1.

I have never kept a hobby for this long. You must be really special. Happy FIRST Birthday, Blog! I love you. :)

ps. Do you like your new dress?

Dear Thatha,

7 years ago, this day, I was holding your hand when you breathed your last. I felt terrible that you would nt be there for my wedding. You would have liked my husband. I am glad you at least saw his photo before you passed away. I get immense pleasure whenever someone from the family says that Ashu resembles you. Nothing can make me more happy than that comparison. I hope she is as honest, as hard working, as noble and as loving as you. Watch out for her. Always. I miss you. Lots.

Your favorite Grand daughter.

The case of the missing tomatoes!

The other day I took a tomato from the bowl to make a sandwich. I found that some tomatoes were missing. Since I had bought a kilo of tomatoes only the previous day, it was easy to see that some were gone. Theres only one little thief in our house. Usually, it is onions and potatoes as they are in the lower shelf. Tomatoes and Bananas are in the top shelf. The thief cannot reach the top shelf or so I thought! The enquiry started. "Ashu! where are the tomatoes?" She gives me an innocent look and runs to the hall. I follow her and see a tomato under the sofa. When I go and pick it up, the thief runs to the kitchen. I follow her and Voila! the secret place is found. Behind the fridge! I retrieved almost half a kilo of tomatoes from there. I guess she was doing it for the past week or so taking one or two at a time and stashing it there! No wonder I was buying tomatoes very often! Wonder what she was planning to cook! Its not even my birthday or something... ;)

Krishna Nee Begane Baaro!

Come back as Jesus,
Come back and save the world .
Bless all the future of every boy and girl.
Come back as Rama, Forgive us for what we've done
Come back as Allah, Come back as anyone...

Security Check.

After reading about the strict security measures at the airports, I thought this is what it would come to at the end. And then I get this cartoon in an Email forward. Hmm...!

From here.

Googled.

Its my turn to write a post on google searches. I have had a few funny(read as porn) searches which have landed on my blog. But this one takes the cake. How can I not write a post tell me?

how to ask your hubby to come back for dinner

So this woman makes dinner and waits for her hubby to come home. He does and for one of those million reasons a couple can fight, they do. It happens. Its normal. Happened like a dozen times(ok ok. way more than that!) with me too. What do I do? I call him to eat. Like any man with a spine, he refuses. I call him again. I plead, I beg, I threaten. Mostly one or the other works. But this woman goes and googles "how to ask your hubby to come back for dinner"! To be honest, I have googled my share of weird things too. One of them was about men peeing while standing. Well, I had to get my facts right before getting into an argument, right? A girl has gotta do what a girl has gotta do especially when shes the one cleaning the toilet. Agree? Well, come on now! Whats your weird google search? Confess!

ps. A piece of advice for the woman who landed in my useless blog, "Let him starve, Girl!". (Unless you are planning to poison him! In that case, good luck!)

pps. I almost forgot. The person who googled for "mother breast feeding photos" - I sincerely hope your baby had some latching on problems and you just wanted to see how other babies do it. If not, nice NOT to know you!

Update: Regarding the pps, I guess its confusing. So heres my take - People who googled for those photos in a good way, I am sorry if I have offended you. The "nice NOT to know you" is for the pervs. (Not that you care but anyway...!) Clear?

Dear Ashu,

Every time Amma goes into the bathroom, she will definitely come out. She cant dig a tunnel in the bathroom and escape. She sometimes wonders about it though. It feels great that you think Amma is more important than a cartoon show. It feels nice when you follow Amma to the loo when you can actually raid the fridge. She also feels happy that you need her so much. But then no one absolutely no one, that includes you too, can ever knock on the door and scream at her to come out. Amma has nightmares still about the times when she was in the college hostel and could nt take a decent shower without someone knocking on the door and asking "How long will it take?" and then keeping their red buckets at the door claiming the right to use the bathroom next. She hated that. Now she has to relive the trauma all over again, thanks to you . But this time she is not even showering, for Gods sake!
Luv,
Boo.

