Our annual ‘magalir-mattum’ trip last May was to Poovar. We had booked the Poovar Island Resort (Club Mahindra) and it was worth every penny.. The stay, the ambiance and the food was excellent! Most of our time was spent soaking in the pool and hogging the food like starved pigs:) The resort provides a back-water cruise and there is access to the beach.. Poovar is for people whose idea of a perfect holiday is plenty of food, sleep, pool and books:) Floating cottages are not provided for folks with small kids.. So we had to opt for land cottages which were equally great!

We made the most of our stay at the resort and also visited the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary.. Again, the lake is worth a visit, but the sanctuary is a big disappointment.. You’ll find close to half-a-dozen lions, all malnutrition-ed, and its highly likely that you’ll mistake them for huge dogs.. And all the lion/lionesses wear a very bored look and they look far from wild:) Another part of the sanctuary is marked for crocodiles.. Again, its a tiny fraction of our very own croc-park in Chennai and OMR. The place stinks and you can actually count the crocs!

Few pics from the trip:

He deftly handles his plastic scissors and instructs his patti to sit straight and he wants to ‘try’ a new hair-do.. Patti has just heard blasphemy and is mortified! She is pleading with him to let go.. and tries to reason saying he must not do it as it will hurt..

Amma is all game because what remains in the scalp now is just a suggestion of tresses that were.. Allow me to brag at this point about the rapunzellish (but the braid touching a little below the thigh) hair that suffered the treatment of fenugreek, hibiscus, mehendi, white-pepper, poppy-seeds, egg whites and yellows, shikkakai, ‘poongangai’ and such.. sigh!! [Reminds me of Uma's story..]

Enough digression! So where was I? Yes, amma is a willing ‘customer’.. “Maa, ippi okachi sayya?” (ma, sit like this ok? and demonstrates), he says, showing me how i must relax on the chair.. I ask him if I can lie down on the pillow.. and market the idea that a head rested on a pillow is the best position.. He agrees..

He pulls a small towel from the cupboard and puts it on his shoulder.. perhaps to look busy.. He goes ‘kachack kachack’, implying he is at the snipping job.. Once done, he examines by coming to the front, running a comb through my hair, pulls the towel that he put purposefully on his shoulder, and begins dusting my neck, face, front, shoulders, the pillow, and the wall behind me. And declares, ‘hmm.. aachi sir. neenga polaam’ (its done sir, you may go now). No fees people. Yes, absolutely free… Wanna try? He doesn’t know to massage though.. If you can adjust…?

Image- www.toondoo.com

Happy Pongal/Sankaranthi/Lohri to you all lovely souls out there!

Amma wants to give the vaandu one tight slap on his little bum, but decides to resist the urge for a little more while.. and then the amma also throws a fit and bawls loudly- the act complete with shaking hands, legs and all that..

Varun forgets what he is doing and freezes in 2 nano seconds.. Absolutely clueless about what amma is up to!

www.toondoo.com

Amma does a mental ‘well done vidya’ pat to the self.. And..

Amma: Enakku andha jeench dhaan venum – I want only that pair of jeans..

Varun is a sight now with crocodile tears and one drop about to fall.. The expression on his face is priceless.. a suggestion of a smile, a twinkle in the eye, ashamed a little, but still angry and grumpy with a moist cheek which is now streaked with a little nose goo because of his rubbing his palm hard against his nose.. I wonder if he even cries through his nose:) And then..

Varun: Enna? – What? (still rubbing his nose and eyes..)

Amma: I want that blue jeans..

Varun: Adhu eerama ikku – its wet..

Amma: No, I want only that jeans..

Varun: (slightly reddens).. Adhu vachalle olandhundu ikku -its drying outside

Amma: (triumphant, but more shaking of head..) Ille, adhaan venum.. No, I want only that!

Varun: Ippo potunda, joram varum – You’ll catch fever if you wear it now.

Amma: Fever vandha enna aagum?- What’ll happen if I catch fever?

Varun: Vomit varum. coldu varum. cough-u varum. You’ll catch cold, cough and you’ll puke. He has forgotten about the tantrum by now:)

Amma: (making a sad face) Appo enna pannardhu - So, what do do now?

Varun: Naalaikku payskool-kku pottukalam sheriya? You can wear it to play school tomorrow, ok?

Amma: Double okay!!

So, for any tantrum, this is the treatment.. Has worked for nearly a week now… He’ll crack it anytime now.. I have to find newer tricks.. Anything up your sleeves?

