A miracle

A friend of ours had a life threatening health condition and had been undergoing treatment. After a couple of months, the doctors gave her a month or two at most and asked her to enjoy the remaining of her life. She is a young lady with two kids and the second one only a year old. She was devastated. She couldn't control her tears and was sobbing outside the doctor's clinic. An Indian nurse was watching this and just then another doctor passed by. The nurse immediately came to my friend and asked her to go speak to that doctor. He was a visiting doctor and she mentioned that he was an expert in the field and urged my friend to go meet him. The friend had lost all hope by then, but because the nurse kept pushing her, she got an appointment with the doctor and met him. That was her life changing moment. He checked her and told her that he could try. Now after 3 months of treatment by him, she had her last operation yesterday and is living to tell us about it. I feel that God really spoke to my friend via the nurse. If not for her, we wouldn't have our friend with us.

A sweet...A surprise

It was supposed to be like a mysore bak. But when poured on a plate and allowed to cool, it became hard on top and a bit gooey in the middle. I had to place it in the fridge to be able to cut it into pieces. Hubby took a few pieces to his office ... I tried to make him take only the mysore bak other friends had given for Diwali, but that was not enough...so he took a few of these sweets too. I was not brave enough to take it to my office. Evening, hubby returns and says everyone enjoyed the sweet and wanted some more. I double checked with him to make sure he was not kidding. True to word, he took quite a few of those sweets to his office again (I still believe he did it so that I don't force it on him in the next few days!!!). He then called me from office and asked for the recipe. Seems no one in his office had heard about "7 cups" (lucky for me) and wanted to know the recipe. They thought the soft inside was the way the sweet was supposed to be. :)

Oh Daddy!!

That is how the little one calls his Daddy...with the sing-song tone. We first noted it when we had been to a restaurant after the diwali shopping. The kid started shouting at the top of his voice "Oh Daddy" when his Dad went to wash his hand. The whole restaurant was laughing at his antics. We were wondering from where he could have caught this, when my daughter told "Amma, it resembles the "Oh Doodle" in Mickey mouse club house. And that was it....it was the exact sing-song tone. So now we can say my son has started observing and using things he learns from the TV.

On another note, I like the way Diwali is celebrated in Singapore. The way the govt puts in the effort to light up the Little India area, the shows and concerts that are staged on a big stage near that area, the "Diwali fair", the colorful shops, sweets, crackers and everything that would remind you of the festival of lights. Its nice that there is a substantial Indian population in Singapore and the govt recognises them.

Dance baby Dance

Place and timing is not a problem...surroundings and the people staring is not an issue...its dance all the way! Walking, eating, playing is all a dance.

An airport is no different.

And then the 15 mins of Fame happened...Dancing for the Navarathiri festival in a temple.

Perfect dress

I was trying to decide between two dresses. One was a sleeveless and the other with sleeves. I tried on both and asked the opinion of Hubby and the little girl. Hubby was for the sleeveless one. The girl was on her best diplomatic mode and told me this "Mummy, I would prefer the one with sleeves. Altho both look fine, the first one makes you look like a young person. Not at all like my mother!!!"

Now I know what to wear when we go out for dinner without the kids :))

Film songs and school concerts

I have always been against film songs being used in school annual day concerts. The first time I saw a film song in a school concert, I was pretty shocked. Having been to a convent school, which drilled the notion that films were bad (but they did take us to some of the best films I've seen in my life) I kept asking my aunt how her daughter's school had a filmy song for the annual day concert. Over the years I concluded that that school was a small one (was a kindergarten) and so didn't have the resources to get good songs from other sources. And this has been the thought I've been carrying for so long. And this is the one that took a mighty beating yesterday. My daughter told me that her class was going to dance for 'Jai ho' during the annual day concert! Maybe I should just be happy that at least its a meaningful song, appropriate for the occasion where they graduate out of kindergarten. Going away to lick my wounded pride.

Words of wisdom

Bits of wisdom:

16th Aug:

The Little Girl has been asking for a bicycle for a long time and we told her that we would get it for her birthday. Last weekend we found a good deal and got her the bicycle. We presented it to her, with much expectation and this is what she says,
"Mummy I was expecting a new bicycle as MY BIRTHDAY GIFT and am a bit disappointed that you didn't keep your promise and got it earlier."
:-/

15th Aug: Independence day.