Tagged.

Tagged for the first time by Wundergal and Ardra. It's always good the first time, is nt it?! ;-)

I am thinking about whether to make this post funny or serious!

I said "Sit" to my daughter an hour back. No! No spelling mistake there. I actually wanted her to sit down! :)

I want to ban stupid movies. Wajah- A reason to kill on Sony is the reason. I would nt want my enemy to sit through this movie. And I have nt even watched 30 minutes of it!

I wish I could sing. The talent I see these days is making me so jealous!

I miss my mom who's having fun in the US with my sister! *Death to sharing!*

I hear Sarasa Logha song from the movie Pachakuthira in musicindiaonline. Awesome. I think I will be hooked to it it until I see the song! (Remember Mayilirahe?)

I wonder how blissful my life would have been if I was still single. I think that quite often actually. I hate the responsibilities that come with marriage!

I regret not having the guts to say what I think. No one can say what they think all the time. But I lack the guts even for simple stuff.

I am what I think I am. Sometimes I am a coward, a pessimist. sometimes I am strong, positive. Most of the times I am just confused!

I dance without any inhibition. I love dancing. I regret the day I ran away from the Bharathnaryam class when I was 6. My mom should have tried again the next year! :(

I sing a lot now to rock Ashu to sleep. Mostly Tamil movie songs. I suck. I cant hear myself! No wonder Ashu goes to sleep immediately!

I am not ambitious.

I cry at the drop of a hat. This one time I cried while watching Nine months when Hugh Grant apologizes to Julianne Moore. I was nt even married then. Probably I would cry buckets now if I watch the movie again. Or maybe not!

I'm not always patient. I hate that about myself.

I make with my hands pencil sketches, drawings, greeting cards, food,...

I write so that I can read it again when I am old and laugh at myself.

I confuse motherhood and having a life.

I need compliments. I thrive on them. *Let the comments start rolling!*

I should spend more time with my child rather than reading about other peoples children. God that makes me so guilty. "Go away Ashu. Go play while Mom reads what Dooce has written about her daughter!"

I tag 3 mommies and 1 daddy, if they are interested that is!
Aparna
Dadoji
Mad momma
Tharini

Vaccination.

Ashu got her vaccination shots yesterday for MMR and Chicken pox. One in each arm. :(

Anyway, just thought to write some stuff as a reminder for myself. It might help young parents in India too.

1.Dress the child right. If the shot is going to be administered in the arms, make them wear a sleeveless top or some top in which the sleeves can be easily rolled up. Otherwise it is a pain to taken them off and even more painful to put them on again when the child is screaming her lungs off. Unlike in Europe or US, here they don't remove the clothings of the child. They even weigh the child with the clothes on!

2. Try to buy the vaccines,syringe, etc.. the previous day itself. Some vaccines you might have to store in the fridge, so ask the Doctor about it. Also the paediatric medicines or vaccines are usually not available in all the medical shops. You get them only in the medical shops the Doctor suggests or the ones near the Doctors clinic/hospital. If the Dr's appointment is before 9 am, then the chances of the medical shop being closed is more. So check out the timings.

3. Finish off all the formalities before the child gets the shots. Ask all the Q's you want, get the appointment for the next visit, get the prescription, write down all the details of the vaccination. Even pay the fees. Because once the child gets the shots, all you would want is to get out.

4. Take a bottle of water or milk if that will pacify your child. Or some biscuits or her favorite toy.

5. In Swiss, the doctor used to keep a ball of cotton and put a band aid over it after the shot to stop the bleeding. But here, the Dr just asks you to press the cotton tightly on her arm where the shot was given. Its really stupid as its impossible to hold the baby still. Either go with a band aid or ask the Dr beforehand for a plaster.

6. Usually there is a vaccination report card where all the details of the vaccines given for the child is noted down, in Swiss. No such thing here. But you might require it if you travel abroad. So you can ask the Dr to write the details in her prescription pad and sign it.

