Junjun Remix

Stop says the Green light, Go says the...

arjun, isnt it 'Stop says the Red light'??

no amma, this is different song.


i doubt whoever thought of educating-through-music bargained for a little creativity throwing a spanner in their works!!

My li'l zebra

Our faces are still hurting a bit from smiling so much.

The hall was filled with the children's parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, neighbhours, countrymen and i suspect it was with great difficulty that people left their pets at home.

Everybody cheered for every child as if he/she was their own. One child sang a really long classical music-ish prayer song and gave all the parents including us a complex(ex : gosh...arjun can barely sing ba ba black sheep correctly!!)

Another little boy actually gave the welcome address, all in one breath, without missing a beat and didnt help our self esteem one bit.

When it was arjun's turn to come on stage, maddy and i were pretty calm and collected if one did not notice our tightly held hands. Our zebra, wearing a pair of zebra striped dungarees with a white shirt, didnt let us down. When a hand pushed him on to the stage from the wings, he kind of hop-ran and took his place and kept peeping at the teacher in the wings. Then he gave up on her and started biting his nails and scanning the audience for us ... which was okay because all eyes were on the wailing little lion who kept walking into the wings and then kept getting shoved right back on stage. He was the real star of the show...tears and all :)

Needless to say, they got a thunderous round of applause like everybody else :)

So it was not as bad as we thought it would be.

junjun went happily to school today when i told him 'no more dancing'. Still feels strange saying that to a boy who sets the floor on fire when he dances at home!!

Dance Dodger

We had just about succeeded in developing selective amnesia about 'Sports Day' when the school actually thought it a good idea to send us a CD of the photographs of that .. ahem..special ocassion !?!

Now the note in his diary said we were to pay a certain amount for the video recording and costume for the ANNUAL DAY. I felt the undeniable stirrings of unease.

Rehearsals for the dances started. But that nagging feeling wouldn't go away.

My fears, it seems, were not unfounded.

Today i got called into the school with an ominous 'madam wants to talk to you'

Heart in mouth, i went in. There sat the principal of the play school, looking particularly woeful. I said Hi. And this is what i got in return.

"Arjun is JUST not dancing. He says the music is not nice and he doesn't like this dance. He says he will dance only to the music that comes from the music system in his house. One whole week, we have been talking to him trying to convince him to dance but he just refuses.

Yesterday, he started crying. First he was in a different dance but now we have put him in the simple 'zoo baby' dance. Here he is a zebra and just has to jump up and down and he refuses to do even that. Seeing him, the kids who were dancing properly are also not dancing. Please talk to him! "

Had it not been for her angst filled expression,I would have laughed my heart out and given her a big hug. I suspected she would take serious offence if i even smiled. So i solemnly promised to talk to him.

Back home,i asked him why he was not dancing. "That dance is not nice amma. I like jab-we-met music only. i will dance at home amma. i DONT like to dance in school'

After a lot of coaxing and cajoling i finally gave in to the highly undesirable but effective method of getting things done from a three year old. Bribery and corruption.

"Arjun, if you dance really well, Acha and i promise to take you to xyz rides. But i will check with your teacher, ok?"

Arjun has promised to dance 'very very well'

March 22nd is the day of reckoning. I am kinda hoping a certain jumpy zebra will be the star of the show...but that nagging feeling is just not going away....

The numbers game

Amma, what is your number?

Eh?

Your NUMBER amma??

My phone number?

No amma your NUMBER.

I dont know...what is YOUR number?

Three

oh...err.... mine is beep beep

Ohhhhh so much big number?


Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

Cricketing Chaos?

Disclaimer : I am not even half way through to being a cricket enthusiast.

Having said that, what i do know is that to function effectively as a team, people need to be able to get along fairly decently. And they need to feel a sense of loyalty. From this point of view, i fear for the IPL Teams.

I suspect the dynamics within each team in the IPL will be far more entertaining than their on field exploits. I wont be surprised if a whole new gendre of tabloids are born to feed off this event. "Robin Uthappa admits its easier to play against Bangalore when he thinks of its awful traffic". Ricky Ponting, on his dismal batting performance says 'For the money you are paying me, this is all you are going to get mate!

I can just see Team Management rushing to all the Team Building Programs flourishing today. Only, post the program, the players might chant 'I am special' over and over or worse, decide to focus on their 'Real' selves.

'Who am I?' 'What do i want from life?' Eternal doubts raised forever!!

My frivolous thought process apart, i have heard that the more developed nations now think India is a rich country post Mukesh Ambani's richest-man-in-the-world news and the IPL Auction. So organizations involved in charity and social developmental projects are now shifting their focus to Africa. They actually think India has it made. Harried Indians in those countries are trying desperately to get these people's attention back to the fact that it is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer scenario. Who would have thought of such repercussions?

There is something so terribly unsettling about this whole thing.

This one is for the ladies

I tried posting this earlier but didnt do it too well. Something wrong with the visual. So i shall, instead, type out the words and hope the effect is not lost.
Being Women's Day and all that, i guess its appropriate i post it today. Thank you Ani for sending this to me :)

Dear Lord,

I pray for Wisdom, to understand a man
Love, to forgive him
And Patience, for his moods
Because Lord, if i pray for Strength
I'll just beat him to death.

Happy Women's Day everybody!! ;)

A love-ly story

There was this boy and girl. They were friends. They had not even finished school. The boy decides this is the girl he wants to marry. And tells his mom. Not the girl. His Mom. Mom sits him down and tells him that a girl (and she should know) will want to marry a boy who is 'well-settled' so she knows he can take good care of her. So first, he would have to finish his studies, get a really good job and earn lots of money before he puts this idea across to to the girl or she was just going to say no.

Boy thinks about this. His marks undergo a dramatic improvement in school. One day he overhears an uncle who was an engineer being referred to as being 'well-settled' Believes being an engineer would make one well settled. Goes on to finish his engineering. Gets recruited by a really really big software firm, and goes on to do very well there. By now, he can smile about that girl and how he felt for her. Goes on to meet his soul mate through an arranged marriage. Lives happily ever after.

I love the role played by the mom in this story. I know one day arjun will feel this way. I hope and pray that he will come and talk to me about it and that i can deal with it as sweetly and as sensibly as this mom did.

Moms Rule!!!! ;)

?

This totally escapes me.

Deepika Padukone who must be all of ..i dont know...21??...saying the secret of her 'youthful' skin is Fiama Di Wills.

I am so beginning to relate to whoever said youth is wasted on the young.

I guess this means i have just declared myself middle aged. At the least.

hmmppphh....