Proven guilty, wait the video is tampered with

Long time ago when I couldn't afford a trip abroad, I made a promise that till such time I finished visiting all the interesting places in India, I will not venture on a vacation abroad. What started as a compulsion now seems like a good call, or may be I am justifying. It lead me to Hills in the north, beaches in the west, temples in the south, caves, forests, himalayas...a few of them left. Ladakh, North east and Kerala. So Kerala it was. A week with friends and family.

Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarokam, Houseboats, backwaters, fish and toddy. And Guruvayoor. The best part obviously was a video I shot by chance and turned out to be a big one. To prove that Yash has crossed the line of innocence. I know that this video is going to haunt all his life. He is quite amused at it himself, saw it some 20 times. Its going to get better with time, I am sure. Here it is

First day of School

I am sure that the idea of school takes some time to sink in for a child. The first day (11 June 2009) for Yash at school was one of wonder, confusion, anger, fun and a little bit of frustration. We had to be with him for the first 15 minutes or so and later on he was on his own. He fought with a couple of girls there for the toys, tore away the welcome cards that were handmade by the teachers and pulled down some play items from their rightful positions.

I tried recollecting the first days, I realised soon that there are only some first memories. It was a 3 decades ago, so! I remember crying 'coz my parents were in the village and the uncles were inconsiderate. The teachers were mean, the bag heavy and the walk long.

What a contrast, Yash got dropped to school that's 200 metres away in a car. The classrooms are airconditioned, the uniform bright and cheerful. Needless to say, the fee for one year is more than what my parents paid for my entire schooling, from Nursery to 10+2.

As days pass, am sure Yash will discover some good things about school, first friends and enemies in life. Discipline, loneliness and the likes. Some new feelings and emotions. The good thing for Shilpa is that she will get a couple of hours for herself everyday. Although I know that a mother keeps wondering what her kid is doing, always. Hopefully she will get over it and enjoy the solitude.

Meanwhile I look forward to observing Yash closely in his initial days at school, hopefully it will trigger some old memories of mine.

A nice journey

Blame it on the recession or the hefty and unethical fuel surcharges, I decided to take the train for a couple of long journeys. It turned out to be great fun, for one Indian railways has improved incredibly. The stations are clean, the cleaning staff are smart, trains on time...more needs to be done, but the pace and direction is good. I hope they keep up the momentum. This was Yash's first long trip. he had good fun, he would have preferred second class to the First AC. He is now trying to make long conversations with full sentences. I hope to understand these in the way he meant, soon.

It's his first, attending a big wedding. Refused to get off the stage. He was literally in every photograph of the bride and the groom. It was good exercise, chasing him. The journey also threw up some harsh realities, some parts of Rayalaseema are resembling a desert already. Hardly any water bodies in these places.

I would recommend a first AC journey to anyone, it's absolutely fantastic. hard to believe that it took a Lalu to make all this happen. I bet for many it's unreal. Guess thats what we need, some unreasonable mavericks.

of kalaghoda and the Trio

Heard many times that music transcends all boundaries, I saw it transcend age and language. Were at Asiatic library steps listening to Shankar Ehsan Loy, Yash was along. He had a blast, was grooving and dancing away to glory all the while. Farhaan Akhtar joined it to make it better for the lot gathered at this lovely setting.

Yash is now trying to hum some of the numbers...I get it at times, rest of the times I just pretend. Sometimes it makes you wonder, who is handicapped?

agony of sickness

The worst part of parenting is to see your child suffer. Yash had to go through 2 major surgeries in 3 months for a small intestine problem. Watching him cry in pain was unbearable. Fortunately, we got good doctors, guess god is in good doctors.

Seeing so many pipes and tubes go in and out of a 2 year old is truly painful, can't even imagine how it must have been on him.

On the flip side, it hasn't affected him mentally, because he is just 2. May be a grown up would have suffered a lot more...mentally.

Hoping that he won't have to go through this.

boy talk Vs girl talk

My elder brother has a daughter, she started speaking well from the age of 1. My son is 2 now and I can't make sense of half of what he says. The conversations are great though. I love it because, I am just listening to his stories, for I can't react or respond but just keep nodding and prodding him to continue. This I guess is the best part of raising children. I hope I can get to understand what he is trying to say before he starts understanding what I say.

tribute to fathers

A lot of motherhood statements have been written about "motherhood". I have a fantastic mom and I agree that they play a huge role in everyone's life. But this is for the fathers. Guess they get overshadowed..because they aren't around that much as compared to moms.

It took a while for me to realise, actually only after I had a son that bringing up children by far is the most challenging thing under the sun.. more challenging if it's a boy. m respect for my parents has grown so much more after I became a father. I am also now begining to recollect the big role my dad played in my upbringing. This is about random thoughts that occur during the upbringing of Yash, my 2 year old son.