Six!!

Happiest 6th birthday Athiyan! 

This year began on a super crazy note. After last year’s volunteering at Jawadhu and being reunited with the CTC family, I decided to enroll for a marathon. Vagamon became the buzzword, and it had a 10K distance for the people who weren’t very confident about 36/75K. As someone who was trying to get back into running, I decided to enroll for 10K. As we were sorting out travel and accommodation arrangements, a wild thought came across my friend’s mind, which was duly passed on to me & I held it like my own little secret - we decided to make our kids run/walk the 10K loop with us. What started off as a random thought, turned out to be an actual thing, as we started the race. You managed to walked almost 3/4th of the distance, except for the last 3km stretch, by which time you’d become super exhausted and we had no choice but to carry you to the finish line. But nevertheless it was a fun experience and the whole trip was something that both of us enjoyed a lot.

Post run medal show off

We upgraded to a new cycle this year. It was a little too tall for you initially, so we had to go back to attaching the balance wheels. The initial excitement about the new cycle, waned off in a few weeks, and the cycle lay around in a sad state waiting for you to ride it regularly, but you seldom went near it. After a few months, one fine day, we decided to I remove off the balance wheels, and you managed to cycle decently without support, but had a slight fear of not being able to balance on your own at the start. Slowly, as the months went by, and with lots of constant nudging, you are now cycling regularly on your own, sometimes a little too mindlessly and faster than the permissible speed limits.

This year, your closest friends at school moved from Primary into Elementary. I was initially worried about how you’d feel about this, but then, you were quite prepared and handled that transition quite well. In the last few months though, as we enrolled you into the Art class (where you get to meet those friends from Elementary) you’re literally itching to join them and can’t wait to move into Elementary. Just 3 months to go, and you can’t contain your excitement. 

We went on a car trip to Gudalur - Ooty in May this year - just the 3 of us, you, me & V. We went to Bandipur-Mudumalai, saw lots of elephants, deer and Indian Gaurs. Watching the animals excited you, but the long car rides and no proper company (kiddos / adults showering undivided attention to you) made you feel a little too bored to the point that you refused to get into the car for almost the whole of next one month.

On the classes front, you attended the Karate class regularly and managed to move from White Belt to Yellow Belt. Music is also going steadily though with some occasional breaks given by the Master himself. We also tried something new this year - the Parkour classes. Enrolled for a 10 day summer camp in May, and you had an absolute ball of a time there, and we continued the classes once a week up until September. The class is about 12kms away from our home - the cost of transport to and fro was getting to be higher than the class fees and hence we had to discontinue it. But it was definitely a place that you enjoyed the most. Hoping something similar opens up nearby. You’ve started art classes at school from the last month, and seem to be enjoying it, mainly because you get to meet your old friends and share your snacks. As for us, enrolling to Art Class was primarily to cut down your afternoon nap, but man oh man, that’s proving to be impossible (guess they’re my genes) - you return from school at 3:50pm, and doze off immediately only be wakened up forcefully at 5:00pm. There are a few days that go by without naps, but they are far and few. Let’s see how the next year goes.

You’ve become a board and card game fanatic. We’ve started building a collection of sorts, and the world of board games is as interesting to us, adults, as it is to you. Whenever any of our friends (yours, mine or V’s) come over, it’s a play-day - you bring out all the games and have a gala time playing them with everyone. 

I’m super happy that you enjoy listening to stories and reading books. Thanks to one of your friend’s mom telling about her book readings, I took the leap and started reading Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree Collections to you, and boy-o-boy, you loved that book so much (it’s been the most favourite book from my childhood, and I’m glad to see you love it too. It’s a classic). You were so hooked on to the story that you’d hardly let a day pass by without getting me to read a few pages from the book. After this, I’ve heard to tell that you’d started reading Ruskin Bond chapter books at school, and we did manage to find out a couple of them in our apartment library and I saw you try to read them on your own. Definitely a proud moment. You are a little too young for comics, but you’ve started trying to read Tinkle - not sure if you are able to fully grasp it as yet, but it’s good to see you try.

