubby, some wonderful neighbors

Now to the Food:

Utbt - you were right about the food. Kids didn't even miss the chips and the samosas. And the parents really appreciated the thought and the effort (and our guts ;) )

1. Whole wheat pasta + corn and veggies in mint and basil sauce - a huge hit across age groups. It just vanished in minutes! Kids came back for second and third helpingsMany moms called me later for the recipe ;)
2. Bhel Puri - a hit with older kids and adults and a few 3 yr olds as well
3. Chutney sandwich - older kids and adults
4. B'day cake and chocolates - the cake was the 'melt in your mouth' variety... from Hot Breads
5. Real and Tropicana fruit juices

I was planning to bake some muffins but most moms felt it would be an overkill and kids would not be able to eat more than these many items. We served very little initially and kids came back for a second helping of their fav snack. Very little food wasted.

Utbt - 'No Gifts' on the invite worked... only 2 or 3 gave gifts. The whole community is planning to adopt this policy of no gift - no return gift b'day parties. We were quite worried about the kids' attitude towards return gifts lately.

Pictures - next post....

Pattu turns 5

2011-08-25T09:42:00.000+05:30

Today!

She had 2 new sets of clothes to choose from. She chose to wear an old frock that she likes most. This is your day Pattu and your joy counts, who are we to tell you otherwise.

Pattu has been waiting to turn 5 since her dear friend P is 5. P is exactly 1 yr older than Pattu so I told her

Amma: "When you turn 5 P will become 6"
Pattu: looking all upset "Tell P to wait amma...then we both can be 5 together..."

Well, Pattu, Time is merciless...

Healthy and Green

2011-08-17T23:21:00.000+05:30

I've been going around with some dangerous ideas in my head lately. No, no...I'm not gonna enroll myself for music classes...not that dangerous. I'm thinking of a healthy and green b'day party for Pattu. While it is generally very fashionable to use a smattering of these words in conversations, they are not necessarily party highlights...if u know what I mean... that too if your audience is kids.

I. Healthy....
Imagine a b'day party without fries, fryums, wafers, samosas/ puffs/ cutlets/burgers/ pizzas... more so, imagine b'days with cucumber, carrot, fruit salads, idli/dhokla, cup corn, sundal.... I sounded this off with a few kids here are some reactions,
'aunty, last year they served fruit salad at S's party... we are not planning to attend this year..'
'aunty you can serve corn and chips and samosas...let people take what they like' - the kid who didn't want to hurt me.
.... you get the picture. I don't have to tell you all...kids are ruthless. Imagine the kind of nick names they'll call me *SHUDDER*
But, but...I am not one to give up. Iron will ...heard of it?
So, here's goes my list:
1. bhel puri, small triangles of chutney sandwich - whole wheat/ multigrain bread, whole wheat pasta with corn, mini fruit muffins (that I plan to bake) + b'day cake ; non aerated fruit juice ; chocolates ; cookies
Any other non messy, easy, healthy and interesting option? Ideas please...

II Green
No plastic cups/ confetti, etc. Bio degradable cups and plates; etc. etc..
Hubby strictly said no gifts and no return gifts... it has to be celebration for the pure joy of it and not be burdened with gifts and such trappings. Very radical. But it is like serving cucumber and boiled carrots for the party. I told him that his daughter would be alone and friendless after such a party. None of that moved his Iron will...the family seems to have this in plenty.

But then I got a bulb... I thought I'll organise art and craft...

- Wooden beads - they can make bracelets/ key chains
- Pot painting - a pack of seeds with each pot
- Block printing on white hankies
- Danglers with used CDs
- Newspaper bags to carry these

So long as they have things to carry back home, I think kids would be happy...what do you think?
Any other ideas folks? Let me know before this weekend...

Ms Pattu walks out of Mother India

2011-08-16T10:32:00.000+05:30

and the producers had to rope in someone else to be ready for release for Independence Day.

Yes, Pattu was supposed to hold the flag and stand at the center while other older children danced to a patriotic number. But Pattu felt that the role does not give her enough opportunities to display her talent (too much nenappu (attitude) for being so damathoondu (small) I thought!!)

"Amma, I also want to dance like the others...I don't want to just stand"

That'll take a while my dear...maybe next year.

Instead, she was happy winning 2 prizes for sports and participating in a drawing contest.

Psst: The drawing was too funny...it just had some blobs of colour though she called the blobs 'house', 'tree', 'sheep', 'sun', 'flower', 'cloud', 'girl' ...

Warli busts Gender Stereotypes?

2011-08-09T20:27:00.001+05:30

We were trying our hand at Warli. We made a family for starters... and Pattu wants to know, "In Warli the men also wear skirts?"

And while on this topic....

At Nalandaway's Art and Craft Carnival, I found many parents (both moms and dads alike) steering the daughters towards jewelry making and their sons away from it. Consciously or sub-consciously, I don't know. One of the little boys was so fascinated with jewelry making that he insisted on trying it out while his mum was pushing him towards greeting cards and the likes. I couldn't resist the aaarrrggghhh that was building up inside me, so I told the mom (politely only...) that a good number of jewelry designers are men and that it is a very lucrative profession.

To which she said, 'but it is a waste of time...he cannot wear any of these na'. **Gggrrrrr...the woman didn't get it! **

and here's the best part... the little boy said, 'but I'll make bracelet and chain for you amma... see this one is nice..' **awww so cute it was**

So, they were made by the boy and proudly worn by the mom. She came and showed me...she was beaming! **Gggrrr gone and happy**

So, Parents, leave them kids alone!

Pencil and Crayons

2011-08-08T12:19:00.000+05:30

Still Life - Thandu keerai before it was mashed into pulp.
I was quite happy with the way it turned out... I mean the sketch, though the pulp also turned out well ;)

This Mayil danced when it rained in Chennai - Crayons on wall

Upto something Fishy... Crayons on wall
What's the lone Warli man doing there? Wondering how to catch this fish...

Fragrance of Spring - Crayons on wall

Globalisation

2011-07-29T09:01:00.000+05:30

...can be funny at times...

Hyderabad treated us to Punjabi food for lunch and we had Uttappam for breakfast in Delhi!

My craving for Hyderabadi biryani will have to wait for the next time.

Dr. Pattu

2011-07-26T15:31:00.000+05:30

Pattu is busy role playing with her doctor set. I am the Patient. Pattu brings a stethoscope, forceps and a bottle of medicine. Putting the stethoscope to my back, she says, 'breathe'. I comply.

Pattu: You have cold, I'll give you syrup. It is sweet only, don't cry, ok.

Amma cries and puts up a fight.

Pattu: No...show aaaa ... be quiet, else I'll call the doctor!

Amma: Oh, but who are you then?

Pattu: I'm the nurse

Amma cries and puts up a fight again

Pattu calls the doctor and Dr. Pattu arrives.

Dr. Pattu: Why are you troubling? Show aaa... it is a sweet medicine only... show

Amma reluctantly shows aaa and Dr. Pattu pulls out a teeth using the forceps.

Amma: Ouch! Why did you do that? You said I only have a cold!

Dr.Pattu: But I had the forceps...that's why. Now I'll put nose drops ok?

Amma is scared and objects.

Dr.Pattu: Looking annoyed.. If you keep troubling, then I'll have to call the plumber!

If Pattu becomes a doctor, god (or the plumber?) save her patients!

We made it this time...

2011-07-25T11:04:00.000+05:30

...to Nalandaway's Art Arattai Aarpattam. Pattu along with her friend A explored all the art and craft activities by Let's do Something - pot painting, pop up cards, finger painting, jewelry making - they made their own bracelet and earrings.

We went back for the Sing along with Jeeva and Krishna Iyer. Awesome! Pattu and A had V as well for company and the three of them were super excited singing and jumping along! LB was just two rows away from us ... I can't tell whether the kids or the parents enjoyed it more.

And this Aarpattam continued all the way back home as well!

Highlight of the evening was V telling the girls, 'ayyo CD odanju pochu' (The CD got stuck) when the girls were stuck on a song trying to recall the next line. LOL!

CMM Level 4

2011-07-21T09:49:00.004+05:30

I realised a few days back how efficient we have become as a team. I mean all of us at home - including the domestic help. I'm brimming with pride - we have almost reached CMM level 4. Let me explain.

While our home is not too dirty or cluttered, it doesn't fall in the 'always sparkling clean' category. If you have magnifying glasses for eyes, you'll find a layer of dust waving at you here and there and you'll hear the walls groan from the scrubbing of Pattu's murals, you might find a stray crayon, peanut, squeaky toy under the cushion, etc, etc. We are also liberated people who will keep things where we want to keep them; not necessarily where they belong by popular opinion - c'mon, what's a home if I can't do as I please.
The unspoken rule however is that, come visitors and we'll get into the teamwork mode. What we used to accomplish in 3 hours, we accomplish in less than 30 mins these days. Process, people, process is the key. I just have to 'blow the whistle' and we all get working like an army of ants.

- MIL will hide the laundry, clear the railing of stray towels and undies, restore doormats to their positions and walk around with a piece of cloth dusting here and there.
- FIL will put on his teeth, dab some talcum powder and excavate used bowls and glasses from under the cot, near the sofa, under the cushion etc and throw them into the sink and he'll switch on all the fans so that the dust on them doesn't show.
- I shove all kitchen clutter under the counter, clear the bathrooms of Pattu's toys and other things that you don't want to know and straighten the sheets (all the way to the floor so that the crocodiles and dinosaurs under the cot are well hidden).
- Hubby dear will clear laptops and such gadgets from dining table, put the wet towels out and shove folded clothes into the nearest cupboard
- Maid will sweep and swab in one efficient swoosh and clear the mess in Pattu's room
- Pattu will 'help' the maid clean up her room, plump the cushions, throw them around and jump on them again till I holler and refrain from causing any further damage.
- And we all put on our best smiles (like it is all so effortless).

What's more, we even categorise the visits.
1. Short visits limited to living, dining, kitchen.
2. Extended visits that can lead to bathroom and bedroom exploration as well
3. Stay over. We take 2 days to prepare for 3 - dusting, scrubbing, rearranging in full swing. For No 3, we actually clean the fans.

MBA project trainees are welcome to analyse and learn from our process efficiency.

Carrot and Stick

2011-07-20T09:38:00.002+05:30

Pattu's cousins were coming over. Two days before their arrival I started giving gyan on sharing and being well behaved and all that, Pattu nodding absently.

Amma: So, if there are only 2 candies, you'll give one to A and the other one to C and amma will get one for you later ok?
Pattu: No amma.
Amma: !!?? What?
Pattu: If there are only 2 candies, I'll take one and give the other one to C. A can adjust. It's ok.
Amma: That'll make you a bad girl then...
Pattu: after some thinking... that's ok amma... sometimes I'll be a bad girl... sometimes only, not always..ok?

Silence followed for few minutes.

Pattu: Amma, tell me a story...
Amma: I won't... because you don't share. Bad girl!
Pattu: That is only laaater amma... later only I'll be a bad girl, now I am a good girl. Tell me story now.

Mommy Guilty?

2011-07-17T00:55:00.004+05:30

The other day I went shopping and picked up a few (which turned out to be quite a lot actually) clothes for self and Pattu. I did some quick mental math (which involves me spreading out my fingers and toes and at times asking my company to do the same)... anyway, the point is, I realised that it would make an obscene bill. At this point, I commanded the objective, fair judge (in me) to take over and be merciless in throwing out irrational items from the shopping cart. And the objective, fair judge (in me) threw out 2 of the 3 items that I had picked up for Pattu while all my 3 items made it to the billing counter.

My friend gave me a shocked look to suggest, 'a nice, selfless mom, aren't you?'. I actually felt a bit shame shame and all that but I put up a brave face and didn't show it.

There are a few more instances as well: If Pattu and I are both hungry, I gobble down a few mouthfuls (I can gobble down a full meal in a few mouthfuls, especially when I am hungry) before I even think of getting Pattu's food ready (but then I am usually very quick to download my few mouthfuls). A hungry me is not a very pleasant sight. But of course if there's only one plate of food between us, I'll give it to Pattu (expecting Pattu to feel blessed).

That made me wonder, I can't think of one instance where my mom has put herself before her children. And that brings me to the question, am I the only shame shame mom around or have we (as moms) changed?

Inviting all you moms out there to pour your guilt here. However, considering the popularity of my blog (the lack of it), I think it is a better idea to tag a few of you than leave it so open ended. So, the tag goes to Art, utbt and Vidya (because I think you all are very unlikely candidates to have done something like this). You have to:

1. Write about 2 instances where you have put yourself before your child/ children... been a wee bit selfish.
2. How did you feel? Did you feel a pang of guilt or were you comfortable?
3. Tag 2 more moms (I want to know I have company, you see **EVIL GRIN**)

Motherhood Lessons from Pattu

2011-07-06T10:36:00.000+05:30

Hello all you lovely aunties! This is Pattu. You know Uma aunty has tagged amma and amma doesn't have time to do it. So, I decided to take a shot at it.... so here I go...

