The business of friendship

Today I do something, not sure if I should. I delete my photo on a social networking website, which had brought me many comments and unsolicited requests for friendship from males younger and older to me.
I had added my picture when I joined Tagged not realising that it would be viewed by many a stranger, since I was responding only to a request from a family member to join the club. I dont know if it was because the site took time to register me or what but the massive influx of friendship requests began coming only in the past 2 months. For a while it annoyed me especially when a guy kept making repeated efforts "to add me as a friend" but I didnt know how to delete my picture. I somehow managed to change my profile to the private domain and highlight the fact that I was married, but it didnt stop the requests.
I must admit that it boosted my ego a bit when my mail inbox kept flooding like that. But lately it made me sit up when I saw a couple of comments - such as "you have a rare and beautiful smile" (come on, I am not even smiling in the pic, just plonking on a chair sweating and tired after a hard day's work in the kitchen during one of our maidless days) or "U hv cute baby. R u housewife??? I liked ur Baby very much, she has familiar nose like u, may be taken colour of her Dad :)) ...God Bless her and make her future Bright like her colour".
Huh? Ha ha haaaaa.
So I decided I had enough of this nonsense and spent some time trying to figure out how to delete the pic. I succeeded, but it hasnt stopped the solicitors of friendship. Maybe they will soon when they see a faceless profile for long.
Like everyone else around, I have Orkut and Facebook accounts too but I hardly every open them. I am too old for scrapbooking and flagging and stuff. Maybe I will need to delete those accounts too soon.

The pulse finder

Today I look at the neem tree with its little white flowers in front of my flat and something strikes me. Could that be the culprit that has aggravated Ash's skin condition in the past 1.5 months? I also find an appooppan thadi (milkweed seed) minus the seed in the balcony.

Today my inlaws and V took Ash to the Siddha doctor, who gave him an arishtam from Kerala apart from her herbal powders! Since V's parents wanted her to check their pulse (the dr checks the pulse and tells what health problems you have), they had to go without taking even a sip of water. I mean once you go to bed, you cant take anything, not even water. Last time, when she checked mine (I guess this is what is called naadi chikilsa) she said that I was taking too much medicines for my BP and cough and stuff that she wasnt getting my pulse right.

Ash is pretty happy to consume the arishtam and savours it as if it were red wine!

Ash-speak

Today me and my mother-in-law escort Ash to his twice-a-week speech therapy session. My inlaws came down yesterday and will be here for a week. They plan to take Ash away when they leave - they are pained to see his skin ailment, and hope the change of weather will do him some good until school starts on June 10.

We are 15 minutes late, but only 5 min by my watch, so our session is cut short as Vijaya has back-to-back appointments. She is happy with Ash today as he gets his sounds right and he is not distracted by itching.

She instructs m-i-l how to help Ash with his speech and concentration - give him mutliple tasks apart from the routine ones ("take the slippers and leave it under the bed" etc.), blowing exercises to improve his breath pressure (or something of that sort) and decrease nasality, the sound drills (ka-kaa-ki-kaa-ku-kaa-ke-ka and similarly with pa, ba, ma), identify objects and their uses (of socks) or identify actions (playing, sleeping) and so on. I have been expected to do this everyday but I dont get down to it except on the night after the class.

There have been a lot of prayers and well wishes coming Ash's way from people who are saddened to see him suffering. M-i-l has been pretty successful in making him eat though he doesnt have much of an appetite these days. The honey in which his Siddha powders are mixed is probably giving him constipation and a lack of appetite. Tomorrow dawn we make the journey again to meet the Siddha doctor lady, who gives medicines only for a week.

I am also thinking of getting an allergy test done for Ash at KKCTH. At least we would know what is aggravating his allergy. Like after he had curd and sugar at the Rajasthani dhaba hotel late yesterday night. If he is allergic to curd, it would be a pity. As kids born here, both my kids love curd and lick up their bowls of curd as if it were ice cream.

