Changing times

It is pouring cats and dogs in Chennai. Schools and colleges got a holiday courtesy the State government, so my plans of sending Ash to school from today on didnt materialise. I had met his teacher yesterday to submit Ash's medical certificate and had expressed confidence about sending him from today.

Syrup Predone has cleared his face and the remnant dead, dark skin is peeling away to reveal fresh, light skin. The dermatologist and the peadiatrician told us that we stop it after today's dose. The light therapy continues for a few more days. But we are worried if the rain will revert his skin to its former misery.

With the onset of the rains, Mira's favorite rhyme is "I hear thunder... I am wet through". She sang the same for my Aunt Kochammama who called from Kerala today.

Mira is turning out to be a handful for us. Yesterday morning she got dropped in school in a Ford Fiesta belonging to V's colleague who has asked him to use it occasionally following his transfer to Delhi. So when V went to pick her up in our Zen, she was miffed. 'Where is the other good car,' she asked. 'I dont want this panna (bad) car. This has no music, bring the other one,' she ordered.

And just that morning V had been telling me that the kids would get too haughty if we used cars like that. But these are different times. Not like our childhood days when an aeroplane flying high up in the sky or an occasional taxi ride was a source of enjoyment and happiness. When public buses were luxury and when two-dozen bullock carts streaming in twilight on Thursday evenings to the Parakode chanta (market) were a sheer pleasure to watch.

Thank God I grew up in less complicated times when simple things, simple games entertained us - not video games, not DVDs, not even television.