Take this poll and tell me if its the mom or the dad who mostly signs the progress report of a child.. And do let me know if there are reasons.. Like, its been a convention that the dad/mom signs, or because your dad signed yours, you want your child’s to be signed by the dad/mom, or the mom/dad signs because the she/he is mostly out of station, or its an opportunity for the dad/mom to get involved in the child’s academic progress, etc… And would be nice if you can get your friends take the poll too

It was a work-day evening and I had to literally rush home to pick up the two boys and hit the venue in time, and we almost made it. Craig Jenkins had begun his story-telling of Ramayana and we missed the first 10 mins:( We got to listen to the story of Bon Bibi fully. His voice and actions had the kids and adults hooked till the end! So much that Varun and his friend Shruti (from his play school) were paying attention too without fidgeting, and what’s more, Varun was having a ball imitating the actions by Craig which included making a face like ‘Dokkhin Rai’, grunting like one, and also threatening to tear me with the imaginary claws:)

It was a treat to say Hi! to Sandhya Rao and Vyas was super excited to get his copy of the book autographed by Sandhya, Proity, and Craig:) Chrishelle David from Tulika was around over-seeing the proceedings. Varun did a ‘Hi’ and hi-five to Craig and then followed a ruckus.. He wanted the tea that Craig was having and wouldn’t end the tantrum even after reaching home.. Before the others got to judge my poor parenting of initiating a child into the ‘tea-habit’, I scooted out of the venue with Vyas in tow! But all that was after the event:)

The Event

The book launch was organzied by Binita & Gargi of Spring & Zoom, a Centre for Literary Arts, Chennai.

The Book

The Book

Title: In Bon Bibi’s Forest
Author: Sandhya Rao
Illustrator: Proity Roy
Publisher: Tulika

The story

Dokkhin Rai, a monster with striped skin, sharp claws and teeth, ready for the kill, terrorizes the settlements bordering Sundarban. The locals live in mortal fear of falling a prey to Dokkhin Rai’s hunger and anger. It is then that Bon Bibi, and her lost and found brother, Shah Jhongoli take it upon themselves to protect the people and other lives in the forest.. Why does Dokkhin Rai terrorize the people? Will he mend his ways? Are Bon Bibi and Shah Jhongoli successful in taming the wild monster? Read the story to find out more!

The kids and I have fallen in love with this book and the little one enjoys when it is read aloud to him:) What has caught our fancy is the names of the characters with a distinct Bangla touch. If Varun knows a monster, its only Dokkhin Rai now! With the lush forests of Sundarban as the back-drop, Sandhya Rao has doled out a beautiful mix of mythology and a message which the kids can relate to so well. The story is supported by brilliant illustrations by Proity. If you want to tell your kids about co-existence, environment conservation and mutual non-interference, this book is a great fit!

Read more about what inspired the story of Bob Bibi’s Forest on the Tulika’s blog here.

Pictures: Courtesy- Spring & Zoom

paasa malar

2. When its Varun’s turn to bat, the ball is sent rolling on the floor either by dad or anna. He sweeps the bat clearly. 2 out of 10 times, the bat comes in contact with the ball. The rest of the time, the ‘bat turns’ letting the ball hit the stump (the door) and anna yells ‘bowled!!’. This enthuses Varun and he takes a quick single. Sometimes even two.

3. The anna sometimes acts bossy and does not rotate strike with his thambi.. Amma is annoyed at this show of meanness and intervenes.. Varun pitches in with, “vonnimshon da. amma, naangalaam kirkate veladrom maa..” (asks his brother to hold on for a minute- oru nimisham da.. and clarifies that they are playing cricket. I have no business to interfere and rebuke his anna). Vyas is quick to stick out his tongue at me, and happily passes the bat to thambi. With all the love.

A round-up of what I read this year (in no particular order):

1.The bus stopped – Tabish Khair
2.In a free state- V.S Naipaul
3.The Palace of Illusions -Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
4.Of Men and mice – John Steinbeck
5.Smell – Radhika Jha
6.In my father’s house – Ann Rinaldi
7.Ground Beneath her feet – Rushdie
8.Au-revoir Calcutta- Krishna Dutta
9.The Toss of a lemon – Padma Vishwanathan
10.A Passage to India- E.M Forster
11.Above Average – Amitabha Bagchi
12.Two Fates – Judy Balan
13.Revolution 2020 – CB (yes, shoot me:)))

Somehow, none of the books in this list have made it to my list of favourites.. And all these have been just a pick-and-read act, except perhaps Steinbeck.. nothing was on the list to start with, and no plans:)

Kids literature:

1. Charlie and the great glass elevator – Roald Dahl
2. Frindle – Andrew Clements
3. In Bon Bibi’s Forest- Sandhya Rao (attended the book launch, story-telling with Vyas and Varun.. A separate post later)
4. Advaita- the Writer – Ken Spillman (attended his book reading with Vyas.. (again, in another post)
5. The Whispering Palms – Deepa Gangwani and Tina Suchanek
6. Dorje’s Stripes – Anshumani Rudhra
7. Mayil will not be quiet – Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya
8. Just a train ride away – Mini Shrinivasan
9. Haroun and the sea of stories – Rushdie (currently reading)
10. The Conch Bearer – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (plot akin to LOTR minus all the grandeur)

In this section, Frindle and In Bon Bibi’s Forest have been the best though I thoroughly enjoyed every book listed here..

