A sombre note

The days when the kids slapped the punishment Appacha ninno (Go stay with granpa) on each other and anyone who irritated them are over. The Siberia that was Kerala is no longer the concentration camp they feared, instead they like to speak to the so-called camp authorities every day and volunteer information on whatever taboo food Amma and nanny are giving Ash. Ash even tells them that he will come down for the next vacation and requests them to book his ticket in advance.
The new form of punishment is applying induppu, a variety of salt that was applied on Ash along with ghee during the two-month ayurveda treatment in Kerala. Ash calls it induppan (as if it were a guy) and suggests that I apply it on Mira whenever he has a grudge against her. The salt treatment had been his most nightmarish experience until the physician and the line of treatment changed.
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The topic of death seem to be interesting the kids these days. And the demise of ace Malayalam film director Lohitadas yesterday drew repeated sighs from Mira: 'Oh, uncle has passed away', she kept saying each time a channel showed his body encased in a glass coffin.
And today, when Mira hurled a wooden spoon at Ash, he said: "Dont do that. I will die, and Appa, Amma and Ammama (nanny) will cry. I will be buried and I will go to Yesu appacha (Jesus) in heaven and you wont be able to see me." I think he attended a funeral last June in Kerala.
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Ash seems to have had his first dream day before yesterday. And the protagonist of his first reported dream is Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution, whose statue at the corner of our street interests Ash a lot. He often asks me why the statue is there, who erected it there, what it is made of, and where Ambedkar is now. And after the dream, he likes to know why Ambedkar had to come and see him first thing in the morning.

Life in B&W

I have just not been able to find time to sit down and write a post at leisure, so I have not made the effort to write a quickie either. Right now, the kids are playing with the measuring caps of medicine bottles and a fight doesnt seem imminent :)

Well, just as I type that sentence, that game is over, and I have to take a break to provide them A4 size paper and water colours. Ashwin's dabbling with paint yields interesting results.

But life continues to be less colourful for him but he manages stoically. What the pathyam doesnt restrict, he is allergic to, so that makes his choice of food very limited. So for his sake, we manage on a few rice-based steam-cooked breakfast dishes; no fermented/sour food like appams and idlis for him. Ayurveda also frowns on fruits like mango and jackfruit, which are bountiful in summer. Cooking/eating in aluminium and plastic utensils has been a strict no-no. It is like returning to the good old days when people used earthern ware and kal (stone) chattis.

The whole of last week, he skipped school as things began to look a bit worrisome once we stopped the steroids and returned to the ayurveda medicines last Friday. But this time, thankfully, it didnt get too bad and by Thursday, he looked pretty fit to attend school save for some hair loss in the front of his head. But by Thursday night he developed fever, viral again.

The two of us, however, did make a trip to school on Friday to collect homework. A little boy called him motte (egghead) and the teacher shooed him away. A little girl from his class was very happy to see Ash and came and enquired about his health. The teacher escorted us to the classroom to issue the worksheets, and engaged in a friendly conversation for a while. Her little boy is in Mira's class. She tells me not to worry, everybody has their own share of problems. Her 10-year-old daughter has Type 1 diabetes, and is on insulin.

And today, we take a break from ayurveda yet again to stop the fever.

For miraculous cures

After a week of emergency allopathy treatment on oral steroids and antibiotics, Ash will revert to Ayurveda treatment once again tomorrow. This time there has been some change in the medicines, and they should be easier to give - less medicinal leaves indigenous to Kerala and less severe diet. The extreme diet restrictions in Chry has made him crave for very basic food - idlis even - that we take for granted. So when V met the swamiji and his assistant vaidyans at Ottapalam, Palghat, on Tuesday, he was given an entirely new set of medicines and a slightly relaxed diet - so he can take all veggies except brinjal now (though we have to avoid carrots and green peas which he seem to be allergic to), but of course no fried/bakery stuff, no non-veg etc. We are all on a veg binge now.