Music still happens to be an integral part of your life. You enjoy all types, ranging from Carnatic to Tamil Cine songs to Christmas carols. We watched Taare Zameen Par movie once and since then that album has been on your playlist non-stop. In Tamil, the current favourites for sleep are Kaatrodu Pattam Pola and Aararo Aariraro. You also “vibe” (the most used word in your vocabulary in the recent days) tand sing along Monica, Jingucha, Chikitu, Makkamishi, Yaara andha payan dei. Somewhere around the mid of the year, you learnt about Smule, and were in awe about how it worked. You tried singing Oru Naalil and Poren Naa Poren, and was quite impressed by your own performance. 

Amidst all this, you somehow caught me & V redhanded while we were doing the daily Linkedin Puzzles / NY times word games and have diligently make it a point to play Mini Sudoku (to my own surprise, you caught onto the logic pretty easily) and Zip daily now. You also love to play the One Word Search and Stackdown (this still needs a lot of help from me) but you are getting better everyday. You are also obsessed with all things Space - planets, solar system, black hole, galaxies, etc., and Volcanoes. 

All in all, this year has been one of new experiences, lots of curious questions and loads of books! A few things that I really enjoy are my bike rides with you as we vibe to your favourite collections, the times that I read the book for you, the daily puzzles, our library time (though neither of us read book there) and cycle rides around the apartment. You are a happy kiddo, and may you always be so.

Love, 

Amma

Fun Five!

Don't get fooled by the title, I was just trying to have an alliterative one. I'm rather tired of starting every birthday post with a "Phew-I-can't-believe-you-are-already-five". So, I'm putting this one as "what-an-amazing-year-it's-been". Hands down one of the bestest. I definitely loved all the time I spent with you and cherish them so much, because this shall never repeat. The innocence, the curious questions - why, when, what, how, the joy of living in the present, the pride of being able to do things on your own - both for yourself and for others.

The year started off with a Snake Walk weekend - and this time it included a friend from your school, Kavin. After we had him over for your birthday, and he had us over for his (apparently, both of your birthdays are 5 days apart, albeit you are a year younger) - we asked him to join us for this event, and oh boy, you guys had crazy fun running around the paddy fields, spotting touch-me-nots (this is where the touch-me-not obsession started) bathing in mini waterfalls, and by the time the event actually began, you guys were half exhausted, but nevertheless enjoyed the show.  This was your third time in the walk, and you quite knew how it worked, and enjoyed the whole thing. Kavin being there with you was a cherry on the top! 

And then it happened - something we never dreamt of, even in our wildest dreams - just landed in our lap, like it were literally waiting for us - we moved into CDS, right next door to my parents. It's a dream life for you (of course, for me too!) having both thathas and paatis to shower unconditional love and all their attention whenever you are around. You took to the transition quite happily, as this was place you were already familiar with (my parents & V's cousin have been living in this community for a while now). There were hardly one or two instances in the last 10 odd months since we moved here, when you said you missed the Ram Nagar house. 

Come April, we did another vacation to Goa. Yes, 2 Goa vacations within a span of 2 years. This time though, Ultimate Frisbee was the reason. We had our Masters Nationals in Goa, and thought we could extend it to make it a family vacation, and took along 2 other cousins, who were too kind to take care of you while we were at the games. And in those 7 days, you doted on them so much, and vice versa. This was also the trip you unleashed your boredom as hunger chiming an "I'm hungry ma, I'm hungry ma" at the slightest hint of boredom. This was also where you finally agreed to eat Dosa with Sambhar, and eggs in burji form rather than being boiled. We had finally bade a goodbye to carrying quick foods for you. Phew! That's a definitely a game changer - because it's been pushing you to try new foods, which you eventually ended up liking. 

