Diary of a Whacky Girl

If there is one thing that all the kids in our town awaited with bated breath, it has to the Book Fair. It has about 60-80(?) book stalls of various publishing houses spread across a big ground, and then to finish your evening on a high, there was always joy rides that included giant wheel, tora tora, cup and saucers, dashing cars and once, a water slide and go karting, even! And not to forget the food counter serving Delhi Appalams, Gobi 65, Fried Idlis and what-not! The one thing I'm always guilty of skipping is the auditorium, which used to have speakers/authors from across the State, sharing their views on various topics. I think this again had a separate theme for each year and a sub-theme for each day.  It happens every year around June-July, for a period of 10 days. Starts at about 4:30PM in the evening and ends at 9:30-10:00ish. Every year there used to be a theme for the entrance decor, which kept getting better year on year. They had a daily entry pass or a seasonal pass

Dear 2023, You were kind, patient, experimental, fun and happy.! A few things that stood out to me over the course of this year were - Books - I actively started reading a lot of books this year - all sorts of books - trashy romcoms to short stories to satires to self-help. One of the best things that happened this year was the book reading group that I joined in October. It has helped me read self-help books, and most importantly, pushed me to implement my learnings from the book. Looking forward to more disciplined reading and implementation in the years ahead.  Swimming - Swimming has been on my new year resolution every single year for more than the past couple of years. It's not that I don't know swimming, but I have this acute fear of depth waters. I went on a trek last month where there were quite a lot of waterfalls that were pristine and beautiful, but deep. This is probably the fourth time that I'm going on a trek to this place, but every time I go to the waterfal

Dearest boy,  Every year when I sit to write this post, I try re-reading the last one, and I'm so glad that I wrote it, because there are so many things that I seem to have forgotten now, and it really helps refreshing my memory (a kutti self-appreciation for myself for documenting these - these are my biggest treasures)  The year began with our 9-day road trip to Goa in car. Yeah, we did it boy! That long road trip which V desperately wanted to do finally happened during the 2022 Christmas holidays and 2023 New Year. We took along my brother and another cousin of mine. It was an amazing trip - one which each one of us will cherish forever for various reasons. And you were rock solid throughout the trip - absolutely enjoying the drive, the beaches, bike rides, boating. I think your favourite part of the entire trip was the beach baths every evening in South Goa - where you'd sit in the shore digging the sand for shells, with the wave splashing against the lower half of your bo

Well well, I'm back to document one of the biggest milestones (for me) and just another day (for Athiboy) out here.  Today was Athi's first full day at school. He carried his lunch and had his first meal without us (parents / grandparents). His school extended the timing from 11am to 2:30pm slowly for each kid on different days. Ever since most of his buddies started carrying their lunches and stayed back at school till 2:30pm he's been a little excited as to when it'd happen to him. And finally the day came today.  Like every other mother, I was a little anxious as to how he'd handle this, but he came home happily boasting that he managed to eat all his of lunch, on his own, with his friends. So first day is a win. It's only going to be atleast another 11 years of the same routine. Brace up for it kiddo!!  (Me bracing up myself to wake up early and cook his lunch) 

Dearest Athi, It's been 3 years since you stepped into this world, and boy, time flies. You are no longer that squishy-squashy tiny goofball, but a fully blown young toddler, with a mind and choices of his own.  This year, you started school. It sure was a testing time for me as you took 2 months to settle. There'd be the going inside whimper, sudden cries in between the class time remembering us, coming out and checking if were waiting outside the gate - so many different portrayals and iterations of separation anxiety. Phew! I was tired. But then, slowly you came to terms with the scenario and started enjoying going to school. And now, you have your own set of friends, sing a lot of songs that you listen and learn there.  If there is one thing that has been a constant since the beginning, it's definitely got to be your love for drums. There were quite a few wedding events that we attended this year where you were inseparable from the Thavil and Nadaswaram musicians. It so

My earliest memory of Margazhi traces back to when I was around 8 or 9 years old. Every morning when I used to go to Hindu Tuition, I'd be glancing the kolams in front of each house and decide on who had the best kolam of the day. I'd come back home and dutifully report about the winner to anyone who'd listen and urge them to go see it! The colours, the strokes and the perfection of it all together fascinated me.  Margazhi colour kolams were a tradition in our home too, but in a slightly different schedule. Given that Amma was working and had to start to work as early as 6 in the morning, we'd put our kolams the previous night. Amma would draw the kolam, while me and my brother would colour them, and Amma does a final touch up.  I still remember the almost-torn yellow-paged big book which had hand drawn kolams by paati. That would be our reference. My brother and I took turns on choosing the kolam for each day, but some of our choices were shunned by Amma because it was