These are some lessons I taught Amma:

1. I can't look cute when I'm crying. Have you ever tried it? It is tough, let me tell you.
2. Whaddya mean you can't sing? I don't care for the CDs ... I WANT MY AMMA TO SING...no matter how bad you are
3. No matter how well planned I am, Amma always starts digging into her food when I feel the urge to poop. Hullo, you can't blame me - I'm still grappling with all the levers in my body...
4. I can't be adorable all the time... not even to you amma... C'mon, I have to be myself at times...
5. When Amma is unwell, I so want to hug her and be with her all the time. I'm not being clingy! Why don't you understand?
6. Amma, I'm sorry, but I am actually enjoying 'Time outs' - the view of the room from a corner is always interesting. And why do you look like someone punished you? Huh?
7. There's no 'one size fits all' in parenting. I am different ...aren't you different from your friends?
8. WARNING: Comparing notes on my progress can adversely affect your BP.
9. I cannot play the piano at 3 yrs. And I don't intend to. Excuse me, what were you doing when you were 3?! You think ammamma hasn't told me ;)
10. Don't keep telling me about junk food. I know just as you do. Can you exercise restraint? And you've been trying for 30 odd years!
11. You can't tell me to be honest and be angry with me for telling that aunty that I don't like her. Make up your mind.
12. Sure there are some kids who do as they are told. But then, hey, won't you feel insulted if you were given a less ~~difficult~~ interesting task (me, ahem!)?
13. Honestly amma, there are times when I don't want you. Now, don't give me that 'hurt-ba-lamb' look. I know you aren't going to the hospital every time - you have fun with your friends.

And can I request my friends Jillu, V, and LG to take up the tag? Their moms have been on a break too...

Sketchy....

2011-06-30T20:40:00.001+05:30

...you mean, 'why suddenly'?? Nothing....jusht like that wonly...simbly...

Idle mind at Sea

Still Life - Flowers in Jaadi

Copy from a picture

6 cups of tea

2011-06-26T16:24:00.001+05:30

to light up your day...

Plain chai, Ginger, cinnamon, chamomile, mint and red bush.... what's your pick?

Evidence of an Artful Vacation

2011-06-01T09:20:00.000+05:30

A Multi colour Apple

Donkey from pencil shavings

My Fragile 30-Plus Body - Tag

2011-05-20T18:37:00.000+05:30

Apu has tagged me to write about my fragile 30-plus body. I moved to this category long back and have been at the receiving end of a string of threats and advice.

The first thing that I heard as soon as I hit 30 was, "Time is running out, have a child quick". To hear that time is running out at the ripe young age of 30 is scary to say the least. I was told that it is difficult to conceive after 30 and all the more difficult to produce a healthy child and to have a normal delivery. Well, I delivered Pattu when I was 32 and I had a normal delivery.
I'm sure all these were well meant, but again, I think we are focusing on the wrong parameter - it is fitness that counts and not really 'age'.
The next thing I heard was, "Eat less - after 30, it is easy to gain (weight) but difficult to lose". Given my 'un-feminine' appetite I still find this difficult to follow. Again, I think it is more about 'eating carefully' than about eating less/ more and also working out regularly. I know a few women in their late 40-s who are not necessarily slim but have the stamina to last a tough day and still wake up cheerfully the next day. Most of us would probably want a week off after that kind of physical exertion.
However, most of the ads I see harp on losing 'inches' but not gaining 'fitness'.

Like Apu mentioned, there's the skin and hair trouble that one can never be rid of. You take care of your tan and you have black spots, pigmentation, dryness, dull skin, dandruff, damaged hair and what not.
One thing that I have noticed is that my mom's generation had a routine. They had a simple routine but then they were more disciplined than us. For instance, they oiled their hair everyday and had oil massage and a shikakai bath once a week. Most of us do this only once in a while at a parlour, whenever we have the time.

On the other hand, I am quite happy about this 30+ awakening when it comes to the focus on routine gynaecological check ups post 30 yrs. A lot of women discover ovarian cancer and the likes quite late. With the increase in breast cancer, it is better to overemphasise than play things down. Many women are aware of osteoporosis and take precautions.
Those days, after childbirth the women were just expected to be plump,selfless and they seldom had life outside 'family'. It was not even a career for many women, it was just a job. I've seldom seen my mom's generation 'hang-out' with their friends for instance. Thankfully, these have undergone a change.

Summer Fun

2011-05-20T10:42:00.000+05:30

Last summer found Pattu either moping or monkeying around since she was too small for summer camps and those that were willing to take her were too far off. This summer, however, has so far been packed and fun-filled and Pattu is having a great time.
She loves the summer camp and this time I managed to take her to a couple of sessions by Storytrails - The Seasons Trail and the Five Senses Trail. On both occasions she had a friend along and they had great fun. Only downside was that the venue was Fab India and I ended up shopping!
She has more friends now and I see her playing better in a group than she did a few months back and I'm glad for that.
We also went to a quieter beach on ECR (beyond Panayur) and got drenched and also collected lots of shells.

Pattu is moving on to a bigger school and she would also be commuting by the school bus. The two weeks in April was smooth - she settled in quite well, liked her class teacher, enjoyed the bus ride and even offered to take care of her friend who is 'smaller' than her (making a note to warn his mom about this). I also heard from the summer camp teacher that she is very protective around him.

How Would You React? II

2011-05-09T21:25:00.005+05:30

I've been off the web for a while - apologies. Since I asked for your opinions, I should have responded earlier. Thank you all for sharing here; Apu - thanks for the prod - much needed :) and thanks IHM for tweeting this :)
And, here I go, without more ado:

1. At an interview to a single woman: When are you getting married? To a married woman: Are you planning a family in the near future?
No matter what, these are personal questions and has nothing to do with ones capability. This is as good as saying married women and pregnant women are not 'employable'! Every employee is bound to serve a notice period giving the organisation enough time to replace the loss. I don't see how this situation is any different.
D, to your comment - What if a male employee moves on to a better job? Attrition is something that any organisation, small or large, will have to cope with. The trend analysis will tell you to expect a certain percentage of attrition every year and the organisation should have plans to tackle it. Moreover, this question assumes that it is always the woman who moves/ quits after marriage - Not so anymore. I see a lot of men moving places/ jobs as they see fit.

2. Two male colleagues discussing the absence of another male colleague:
C1: "He left early (which was well past official timing anyway)... he had to take care of his kid"
C2: Looking surprised, "What does his wife do? Already henpecked is it!" sniggers

and
4. Male colleague sharing lunch that he had cooked. Another MC - "That's the plight of being married to a working woman"

A lot of men still think that it is sissy to change diapers, feed the toddlers, cook and run errands. So, it is more important to seem 'macho' than to be responsible and useful around your own home. It is as good as saying, "God, forget the brain but don't make me bald"!

PS: I have a feeling many men will resonate with that as well!!

Pooh - the best retort award for No-4 goes to you :D

3. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, a young woman is approached by a male colleague
MC: Making it sound like it is some great honor "We need a young woman like you to greet the chief guest .."(hold a tray and offer the scissors)
The irked young woman refuses and the man turns to another not so young woman in desperation. There are atleast 30 men - young and not so young at the ceremony!

KP, this one is for you.

In absolute terms, no, there's nothing wrong with holding the tray. However, this is not as simple as it seems. Have you ever seen a man holding the tray?

My peeve here is that women are perceived to be ornamental additions to such ceremonies where men hold serious offices. There were so many men at the ceremony - why weren't any of them approached? And how is it honorable for women if the same job is shameful for men?

5. Perception that women who drink/ smoke have 'loose morals'. On many occasions, I've heard comments such as, "She drinks and attends late night parties, so obviously...(men misbehave)" And almost always it sounds like it is the woman's fault and not the man's.

DesiGirl - LOL! **Hi-Fi** Best Comment award to you!

I can go on and on about this one but DesiGirl has just about put it in perspective. Quoting her comment here:

" Men drink and smoke DG hasn't seen them being sexually assaulted by women though often by other men. With the given logic, if a woman makes as much money as a man and has same level of education then she should be sexually assaulting drunk men. :)"

Only point where I disagree is - education or money has nothing to do with this. Just that the men have always drawn boundaries around women and if they step out of those boundaries, they are just 'asking for it'. And where are the boundaries for the men??!!

Another observation from KP - sharing it here:

this idea is perpetuated and drilled into the social psyche by movies and TV series. I dont need to tell you the number of times any female villain has been portrayed as a drinking/smoking and partying girl and the minute she is "rectified" she is shown as wearing a saree and bindi and being coy!

How would you react?

2011-03-21T17:22:00.000+05:30

Some statements/ situations/ questions that have made me go aarrrgggghhh....

Now, I'm inviting you all to give me your best retorts/ responses to the following aarrrgggghh statements/ questions/ situations... and do share some that you might have come across..

1. At an interview to a single woman: When are you getting married? To a married woman: Are you planning a family in the near future?

2. Two male colleagues discussing the absence of another male colleague:
C1: "He left early (which was well past official timing anyway)... he had to take care of his kid"
C2: Looking surprised, "What does his wife do? Already henpecked is it!" sniggers

3. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, a young woman is approached by a male colleague
MC: Making it sound like it is some great honor "We need a young woman like you to greet the chief guest .."(hold a tray and offer the scissors)
The irked young woman refuses and the man turns to another not so young woman in desperation. There are atleast 30 men - young and not so young at the ceremony!

4. Male colleague sharing lunch that he had cooked. Another MC - "That's the plight of being married to a working woman"

5. Perception that women who drink/ smoke have 'loose morals'. On many occasions, I've heard comments such as, "She drinks and attends late night parties, so obviously...(men misbehave)" And almost always it sounds like it is the woman's fault and not the man's.

Now, kind readers, how would you react?

Feminspiration

2011-03-16T10:48:00.002+05:30

ETA: Asha pointed to Saalumarada Thimmakka whose selfless dedication to planting hundreds of trees and also tending to them is truly inspiring.

Here's my entry for Feminspiration

These are couple of women I met during some of my social research trips. Their faces are etched in my memory and these are among a few women who have taught me a thing or two about life.

I met Ponni during my trip to rural Ooty. She lived alone with her son (an adolescent when I met her). She had a charming, friendly face and readily invited me for a chat. I didn't quite understand the stares and disapproving looks that I got from people till I heard her story.
The usual story - she fell in love with a man, had a child out of wedlock and he left her for an arranged marriage. Ponni came from a poor, dysfunctional family and was turned out of the house since she has brought shame to her family. She was a whore, an outcast. She crumbled and suddenly she was alone in this world that was alien, unfriendly and dangerous. One fine day she just decided to gather herself and make an effort to make the best of the situation. She found a job on a farm that gave her food and shelter. She decided to educate her son for which she had to work harder and also offer some favours in exchange. She is happy that her son is progressing well at school. She has no secrets and she is not ashamed of her life. Her days of self pity are over. She is officially an outcast in the village, but women in their suffering come to her secretly to borrow money or to just cry on her shoulders. Her son is the center of her universe now but she seems to know that she will end up lonely. She does not expect her son to acknowledge her struggles or even understand her. A stray tear appears when she thinks that he might even turn against her and call her a whore. She is preparing to face the world as a lonely old woman. Her wisdom comes as a shock through her bubbly, youthful, girlish charm. She laughs liberally and it is infectious.
I hope, for Ponni's sake that her son has grown up to be supportive and understanding.

Amina worked hard to make ends meet while her husband came home drunk and beat her up. She decided to educate her two girls so that they can have a liberated life. The girls started going to school and she face opposition from men and women folk alike. Her husband had more reasons to beat her up - she was training her girls to bring shame to the family. The girls were threatened and were on house arrest. Amina was not one to give up. She found help in the form of a volunteer who came home to teach the girls. The girls would give their exams when they are ready. Amina is not sure if the girls would be allowed to work, but she believes that the education will liberate them, make them independent in thought and they will be ready when an opportunity presents itself. If none of these happen, they would still understand the value of education and pass it on to the next generation - maybe her grand daughters would be the real independent women that she so wants to be. But Amina knows that she has sown the seeds and it will bear fruit some day and that day is not far.

I so want to meet these women now - it has been 10 years. I want to believe that they are still going strong and are proud of their achievements.

African Bush Tea

2011-03-11T10:06:00.001+05:30

.. was sipping African Bush Tea and thinking about Mma Ramotswe.

She is one of the characters that I've grown to like in recent years. I specifically remembered the part where Mma Makutsi one fine morning decides to brew the regular tea instead of the ususal bush tea. It is an awkward moment between the women where Mma Makutsi doesn't want to hurt her benevolent boss and Mma Ramotswe is a bit embarrassed when she realises that she has never bothered to find out if everyone else was ok with bush tea.

Anyway, I really liked bush tea (at least if that would put me in the league of Mma Ramotswe). For those who would like to try - it is available in the Twinings brand. In Chennai you should find it in Nuts & Spices and Brown Tree chains.

While on the subject of inspiring women, have you participated in Feminspiration at Womensweb yet? Contest on till 16th March and some nice goodies too... check it out.

Attacked by the Green Eyed Monster

2011-03-08T17:27:00.000+05:30

We were at a restaurant and Pattu was staring for a long time at a girl at the next table who seemed just a bit older than Pattu. While I was wondering about that, Pattu turns to me and asks, "Amma, isn't pink my favourite colour?". Still confused, I agreed and Pattu says with a frown on her face, "..then why is she wearing it!"

*****Stumped*****
It starts this early!!??!!

And this is also the first time I'm sensing 'envy' in Pattu's reactions...

Btw, Happy Women's Day to every one of you out there!!

Vanity - Part II

2011-03-03T19:09:00.000+05:30

Pattu's school has exams and they also give a report card at the end of it. I generally boycott this system by not acknowledging the time table and not 'preparing' Pattu to face the exams. She goes to school like any other normal day. After her drawing and colouring exam:

Amma: What did you draw today?
Pattu: A hill and an ant on top of the hill
Amma: (Who has her doubts since she's never ever seen Pattu draw anything like that before) Did you colour?
Pattu: Yes amma... I coloured beauuuuifully... so verrrry beaauuutifully amma
Amma: (with heightened suspicion) within the borders?
Pattu: Yes amma... only little bit...juuusssst a little bit went outside the border..

The report card arrives and madam has a 'D' for drawing and colouring!

Nenappu thaan pozhappa kedukkumaam! So much for all the claim...

Finally..