Ottapalam, V tells me, is a refreshing change for someone who goes from a big city. The town is quiet and pristine, and the people are sincere especially the autowallahs, who charge very reasonable fares and advise you to take the bus if the fare is likely to cross Rs.20. For someone used to the avaricious autodrivers of Chennai, who always charge more than double the actual fare, V found it amusing when he was advised by an autoguy to take the bus from the town to the Karuna ashram 6 km away rather than pay Rs.40 by auto. Ottapalam happens to be a favorite shooting location of the Malayalam film industry, hence finding accommodation wasn't easy. And to meet the swami, one has to be an early bird and be in the queue by 6 am at least to get a token.  Each patient gets only about a minute, and the swami dictates the medicines to his assistants in that short while.

I am just worried about another flare-up when the medicines are started again. Ash began school yesterday, and his classmates looked excited to see him again. V drops him in the morning, and I pick him up at noon. If he seems fine, we will arrange the van to pick him up. Mira takes the van both ways.

And yesterday, Mira's teacher told me that she was a very sweet and well-behaved child. When I told her she was at the WCC playschool, she remarked that it showed in her culture :) However, at home she continues to be stubborn and autocratic, partly because of the fever.

And yesterday, Ash's teacher told me that he was just his normal self, while today she noted that he was naughty but wrote well.

 

p.s. It bothers me a great deal that Ash takes black tea, since he seems to be allergic to cow's milk. I wouldnt touch black tea except when I have an upset tummy.

 

The school season

Yesterday morning, we made the arduous trip to the kids' school in the morning traffic in an effort to meet Ash's classteacher before the morning bell rang. To our surprise, it turned out to be a Syrian Christian lady named Swapna and not someone called Surendri as we had been told a month earlier. We handed over his books and the medical certificate, and expressed hope that we could send him to school by Wednesday since Syrup Predone is making his skin presentable. The teacher said she had covered only numbers 1-20 and the small letter 'c'. Ash had told us that we tell the teacher he was practising his Ys and Zs at home. Luckily, the teacher seems to be familiar with eczema as she had a close acquaintance who had it and is fine now. And the classroom is next to the teachers' room.

Mira has skipped school the past two days as she has fever, and had to be taken to the doctor in the evening.

The LKG section was fun to watch with crying kids refusing to let go of their mothers' hands and the teachers putting up a bench at the entrance of each classroom and an ayah at guard to prevent the kids from escaping. (Once upon a time, when I was in nursery, I had run all the half-km way home with a nun-teacher and ayah in hot pursuit!) Miss Meena was having one such adventure when we peeked in and informed that Mira wont be coming. She enquired after Ash, so did Ash's old teacher. I admired their pluck and patience - to handle some 30 newcomers crying for their parents and also initiate them into the world of oral education and rhymes - before trooping to the school office to pay Ash's fees.

To school

Mira began school yesterday - the big school of her big brother she had always wanted to go to. The first day, V dropped her and arranged for a van pickup. Though I had wanted to accompany, Ashwin's extreme bad health meant that I had to get him ready for hospital in the meantime.

Though we had wanted her to be in Ashwin's old teacher's class, Mira has a different teacher who seems pleasant and good with the kids. V said Mira acts like a veteran, not crying at all, around 25 kids who bawl loudly and ceaselessly for their parents. For a month, they have classes only for 2 hours in the morning, so that kids get used to the environment.

And the uniform frock, which I didnt much care for, does look good on her. Maybe because she has put on some weight. She is beginning to lose the weight she gained as she has viral fever now.

And yesterday night, she was pretending to be Meena miss and teaching Ashwin, who sat on the floor while the teacher stood behind her desk (the teapoy) with an open book and a rolled up bamboo table mat!

Curious cats

The problem with us caregivers is that we never stick to any line of alternative treatment because the results are slow and the suffering is acute for our little boy. Ash is taking treatment at the Panmana Ashram for over a week now, ever since a parishioner who was cured of her cancer recommended it to my inlaws. He looks miserable but suffers stoically. The diet is severe - he can take only rice-based food, less oil, less coconut, no bakery stuff, no fried stuff, no red chilli powder, no tamarind in the curries for him etc etc. He hates the herbal powder after the bath as he does all herbal applications.

