Geometry

For some reason, I remembered Geometry yesterday. I realized with a start that it had been one of my favourite subjects in school. I wonder why I liked it so much. Perhaps it was because it was "different", a break from the monotony. You had to draw, and I liked drawing. Perhaps it was because we got to use a lovely, shiny Geometry Box, and the fascinating instruments inside. Or perhaps, the subject simply appealed to me - who knows?

I remember my first (and only!) Geometry box so well. It was an orange Omega pencil box, with a blurred cherubic kid smiling on it. Inside, sitting prettily in an orangish-red frame, were the shiny divider (the purpose of which is still vague to me), and the compass (the instrument most misused). Below these were the two set squares, a protractor, and a small 6 inch ruler. I loved to take all the instruments out, and arrange them neatly by the side of my book while I drew.

Geometry for me goes nearly synonymously with our first Geometry teacher. She was extremely particular about everything - what we had in our boxes, and how we drew.

Other than the little pencil that we affixed to the compass, there had to be two extra little pencils in your box, all sharpened to perfection. There had to be three long pencils at least, which protruted high above your hand when you clasped it. Again, they had to be very sharp. Other than this, you had to have a sharpener (or mender, as we called it back then) handy, for emergencies. Clutch pencils (or pen pencils, as we called them), though enjoying a lot of snob value otherwise, were explicitly taboo in Geometry class.

Our drawings had to be perfect. A double line, or a vague arc, or worse, a point that was too huge, would bring out the volcano in the teacher. "Look at this point!" She would roar. "It is as big as my bindi!" She would then proceed to cross out the entire diagram with the dreaded red pen. She has also been known to throw particularly untidy books right across the classroom, and throw unsharpened pencils directly into the dustbin.

We would draw our diagrams with painful care, keeping our erasers handy. (We called erasers "rubbers" then. Oh well.) "Scent" rubbers smelt good and looked pretty, but left dark grey marks when erased with them. So it had to be good old Natraj or Camlin erasers. After finishing the diagram, we would take it to the teacher, and stand before her, trembling. In other classes, we could look forward to "Good" or "Neat" remarks. But in Geometry class, all we hoped for was just the teacher's initials. But more often then not, we came back holding pages full of deep red gashes, and stinging rebukes ringing in our ears.

But I must say this for us, towards the end of the year, most of us escaped without red marks in our books - we were finally perfect.

And I must say this for the teacher, her training lasted for years. Many, many years later, during Engineering Graphics, or Electrical Drawing, if I happened to make a smudged line, or a double point, a voice would boom from the deep recesses of my mind.. ".... AS BIG AS MY BINDI.... " and I would hurriedly fish out my eraser and make amends.

Even when Geometry graduated to theorems and postulates, with more theory and less drawing, more lenient teachers and less red marks, it still remained a favourite subject for me.

Did you like Geometry?

A lesson from Discovery.

I was showing Puttachi animals on Discovery yesterday. The programme was about the Wild Hunters in Africa, and I was keeping up a running commentary.

"Look!" I said, "Look how fast the leopard is running - there, it caught the deer..... Look at the leopard eating the deer..."

Just then a hyena entered the scene and tried to sneak away the leopard's kill.

"Look Puttachi!" I said, "That hyena is trying to steal the leopard's food. Should you take something that belongs to others? No! Bad, bad hyena!"

The hyena, however, did manage to snatch the kill away from the leopard, and went a few paces with it, before it was frightened by an elephant. The hyena dropped the kill and ran off, and the leopard retrieved it and dragged it up a tree to feast on it at leisure.

"Yay!" I said, "Look, the leopard got back its food. Serves the hyena right!"

On the screen, the hyena was then shown sauntering away. The voice-over in the programme then said, "The hyena lost her chance. She is on the lookout again. She needs to find food before the end of the day to feed her hungry cubs."

Zap! The entire perspective changed. The poor hyena was looking for food to feed her cubs. That's all. She was doing what she is best at doing - scavenging!

The screen then showed two little hyena cubs sniffing the ground, looking for scraps of food. A lump appeared in my throat.

The next scene was of the mother hyena loitering near a pride of lions. The lions were resting after a full meal, and the hyena was apparently trying to see if she could manage to get hold of something leftover from the meal. But unfortunately for her, she got too close to the lions for comfort. A male lion came across, pounced on her, and clamped his mouth on her throat. Her legs twitched for a while, and then she lay still.

