Clueless in Chennai

Maid has dropped her next bombshell- she needs to leave immediately as her hubby has met with an accident (he slipped and injured his hip when he was taking a bath in a stream) and is on bedrest. No one else to take care of him. She said she would like to leave after her brother brings a replacement from the agency we hired her. But today when he went to the agency, he was told the office has remained closed the past 20 days at least. Maybe they have closed down the agency.
Dunno how to manage 2 kids till Xmas leave. Maybe it is just a blackmailing tactic to increase salary - god knows.
Ash has rejoined his playschool since today morning. My partime maid Kala picks him up after her duties at 12.30 noon. I have told her that she can go home around 2 ish (when Ash goes to sleep) and then come back around 5ish and stay till 7 pm or until I come back, whichever is earlier. She stay 2 km away from my place.
Mira looks sullen about the attention we are giving Ash. A bad cold meant that I had to keep off her the past 2 days. The kids both have a bad cough.

Hospital

Took both kids to the Dr today - Mira had a followup appointment. She needs to have an EEG to check if the seizure was epileptic or just febrile convulsions. Mira's weight has gone down from 10 to 9.5 kg.
Dr. KT, who has been enquiring after Ash every time we go to him, commented that he had put on weight. Ash happily gave him a toy he was holding.
(That reminds me - a friend working in Dubai gifted me a lovely looking (dalmatian?) puppy toy yesterday. She must have remembered that I am a dog lover. )

Ash seems to recollect things from the past - he seemed to remember the children's hospital and ran to play in the children's play area.

Return of the native

I just got back from Kerala today morning with Ash. Dad came with me.
My folks back home are all going to miss Ash - he was great entertainment for them. He has put on some weight after staying in Kerala. From a ghastly 9 kg in July, he is now 12 kg - which means that he must have been malnourished while he was here. He has outgrown his clothes though he still needs to look a bit more taller.
I got to see his convent playschool and met the nuns running it. Incidentally I had started schooling with them too, though the classes were held in the Catholic church premises then. My only memory of the nuns' convent is of the chapel there, which had then seemed one of the most beautiful places I had seen - red carpets and real flowers in vases.
Mira had viral fever and a bad case of fit on Monday night. She was fine when I left but by next evening developed fever. Her condition seemed critical and she had to be kept in ICU - was hospitalised for 3 days while I was away. V and the maid had a tough time managing her. Was on the verge of cancelling my train ticket and catching a flight from Trivandrum, but later V said that she was better and that I stay back and bring Ash - he would have taken it badly if I left him and came. He had been clinging on to me ever since I went down.
Prayers and calls from near and dear ones saw Mira through, I must say. She still looks dull, especially her eyes. Though she is enjoying Ash's company, she is not exactly relishing the attention we give him. She scowled at V for a long time for not greeting her first when he came in. The maid is not exactly happy about having to care for another kid, though we see to the bulk of Ash's needs ourselves.

Bye bye

I am off to Kerala tomorrow. Back on thurs. Had to book a tatkal ticket as tickets for the next 2 months on all trains to Kerala are sold out thanks to the Sabarimala pilgrims and the holidaying crowd.
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad has decided to fleece passengers himself (instead of the TTE fleecing by demanding bribe from waitlisted passengers) by offering tatkal/emergency tickets at Rs 150 commission and expecting the traveller to book a ticket from the originating station to the terminating station. That is, even if I alight at Chengannur I have to book a ticket from Chennai to Trivandrum. Smart guy! Even if he is/was corruption personified, he has steered the loss-making Railways to a profit-making unit. Such a good businessman that he was invited to speak at IIM-Ahmedabad. http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/18iim2.htm
Non stop rains today.
Went to look at upholstery material . Time to buy new curtains for the flat and replace the old. Luckily the flat just has 5 windows, including the kitchen, though the rooms are well (sun)-lit. Since one bedroom faces the east and the other the west, with the drawing dining area sandwiched between them, the sun bountifully (in summers, mercilessly) shines on them.

Shortlisted a few. Now the trend is to put 2 curtains, one thick and one thin (a sheer curtain) to let in light.