2011-03-02T16:22:00.001+05:30

We visited the Perarignar Anna Centenary Library at Kotturpuram. The children's section is beautifully done. It has a lot of natural lighting and has bright cheerful decor. They are still adding to the collection of books. What we saw there included a lot of Scholastic, McGraw Hill and Oxford publication with some stray Tulika and others thrown in.

Image Courtesy: McGraw Hill

Pattu enjoyed reading a GIANT book - which was half as tall as Pattu
Hatty and Tatty and the bumping boats
Pattu Rating: 4.3
Two best friends Hatty and Tatty decide to get married and the story is about how they miss each other while on the way to the other's house. Finally the bump into each other mid way ... a simple and yet a cute one

Image Courtesy: Amazon

We also read the really beautiful book called,
My Love For You
Pattu Rating: 4.0

It goes, "My love for you is as big as 1 big bear, as tall as 2 giraffes, as deep as 3 blue whales..." and so on...till 10
I guess it was a bit too early for Pattu, so I had to explain to her a bit. I asked her how much she loves me and she started by saying, "Very very very very..." and then ended up saying, "..lot of very very much amma" :D

Image Courtesy: Amazon

Then we read, rather I read (while Pattu wanted to flip through some books on her own) another nice book called

Grace and Family
The story is about Grace who lives with her mom and grannny in UK. She thinks that her family is short of perfect without a dad because all the families in stories she has read has a dad and mom, a brother and sister and a cat and a dog. Just then, she receives an invitation from her dad who now has another family in Africa. She decides to go accompanied by her granny and finds both joy and sadness during her stay. By the time she is back, she is all set to rewrite the myth of a happy family to include families like hers as well. Good thing about the book is that it doesn't ask for sympathy.

Image Courtesy: Amazon

and finally a well known tale of
Chicken Little
Pattu Rating: 4.5

And in Pattu's words, "I loved this picnic amma... we will come here everyday!"

Real Cow or Ordinary Cow?

2011-02-28T20:12:00.001+05:30

If anything, Pattu has a really wild imagination. Recently Pattu was telling her grandma not to go near a cow, so grandma asked, 'why?'

Pattu: ..because... (trying to think up something on the fly)...it is not an ordinary cow......it is a 'reaaallll cow'...
Gran: What is a 'real cow'?
Pattu: (again trying to think up something on the fly)...hmmm.. it has a switch on its belly ... and when it presses the switches it will become a crocodile ... (encouraged by the raised eyebrows of people around) ...and again if you press it, it will become a snake and eat you...that's why it is a 'real cow'...

So folks, watch out for the 'reaaallll cow'!!

The Battle of Water-Loo

2011-02-23T23:51:00.000+05:30

Two years back, I met a mom who moved her son to a different school only because the previous school did not have decent toilet facilities. While there were enough toilets and in good condition, they ran out of water quite frequently. Now, we are not talking about some corporation school here. This is a fairly well known middle class+ school. The boy (who was only 5 yrs at that point of time) stopped drinking water so that he doesn't have to go to the toilet.
"I want him to be healthy first - studies can come later" was her opinion.

Recently I was talking to a bunch of older kids (10 yrs+) and they said something similar. They avoided drinking water so that they don't have to go to a dirty toilet.

"Thank god PT is the last period. After playing we'll feel so thirsty and we have to drink lots of water, since it is the last period, we can come back home.."
"It really stinks and during intervals it is so crowded"
and apparently the teacher would, "say something in front of the whole class if we want to go during class, it will be embarrassing"

This again is a fairly sought after school. I can't believe that schools that take so much money in the name of fees should have such poor facilities. Wonder why most parents don't think this important enough to take up during PTA meets.

I've always wondered why women in particular consumed very little water during the day. Most women I know drink less than a litre per day which is abysmally low. Some of them atleast push themselves consciously to drink more but it takes a lot of effort.
I can't help but attribute this to poor public toilet facilities in our country. I've noticed that even some shops do not have such facilities - when I asked the female staff what they do when they have to use the loo, she simply said that they 'finish the business before leaving home'! Imagine the plight of these women when they have their periods! Or for that matter even a stomach upset.
And another shop which was in a shopping complex had the loo on the terrace and again the women never ventured up there since men were always hanging out there. Men obviously pee where they like so they are hardly affected.

I'm remeinded of a social research project that I did many years back. This was among the tea leaf pickers in rural Ooty. I was shocked to learn that it is a taboo for women to go too many times during the day. It apparently means, 'lack of control/ discipline' on the woman's part - they have to 'finish the job before sunrise'. An older woman then told me that if they have to go while at work, they have to go into the forest (the thickets nearby) since there are no toilets and it is not safe for women to stray away from the group and wander off alone. I guess it was the women's way of conditioning to save themselves from bigger dangers. This was almost 10 years back and I hope things have changed for good now... though I wonder...

On a lighter note, recently when I visited a public loo, I was really surprised to find it very clean only to realise later that the door doesn't lock!

Vanity...

2011-02-22T23:08:00.000+05:30

...thy name is Pattu

Pattu obviously noticed that I've been taking pictures (though occassionally) of things she draws, scribbles, cards and crafts that she makes, etc. Recently she did something that really didn't warrant a picture, atleast I didn't think so... (...... what kind of mom am I?? well, it takes all kinds...)
..but then, Pattu trillls...,"Amma, see this...wow!!! It is Wowwww!!! no amma?? Take a picture amma"

...time to take stock...

Discovered...

2011-02-21T14:53:00.000+05:30

Lydie's @ ECR: A nice quiet place for a lazy weekend... good continental food, delicious desserts... the Indian fare is just so-so...

Bikaner Bhojanalaya @ Valmiki Nagar - for authentic home cooked rajasthani food, finger licking good... a no frills place, reminded me of Lalitha's, Bangalore... smaller scale though...

And.... had the Pav Bhaji at Novelty Tea House at Mint Street, Sowcarpet
Worth a try...

Hide and Seek

2011-02-17T21:51:00.000+05:30

Pattu is a total goof when playing this game. She still does an ostrich every now and then, tries to hide behind sheer curtains, under a baby cushion and giggles loudly while still hiding. Once, when it was her turn to play catcher, she looked around (she's a goof even while trying to find) just for a second and called out ,
"G akka, where are you?"

Since G akka is not a goof, this question met with silence and pattu repeated it a few times, the tone becoming more demanding with every repetition. Finally the frustrated Pattu throws her arms in the air and says with a sigh,

"I've no clue where you are...and now it looks like even you don't know where you are!"

to which G akka burst out laughing and ended up getting caught!

Out of focus

2011-02-16T22:12:00.000+05:30

I happened to watch a bharatnatyam dance show on TV recently - a family friend's daughter was participating. It was a contest with a few theme rounds and had Sudha Chandran as the host and another dancer as the guest judge.

I was surprised to see that the cameraman had absolutely no idea how to capture the dance- the camera angle kept changing every few seconds which was not only a strain on the eyes, but also kept shifting the audience perspective continuously leaving them confused.

What really annoyed me was that the camera wandered, even as the dancers were performing, to focus on the judge's bangles, the host's elaborate bindi, their sarees and ther smiles. All these were very pretty indeed but distracting the audience from the performanc itself.

Finally when the 30 minutes show ended, I only remembered the bindi, sarees, bangles and a few disconnected snippets of the dance!

Wondering if all shows are like this one ...

From the horse's mouth

2011-02-15T22:59:00.001+05:30

It is a routine for me to ask Pattu what happened at school and for her to tell me that she played with her friends and then ate snacks and got back home. Some days she gets punishment for running about in class, making noise and such things.
The updates rarely go beyond these and sometimes, just to hear from the horse's mouth, I employ some tactics like these:

Amma: but what were you doing when B was drawing?
Pattu: But B was not drawing
Amma: So, what was she doing?
Pattu: She was crying
Amma: Why?
Pattu: Because she got hurt
Amma: What were you doing?
Pattu: I was not crying
Amma: ok, but what were you doing??
Pattu: I told B not to cry

...how insightful!!
But then, amma is not the kind who'll give up...

Amma: So, what did you draw at school today?
Pattu: I drew thunder, lightning and lot of rain...and a storm
Amma: (not giving up still) what did your teacher say?
Pattu: She got wet in the rain

...sigh!
Finally the last ditch effort

Amma: Did you learn numbers or alphabets in school today?
Pattu: nothing
Amma: you sang?
Pattu: No
Amma: you danced?
Pattu: No amma
Amma: So, what did you do?
Pattu: Nothing amma, I was just a good girl
Amma: What did you do to be a good girl?
Pattu: I played with my friends and finished my snacks

These days, I'm just happy to hear that she was a good girl.

Candles

2011-02-13T15:06:00.000+05:30

tried my hand at candle making... here are a few... floating candles and some coloured ones...

www.drop-of-sun.blogspot.com

Impressions

2011-02-01T17:59:00.000+05:30

It is funny how some impressions stick in your mind forever. The kind of impressions I am talking about here are not the deep meaningful variety, but some really silly associations instead.

I bumped into my brother's friend B recently - I couldn't really place him (the last time I saw him was as a schoolboy) but the moment he said, "I'm B, M's classmate..", I was almost about to say, 'yeah, the B of knife fame', but bit my tongue in time.
The story goes like this - B had some vegetable carving project at school and he wanted a serrated knife which was rare to come by those days and hence borrowed ours. This one just happened to be my mom's favourite and came all the way from Dubai and hence a prized possession. I didn't quite appreciate my mom's attachment with the knife at that time but I do now. Among the set of knives, I have my favourite and wouldn't let anyone tamper with it. Somehow, the veggies under attack seem to behave wonderfully with that particular knife. Anyway, let me come back to the point.

My mom must have had this ominous foreboding about lending the knife and she told the bro a million times that she needs it back the very next day and in perfect condition. As things turn out in most of such cases, the knife never found its way back into our house and my mom has neither forgotten this inciden nor has she forgiven the bro and his friend for this disaster. Everytime a tomato rebelled under the other knives, my mom lamented her fate loudly enough for the bro to notice. This, of course tormented my bro a good deal and provided me a lot of entertainment.

It has been a good 15+ years now and I was curious to find out if my mom still remembered it. So, when I got back home, I casually mentioned that I bumped into B. Quite predictably, she went on, "oh, the one who never returned my knife..." Poor B who is now a respectable family man and very successful in his career would be shocked to know that he still holds a criminal charge!

This was promptly reported to the bro over chat the same evening :D

It is funny how certain impressions stick in your mind forever....

The Zlooksh

2011-01-31T21:04:00.001+05:30

The Zlooksh By Dominique Demers Pattu Rating: 4.4 Zachary looks like any other normal boy but for his wild wild imagination. He believes himself to be the captain of a rocket ship and when he tires of such responsibility, he retires to his tree house which is in the tallest branch of the tallest tree. Sometimes when he is bored, he dives down to the ocean floor to meet his marine friends.

So, when Mrs Davey, his classteacher askes the class to draw their favourite animal, Zachary gets busy. So busy that he misses lunch, play and all the other activities for the day. He is surrounded by papers and his friends can't contain their curiosity. Mrs. Davy offers to help, but then Zachary's favourite animal is the Zlooksh and Mrs Davey is certain that there's no such animal on planet earth! However, Mrs Davey sure is in for a surprise....

Pattu and Buc (another figment of her imagination), I'm sure would be more than happy in the company of Zachary and Zlooksh. No wonder Zachary struck a chord with Pattu.... and I must say that the Zlooksh looks so adorable!

A Potty Post

2011-01-28T12:39:00.000+05:30

Pattu is peeing and I peep in (just the routine hygeine checks) and GASP!! She is peeing into the potty like a boy!!

To my, "What are you doing!!", she threw me confused look as if to say, "What else can one do at the potty"?

Amma: Whya re you peeing like that?

Pattu: Because it is easier...

Amma: Who taught you that?

Pattu: The boys in my school pee like this only and it is easy...

Amma - who is by now struggling to arrest all the thoughts from running wild, meekly says,

"But girls should not pee like that ok.. you have to always sit.." and 'gulp'-ingly adds "..and it is shame shame to look at others peeing ok...it is not good" ..and hopes she won't point out that I did exactly that just now...

Pattu: "But why amma?"

For which I scrambled a few hygiene points hoping she'll remember...

....ooofff! The kind of shocks!!

Cars, it is...

2011-01-21T15:03:00.000+05:30

...the latest (and the longest) of Pattu's obsessions. Off she goes rattling out the names of all the cars that she sees on the road and she is almost always right! My categorisation stops with size, shape and colour, the details just elude me.

This obsession reached its feverish intensity when Pattu, running 104.5 and shivering, on the way to the doc despite the chattering teeth goes, ssa-ffa-rrri, bbo-lle-rro, ffi-ess-tta, ppu-nnt-tto and so on.

After a picnic to Guindy Children's park, I ask Pattu what she saw there and guess what she saw? She saw a Honda City, an Indica, a Xylo, and ... you get it... I had to then rephrase the question to ask, "did you see any animals" and then came a few names... rather reluctantly...

Moral of the story: You will only see what you want to see!

Our Harvest for this Harvest Festival...

2011-01-18T22:58:00.000+05:30

.... is this... it always tastes sweeter and special when it is from your own backyard... and it ripened just in time for Pongal! Needless to say, MIL who toils in the garden everyday had a very very happy Pongal!

The year so far...

2011-01-17T00:16:00.000+05:30

... has been great!