The voice-over said, "The lions will not eat this hyena. She was just treated like a pest that had to be eliminated. With this, the lion took not one life, but three. The hyena's cubs cannot survive without her." And the camera showed the two forlorn little hyena cubs again.

I had to sit still for a moment - struck dumb. To the leopard, and then the lions, the hyena was an intruder, a pest. But the hyena, on her part, was doing what she had to do. She was looking for food for her cubs.

We are so quick to judge people, and to attribute negative characteristics to them. Who knows what instinct, what compulsion, or what pressing need they are acting under!

I think everybody deserves the benefit of doubt.

Movie mania

I have been watching quite a few movies these days on DVD. More than I have ever done all my life. I surprise myself, considering that I have a major interrupting factor in my life right now.

Anyway. I am hardly a fan of movies - especially Bollywood movies. but I must say that some movies of late have much to be said about them.

I don't know why i am trying to review movies, considering that i am a pathetic reviewer, but i am doing it anyway.

The following four are thanks to my dear friend SP, who gave me four cds on my birthday, and asked me to select two, but when she found I hadn't watched even one of them, she left them all with me.

Manorama - Six Feet Under - A taut thriller. Gripping. Not one unnecessary scene. Good acting. A must-watch.

The Blue Umbrella - Surreal, beautiful photography. Pankaj Kapur is brilliant. Though I wish his accent had been more understandable.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi - I am sure it is a good movie. I mean, I know it is a good movie - but it threw me too far away from my perfect, happy world of the present. Too disturbing. Hated the ending, but liked it too. Great performances by everybody.

Chak De India - Whoa! Loved it. Loved the girls. Liked the restrained Shah Rukh Khan (Last time I liked him was in Fauji). Cheered loudly at the eve-teasers-bashing-up scene, forgetting that Puttachi was sleeping a few feet away.

Thank you, SP! Do take back a couple of your CDs, I am done :)

The rest -

Om Shanti Om - The less said, the better. I am thinking hard of something that I can say I liked.... I pass.

Jab We Met - Oh, what a fun movie! Loved it. Loved the dialogues. See, this is the kind of movie you should make if you want to make a nice, light, mainstream movie. Tolerated even Kareena Kapoor, effusive though she was. And Shahid Kapur? WHY hadn't I noticed him before? How loveable he is! And what a natural, easy actor he is! Ok, Shruthi, stop gushing.

Cheeni Kum - A surprise. Didn't think I would like it, but I really did. Even the side actors were unforgettable. The romance between AB and Tabu was light, restrained, and the dialogues were fun! The little six year old girl in the movie was, as usual was smart beyond her age, but she was not the angelic goody-goody type, but on the contrary, delivered her dialogues in a near monotone with a deadpan expression. And so, I liked her too. The only grouse I have against the movie was that they made too much of the Miracle Iron Pillar of Qutb Minar. Too much melodrama there too. Could easily have been avoided.

Johnny Gaddaar - Another unexpected surprise. Very fast-moving, more twists than I could even guess. Worth a watch.

And the movie I have been most eagerly waiting to watch - Taare Zameen Par - hasn't yet had the honour of being watched by me. Soon, very soon.

The Lord of the Rings

It all began when a colleague of S~ left a book in S~'s car. I pounced on it - it was "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien. I turned a couple of pages idly, felt it was quite readable, and promptly read the whole book.

And then, I wanted what follows, which, obviously, is "The Lord of the Rings". The same colleague of S~ had the book, and S~ brought it home for me.

I looked at that big fat book with the tiny writing. I looked at Puttachi. I looked at the book again. I looked again at Puttachi. Then I looked at S~ and asked him to take it back and return the book.

But within half an hour, I was already fingering the book, and peeking in to see what is in it. And before I knew it, I started reading it, leaning against the chest of drawers, one eye on Puttachi playing nearby.

It was then that I knew that I couldn't stop. S~ said it's fine, take your time, there is no hurry to return it. Ok, I thought. It might take me a year, but I am at least going to give it a shot.

It's not even a month, and I am nearly half way through.

There is something about the book. The tiny, intricate details? The beautiful, yet simple language? The characters that immediately catch hold of you and don't let you go? The pure fantasy of it all? The non-stop adventures? The fact that the book nearly makes you believe that such a world with these characters existed?

I don't know what it is. But what I do know is that it has really gotten to me.

And now, I am itching to watch the movies too.

