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!

Vocabulary

These are the recent new words in Anirud's dictionary

'This is not fair at all'

'I am very cross with you'

'I will not be your friend anymore'

Year 1 Boy!

Yesterday was the first day of the new academic year for Anirud. Can't believe that he is in to year 1 already and now has a bunch of kids at school younger than him.

As I dropped him off at his school gate, there was a young kid who was just starting at school and was in tears. 'She must be in Reception Class appa. Crying is bad. I didn't cry on my first day. She is very little', commented the brat. Overnight, he has become a big boy and now he has got at least one class younger than his. As I watched him go inside, I couldn't believe that he has moved in to Year 1. Had few words with his Head Teacher who echoed my thoughts. Time flies past so quickly. I do hope that he has a good ride this year like the last one.

Rajendra Chozhan's Summer Holidays

Anirud had six weeks of summer holidays this year. Despite our best intentions to take him out for a decent short term holiday (our initial plan was for Belgium, which was downgraded to Wales or Lake District), we couldn't do it due to many reasons. Number of children of his age in our neighbourhood has also come down this time, as a result of which Anirud spent most of his time indoors. Thanks to the rains and miserable weather in between, he couldn't even cycle around our apartment. To his credit, he didn't complain much and as always was at his creative best with the building toys in doing various different stuff. In the first five weeks, all we did was to take him out to the park few times, a movie (Toy Story 3) and to a play area nearby.

To make up for the lost opportunities, we decided to go to Birdworld during the August Bank holiday weekend but weather gods intervened again. Not wanting to give up, we suddenly changed our plans and drove up to Bournemouth beach, although we were sitting in the motorway for a good 2 hours due to traffic. Beach was fun. We were there for about 4.5 hours or so and every moment of it was enjoyable to the core. It was such a joy watching him play in the sand and it did rekindle our memories bringing back the days when we as children used to play in the sand building castles, tunnels and what not. Anirud had a go with the 'Walk on the Water' ball as well.

While building up two sand hills and a castle on its top, suddenly Anirud's face brightened up.

'Appa, what is Rajaraja Chozhan's son's name?' (Thanks to my constant reading of the book Udayar, he has heard about Tanjore Big Temple and the King who built it).

'Rajendra Chozhan'

'Ok, now. Lets pretend this way. You are Rajaraja Chozhan and I am Rajendra Chozhan.'

Pointing to the sand hills, 'This is your temple and this is my temple. Lets build a road connecting them'...

Once started his imagination, as always started to run wild. So, he made plans to build a road connecting them, decorate the temples(!) with stones, filled the tunnel with water and what not.

Some pictures of our very own Rajendra Chozhan, working hard on his masterpiece.

Bringing water for his castle.

Castle on the hill - upon completion

Looking for his tools

Inside 'Walk on the Water' Ball

Alarm Clock

Anirud wanted to have an alarm clock for sometime and we bought him one. We made sure that the one we bought rings out really loud, as it will save us a bit of time and lot of energy in the morning when he has to get ready for school. I think he had seen it in films where people (or kids in particular) wake up to the ring of the alarm. As he is still in holidays, we set it up to ring at around 8 in the morning and we were safely out of the bedroom when it rang. Seconds after it went out, he switched it off and came into the hall, flashing a victorious grin - showing all his tooth, with the satisfaction of having achieved something. Isn't it sheer bliss to be innocent?

Blood Highway

Ever heard the term 'Blood Highway'? Don't worry, there is nothing gory about that.

Blood travels all over the body, right? In the hand, it travels like on the road and that is called Blood Highway. You can see the design of that highway on your hand. Yes, look at the lines on your hand (கை ரேகை) and that is what Blood Highway is about.

Where on earth, do these kids get their darn ideas from?