Learning to speak coherently

Ashwin's sound drills have been going on fine. He had one on Monday and then again yesterday. Ms. Vijaya goes from one exercise to the other in quick succession and Ash doesnt have much time to feel bored. He names objects from books (she notes down when he gets a sound wrong) and does a few commands, then proceeds to classify objects (like picking up vehicles alone from a set of pics), blow a whistle, and licks honey from his upper lip (to loosen his tongue).

I do the sound drills with him at home (a reminder of the days I learnt ka-kaa-kee-ku in my early Malayalam classes) and also engage in other activities - jigsaw puzzles, shape sorters, bead stringing etc.
Vijaya tells me Ash speaks well when he concentrates on what he is asking, but his pronunciation wavers when his attention drifts to other objects around. She rues the fact that we live in times when teachers want perfect kids at school. She tells me her son has grown out of his eczema problem.

Ash's atopic dermatitis has proceeded from moderately severe to very severe levels. It has had us parents run from one dr to another - on Monday, we went to a homeo doctor and got some medicines (who was trying to pinpoint the origin of his problem to a vaccination) and yesterday, we went to an Ayurveda dr, who said he can cure his condition in 6 months - provided Ash takes the kashayam he prescribed. He doesnt believe in the kashayams available in the shops as they contain chemicals. Instead the raw materials(each day's packet will be packed individually) will be couriered from Trichur and we have to make the concoction by boiling the stuff in 1000 ml water until it reduces to 300 ml. Three servings of 100 ml each for 6 months - we are hoping that Ash's general love for medicines will make him take the bitter Ayurveda syrup without resistance.

The doctor seems to specialise in massages. He looks the kind who knows his job and is confident of good results. I hope Ash's skin gets a rebirth through his hands.

p.s. the link to the doctor's website made Blogger flag this for mal ware. Reposting.

pps. We never used the ayurvedic raw material we bought as it involved cooking on a slow fire for hours. Nanny L took it home years later to prepare kashayam for herself.

Halftruths

"What did you eat today morning?" Vijaya asks my son on Wednesday morning.
"Poori," he says as always.
"Is that right?" she turns to me.
"No, he had dosa-chutney today," I tell her.
A half-sleepy Ash refuses to change his statement.
"Well, did you come by car or auto?" she asks next.
"Auto."
"No, car," I correct when she looks at me.
"I think he doesnt pay attention and just repeats the last word or the question," she notes.
"Where is Vaava?" she asks.
"At home." I keep quiet. She has gone to school.
He comes home and imitates her teaching. Mango, Orange, Apple ... as loud and clear as she does. It is when he is distracted and doesnt concentrate on his question that he doesnt get the words clear or gets them wrong. Such as pool for school, fich for fish or thaar for car.
***
Today as we wait for the opthalmologist close to the Audiology department, Ash notices an autistic child coming out crying.
"Why is the baby crying," he asks.
"He is hungry," I tell him noticing his granpa giving him something to drink to pacify him.
Ash prepares to go in to Vijaya's room, not knowing that we dont have an appointment for him. We go in and chat to her since she is free.
"Who is this on your T-shirt?" she asks.
"Spiderman." To him, the Undertaker (WWF) is the same as his darling Spiderman.
She later finds him prancing in the corridor - after meeting the opth. to tell him that the 'worms' in his eyes have gone - and notes: "I think it is the room (soundproofed and with all the equipments) that is making him dumbstruck and utter halftruths."

Sugar n' spice

"So you have decided to live!" remarked my hubby when he saw me return from my morning walk around the colony. Mind you, that came from someone who was just waking up at 8 am. But he has an excuse. It is he who tends - massaging oils and ointments - to a very itchy Ash much of the night. I must have mentioned already that I make a bad mother. It is a boon for me that Ash prefers his dad to attend on him except on occasions when he takes a fancy to me.

