Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What I have been up to.

I don't have a valid reason for my hibernation. But for a few days, the words refused to flow from my fingers.

Anyway, here I am, back, with a short update about what's been happening here.

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A long weekend visit to Mysore happened, with trips to Ranganathittu bird sanctuary, and a trip to Karanji lake thrown in. So this time, it was a Birdwatching trip. I am in love with Sarus Cranes. Have you seen them? Tall, graceful, and just so beautiful.

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Part of my silence for a while was because of some sad news. A friend, who was my hostelmate had an ectopic pregnancy, her tubes ruptured and she was taken to hospital where her heart stopped for a while during the emergency surgery. She is now in a coma - has been in the same state from the past two weeks. Her loud, clear laughter keeps ringing in my ears, and I find it terrible to imagine her lying motionless in the ICU. I hope she pulls through, and soon.

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20-month-old Puttachi is on a roll. I sometimes have to clap my hand on her mouth to stop her from talking. She has excellent vocabulary, and shocks me each day with a new word or a complicated new sentence. Or paragraph. "Teddy fell off from the bed, onto the floor. Teddy got hurt. Let's take it to the doctor. I will not come to the doctor. You take teddy. Take Teddy in Auto. Juiiiiii." [In Kannada]. Or after she finishes a papad, "Innu happala idya?" [Is there more papad?]. I think she ought to be saying, "Happala! Happala!", not making a polite enquiry!

She now sings more than 10 or 15 rhymes and songs, both in Kannada and English, completely. The only thing is that her speech is still terribly unclear - and only if you know her well can you understand what she is saying.

And oh, when she says something and I don't understand it, she gets very upset. She scrunches up her face and screams a couple of times. Then she stands up and does a frustrated foot-stamping act, as if she is standing on a hot tin roof. She then runs around the room in circles, still with a knotted brow, runs out to the next room, stands leaning against a wall, her back to the wall, her hands behind her, lowers her head to the ground, but looks up at me through her eyelashes, looking like a baby cheetah. I either have to urgently fathom what she has been saying, or divert her attention to something completely different.

I leave you with a puzzle - a popular English rhyme as sung by Puttachi. Guess which one this is :)

Tinta tinta titta taay
Aaba banda baatu aay
Appa baada
Taata dyman dinda ty.

15 comments:

8&20 said...

oooooh, twinkle twinkle. yay, i got it :).

Keshav.Kulkarni said...

my little is 3 now, and he has turned that song into,

"Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate bar
silver colour toyota car"

Kids! amazing!!

Keshav (www.kannada-nudi.blogspot.com)

Cantaloupes.Amma (CA) said...

thats easy "Twinkle Twinkle" ...

I will pray for your friend. I hope she recovers soon.

The Muser said...

Been following your blog for a while now.... Hope your friend is soon on the road to recovery.

my niece would go "namo namo ABC..." took me a while to realise it was "Now i know my ABC" :D

phatichar said...

:)

Unknown said...

amazing how much Puttachi's version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" sounds like S's :-)

On a more serious note, hope your friend gets better soon.

pumpkins mom said...

"Twinkle, twinkle.." soo cute!

pumpkins mom said...

Hope your friend gets better soon.

Mama - Mia said...

prayers going your friend's and her family's way...

and Puttachi is such a cracker of a person! awesome!

cheers!

abha

Anonymous said...

I am so late.. But anyways that’s Twinkle twinkle.
I could sing it!! Because my daughter sings something similar, which I can not write in words here.
I think all toddlers have same language!!! This also is proven by the way they easily communicate with each other

Shruthi said...

:) so cute... "Tinta tinta titta taay" :)
and hope your friend recovers soon..

LAK said...

*"Innu happala idya?" [Is there more papad?]. I think she ought to be saying, "Happala! Happala!", not making a polite enquiry!*
You can pat yourself on the back, she's obviously repeating what she hears!
Must confess I couldn't decipher Twinkle twinkle. Sigh---it's a long time since my kids were that age! My daughter used to let me go thru the whole Johnny johnny yes papa, and only deign to say "ha ha ha" at the end!

LAK said...

I'm sorry for your friend. Is she any better now? Am praying for her.

Shruthi said...

8&20, you win :)

Keshav, that is so amazing!

CA, Deepa, P's mom, Abha, Shruthi, thank you.

Phatichar, :)

The Muser, you had me literally rolling on the floor! Namo namo indeed! I can't get over it! :D

Anon, yeah, isn't it amazing how they reach out?

LAK, thank you! That makes me feel good :D
And no, my friend is still in the same state.

praneshachar said...

firstly our heartfelt prayers to speedy recovery of your friend. may god bless her and she comes out of coma and smile back on her face so also yours.
puttachi you are great singing twinkle brings appa tata tinta yellas namega sariyagide tindi pothra gumpige
have a good day bty when is your story getting published?

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