Nine Months

Nine months of Puttachi in my tummy - seemed like nine years.
Nine months of her out in the world - gone like nine seconds.

An (ahem) important side note: The kgs I gained in the nine months I was pregnant? I lost them all in these last nine months. Well, almost all of them. Just one more kg to go. No, I did nothing for this to happen, not even raise my little finger (Though I should have). It just happened.

What's new with Puttachi this month?

I'll start with saying that I had always wondered how parents can even think of sedating their kids for their own peace. I can now say that I understand why they do that. I am not saying I do it, nor am I advocating it - but I am just saying that now, I know why they do it.

Activities - Crawling all around the house. Pulling things, eating every little bit of rubbish in sight. Stands for 10-15 seconds on her own. A very wobbly 15 seconds, though, with the wobbliness diminishing with each day.

Bath time - Has finally discovered the delights of water. So bath time is now a breeze. Except if you dare to pour water over her head to shampoo her hair, which usually contains sticky remnants of her meals. She then squirms like a fish that has been taken out of water. You can't even sigh with relief after her hair is washed. Drying her hair is a nightmare.

Mamm-mamm - Ugi, or Agi? - "Mamm-mamm" is baby talk for food. And in Kannada, Ugi is Spit, and Agi is Chew. FOr a while, Puttachi did more of Ugi-ing than Agi-ing. She is in an on-off phase of rejecting solids. More here - Inputs welcome. The situation is slightly better now - touchwood.

The first morsel of every meal has to be spat out. Just has to be. No questions asked. It is only with the second morsel that her meal begins. And when she has had enough, she either turns on a sprinkler in her mouth, spray-painting our faces and clothes with food, or she spits the food out in such a projectile that she could be the President of the Paan Spitters' Association of India.

If we let her eat by herself, she dutifully picks up each bit of food with her fingers and feeds it to us.

Taachi - Baby talk for sleep. Her naps are very good now. But her night time sleep? A nightmare. Again, details here.

- When I am strapping/unstrapping her into her car seat/stroller/high chair, she looks at my fingers and the straps with such rapt concentration, that I am quite sure she is observing how it works. I am terrified she'll unstrap herself some day and hop out and hurt herself. I have now taken to hiding the strap mechanism behind my palm, and then working on it.

- She loves her Papa. She jumps up and down like a rubber ball the moment he gets back from work - and squeals and giggles with excitement. We go out for a lovely evening walk everyday after S~ gets back.

- She is a social animal. She talks to everybody on the road. She smiles, talks, offers her hand to strangers and bats her eyelashes at them. As long as they respond from afar, everything is fine. But the moment they try to carry her, or touch her, she screams like a banshee.

- How to recognize Puttachi when we are on our evening walk
- She is the kid with the big eyes and a mop of dark unruly hair, who is calling out to strangers, singing happily when she sees flowers, and laughing excitedly to herself at the sight of everything on the road.
- When in a stroller, she is the one sitting straight up, straining against the strap (the back rest in the stroller is absolutely of no use).
- When she is being carried in the sling, she is the one whose arms are waving like a windmill, and whose legs are pumping like the piston of a four stroke engine.
- With her are two adults. The female looks harassed, hair all awry. The male looks like he will burst with pride.

If you see such a group on your evening walk, please come by and say hello!

The best toys are free!

Have you noticed that many toys for children are mostly useless? They are great for eye candy, yes, but children get the best entertainment from simple, everyday things - like a piece of string, a spoon and a plate, a newspaper - or shadows!

Every morning, I put out Puttachi's toys and watch her play. Her blocks are great for teaching her colours and stacking them up for her to topple. They are even better for her to rub her teething gums against them. But they are soon cast aside.

Nothing lights up her eyes like her Kangaroo handpuppet or her stuffed lion cub. But they too get the sack within minutes.

What really holds her interest are things we wouldn't even have noticed. Like the slip of paper with a grocery list. The cap of a bottle that has rolled under the table. A towel. A stray piece of thread. An ant. A drop of water.

When my cousin V was a kid of about 3 years, he had got hold of a largish carton, the kind that televisions come packed in. This simple brown cardboard carton held his attention for days on end. He set it up on the floor, sat in it, and it became a boat, and he the boatman. After rowing to his heart's content, he upturned it, sat on it, and it became a bus, and he the conductor. In a while, he sat it with the opening to the side, width parallel to the ground, and the opening became a door, and the box his house. After several hours of playing house-house, he placed the box with the length of the opening parallel to the ground, and it became a den, and he, a lion. He roared and roared and ate all of us up.