Once back home from the trip, and with 2 months of summer holidays ahead, we enrolled you for swimming classes. Swimming has been one skill that I strongly believe every person should learn - a life skill it is, and opens up so much of the world for exploring (given 70% of earth is covered in water, lol). It was an hour long class every day of the week except Sunday, at 3pm in the noon. You really enjoyed the class, thanks to the master, and started picking up the skill slowly. By the end of June, you were able to jump into the 3-4ft pool and swim its width on your own without any support. I was definitely proud. But things took a turn, once school reopened. The class timing didn't fit as you were quite exhausted from school and it was bang during your nap time, and the distance was also a factor - 20min drive from our home, you'd sometimes doze off right halfway through the drive. We felt it was too much of a stress on you, and decided to give the classes a break, and we still continue to be on the break. I've been meaning to check another pool nearby, but keep procrastinating - may be by the next summer vacation, all over again. Let's see! 

Your energy levels are insane and it's quite hard to manage you inside the house and hence, we have enrolled you in a music class (our neighbor has been kind enough to take you in as his pupil) and some karate and yoga in a small play school right behind our apartment. You love the music class because a handful of your friends from the apartment are there with you and basically you enjoy singing a lot. Your music taste is super varied, right from Carnatic and Devotional to cinema/album folk / kuthu songs, you enjoy them all - with the same love. Oru Naalil and Poren Naa Poren are the ones that we have named as practice songs, and you have either been hearing or singing them almost every other day and know them by heart now. Your Kaathu Mela Kaathu Keezha singing in a recent family wedding garnered so much of fans within the family. I'm so glad you enjoy music.

Your first movie with your school friends - Inside Out 2. It was mommy and kids day out with 5 of your classmates. The movie, I felt, was a little overboard for a 4-year-old, because this one was mainly about teenage and the emotions associated with teens. But you guys nevertheless had a ball of time wrecking the theatre, hogging buckets of popcorn, and running around with each other. Phew! It was quite a task to watch the movie with your constant questions and distractions. 

With September, came our (V & me) Australia trip. Yes, it was just me and V travelling for 15-21 days without you. You were in the custody of your grandparents and boy, you were stunning. You got through those 15 days like a breeze, except for an occasional 'I miss you ma, I miss you pa' - thanks to the weddings in the family that happened during this time, you got to meet a lot of cousins and relatives to spend time with. Honestly, I did miss you too, more than I would care to admit, and we definitely understood we can't go out on another such long trip without you, you'd definitely bombard us with a lot of questions together with a very convincing answer as to why you should be taken along as well. I still remember the way you asked me "enaku en ma Australia ku visa edukala?" when we said we were gonna go to Australia

Another place that I'd been taking you quite a few times is the Anna Centenary Library - hoping you grow to enjoy books as much as I do. The fact that you are able to read stuff is making you curious much, and you try reading a lot of nameboards, vehicles, posters, anything and everything. Writing is also on the cards, but you ain't really keen about it and find it very boring. Thankfully though you are able to decently write, and we are trying to make you write about your day, a meek attempt at journaling. It's fun reading what you write, given you rely heavily on phonetics for your spelling. Takes us a while to figure out what that word means, but honestly, we are in awe at the ease with which you are writing.

I had wanted to introduce you the world of jigsaw puzzles, and thanks to my friend who gifted you one late last year - it was a 30-piece puzzle, and I could see you intrigued ! We slowly ventured into 35, 40, 60, and 100-pc puzzles. You love our trips to Untangled, the house of puzzles. We also got you some board games, and you are now hooked to it and want to play it with anybody and everybody that comes home for a visit - akkas, annas, chitappas, chitis, any one trying to have a word or two with you ends up with Forrest Run (a board game that we recently got) laid out in front, before even they know it! 

You enjoy the late evening / night cycling around the apartment, and until about a month ago, you rode the bicycle with the balance wheels on. We had removed one of them, about 3-4months ago, but you weren't quite sure and okay to remove the other one. But one fine weekend, hit with a little boredom, we decided to remove the other one too, and booom.. in 15 minutes you started riding like a pro! I was stumped at the speed with which you were able to adapt to cycling without balance wheels. Great job kid! 