And a whole lot of toddler books that I read with Varun.. Bondapalli and Ekki Dokki remain our favorites

So what did you read this year?

Varun: amma, avan yen maa appidi cholraan? (ma, why is he saying that?)

Me: Eppadi? Yaaru? (who?)

Varun: andha anna onnun therille cholraan? (that anna says he can’t see?)

Me: Ummm.. avanukku kannu theriyalle. paavam. adhaan. (he’s blind. sad. that is why!)

Varun: Yen therille? (why?)

Me to myself: Vidya, wrong route.. take diversion.

and

Me to Varun: auto-man, will you take me to Mylapore?

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The anna on the other had, has invested some ‘cricket-coaching’ time in learning to sing the song with a tweak to a line like this:

Vyas:

Free-a irukkum bodhu ‘dash-u’ illaye
Pidicha-’dash-u’ ippo freeya illaye..

Me: What ‘dash-u’ da?

Vyas: Amma, it seems that it is a bad word..

Me: Oh! Who told you?

Vyas: XYZ of 5th std. He comes for the cricket coaching.

The dad religiously wakes up at 5.20 AM, makes bournvita, gets his son ready and drops him for the coaching class at 5.50 AM. Sonny is showing tremendous signs of learning. Like the one above!!

Here is the source of inspiration if you haven’t heard it already:

Its another year that has taught me many a lessons.. Most are the same old lessons, but the scope and definition of certain words and phrases undergo a whole lot of changes.. I never learn!! What follows is a mix and a rant of the lessons I failed to learn, few that I got right, and the ones I’ll be working on, the coming year. So, you are warned. Read it at the risk of having a slightly bitter after-taste..

Lesson 1: Not to take ‘anyone’ for granted

No brainer. Very simple. But this seems to be a lesson in progress. Like parenting. The scope of ‘anyone’ keeps evolving. Apparently, I have been excluding some people from ‘anyone’. Which is wrong, right? Hoping to get better the coming year. But there is this creepy feeling inside that tells me I’ll never learn it fully:)

Lesson 2: Not to let ‘anyone’ take me for granted

Simpler. Tougher. Enough said. A steeper cliff this one is. Otherwise, why would I feel stupid or cheated or at times even left out?

Lesson 3: Not to preach to children what you partially believe in

This, thankfully is a lot easier. All I need to do is shut my trap and hold my tongue when my other personality tells me to get into a ‘sermon’ mode. I must learn to enable an ‘auto-off’. An example sermon – respect the elders. Which by it-self is fine. By which I mean – show care, love, help. not necessarily ‘obey’. And ‘questioning’ is not dis-respect.

Lesson 4: To discard baggage

I hate carrying a baggage.. I feel burdened.. I’ve often felt confused between judging and bad-mouthing and ‘un-burdening’.. Yes, am slightly cracked to put three different things together and even find that confusing.. But that is exactly how this retrospection started.. Something I’ve managed to do well in 2011.. Hope to do better in 2012.. I like the purged feeling at the end of it..

Lesson 5: To think more clearly

How? I don’t know.. Opportunities seem to keep presenting themselves. I will try not to get over-analytical… Ummmm… perhaps I mean to follow my gut-feeling.. Because I have found that too much analysis leads me back to the point where I started.. Like Ferdinand Magellan. But he proved a point.

Lesson 6: To forgive and to let go..

I know I sound like a saint or one of those new-age gurus.. But its something where I think I have done well too.. Many times, I have visualized gathering myself up and dusting off the dirt from my hands and feel clean all-over again..

Lesson 7: Not to redirect my anger on the kids

I’ll never learn! Which is okay.. My boys understand.. Vyas understands.. He lets me yell or yank.. And comes back to me and resumes from where we left, leaving out the bitter parts. Something that I must learn from him. Varun is beginning to understand.. One look at my face and he says “Amma, kovam vendam maa”. The ice, the lump, the heat, the wrath melts right there. While my children let me be, it would be unfair to take them for granted. So, back to lesson 1.

There are many more. But let me not get too ambitious. No particular reason to do this post now.. Every day is a new day ushering in a new year of hope and promises. Just that I think its a good time to take stock and feel blessed for all the wonderful people and things my Santa brought in, in the last 12 months, and make a conscious list of things that could have been better and make an effort to turn those things around..

I have indeed been fortunate to have my share of fun, joy, sorrow, fights, make-ups, cuddles, kisses, warmth, sunshine, rains, clouds, praises, ridicules, losses, gains, highs, plains, and lows.. all in good proportions.. Looking forward to another year where I hope ‘age’ and ‘wisdom’ meet. And find that ‘inner-peace’! Whatever that means!

Wish you all a happy journey ahead.. May your Santa bring loads of bliss, peace, and prosperity.. Merry Christmas!