Met up with a few friends from college after many many many years! And realised that we still are the 'gang' :D. It is nice to see that nothing has changed between us...
Managed to meet more friends on a trip to Mumbai
A very good friend is moving to Chennai - yay!
Made it to the book fair - twice in fact. The first visit was short where I seemed to naturally gravitate towards the Tulika stall, salivating and buying followed - inevitably! The second visit, armed with a huge backpack and some more bags was the one where most of the buying happened... CBT was a pleasant discovery - some really nice books there. Tara, Pratham, Young Zubaan were missing.
My fav pick this year - Complete volume of Ponniyin Selvan and Silappadikaram with Sujatha's notes - both in Tamizh...
Pattu's Fav - Tulika's Panchatantra (she goes 'valavalavala' - The talkative tortoise) and the globe from TTK. She now wants to go to Antartica and wants to know if even her susu will become ice in Antartica!! Of all things she would like to experiment!

We checked out the Sanga kala unavu at Rassa, the restaurant at Krishna Sweets. I was reluctant since the Krishna Sweets Ghee puts me off. But then, I was in for a pleasant surprise - the spread was very interesting starting with 'soma baanam' (translation: Nectar of Gods) made out of panai vellam (palm sugar) and raagi-thandu vadai to a few familiar recipes with an interesting twist. Worth a try!

Happy 2011!

2010-12-31T23:48:00.000+05:30

Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!

I usually don't make resolutions - I have none for this year either. I'm just hoping to become a better person... and probably blog more regularly :)

Cheers!

Comeback Post - Part IV: Trick-a-Treat

2010-12-16T11:14:00.000+05:30

Pattu has tasks to complete and she's been whining and making excuses. So, when she wanted noodles for dinner, I firmly told her that noodles will be her treat for completing her tasks.
Somehow she pushed herself (and a lot of others) to complete them.

Noodles for dinner. Happy Pattu.

Pattu finishes quickly without any goading from amma/appa and without spilling (they are precious you see...she takes care not to drop).
The moment we said, "Good Pattu!" she just grabs the opportunity and says, "Amma, since I finished my food can I have Gems?"

Now that's called a 'Treat for a Treat' .... Smaarrrt girrrrlll Pattoo... (Amma thinks in 'Raaberrt' style)

Comeback Post - Part III: In which Pattu shows the Middle Finger

2010-12-15T12:43:00.000+05:30

"Ammmmaaaa....see here..." says Pattu with a broad smile on her face.

While the Amma is trying to gather herself and look normal, Pattu's smile fades to an expression of utter dissappointment, "This is my tallest finger amma..."

Why, of course! Oooff!! Thank god I have some more time to deal with this!

The Comeback Post - Part II - In which Pattu appeals to the Prime Minister

2010-12-14T14:31:00.000+05:30

I didn't realise that a simple explanation of, 'The Prime Minister takes care of the country and its citizens', that too a very long time back, would lead to this...

Pattu, in the throes of stomach cramps hugs her tummy and cries, "Please help ... Mr Manmohan Singh, please help!"

!!!

Come Back Post - Chapter I - Hey!

2010-12-08T15:43:00.001+05:30

Hey folks, been away for a while, no particular reason - just been occupied with some important and some inane things. Pattu hasn't really been in the pink of her health last month. I'm hoping the current bout of cold will be the last for this season and we can cheerfully look forward to Santa's gifts... She wants a pair of Yellow Ladder Slide Shoes and a box of Extra Dark pencils.

She has quite an impressive collection of pencils to fill a museum - that sends me on a trip down memory lane..... where pencils used to be rationed and the life of each pencil was carefully tracked. We used the pencils till the last bit of lead while Pattu abandons pencils when they are just 2 inches short. That just shows that it is time to take stock... maybe she'll get a letter from Santa saying she has too many while lot of other kids have none... not sure if it is too early for that kind of letter... still, I think I should try that...

Btw, anyone who's already visited the Dastakari Haat at Kalakshetra? Planning to catch it this weekend if it doesn't rain

Last but not the least, The Little Theatre is back with their pantomime, RipVan Wrinkle at Museum Theatre between 17th to 21st December. They say it is suitable for ages 2+ to 80, last year's experience tells me it would be better to validate that - just a word of caution.
Now, off I go to catch up on all the blogs I missed...

Happy Deepavali

2010-11-04T10:20:00.001+05:30

Here's wishing you all a sparkling Deepavali and a safe one as well!

Pattu is excited but still a bit scared of crackers. I think she'll stay indoors and we'll do with a few sparklers and flower pots as usual.
MIL has made some yummy snacks and the deepavali lehiyam is cooking as I type. I used to hate this as a child but I quite like it now, in fact more than the sweets and snacks.

I was talking to Apu yesterday and we were discussing how Deepavali was so different when we were young. The early morning oil bath, who's first to break the dawn with 'saram vedi' (crackers), new dress, bakshanam that was made at home (sweets and snacks), lehiyam and discuss how many burst atom bombs (one of the expensive crackers) and how some were fortunate enough to have two new dresses for deepavali. Budgets for crackers were fixed and we used to ration our stock to last till the night. I used to show off by lighting kuruvi vedi and oosi vedi with my hands (and delight that some boys didn't dare to do that).

All these were novelty at that time.Today, the new clothes and bakshanam are no longer exciting as they are available round the year. Wonder what Deepavali stands for the kids of today... Pattu is too small, so I can't really tell. What probably excites her is that we are all at home with her and there's something special happening...

So, what's your Deepavali story?

First Day First Show

2010-10-04T10:21:00.001+05:30

Yes, I made it to the first day first show (the early morning 7.30 show! But I hear that there were some 5.30 AM shows as well) of Endhiran! Got tickets only in Escape and hence missed all the pooja, crackers and such festivities. We did witness some of that on our way right outside Jayanthi and Melody theaters.
What Rocked: The Robot, special effects, Rajini back as the villain
What could have been better: Rahman's Music, Comedy (I was surprised to see that the comedy track was weak - no Vivek/ Vadivelu!!), Aishwarya's dancing
What I missed: Rajini's usual punch dialogues, style gimmicks (we didn't see any flipping the goggles kind if thing). The scientist Rajini was actually like a scientist - he couldn't fight, dance... Rajini is Rajini, he is even more superhuman than the Robot... that didn't come through :(

The special effects were truly world class - awesome! A thorough entertainer.

'Dis'periments, anyone?

2010-09-30T04:00:00.002+05:30

Pattu: Can we do disperiments today?
Amma: Ain? What's that?
Pattu: Tch... what we did that day with water
Amma: (who figured out by now but won't cooperate) What did we do?
Pattu: Dis-peri-ments
Amma: Dis-periments
Pattu: (looking impatient) You put salt in water and it dis... disappeared? (she forgot the word 'dissolved') That Dis-periment. We'll put sand today and see...ok?
We really love a mess, don't we.
Amma: You mean 'Experiment' where we saw the salt 'Dissolve'
Pattu: Not willing to give up. Adu thaan amma, 'dissolve' pannara experiment.... adu thaan 'Dis-periment'..ok? (That's what amma, the experiment that dissolves...that is 'Dis-periment'..ok?)

As you say Pattu!

I'm a Proud Owner of...

2010-09-29T03:23:00.001+05:30

...a Quentin Blake book!!! Finally!!!

British Council had a sale and I rushed in time to pick up the only QB on sale - Mrs Armitage on Wheels. I really like Mrs Armitage - she's crazy, clumsy and absolutely entertaining, with her little dog Breakspear. I was hoping to find my favourite - 'The Clown', no such luck though...

While I am quite pleased with what I took home, I really wish they would put books on sale while they are in reasonably good condition. Some were quite tattered.

But yes, I picked up few other interesting books...here's the list...

A very good deal indeed!

All Images Courtesy: Amazon

Picture this

2010-09-24T09:29:00.001+05:30

My first 3 glass paintings....

Pattu the Artist

2010-09-22T09:02:00.000+05:30

What a bum!

2010-09-20T23:12:00.000+05:30

When Pattu was barely two and becoming extremely interested in physiology and anatomy of the human body, the 'thoppai' (tummy) was the first to fascinate her. The bigger, the better was her idea then. She would stand in front of the mirror and examine her 'thoppai' for a long time. At times she would insist on examining the amma's and appa's 'thoppais' as well, launching into some descriptive comparisons that'll make you squirm. Then came a day when an innocent visitor to our house was subject to similar examination.

Pattu: 'Ungalukku thoppai irukka?' Do you have a tummy?
Guest: **GULP** or **AARRGHH** or a brave or one with a sense of humour would nonchalantly quip, 'Yes, I do have'
Pattu: Kaattungo ...Show....
We haven't seen a guest survive that attack.

Soon after the thoppai, she picked up the 'Bum' word, thanks to us! So you can imagine the plight of the guests!

Pattu: 'Ungalukku bum irukka?' Do you have a bum? Kaattungo ...Show....

For a while we didn't have visitors!

Ming Lo moves the mountain and others

2010-09-20T09:52:00.000+05:30

All Images Courtesy: Amazon.com
Pattu Rating: 4.5
Ming Lo moves the mountain is an interesting Chinese tale that we read last weekend. Ming Lo and his wife live at the foothills of this huge mountain. By the time we say, 'Wow!', they tell us how unpleasant it is, because small break away stones fall on their house leaving holes on the roof through which water drips during rain and hardly a ray of light passes through their window since the mountain blocks the sun. SIGH. So, one day Ming Lo's wife sends her husband to the wise man in the village (every Chinese village seems to have a wise man who just sits and smokes a pipe) to find a solution. So, obediently he goes. The wise man hears him out and draws long on his pipe and smoke swirls around his head. Then he tells Ming Lo to take a huge tree and push it against the mountain. He goes back home and executes the plan, but the mountain doesn't budge. Ming Lo goes back, the wise man draws longer from his pipe and the cloud of smoke is thicker around his head. Then he gives another idea - take a spoon and some utensils and beat throughout the night. The mountain will get scared and run away. Well, few more such ideas are executed and while we are thinking, 'If this is the wise man, then save the poor village', the wise old man knocks you over with his final idea which actually works for Ming Lo and his wife! Yes, the mountain finally relents and moves!! You realise then that it was the wise man's way of telling Ming Lo and his wife it is such a folly to expect the mountain to move. There are some people who just don't get the message and they deserve a solution like this...

Pattu Rating: 4.2
How Far Will I Fly by Sachi Oyama is another beautiful tale from Japan. Quiet, profound and yet very very simple in its style. It tackles big questions through conversations of a small boy with his grandmother. He starts will, 'How tall will I be?' and moves on to ask many more such questions. The grandmother answers in a single sentence that leave you thinking for many more minutes and hours later. I particularly like, 'How big will my arms be?' and 'How far will my friends be? and of course, the question in the title.
This book reflects the Japanese culture and leaves you thinking about many many more questions....The illustrations - soft pastels, pleasant, highlight the quiet depth of the messages. Go get the book, I'm not giving away anymore.
Pattu understood this in her own way - how deep? I don't know. But this is something that I'll treasure and read out to her at different stages. I'm sure she'll get more out of this every time. And so will I, I hope.

Pattu Rating: 4.8
Something Good was Bizarre Fun! Tyya goes shopping with her dad. While dad throws in spinach, milk, eggs, bananas and the likes into the trolley, Tyya decides to looks for something good instead of all the boring things that is in the trolley. So, she picks up her own trolley and loads it with 300 candies. All excited about her find, she shows off to her dad who promptly tells her that candies are 'sugary junk'. The disheartened Tyya puts them back and looks for something else that is good... this goes on and finally her dad has to tell her to be stand quietly in a corner while he completes shopping. Tyya following her dad's instruction to the T finds herself being poked, knocked and finally put on the shelf with even a price tag on her! And finally, how both Tyya and her dad buy something good from the store makes this cute little story.
Pattu obviously related to this so well. Did this make our shopping trips and the bring down demand for candies and chocolates? NO! :D

The Art and Craft Trail - Part I

2010-09-15T22:09:00.001+05:30

If you've seen M.A.D on Pogo or Mr Maker on Ceebeebies, you would, without doubt, be itching to try out some of those little art and craft ideas by yourself. It is when you set out to execute that plan, that you realise that you don't have some things that'll make it as pretty as the ones you've seen them make. I just love Mr Maker's Doodle Drawers and wish I had one like that. Whenever I visit the regular neighborhood shops for art and craft supplies, I find them lacking in most of the interesting things - like the wiggly eyes, beads and foam sheets for instance. Ask them where to find these and they would promptly tell you to go to Parry's Corner.

Having heard enough, I finally trotted off along with a friend who was as excited about it besides being more familiar with the area. I've only scraped the tip of the iceberg and I still have lots to report!

We first went to Rahman Decorations. A huge market with both gaudy and pretty decoration materials. Danglers, streamers, grass carpets, gift bags - you just name it! Found some pretty cane baskets, candles, vase, flowers, birthday confetti, wall stickers etc.The cane baskets were tempting, but I exercised restraint and moved on. We were looking for handmade paper and we were given some names and directions. Most of them were wholesale dealers and were reluctant to give us a few sheets. We finally found one dealer (whose shop was more like a hole in the wall) who didn't shoo us away. He had a wonderful collection. Papers of varying thickness, coarseness, colours, design - self, glitter and dry leaf types. Irresistible! If you love handmade paper, you'll love this collection!

Here's the name and address:

Kibla Paper and Stationery Stores, 27, Anderson Street, Parrys, Chennai 600001. Mail - kibladiary@yahoo.co.in; Phone: 044-25380985/ 044-25380986

I still hadn't found my wiggly eyes, chenille sticks and pompoms. After some asking around, RR Fancy seemed to be the place to go.We hopped over puddles and navigated some difficult lanes to find RR Fancy Stores snugly sitting next to the famous Saravan Bhavan. Knowing the Sowcarpet area, we didn't expect it to be a big, fancy place but we didn't expect a shop of this size to have pretty much every art and craft material one can name.

Here's the address and the phone number : No 8, Umpherson Street, Chennai 108. Broadway, Near Saravana Bhavan Hotel. Ph: 8124757562/ 044-42064586.