7. Some vaccines cost around Rs.2000 so go with enough cash.

Thats all I can think of. Life really revolves around the child for me, no?! :)

Movies and popcorn.

Watched 2 movies in the last 2 weeks on the big screen. That makes a grand total of five movies in one year. Not a bad record with a baby, I should add. The first four times, my mom baby sat Ashu while HD and I went for the movies while yesterday HD stayed home with Ashu while I went with my cousins and nieces. There were 6 of us and we had a blast. But the movie was a dud! (We knew that beforehand. Thats the reason HD decided to be all nice and stayed home!) My seven year old niece loved it though! Oops, I did nt mention the name of the movie, did I? It was Krrish! Ok, so have you stopped laughing now? Read on then! The first half was at least watchable but the second half was OH MY GOD horrible! My cousin and I were passing our own comments and were laughing so hard. That was the fun part. As if the movie was nt irritating enough, there were loads and loads of product placements too. It was nt like the occasional coke cans here and there but was 'on your face' and annoying. I could spot all these brands in absolutely unnecessary scenes:

Bournvita
Tide
Hero Honda
Boroplus
Vicks
Lays
Siarams
Samsung

The hilarious part is when grandma Rekha pours Tide detergent into a bucket standing in the middle of a beautiful living room. I mean, give me a break. And in the next scene, the Tide packet is sitting on the kitchen shelf next to the stainless steel tumblers! I would have appreciated a free sample, for Gods sake! Hrithik was good though. Poor thing has poured his soul for this dud. Priyanaka's make up was horrible in some scenes. I don't even know the first thing about professional make up and I could see what a blotchy make up it was! And she was Miss World? Hmm...!

Mission Impossible 3 was the other movie we watched. Loved it.

"I'd marry him!"

In the movie, two women who come to the engagement party of Tom Cruise and his fiancée (whoever she is, I don't care!) say that to each other after talking to Tom for a few minutes! I agree! :-D *drools*

ps.
Why do parents bring babies to the theater? The father was taking the screaming baby out of the hall 5 or 6 times. And the noise was horrible. I tightly shut my ears during all the song and action sequences. It was damn loud. Show some mercy to the babies people!

pps.
Try the Schezwan popcorn at the Innovative multiplex in Bangalore when you go next time. Very good. Made watching Krrish worthwhile! :)

If you know what I mean...

I really wish I were old. Whenever I do this uncool thing, I wish I were around 50 so that the thing I do is nt uncool. I mean is there any cool way to get the idli batter out of a grinder? (I mean the wet grinder here and not the mixer grinder!) How much ever you try, you have to use your hands ultimately to take the batter out and then scrape your hand in the storage vessel. Yucks! And I still waste a good amount of the maavu (batter) stuck in the grinder. How my mom wipes the grinder clean is beyond me. Anyway, I worked like a dog today around the house. I wish I cleaned the house everyday. But unfortunately no such determination or OCD. I always postpone housework until some guests arrive. It happens that this weekend we are having visitors and I ended up doing everything in one day. Clean the shelves, cup boards, make Idli maavu(thats how the uncool thing happened!), arrange the closets, clean TV, computer,.. All while dragging Ashu as she had tightly hugged my legs! Poor thing, never saw her mom so worked up before! The tough part was cleaning the fridge inside out as it has been ages since my fridge had some fresh air for more than 5 seconds!! (You must have got it by now who's coming if I am cleaning my fridge right? If not, ignorance is bliss!)

Usually I have loads of time to write but nothing comes to my mind. But sometimes it so happens that you will have loads of interesting stuff but no time or energy! So see you on the other side of a pretty long weekend! ;)

Girl next door.