You really know your people well, i.e. whom to go for what. On things that me and V wouldn't normally approve of, you conveniently reach out to the grandparents and get it done. But I can also sense that you do not abuse this option. You happen to be quite smart in picking your battles and when to use the trump card. You are quite strong willed and unless you genuinely believe you had made a mistake, it's super hard to get you to apologise. If you inadvertently cause a physical hurt to someone while you were rushing through something, you promptly chime in the apology without any nudge from anyone. 

I'm really glad for all the people you have and share a bond with in your life. You are such a people person. It's been an absolute pleasure seeing you grow kiddo. 

Happiest 5th birthday! Here's to more growing up, exploring new places, and of course, loads of music!

Love,

Amma

Book fair Nostalgia

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 for the entire 10 days, both of which if I remember right, didn't exceed Rs.50. 

The only motto during the book fair days was to rush out of school by 4:00PM and finish off all the homework, and get to the book fair by 6:00PM. This was possibly around Class VI-Class X. There were separate visits with friends and family. With friends, it always used to be loitering around each shop trying to find a book that you like, and note down the shop name & the book name, go on all the rides, hog on a little of the food that was bought on shared money.  I wouldn't call myself a voracious reader - most of my books were Tenali Raman, Mullah, Akbar Birbal and the likes. The one other thing I was absolutely fascinated about were puzzle / activity books like word finders, 365 pages of activities, etc. The day I come with parents is always with the motto to empty their pockets - buy all the books shortlisted, eat so much that you wouldn't want to have dinner when you go home and go on all the joy rides, all over again. 

Something else that was very interesting to me in book fairs were bumping into your class/schoolmates (people that I haven't really talked with). It feels like you get a glimpse of another side of their life outside the school gates.

Thinking back, I'm honestly stumped at how NLC had managed to pull off a book fair year after year, because it is definitely no easy job. Bringing together so many people, publishing houses, scouting for speakers/authors, logistics, theme ideas - all of this required so much time, effort and money - but I'm ever thankful that they did it, because it was all absolutely worth it. Anyone who had lived in Neyveli, would definitely have fond memories of any time they spent there. It was as close to an annual oor-thiruvizha you'd have in any village - this was our oor-thiruvizha.

You may wonder why all this nostalgia all of a sudden. It's because of this one picture that a friend of mine shared. Apparently, there is a book fair this year at Neyveli, after a gap of 4-5 years. This picture triggered out a lot of old memories, stashed right at the back of my mind, which I felt were worth putting down here!

Happy 4 to us!

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 body. Every evening we'd spend an hour that way and go over for an early dinner. You mostly survived on French Fries, plain rice, some days chapathi / bread, and curd. Of course, Cornflakes and milk were your non-negotiables - we had taken along a supply of the cornflakes and thankfully, milk was available everywhere. One of the weirdest habits of yours is - you eat the cornflakes dry and then gulp down a glass of milk. You'd never approved of cornflakes being soaked in milk (until last week when you have started demanding the cornflakes to be doused with a generous portion of milk). 

We have been taking you to the Decathlon once in a while and let you ride around there in the cycles, and guess what, you self-upgraded from riding the scooters and balance bikes to riding a proper cycle with balance wheels. I was a bit surprised that you didn't think twice before taking that cycle and starting to ride it. Somehow you knew, you could ride it. V tried really hard to make you ride a cycle directly without balance wheels, but I guess that's hard, and we might have to go the usual way of riding with the balance wheels for a while before you make the switch to a proper cycle with just two wheels. 

You had your first official summer holidays for 2 months this year, and we were so lost on what to do to keep you engaged and stay away from the screen as much as possible. We couldn't plan out a proper vacation this time, so we got you enrolled in a week-long summer camp. Though you were initially excited to go there - on the first day, the anxiety kicked in. After 2-3 days you were mostly fine. They kept sending us pictures of the kids at class and you were so excited to see them every day, which sort of stayed as motivation for you to keep going 

As the school re-opened again, we waited with bated breath to hear those golden words, a.k.a the letter telling us that you'd be staying in school till 2:30pm, i.e. full day (till then it was only 8-11am). As your teachers from the prior year had changed, it took even longer than we anticipated, and it was only after 3 months that you finally received the letter. Nevertheless, it was a big moment. You were as excited as us to take your lunch to school and settled into the full day school quite effortlessly. With regards to finishing off your lunch, I can only say, there are good days, and not-so-good days. Training myself to take it one day at a time.