We were returning from her music class when we had this conversation:
"Mummy we should go to India sometime".
"Yes kuttima, we'll go during your school holidays".
"No, no, not like that. "I want to go and stay there forever...like cousin R".
"Hmm, why? Don't you like Singapore?"
"I do like Singapore. It's where I was born. This is a good country, But India is also my country Ma. That is where all our relatives are. We are Indians. So we should return to India wherever we are!"
:-/

Aug 9th: Singapore National day.
We were passing the National Day parade location on the way to the beach.
"Look kuttima, that is where the National Day Parade happens""Oh, that's good. Are we going to see it?"
"No ma, we don't have the tickets"
"Why didn't you get the tickets?"
"They do a balloting for the tickets and so I didn't apply for it." (I didn't even think about it before she asked to be truthful)
"Oh...ok."
At the beach, we get to see the lead helicopter with its contingent flying over the beach carrying the Singapore Flag. Everyone is pretty excited and wave towards it.
"Mummy, look, its the Singapore Flag. How nice! Thanks mummy for bringing me here. I got to see at least this. I'm so happy!"

Small Talk

I was going through my old posts looking for something when I came across this. The Little Boy is almost about the same age and so I thought I'll pen down his words.

Thoong
Car
byechikul
moonnu
thannae (for Kannae Kalaimanae song)
dink
milch
geeve

Blog it!!

The little boy has been calling me "Amma/mumie", his sister "akka", aunt - "atta", uncle - "mama" and the regular "Thatha, ammamma, anna, aunty", everything almost perfect expect for Daddy. Right from the start he used to refer to his father as "Dada" and he refused to even try "Daddy". Then suddenly two days back he told "Daddy" without anyone prompting him. The elated father immediately turned to me and told "Make a note on your blog!" and there, as a dutiful wife I've penned it down.

A good movie is...

one where even a five year old who doesn't understand the language and has no idea about the main concept is able to recommend the movie to you.

The little girl watched Chak De yesterday with her aunt and asked me to watch it. These were her words, "Amma, I saw a hindi film with Athai. It's very nice. You should also see it. It is about some girls playing Hockey. (Note: She had never heard about hockey before). It is very nice Amma. They will try so hard. In the first game against Australia, they will lose. And in one game against another team, they will get beaten up. But they will try hard and finally win. I think we should get a CD for ourselves. The one Athai got is a borrowed one. "

I was pretty impressed with her understanding of the film and the way she felt that she should recommend it to me. Something like "Yam petra inbam peruga ivaiyagam".

Anyone can be a music director...

if it's remix songs they want.

Here is my simple recipe for remix songs
1. Get a popular old song.
2. Get a singer who can't speak proper Tamil or who can 'Englipees' the Tamil. (gees, give me a break)
3. Bring out your kid's keyboard.
4. Switch on the rock and roll or some such music with the drums turned on. It should be on high volume.
5. Now get the singer to sing the song...no need to change the basic music and can be the same tune as well.
6. Now to differentiate the song from the old
a. Repeat the first line or first two words a few times.
b. Sing the song really fast
c. Add a few English words in between
d. Add a few lines of rap which no one should be able to identify.
e. Finish with a 'one liner/one word' like 'Ethu yeppadi' drawled out.
7. Your song is ready!

Bah, I just hate it when they dole out such remixes. The beauty of the original song is lost and they don't even take the pains to do something different.

There was this song I heard the other day. It had the same tune, but at a faster phase, as if the singer had to catch a train and then in between had the music from other top hits of yesteryear. God, are we so in dearth of music?

To all ye music directors who want to do a remix, please listen to "Thotal poo malarum" by ARR. A beauty. I love the old and the new version.

Moving...

We move houses.

The whole house is littered with boxes and total chaos prevails. The little one is playing in the master bedroom and a sudden gust of wind closes the door. It gets locked. One adult is immediately sent to soothe the child and keep him engaged, while the others run around the house like headless chicken looking for the blessed key. A nice distraction to the otherwise mundane task of unpacking.

The little Girl's

art work has been displayed in her school's notice board...one proud momma smiling to glory!!!

Zao an

The other day my daughter asked me the meaning of a long sentence. The only catch was that the sentence was in Chinese (at least it sounded like Chinese). Thinking she was up to some make believe games, I just gave her a reply. But she repeated the sentence and asked me to listen carefully before answering. After she had repeated (with no changes) a couple of times, I told her that I didn't know the meaning. Then she told that it was 'dear children, sit down, sit down'. I'm still not sure whether it is the correct sentence, but I have to give her the benefit of doubt. She repeated the sentence with the same words and sounds each time I asked her and she didn't waver a bit. She attended the Chinese class for a year when she was in nursery and her teacher was all praise about her grasping power. But being her mother, I know that she loves to speak gibberish. There have been instances when she has replied in 'Chinese', but in all the cases it has been to non-Chinese speakers. So I take her Chinese speaking ability with a pinch of salt.