Theres a big apartment complex near my apartment. They have a play area for children with swings, slides, see-saws, etc... and in the evenings I stand on my balcony with Ashu and show her what a play area looks like! (We occasionally go to parks when it does nt rain but shes still too small for everything and there are no baby swings anywhere! This info so that no one sues me for being a bad mom!) Anyway, every evening I see a young girl of about 6 or 7 years old. She looks like a servant maid. She comes with a 2 year old girl and baby-sits her. Even though the child can swing on her own, the girl keeps her on her lap and swings. Until some mother comes with her child and asks her to move. Then she slides with the child on her lap. Then the see-saw. She puts the child in one end and she sits in the middle and rocks.
I don't want to know what she does in the day time.

'BOMB'AY.

Nothing shocks me anymore. And that is really worrying. All I can think is, what is this World coming to?
Let Peace prevail!

ps. And yes, Rajdeep Sardesai was absolutely insensitive. I just wanted to wipe the smirk off his face!

It’s all coming back to me now.

Agreed that you are always in praise about your hubby when you are newly married and can’t stop talking about him to Tom, Dick and Harry telling them how great he is. You have to prove to the whole world, the ex boy friends, the ex girl friends, the current friends, the cousins and their likes what a great catch you have landed. You believe you are perfectly made for each other and go on and on about it to your friends. How smart he is, what fun he is! The gifts he showers on you. You love to swap hubby stories among your friends and wait for an opportunity to tell them about the surprise dinner he cooked for you on your birthday. You can’t believe how some wives can complain about their husbands so openly and secretly thank God that you have nt ended up with a husband like theirs. You vow never to be like them. You never ever tell anybody about the fights. You quit a perfectly nice job and follow him to the end of the Earth. (I remember a week after getting married I told my sister, "I can’t live without my hubby"! Yikes! It sound so foolish now but if I go back in time, I would say the same thing again, I’m sure. Only more confidently perhaps. Ah! Those were the days!)

But after 5 or 6 years, it should stop. It will stop! Then you will tell only the things you mean. You would advise your 21 year old cousin not to get married so soon. You would tell your 27 year old single friend how lucky she is not to have got caught in marriage and its responsibilities. You would ask your parents why they believe in a stupid institution. You would tell your husband that your pre-married life was bliss. Not that you are nt in love anymore, but because you grow up!

ps. Absolutely my personal experience. Just replace the "you"s with "I"s if you don’t agree! And this post is dedicated to everyone who think couples are caught in loveless marriages after reading their blogs! ;)

Ashu - Dated today.

~> She is almost 14 months old.

~> She saw her first rainbow today.

~> "Suttum vizhi" song from the movie Ghajini is still her favorite.

~> Since she has done damage to her favorite Noddy book, he has been retired.

~> Her favorite is a book with pictures of animals now. Of the 35 animals in it, she points to the goat and says "Aadu". I am really proud of her!

~> She calls me, her dad and my mom as "Amma". Even though I pretend as if it does nt bother me, actually it does a little bit!

~> The fevicol bond is still stronger between her and my dad. I am still amazed why.

~> When asked what her name is, she very cutely says "Taashi". I am thinking about renaming her!

~> When a guest gave her a book she took it from him and said "Thans" much to my amazement. But has nt repeated it since then. Guess I was just hearing things!

~> She can point where her head, ears, ear ring, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, tummy, hands and legs are. But she always gets only 8/10 things right. Did I say I am proud of her?

~> She loves kids and calls everyone under ten as "Paapaa".

~> She unscrews her ear studs and loses them. Once she put one of them in her mouth and gave me a heart attack.

~> If you give her a box or a bag full of assorted stuff, she ll be occupied for 20 minutes. But the same box/bag won’t work the second time. Because we have photographic memory!

~> When my 3 year old niece comes home to play, Ashu does nt share her toys with her and snatches them from her. She also does nt like it when my dad holds other babies in his arms. I am really wondering where she inherited this from?!!

~> Her shaved head is really funny to touch now!

~> She is still in the "beautiful-in-every-photo" phase! Probably she ll be as long as I live!

My Hero.

