Bringing up Vasu.

Dear Parul,

During my recent India trip, we were in Landmark. Sis, Bil, Hd and I. As usual, I was in the children's books section and wondering if it ll be easier to just shift to the book store rather than lunging the books back to Zurich. In the two minutes I had to browse through the adult section, I picked up Bringing Up Vasu. Even though I had planned to buy the book and had seen how the cover looks like in your blog, it was a total shock to see the book in the shelf. I mean, books. There were more than one copy. Dozens, actually! If I was thrilled so much seeing that, I could totally imagine how you would ve felt. I picked up the book and grinned from ear to ear and showed the book to the trio. "Oooh! Nice cover", said Sis. "So this is the book you went on and on and pretended you were nt jealous about, huh?", asked Hd. (Liar!) The clueless Bil gave a blank stare and I readily explained to him. "My best friend wrote this book. I have nt met her, of course. Shes a blog friend but nevertheless this is the first book that someone I know has written. Cool, no?" (shhh Parul. Bil does nt read blogs. We are best friends, ok? ok.)

And yesterday, I finished the book. I could nt go and read your blog posts or leave comments while I was reading your book. The one time I tried, I wanted to leave a comment asking if Vasu got into Teddy Footprints or not! And did you actually meet a film star couple in Goa? The exact blog posts came to my mind when I read the similar chapters. Guess, Im your true blue blog stalker, after all! And it did nt help that I was on a train when I read Chapter 19. Baby Boo in Public? I was laughing out loud thanking my stars that I did nt name my blog - Baby Boos talk!

What Im trying to say is, I cant review the book objectively. I could nt even read it without picturing you as Mira. But that only makes me go in awe of you to have written a novel. The way you ve interwoven fictional stuff with your actual life and come up with this great read is amazing. I think with unknown authors, we dont know how much of the book is their personal experience and how much is purely fictional. So we can choose to empathize or not and judge the book without any qualms. Not that I know whats what with everything about your book, but I have developed a general idea. Its a book written by a friend (best friend if by a remote chance my Bil is reading!) and Im not able look past it. Now you ve gained a fan as well, Parul. A loyal one, at that! Thanks for the wonderful read. Wishing you all things wonderfull!

Luv,
Baby Boo :))

The Karmic connection between Saakku Pai and Ballet.

When I was in college, post grad, I used to take a bus or my bike(kinetic) to get there. Some days, my dad used to drop me in his car if he had some work in that area. So this one day, I was getting ready and he offered a ride. I accepted and we walked to the car. The scene that met me was unbelievable. You cant guess even if I give you a million years. Imagine! A 20 year old getting dropped by her dad to college. A car whose entire back is loaded with saakku pai (jute bags) filled with some stuff. My dads boss is sitting in the passenger seat. The office security guy in full uniform ,with a huge moustache to boot, is sitting in the back holding the saakku pais in place so that I ve room to sit at the back!!! I double backed and told my dad that I ll take my bike after all, I ve to go to a friends house after class. He gave me a look and said, "vandeela eru"! (Get in!) Not wanting to create a scene before his boss, I did,while cursing him under my breath. I mean, is he a Moron? Which self respecting girl will sit amidst saaku pai and get dropped in college? We made some small talk with the boss and neared my college.

As soon as the side gate of my college came to view, I screamed ,"Stop here, Appa. I ll go through this gate". But fate was nt on my side that day. "No no. You ve to walk a long way if you go via this gate. Let me take you to the main gate. Saar wants to see your college campus too", said the man! Why, God, why? What did I ever do to you? Was this because I made fun of Shanthi when she came to school one day with a shaved head when we were four? Or because I pulled Chitras legs since she and her 3 siblings came in a Maatu vandi(bullock cart) to school? Or was it because I sniggered at Gundamma Ratnamala who brought this huge tiffin carrier(It was anju adukku, for Gods sake!) for lunch? It had to be Karma coming to bite my behind!

