Budding Hobbies

Time flies; I remember it was like yesterday when we brought a new born baby home. And now, a new phase has started when Abigail has started saying that she wants to go to school. These days she is getting bored inside the home. She enjoyed the past summer when we used to visit library sessions. She is clearly missing meeting her friends. Keeping a baby engaged full-time is certainly difficult.

In the past few days, she has started following my routine tasks - cooking, watching soap-serials and culinary programs, and reading. Whenever I cook, in most probability she would join me - if she is awake, is in good mood and not engrossed in any other of her favorite tasks. She would put up a stool, stand in front of the gas stove and repeat her regular lines: "Amma, teach me how to cook?", "I would cook very safely (without getting fingers burnt)", "Amma I would add salt", "Amma, Abigail would cook alone - please let me cook on my own". Indulging her fancies, I too let her handle the ladle up-to an extent. Often, I proudly boast of her willingness to help at such a young age; at the same time, I have felt my heart pound hard when she is near a boiling pot.

Apart from these real experiences, she would also "cook" separately - which I admit I adore - safe, far away from the gas stove. Though she has her own set of toy pans, pots and spoons, she prefers mine any day over hers - as if saying "only then would I get the feel of cooking!" She would take full onions, peel them and put them with potatoes, garlic and tomatoes in my kadai. She would add water up-to the rim. For the remaining inaccessible ingredients, she would just name them out verbally - as if a uttering a magic spell over a pot of boiling concoction! Using my ladle she would gently mix (act of frying) cover it with a lid and walk off. Even after a few minutes, if I ask her about her cooking, she would say "Wait Amma, it has to cook for some more time". When she remembers her incomplete task, she would rush back to the abandoned spot. Sometimes, she would declare her dish having been prepared, other times, she would pack the result of her effort in a box and ask me to keep safely in the refrigerator or give it to her Appa as his office-lunch!

Having observed me closely, she would carry out each of the above-mentioned tasks with enthusiasm. Many times, I notice many small traits (that I would not have realized having them) she would have picked from me. Watching her cooking is like watching a replay of mine -just that the actor is much younger! I've asked my mother many times - did I too ape her during my childhood? Sigh! she does not remember the details.

I am sure she would get over these "hobbies" soon after joining pre-school, yet I wonder if she would ever recollect having gone through this phase. I cherish these memories, and document them in the form of this blog.

Teddy Teddy Teddy

Abigail has now entered into her "teddy-age". She loves her Teddy and her doll, Ammu. But her farvouite is Teddy. She plays with her Teddy a lot, so much so that many days I and my hubby have got envious of her Teddy.

The first thing that she does after every sleep/nap is to pick up Teddy, hold it close to her nose and say "Thithi thihi thithi!", as if saying "Teddy Teddy did you have a good sleep?"! She would then hold her Teddy in her arms and roam about (re-)introducing Teddy to her butterfly and all other toys. Sometimes she would console her Teddy - just like we pacify her - by saying "Teddy Teddy don't cry! Keep smiling."

Many times she would ask me to feed her Teddy. Other times, she would use real utensils, prepare an elaborate meal. I was surprised to note the extent of her observation of my manner of cooking; she knows how to prepare rice (saadham vadikkurathu) - including holding the hot pot with a cloth, prepare chapathi with the plate, roller and dry wheat powder, filtering tea from a pot into a glass - all this using empty vessels or just water. She would then pick a cup and spoon and feed her Teddy.

She would take her Teddy on her back (giving a piggy back ride). She would place Teddy on the chair by her side and both would sit and enjoy. She would tell rhymes to her Teddy. She would read books to her Teddy, when they are playing and before going to sleep. She would put Teddy to sleep by singing the following:

Thaache thaache Teddy thaache
Thaache thaache Kutty thaache
Thaache thaache Ammu thaache
Thaache thaache Appa thaache
Thaache thaache Amma thaache
Thaache thaache Abigail thaache
Thaache thaache thaache...

Abigail's Mom's Birthday

My mom has her likings - she is particular about her favourite dress, pen, food etc. She becomes very excited around the days of festivals. One such event is her own birthday.

Like any other annual event, the festivities for my mom's birthday began a week ago. First, the coutless visits to apparel departments in search for her new dress. Then on Sunday, we went out to the movies. Yesterday, my appa suprised us with big balloons and a cake. Today is her birthday; but the celebration does not end here - tomorrow evening we are planning to go out for dinner!

Today she got up happy and energetic. She prepared a quick breakfast of spicy adai, and got ready. After the last big festival, today we all got together to say our morning prayers. When my appa offered adai to my mom, she said that the first bite of the day should be sweet so that the whole year is full of fun and success! See how sweet she is?

