Little minds at work

V- Amma, does Kali know English?
I- Why? Maybe she does
V- I have a question to ask about her that she might not like and I don’t want her to know that I’m saying something she might not like!!

V- My teacher asked us all to pray for something that she’s lost
I- So, what is this thing that she’s lost?
V- We asked her that and she said that it was a private and personal thing
I- Oh ok, so then just pray for her and hope that she finds it
V- But amma, I think that maybe she’s lost her underwear because that’s only private and personal. I don’t know why the whole class has to pray that she finds her underwear!!

S- Dada, don’t feel bad that I love amma, more, ok?
Dad- And why do you love her more?
S- Come on Dada, she's the one who laid us, not you!

Shriya asked me a question and I was not very sure about how to answer (it was one of those complicated thingies).
I- I'm not sure, will check and get back to you
S- Its ok ma, just google it and we'll then know for sure
I- Excuse me, and how does google know everything?
V- Hey ma, computers know everything!!

Such a blessed birthday!

Shuffling, scurrying, giggling, conspiring. I could hear it all but was strictly forbidden to look. I heard the ping of the oven and the gentle thud of the refrigerator. And then after assembling everybody (my husband and housekeeper) they led me to the table with my eyes shut.

And there was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. A grilled cheese sandwich topped with gummy bears, decorated with  candles. Vaibhav explained- “It only looks like a sandwich, ma, but its actually a cake’! Shriya sweetly offered - “If it's difficult to blow out all the candles and eat all the gummy bears, I can help with some?”

I could feel a sting in my eyes and a grin in my heart. What a wonderfully, thoughtful thing to do! And what impressed me was how amicably they worked together without  bickering or fighting. I blew one candle, popped in a gummy bear and cut into the crispy toasted bread and oozing cheese. What a clever idea, to combine my cake with a good breakfast, I exclaimed. I should have stopped there. But then I added that as I didn’t have a sweet tooth, I did not favour cakes that were not made out of toasted bread. This was perfect!!

Uh-oh!

In front of me was my husband with a scrumptious looking black forest cake, candles and all!!:-)

Dreaming...Twirling!

Shriya has finally started ballet lessons. She has been waiting, pleading to start classes. It was I who delayed things. As a bharatnatyam dancer myself, I knew the right age to start Indian classical was around 7-8. But ballet apparently can be started around 4. Much to her delight, I finally relented and let her start lessons.

So, every Thursday, she dons her tutu and ballet shoes and dances all the way to class.  Its cute…oh so cute! And deep inside I attributed all this interest in ballet simply to the chiffony tutu. I assumed she felt like a princess ballerina (after her favourite tv character, Angelina Ballerina) and did not want to break that pretty little bubble. But the other day, the instructor told me that Shriya is extremely determined and being the youngest in her class,  tries doubly hard.

I can see that Shriya is genuinely keen to learn and her seriousness touches me. Twirl on, little one!