So, finally what did I buy? Here's the list of things that I carried back home:

- Wiggly eyes - so many sizes, shapes and colours...and nose

- Quilling kits complete with the tool box

- Wax for candle making

- Gel wax

- Candle molds

- Wicks, Wick holders, Aromas and colours for candle making

- Glass cut to size for painting

- Emboss painting kits

- Paints - Ceramic paints, glass paints, fabric outliners, various 3D and glitter shades

- Foam sheets

- Felt material in different colours

- Handmade paper various colours and designs

- Books on the basics and some designs

- Beads, buttons, threads

- Pre stitched zardosi patters and stones - you just have to stick it with glue

- Pompoms

- Set of brushes

What they also had:

- Canvas stretched on boards and canvas rolls

- Complete materials required for oil painting

- Ceramic powder and molds for ceramic art

- Plaster of paris with molds

- Different types, designs of molds

- Paper - all kinds including quilling supplies

- All things required for Zardosi work, borders, designs etc

- Lace

- Wool, knitting materials, Knitting kits

- Embroidery materials

- Craft punches

- Complete charcoal set

What I still haven't found

- Chenille sticks/ Pipe cleaners

- Furry pompoms

- Bendable wires

The Glass paintings would have dried by now...will post a pic soon...

While I was away

2010-09-14T18:52:00.008+05:30

...lots of Happy Birthdays happened...

This blog turned one - since my first post i.e. Happy Birthday Blog!
Puttu turned 4 - a few friends out here saw the ticker and wished too - That was really nice guys...thank you sooo much! We had a simple and small get together at home.
Krishna and Ganesha were born

...I went gallivanting...

I set out on an Art and Craft trail and discovered some wonderful shops selling artsy craftsy stuff, tucked away in some nondescript corners - I promise to cover these in a few parts.

...some experiments

I tried my hand at some art and craft stuff - made some candles and tried glass painting besides the pottery workshop

AND...I won ..

...'Flex the workplace' contest... Yay!!

Pottery Workshop

2010-09-14T10:14:00.001+05:30

...at Lets Do Something was even better than what they had organised last time. Last time, the entire workshop was spent on the wheel while this time we had a mix of the wheel and some clay molding. I looked at what the 8 yr olds had done in the morning session and got cold feet but it was too late to back out. I had paid up by then. The teacher must have sensed my apprehension, she was quick to dismiss my fears and I turned out alright.

So, what did we make? Roses, Calla Lily and other assorted flowers, candle holder, a face mask, few pots, an incense holder and couple of murals with all the flowers and leaves that we had made. They are drying now and am waiting to paint it next weekend.

I don't have the other pictures handy with me...but will surely update....

We had a very good teacher and she apparently runs a center dedicated to clay art, besides having a full time job!! Some people have all the energy (and talent too) *SIGH*. I'm also signing up for terracotta jewelry making workshop next month - there were some on display - Awesome is the word!

The Pattu Wants

2010-09-13T09:22:00.001+05:30

Ladder Slide Shoes. After she pointed out to the said shoes, I didn't have a choice but agree with the description though disagree with the choice.

Here's the Ladder Slide Shoes (Image Courtesy: designer-shoes.me.uk)

I'm back after a long break and have lots of updates.... Pattu, art and craft, the most recent pottery workshop etc... brb!

Workshops unlimited

2010-09-10T11:03:00.000+05:30

at Lets Do Something. Here's a sneak peak and for details, visit their website or just call them up...

Am going for the pottery session on 12th and 18th. There's also a free Drawing and Painting competition for children on 25th September.

Flex-it: My Entry

2010-08-25T18:51:00.000+05:30

Here's my entry for the womensweb contest.

Flexibility at work is still viewed as a favour by many employers though there is a growing awareness of its importance. Only recently have many employers realised talent/ resource drain owing to lack of flexibility. It is an obvious reason why women drop out of an otherwise successful career. Some of the large organisations have taken steps towards creating a more flexible and a more friendly workplace for employees. Flexibility means many things:

1. Having a flexible 8 hour schedule - as in you can clock in 8 hours at your convenience. Say, I want to be at home between 1 PM to 4 PM, I should have the flexibility to break my day into two parts - 8 AM to 1 PM and 4 PM to 7 PM.

2. Having a flexible 8 hour schedule + Having flexibility in work location: For the same situation as above, I should be able to clock in one part of my day from home. Another situation could be reporting to office once or twice a week while working from home the rest of the week.

3. Having a flexible 40 hour per week schedule: Say, I work 10 to 12 hours a day for 4 days and take the rest of the week off.
4. Having the flexibility to opt for a role that does not involve travel/ shifts/ client interaction/ etc. The problem with something like this is that some of these roles might not exist naturally in the organisation and in many cases the policies don't allow it and it would depend on the supervisor to find alternatives.

5. Having options such as: getting paid for the quantum of work/ the number of hours clocked in.

One of the main constraints that I've noticed is that of measuring productivity. Most of the apprehension about 'flexibility' revolves around measuring productivity. 'When the employee is not right in front of me, how can I be sure that I'm getting the best out of him/ her'? The only way to resolve this would be to define tasks and have a clear measure of quality and productivity.

Flex-it

2010-08-17T10:16:00.000+05:30

It is contest time again! After the roaring success of its 'Mommy Guilt' contest, Womensweb is back with yet another interesting theme for the next contest - "Flex the workplace". The employers are not asking us for ideas anyway, so let's spill it all here. There's an incentive as well and a very relevant one I must say.
You have time till 25th August ladies...

*Hopping off to write my entry*

'Fear' and 'Hope'

2010-08-06T10:19:00.001+05:30

Utbt had tagged me (long long ago) to list down my 5 fears. So, here I go.

1. Am I making the right choices for Pattu? I worry about the choices that I am making for Pattu. Am I doing the right things? There are so many theories, opinions, conventional wisdom and then there's ones own instinct that is sometimes conflicting. I hope it turns out ok.
2. Children's safety. I don't have to say more. This planet seems to be getting more dangerous by the day, especially for the children. It is just so depressing.
3. Snakes - they visit our neighbourhood once in a while. Really!
4. The maid won't turn up tomorrow! The maid, the nanny and the driver will ditch on the day I have an unavoidable meeting and hubby is not in town!!!! *SHIVERS AT THE THOUGHT*
5. That my smile won't be returned and I'll look silly.

Having said that, I never lose hope. I hope for a better life, better place, better world. I hope for the best, no matter what news I read/ see.

I think I am supposed to tag a few...so here you are: (the usual suspects) - Jayashree, Hema, Lavanya, Chotu's Mom...

I just saw IHM's post - I really hope her daughter gets well soon. Somehow, when children suffer, no matter who they are, the pain is just the same. Prayers.

Pattu Theories

2010-07-27T09:54:00.001+05:30

At a wedding:

Aunty A : Come here, sing me a rhyme
Pattu acts deaf
Aunty A : Do you know Humpty Dumpty?
Pattu relents..and sings - Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
Aunty A : Nooo... that's the second line... the first line is, 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wa;;'
Pattu: This is a different Humpty Dumpty. It goes (and sings in her own tune), 'Humpty Dumpty jumped up and fell down from the wall..'. You don't know this?

Meesaila manne ottalaye... (Meaning...something like 'the fall didn't hurt')

At home - Pattu is deep in thought and translating the thoughts into a sketch. To the Amma it looks like a triangle that is struggling to become a circle and goofing up miserably.

Amma: What is this?
Pattu: Still engrossed and a little annoyed at the unnecessary interruption. This is Meeks
Amma: Duh?! Er.. What is Meeks?
Pattu: Still Annoyed. Not even looking up. Tch... Meeeeks! It is a world
Amma: Humpf... A word??
Pattu: Sigh. Worlllllld amma... worllllld (She must have thought her amma to be an illiterate)
Amma: Oh, ok, what world?
Pattu: (who by then had drawn long lines radiating from the triangle-circle) There are lots of children there ... see..(and points to the long lines)
Amma: These are children??
Pattu: Defensive at last. The children there have looooong legs...see (again points to the long lines)

She scribbled on it before I could take a picture. The world (including Meeks) has lost a masterpiece :(

Duh!sai Trick

2010-07-21T17:01:00.002+05:30

A - (announcing with visible pride) I figured out how to get the first dosai right
B - Oh really? For me, the tawa usually behaves well after messing up the first dosai
A - Yeah, but the firt one always posed a problem. It sticks and you have to fight with it. But today, I got even the very first one right
(and A made it sound like the dosai sprang up obediently and did a somersault in mid air before getting its belly tanned on the tawa)
B - Oh, that's something...
A - I figured out the trick - you have to get the tawa to the right temperature - not too hot, not warm.. just about moderate and then dab a film of oil before pouring the batter. It comes clean.
B - Oh....interesting....is there some indicator for the right temperature?
A - Not sure... (thinking)
B - You have to check if this is a repeatable process...

Men make even kitchen conversations sound like some serious lab experiment!

On a different note, looks like there's still hope for (Wo)mankind!

Random Jottings...

2010-07-20T10:12:00.000+05:30

We visited Mahamudra, the new restaurant attached to a spa at Mylapore. What an ambiance! Food wise, you do get a lot of the routine stuff and some very different (and healthy) dishes - uses some of the native pulses like corn, maize, ragi and the likes. We loved it. I would say, go with an open mind and explore. Only pure vegetarian. There's a small shop attached, carrying an impressive assortment of jute, cane, palm leaf, stone, metal, fabric and paper stuff. All environment friendly. And then there's the spa, gym, beauty parlour etc. Indulgence.

We checked out Crimson Chakra - Pattu waddled happily in the water enclosure. Food was good, very good indeed. We were a large group and they had this really nice and convenient concept called the 'set menu'. It is something like a buffet that's served to you at the table. You get very good spread, you don't waste, you don't waste a lot of time ordering and there's no confusion either.

Dosa Calling at Adyar - One can't complain, food is decent. But the taste is easily forgettable. Good place to go if you are looking for something clean, safe and affordable for breakfast or brunch.

Before signing off - some Velachery updates: Sangeetha has its restaurant at Velachery now!
Some more new blocks on the road are:

- Red Carpet - Footwear
- CreMeMore - Ice creams
- Sketch - Clothes
- Baker's Code - Bakery

All on Bye Pass Road.

Hindi Mein Labo

2010-07-14T10:29:00.001+05:30

....says Pattu when I slip in some English words into our conversations in 'Hindi'. Here's a glimpse of Pattu brand of Hindi
As though homework is not painful enough, Pattu insists that we have our homework interactions only in Hindi! So, here we go - me in my broken Hindi and Pattu in her brand of flawless, pure, fluent Hindi:

Amma: Pehle pencil theek se pakdo
Pattu: Barke pencil pakdo karo ke
Amma: Box ke andar likho
Pattu: Karke deko arke box lene ki
Amma: Forgetting Hindi in frustration... You have to write in this box Pattu, not there
Pattu: Darka tum ne friend ke scold karo ke ni barke ni 'pechi kaa' karo ke ni. Karo ke tum? ('Pechi Ka' is 'will not talk to you' in Tamil)
Amma: Theek hai, sorry, tum abhi homework khatam karo
Pattu: Paar ke deko ni tum box kene five kare
Amma: Pattuuu... yahaan, small letters ..
Pattu: Hindi mein labo! 'Small' Hindi ki? Hindi mein labo! Darka?
Amma: ***Giving up. In splits!

Apparam yeppadiyo labo labonnu homework oru vazhiya mudichom!
(Finally we finshed homework 'labo-ing' in Hindi)

Back to School Updates

2010-07-05T12:10:00.000+05:30

School reopening was delayed for CBSE schools and soon after that we went back to holiday mood in Chennai owing to the Tamizh Maanadu. Just when the school routine was setting in, there's the bandh today! Here are some school updates...

1st day of school: We heard that Pattu insisted on sitting in her previous teacher's class (previous teacher has been promoted to class I). She walked out of her class and sat in Class I saying, "This is my teacher, I'll sit here only". And a few others followed her. It took a few teachers, ayahs and other staff a good one hour to get her to accept her new teacher, it looks like.

Reality Strikes: It has been three weeks now and we are already getting home work! I avoided my homework very well, but looks like I can't do that with Pattu's.

Sinfully Yours

2010-07-02T22:55:00.006+05:30

The River of Sin is flowing through the blog world and why should I be left behind! Apu and Momo's Ma have tagged me and thanks ladies, would have shamelessly picked it up and done it anyways :)

IHM started it - “Please list at least ten things you have ever wanted or done which your gender is not supposed to.”

1. I don't wear my Mangal Sutr regularly.
2. Love Blue. Hate pink, jewelry, make up, lace, frills and flapping eyelids. I don't have more than 3 pairs of footwear at any given point of time.
3. Bunked classes, jumped over the college gate. Picked up fights with men who occupied the 'ladies seat' in bus and many other such things. Punched a boy at school for bullying my little bro. Whistled with reckless abandon at the Cinemas.
4. Actively involved in sports, NCC and dabbled in Karate... anything outdoor without a care about my 'complexion' despite warnings that I'll become dark-er and ugly-er. *BLAH*
5. Sport really-short-curly-messy-mop just for a lark
6. Had a brief fleeting affair with Alcohol though I'm off it for a long time now
7. Lived alone, traveled alone. I once boarded a bus from Madurai to Chennai at midnight and I was the only female passenger. I was 24 then.
8. Used Men's perfumes - I just liked them, so?
9. Hate mush and the M&Bs. I read one and avoided them like plague ever since
10. I wonder why some guests' eyes pop out while I'm chatting with them and hubby is making tea for all of us. Probably they don't know that he makes better tea (though I think my FIL and my dad are BEST at it) and that I graciously accept and appreciate it ;)

To offset these, I like to bathe atleast once a day and weed out the facial hair. Crave for gossip once in a while. Love to cook, host, do up home. I indulge in clothes and bags (all Jute and other fabric). Like a clean kitchen and bathroom.