Well, returning to the living part... It was a follow-up of an outburst I encountered yesterday when I told V that my GTT (glucose tolerance test) results showed an Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Simply put, I am in a pre-diabetic stage but if I am careful with my diet I can continue to be so until I am 60. It is ok to go diabetic at 60 and then live with it for 20 years, the doctor here told me yesterday. But he doesnt want me getting diabetic at my age and getting complications related to kidney, vision etc. And for this, I have to reduce weight, exercise (brisk walk) and follow a strict diet - starting with, no sugar in my tea. Ugh! Right now, I have reduced the sugar intake to 1/4 teaspoon from 1 tsp in the tea. And I dont like those sweetener pills.

Early onset of diabetes was an ominous prediction from my diabetologist Dr. Deepak, who I had taken an intense dislike to, during my gestational diabetes when I was expecting Mira. I hated him for putting me on insulin pens but now I worry I didnt do enough for my daughter then. For Ash, I was only on diet and never monitored my blood glucose levels on the glucometer like I did the 2nd time round, so I worry about him more.

The doctor here tells me that the post-partum Ayurvedic care I endured in Kerala could have triggered the IGT. And I had thrown all caution to the winds when I feasted on icecreams and 5-stars and all other sweets that came my children's way.

I hope I can maintain my resolve to go on a low-sugar, low-fat, low-salt diet. And I cant stomach the fact that V has everything within the normal limits. How I wish I wouldnt inherit diabetes mellitus as a family heirloom!

Fishy trip

Yesterday, on our way back from the Siddha doctor's place in Tiruvallur we stopped at the wholesale fishmarket in Vaanagaram near Maduravoyal.
There's V and his cousin getting sardines cleaned and cut (for Rs.30 for 3 kg of sardines bought at Rs.50). Ash was hooked to the African freshwater fish we call mushi back in Kerala and watched them jumping up and down gasping for breath as they were transferred from their watery haven to the yellow crate for the inspection of customers.

I couldnt watch their life and death struggle and kept my eyes away. So far I have seen and bought only dead fish, not ones that are fresh out of water. Some were lucky when the men-in-charge decided to put them back into the water drums.

Elliot's beach in midsummer

The moonlight making a pathway in the sea.... Ash and me walked up to the waters to let the waves wash our feet. Ash couldnt have enough of it and was loath to come away.

The mulagai bajji stall, with the chillies strung to form a garland. (The big chillies are slit lengthwise and dipped in a not-too-watery batter of bengal gram powder and a dash of chilli powder and salt. Nowadays you get even readymade bajji-bonda powder.) The chilli bajji is one of my favorites. They sell 5 for Rs. 10 in a leaf plate.

The beach was too full of stall keepers and other amusement providers that there was not much breathing space. In fact Besant Nagar beach is getting more crowded than the Marina in recent years.

Ash trying to making a house/castle in the sand. He couldnt have enough of that either.

Big Brother is watching

Lights off, and the girl jumps over her brother to snuggle up to me. Minnameen peedi, she tells me. Of late, she is getting clearer in her speech: Pidemaan peedi (I'm afraid of Spiderman). She doesnt know who he is, but doesnt matter, he comes in handy at times.

The girl is getting very sensible and mature for her age. She eats her plate of rice on her own, helps her big brother wear his shirt or his shoes. The BB is behaving more like the little brother. And she tells him: Achine, dont cry.

However all the attention and care that the BB gets on account of his eczema is beginning to affect her a bit. She tells me that she is sick to and needs some ointment to apply on her leg. Otherwise the sibling rivalry originates more from Ash than her. He slaps her on the back hard when he passes her. Or sits atop her while playing on the bed. She takes it playfully except when it really hurts her.

It is we parents who cant stomach the bullying.