More than ten days did this carton engage him. A car would have remained a car, and a doll a doll. But a carton? It could become anything!

A few days ago, Puttachi spotted a spot of sunlight on the wall, and she was fascinated. She forgot everything else and played with the spot for more than fifteen minutes, and that is a lot to say for some one as restless as this kid is.


She tries to touch it.....





She can't! So she observes it closely.....



She tries again...... hey it is on my hand now!


She cannot understand it.
So she tries to lick it instead!




It is true. The best toys on earth are free!

Mom in The Week supplement.

This week's The Week has a health supplement on "War against Cancer". No prizes for guessing what I'm going to say next. My mom has also been featured in it - with two very nice photographs too. Do read it if you can.

Comments

I have always had a rule for myself, that I should reply to the comments I get on each post. I have done that ever since this blog began, and no matter how many comments I got, I answered. Silly, rude, inconsequential - they all got a reply. For the simple reason that I feel that if I don't reply to a comment, it is like I am not answering someone who is speaking to me.

But this has changed in the last couple of months. The time I get online has become very less - partly by choice - and what precious little time I get online is spent in mailing and writing down the thoughts in my head. Which leaves next to no time for replying to comments.

I still feel uneasy when I see that I don't reply to comments. But I have to draw a line somewhere. Having said all this, I have no right to ask you to keep commenting. But I will do just that. Please keep commenting - I love your comments - each one makes my day! On my part, I will make a sincere attempt to start replying to comments again. Also, if you need any information about anything, or need to contact me for anything at all, please mail me at shruthi dot hallucinations at gmail dot com.

While we are at it, there is another little thing - a request, I should say. Though I blog with my own name, and nothing in my blog is so personal that I have to go into hiding if my personal details are made public, I have consciously kept certain things private. Like my surname, names of my family. I don't mention where I studied, where I worked, where I live, things like that.

So, if you know about me, and if you comment on my blog, please ensure that you keep those things private too.

Thank you.

Thyroid disorders

Check out my article on Thyroid disorders in the Health issue of JustFemme. For a long time, I have been thinking of writing about thyroid disorders here on my blog, but I have never got around to doing it.

It is one of the most common disorders around, but very rarely is it correctly diagnosed. But once diagnosed and treated, you are as healthy as anybody else.

I have been hypothyroid for the past 7 years, and am on thyroxine supplements. In the beginning, I was upset - What? Take tablets for the rest of my life? But now, it is second nature. Asking me, "Have you taken Eltroxin today?" is akin to asking me "Have you brushed your teeth today?"

As for my health, I couldn't be more normal (Physically at least!). Being hypothyroid hasn't affected my life in the slightest. Thyroxine levels change slightly during pregnancy, and all pregnant women are screened for it nowadays. Since I was already on thyroxine supplements, they just had to adjust my dosage slightly for a brief period. I had a healthy pregnancy, and have a normal and healthy daughter.

Thyroid disorders are more common than you think. Do read the article, and if you suspect that you or somebody you know might have a thyroid disorder, please get yourself checked at the earliest!

While you are there at JustFemme, do read my mom's story about surviving cancer. For all those who couldn't read the Kannada article, this one is for you!

Indulgence

It's been quite crazy here. Lots of things to do, and only 24 hours in a day. Blogging has therefore taken a backseat. Though there are a dozen posts swimming about in my head, I haven't been able to sit down and put them down in words.

In the midst of this madness, I had an unexpected oasis of quiet enjoyment yesterday. Puttachi hadn't napped well all day, and so she took an extra nap in the late afternoon. After I put her to bed, I found that I was hungry. I didn't want to eat any more "healthy" stuff... I was craving for instant noodles. I found a packet of Maggi, made it (in 2 minutes!), and then went back to my room. I sat next to the window, and curled up with a nice fat book (The Lord of the Rings) and I ate the Maggi. For a blissful half an hour, I was suspended in a world of my own. Work was undone, things around me were begging to be put back in their place, but I retreated into a cocoon and read the book and ate Maggi. It was absolutely lovely!

Such simple pleasures - and so few and far between. If there is anything I miss in my life now, it is this - these moments with myself. The freedom to shut out the world and retreat into my own world. The freedom to just get up and head out for a walk without a second thought. Things like that.

