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.

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.

This and That

Ah! The Radha came first, the vegetable vendor came second and the pink butterfly landed in the third spot. A victory for the mother's artistic talents.... Not to mention liberal scribbles from all the kids on our floor. A few muddy shoe-prints cleverly masked with glitter. It was fun. She sang her own version of the Gubachi song

The Diwali came and went so quickly. I usually wake up by 5am on Diwali (vaguely trying to emulate grandmoms who used to wake the whole household by 4am). This time I didnt set the alarm, convincing myself that I cant possibly sleep through the noise of crackers in the neighbourhood. I underestimated my capabilities and ended up waking up at 7 am. What a shame! It was too bright to do the flower pots and rockets and vishnu chakrams.

Anyways, quickly did damage control and the kids were out bursting crackers with all enthu. V was very much scared, but didnt want to show it! She would find some reason like 'I want to see the flower in your saree' to hide behind me.

And then the Mysore trip. First time in ages that an adult was accompanying me on any journey. So the kids were more or less taken (great) care by the husband. While I just had to do the driving. It was great. For everything one had to go to the palace circle and then take a detour. What simplicity!

Fancying a dress

November is here......so is Children’s day....and today I was supposed to fill out and submit a form to the school wherein I am to solemnly swear to dress my child V as _________ on November 14th and not to change my mind about it.

I don’t like that last clause.

Last night, at 12:15 am, as the train was just pulling out of Central and inching towards B.Bridge, I was cleaning my handbag (undoubtedly a Sisyphean task). That’s when I noticed this cyclostyled note from school. That’s when a friendly roach peeped from a crevice to say hello to the butterfly embroidered on the V's pink blanket. Suppressing all human emotions such as fear, I decided to see poetry in the scenery. And my mind dilly-dallied between the two winged creatures and chose the more pleasing one. BUTTERFLY, I scrawled on the note and tucked it deep into the handbag and went about looking for ways to shoo away the roach.

This morning when the principal sternly reminded me about the form, I gave it to her ...and now I realize the last clause. What if the nylon wings scratch her? What if the butterfly bites her? Won’t Rahul who is going to dress up as a Dinosaur eat her up? What if she wants to be Cinderella because she can get to wear pink? What if she wants to wear flowers on her hair like Radha?

Aha! Now I get it....she will be a pink butterfly with flowers wound to the antennae, a halo around her head, a wand in her hand, and with a detachable set of fangs, to out compete the rest.

Dilpasand..

Dilpasand...its one of those words which makes me instantly drool, irrespective of what my gastric state is.

I got introduced to it in my teens, thanks to the 4 'o' clock tea time at the hostel mess. I think it was thursday's fare. A lot of people didnt like it, so they offloaded their share on me. What fun for me. I would have one tall lotta of tea - with a lavish spread of three dilpasands on my plate and a rather empty mess hall. Looking out into the nice scenery outside - of beautiful trees, randomly parked cycles and a few hangers on populating the culverts by our road... and in the background listen to '...dadaaaall dadaaaaaall...' sounds of the vessels being washed in the kithcen, loads of '...yakayaka yakayaka.....' conversations in telugu and tamil of the vegetable cutters and the cooks as they planned the dinner banquet...! Ah! I digress from the subject on hand...this thing used to be a treat for me, especially after we came back from a grimy workshop/lab or some such long slot.

Even after decades I am yet to find someone who shares the same delight in eating Dilpasand. I could have initiated my monsters into this, but I did not, because I wince at the thought of having to share my dilpasand. Even when they say that its looking nice with all its tutti futtis, I assure them that its 'kaaram' and that they wouldnt like it. They dont persist too much... i guess the dry look of the thing is not too appetisising.

Of late, I found the best Iyengar bakery in town near my office, and treat myself to this delicacy every Friday as I drive home. Its the most pleasurable indulgence.....

Nametag, Navarathri, Mambalam and such..

Just got back after five days in Chennai. Yes, there was 'golu' all over the place. My daughter sang three items at the sight of any doll arrangements - be it at the temple, at a shop or in somebody's home - Twinkle Twinkle, Cheeni Kum, Guru Brahma. What a repertoire!

And they have banned autorichskaws from entering Pondy Bazaar and the Duraiswamy subway from the W.Mambalam side. And this really made the whole place a pedestrians haven. Saravana Stores Panagal Park resembled a gas chamber from the outside. In addition the whole of Usman road is being dug up for bridge/subways in all directions. Not to mention the nice GN Chetty Road. Thankfully they have stalled the roadwork for the festival/rainy season so that people dont fall inside those craters.

To wind up, just to prove I can also play nametag ... here goes..

A - Alarmed! At the suggestion of making myself an acronym.

I - Ignorant! About how I am going to fill four more

R - RSS: My current professional interest. Its the RSS that deals with content syndication, and not any ideology.

S - S, my son : seven summers seen, now soaking up sunny Sennai

P - Pythogoras! His life fascinates me, though i sometimes think he is the one who consumed hemlock or some such.

Y - YooHoo! I did it, this is the end. Nobody can say I played spoilsport in spreading the spirit of tagged expansions

The Kannada Teacher

I went to meet my seven year old son's Kannada teacher at school. This was the first time I was meeting her, even though my son has been under her tutelage for more than a year now. I began the conversation by saying that we are not native Kannada speakers and that even though I can read Kannada, I have trouble speaking it.

She stopped me short and said "The first thing I tell parents is that they should not go about advertising their lack of knowledge in front of their kids. This demoralises the children into thinking that even when their parents have difficulty with a subject, how will they surmount it?"

I saw tremendous sense in her words. So whenever my son has any query, I have decided to say " Lets find out..."..

Harvard's New Green Buildings

This year Massachusetts announced that all major real-estate projects qualify for regulation under the state’s environmental protection laws, and their developers must quantify the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with the projects and detail what they are doing to reduce those emissions.


And Harvard, in its latest 537,000 square feet complex is going to do just that ! It has agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the university’s proposed four-building science center in the Allston section of Boston. This agreement represented the first legally enforceable limits on emissions from a large real-estate project.

The design of buildings — how they are heated, cooled, insulated and a host of other details — plays a significant role in determining national energy use and emissions. The technology associated with green construction has dropped dramatically in the last decade. Geothermal wells, natural ventilation, natural lighting — most of it doesn’t cost a premium anymore. Moreover, operating costs go down -when you save 50 percent on greenhouse gases, you’re burning less fuel and buying less fuel.

Maybe its realistic to expect India to follow suit in 50 years time. At least we have got to the stage of mandatory rain-harvesting facilities for all buildings (in Chennai). There are some cities that dont need air conditioning 24*7*365. Opening the windows may be pleasant, and environment-friendly. When I suggested this to my office, somebody said the noise percolating from outside is too disturbing. Any thoughts on how we can handle that?

Tree Penance by Vatican

This mornings NYT had an article that says the Vatican is compensating for its sins on the carbon emissions front by planting trees in Hungary!

Now, this I feel is a cool idea. This, in twenty first century morality, is an extension to the Chipko movement of hugging tress to prevent deforestation, which was practised in the Uttarkhand area of India!

Back in those days, we tried not to sin. Or may be I should say one was taught not to sin. Now of course its okay to sin and make up. In fact the company,Klimafa, that will be planting the forest on behalf of the Vatican claims that its donation to the Vatican is worth about $130,000, as carbon credits trade at $28 in the European market. (One credit counters one ton of emitted carbon dioxide).