Six

Celebrating Mira, on her 6th birthday

She enjoyed her day - though she still cant comprehend that a birthday is one whole day. She thinks it is the actual time of the cake cutting.
She took chocolates for her classmates and van mates. The cake cutting was a family affair - it made Ash gloat that he had a few guests over for his birthday. We then wished we had invited a few friends! Anyway she was happy with the Barbie doll she got and has been busy putting an adult Barbie in sari to bed, tucking her in and making her brush her teeth in the morning.

... Seasons refreshing

The raingods have been kind enough to bless Chennai with an occasional thundershower for a while now - but  day before yesterday was the first time it rained nonstop from night to morning. Enough for the government to declare a holiday for Chennai schools. I did not exactly welcome it, as the news came after I had forced the kids out of their beds (an ordeal for me every day) and into the bath.
To be double sure, I called up a couple of people and also decided to check the news on the local news channels. But not a word in English anywhere, I noted in exasperation.
"Why dont you try Cartoon Network? That is in English," suggested Ash, who wanted to spend the whole day watching his favorite channel.

p.s. Mira turned 6 today.

Onam

Onam came and went, just as Mahabali (our dear Maveli) would. Growing up in times devoid of television and Harry Potter and Ben 10, I was eager to believe in Maveli or any of the legendary kings and gods of India. I waited for Kerala's favorite King in the dreary sun of our Onam vacation with an elementary athapoo/pookalam (rangoli of flowers) achieved with a few shoeflowers, jasmines, leaves and some such.
My children have not been really initiated into the Maveli myth and the annual welcome accorded to the pot-bellied king damned to languish in the underworld - not the Bombay underworld :) For now, they are happy to have their meals on banana leaves squatting on the floor. This year we had a modest sadya on Thiru-onam day, Sept 9. The real celebration was the sadya at church the day after - stressing the fact that Onam is a cultural (harvest) festival and not just a religious, Hindu festival.

Arranged by the Family Fellowship that V heads, the celebration included games for the young and the old alike. My kids enthusiastically participated in the tug of war between girls and boys (under 18), both happening to be at the front on either side. The sadya, with 21 dishes in all including the salt, was fantastic. The leftovers -  kaalan, pickles, ginger curry, payasam etc - kept some of us going for some days :-0

Pretty maids

Ash saw airhostesses for the first time when we went to see off my inlaws at the Chennai airport. I told them they serve passengers on a flight.
And he said: Wow! Grandma's servants look damn good. Why cant you dress up and paint your cheeks like them, Amma?

Chocolate joy

Kinderjoy is one chocolate that many parents here do not exactly relish buying for their kids. It happens to be one of the more expensive chocolates and not worth the price. But kids love it especially for the mystery toy inside. Our family is not very different in our views on this.

Now, kinderjoy ads have started coming on tv. Watching the ad in a Malayalam channel, Ash told me: Look at that mother. She says I' give only the best things to my kids (such as Kinderjoy)', so why are you not buying me one either?

Land of holidays

Today is Teachers' Day in India and the kids had a near holiday today. I mean Mira had one, and Ash was made to skip (by us) the 2-hour programme in school since the school van did not ferry children to school today.
The extended weekend came in handy since their paternal grandparents are a-visiting en route to Australia. There is another holiday coming up on Friday - Onam. Just last week they had two - Ramzan and Vinayaka Chathurthi on Wednesday and Thursday. This year hasnt started well for schools, what with the legal wrangle over Samacheer Kalvi or the uniform education system that the previous government had introduced and which the new government scrapped. As a result schools reopened 15 days late, and many taught grammar and basic maths for two months until the Supreme Court decided that Samacheer was best for Tamil Nadu. The kids' school however decided to go ahead with the earlier matriculation books, which to me seems far better than the Kalvi syllabus. Now the first term exam dates seem uncertain too.
p.s. On Friday, Mira presented a unique bouquet she had made for her class teacher - she drew a flower, coloured it, cut it out, and stuck inside another paper wrapped around it, and also stuck some sequins inside to make it attractive. Her stern teacher, who apparently has a soft spot for her, was pleased with it.

169 not out

Ash, over the phone, to me on Friday: Vaava whacked my head with.... I have 1-6-8 complaints against her.
In the night when I was speaking on the phone to his dad who was away in Kerala for the weekend, I narrated the dialogue. Ash intervened: Now I have 169 complaints.
(The complaints varied from the Terrible Vaava showing her tongue at him in a different direction each time - which itself came to some six complaints)!
He also has a "thousand" complaints against his nanny who loves to pull his leg.
***
A new shortcut to prayer.
From listing the names of each uncle, aunt and their kid/s he liked in his night prayers, he has found a new way out - Please take care of all the uncles, their wives and their babies.
This is apart from the "two granpas and two grandmas"who he entrusts in God's care every night.