Yet, this has perhaps been the happiest period of my life too. You lose some, you gain some!

Update: Just after I put up this post, I read this one!

A to Z tag

Tagged by Wunderyearz - a new friend, but seems like I have known her for years!

A - Available? Ok wait. As in Single and Available? No. I am happily married. But as in Available to friends? Oh anytime!
B-Best friend: Myself ;)
C-Cake or Pie? That's very difficult. Cake, I think.
D-Drink of choice: Water. Any time.
E-Essential thing used everyday: Brains. (Heh)
F-Favorite color: Haven't reviewed this one for years. It was blue when I last thought about it.
G-Gummi bears or worms: Not worms, definitely.
H-Hometown: Bangalore
I-Indulgence: Cookies.
J-January or February: January, I guess.
K-Kids and names: One - Puttachi
L-Life is incomplete without: Love.
M-Marriage date: Sometime in the middle of the year.
N-Number of siblings: 1
O-Oranges or apples: Oranges. But when microwaved, Apples.
P-Phobias: Snakeophobia.
Q-Quote: "Life is beautiful".
R-Reason to smile: My loved ones.
S-Season: Winter.
T-Tag three people: You, you and you.
U-Unknown fact about me: Let it remain unknown!
V-Vegetable you do not like: None. I love veggies.
W-Worst habit: Disorganized :(
X-x-rays you have had: Ankle, jaw.
Y-Your favorite food: This is difficult. I pass.
Z-Zodiac: Shirt-makers!

Balding

A couple of days ago, we were driving down Sankey Road, and we reached one of my favourite stretches - the magnificent tree-lined curved stretch right next to the Golf Course.

And my heart stopped. And broke into a million pieces.

The trees - those glorious, majestic trees, with their green, leafy branches stretching out to the sky - those trees, whose cool shade gladdened the hearts of a million passers-by - those old, beautiful trees - they were gone. All gone. And what remained, were just stumps.

Victims of road-widening.

How many beautiful memories that road holds for me! That time when our car broke down in the middle of a major thunderstorm, and we had to stand in the foyer of Holiday Inn(Now Le Meridien) until a tow vehicle came to tow our car home - with us inside!

Or the relaxing, lazy evening drives with S~ - at the beginning of our relationship - when fresh May showers had cleansed the entire world..... and everything looked so beautiful. Where the swaying, freshly-washed green branches seemed to be waving to us and celebrating our new beginning.

I used to remember all those things every time I drove down this road. Will I ever remember them the same way again? I try - and all that comes to me in my mind's eye - are stumps.

I have seen way too many old friends die to make way for steel and concrete. The old trees on Race course road to make way for the flyover. The beautiful Gulmohars on the service road on Chord Road, to make way for the Navrang Underpass.

And now, the trees next to the Golf Course.

All in the name of development. I know, I know. I myself have experienced the ease of crossing that Navrang signal in ten seconds, where it would have taken ten minutes.

I am not against development per se. But really, at the cost of how many trees?

Abhipraya puts it aptly - "Bangalore, I am told needs more space to breathe. But what are we going to breathe?"

I still love Bangalore, I proclaim. But do I? Probably, what I love is the Bangalore of fifteen years ago. But what remains of the Bangalore of then is just the shell. Then what am I in love with? Just the name? Or just the memory?

Twenty Questions

No, not the fun game. But a tag by Chitra. I am too pre-occupied to come up with non-random posts, so this tag comes in handy :)

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets.

Whose, mine? No, I won't take the risk. I don't want anybody saying, "Yeah, Right".


2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?

I definitely have a chance, and what I will say to him is for his ears only.. muhahaha!


3. If you were to be stranded on a desert island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you?

Anybody who can build ships from scratch.

Ok seriously -

Anitha, Usha and Shyam. All of them wonderful ladies with whom I am sure I can talk about anything under the sun (pun not intended). I might starve on the island, but I sure won't die of boredom.


4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?

Right now? The kitchen. I am hungry. Ok seriously? Italy. Or rather, Scotland. No, the Grand Canyon. Or rather, Japan. No, let's say... ok, forget it.


5. If you can have one dream to come true, what would it be?

That there should be peace on earth. Cliched, maybe, but true.


6.Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?

There have been no regrettable moments in my life. Only enlightening situations.


7. What are you afraid to lose the most?

My memory ;)


8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?

Leave it right where I found it ;)


9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?

Been there, done that.


10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.