And I pass on the tag to .... hmm... looks like the whole world has already done it... Hema, Jayashree, Chotu's mom, Moushumi,

Entry for 'Mommy Guilt' Contest

2010-06-26T15:07:00.001+05:30

At last, just at the nick of time... here's my entry for the Mommy Guilt contest. Those who haven't already submitted your entry, read this on Apu's blog and this on Womensweb. There's time till Monday ladies - do rush your entries... am sure you all have lots to say on this topic...and there are some exciting prizes!!!
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I have been unwell for a while now and I thought of chatting up with a doctor who also happens to be a relative. Among other things that we discussed, she made an interesting observation about stress. Stress is not just the work load or work pressure but the pressure that you experience as a result of boredom - because you are probably not doing things that you really enjoy doing and in the context of motherhood, she called it the, "Indian Mommy Syndrome". We feel guilty about 'enjoying' when it does not include our children. Try leaving your child behind to meet up with friends, for some indulgence at the parlour, a movie, a concert, a holiday and the likes. The monster called 'Guilt' will be unleashed on you.
Now, where does this monster dwell? Mostly within us, sometimes around us. Let me explain - why do we feel guilty? 1. How does it make me feel? 2. What will others think of me?

1. How does it make me feel?: You decided to keep out of the kitchen one day and fed your child milk, cheese, noodles, bread and the likes. Now, no one knows this but it still leaves you guilty. Why? Because you think you could have done much better for your child.
2. What will others think of me?: You left your child with hubby and in laws to watch a movie with friends. How many calls have you made to check on your child? How many times have you worried about what your in laws would think about you? Did one of your mommy friends tell you how she has never even thought of doing anything like this till her child was big enough? Yeah, woman, too bad. You should have dialed me for some counsel! Bah! Are you thinking that I don't care for some medals and honors? Oh, no, I do, I'm a sucker for those. But I decide, 'at what cost' these days.

I realise that it is extremely important for us to be happy and feel worthy of ourselves to be able to nurture a healthy self esteem, to exude that positive energy around us. Without this, what we would eventually do is spend a lot of time, empty time, with our children and only end up feeling miserable about all those things that we could have otherwise achieved. There are mothers who enjoy giving up their career for the child and there are mothers who enjoy finding the balance - this is not a situation with 'only one right answer'.
If we assume that children don't understand, we are grossly underestimating them. They would rather have a happy mom for a few hours than a grouchy, miserable mom the whole day. So, momma, do things that'll keep you happy - its important for your baby ;) ....we all come around to it, don't we :D

I also see that women who have interests besides their children, who have their own friends, either a career or a hobby are a lot more emotionally independent as empty-nesters. They don't feel the void suddenly. There are other things that they enjoy, that keep them occupied and positively engaged. This is good not only for themselves but also for the children who are less burdened to see their parents happy.

The Story Blanket

2010-06-17T09:35:00.000+05:30

Story: Ferida Wolff, Harriet May Savitz
Illustrations: Elena Odriozola
Image Courtesy: Flipkart
Pattu Rating: 4.5

Babba Zarra has a heart that is huge enough to love everyone in her village. No wonder the children of the village visit her every evening for a story. Babba Zarra has a special blanket that she spreads out for her little visitors, to keep them warm and cozy. One day she notices a hole in Nikolai's shoes and decides to make him a socks. But getting someone to dleiver wool to their snow covered village seems to be next to impossible. Babba Zarra always believed that every question has an answer. As she mulls over the problem, an idea dawns on her. She just has to unravel a bit of wool from her story blanket! The story thus unfolds with Nikolai finding a pair of socks at his doorstep, the postman receiving a scarf, the school teacher getting a pair of mittens and the children suddenly find that the story blanket has shrunk. They cuddle up closer each day. By the time everyone in the village get their surprises, the story blanket has disappeared altogether. How the villagers find the source of their little presents and how they repay Babba Zarra for her kindness makes the rest of the story. I couldn't help feeling that Babba Zarra's kindness is what kept the villagers warm more than all the wollens that she knit for them.
What I liked about the story was that it didn't fuss too much over Babba Zarra's kindness, else it might have probably been a bit too cloying. The illustrations are beautiful in soft pastels and simple lines.

Pattu struggled a little to understand 'snow' and how people in the village felt 'cold' etc. I don't blame her - we live in Chennai :)
She slept over it the first day and took one more day for it to sink in. Then the questions started, 'what is snow like?' 'like ice?' 'hands will freeze?' 'what will happen if there's a hole in the shoe?' 'Did Nikolai cry?' 'you need thick blankie?' 'Babbu Zarra is a good lady' 'She helped everyone?' and so on. Unlike lot of other books that left her excited, animated, made her jump and scream and all that, this one left her deep in thoughts - positively, I gather.

Rhyme away

2010-06-11T23:03:00.004+05:30

Here's my bit for the Tulika Blogathon - Not sure if I'm on time...but nevertheless..

The story is - The housefly (called Eee in Tamil) is suffering memory loss a la Ghajini ;). So she goes around asking everything and everyone... the pun here is that the fly's name is the simplest to remember (Eee) but she forgets that and remembers every other name in the world... she starts with the calf... and ends with the horse...but does she finally remember the name?

PS: I've corrected the first line after MIL pointed out a mistake.

Kozhu kozhu kanne chubby chubby calf
kannin thaaye the calf's mother
kannu meikkira ayaan the cowherd who grazes the cattle
ayaan kai kole The stick in the cowherd's hand
kola valartha kodimarame the tree that gave the stick
kodimarathil irukkum kokke the crane that is perched on the tree
Kokku nikkum kulame the in which the crane stands
kulathil irukkum meene the fish in the pond
meen pidikkum valaya the fisherman who is catching the fish
valayan kai chatti the pot in the hand of the fisherman
chatti munayum kosava the potter who made the pot
kosavan kai manne the clay in the hands of the potter
mannail irukkum pulle the grass that grows on the clay (means the ground here)
pullai thingum kudiraai the horse who eats the grass
en peru enna? what is my name?
And the horse neighs
Hhhee ..Eeeeeee

And that's how the fly remembers its name!! I like the way one thing leads to the other so logically. B Athai Paati used to say this to Pattu when she was 9 months old and when she was barely 10 months she used to finish every line and by 12 months she said the whole thing all by herself! And she used to wait with bated breath for us to say 'eeeee' :D

This one was alos Pattu's favourite and she used to do it with actions.

Aanai Aanai Elephant Elephant
Azhagar Aanai Azhagar's (Lord Krishna) Elephant
Arasanum Arasiyum yerum Aanai Elephant on whom the king and the Queen ride
Kovilai kandaal kumbidum Aanai Elephant that prays/ bows when he sees a temple
kattikkarumbai murikkum Aanai Elephant that twists the sugarcane
kaaveri aatrai kalakkum aanai Elephant that churns the kaaveri river
kutti aanaikku kombu molachudaam little Elephant has grown a tusk
pattanamella paakkavarum People of the city, please come and see...

Many a morsel have been successfully fed, thanks to these :)

Another favourite of mine is Biscuit Biscuit, Nila Nila and Kaiveesamma , and the kuruvi kadai go over to Hema's for a more detailed account.

To add to Hema's rich list is, 'kola kolaya mundirikka naraya naraya suthi vaa' - this is the desi version of 'I sent a letter to my father ...postman came and picked it up and put it in my pocket' game.
And one more ...

Oru kodam thanni oothi oru poo poothadu (We watered the plant with one pot of water and the plant gave one flower) and it goes on and on like that. it is a game and it ends when all the players have been counted...

Last one... eh promise pa.. this is a malayalam rhyme

Kaake kaake koodevide Crow crow where's your nest?
Kootinakathoru kunjunde There's a little one in the nest
Kunjinu theetta kodukkaanjal If you don't give food to the little one
Kunju kidannu karanjyeedum The little one will cry
Kaake kaake nee tharumo Crow crow, will you give?
Ninnude kayyile neiyappamThe neiyappam (It is a sweet made of rice flour and jaggery) in your hand?

Illa tharilla neiyappam No I will not give Neiyappam
Ayyo Kaake Pattiche Oh crow you fooled me!

Edited to add two more.
Each of the Tamil alphabets are represented in every line of this rhyme

amma inge vaa vaa
aasai mutham thaa thaa
ilaiyil choru potu
eeyai thoora otu
unnai pondra nallaar
ooril yaavar ullaar
ennaal unakku thollai
ethum inge illai
aiyam indri solluven
ottrumaye balamaam
oodum seyale nalamaam
avvai sonna mozhiyaam
ahde enakku vazhiyaam

This one is about the sweet mangoes..

Maambazhamaam Maambazham
Malgova Maambazham
Selathu Maambazham
Thithikkum Maambazham
Azhagana Maambazham
Alva pondra Maambazham
Ungalukkum vendumaa?
Ingu oodi vaarungal
Pangu pottu thinnalaam

This is about Dosai - the making of it and the eating of it and some math adding up to 10.

Dosai amma dosai
amma vaartha dosai
arisi maavum ulundu maavum arachu vaartha dosai
appavukku naalu
ammavukku moonu
annanukku rendu
thangaikku onnu
aaga motham pathu
thinna thinna aasai
innum kettaaa poosai

This one is more like Rock-a-by baby

Saanjaadamma saanjaadu
Thanga kodame saanjaadu
velli vilakke saanjaadu

Mayile mayile saanjaadu
vannakkiliye saanjaadu

Kattikarumbe saanjaadu
Inikkum thene saanjaadu

.... and this goes on, I used to add my own verses like

Pattu kutty saanjaadu
Chutti kutty saanjaadu
chamathu kutty saanjaadu
vaalu kutty saanjaadu

etc etc...

"I'm sooo proud of you"

2010-06-09T09:50:00.000+05:30

Said the Pattu to her Amma with a big bear hug. Just in case you all are wondering why the Amma's feet are not touching the ground today :D

Bubbles and a colourful 100!

2010-06-08T10:01:00.000+05:30

This is my 100th post - Yay!

Shruti guessed it! Our bubble wrap block print for the Artsy Craftsy June is here:

Cut out bubble wrap in desired shapes and print. Make sure the air in the bubble is intact for better effect. Make sure that you don't take to much paint - it'll get smudged.
The Rooster & Peacock: (Inspired by Tulika's Rooster and the Sun) The rooster and peacock are friends and they were playing. The rooster saw the sun and smiled and the peacock saw the clouds and started to dance.

The Dirty Peahen: This peahen didn't listen to amma and fell into a ditch and got dirty. Now no one is playing with him.

Flowers for Ummachi: This one is my favourite because it was conceived and designed and executed entirely by Pattu. Story by Pattu as well: There are no flowers for ummachi in the sky (which is why we keep flowers for ummachi here...you see?) so Pattu has planted some flowers in the sky. Potato carved for flower and pegs and blocks for clouds.

Hand Print- Pattu who loved colour: Inspired by Tulika's, 'The boy who loved colour', Pattu painted her hands (in fact the whole of her arms and legs..)

Okra Art: The Caterpillar who loved flowers. This one is also pattu's work - almost 90%. There's a caterpillar who liked to eat flowers and not leaves and when he became a butterfly he wore flower printed wings.

These two are newspaper strip art that we had done earlier... not for the Artsy Craftsy...We painted whole sheets of newspaper in different colours and cut them into strips and smaller bits. Then drew an outline and stuck the strips within the shape...

Guess Guess...

2010-06-06T18:33:00.001+05:30

Pattu got lots and lots of gifts from her friends and cousins in Australia. We opened the packs one after the other, surprise followed by more such surprises, excitement mounting as we unwrapped and discovered books, more books, some more books, clothes, more clothes, pictures from cousins, yummy pasta, yummy sauce, yummy cheese, a bag, chocolates, a scooter...whoa!

And guess what Pattu likes best? Guess... guessssss.... let's see who gets it right... :D

Safe...Are we?

2010-06-04T17:42:00.000+05:30

Another borewell accident! Just how many lives do we have to sacrifice before enforcing some stringent safety norms?!
I realise that we take so many things for granted and what is shocking is that safety seems to be one of those things! We just get so 'used to' things - recently someone from US was appalled at the way infants and toddlers were carried on the two wheelers, forget not having car seats and seat belts. I see them all around and each time I send a prayer for the children - that's all that I can do. For those who don't understand this, see this picture and this and this.

1. The lady is mostly wearing saree so she can only sit with both legs on one side - bad for balance since weight is not evenly distributed
2. She (most of them) holds the man's shoulder/ waist with one hand - *throwing up my hands* just what sense does it make to hold the man for support! There's a handle on every bike!
3.She holds an infant with the other hand with no form of protection whatsoever and it almost always looks like the infant/ toddler is slipping off what with the slippery saree and all that! Of course we use towels to protect against the sun so that the child doesn't become dark - now, that is important! See our priorities?
4. And they drive in thick traffic.

I've heard arguments such as, 'Oh they can't afford the ricks and cabs and public transport is terrible, so they are left with no option'. I considered it but don't quite agree. Most of these kids I see are clad in thick gold/ silver jewelry. Now, if you can afford that, and if you can afford a two wheeler, you can definitely afford a bit of safety for your child. The point is, most often we don't even reach this stage of the argument - we simply believe that it is quite safe to travel like that with a child!

When will we have better safety standards? Where are the rules where they are really required?

Of Books and Borrowers

2010-05-31T12:37:00.030+05:30

First line from the book that I'm reading: ( yeah, reading only now....and no prizes for guessing the title....)

In the beginning there was a river, The river became a road and branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.