Kerala's folly

Mullaperiyar has been a persistent issue of contention between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The waters from the dam, situated in Kerala, are fully meant for the crops in TN's rainshadow regions as per an age-old treaty formulated during the colonial days. In 1970, the Congress govt in Kerala very stupidly renewed the agreement to provide water from the dam to TN for another 1000 years! without a thought about Kerala's water needs - a state dependent on hydroelectricty and facing power shortages in summer especially.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20060324004210600.htm&date=fl2305/&prd=fline
Now with TN clamouring to increase the water level in the dam to 142 ft and Kerala insisting that it cant go beyond 136 ft on safety grounds, more fireworks are expected in the days to come. I hope Achu-mama meant what he said about wanting to look at the agreement again.

The perils of plastic money

Lost/misplaced another credit card - heights of absent-mindedness. V says it is the heights of carelessness. Alas! I cant for the life of me remember when I last used it or kept it.
I hope it hasnt got in to the wrong hands. Recently two guys went on a shopping spree after obtaining a woman's card. Such is the situation in India that the person at teh cash counter doesnt check if it is a woman using a woman's card or if the signature is right. I wish the banks start asking for a pin no. for credit cards too like for debit cards.

Raining off and on in Chennai. The weather is getting better. Dec-Jan is the best time in Chennai - cool and pleasant (save for the mosquitoes, which multiply after the rains).

Children's day

Nehru's birth anniversary... Naidu Hall is presenting a gift hamper to all kids shopping there today.

Had to go to the Moore Market reservation office to get a few train tickets. Stood at Counter 43 - for senior citizens, physically handicapped and press persons. I wonder why press people are clubbed with the old and the infirm - it must be our mental state!

The legendary Moore market was once a flourishing market for 2nd hand goods but it was ravaged in a fire much before I set foot in Madras. I had first passed through Chennai in 1990 I think. Our excursion team to Hyderabad had spent a day in the Railway waiting room. Our warden sister had allowed a few of us to even venture out into the lanes nearby. We fell in love with the stone complex housing the Southern Railway's headquarters and clicked away in abandon.

The General Hospital on the other side of the road looks grand after the renovation, ditto about the bus shelters complete with granite benches. I sat down on one of them but had to vacate it in no time - I hadnt anticipated the stench of shit behind. The madmen loitering around must be the culprits. They should be institutionalised. Mount Road is teeming with lunatics and drugaddicts, posing a threat to women especially.

I once suffered the monologue of a mad fellow dressed in a loin cloth, Gandhi-like, for about 5 minutes. He then went away only to pounce back to give another discourse on whatever it was - by then, the men around decided it was time to shoo him away. The fruit-seller at the bus stop was the bravest and the fella slunk away.

Stone relics

Today I got to hold a 4.5 lakh-year-old (1 lakh is 100,000 for the information of my Western audience) stone axe and other stone tools excavated by the ASI from Poondi, near Chennai. Our correspondent says that Poondi, now an arid region, must have had thick forests then - if the foot imprints of elephants and horses found several feet under ground are any indication. Archaelogists point out how one civilisation plays a see-saw - yesterday's centre of civilisation and prosperity becomes today's centre of poverty and backwardness. This strikes one when one looks at the affluence in the West and the chaos and despair in the Orient.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/05/13/stories/2006051322590300.htm

Our big boy

I am planning a trip to Kerala next week to bring back Ash. Dad might accompany me on the return journey. I will have to leave Mira in V's and the maid's care. V is worried that she will make a racket at night, since she is a wee bit more attached to me.
We have been trying to work out the travel plans. V doesnt want to go now as his parents are away in Bangalore. I cant got, until work slackens by Sunday next.
My inlaws went to Chandanapally to see Ash yesterday and was amazed by the change in him - much more healthy (even chubby!), disciplined etc. He held on to them hoping that they will take him along and was about to cry when they left. It has increased our yearning to see him.

Sundays are too short

Our tour itinerary for the day included the Orthodox church at 8.30 am (half way through the service), the supermarket, the fish stall and in the evening the Besant Nagar Velankanni church. Going to Besant Nagar is like killing 2 birds with one stone/bullet - u get to visit the church and then relax at the Elliots beach (for Malayalees, of the Mohanlal_Srinivasan starrer Nadodikaatu fame - 2 guys hoping to reach the Gulf shores by boat are dropped at the Elliots beach in Madras).

Lighting candles (which are immediately snuffed and stashed away to be sold again), trooping in a queue to the statue of Mother Mary and Infant Jesus to pray and take a prasad of salt (the devotees touch the glass pane which encases the figurine and even pluck a few flowers from the huge garland adorning it), and waiting at the priest's room for a blessing and a shower of holy rosewater (?) on our heads form much of the activity there.