Tag quirk

Tagging is the new mantra in the blog world. I know it helps to know one other better but sometimes I dont have seem to have the right answers - or any answer at all. This tag invite from Bombaygirl, for instance, looks easy but I dont know if I can list more than a couple of quirks of mine. Whatever I wanted to say, I had said earlier without any Tag invitation.
Anyway, first the rules for this tag:-

• Post the rules on your blog.
• Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
• Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
• Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I am a clutterbug. I store away things thinking it will come to some use later but nowadays I mercilessly throw away things since there is not enough storage space in my little flat.
2. I like shopping on my own. Shopping with my hubby (who invariably starts complaining that his legs are aching and he is getting a headache etc.) or a friend leaves me at a disadvantage - their time constraints and discomfort spoils my shopping pleasure.
3. Actually, I like window-shopping more, especially in the posh malls.
4. Minor mismatches irritate me. Like when my maid put the wrong lid for a tiffin box or pairs my kids' trousers with the wrong colored t-shirt or my daughter's frock with the wrong panty. But I dont make an issue of it, I quietly change to a matching one if I am around.
5. Many afternoons at work, I wish I were a homemaker - to have the pleasure of an afternoon nap and not having to sit and doze at the workdesk :)
6. I love to watch the rains from the parlour of my family house back in Kerala. And watch the raindrops form a huge pool in the riversand-laid front yard. I hope to recreate the romance of the monsoons during my proposed vacation to Kerala next month. Well, I am hoping that the southwest monsoon will set in a few days early this year, say last week of May...

p.s. The tag invitation is open to anyone who wants to take up the challenge. Lijy, Usha, Marcia, Romila, Amos, Sunita - interested??

Clothes maketh the lady

I have a problem in hand. My daughter refuses to wear any of her home wear stuff. Either her best clothes or none at all. She will rather walk around the house n*ked (one has to be wary of Web sense censoring words) than wear any of her old clothes - and one thing V cant stand is a little girl exposing herself in today's wicked world. She doesnt mind wearing her brother's homewear clothes though.

I have no such problems with Ash - once in a while he insists on his Superman t-shirt but otherwise he is least bothered about what he is wearing. It is actually tougher to get him to get out of something he is wearing, whereas Mira changes hers at the drop of a drop of water.

I guess I will have to give away all her old clothes and introduce the older outing clothes for homewear. Sigh! But I am still hoping that she will get over this phase.

***

WE have been running from pillar to post to find a cure for Ash's affliction. Early dawn today, V took a sleeping Ash to a Siddha doctor called Uma Maheshwari in Tiruvallur in the company of the family (a first cousin) who recommended her to us. The doctor meets patients from 5 am to 1 pm and they managed to be the second in the line. The fee is nominal but the journey is long and arduous. She gives medicines for a week only.

Ash didnt itch after we applied the oil she gave. Now we need to get his stomach clear of all the allopathic stuff he has been taking - she thinks it has prolly affected his liver which is why his lips are getting darkish and his eyes are getting darker. No seafood, no tea and coffee, she prescribes. No other diet restrictions.

p.s. The Ayurveda treatment can wait, V says, though the medicine landed by courier. We are not sure how we can get him to take 300 ml of bitter kashayam everyday for 6 months.

New year sightings

Today is Vishu, the Malayalam new year and the first thing I got to see in the morning as vishukkani (auspicious sighting) was the maid's behind! I also forgot to tell the maid to cook something nice and special.

Today is also the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, the Dalit architect of our Constitution. The Ambedkar statue near my colony seems to have got a fresh blue coat of paint and a floral garland. Ash knows the names of the two statues - of Ambedkar and Gandhiji - close to our house and names them each time he passes that way.

The best part of yesterday was spent in the church - first the Mass and then a wedding service, which we were invited to. Met a few old faces at the reception including the tall and handsome octagenarian Mr. Eapen, who ran the church hostel I stayed in before marriage. He still runs it though he looks frail now. The hostel run in his house, with girls packed like fish in each room, had mostly students of Stella and CA aspirants who came for short-term tutions. Having them was profitable for him since they paid the mandatory non-refundable admission fees apart from mess fee. The food was pretty decent especially in the initial days I was there.

Accent Tamil

A bit sleepy from watching Jodhaa Akbar at night. The kids stayed up to watch since there were a lot of elephants and horses and camels in the beginning (the war half). Ash is particularly interested in the music - the title song of Taare Zameen Par had caught his fancy so much that he kept requesting me to get its CD.

