virtual reality

i personally wished a friend “happy birthday.” i showed up on her doorstep.
and bought her a nice present.

and she says: “yes. but please post your birthday wish on my facebook wall. I’d appreciate that the most.”

*Exit MiM. scratching her head*

o.n.e

to the baby boy who has the LOUDEST laugh in our home…

firstborn’s laugh: is peal after peal. when he’s tickled. when he tells the same ol’ knock knock joke. sometimes his laugh is more a snort.

my laugh : “sounds like a classic Ford engine,” (my friend Eka-lavya once said)

the MMMiM: is of the unsmiling acquiline profiled. so we dont know how his laugh sounds like. he may have laughed in 1984. nothing more than a mere upward twitch of the lips after that.

baby param’s laugh: is like ghatotgacha on a roll… ahahahahaha… ahahahahaha
ahahahahahhaaa…
and he sounds just as LOUD too!

happy one. son.

compare :

pic courtesy internet

angelina jolie’s fish lips

to baby param’s on the header

now that’s what i call a friend…

chennai; august 26

my ma’s friend: baby param’s birthday is on 28 August. Happy Birthday in advance to him.

my ma: no it’s on August 27.

friend: no August 28. I am sure!

my ma calls me to check. and the friend is right after all.

gawsh! eyewitnesses say my ma apparently looked SHEEPISH! awww shucks! see how many things you miss when you live abroad

the hand-made/local tag!

In four years of living with the firstborn. I have bought him only one plaything — a puzzle.
i’d like to put it this way. I may have bought only one per cent of firstborn’s toy collection but i buy nearly 99 per cent of his books.

I dislike stuffed toys. so that’s out.
I dislike cars. so that’s out.
I dislike dolls. so that’s out too.

and what is left?

me. I am his real-live, recycling-friendly environmentally-reasonably friendly toy. so what else does he need? right? right!

but this is what he has…

a lovely train set in wood — from khadi gramudyog bhavan, chennai. — a present to firstborn from smal.

and a little wooden “gems” car (since all the wheels look like Cadbury’s Gems) — that was Rs. 40. — a present from my ma from a handicrafts exhibition in CP Art Centre, chennai.
**
I am wary of the big eating up the small. I have always been. The giant machine-made corp. crowding into the small toy-maker’s space.

We can help by buying what is
1. handmade
2.a local product.
**
Here in KL. One place i liked is called “pasar seni” . this is a heritage building turned into a crafts centre.

picture courtesy: internet

this toy I picked up was for the MMMiM. this hand-drum is unique to Malaysia and is played at weddings. The MMMiM has a great sense of rhythm and this is really a perfect replacement for the plastic bucket he used to bring out, whenever he liked a song.

pic from internet

P.S(this is a tag picked from the google-like chox.)

here are the rules
1. tell us about the toys that are handmade/local that your kid has(post pix if you can)
2 tell us about great places /sites/resourcesto look for them in your area
3. tag five other mums

I would like to force-feed this tag on…

MGM: and get to know what is local there in Norway (and you are already sitting on another tag, MGM)

by dear friend Bhu: who is also an expert on early childhood

Shruti: li’l P’s toy train and other yummy handmade toys — pliss to show us

sur: with your eye for art … pliss tell us where you go in Mumbai?

the mad momma: a peek into the b and b’s nursery’s top most.

ETA: go here to read art’s post

“each of ganesha’s five hands can hold…

a stick
bournvita
milo
coffee and
buttermilk,” according to firstborn.

ganesha, would use his stick to shoo off other envious thirsty gods. but only after placing all the four aforementioned beverages on the dining table.

“else they would spill, amma.”

that’s my firstborn.
even in his imagination he remains his ultra-cautious self.

and here’s …

part 4! brought to you by mft

part 3 of the violin maestro series is here…

click here to read it
and this part was brought to you by TPL

today…

no grandparents watching cartoons
no grandchildren watching TV soaps.
…
not quite.

I tried to create an atmosphere of silence for baby param’s nap.
and he woke up.

I tried to create an atmosphere of dark coolness so baby param would nap.
and he woke up.

I made daughter-in-law scheme, husbands wimpy, and random women cry buckets. In very irrelevantly high volume. (aka switched on SUN TV) And he’s sleeping on…

parting…

my dad would say : bye
ma would just : leave

au contraire. the in-laws.

mil has kissed baby param : 2500 times
worried about how on earth I am going to manage: 8 million times
fil has checked his ticket: 8.1 million times
mil has told firstborn to be model child: 17 times
mil is saying bye to every God’s picture in household: 3 times over
fil has used three rolls of sellotape and a bottle of glue: to paste fwding address labels : on TWO smallish bags.
the mil is teary-eyed and quavery: yet again

and the MMMiM’s face looks exactly like this: 😦