This year has been the biggest burst in terms of the oral communication - language - English, to be precise. You generally enjoy talking, but until very recently, your talks were mostly in the native language, Tamil. And now, it's taken a full 180-degree shift to English. Not sure what brought about this sudden change - the school, or your friends, or the television - but simply put - you walk English, talk English, live English! Admire how you painstakingly try to communicate every single thing in English and pause to ask us how something needs to be communicated when you don't know to. 

Thatha and you are still an inseparable combo, spending a lot of time every evening in the terrace or the car parking chasing / shooting imaginary Spidermen and Spiderwomen. That brings me to your biggest craze of the year - SPIDERMAN! Ever since you learnt about this character, you've been going bonkers about it. Jumping around and landing with a palm on the floor, releasing webs into the space, and what not. Batman, Antman, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk are also in the league, but Spiderman is your most favouritest. Paati once got you a spiderman dress and you wore it every single day for one straight week and we'd to hide it away to make you stop wearing it all the time. You've started appreciating cartoons and know a handful of them now, ranging from Paw Patrol to PJ Masks to Minions and Peppa Pig. Muddy puddle jumps excite you, and whenever there's rain, there'd be a small puddle of water (on the cemented floor) in your school campus where you and your gang of friends would keep jumping around, only to get a little wet and go about having your clothes changed.

Music is still very much a part of your life, and you have your own playlist of devotional songs to make you sleep. The first ever cine song that you were trained to sing (purely by way of repetitive hearing) was the story stanza of Dada song. You absolutely enjoy watching as well as singing it. This year also saw the introduction of gaana songs, such as Salomiya, Kathadikudhu Kathadikudhu and new numbers such as Naa Ready and Hukum - where you don't hesitate to use your own words to align to the tune when the lyrics aren't understandable.

We went on our first long train journey to Pune and you thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a week-long vacation in Pune and Mumbai where your best times were had with Simba (the retriever), Double Decker bus rides, Zenith Waterfalls, Gateway of India boat ride, Pragathi Express Vistara Dome, Local Train journeys, Airport Lounge Food, and of course how can I forget - Alexa. The first time you saw it at Adi's home, you were shocked to see it respond to people's commands, and that became your very cue. You'd so cutely go to Alexa and say - Alexa, please play Kathadikudhu Kathadikudhu and Alexa would apologize for not having that song in its library and play another Deva song for you. 

And lastly, December began with the infamous Chennai Floods. With power, and network completely down, people didn't have a choice but to come out of their homes and talk with fellow beings. Thankfully the damage to our home was minimal, and we survived those 3 days without power with much less stress. And in those three days, you and all the other kids at the apartment definitely had one of your best times getting undivided attention from everyone. Thankfully things returned to normalcy within a week. However, your school was closed for almost 2 weeks, and it's only this week that you'd returned back to school. It's definitely evident that you enjoy your school and being with your friends, as you always come out of the class happily. Honestly, so glad about that.

Happy birthday, Boy! To more wonderful times, and joyful conversations!

Love,
Amma

Happy 3 Champ!

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 happened that once Thatha Paati took you to a Wedding Reception, but you went there and declared it wasn't a wedding at all, as there was no Thavil / Nadaswaram. You have a sweet spot for Thavil, and often keep wearing sketch pen covers onto your fingers at home, in the same way that the Thavil musicians wear their finger accessories. 

This year also saw the first time you stayed overnight at my parents' home without me / Venky. I was overwhelmed at the way you answered to my desperate pleas to hold you back. I was anxious that we might need to wake up in the middle of the night and bring you back home, but you handled it really well. That night I really did feel you were grown. 