The kids' acclimitization with their adopted city is getting better. Ash now speaks with a Tamil twang. He likes to give a sing-song quality to his speech the way one would say appidiyaaaaaa... Thanni and inke (here) and anke (there) form part of the staple vocabulary.

But obedience is not his forte. Give him a chore and he asks me to tell his sister to do it. Tell him to pick toys littered on the floor and he tells me his hands are aching. Tell him to close the door after me and he tells me he has oil in his hands (which doesnt bother him when he is fiddling with my mobile).

Mira calls Ash 'Achin' ever since they started going to the same school. She probably thinks he doesnt need to be called Achachen (big brother). It wont be long before she calls him edaa.

p.s. I know it is a hotch-potch post but it is a busy day here ...

No reason to Smile

Every time I passed Shanti Colony in Anna Nagar, I was intrigued by the name of a montessori school run in a house - S.M.I.L.E. The full stops amused-intrigued me. The seemingly modest building made me feel that it was probably less expensive than 'patasala', so I decided to check it out day before yesterday.
The lady, who attended on my queries, was courteous and was probably the principal Mrs. Suganti Raja (I found the name on the visiting card she gave me as I was leaving). But the fee structure was no consolation.
Admission fee - 4000
Monthly fees - 1200 (or 14400 in 3 terms to be paid in June, Sept., and Dec.)
Additional fee - 2000
Uniform - 250 (boys)/ 300 (girls)
The school timings are 9-12 a.m. and snacks and a water bottle (also a labelled set of spare clothes) can be sent with the kid. There is no van facility.
And just as she was trying to dig information about me the parent and how much we were worth, I got an urgent call from V to make haste and leave for our next destination. She kindly gave me a glass of water seeing me coughing.
Vijaya tells me there are some kids attending her therapy who go to the school. She doesnt know if it is good.
Considering that the fee is not v. different from patasala's, I think I will send Mira to the latter if at all I send her to a montessori.

Forgetting myself

Sometimes I suspect that medical reimbursements are the reason why we visit the hospital so often. As my mother would say, for the flimsiest reasons. And coming from a family where we thrived on over-the-counter drugs for colds and minor food poisoning or homemade remedies, I find I am visiting the hospital too often. In my childhood, I was admitted to the hospital only once. Other than that, I would have seen the doctor only a dozen times in all those years.

For a while, V has been advising me to see a dr about my increasing forgetfulness. And I imagined myself drifting to a Mohanlal-like Alzheimer state (Tanmatra, though I havent seen the movie yet) in the near future. So I booked an appointment for the neurologist some time back - only, I forgot all about the appointment and didnt go the first time round! So I booked again and went (making a note of it in my mobile), and he asked me one major incident in which I forgot. I couldnt remember. So he prescribed an EEG and a scan.

I had the EEG today, and the technician tells me it is normal. One good thing that came of it was that I had a nice short nap while little nodes glued to my forehead and head mapped my brain. She asked me to close my eyes, then breathe in and breathe out and in a couple of minutes I was snoring away. The friendly, motherly technician smiled at me and asked me as I got up if I had a good sleep.

I guess what I need is good sleep, not chasing my shadows.

Random shots

Poori-potato masala at Saravana Bhavan.
Saravana is almost always crowded, and we made the mistake of going on Sunday night when most people after their weekend shopping or a movie eat out. Had to wait a good 20 minutes to get a table for 4 and by then our tummies were growling nastily. But the wait would be worth it, we thought; their sambar in particular is excellent. But on that day we were a disappointed lot. Our masala dosas and their accompanying chutneys were too salty though the kids' pooris looked good enough. The great Madras filter coffee had too much decoction and robbed us of an early sleep that night.

Our little Vamana standing on his father's head, and watching the birds outside early in the morning.