Incidently, the title means "Good Morning" in Chinese and that is all that I know in Chinese!!!

No smoke, no fire

It was a colleague's birthday yesterday. Some of his teammates got together and decided to throw a surprise party for him. A cake was bought and mail sent out to all his friends in office. So around 3pm all of us gathered at the pantry. There were around 15 of us. The cake was placed on the table, candles fixed, plates and knife kept ready and someone went to call the birthday boy. It was then that we realised that we didn't have a match box or lighter to light the candle. There was not a single soul in the 15 people gathered there who smoked. Then began the hunt for a lighter. It took us nearly 10 mins to find a lighter. It was a pleasant surprise indeed.

Painting

The little girl loves to draw and paint. She prepares birthday cards for all her cousins and takes great pride in it. She is now attending an arts class in her school and has started to appreciate the great painters. Last month, they were introduced to Van Goh's paintings. I needed Google-Baba's help to have a decent talk with her about the paintings. I was pretty surprised that they had not only taught her about the paintings but also about the painter and his life. It's good that she is getting a wholesome picture. Last week she came home with a copy of a Van Goh's painting that she had done. It was really cool and she has managed to almost reproduce a recognisable painting ;).

We put up her painting in a prominent place in the living room and as we were admiring it, she spouted these words of wisdom..."Mummy, do you know that Van Goh was not rich and not well too? Sometimes he didnt even have enough money to eat. He spent most of his final years in the hospital and died pretty young. But his paintings are very very costly now...Millions and millions of dollars. Poor guy, he should have sold his pictures when he was alive. Then he would have earned millions and millions..." a BIG pause and... "Mummy, will you sell my painting?"

kutti kutti vishayam

From a five year old

Amma, I know you love me and I love you too. But please don't hug me when I'm sleeping. (thoongum bothu katipidicathinga) I'm uncomfortable!
Ouch...

After a very hectic day at office:
Amma, good that you are back. How was your day? Did you enjoy it?

During an evening walk:
Amma, when you grow old, I'll give you pink cerelac. (Brown rice, one she likes a lot and wouldn't hesitate to take a mouthful when her brother is being fed)
Why?
Because all your teeth would have fallen and you would be just like Thambi, not able to eat anything else!!!


My days are never boring :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy New Year! I'm not late, I'm wishing you for the Chinese New Year (well, at least I managed to update my blog now). Have been wanting to blog about a lot of this, but as usual got side-tracked. So here's a short update on all that's been going on at my end.

The little boy makes one wonder where he gets the energy from. He is always running about, pulling this or that, climbing chairs, tables and any place where he can get a foothold! He is able to climb on to the bedside shelf. And, is he ever so careful! Makes sure his first foothold is secure before he keeps the next or lets go his hold. No drawers or cupboards are off limit for him. Even the ones that he can't reach, he has found ways of opening.

Ask the imp ways to get your mom into trouble - He would be blissfully playing and just then notice that you are getting his milk/food ready. Immediately he would start howling for the food as if he was without food for the past one week. Imagine my plight when the grandparents are around. The 2 minutes it takes to prepare is enough to start a ruckus.

We had been to India during the last week of December. So got to celebrate my daughter's birthday there (All her birthdays have been in India!!!) It was fun as usual, a smaller crowd and a home decorated cake. She wore a peacock blue frock and had her hair done by her aunt. Then, my mom exclaimed that she looked like a princess (She is averse to any party wear frocks and such a frock is worn only when it has been praised by all and sundry!). She then went down with her cousins. It was only later we knew about her grand entry - with her cousins shouting "Give way to the princess...Cinderella is coming, parak parak" the troupe had marched into the living room and then taken a tour around the house. This had the whole household in splits. A pity it was not caught on tape.

The week during Pongal was very busy with this being the "Thalai Pongal" (first pongal after marriage) for my brother and hubby's cousin. We were shuttling between places. Then we went to Pazhani for the little boy's "mottai". The following sunday we were on our way back to Singapore and we are back to our routine.

Happy Republic Day to all!!