You started riding the various cycles at both the houses (parents and in-laws) with so much ease and speed. From pushing the cycles to using the pedals to drive, you have come a long way. There isn't a day that passes without the cycle, and it gives you immense opportunities for pretend play - such as going to the shop and buying the vegetables. Annachi is your favorite character. And anybody who'd be interested in joining your pretend play has to be the Annachi.

Doctor visits this year were a little too frequent owing to the intermittent wheezing, cold, coughs and HFM. But you were so well behaved when we met with the doctors that they were quite surprised and pleased. I used to dread giving your medicines earlier as you didn't want to have them, and rebelled so much, but even that has changed now - you are very cooperative. There are certain prohibited foods at the moment, such as sweets, chocolates, bananas, etc. - so when we do say that you can't eat them, you are mostly acceptive of it and hardly make any tantrums. You are a good kid!

You listen and talk so much now. I'm simply in awe at the way you remember things. I keep wondering what is this brain man - how does it remember so much, while I'm struggling to remember even the basic things. Once somebody promises or tells you something there is no going back in their words, you refuse to accept those changes. Like for example, if V tells that he'd take you to school in Car on a certain day, it's really a tough job to convince you to come with you in bike that day. You keep repeating - Appa car la kootitu porenu sonnale - you don't let it go.

You make it a point to communicate your preferences very clearly, and a No means No! We may beg, plead, force, mildly scream - but nothing works. At the most, the No changes from a No to May be Later, but definitely not a Yes. So, the only way for us is to put with it and try a workaround. And most often than not, it works. 

You like little kids and caress them so well. There are 2 little kids in the apartment - you engage and play with them really well. There was one particular day where I left you over at their home (on your own) to play with the kid and came back after a while to bring you back home. Oh, so many such little instances where I feel you are growing really fast. 

Lastly, one thing that I'd always be thankful to the moms of school friends is sending me the videos of their kids eating on their own. That was the final push that was needed for you to start eating on your own. So, for the past 1 month, you at least have one meal a day on your own. Your food preferences have hardly changed - the handful of additions being eggs, adai, chapathi, radish, pasta, pooris. Poori being your absolute favorite. The sides though always constant - sugar, ghee and naatu sakkarai - and all the three of them together. You don't agree even if we skip one of them. As long as you eat the main dish fully, we are good. 

Happy birthday again, Champ! 

Love,
Amma

Of Margazhis and Color Kolams

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 too complicated to draw and colour.

The way we'd finish off dinner as early as 8:30PM during those 10-15 days, and how Amma would wear a scarf on her head to protect from the cold, then clean the floor with water, let it dry for a few minutes, and then go about drawing the kolams - all these are still etched in my memory like it happened yesterday.

However, after I moved out of Neyveli, this whole practice died down, and I never really drew a kolam for a long time. I had always appreciated and admired the people who effortlessly drew it, and wished I'd also master that art one day. But I never took a step towards that practice until very recently. Last year, all of a sudden (not quite sure what was the exact reason), I picked up some interest in kolams, and wanted to practice them. 

For day-to-day kolams, sikku kolams are my absolute favourite. Their patterns and strokes would drive you crazy, and your whole kolam is ruined if you make one small mistake. But they look so good when drawn right. I liked the challenge it gave, and took it upon myself to practice them. Incidentally I also got a book exclusively for these sikku kolams from a book fair. From then on, its mostly been a sikku kolam everyday at my home. Sometimes I practice on a notebook earlier and draw outside the house, and sometimes I straightaway draw on the floor. There have been days where I have messed up (happens when don't fully concentrate or are in a hurry to finish off or when you're so overconfident that you don't refer to the book while drawing) and had to redo the entire thing, but I love doing it. Love how my strokes have improved, and are flowing from fingers naturally. 

So this almost year long practice has boosted me to give a shot at the Margazhi colour kolams this year. Today is day 1 of Margazhi and I managed to put a kolam late in the morning. But for tomorrow, I'm taking my mom's route of previous night drawing, and have done the work for tomorrow already. Involving the kiddo with this is also nice. He likes colours, so I give him the choice to choose the colours he'd like me to use. He needs to grow a little more to be able to handle the colouring on his own.