Tomato rasam

I am increasingly tempted to do a few culinary recipes for the blog, considering the hits the few recipes I have listed generate. Just yesterday, my sister-in-law wanted the recipe of the great Madras Tomato Rasam that my Tamilian maid taught me. So here it is:

Take half a litre of potable water in a bowl.

Add 2 teaspoons of Rasam powder (I use Sakti rasam powder) into it . You wouldnt need to add turmeric and asafoetida powder since the Rasam mix you buy from the shops have it. But if you are particular, you may add a bit.

Add 1/2 tsp pepper powder, a small ball of tamarind and 2-3 pods of slightly crushed garlic.

Take 2 ripe tomatoes and slice/mash them well and add to the solution above!

Take a small bunch of coriander leaves and cut/chop them. Add it to the above.

Add salt as per taste. Keep aside.

Now for the seasoning! Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Crackle mustard; add 3-4 dry red chillies and curry leaves. Pour in the rasam solution prepared earlier.

And just as it begins to boil (when the bubbles start forming), take it off the fire.

Can be had with rice or even alone - what is otherwise called the mulligatawny (mulagu tanni or chilli water) soup.

p.s. But I always got the maid to make it for that very Tam flavour for the rasam. I tell you, it tastes heavenly when taken hot.

Not recommended for the faint-hearted or those with sensitive intestines.

Summer cut

Guess who had a tonsure yesterday?

Mira looked like the little devil in Onida TV's ad (minus the tail) that Ash started crying on seeing her when we applied sandalwood paste on her head after a bath.

But she is not embarrassed or anything. She saw herself in the mirror at Saravana Bhavan's wash area at night and started laughing (she is too young to giggle), calling herself Motta Vaava (egg-headed baby).

In fact, it quite suits her.

The montessori attraction

When I met a junior of mine from college on New Year's Day, he told me his son and daughter were studying in Lady Andal and Patasala respectively. Which was a surprise for me, since Lady Andal on Harrington Road was quite far from his residence and secondly, he didnt belong to the "rich, snob" crowd who could afford to send their kids to LA. And here I had decided not to try for admission for my kids at the said school for the same reason, though a couple of opinions I got from colleagues was well in favour of the school. I didnt want my kids asking me to take them to Switzerland on vacation or asking us to change our car for a high-end model! But Vinu my junior told me that the snob kids formed their own groups and our kids knew better than to mingle with them or know their limits. He also told me that the 'patasala montessori' I had once gone to for Ash's sake was a v. good school. Which made me decide then that I will try to get Mira admitted there for a year at least, before she joins a mainstream school.

So today afternoon we went with Mira to the school near the Mahalingapuram Ayyappa temple. We had to wait quite long as the couple who went in before us took a long time talking to the lady-in-charge, Shobana. We had been trying to drill into Mira's head that her name was Miriam, not Vaava or Kripa. But she kept mum when the lady asked her her name. The first thing she wanted to know was whether Mira was fully toilet-trained as they didnt want kids who soiled the bamboo mats they sat on. We said yes.

She also told us that they take in only 70 students a year in the 2.5 to the 6 year age group, while they had another school for kids upto age 11 near the GG hospital in Nungambakkam. That if students didnt turn up before 9 am, they would have to go back home! Classes are from 9-12 for the junior kids and upto 2 pm for the more older ones. There is a private van operator to some areas.

The fee structure was the best part. There is an admission fee of Rs.6500, a term fee of Rs.5000 (there are 3 terms), an equipment fee of Rs.2000 and some other fee of Rs. 2000. We collected the application form and prospectus for Rs. 100 and came off. I am having second thoughts...

Speaking up

The perils of being a working mother who is not there at home for the kids all the time is getting painfully clearer. A son whose speech is not good enough for a 4-yr-old in today's competitive school world, a daughter who cries and clings on to me when I prepare to leave for work - sometimes she is just playful and asks me, Amma evide pova (mom, where are u going)? I reply, Office. She then tells me, Amma povalle, Vaava oppichi pova (You dont go, I am going to office) - and two kids who are not chubby and healthy.