She spent some time searching for some good dish to prepare for the evening. And just by chance she came across the recipe for "aravanan" - a grand dish prepared exclusively for the Lord on celestial occassions. Taking cue as a blessing from the abode, she prepared this amazing dish. Everyone loved it; my mom was overjoyed!

She bought herself a long skirt and matching tops for her birthday. I think she is compensating her age by wearing such a nice dress! Just kidding! :~) My mom is inncoent. I love my mom.

Our home is filled with balloons, and I particularly enjoyed playing with them.

HAPPY B'DAY AMMA!

Count Your Coins

I recollect a story I was told as a child. A young man wanted to travel around the world and learn lessons of life. He came across a merchant, who agreed to take him as his apprentice during his stay in the town. The young man studied and learnt from the miser merchant the value of money. As he continued his journey, he across a saint. From him, the young man learnt how he could help the needy without expecting anything in return. He concluded his journey with a simple message: one does not have to be so strongly attached to the earthly goods, nor so detached from it to do good deeds. One can still continue following both the paths by "counting your coins", i.e. if you do a good deed, add a gold coin to your account, and if do a bad deed, remove a coin from your account. To tally, get the total number of gold coins in your account. Try to be on the positive side.

This story has somehow become pervasive in my heart and thoughts. I try to judge my actions. My heart appreciates me for the good actions, and discourages for the bad. I feel examples of this "act of balancing" in simple daily task of life, as well almost all chefs - even seasoned - have the habit of tasting their food before they remove it from the stove; they ask themselves whether the dish is turning out good or bad.

I got this thought after I reprimanded Abigail for her mistake. I feel it is very hard to explain the difference between good and bad things to her at such a young age. I think the next time Abigail needs to be corrected, I should place myself in her situation and judge whether and how should I be punished so that I dont commit the same mistake again. Like me, I want Abigail to learn the art of counting her gold coins.

Hi Everyone!

Abigail and me are back; we were on a long vacation. This trip gave us big changes in almost all aspects of life. We enjoyed a lot, and lots of our pending tasks are also over. Now we are back to our regular life refreshed fully charged!!:-)

My Ammachi

This blog is a summary of my experiences, memories and inspirations that I got my from Ammachi [maternal grand mother]. I got to learn all this during the many vacations that I spent with her.

Of the many grandchildren, I am the first grand-daughter of my Ammachi and Thatha; she made me feel proud of this fact on occasions more than once. She always made me feel as her favorite. I still remember – on the first day of each my numerous visits she would welcome me with her warmth, love and affection. She would pat me on my cheeks, and would put her arm around my shoulders.

In my younger days, my sole purpose of visiting my Ammachi’s place was to escape the school routine; I would play and enjoy all day. I would remember my Ammachi only for food and sleep. I would not lend my ear to her advice or what she had to say. Gradually, I started listening to her instructions, attending to her chores, and before long I was spending my full time with her. This was the time I came to know about my Ammachi.

I would always sleep with her in the same room. My Ammachi was an early riser; each early morning she would wake and ask me to sleep in the adjoining room. She would understand that I being a child, and it being my vacation, I wanted to sleep more. Once I got up she won’t allow me sit idle. She would ask me to do comb my hair; she liked combing and I too loved to have a plait done by her. Another instance - whenever I sat on the floor, she would remind me to sit on the mat. This habit stayed with me, and even during later visits to my Ammachi’s home, I used a mat.

I don’t have any one word to describe her cooking. She would plan to the finest of the details. As a child, I was never bored with her cooking; probably she had a long list of recipes, and she seldom repeated the same menu – maybe that was her style. Best of all, given an impromtu situation, she was experienced enough to come up with a recipe instantly, and with the limited ingredients she had at that moment. Her chutney [especially the poond-chutney] with idly, rasam, more-kuzhumbu, adai – were all my favorites. I still rank her kambu-sadham as the best. I vivdly remember – one day I was helping her in the kitchen. As she was preparing puli-kachal, she tasted it a little then she felt that it was a bit too spicy. Immediately, she came up with a solution: she fried some methi seeds and red chillies and added that to the puli-kachal with some salt. The end result was indeed very good. I was impressed.

We all had something or the other to learn from her house management techniques. She had a very big family to look after. It was mostly during the summer vacations that we all got to meet together at her place. At that time I remember no one was in lack of a pillow or mat or towel or bed sheet or tumbler or simply anything. After each vacation she would clean and pack each and everything and keep it ready for the next occasion. Her grocery collection was also amazing. Today whenever I spoil some grocery, I could not help but wonder how she managed to keep all the grocery afresh – especially for such a big family.