Acquittal

Couple of days ago, Anirud was in a very cranky mood and he was feeling very sleepy. It didn't help much when we asked him to tidy up his toys when he was not in a mood to comply with anything sensible. As my wife and I were having our lunch, we decided to ignore him while this brat was loudly ranting to no one in particular. He went on like 'All of you are upsetting me'. As his eyes fell on the picture on the wall, he felt that he was wrongly accusing someone. Suddenly, in a mellowed down voice he continued, 'Not you, Pillayar. Not you'.

Insurance

These days, Anirud is casually dropping off words like 'credit', 'insurance', 'bank statements' etc during the course of conversation. I believe he has picked up these stuff either from us or from the telly. In an attempt to corner him, I asked what he knew about 'insurance' and he offered this explanation.

'If you lose something, you don't need to cry whooooooooooooowwwooo (pretends to cry). If you call the insurance man, he will give you money to buy that thing'.

We were stumped. That is a decent, no-frills explanation of an Insurance. Isn't it?

Cassiobury Park

Ever since Anirud's summer holidays started, we haven't been able to take a decent break. We had planned quite a few things for his vacation, but all our best laid plans went haywire. During one of the exceptionally good sunny spells, we went to a place called Cassiobury Park and Anirud did have a ball of a time there. Some photos.

Quote

"Appa, I love you and Amma all day except when you hurt me, scold me, frighten me, shout at me, order me or hit me. Also, I don't like you making rules. I make the rules. You should never be harsh at me. Always be soft and nice to me."

Had someone heard the way he said it, it will definitely make him/her believe that we are torturing our only kid mercilessly. For a moment, I was thinking if we had been dealing with him in any inappropriate way until he said, "Fun-ku sonnen pa" (I said that for fun!). Bugger!

Award

The first academic year for Anirud drew to a close today with the school closing down for summer holidays.

Being the last day today, they had the 'Awards Ceremony' celebrating the success and achievements of the year that went by. For a person who has spent all of my school life in India, the kind of categories of the awards were very surprising. During my school days, prizes were mainly for academic achievements and extra-curricular activities (various competitions). Here it was very different and few interesting ones include Perseverance Award, Hidden Talent Award etc. There were two prizes in each of the categories - one for younger children (Key Stage 1) and another for older children (Key Stage 2).

As the Head Teacher distributed the awards at the Assembly, she also made a 45-second elevator talk about what the award was and why it was awarded to the particular individual. When it came to ICT Awards, below is what she had to say,

"ICT Award was for children's interest and curiosity about technology in general and computers in particular. This particular young man was not only at ease in handling things like laptop and communication equipments like white board etc, but also had the confidence in trying to fix them when they are broken. We present this award to this lad for showing great interest and taking the lead in technology at this young age.... and this award goes to ANIRUD".

Yes. Anirud was awarded with the 'ICT Award' (ICT = Information and Communication Technology) that comprises of a certificate and a little shield. Upon hearing his name being announced, he was gobsmacked and collected the prize in a state of shock amidst applause. Although we were notified about this award last week, we were requested not to tell him about that. Since then, we were wondering what it could be for and half expected it to be for his academics, as he is at the top of the league.

We are not sure what he feels about that, as he is still in school as I type this. But as parents, we are mighty pleased. As we left the school, the Head Teacher said 'It is a great start for him. Isn't it?'. True. Can't agree more. It is certainly God's grace.



It is a shame that the photograph didn't come out very well, as we were sitting at few yards away and that the flash was not very powerful. He collected the award and ran back quickly for me to click another one.

Sports Day at School

I can't believe that the academic year is drawing to a close and that Anirud will be moving on to Year 1 this September. Coming Friday, sausages will sizzle and Tuesday next week will be the last day of the year before the school reopens on September 2nd. Yesterday, it was Sports Day at school. Anirud was in the Green team and they were placed second it seems.

Wifey attended the event and clicked some photos. The thing that I noted is that he should be wearing a t-shirt of right size.

