Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Q

I joined the crowd at 7:30 pm. The queue was about half a kilometer long, stretching well into the main road. In front of me were a man-wife pair. Holding/wriggling hands, whispering into ears...and all the rest of the things one can/cannot expect. Behind me too were a man-wife pair, discussing the intricate details of their professional life...project release next week, bitchy boss on leave, finance demading IT proofs of investment, what address to put down for HRA etc.

As the queue moved on at snails pace, the wife in front spotted the Schwarzkopf beauty parlour. She quickly peeped in, came back to husband, took some money and disappeared inside. The husband behind me was getting too restless. He went to the Q's beginning to see if there was any other way of getting in...disappointed that there wasnt, he bought a bagful of popcorn for himself and a small cone of peanuts for his wife. Meanwhile, the other wife in front returned after doing her eyebrows and trimmig her hair.

And this Q was for darshan on Vaikunta Ekadasi (last Thursday), at a temple nearby! When I finally got out of the temple it was 10:00pm. I had no clue what made me undertake this ....on a chilly, rainy night...and I am sure at least half the other were equally clueless. I even saw a lady from north-east, clad in a business suit, along with a long-haired boyfriend braving all this!

I always though such 'bhakti' came to folks living near Srirangam and brought up on the lore of Vishnu.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Arriving at hyper-parenthood

Saturday was the appointed day when we got initiated into hyper-parenting.

10:00 am was school day for S, 9:30 was a clouring and recitation compettition for the V organized by some hyperactive Rotary club. The boys went to the school after I got the dancer 'costumed'. The girls went to attack the Rotarians.

After a long wait, around 11:00 am, we got round to some tear-filled colouring. All the while responding (calmly) to things like
- "Why is baby fish in this picture jumping out of the water?".
- "Will it not die?".
- "But, it is STILL looking happy".
- "I want the fish to show me the other eye so that I can colour it Blue."
- "Why is THAAT girl painting, while I am crayoning?"

Then we rushed to meet the boys at the the dance. Lovely dance to a number called Suvvi Suvvali (Kannada of course, from Mungaru Male). Lots of goofed up photo-ops later, we arrived back at the venue for recitation as a full family. Hyper, needless to say. The twosome ran around the grounds, fell, bruised, wailed, hugged, pushed each other all over again, rolled in the mud like dogs....Finally V was asked to take the stage. By which time I was puffed. She put the mike INTO her mouth and sang "Wheels on the bus". Judges were pretty impressed.

I was planning a quiet lunch and nap at home when my niece called to say that my kids will love OSO and that I should take them to it (along with the neice of course). We drove to the other end of town and saw that movie. I immensely disliked it. But the gen-X liked it.

Next time, I will chaperone them, but wait outside on the steps with a book. But I guess I shouldnt get hyper about bad movies. Its all a part of hyper-parenting.

Hey, but I forgot take S to the Music class on Saturday. Hmm..Still have a long way to perfecting the skill, I guess.