With the pious walking into the church with their footwear on, the floor has much of the sand from outside. Devotees to churches in Kerala remove their footwear even at the risk of losing them to seasoned pilferers, so one goes to church with the worst footwear on. With devotees offering saris for favours granted, the two figurines of the Virgin Mary (who apparently appeared to a boy near the Besant Nagar beach god know when) are frequently disrobed to try on the newest sari while the older ones are bundled and taken away (I wonder whether they donate/sell/auction them?)

The church and the beach are receiving more visitors than they did some 5 years ago. As a result parking is scarce. We had chilli bajji at the 'Elliots bajji stall' which sold onion, 'pottato', chilli, 'bannana', and 'coliflower' (at the risk of getting infected by E. coli !! I guess). A plate of 5 bajjis cost Rs.10. I am sure the lady at the stall made at least Rs.1000 on a Sunday evening. Then there are the icecream, fish, corn sellers and the horses waiting to give a ride for a price. The jockeys daringly walked their horses into the waters. The moon shone its light into the sea while ships seemed to stand still in the horizon. I think it was a high tide that made the sea rough, the sea at Besant Nagar is anyway considered dangerous.

The trip home was spoiled by Mira throwing up all the milk she drank and the icecream she had at the beach. Our dinner plans were part spoiled, so we bought some takeaway at the Kairali restaurant - parotta and pepper chicken fry, which was truly great. Mira seemed fine thereafter.

She so loves to go out that she starts laughing the moment we diaper her. Poor thing! we dont take her out often enough. Even earlier we would leave her behind and take Ash alone.

An MTC bus driver happened to see her peeping through the car window and amused her by blowing the airhorn at three consecutive traffic intersections. Ash also struck up friendships with drivers in neighbouring vehicles at traffic signals.

P.S. Our attempt to watch the new Mal. hit Classmates on Saturday night had to be abandoned as the theatre was running houseful on the weekend.

From Senior to Chief

I was not planning to blog today, but this definitely needs to be mentioned - I have been promoted as a Chief Subeditor. But the nature of my work and responsibilities is pretty much the same.

My last promotion (as Sr. Sub) in Nov 2000 had coincided with my very first pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. A case of blighted ovum, the gyn said. The D&C that followed kind of sealed our fate - we had to wait four long years for a kid.

P.S. The thanks is for my big boss and big big boss.

God's own celebrations

Kerala celebrated the 50th anniversary of its formation on November 1. The Prime Minister who was the chief guest of the celebrations has promised the State an IIT and IIS, among a few other things.
The Malayala Manorama was full of a goof-up about the PM's security arrangements and how the pilot car took a wrong turn (it even gave an infographic!) and the SPG, the State police and the Home Minister (who cancelled a trip to Delhi midway in Chennai) panicked - god save the poor taxi driver who drove the pilot car.
MM goes berserk with its reports most times. A recent West Indies victory in the Champions Trophy group match authored by J. Taylor was captioned "Taylor thunniya vijayakuppayam or the victory robe stitched by Taylor(pun).
A few days later when Antony became the Defence Minister, it commented that Antony fielded missile questions from reporters adeptly and that he clothed the Defence establishment in khadi!
Just finished handling an article on the child labour scene in Kerala, which is practically nil when compared to the other States. Thanks to every Keralite's desire to send his/her kids to school, there are few children not going to school in the State at least in the primary level. The child labourers visible in the State are in the Muslim districts in the north, children from neighbouring states, beggars etc.
Talking of Kerala, CM VS has taken a stern stand against the striking private bus owners - no talks while the strike is on! Strikes/bandhs/hartals and Kerala are synonymous.

Quit notice

Maid wants to leave! Says she is not feeling well. Phew! Dunno how many more maids I have to suffer/try out before my kids start school or are a bit independent enuf not to need constant attention.
She says she will tell the agency to send a replacement since the contract is for 6 months. Since she joined on Aug 14, she might leave only on Nov 14.
She had been pretty good in feeding Mira and seeing to her needs. And she was a good cook though not v. tidy. But then, for someone who had an easy life till recently this must have been a tough grind. She used to tell us that her husband did most of the household chores and that she just sat and watched TV all the time. She would watch her favorite tv serials and go to sleep at about 9 pm! And with us she could sleep only at 10 pm (though both of us go to bed only at about 12 midnight or later).
I am too preoccupied to think of anything else right now. We have to drop plans of bringing Ash this month. V was planning to go down and bring him in a week or two.