Recently, someone I know was ranting about his colleague who borrowed a book long ago and hasn't yet returned it. While this person was chasing him and hunting him down to have his possesion back, I know many others who would just wait silently or at best just drop weak hints clumsily and hope for the best. Me being one of them. Somehow, these episodes always reminded me of this anecdote by Stephen Butler Leacock

I find that some people just don't seem to take borrowing books seriously. Maybe it is in the genes; it is one more thing along with the sugar and coffee powder that we borrow and never return. While most books are expensive and it pinches when you lose them, there's more to it than just the money. Books are personal and most often they stand for more than just their contents. Some books mark a turning point, an emotion, experience, a person, a sentiment, an occasion.... many things... and I can't bear to lose them or see them treated shabbily. I even know some who don't part with their books - it is like a part of their soul. I can understand that - there are some books I would never lend. Having said that, I don't worry about giving my books to some very close friends because I know that they value it just as much as I do.

Innocent lenders beware! The 'Borrowers' spectrum looks something like this. Those who borrow and

1.Return in decent time and in good condition
2.Return the book in bad condition with a look of apology
3.Return the book, its deteriorated condition not bothering their conscience
4.Return after some polite reminders
5.Return after some polite reminders and annoyed follow ups
6.Lose the book but offer to replace
7.Lose the book and believe an apology will suffice
8.Lose the book and laugh about it like it is a joke
9.Have no intentions of returning
10.Deny that they ever borrowed a book from you
11.Borrow and disappear

Which ones have you met?

I've renewed and upgraded my membership with Book and Borrow. This arrangement suits me so well since the good libraries are quite far from where I live. I must say their service is more than satisfactory!

Flashback... 17 th October 2008

2010-05-30T11:30:00.001+05:30

I was down with backache. Pattu got all cuddly and wanted me to carry her and was quite upset when I denied saying that I had backache. In a moment the expression changed to that of determination and resolve.

She went behind and said to my back, 'Ammava valippiyaa...chollu...inime anmmava valippiyaa?' (Will you pain amma ever again! tell, will you pain her again!)
And a few mighty blows landed on the already aching back!

The amma thunk thus - 'inime valikkaradunnu solluviya!' (Will I ever discuss my aches with her!)

Back to 29th May 2010

Pattu - Amma my leg is paining ..
Amma - come I'll give it one pinch...come here
Pattu - laughing...ammmmaaaaa....massage my leg amma...

Books or eBooks?

2010-05-27T16:19:00.000+05:30

Browsing through the internet recently, I came across two pieces of information - both alarming and enlightening. This article says that, "children are more likely these days to own a cell phone than they are a book" and another study also goes to prove that "the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as having parents who are barely literate"

This has triggered some arguments for and against technology with the naysayers likening it to the pandora's box and the soothsayers pointing out that it in fact opens up a plethora of information and is just redefining 'reading' and not killing it altogether.

Having grown up with print, I love having a book in hand, the way it feels, the way it smells, etc. However, I wouldn't deny that there have been times in the recent past when I've thought it would be really nice to own a Kindle and more recently the iPad. I'm feeling this way, and mind you, I'm still very conservative when it comes to technology, so, isn't it quite natural for the current generation to gravitate towards the digital format? With all the talk about preserving the forests, shouldn't we be taking the digital route? What about reading Dr Seuss, Eric Carle, Karadi, Tulika etc in the digital format? If youngsters are hooked to their mobiles, how about serving them a book on their mobile? I think there's an opportunity everywhere and that the path of least resistance will work.

What's your argument?

Midnight Masala at Pattu Household

2010-05-26T11:35:00.000+05:30

If you don't know by now..yes, Pattu is a night bird and sleeps past midnight everyday! We sing, dance, read, play and wrap up by 10.30 and somehow manage to switch off lights by 11 - 11.30 PM. But Pattu is wide awake and still in full form. For the next one hour, our routine is something like this..

10 mins after switching off lights:
Pattu - Amma, I want water
Amma's arm automatically reaches for water, empties it into pattu's mouth and puts it back on the side table.

Pattu tells stories or has imaginary conversations

10 mins later
Pattu sits up and looks out the window and talks to the streetlight and they laugh at a private joke. I feel very jealous and insecure when she casually says, 'nothing amma' when I ask her what it is...

Pattu pokes the dad

10 mins later
Pattu: Amma...moocha (susu)
Amma's mechanically goes through routine only waking up when Pattu chooses to waddle in water for a longer time warranting change of clothes

back to conversations with the streetlight

10 mins later
Pattu - Amma...I'm hungry amma
Amma - sleep
Pattu - crying...I'm hungryyyyyyy
Amma - loses it have biscuit (yes, it is on the side table always)
Pattu - Noooo...let's go down and have pappu mammam (dal rice)!! - that's a ruse to go down and delay the sleep by few more mins...
Amma - loses it completely! Pappu mammam has gone to sleep, only biscuits and milk are awake at night

We grudgingly settle for biscuit and repeat water, streetlight and susu episodes once before sleep embraces Pattu.

Last night Pattu was pouring her heart out to me in pure Hindi - Pattu brand of Hindi of course. I didn't get a word of it since it didn't even have the usual smattering of English words! She was very upset that I didn't understand - anger and later tears followed! For some reason, even when being upset with me, amidst tears, Pattu spoke only pure Hindi! *SIGH*

Only a mom...

2010-05-22T22:11:00.000+05:30

..can be proud of this. Pattu drew these all by herself and enlightened us on what they were...

1. A Tree

2. Cars - Lots of cars on a road

Clown

2010-05-21T18:13:00.000+05:30

Clown, Quentin Blake. Pattu Rating: 4.7

I've been wanting to review this for a while now. Finally got around to doing it now.

For me, it was love at first sight. For Pattu, the scribbly lines ceased to impress initially but it grew on her and when the story unfolded it had her completely hooked. I've become a huge fan of QB's illustrations after just a few books (including the Roald Dahl ones) and am hunting for the rest.

The clown along with some of his friends (all of them toys) are abandoned and have nowhere to go. The clown is not willing to give up and goes looking for a home for himself and his friends. A series of adventures where he meets different kinds of people in different situations. Adults who don't think much of him, who don't find him worthy enough, a child who wants him but whose mom doesn't let her keep him, a burly guy who is rude and so on. Finally he lands up in a house where he instantly turns around a situation by being resourceful and winning the smile of an infant. At last how he goes on from there to rescue his friends from the garbage bin and how all of them eventually find a home makes the rest of the story.

The illustrations are so expressive and make the story powerful and compelling. Words would have probably diluted the effect of the illustrative style. I loved this also because it allows the reader to interpret and imagine the story from their own perspective. For instance, when the burly man throws the clown up in the sky, my version of the story, had I been telling Pattu, would have been something like, 'the clown got scared when the man threw him up in the air'. However, without this influence, Pattu's version was, 'the man threw the clown up in the air and the clown was super exited to go so high up in the air'. Also, in Pattu's version, the clown was seldom sad...he enjoyed his adventures just as much as he enjoyed finding the home at the end. Am I happy that I didn't narrate the story to Pattu - I like her version better.

So, what's your version?

Artsy Craftsy - May Entries

2010-05-19T22:11:00.002+05:30

Here is our entry to the Artsy Craftsy Challenge for May.

Edited to add some more... and some more details

Plate Art - This one is simple. Just pick up a Styrofoam plate and paint it.

Earring and Necklace Stand - Simple again. Thermocol board, painted.

Flower Float (It kept moving on water so couldn't get a good water shot)

This is a styrofoam bowl cut into the flower shape and painted.

A leaf wall hanging

Thermocol board cut into the shape of a leaf and painted. Mount it on a cardboard and hang it up on the wall.

This time, Pattu was so very involved in this whole thing. The room was a mess every evening and am sure my maid is expecting an extra sum for clearing up every day.

Entry 1. The Photo Frames - Mother's day gift from Pattu to both Grandmoms. Two thermocol boards, one cut out in the center to make space for the picture and stuck on top of the base board with just a slit on one side through which the picture can be slipped in. There's a slit at the top to actually insert the picture and it is operational :)

Pattu did some base colouring and me the details. One has pista and sea shells (coloured by Pattu) stuck to it.

Entry 2 - A Pen Stand - This was Pattu's idea. She accidentally poked a hole in that styrofoam bowl and I surprised her by calling it a 'neat idea'!

Entry 3 -Pattu's Room (sans the mess)

Entry 4 -Arty Clips - Pattu did base colouring and me the details. Cut out shapes on a styrofoam plate and paint them. Stick it on a clip (the ones we use for clothes?). I wanted a wooden clip ideally but couldn't find one. I feel the clips are a bit too big for the shapes here...they should cover up the entire clip.

Entry 5 - Streamer - Stringed assortment. Pattu did all the colouring but for the details on the butterfly. She even broke one of the tail fins of the fish

Entry 6 - A house and a park - Pattu's Caretaker's kids had come over and they did this. Such wonderful girls!

Of Trees and more Trees

2010-05-18T21:49:00.001+05:30

We revisited some of Pattu's favourite books, Norbu's New Shoes being one.
As I reached the line that mentions Lord Buddha, Pattu says, 'Buddha ummachi..who lives in a treee...'
Amma - 'Ain...where did you get that from?'
Pattu - 'Ayyo..amma..that ummachi lives in a tree na amma..'
Amma - Tree??? What Tree?
Pat comes Pattu's reply - 'Mo-Na-S-Tree Amma!! followed by an, Oh-oh look...

Pothy's has been handing out saplings to all the shoppers and thousands have already been handed over. Good initiative I think though the cynic in me wonders how many will actually plant them and care for them and how many will live on see the next summer(s)... I think it would be worth it even if 20% succeeded...

Been meaning to go for the Nizhal's (Tamil word for 'Shade') Tree Walk.... ironically, I'm waiting for the heat to go down a bit :D

How 'responsible' are our brands?

2010-05-17T12:13:00.000+05:30

The TV, for me has become some sort of a meaningless drone in the background for a long time now. Recently though, I was irked by couple of ads caught my attention.

1. Relaxo footwear brand for kids: Shows couple of school kids (8 yrs or so) fighting a villain - an adult, in a crowded marketplace and looking smug at their victory and the admiration of passers by. This is serious fight mind you, like the ones you see in B'wood movies. What crap! It is a footwear brand for god's sake, can't the agency think of a better story? Where is the censor board when we need them?

2. Complan: A mom tells the story of her son who was short and hence had to endure some teasing from other taller kids (calling him 'chottu'). Heart broken, she vows to work on his height. Enter Complan and now her son is tall and she can walk with pride. So moms of short boys, what a shame, go hide your face! And yes, teach your kids to yield to the teasing - if you are teased about being short, go find a way to get taller or go hide! How wonderful!

We talk about Barbie, fairness cream ads and the likes being a bad influence, making girls take a certain biased view of beauty and so on. I see this ad as doing pretty much the same thing to boys. It ridicules boys who are short putting a lot of undue pressure on growing boys (and probably on the moms as well), poking a hole in their self esteem, making them under confident.

We all know that there's only so much a health food drink can do. There are the genes - the biggest determinants and a lot of other things that influence height and we all know that a good percetage of our population is below average height. So what are these ads seeding in the innocent, vulnerable minds? Don't these brands have any responsibility towards their audience and the society? Is selling (by whatever means) the only agenda?

When will we go beyond physical limtations and start focusing on more important things like being socially responsible, sensible, etc.? When will we start appreciating people for what they have made of themselves than what mere chance has endowed them with? Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate beauty, but not at the expense of making the rest of the kids feel inferior.

What's your take?

4 Yr Old 'Pride'

2010-05-13T21:36:00.000+05:30

At the Park...

A bunch of 4 to 6 yr olds playing. Pattu and two others busy doing acrobatics on the monkey bar. Pattu tries one of the new tricks but needs my help to reach up.

Pattu: Amma, Please help me amma...

S (Remember S of the Gang War fame?) : Eh, why are you calling amma for that, you are big...come I'll show you how...

The Amma wonders if it is time to retire....

PS: Yes, Pattu and S are friends... no trace of any memory of Gang War episode :)

Food glorious food!

2010-05-09T18:37:00.000+05:30

Organic:
We got our first package of organic groceries from Organic Plus - we tried some dals and rice, sugar (brown), palm sugar, Gingley oil and we liked it.

I also found the organic veggie place in sholinganallur on OMR (near Infy) that Art had mentioned - planning to try them out.
We picked up more organic fruit preserves - Plum and guava, from Fab India and we highly recommend them. I've also picked up a dark brown coloured whole wheat pasta hoping to feel less guilty when indulging. The lady at the store tells me that it needs some pressure cooking and it more than doubles in quantity when fully boiled.

Jus Yummy:
We tried the olive and walnut french loaf from La Boulangerie - the Olive loaf is out of the world (just a bit too salty though). I believe they are setting up shop in Velachery soon - am definitely looking forward to it.
Krishna Sweets made Velachery buzz - am not at all a big fan of Krishna Sweets, so am not too thrilled.
We went to the new Sanjeevanam at Adyar to celebrate Mother's day, with both mom and MIL - slightly bigger than the earlier place. It was in an apartment complex - was a bit of a disappointment for me... I think a nice traditional looking house would have been so much more charming! The Rajakeeyam tasted just as good though :)

Gang War

2010-05-03T19:08:00.000+05:30

Pattu faced her first gang war a few weeks back. I witnessed some interesting group dynamics and thought I should share it here. I've tried my best to stick to just 'reporting' the incident. I want your thoughts on it...

