Kaalam maridichu

I somehow dont seem to recollect how i studied my KG's. What exactly did i study? How did i get through the various standards. My latest memory is of I standard where the whole class used to recite the multiplication tables. Now i wonder how do i go about with my son.

Last week we went for the open house in his school. These days the parents are more anxious and are trembling before the teacher for her remarks about their child. Irrespective of your status in the society whether u r a professional or a home-maker or a businessman, invariably you are made to sit in the classroom (that too on the small benches) to receive the report card of your child. It brought back memories of me carrying my report card to my grandmother to get her signature and preparing explanations all the way to home to be given. And i would never give her the report card in the evening if i had scored bad marks. The auspicious time would be the morning time , that too just before getting into the riksha who had been made to wait atleast for 10 minutes. Now-a-days iam waiting indefinitely for the van to come along with my kid and aathukarar(ellam antha rikshaman kudutha saabam thaan) that too in the vaasal cos we live in the first floor.

And regarding the report card, though it was the review of first term with no marks / grades i can see parents comparing the review and discussing among themselves. I was glad that i had been among the first few so that i need not participate in those discussions. I just finished my turn and rushed home. But, i should say, whatever things i write or think about parenting i was proud and happy when his teacher said he was doing extremely well and was excellent in his reading. Iam thinking of posting some tips which i followed during P's early days to make him understand and read various things so that it would be helpful for other kids. Those people who teased me when i started during his 10th month are now wondering aloud about his progress. So, it is always good to start early.

Now, this post ends with a note that i made a short trip to bangalore last week for a reception. It was truly a dashing trip with a stop at sripuram, vellore. So, imagine if i say a stop of about 16 hrs in vellore on the way to bangalore means how much time i would have actually spent there. We started by car on friday and ended up spending our night in vellore and in the morning went to the temple and had our breakfast there (it was really a yummy pongal both sweet and melagu one) and lunch in M's grandmas house and started to bglre around 3 pm. Reached bglre border around 5.15 pm (it was very pathetic to see those tar on the tamil words written on the thoranavayil). And all the while we were in bangalore i was afraid that we had to go in a car with a TN registration plate . Then attended a reception in bglre at palace grounds, and you wouldnt believe it took almost 45 minutes for us just to take a U-turn and go to the other side of the road to reach the gayathri vihar. Pathetic roads and traffic control, namba chennai evvalavo thevala. Again started to chennai with a stop at vellore in the morning.

P was more excited with the concept of staying in a hotel that he kept on asking us that we go every weekend to bangalore to stay in the same suite.

Kiddie talks - 6

P : Amma, Moon irunthaa athu enna "aasai"

Me : Blinking . Appadinna ennada enakku onnum puriyalaye.

P : Athuthaan maa, mam school la sonnanga nnu sonnene.

Then only it striked me that he was asking about the ammavasai. They had taught him the previous day about the full moon day and no moon day. So, moon illatti ammavasai appadinna, moon iruntha athu enna aasai.

Then explained him that it was pournami.

When i was sitting in a chair he came around me again and again and said " neethaan sun naan thaan earth ". so ippo appava enna suththa sollu, avar thaan moon.

I think children these days are far ahead of our times, and we have to be equipped in order to travel if not ahead along with them.

Hurray!

Hurray!! This is my 50th post. Though people wanted to celebrate ;)))) in a big way by putting up banners and poster like the one which held in kancheepuram ( pls dont ask what it is , i expect everyone to be well-informed, athukkum mela engathukku auto llam varappadathu illayonno ) i modestly discouraged them . Ennatha irunthalum enakku tharpugazhchillam pidikkathu.

So, iam giving myself a pat on the cheek and a big hug........(cos iam a lazy one, so 50 post ezhuthinathe periya vishayam illaya). I know there are people who have been blogging for years together, aana avalta ellam naama kittaye poga mudiyaathu, etho nammala mudinjathu.

Went to the landmark sale, but i was unable to find good books ( to be true books at all) on phonics . Now-a-days these schools follow the curriculum based on the phonics, but publishers are yet to come out with good books on the subject. The ones which i found were just the name-sake ones. But, i picked few story books for my kid and a book on "facts".
I also picked few R.K.Narayan books , though read them in library i always wanted to own them.
Always i wanted to own a huge library, and i have just started to pursue it in a small way. Whenever i go out i just pick out books for my kids. Now, i have close to around 100 books. Needless , to say it occupies major space in my house. About 90% are story books for my kid which are in easy to read language. Rest of them are my collections. This is apart from our professional books which constitutes 3 sacks. I hate to keep them in sacks but lack of space forces us to keep them. I always wanted to have my own study room with huge display racks as in libraries.