Beehive Montessori - 20th Anniversary

Before starting at his current school, Anirud was attending the pre-school at Beehive Montessori that turned 20 this week. They had invited all their old students for the celebrations on Sunday and we made sure that we attended the event. Anirud attended the school for 4 terms and it was this school that brought out the best in him and helped us know a lot more about him. Children loved going there every day and one has to drag the kids away from school when it was time to leave, which reflected the success of the set up. We wanted Anirud to have a great start and he had it there. On that count, we owe a lot to Beehive.

Anniversary day was an opportunity for him to meet some of his old friends, all of his teachers and more than that, he simply enjoyed being there. They had arranged for a magic show, a pony ride and few other stuff as well. There was a corner where they had kept photographs of all the children who attended that school. If you call Anirud's feeling as excited when he spotted his photograph in the pile, think of the people who are now in the university and did exactly that. They even made the kids paint on the masks and kept them as souvenirs (having seen the results, I don't envy them at all for keeping the masks! :)) On the whole, a great day out for us despite the hot weather and the added bonus was the feel good factor.

Some photos..
Birthday Cake

Putting the Tractor to good use

Pony Ride (rather, it is a Pony Walk)

Catching up with friends

Checking up the 'Alumni' Photographs

The Mask!

Helicopter Parenting

When we got a call from Anirud's school reporting that he got slightly injured at school, we expected him to make a big fuss about it and prepared ourselves for a whiny evening ahead. He had some visible minor bruises on his forehead and on his nose. Apparently, he was swinging on his chair upside down (not sure how he did that, but I didn't want him to give a demo) and fell down with his face ending up in the ground. For some reason, he was quite pleased with himself for trying out these monkey tricks. We neither offered any consolation, nor any piece of advice - as we know that it will be as effective as telling a monkey not to jump / climb. In short, we ignored it. We do think that he is a very cautious bloke who is quite aware about the general hazards. So, we let him be what he is and face up these little things so that he'll learn to come out of it or live with it in due course.

Few weeks ago, Anirud hurt his elbow when he fell down on a hard surface as a result of running fast. I kept telling him about the times we fell down as kids and told him not to whine about it. Most of the kids raised in India in 80s will definitely have dozens of scars to show off from the numerous misadventures they had. Those were the times when helmets and kneecaps were unheard of. Going by the current day standards, we definitely lived in an age when toys could possibly kill you with no rounded corners or moulded plastic or warnings or disclaimers or whatever.

Personally, I feel that as parents we are very protective of our kid. It is not only the time, but also the country you live in shapes your mindset to a certain extent. A 5-year old living in India will probably be exposed to more realistic trips and falls, than his/her counterpart living in the West. I don't want any kid let alone Anirud to get hurt unnecessarily, but just trying not to get in to an extremely protective mode. Where do we draw the line?

P.S.: While typing this post, I bumped on this website (http://freerangekids.wordpress.com) and came across the term 'Helicopter Parent', which is explained as "It’s a sort of disparaging term for parents who believe their child is so vulnerable — to injury, to teasing, to disease and disappointment — that they have to sort of hover (like a helicopter) over the child, ready to swoop in if anything remotely 'bad' happens."

Dreams

அப்பா, கொஞ்ச நேரம் முன்னாடி மைண்ட்ல ஒரு வீடியோ பார்த்தேன். அது படமெல்லாம் கிடையாது. நீயெல்லாம் அதை பார்க்க முடியாது. நானும் தூங்கும் போது தான் பார்க்க முடியும். கண்ண ஒப்பன் பண்ண, அந்த வீடியோ ஸ்டாப் ஆயிடும். டிவி-எல்லாம் கிடையாது. அது மைண்ட் வீடியோ.

'Appa, I saw a video in my mind sometime back. It wasn't a movie. You can't see that as well. Even I can see it only when I am asleep. If I open my eyes, that video will stop. There was no TV etc. It was a mind video.'

Well... that was how Anirud explained his dream.