So the annual festival of gluttony and over-eating has been and done with. After months of whipping everyone to a “CHRISTMAS IS COMING” frenzy, the shops are now welcoming people in by the busloads, promising them twin carrots in the form of heavy discounts and less VAT.
But things chez moi cannot be more different. As one or the other of us chooses to fall prey to stray viruses, we are staying firmly put inside the warm walls of our house. The times I feel my wallet flutter against the …

Pratik’s learning about animals and their habitats at school. He was asked to take a book on them yesterday to share with his friends. So I asked him what he had learnt. Conversation ran thus:
Me: What did you learn about animals then?
P: Did you know that some animals are awake only at night?
Me: Uh-huh.
P: They are called noc-tur-nal, they are.
Me: Very good. Do you know what the animals that are awake during the day called?
P: Normal?

So my son asked me today, when I was feeding his sister:
“Cows and goats eat grass to give milk. So do mums eat grass too?”
Who wants to answer?

So P got his first ever certificate yesterday. He has been attending Kumon maths for the past couple of months. His dad and I were surprised when the teacher told us couple of weeks back that P would be taking his current level test. A test? After just 7 weeks? Oh well, we thought, nice experience.
Imagine our pride when he aced the test! Woo-hoo! So yesterday, he got his ‘Achievement Certificate’ and got his picture taken with it. It was hilarious watching him play to the camera. Now that …

My Baby is 6 today! I know, I cannot believe it! I keep looking at him, looking just the same as he did yesterday and the day before and today, suddenly, he is a year older. How surreal is this? Where was the red-faced, wrinkled, squalling baby I held seconds after he was born? When did he go and become this child-person who talks cohesively? What the hell have I done with the years?Already, he is concerned that he is becoming older (!) and that in a few years his …

So we had the first scan today, at 12 weeks. I was apprehensive about it for two reasons – any possible anamoly and more importantly, the requisite full bladder. Keeping a litre of water in for more than an hour, when I know my bladder is full is a feat I have never attempted before. My bladder generally works on a ‘see water, will go’ principle. The time I had to sit in a half-day long training with the coffee machine going ‘drip drip drip’ less than two paces behind …

Ever tried selling one of the stories from Ramayana or Mahabharata to a child today? Especially one raised on a PG or U certificate rating anywhere else but in India? Hair-raising, I tell you. For one, the stories are all way too gory for their bland tastes. Tell them so-on-so chopped the other bloke’s finger or head off and watch young eyes turn into saucers. The whys and whats and loud gasps would take days to stem, leave alone the increased Nightmare Alert.
If your child is not raised on an …

So the shaky tooth fell earlier this morning. The first one! WAHEY! Tooth Fairy, armed with a gold coin no less, is expected to put in an appearance around midnight. In the meantime, here’s my little man with his gappy smile.

This morning, P came up with this startling statement:
“I am so happy  I am not a girl – so no one can put babies in my tummy!”
Speechless is what I am.

My son will grow up to be a great interrogator, am sure. He gets down to the res immediately, no faffing around. Last weekend, I was ten minutes into my weekly phone call with my mum when she mentioned that my dad has now taken this job of becoming a grandpa all over again so seriously, he has decided to go in for some false teeth. Apparently, there was some minor disagreement with a tourist bus and the car he was in somewhere on the Madras-Tirupathy highway re whose right …

You know they say “be aware of what you tell your children; it may well come back to bite you in your ass”? Well, it happens to me many a time but the ninny that I am, I keep spinning my web of lies and flounder as my son ties me in knots using the same slimy thread.
For instance, when P was very little, he once asked me why we got married. A thousand replies weaved through my head:
“To shove a thumb up your paternal grandparents noses”
“To have hot, monkey …