While all my classmates would pee in their pants at the thought of being asked to bring one of their parents to school by the teacher, I waited eagerly for an opportunity like that all my school and college life. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for the teachers, it never happened. Actually it happened once but did nt turn out like I wanted it to. I was 13 years old and did nt go to school one day when there was a History test scheduled. The next day the teacher asks me why I had nt come to school the previous day and I say I was sick. "Bring your father to school tomorrow", says she. After school, I go home and tell my dad to drop me at school the next day as the History Miss wants to meet him. He does. I take him to the Staff room and introduce him to my history miss. She asks, "Yes, what do you want?" I am puzzled. I tell her "You asked me to bring my father." She’s puzzled now. "Oh? Ok. So she was sick day before? She did nt come to school." My father: "Yes she was and she told you that did nt she?" "Well ok then!" says the teacher. My father: “You can take her word hereafter. She does nt lie. I don’t have to come to the school all the way for this, ok?" The teacher nods her head and tells me to run to the class as the lessons are going to start. I smile at my dad and run away. The funny thing about all this is I LIED. I was nt sick. I did nt study for the test and bunked school. My dad knew it too! I have never been so proud of him! He picked up a fight with my sisters school head master too in a similar incident but that time my sister was right and he stuck to her side.

To be honest, my parents overdid it. No one can get away with saying anything not-so-nice about their daughters. All my uncles and aunts would complain about their kids like they are nt studying; they are lazy; they are irresponsible, etc... But my parents would always compliment us. She has got first rank, she got first prize,.. .which was nt always true. Till this day my dad tells everyone that I was school first in my 12th board exams when I was only second. My best friend was first and when I remind him of that, he says "She’s also like my daughter!" What a logic, huh? All my classmates were really jealous of me to have such a cool dad. That he hit me unlike any other dad of my friends was another issue. But at least I could bunk school whenever I wanted to do! I don’t know how I turned out the way I turned out. I drew the line myself and did nt cross it and it worked out fine for me. My sister is the golden girl. She aced through school and college without my parents uttering the word "study" ever. We studied because we wanted to study. I know lots of children need to be told what to do and may be this method would have been disastrous for another child. But I loved my dad for what he did for me. I knew I could count on him and he would be on my side against anything in this world. That trust is something I treasure. He has always been a phone call away. When I called him from college, the first thing he would ask is "When do you want to come home?" He would judge my mood just from my "hello". I would go home for holidays and keep on postponing the trip back to college. He ll take me to the bus stand and as soon as the "Trichy" bus comes, I ll have a frog in my throat and tell him "I ll go tomorrow Pa." He ll immediately take me back home without a question. One time, this went on for 3 days continuously and on Thursday my dad said, "Stay here for the weekend. You can go on Monday". I readily agreed and left for sure on Monday. I can’t remember what went through my mind. Why did nt I quit college like Rupa did? Or why did nt I go to college without a single leave of absence like Shanti did? Puzzling!

There have been millions of instances when I have called him in a helpless situation knowing full well he would be helpless too. But just talking to him and having him worry for me made me feel better. When I was in Bangalore alone and HD was in Swiss and my dad in Coimbatore, I had a flat tyre with my Kinetic Honda. I stood in the middle of the road not knowing what to do. I called HD from my mobile! (Yes, to Switzerland!) He did nt pick up the phone. I called my dad then. He asked me to enquire in a shop for a garage nearby. I asked a pharmacist and he told me there was one in that corner. I walked there and got it fixed. After I got engaged, I was really scared to get married and go and live with almost-strangers. Every night I would pick a fight with my parents and tell them that they were heartless to make me go live like that.

Me: What would I do for money? Do I have to ASK "them" for money?
Dad: I ll open a bank A/c for you and get a cheque book.
Me: What would I do if they ask me to wash all their clothes?
Dad: They have a washing machine.
Me: I dreamt** that the machine was broke and they asked me to wash all their clothes by hand.
Dad: In that case, just pack your bags and come home.
Mom: *going bonkers* WHAT? What kind of advice is that? Will you please shut up!
Me: What? I can’t come home Ma?
Dad: Don’t care what she says. You can come anytime you want to.
Me: *mighty pleased* So have you decided the menu for the reception dinner?