Chitra? C for Cheerful, C for comfortable, C for cute :D


11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?

That it should match my first half. *Shudder* Imagine a body with unmatching halves!


12. Which type of person do you hate the most?

I am not qualified to answer this, not with my faults :o


13. What is your ambition?

To travel around the world?


14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?

The thing? Only one thing? That's hard.


15. (My question) What is your idea of a perfect day?

Before Puttachi - A day with family, good food, long walks, long conversations over tea....
After Puttachi - A day in which Puttachi eats well, sleeps well, and is an angel. How many such days have I had in the last eight months? Zero. Yet - each day is perfect with her around. Now how can that be?


16. If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?

I would have taken life more seriously.


17. Are you a shopaholic or not?

No. If there is a word for the opposite of shopaholic, I am that.

18. What is your stress buster?

Playing with Puttachi, of course. Sure-fire cure.


19. Do you have a new year’s resolution?

No.


20. What’s one thing in yourself that you would like to change?

My attitude about certain things.

Eight Months

- Puttachi crawls around on all fours and follows me around everywhere. Mary had a Little Lamb has a new meaning!

- Her second tooth has sprouted, and is hastening to be as tall as the first. Even before I saw the second tooth, I knew it had come out - how? By the imprint of two little teeth on my wrist where she bit me.

- I am convinced that she tries to imitate whatever we say. Her first conscious word (we are so quick to want to point that out, don't we?) is probably "Ta-ta". She even waves when she is in the mood. She has been saying "ammammmammma" from a couple of days. I like to think that she is trying to say "Amma"... though it is more likely that she is just trying out a new sound :D [Psst... I am glad that she tried out "Ma" first and not "Pa".... imagine how S~ would have gloated over it... already he is insanely proud of the fact that Puttachi is crazy about him!]

- Her night awakenings are increasing because when she awakens, she first rolls over, then gets into the crawling position, then she sits, and after all that, she wakes up, and wonders, probably, what is happening. She doesn't know how to lie down again and go to sleep, so she cries. Such helpless, funny little things babies are!

- There was this one night when she woke up, crawled up to me, bit my shoulder, placed her head on it, and fell asleep. It was such a lovely feeling.. a mixture of amusement and tenderness! :) I was trying hard not to shake with laughter for it would wake her up. And it didn't help one bit that S~ was laughing his head off.

- A few times, she wakes up suddenly with a smile, then she babbles something sweetly and goes back to sleep. "Must be a good dream", I commented once. "Must be dreaming that Papa has just come back from office", says S~. Yeah right.

- If I have left her playing by herself and am doing something else, there is an infallible way of finding out if she is up to something naughty. If I hear a sharp intake of breath, and a very loud exhalation of breath through the mouth [something like the models in toothpaste ads checking the smell of their breath] - then I know that she has spotted something interesting [read 'forbidden"]. And to her, the most attractive object in the whole house is the rug outside the bathroom. *sob*

- She has this habit of bending her head sideways and looking at people that way. I guess she thinks she is playing peekaboo. But sometimes, when she is too enthusiastic, she bends far too much, loses her balance, topples over, and then bawls.

Eating food in class

When I was a student, I had an eternal problem. I would feel very hungry in the class just before lunch. I would have eaten a heavy breakfast, but as far as I was concerned, the lunch break was always too far away. In engineering college, we had a mid-morning mini-break, and I would have a quick snack packed for that break. So I was okay. But in school and pre-university , it was very bad.

The main problem was that I cannot concentrate when I am hungry. There was absolutely no use sitting in class when I was hungry. But eating during class was totally taboo. Something that didn't even cross my mind. So all that I did was think about my lunch box and look at my watch. What a waste of time.

In pre-university, we were slightly rebellious, so I would eat my lunch during class without being found out. My stomach would stop growling temporarily and I could concentrate.

When my sis PeeVee went to class in the US in the beginning, she took a long time to get used to people eating in class. She watched, horrified as they sauntered in with a sandwich and a drink and ate as the lectures progressed. She nearly fainted when the professors themselves walked in with food and proceeded to eat as they taught. She got used to it very quickly, and now she does it too.

It make so much sense. There is no way some people like us can concentrate on an empty stomach. So why make such a fuss if we can just have a quick snack during class? I wish the trend changes here too. At least the future generations can benefit!

Pic of the year

Ano tagged me to post my favourite pic of the year.