The day I reached - after suffering a compartment of college girls who auntified me - Ash was at the portico waiting for me. He made a very sorry sight after nearly two months of an ayurveda treatment that must have been a great torture for his little body. Teary-eyed, I heard all his excited tales and queries.
Mira materialised from somewhere a little later. Or maybe I had no eyes for her then. Though I must admit that looking at her made me briefly happy each time. She has put on some weight and talks well.
The same evening, mom came with the driver to take us to Chply. Nanny L had reached there in the evening too. R, T and t, our baby chief guest, arrived the next day afternoon. The kids enjoyed their time with Tarana.
The wait at the railway station for the return journey was a torture, with Ash being a subject of interest for many waiting passengers and other hangers-on. Inquisitive and interfering as many Malloos are, some refused to contain their curiosity and made blunt queries and gave unwelcome advices. While a local body councillor advised me to attend the retreat at Potta, a lady brushing her teeth in the train the next morning stopped her ablution to advise me to watch some spiritual programme on some channel. I nodded politely, though my brother had given a piece of his mind to the councillor the previous day. But the fellow passengers in our compartment had been pretty nice and hardly asked anything. Mira entertained them all with her constant chatter until bedtime and a hymn before she fell asleep.
** partly rehashed from an email message **

In anticipation

Requests for leave of absence has once again started. Ashwin's school reopened today, so I went to meet the junior school headmistress armed with a leave letter. I met the kind-hearted principal instead. Her smiling face is enough to keep you upbeat the rest of the day...
Ash is back only on Monday, and V wants him to start school only on Wednesday - the old dictum in Kerala that Wednesday is good for vidya (education). By the time we reach on Monday, it would be a little late to send him to school especially as he has special baths and powders and medicines to take. As for Tuesday, people in Tamil Nadu would vouch that it is a very inauspicious day for certain things - such as buying a silk sari, going to the doctor etc etc.
We are not sure if he looks fit enough to resume school on 10th even. V is giving me umpteen instructions since he is worried that diet and other restrictions for Ash will not be honoured in Chply. I reach Chry tomorrow morning, and hope to leave for my place in the evening, and return to Chry on 7th to catch the train. R and T and t will be there on a short holiday, though unfortunately I will not get enough time with my infant niece.
Train journeys make me very tense - the sea of humanity at Indian railway stations fills me with paranoia. What holds the excitement this time is escaping the hell-hot summer of Chennai to glimpse the monsoon magic of Kerala - and my children, who have probably grown a little in these two months.
My old faithful nanny L, despite her myriad ailments, has offered to come though I dont know for how long. At least, just the thought of leaving the kids with her gives me some peace of mind.
I am waiting for their exploration of the house the moment they return. There will be excited queries about where I got the new smiley keychain from, the toaster, the table runner etc. Along with it, will end my two-month effort of setting the house in order. Back to tripping over toys, a lost spoon or a broken pencil or ...

Lost for words...

Old-age symptoms are on the rise. I guess I am getting arthritic! A 2-hour shopping spree - on my toes hunting for this and that to take home to Kerala - on Saturday evening had me almost incapacitated waist down. Apart from the perennial backache, I now had a hip and leg ache which made Sunday cooking a torture.
So in the afternoon, I decided to watch a Moserbaer dvd of Mozhi I had got more than a year back but never found time to view! It is quite a refreshing change from the standard Tamil movies - not that I watch many but I have seen bits and parts of some. In the last 5 years (ever since the kids came), I have never really found time to spend 3 hours watching a movie.
Well, Mozhi is different because we have a deaf and dumb heroine though Jyotika's histrionic skills doesnt look very natural to me. Nor to the point. But I guess it is better than her performance in Chandramukhi, where in her attempt to portray a possessed woman, she behaves more like a schizophrenic who desperately needs to be locked up. She cant hold a candle to Shobana's performance in the Malayalam original. (I am sorry if my views upset any of my Tamil-speaking and Tamil cinema-loving readers.)
It was a treat watching the heroes Prithviraj and Prakashraj. The humour is also refreshing. The supporting actress has an interesting wardrobe save for her wedding sari. But otherwise the story is the same: Boy meets Dream Girl. But Dream Girl is hard to win over. And this one has some reason not to marry. But in the end she is convinced.
Apparently the Tamil movie industry is coming up with a lot of offbeat movies with less-than-ordinary-looking heroes and heroines, and they are succeeding too. That will be a refreshing change from having to watch the mannerisms and standard fare of certain megastars and superstars.