Ash had his first meeting with the speech therapist, Mrs. Vijaya, at SMF yesterday. We were told she was good and she does look good - I mean not just in the looks dept., but she seems like a capable, non-nonsense person with a nice, loud, commanding voice who might do him some good.

She tells me I have to be a bit more stern with him. She judged he is restless, not hyperactive. That his speech didnt evolve well possibly because he hasnt had much adult/parental interaction - she instructs that either of us have to be at home early to talk to him more and do as she tells us. The 20-minute sessions that she is going to devote for him is only to help us parents learn what to do to help him speak more clearly.

She first gave him colored rings to stack and he did them fine. Next she brought out a board book of pictures and he named them all. Only he didnt get certain words right - car, school etc. - and he will have to learn to put his tongue in an upward motion more. She will need a bottle of honey, spoon, crayons and an unruled notebook to make the next class interesting for him. The fee is an average of Rs. 150 a session.

Tailpiece: Ash carefully kept his sandals on the shoerack outside the department. He saw mine protruding a bit and pushed it in. When Vijaya asked him to sit on the clean wooden rack to wear his sandals as we left, he told her: It is dusty! It amused an elderly couple waiting to see the eye doctor next door. They asked me if he was just as finicky about things at home. I said: "Somewhat". "God bless you!" they told him as he bid them goodbye.

V tells me that the last time Ash went there for an Audiometry examination, as part of his adenoid tests, he had placed his shoes on the rack carefully while everyone else's (adults') footwear were lying all around the rack. It won Ash a loud applause from all the OP patients seated there.

I guess what we do is what they learn. I wear a pair of rubber slippers in the house but not into the bathroom. But once when I broke protocol and walked into the bathroom with it, Mira cried out: "Amma, remove your slippers".

Talk of being role models!

My Beanie gal

As a salesman enlightened V about the various airconditioners in the showroom, me and Mira sauntered off to look at the other consumer durables on display. The soaring temperatures had made V decide to exchange our non-functioning 6-yr-old Hitachi Ac for a new one. In fact, he was at last willing to stop championing the high-priced but value-for-money Hitachi for a cheaper and equally durable model - because in Chennai's weather, long hours of usage and the proximity of our toxic, dead river Cooum, no AC will last over 5 years, inform AC salesmen and technicians.

I first checked out the top-loading washing machines, since that it next in my To Buy lists - not because I like clothes washed in them (I prefer clothes washed by hand, if done well) but because they might come in useful in an emergency - such as when a maid leaves on short notice (like my partimer who left in a huff after the new maid came).

I then walked over to the front-loading machines, and Mira asked me, "amma, ithenna?" I replied: Washing machine, baby. And she repeated: Washing machine! Mr. Bean!

She has watched many a times Mr. Bean putting his clothes for washing and its humorous aftermath, on Pogo TV!

p.s. We finally went for a Samsung AC, making us a near-complete Samsung family. Most of our household equipments are Samsung. And had a "bio-sleep" yesterday night. :)

My Day!

"There was a bomb blast in Spencer Plaza yesterday," read out my husband looking at the newspaper in the morning, while I was filling the laundry basket.

"Is it? Did anyone die?" I asked, thinking that the inevitable had happened on Chennai's busiest shopping mall.

"April Fool!" he shouted in glee. Well, I wasnt too embarassed because it is not just on April 1 that my husband tries to fool me.

Otherwise, All Fools' Day has been a tiring one for both of us. Mira had to be taken to the dr with the test reports and Xray, which showed bilateral broncho pneumonia. She has lost another 200 gms in 2 days. We had to wait over an hour as we had no appointment. She had to take 2 rounds of nebulisation, so V stayed back in the nurses' station for that while I proceeded to work. He ended taking a 3-hr work break while I reached work 2 hours late - not that there was any work waiting when I reached.

V has been taking a lot of time off work during work that he is getting worried. He has to take Ash for his classes and also for any hospital emergency the kids' have. I think it would have been better if we both were not working! But then, what do we do about our bread and butter - rather our kanji?