I know I sound so stupid and naive but I have my own super-hero to think for me! :) So here’s to you dad! Happy Fathers Day!

ps. HD, take a hint and start doing something if you want Ashu to write about you fondly in her blog. I am pretty sure I have blown my chance already! ;)

pps. My dad has fallen greatly in my dad-scale since my daughter’s birth but has already passed with honors in Ashus grand dad scale. So no complaints there!

** I really dreamt that! :)

More like Teeny-Weeny-Me!

Since Ashu had her head shaved yesterday, I have been trying to find out whom she looks like as I was seeing a familiar face in her. And then to my horror, I realized that she resemebles Mini-Me!! That I watched a few scenes from Goldmemember *puke* a few days back on TV did nt help me on this one. It has completely grossed me out now. And I have gone and written about it here too! Oh God, what have I done? Anyway, this post will be long gone before Ashu learns to google. Imagine the horror when she googles for Mine-me by some freak coincidence and lands up here!

Mottai.

My poor baby went through a "hair-rising" experience today and lost all her hair to the Vaidhyanatha Swamy at the Vaidheeswaran Kovil. It was really bad. Poor thing screamed her lungs out. My dad who 27 years earlier had grabbed me half way between my mottai and ran for cover had to hold Ashu straight and put up with her screaming. He would have done the same to Ashu also but the baby he thought he was saving years earlier was giving him "I-will-kill-you-if you-even-think-about-it-look"! I mean, even I did nt want this thing done in the first place but half mottai? HD missed the whole thing. Good for him as it was really bad. Pretty barbaric! 15 minutes of pure heart break to any parent. Anyway, Ashu was her happy self as soon as the last hair fell from her head so that was a relief. She touched her head with both her hands and had a quizzical look in her face which made all of us smile! I thought probably all the man-handling by my dad would have some effect and she would stop clinging to my dad like a creeper but no such luck. Lets see if that happens after the 3 months separation when my dad goes to US. One can only hope!

By the way, heres the before and after snap. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Just like I was paranoid about how I would look in a Madisaar for the first time and then everyone told me "Unakku romba baandhamaa irukku"(You look good!), Ashu looks more cuddly now if that is possible only a little like a sand paper at one end!

Hair today...

... gone tomorrow! :(

Long time, no see!

I was blank. Just blank. Could nt think of anything to write and did not feel like writing anything at all for that matter. Probably my creative juices(I can hear you go "huh?" Ok ok, I get the point!) flow only when I am in the cubby hole of my flat in Bangalore sitting on my plastic moulded chair with one leg on the sofa and Ashu crying for my attention! Well, here I am in Bangalore after 22 days. Had a blast in my cousins wedding in Chennai. The weather was nt as bad as I had expected. My dad was staying in a hotel pretty close to the wedding hall and I took sanctuary there whenever I felt like it. And when Ashu had to go potty. And when she had to take a bath. And when she had to change into her next Pattu Paavadai. And when she went to sleep. So you get the picture, right? I was in the hotel room pretty much the entire time! :) It felt good to be decked up in Kancheepurams and jewelleries and pose for photographs after a long time! Ashu was at her crankiest and making her wear the pattu paavdai itself was such a big deal that I did nt even try to keep my hands on her hair! So she had the "just-got-up-from-sleep" look the entire time, much to my moms utter disappointment!

Anyway, its good to be back home but in 2 days Im leaving again to my parents place. On a sudden plan they are leaving for the US to be with my sister for a couple of months and I want to be there until they leave so that they spend some time with Ashu. The remote idea that I could also go with them was completely squashed when I found out that there is a 6 months waiting period for the US visa appointment in Chennai. Anyway, not like that I was desperate or something! :-P

ps.
Thanks Witchy for missing me! ;)