I shall add an edit with all the pictures of the kolams I've managed to draw in this year's Margazhi season :)

5 Months!

Dearest Athiboy, 

I think I have finally started feeling that time is flying, because you seem to be growing quite fast, becoming all the more cute and irresistible every passing day.

Yayyyy! This month is a Double Dhamkka, as you've achieved two milestones. Firstly, you have FOUND YOUR VOICE. You have realised that you've a voice and keep showing that to us by constantly shrieking with excitement. Generally, 3pm-4pm is your shriek hour. You're at your best at this time, constantly shrieking with joy, kicking your legs and laughing.

Secondly, after what felt like ages for us, but actually has been only 5 months, you ROLLED OVER. You've been desperately trying to roll over by turning to your sides for the last 1 week and finally, 3 days ago, you pulled it off. And guess what, the first time you did it, nobody saw you. I had fed you and put you in the bed to play, and had gone over to do something outside signalling V to keep an eye on you. He was busy with a work call and once that got over, he turned around to see you banging your face into the bedspread, dripping a mouthful of drool on my phone, and almost started shouting at me for leaving you that way unattended. It took him a couple of moments to realise that you'd indeed rolled over on your own. Well, great job kid! I'm impressed by your determination and how you didn't give up trying  continuously for one whole week before you actually rolled over.  

You sweat a lot. So much sweat that the cloth in which we lay you down always get wet where your back touches it. Given the Chennai summers, these days, you are most often moved into either of the air-conditioned rooms of the house and almost refuse to sleep when you don't have enough air.

As much as you loved thooli last month, you've absolutely ditched it now, main reason being it's in the Hall, and not in one of the air-conditioned bedrooms. You've grown to sleep either in the carseat-cum-rocker and mostly sleep only while listening to songs. This month's new favourite songs being Chellamma Chellamma and Amaidhiyaana Nadhiyinile. If you're half asleep and there's a change of song, you immediately open your eyes and kick your legs to listen on what's going to be played next. And once you realise it's just another of your usual songs, you slowly drift off to sleep.

Your nap times range from anywhere between 20 minutes to 40 minutes at the most, except for one big nap, either late afternoon / early evening. Its one nap I totally enjoy (for my own selfish reasons), because I lay you over me, and hug you around and both of us enjoy a good sleep for 1-2 hours. Sometimes, I try to put you down thinking you are in deep sleep, but the moment your body touches the bed, you start stretching, twisting and turning & wake up in 10-15 minutes.

You have been introduced to the world's magic potion called "water". Though the first week was more of making weird faces and spitting, you have slowly started to like it. You happily gulp down a couple of millilitres, after a heavy shrieking session. 

You're mostly a happy-go-lucky kid, and your cries for food or attention has always been subtle. One of the reasons being, there are always people around you who jump in to pacify on your slightest whim. However, this month we put our first surprise visit to the Paed one evening, because you cried non-stop for 20 minutes scaring your Thatha so much so that he literally dragged us to take you to the doc right away. But by the time we stepped out of the house you stopped crying and acted all chamathu in front of the doctor, making us wonder why did we take you there. Turns out you had colic, which could've caused a stomach ache, making you cry in pain. You occasionally throw in that high decibel-closed eyes cries when waking up from sleep, but with people lifting, patting and talking to you, you slowly open your eyes. Once the eyes open and scan the surroundings, the cry changes to smile almost instantaneously. 

If there's one good thing about the COVID lockdown, it has be the Work-from-home option for V. He's lucky enough to see you grow, and spend a good amount of time with you. He's your terrace partner. Almost 3-4 days a week, he takes you out to the terrace in the evenings. Walking around with you over his shoulders, occasionally stopping by near the Murungamaram and watching you get all excited as the leaves sway with the wind. You love playing with your sleeping dad in the mornings. Every morning, the routine goes like, I wake up, you wake up; I feed you, you half sleep, I put you down next your dad asking him to keep an eye on you. And guess what he does? He doesn't even open his eyes (of course, he wants extra sleep) but instead gives a finger of his in your hands. You hold that tight, play around with it, try to put it in your mouth (but mostly fail to), laugh and talk to it, while your dad conveniently stays in sleep all the while (if you ask him, he might deny this saying he wasn't sleeping, but just keeping his eyes closed).