She was proud to be one of the few English educated ladies of her time. She would sing her schools songs to her grandkids – all from her memory. She also taught me some devotional songs.

She was a hard worker; she managed to keep up the interest in the daily chores. Cooking, cleaning, buying and arranging things - how could she do this continuously without a break? These days I get bored preparing meals, so we tend to eat out often. But when I think about her, I feel she was great.

She took very good care of my thatha. I felt that my thatha was very lucky to have my Ammachi as his wife. During my thatha’s aged days, he would forget to oil his hair, Ammachi would relentlessly apply oil. I felt such moments were some of the best romantic scenes.

One had to appreciate my Ammachi’s approach, generosity and sharing nature. Anything that she prepared, she would ensure to share it with everybody. I have often noticed her keeping prepared recipes separately for her maid, Sampooranam.

I have also observed that my Ammachi was very close to her siblings. Even during their aged days, and having spent entire lives not living together, yet somehow they all had a very strong bonding.

I now miss my Ammachi.

Loveable Kids

Children are truly creations of God. They are lovely; they are innocent. They don't know how to show differences when developing relationships with others; they equally enjoy every other person's company. And, kids love other kids.

Recently Abigail and I attended a marriage. It was her first visit to a marriage. First she was surprised to see the marriage process. She wondered to see so many people gathered together. She was very excited to meet the attendees. She met a young boy there. He was a few years elder to her, and his name is vicky. She liked him very much and she wanted to play with him. She did not what to play with him, so she always asked him to hold her. He too seemed very fond of her, and stayed close to help her whenever required. I had gone to the marriage alone, and at that time Vicky had helped me a lot - while feeding Abigail, and while putting her to sleep. This was my experience to see my baby so close to others. Till now, she had always wanted me to attend her. Now that she is experiencing rendezvous with others, she is probably getting to understand and trust them, as well. She is growing, and her choices are increasing.

That day with so much excitement around her, Abigail was not ready to sleep, so she played a lot. It was during the parting time that she went to sleep. It was in her sleep that we bade goodbye to the bride, the groom and all close ones, and we started our journey back home. While we were waiting at the railway station, Abigail got up. She was surprised to see the change of venue, and the absence of all the marriage excitement around her. Not even finding Vicky nearby, she started crying after a few minutes of tantrums. Somehow we boarded the train. I tried to control her crying by singing songs, giving toys, introducing other toddler passengers, and by showing the passing sceneries. But none of my efforts were of any use; she kept on crying for over an hour. It was only later that she understood the changes, and accepted the situation. I was very surprised to see her changing phases.

Really children are amazing. Like the fresh drops of rain - clear, clean, untarnished - till they fall and mix with the ocean, after which it is difficult to trace their original attributes. I wish they could retain their innocence as long as possible. Amen!

Children’s Day and Teacher’s Day

I can’t believe how days are running this fast. I still remember when we celebrated children’s day, and our teachers during my school days. Now Abigail is getting ready to celebrate such occasions.

I really enjoyed such events in my school. In my school they allowed you to be free from wearing the school uniform on children’s day [also, on the next working day of Deepavali and on your birthday]. We loved to show-off our civil dresses to our friends. Then we would arrange a meet and culture program and intra-school competition and whole day is fun-filled. I respect Pandit Nehru’s thought, and thank him for giving us a reason to celebrate. I am proud of him.

Parallel to Children’s day, Teacher’s day is also celebrated – to celebrate the birthday of former President Dr. S.Radhakrishnan . I also enjoyed the teacher’s day while in school. The entire student batch would arrange the function. We conducted many competitions for the teachers. Generally, the musical chair is the unanimous choice - it is easy for the teachers to play, can be arranged soon and did not require many props. I adored my favorite teacher, and usually prayed for her to win. The musical chair competition was so fun that we all clapped hard and made fun of the teachers who were walking either very fast or very slow. Those were ever green days.

In my opinion, teaching is one of the best professions. We can always mingle with the youth. It also refreshes our mind as we see happy and eager faces in the mornings. I have been impressed by my many teachers, so much so that if I didn’t find any friends to play with then I would play teacher and student game. In these imitation-games, I would be the teacher, and I would be my own student, and in my class I would be the favorite and popular teacher! I still remember the quotes of one of my teachers: “Younger the students are, better are the chances for teachers to mold their minds. A direct co-relation is that in the earlier grades/classes students listen more to their teachers, and hence score more marks. But as they go into higher grades/classes, they don’t want to listen to the teachers anymore; they start having their own minds – they want to experiment, try out on their own and learn their own lessons. Respect for the teachers diminishes with time.”