So dad pulls inside the main gate. Oh yes, my secret crush is standing right near his bike talking to some friends. He had to be there, right? And some of my classmates too. Oh, goody! "Stop here, Appa", I say again trying hard not to yell. But no. the man does nt get a hint even if the said hint is dancing butt naked in front of his eyes with a huge neon sign! He stops the car at last, right in the middle of the parking area. All eyes are in the car. I try to open the door and wriggle out. But the security guy is faster and wanting to prove hes worthy of the pay check, gets down first and with his side of the door left wide open, comes running to my side and opens the door for me. As if the Maruthi 800 stuffed with saaku pai was nt enough, the security guy opens the door for me as well! If ever there was a time I prayed Mother Earth to swallow me whole, that was it! I just gave my best dirty look to my father and muttered, "You could nt have stopped at the side gate, could you?" and walked inside with my head bent. Nothing dreadful happened actually in college. At least nothing that lasted more than a couple of days. I could always count on Sharmila and her current new boy friend to take over any other news! But I remember the feeling of humiliation. Till this day. May be I over reacted, may be I was just shallow, may be I was just silly, but the embarrassment was true.

I relived this incident last week. But from this side of the fence. It happened when Ashu told me, "You dont have to come to school to help me get ready for the ballet class, Amma. I can do it myself." And if this simple statement can hurt me so much when in fact she said that because she believes shes a big girl now and can dress up herself, how much more will it hurt me when she starts getting embarrassed by me? Sigh! Refer to my Karma statement on Paragraph 2. Circle of life, my dears, Circle of life. Its vicious.

I only get jealous when I see such talents.

Ever since I heard this little boy sing this song,



Im hooked to this original song.



Why do I always, always discover songs late?

Needless to say, the song(both the versions) has been in non stop loop at Boo's! :)

ps.
ha! see the time stamp of this post? Cheap thrill. ;)

One of the reasons I love living where I live.

When I looked out of the kitchen window last week.

Get Well Soon.

First it was my sis breaking her ankle when she visited me here in April. Soon after, my mom broke both her feet.

Then I heard about people with fractures left, right and center when I was in India.

I come back and catch up with all the blogs and what do you know?

Sundar has an nightmarish accident and fractured his arm apart from other injuries.

Dipali fell down and broke her arm.

Tharini slipped and fell and fractured her feet.

Sur had a fall but thankfully she did nt break anything. (although reading about your fall gave me shudders thinking about my own a couple of years back)

This is to say, Get well soon and heal fast, people. And those who know me, just be damn careful and watch your step!

Update on this and that.

So much is happening here that I dont know where to begin.

Ashu started Pre K and is loving it. I still cant believe shes going full day.

She said she did nt want to go to school on the 4th day but she was ok a little later and skipped to school the rest of the week.

Fil left. Its pathetic to see Antu on her own. She was like an extra limb to my fil for the past 10 days.

I can at last see the sign of two teeth which are about to sprout in Antus mouth. About time.

Im sad at the same time because theres nothing like a gummy smile to melt your heart.

Im sure now that Antu came into this world just to show me how easy I had it with Ashu when she was a baby.

Unlike her sister, Antu does nt want anything to do with Milk. Give her solids anyday. Thankfully, she gobbles up yogurt and cheese. And I mix milk in her food. So we are doing ok, I guess. But Im still baffled that how a milk guzzler like me and Ashu ended up with an Antu.

Antu is already down to only one nap a day. I guess second ones are born with their own agendas. We are just obstacles on their way.

After 2 months in India cosleeping with Antu, Im now trying to sleep train her again. She howled and brought the roof down last night when I tried to leave her alone in her crib. But she was fine with me just patting her. So theres hope. I ll update in a couple of weeks if Im still alive.

Ashu on the other hand is so tired by the end of the day that she sleeps in her bed before her head hits the pillow. But on the days she is nt very sleepy, she complains that shes scared that a wolf will break her window and come in and bite her! So she lies down on the sofa in the hall and goes to sleep. Whatever!

I ve finally given up on Ashu with respect to her eating habits. She brings back most of her lunch back from school and makes a big drama of finishing it at home. So basically she has breakfast, then the lunch box she carries with pasta or sandwich is her lunch, evening snack and dinner. Whatever!

To balance out, Antu loves to eat all veggies and fruits. Finally I get to see how it feels when a child shows interest in her food and asks for more. Thank you, Lord Subramania!


Ashu still has to be taken once and sometimes twice to the bathroom during the nights. Some nights, she gets up and asks us to take her to the loo. Some nights, she does nt. Hd is this close to buying pull ups again for her. But I think its not fair for a 4 year old. He thinks its not fair that he has to get up in the middle of the night. Well, thats life Mr. Sperm Donor!

And oh, the girls have started that sister thing I was dreading. When Ashus school friend came home, she would nt let Antu enter her room because G is her friend and they are playing. And Ashu shut the door on Antu! Sigh!