First Newspaper

Yesterday, I got Anirud his first newspaper - First News (thats the name! :-). Ever since I got to know that there is a news paper for kids, I wanted to introduce him the habit of reading news paper. Very rarely we get to buy newspapers here in UK for most of the news filters its way through TV and internet.

As he has reached the stage of reading fluently and also since he regularly reads the headlines in BBC News website, I thought it is a good time and got a hardcopy version for him. When he saw the headline 'Murray floors Federer' (I wish it had been a positive news about Fedex, the King), I expected him to question about the word 'floors'. Rather he carried on reading and said 'appa, unnoda favourite federer thothu poitaan' (Your favourite Federer has lost!).

Carry on sonny. Lets keep this ritual (of reading newspapers) alive.

In God We Trust

As is Anirud's nature, if he gets interested in any topic he will go as deep as possible and keep pestering us with volley of questions. In the recent times, the subject of his interest is, as you guess it - GOD. Although my wife and I are strong believers, we have never bothered to explore the spiritual side of things. Whether it is rational or otherwise, our tryst with God has never been based on questions, at least so far. On the other day, our brat started firing this way.

A: Did God create everything in the world?
We: Yes

A: Did he create the buildings?
We: He created everything natural.

A: So, who created the buildings?
We: Men built them, but the skills to build them were given by God.

A: How about people? Did God create the people?
We: Yes

A: Then, why did he create some bad people?
We: He created good people.. but some of them become bad on growing up.

A: Ok. If God created everybody, who created God? Did he create him all by himself?

I think we should have rather stopped him right at the beginning.

Lettered Chapathis

At least on 7 out of 10 days, chapathis has been a lunch time success story for Anirud. If the side dish happens to be 'channa masala', we can confidently expect an empty lunch box. He always wanted them rolled up so that it is easier to hold and eat. Being the one very familiar with logos, Anirud is more fond of the 'X Factor' (a popular talent show in TV) logo. Ever since he saw X Factor last year, he wanted the chapathis to be placed like the letter X in his lunch box. Not a big deal and we obliged.

Thanks to the Common Wealth Games 2010 in Delhi, today he let go of the X factor and wanted his chapathis to be placed in the shape of letter 'I'. As that gives an outside chance of him consuming one more than usual, we obliged. Yes, 'I' stands for India.

While wondering what the next letter will be, I am glad that he hasn't got the idea to have those chapathis packed in the form of Tamil letters. If he gets that idea, we would ask him to go without lunch. :)

Endhiran

Watched 'Endhiran' with family and handful of friends. Anirud liked the robot antics very much. During the train fight scene, when it was flashing 'Battery Low' for the Robot, he started shouting 'aiyoh.. battery low.. enna pannuvaan' etc. During the second half of the movie as more violence unleashed, Anirud was clearly upset that he wanted to go home. Whether it is good or bad, he clearly hates any sort of violence in the movies. While he is able to appreciate the typical Tamil cinema stunt scenes, it hurts him a lot when the characters are cruel and the scenes gory. However, in case of Endhiran he was fine when he realised everything was well and Rajini - the hero was safe and unharmed.

Robot, as such has fascinated him a lot and he has been telling stories of the movie to his friends at school. When I dropped him at school one morning, there was a parent who asked me, 'Your son seems to have told my son over lunch time about an amazing(!!) Indian movie and he wants me to take him. Is it a Bollywood science fiction? Can you tell me the name of the movie, please?'.

Pinky Pink and Pink Beauty

Few weeks back I attended a training programme conducted by a company called 'Pink Elephant', after which I brought home couple of pink coloured, elephant shaped stress balls. I expected Anirud to throw them away, as he always considers anything pink as girlish. But to my surprise, he not only liked them immediately, but over a period of time got attached to them very emotionally. They have been named 'Pinky Pink' and 'Pink Beauty'. For the last few weeks, they are being treated as nothing short of fellow humans. Although one of them has now lost its tusk, they still remain Anirud's close associates.

Genius Daddy!

"Appa, you are a genius. Let me give you a hug!" said Anirud this morning. I got this for packing his lunch bag, which I do on most of the days.

As I have got such a towering encomium from him for nothing, I better be ready for what comes up next.

Sir Chris Hoy

We were at the super market on the other day wherein there was a poster advert of Sir Chris Hoy (for the uninitiated, Chris Hoy is the triple Gold medallist in track cycling event in Bejing Olympics 2008 and endorses Kelloggs' cereal brand in UK). In the past, Anirud used to remember and talk about him a bit, but it was very long ago. Wanting to test his memory, I asked him if he remembered who he was and he went on like - 'That is Chris Hoy appa. He is a sports man. He played very well in Olympics. So, they gave him some medals and lots of cornflakes to eat'.

Thank goodness. Sir Chris wasn't around to hear this!