In these 5 months, I have seen myself change so much. My love for you has definitely grown over this time. From the initial days when neither of us understood what the other person wants, I've grown to understand you slowly. Its sometimes a guessing game, where occasionally I do fail, but most times, I succeed in guessing what exactly bothers you, be it sleep or hunger or just some human touch. 

As much as I love my job and have been desperate to get back ever since the start of my maternity leave, I've started feeling a little concerned that we'll not be able to spend so much time like this together anymore. I think the separation anxiety has kicked in for me. But no matter what, I will always love you Bul. Hope you do too! 

Love,

Amma

D 63 Rajaji Road Block 25 Neyveli

I don't realize how fast time runs by until I see the date of the previous blog post in here. Its been 3 months since my last post, and so much has changed since then.

And the mother of all changes is my parents moving out of Neyveli. After a lot of deliberations and my father's untiring attempts at getting a transfer to Neyveli for my mother, which have only become futile, he finally gave in the letter for surrendering the house where he had spent the best part of his life for almost 25 years.

I never believed that changing houses would affect you mentally and emotionally until now. It is really difficult to accept the fact that I would no longer be running into Platform No. 1 in CMBT to board a rickety bus to rush home. I would forever miss breathing in the familiar cool air which would welcome me every time as the bust enters the town premises after the 5-hour long journey.

That house sure holds a million memories of all the years that were spent there. A few little things from my childhood times -

• We moved here when I was about 2-3 years old. I still remember how my grandfather and I would sit in the swing early in the mornings as my mother left for work. These were the days when I was normal and well behaved. On days when I woke up cranky, I wouldn't let my mother leave to work and would have to be literally dragged into the house by my aunt.
• During the rainy days, my grandpa and me would each sit on a chair and watch water flowing across the road, sipping our morning coffee and milk respectively. These are probably the only times I remember being close to my grandpa. As the years went by, age caught up with him and he was confined to his room for most part of the day, barring the morning newspaper and lunch time.
• Unlike the houses here in Chennai, where every house has a terrace, houses out in Neyveli did not have terrace. In fact, I never knew house would have terrace until I was in Class 5. All we had was a roof with Tar and Little gravels poured over. As the world moved from corporation tap waters to storing waters in tanks, we had a couple tanks installed at our home on these roofs. A ladder was laid from the ground to the roof to check on the water level in the tanks frequently. I fondly the summer holidays when me and my brother would climb on the roofs during the afternoons and pick the mangoes that fall off from the trees or simply just lie on the roof staring at the sky and the birds flying around. How I wish time had just stopped by then and there?!
• The house was always bustling with activity and there would be someone or the other visiting all the time. Panguni Uthiram is my all time favorite. It would literally be "house-full" during that festival as all the relatives would throng our house. 

The two best-est (if such a word exists) things about this house was -

1. The Thottam (Garden) - From tamarinds to coconuts to mangoes to Jackfruits to Musambis, the house had it all. Every summer, when anybody from Chennai came down to visit us, my father makes it a point to send along as many jackfruits as the vehicle could bear for all the numerous relatives in Chennai. 
2. The Oonjal (Swing) - Every single person who visited the house, would surely take a two minute time out to sit on this swing. It was pure bliss. Though I am not much of a swing person, I sure do enjoy spending sometime on it on a lazy weekend. 

This post can never do justice to all the memories that were created in that house, but it is just a small attempt to document a few things that will be forever be cherished.

Finally, a picture of the house! It used to be very shady, until a few years ago when we had cyclones destroy a lot trees in the whole town. From then on, the house kind of started looking a little barren.

And the Oonjal! This also had a asbestos roofing which again got damaged in the cyclone, nevertheless it was a pleasure swinging in it during the dusk.

Until next time,

G