Most of the pictures I took this year are of people, and especially, little people, and I cannot put those up on the blog. So I had to rummage through my "other" pics - and I found this - of course, how could I forget it?




Why this is special -

This picture is a great example of how random things come together unexpectedly to form a beautiful moment.

Earlier in the evening, my mom had cut some overgrown branches of the Ratnagandhi bush. She had placed a few flowers from the cut branches, in this old flask. It is not even a regular vase. This was placed on the crochet table-mat on top of the glass-topped dining table.

Then there was a power cut and I switched on the solar lantern. And then I turn to see this sight - as if it had been arranged to be photographed. Out came my camera (a very ordinary aim-and-shoot digicam) and here is the pic!

I would like to tag so many of you... so I'll just say, I tag all of you in the blogroll on the right. Please go ahead. Pick your fave pic of 2007 and tell us why it is special.

What do we have here?!

Remember my post about the maid's pregnant daughter who went to have a scan, and the sex of the foetus was revealed to her? That she was going to have a son? Well, she delivered her baby yesterday, and it is a...... girl!

Go figure!

Update: The child's father has been distributing sweets. So, all of you out there who have been worrying about the fate of this girl, please rest your troubled minds.

Short notes

There has been a burst of change in Puttachi in the last two weeks.

- She now moves forward - a creeping, nearly-crawling style... and she cannot be held back.

- She babbles a lot more now. There were mostly vowels in her language before, and know there are a lot more consonants. She seems to imitate us. She says "Aye" in the same tone that we use for "Hi". She repeats "Ey" in the same tone too.

- We have been suspecting for about a month or more that she makes a sound identical in frequency to any note that is being sung or played, but we couldn't be sure. [1]

But a couple of days ago, my mom was teaching her music class, and she sang the word "Hariye" in a "Ni-Re-Sa" combination aloud. Puttachi stopped in the middle of play, and immediately repeated the "Ni-Re-Sa" combination (as aa-ee-ay) - perfectly in tune, correct pitch. S~ and I nearly fell off our chairs in surprise.

- She now demands to be cuddled. She nuzzles up to me, and rubs her cheek against mine. And she also gives me what I can only term a kiss. She licks and bites my cheeks, nose, chin, anything that she can reach, and then stands back and smiles!

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Haven't you moms and dads ever felt that we need an extra pair of hands with kids? When one pair of hands is doing the changing or feeding, etc., the other pair could be used for pinning down or entertaining the baby. Showing her a toy, or waving it about, or holding a book - you know, that kind of thing. It could also be used to take photographs of the baby when your hands are full but the child is looking adorable and you just have to have a snap of her and there is no one around.

S~ asked me if I would like a robotic arm to attach to my shoulder. Sure, I said, I would like two, and one should be extensible. What say?

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A couple of days ago, my sis Peevee was watching me contemplatively while I struggled to pin down an extremely sleepy and cranky Puttachi. I was hungry, tired, and sleep-deprived, and close to collapsing with exhaustion.

Me: Peevee, don't have kids.
Peevee: *Thinks* Hmm.. okay. But in that case, can I have more nieces and nephews, please?
Me: *faints*

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Puttachi wants to stand all the time. When she is playing, being changed, being fed, being bathed, all the time. It is impossible sometimes, me with one hand holding her arm, and my other hand doing what I have to. The moment I plonk her down, she pulls herself up and bounces delightedly. Phew.

So my mom came up with a solution. Get one of those stands you find in the chemistry lab, she said, and clamp her up like a burette. Fantastic idea. Does anybody know where three foot tall stands with palm sized clamps are available?

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Did you know that "Shoorpanakha" means "sharp nails"? I didn't, until my dad started calling Puttachi "Shoorpanakha". I cut her nails every five days, yet they grow so quickly, and are extremely sharp.

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Peevee loves her niece. Adores her. Puttachi didn't care much for Peevee until Peevee started taking her to the garden and showing her the bougainvilla. Now, just at the time when Puttachi is finally in love with Peevee, it is time for Peevee to leave. She left for the airport a couple of hours ago to go back to the US. :(

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[1] I didn't want it to be the case as in this joke:

Man: My goat can speak.
Woman: Prove it.
Man: Goat, which month comes after April?
Goat: May-ay-ay-ay.

On surnames.