Wish all of you a happy and safe deepavali.

P.S - Still deepavali purchase is pending . Enga aathukarar atleast saturday kku munnadiyavathu vaangi kudupparunnu nenaikkiren. (I already have a pattu saree from my father , but paavam my kid)

Past Fortnight

Well, can so much happen in a fortnight? The answer is yes. First of all an event happened twice and i was apprehensive about penning it down for the simple reason that it brought back the bitter and the spine chilling experience again. But , finally i made up my mind that to ensure it doesnt happen again i should pour it out and empty myself.

I have heard so many times the phrase " oru nimisham oru ugam maathiri" but havent experienced it untill last week. The first one took place in a famous store in pondy bazaar. I used to be very proud of the fact that my kiddo was extra smart and very cautious but, he proved my belief wrong and also made me feel guilty. Just penning my thoughts itself gives me nightmares and it is like re-living the experience. That day my kids class got cancelled so inspite of his protest to go straight to home i took him to the shop. I felt that if we went straight home he might either go for TV or the PC, so in order to drag the time i planned to go for shopping.

We purchased some books and a toy for him there and when we went to the counter which was in the ground floor ,he stayed in the steps leading to it which were hardly 10 in numbers. I stood in the counter and had an eye on him as well. But, when i just took my eye to take out the cash and looked again he was not to be seen there. Gosh!!! fresh shrills went up to my spine and my first thought was someone had taken him. I rushed outside to confirm that he didnt leave the store. But there was no sign of him and the security and one of the store manager who was standing there told me that no child went outside alone. But, i wasnt convinced and searched again and then went to the basement and called aloud his name. It would be silly to say one hundred thoughts passed in my mind and i was afraid that he would go past me if i leave the entrance and check the first floor. At that time i started calling my aathukarar and tears started rolling down my cheeks. When the ring was going i just looked accidently in the first floor and there was my kid standing and crying with one of the shop assistant and words cannot describe my feelings i felt on seeing him. Immediately i disconnected the call and rushed towards him. He was scared and i didnt ask him anything at that moment. And i profusely thanked everyone and once i got out of the store i started telling him how worried i was when i was unable to find him. Then he told me that he was just sitting there and when i went to the counter he was unable to see me and assumed that i had gone back to the first floor.
Irony is that i have this series of read aloud books called "Bruno series" where one of the book is Bruno gets lost. I religiously tell him everyday the story and make him answer the questions at the back of the book where a similar story is printed. I felt very guilty in assuming the things and not taking proper care. This iam saying cos the incident got repeated two days later in the kamatchiammman temple in kancheepuram where i had gone with my sister, chithi, athai and paatti. There too while doing the prathakshanam i assumed that he was with my sister but he had stopped enroute to do the namaskaram before the dwajasthambam. It was our practice to do in every temple and since there was heavy crowd we decided that after prathakshanam we would do the namaskaram. But hardly we went 10 steps when we noticed him missing. Ran and came backwards in search of him when i found him with a lady who was about to take him to the office since he was crying and standing there. Again thanked her and got nice thittu from her for being so careless. Never i had been this careless, and all the way iam feeling guilty. Am i not a good mother and how can i repeat the same thing twice. Always my aathukarar used to complain that when iam on road i used to "parakku paathufy".

Okie. Now to reduce the intensity of this post.

Went to the doctor since my kid had cough for the past one week

kid : Dr. Ungalukku sticker venuma

Dr : (avarukku mothalla onnum puriyala) Ennathu sticker ah? Seri okay venum enna sticker vechindrukke.

Kid : Spiderman sticker. Aana neenga enakku oosi (injection) poda koodathu , appothaan ungalukku sticker tharuven.

Both doctor and his wife were astonished and later burst out laughing.

(I didnt know that he carried the stickers and somehow assumed that the dr was going to put injections, cos we vaccinated him the previous month)

Unnaipol Oruvan

This is not a movie review, just penning my thoughts about the movie and the movie watching experience. Ever since i heard and read about the movie A Wednesday i desperately wanted to watch the movie. The weird thing about my hindi is i know how to write and read, but cannot understand the language. Though i got the first mark in hindi in school till 8th std(plz never mind it was CBSE third language) , still i get confusion between "tha and thee". The concept of gender for things never got into mind. Please dont ask whether iam through with English grammar. That's a separate story.