Gang Profile: 12 or so 4 - 8 yr olds
Venue: kids' playground
Situation: Both swings were occupied and Pattu wanted to have the swing. She asked H (Girl) if she can play on the swing and when H didn't budge she insisted. H left (a bit cross) and joined S (Boy) on the other swing but Pattu wanted H to share the swing with her. H was miffed with Pattu and hence refused.
H prods S and both shout, 'Pattu bad girl...Pattu bad girl' - Pattu is upset but controls tears.
Some random 6 kids (all boys) big and small gather around Pattu and join the chorus. One boy (8 yr old) looks on, not approving what the other boys are doing (he gives them an angry look) but doesn't say anything. Pattu breaks down. Teasing grows louder accompanied by some sniggers in between.
Pattu HOWLS! Comes and hugs me. I just hold her.

Suddenly we hear, 'Pattu Good Girl' chorus from a bunch of girls in another corner of the playground.
Boy band disperse quietly. Some from that group take Pattu to play with them. Pattu still crying and angry allows herself to be led away and becomes interested in their game (which involved getting her hands dirty in the sand and the likes). Couple of older girls continue to appreciate and thank Pattu (and quite spontaneously, not making much ado about it) for helping them with various tasks (they were building something..like a mountain, temple, etc). Pattu Happy.

S comes to Pattu after sometime and says, 'You are a good girl only ok...'
Pattu looks at him with a blank expression - just for a second and carries on. S stares after her and moves on.

What's your take?

We Won..

2010-04-30T23:41:00.000+05:30

... the Artsy Craftsy April Challenge.....Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!

Here's the entry

Shruti - What an effort! And how well you pull it off! Thanks for adding that extra splash of colour to our lives :)
And thanks to all of you for all the nice words.... *ALL SMILES*

London Bridge is falling down...

2010-04-28T21:55:00.000+05:30

..so, what does Pattu build it up with?

...'Buillld it up with iron bars, milky bars, monkey bars,
............buillld it up with milky bars,

My Fair Ladiiieeeeeeeeee......

Excuse me

2010-04-27T19:30:00.000+05:30

Pattu has been told to say that when she has to interrupt someone. With Pattu though, every lesson has its pitfall...

Amma talking on the phone one day. Pattu has to interrupt whenever amma is on the phone.

Pattu: Amma..amma...excuse me amma..ExCuse Mmeeee, EXCYuuse MEEEEEEEEEE, EXCUUUUSE MEEE AMMMMMAAAAAA, EXXXXXXXCUSE MEEEEEEE AMMMMAAAA

The person on the other end hangs up. Amma glares at Pattu

A Smug Pattu: Amma, see I said Excuse me :)
_______________________________________________________________________________

Amma: Pattu do you want want to have milk now?
No response. Amma repeats question
Amma: Patttuuu, I'm asking you something...

Pattu: You should say, 'excuse me' amma
Amma: Gulp. But you are not talking to anyone
Pattu: But I am talking to this pencil

Well... if you insist Ms Pattu.

Slam by Adam Stower

2010-04-26T19:09:00.000+05:30

SLAM by Adam Stower. Pattu Rating 5

~~We read this book~~ We viewed this picture story book - Pattu's first and boy, did we have fun!

The book tells a story of consequences through just the illustrations and some sounds (through onomatopoetic expressions). It all starts when this boy goes out with his walkman on, oblivious to the complete mess that results from SLAM-ming the door! The ball that is caught on the roof falls on a resting cat which springs in fright, causing further fright and a row of disasters. All this while the boy walks on with just the music in his ears, completely insulated from his surroundings.

We discovered a variety of sounds... sound of a soft fall, hard fall, bounce, bump, clash, splash, screech, scrunnnch, huff puff...oh so many more...

Another very insteresting aspect is that there are multiple threads of consequences that come together in the final mess and there are lots of little details that you'll discover (like a little jet that crashes into a little girl's kite, a cat that goes after a fish and so on) in the second, third, and subsequent readings. Pattu pointed to a couple of them that I hadn't noticed myself! So you can even weave many stories by just shifting your perspective. Last night was riot with Pattu laughing till her jaws ached and me acting the disaster till all my joints and my throat ached - but it was all worth it to see Pattu laugh like that :)

Now, I have to hide this book before my joints give in! I'm looking to buy a copy (the one I have is from the library).

There's one more like this by Quentin Blake... will review shortly.

Keep them Buzy...

2010-04-23T17:50:00.000+05:30

Has anyone checked out the workshop on Chrysalis Busy Bee Fun Factory at Landmark, Apex Plaza? It is on till 25th May. Looks like it is only for kids 5 yrs and above.
Dakshinachitra seems to have lots in offer for children - residential camps, activity camps, Glove Puppetry and Leather Puppet making on 5th and 28th May respectively. There are some workshops for adults as well - more details here
I would like attend the Art Exhibition between 1st and 10th May by Rohini Thotta Tharani.
Let's do something has a Mocktail workshop tomorrow - just what we want to beat the Chennai heat! The Robotics Workshop is back on popular demand and there's the summer camp for kids 5+ yrs.

Also noticed that Velachery now has Born Babies on Bye Pass road. With Half Ticket, Niel & Nikki and Cotton City (inside Srishti on Bye Pass Road), Velachery definitely seems to be improving!

Tried the Citrus body wash and Papaya Ginger jam from Fab India and loved them! Highly recommend Papaya Ginger ...

Have just got some organic groceries delivered from a new vendor - will check them out and give more details later....

Some books and an award...

2010-04-21T17:25:00.002+05:30

The First Well (A folk tale retold. Published by Book Box):
Pattu Rating: 4.2

A samurai warrior goes in search of water when rains fail his kingdom. He brings back a huge icicle from the cold mountain cave following the advice of an old lady. By the time he gets back to his kingdom, there's only a small lump left of the icicle and people think it is a water seed. They dig a pit to plant the seed and the moment the seed is dropped, it disappears and then begins the frantic search for the elusive seed. They dig deeper to find the seed and what do they find eventually?

Who wants Arthur? - Amanda Graham, Illustration: Donna Gynell.
Pattu Rating: 4.5

A very endearing story. Arthur is an ordinary dog in a pet shop eagerly awaiting his turn to find his home. Luck favours the Rabbit the first day and Arthur thinks he could find a home if he is as cute as a rabbit. So he practices that night to hop like a rabbit and eats carrots too. The next day his rabbit tricks fail as the customer prefers a snake and so every night he practices to be something else, all in the hope to find his home. Does he finally find his home? And how?
I like this one because it goes to prove that people would eventually like you for what you are and not what you pretend to be.

Norbu's New Shoes - Chewang Dorji Bhutia.
Pattu Rating: 4.7

First thing - Norbu looks so cute! Pattu immediately connected with him.
Norbu gets a gift from his dad - a pair of bright yellow shoes, and he is thrilled! The happiness doesn't last long though as he loses it eventually. This book introduces a different culture - Bhuddism, Monastery, etc. What I liked: Norbu doesn't get his shoes back but something else cheers him up and he goes on leaving the shoes behind (and probably learning a lesson).

Greedy Miss Miao - Amar Chitra Katha.
Pattu Rating: 4.5

Cat steals milk, chased by old lady manages to escape only to find itself in a jungle. Jungle animals take the cat to be the wise one who will protect the jungle and its creatures. Cat is well fed and looked after and leads a royal life, all the while plotting to eat the mouse one day. Well, nothing too good lasts too long ...

Best Friends - Nina Sabnani
Pattu Rating: 4.2

Lovely story about a little girl's relationship with a tree. This is just the kind of story that young children should grow up reading. It is rather disheartening to see adults chopping off trees to accommodate illegal extensions of their apartments. Hopefully, stories like these would help our children develop healthier sentiments towards our green friends.

The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten - The Magic School Bus Series.
Pattu Rating: 5

I wasn't planning to read this for Pattu yet but something about the book seemed to have caught her fancy and she insisted on reading this. I didn't think she would understand food chain but I was surprised that she did. This is one of those books that she wanted me to read a hundred times. Once she gets hooked like this, she wouldn't be receptive to starting a new book. The only strategy is to hide the book and say that it got lost. I knew taht she understood food chain when she asked me, 'Amma, I eat carrot...who will eat me?'

The Rooster and the Sun - Meren Imchen.
Pattu Rating: 5

Another sticky book that I had to hide from Pattu! Why does the Mighty Sun scramble out of bed at the rooster's call? Find out!

And I've got an award from Swati - Thank you lady!

And I pass it on to Lavanya, Jayashree and Hema.

Artsy Craftsy - April

2010-04-18T17:30:00.002+05:30

Edited to add:

Shruti asked me to share my clay recipe and here it is:

For the clay -

The recipe said
1. tear paper into strips and soak overnight
2. Grind it into a pulp using a blender
3. Add glue and knead into dough
4. Make whatever you want

and you could add some colours while grinding if you want some interesting combination and patterns...

But what I found while trying to make this:

1. Soaking for couple of days makes it softer to grind and the lower the quality of paper the better - eg TOI is better than Hindu in this context :D
2. Blender doesn't do a great job - the paper gets lumpy and clog up. I had to mash it a bit with hands and then use the blender - better still, the grinder. Also, you need some water for it to grind. I tried using some soaked methi and it works because it adds a bit of sliminess which helps the blending
3. Since I couldn't avoid water while grinding, I squeezed the water out before adding glue
4. My glue:pulp ratio was something like 1:3. I used fevicol.
5. Then I made all of these... I used some bowls for the form - I should remember to use Shruti's tips next time. And for some of the bowls I applied a very thin layer of pulp which became thinner when it dried. The thicker ones are more sturdy.
6. And for the lady, I made a skeleton with an iron wire - I wanted to make one who would be able to stand on her two feet but my pulp collapsed.
7. My sheep, mushrooms, fish, tortoise and Ganesha were nice and fat when I made them but they shriveled up on drying and the sheep got a sprain in the neck as he also couldn't stand on his fours and hence had to make him lie down. I think my pulp/ clay wasn't thick enough.

Then after drying and after the struggle to separate the bowls from the form, I used acrylic, undiluted to paint them all. The insides of the bowls were easier to pain since the surface was smoother...

On the whole - 2 days to soak paper, 4 hours to grind and make all the stuff, 2 days for drying (3 days of struggle to get them apart) 2 hours to paint them all and 1 night for paint to dry.

Here goes...

All but one of the bowls were made from paper mache clay...

Art on a Platter - Group Photo

A Gopika and a tribal woman - same piece painted differently on either side. Two shallow bowls, Fish - again the same fish painted differently on either side, two withered mushrooms, a sheep with a sprain in the neck and a Tortoise...

See some flowers that the tribal woman is picking?? A Ganesha who hasn't had his quota of kozhukattais and the bowls ...

The bowls up close - kitschy, drippy, sprinkly and all...

A peek into the making...

Phew!!!

A goofy tale

2010-04-17T17:31:00.000+05:30

My paper mache stuff has dried crisp in the hot Chennai sun for the Artsy Craftsy Challenge. But let me share the making of the *great piece of art* by the eternal goof...

This is my first attempt at paper mache with recipes that I gathered from few sites. By the looks of the specimen, I don't think I got either of the recipes right - my FIL was going to dump the 'hideous looking lump' around the plants thinking it was cow dung LOL! I tried the strips as well as the clay - but they just refused to leave the containers that I used for the form *ROFL*! So, I told Shruti that if I manage to pull them apart without much damage, she'll find an entry from the Pattu household...

Did they part? Well, we forced them apart. Quite a struggle it was and you will see the evidence on the piece(s) of art. I think I used too much glue. My maid and Pattu's care taker told me that the glue is not required - it seems that they just mash the pulp with methi seeds soaked in water and that's enough. I should have taken the wisdom instead of waving it off with my 'google' confidence. They laughed and laughed and laughed at my struggle :(

The painting is WIP - watch out!

Pattu wonders...

2010-04-08T22:32:00.000+05:30

...why bakers can't keep the cake out of the icing...

Fair Deal...

2010-04-07T22:13:00.001+05:30

We were playing and we had to go upstairs. Pattu tries to push me aside and run ahead.

Pattu: I'll be first
Amma: No, I'm gonna be first this time (amma's master plan to equip her to face defeat! Yes, Pattu's amma can be like that sometimes..)
Pattu: Nooooo...I'm first
Amma: Not fair Pattu... you come first all the time. You should give me a chance..
Pattu: (After pausing for a few nano seconds, by which time she thought of a win-win model) Ok. First, I'll go first; then, you go first ..Ok?

Fair Deal Eh?

Anxious...

2010-04-05T21:46:00.000+05:30

Lately, I've been a bit worried about Pattu. It has always been a bit difficult to get her to do one thing at a time, get her to complete her tasks, hold her interest for more than 15 mins and so on - any parenting guide would sound out an alarm at these signs (and every other parent would tell you that her kid is exactly the same). Add to it the occasional temper tantrums, hyper activity, talking to invisible friends or sometimes inanimate objects, not answering/ responding etc. Well!

As though these weren't enough, Pattu has been writing mirror images. She still hasn't chosen one hand over the other - she uses both hands equally. I'm not sure if I should be worried yet. Her school reports are normal though - apparently, she is obedient and well behaved, grasps reasonably well, etc.

But still...is it ok for a 3 yr old to smile at and have conversations with the street light that she can see through our bedroom window? My bro says that says a lot about how interesting she finds our company!

Guess I'll just wait ... though I can't entirely quit worrying...

Prized...

2010-03-30T21:49:00.000+05:30

... we came third at the Artst-Craftsy Challenge, though huffing and puffing :D .. Here's the entry
I thank my husband for sacrificing the loofah (though it was stolen when he was away) and Pattu for successfully pulling out parts of her hair clip which inspired the princess idea...( I would have thanked my dog and my dinosaur but I don't have one ...)

But seriously you guys - Shruti and TPL , are awesome! Some effort and passion it takes to do something like this... I'm gonna flaunt this badge

Shruti, TPL - the cards & the puppet look lovely!