I read an article recently about someone named, say, Nirupama Raghuram*. Throughout the article, the author kept saying, "Raghuram graduated from Bangalore University, Raghuram works with the poor, Raghuram likes animals..." - Hello! It is not Raghuram who likes animals, it is Nirupama! Raghuram is probably her father or her husband. And he isn't the one who works with the poor and likes animals!

Haven't you seen this often? It makes me laugh out loud. You could refer to her as Nirupama Raghuram! Or if that makes you cross the word-limit, just say Nirupama. Or is that too informal?

This problem arises mostly with South-Indian names, where the usage of surnames is not too widespread. But since the concept of surnames is catching on, most people just affix the father's name to their names. In fact, even in the above Nirupama Raghuram example, say the article was about Akshay Raghuram. Akshay is the guy, and Raghuram is his father's name. In the article, they would say, "Raghuram likes dogs", which again is not true. It is not Raghuram, but Raghuram's son Akshay who likes dogs. So, isn't there a rule in written media, about not using surnames, but the whole name?

This brings me to another thing that I have noticed. Say this Akshay Raghuram character gets married to Sahana Subbanna. Sahana wants to change her surname after her wedding. So she takes Akshay's surname, which is Raghuram. That makes her, "Sahana Raghuram". Now, Sahana is stuck with a surname which is neither her husband's name nor her father's name - but that of her father-in-law!

Of course, nowadays, many people I know simply attach their husband's name to their surname. For example, Sahana would be Sahana Akshay.

That brings me to changing surnames. Now, what is the necessity? Ok, I won't get into that argument - it is the individual's choice. But I also feel that there are some people in particular, who should not change their surnames after marriage. My sister had a friend who was doing her post-doctorate. Many of her papers were published in respected journals. Her name was, well, a known name in those circles. She was going to get married, and mentioned to my sister that she was going to change her surname. What? Asked PeeVee. And start from scratch? Building a reputation is not that easy. Why give it all up? At least use a hyphenated surname - but no, she was adamant. PeeVee gave up. She must have her reasons!

That brings us to hyphenated surnames. i.e. Sahana in the above example would be Sahana Subbanna-Raghuram. I think these are quite cool. You retain your surname, you add your husband's surname. Great. Do let me know if this results in any major hassles!

By the way, many Akshay Raghurams have got over their "Father's name as surname-not convenient" problem, by adapting the father's ancestral village as their surname. If Raghuram hails from, say, Doddakere, Akshay calls himself Akshay Doddakere. Personally, I think these sound quite nice!

Now, you might be wondering - what has Shruthi done? Retained her surname? Used S~'s surname? Used a hyphenated surname? Well. I had it easy. S~ has the same surname as mine. No, that wasn't one of the reasons I married him. It just turned out to be a bonus, though.

There are many, many more questions that remain unanswered. As to why a child should be given only the father's name, and not the mother's name. And why a husband should not take his wife's name after they get married. I leave the historians to explain that. If one of you can explain it to me, please go ahead.

Then there is the argument - why do we need a surname? We can have another name instead of a surname. We could. For example, Sahana could be Sahana Madhuri. I have heard of some people are going in for this option too. Will it catch on? Let's watch and see!

P.S. All the above statements are made on actual observation, and about my personal opinions on them. I am in no way demeaning any choice. I respect each individual's decision to do what he or she pleases.

*All names in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to anybody living or dead is purely coincidental.

Newness

As I give and receive new year wishes, I think - the 1st of Jan is just another day like any other. The sun rises like any other day and sets as usual. But yet, we celebrate it because it is the first day of something new. Everything seems new, whereas, it really isn't. But if you think of it, every day is new. Every moment is new.

This hits me every morning when Puttachi wakes up. She opens her eyes, looks around, and whoops and smiles as if she is seeing everybody and everything for the first time. In the soft sunlight of the morning, her bright eyes look brighter as she greets everybody with the same unbridled enthusiasm. She bounces, and dances, and gurgles and coos. She looks around every room with delight and smiles happily when she encounters her favourite things. It is as if she re-discovers everybody and everything each day and finds happiness in it.

And that fills me with cheer and I find myself looking around and saying, "Yes, Life IS Beautiful."

I wonder when we stop being like that - looking at each day, each moment as something special, and enjoying it whole-heartedly. I wonder what makes us start waking up with a yawn and grumble, "Hmph. Yet another day."

I think all of us ought to bring back the children within us.

So this year, along with joy and peace, I wish for all of you the ability to find delight in every new moment, appreciate little things, and live life completely.

Happy New Year!