Okay now on to the movie... First thing to say is that i didnt watch A Wednesday and do not know about the story except for the one-liner, so i went complete with an open mind. To say precisely about the movie would be - Perfect in all sense. No songs to deviate, no unnecessary punch dialogues, sentiments and the super hero fights. Just a movie from an ordinary man's perspective. It doesnt mean that i hate all those masala movies, iam a hardcore fan of thillu mullu and micheal madana kamarajan. I can watch these movies even today without changing the channels.

My aathukarar said that the film had fantastic screenplay, and sorry to say this i donot know what a screenplay is, though he explained me later. What i felt was it took me along with it as the story travelled. Every actor in that movie were tailor-made and their body language and the mannerisms added gloss to their performance. Whether it was those two cops at their best or the TV anchor or the computer website hijacker, each had their own moment of glory.

This movie too had a hint of humour , love and sentiments but in a perfect dosage. When it was advertised that Shruti haasan was the music composer , i expected at least couple of songs. And i was completely surprised to see a song less movie. Not to include those back ground scores and the bits of songs. What i meant was a flash back song or a romance one.

But not everyone can enjoy the dialogues since half of it were in English especially the war of authority scenes between Mohanlal and Lakshmi (sorry please reduce the make-up in the next movie atleast , it was horrible watching all those close-up shots) . Humour was laced amidst the gripping scenes in the form of one-line dialogues . IIT drop out guys casualness is worth mentioning with the modern lingos.

On the whole it was a beautiful movie without any compromise and a crisp story line. Though the ending was not a convincing one.

Letme post the experience in the next post

Chocolates

I somehow dont like the taste of all these milk chocolates. Some how the white color doesnt impress me much and it doesnt give me the feel of chocolate at all. The taste is so blunt and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. (isnt weird to hear)

I always had a penchant for these chocolates with a hint of nuts and also the wafer chocolates. Especially kit kat and perk (who would forget the preity zinta ad ) .My all time favourite is Dairy Milk. All the special occasions would demand a bar of Dairy Milk.

My recent craze are these unique and delicious Ferrero Rocher chocolate sweets which come individually warped in a distinctive and rich looking gold colored wrapper. I learnt that these candies are made of roasted hazelnuts. They just melt in your mouth and i like the sweet sensation tingling in your mouth. ( should watch out for calories though)

And there were a whole lots of chocolates all of which were available for 25 np and 50 np . To name a few caramilk, coconut punch, aasai , lacto king, and this pulippu mittai which would leave a sore tongue at the end of it.

There was this theatre just a stone's throw away from our house where we friends would hand out once in a while. So while we are up to the movie we would fill our bags with this brownie chocolate which was 5p at that time. It is a groundnut coated with chocolate and was called the bournvita chocolate and who would forget the sweet honey laced then mittai. I just would love it. Whenever i and my cousin used to go to the shop which was just behind our house to get "vethala paakku" for my grandpa we would demand extra money to get these then mittais.

It was also a season of frymes and wheel chips but i didnt favour them much. I hated the very chikku naatham of it. But, i loved those cute little samosas.

Somehow all those little expeditions gave us the chance to know the value of money. They trusted us with the money how much ever little it was. It gave us a sense of responsibilities and a penchant for savings. But, i dont think i give the same to my son. All those fun of running to the " mona naattar kadai" whenever we get a little amount from our grandparents or relatives cannot be put into words. I feel guilty when i take him to the super market and allow him to choose from a wide range of products. But i make sure to tell him the price of that and try to teach him the value of money in my own possible way.

Random thoughts...

Iam reading Birthright - a book of Nora Roberts. Iam very well able to relate to the protagonist (not in the exact sense though)

I did clean our bathrooms - it might sound silly but when i clean the bathrooms and toilets somehow i feel i have spent my day qualitatively. It gives me pleasure to see the ever sparkling tiles. Am i sounding foolish :(

And yippee my kid had the full quota of snacks and lunch which i gave him and he gave me the prolonged happiness by finishing the full bowl of beetroot halwa which i gave him.

Without me prompting he himself gave rest to the PC from exploding (he plays games by googling the superhero names ) by shutting it down and sat back with his notebook to study. (he is in his UKG)

Got to make raagi dosai for my dear aathukkarar.