Happy Fourth Birthday, Rahul!

At the moment this post goes up I'll be thinking of the same moment in time, four years earlier, when a beautiful little boy was born.

At the time of writing that ex-infant is busily making faces at insects sent to him as a birthday 'geef' by Aunty Ro. The centipedes are fighting the 'shaNrk' his dad got him yesterday, you see. He's also admiring the 'gragunflaai' and wondering how best to sneak away from the breakfast I will no doubt thrust upon him any time now.

He's not yet used to the idea of birthdays being 'do as you like' days. Long may it last!

'Bondoos' (friends) and doting grandparents are due to invade the house in a couple of hours. We'll see you on the other side of a very buggy party. In the meantime, here he is, not quite four years old and walking through a dense forest in the hills of Meghalaya, discovering mushrooms and insects and bowl-like ferns aplenty. His long, long walk was rewarded by this, his very own little waterfall.

It's really amusing

... how I pull Rahul up for doing precisely those things that I do myself and suffer over.

Like looking up at the sky while walking down streets.

(My toes still hurt where I stubbed them.)


This is a belated post for Ro's tag on the Little Ironies of Motherhood.

Second Children

Vicky and I were arguing over having another child a minute ago. We have this argument every now and then: me for, because I'm sick of ex-babies who turn into smart alecky young boys and him against because according to him we haven't the money. Like I died and made him king of the household finances or something.

Anyway, so I said, "Your parents had a second child!"

He retorted, "And don't think of a moment that they didn't regret it!"

...
For those who don't know know, Vicky has only one sibling, an older brother.

Nessie in the Box

A recent Babycentre mail recommended giving Rahul a box to play with. Funnily enough, a couple of days before that, I had done exactly that. My new microwave oven -- I call it You Fabulous Machine You, affectionately shortened to YFMY -- came in a nice, big box that I wanted to turn into a play house for him. But the days blurred on and the box remained untouched so I eventually just gave it to him, suggesting he make a house out of it himself.

He loved it. Stored his favourite toys in it. When Li'lpet came to visit, he dragged her into it and shut the 'doors' so that she wouldn't leave at bedtime. And when I got home from work one day, he showed me who else had made it home... the Loch Ness monster, no less.


An inner view of the 'house':


Note the stool that he has more or less appropriated. Also the "Poocruck" (Pooh truck) on its side.

Last seen, the box had become Vicky's bullseye for practising with his new bow and arrows.I suppose it's true what they say about the Y chromosome gang never really growing up.

Road+Movie

Yes, yes, so I'm on a bit of an Abhay Deol trip at the mo. Blame it on Aisha last week with Shuki.

On Saturday we're off to Shillong for a week, us three plus the parents plus the brother plus my Pishithamma, a great aunt. It promises to be quite the trip and I'll be surprised if any of us are on talking terms by the time we reach Dum Dum. On the way out of Cal, I mean. Sen is running away to Bombay so I won't be meeting him, bah. Anyway, so that's the road part.

The movie part comes here. My friend Dhruv Mookerji has directed a one-minute movie that has been featured in the International One-Minute Film Festival, no less. Tin (Tanaji), of Tin Can fame, is in it, as is Sumeet Thakur of Madly Bengalee. If you let the movie play, then the voting button appears. If you like the movie, please vote for them. On behalf of Dhruv and the gang, I thank you.

See you lot after the 12th. Till then, I suggest you all cross your fingers and hope we survive this holiday. You may uncross your fingers briefly to vote for Gone.