A day to remember !

It was on that day when my driving license application -after a test was rejected (for the second time !) I took a solemn pledge that I will see to it that my children learn to drive a bike , car , and may be even pilot a plane by the time they are 18 yrs ...

And today ,April 03, 2007 .... sashvat was able to ride his bicycle sans the trainer wheels !! He didnt realise it till I told him ..He thought someone was holding him  He was indeed riding on trust -alone .

Once he realised I was no longer holding , he jumped off the cycle .Sigh.Takes after my side of the family for sure .

Shakti had to come up with something to outshine Anna ,as he was getting all the attention and hugs ...Never the one to let me down -she called out " amma , see I can balance with the trainer wheels on !"


Dejavu .. my own experience of learning to ride a bicycle ..when I was in first year college ...( better late than never )

Somehow the concept of using brakes never appealed to me .The only way I would stop was either by crashing on somthing / somebody or simply jumping off .

And all this for an audience - my four giggly sisters and my father gritting his teeth in utter shame !

We are all in splits even now when we  recall the day I went around an old lady several times not knowing how to stop.. with a basket on her head selling " keerai " with the good intention of not crashing on her ..
But the old lady , like the rest of the world which always misunderstands my intentions -  thought I  was teasing her ,especially since she saw the four foes ( a.k.a my sisters   ) rolling with laughter .

She gave me the choicest of  gaalis in chaste Madras bashai ....Everything happens for the good ( of others in this case !)

Never  the one to give up  we tried our hands at a scooty ... I was very good at getting it started but cant stop ...and my sister was good at riding it -being the well balanced person she is . It must have been a sight ! I used to start and very graciously take the pillion and let my sister ride ! We always went together whereever - Dont you know  it takes two to tango ?

Years passed by , ...I thought with such a loving husband and no necesscity to balance ...driving a car would be easy .
Alas ...the gear , accelerator ,and the brakes ( the villain !) got the better of me ....
Being the second year of marriage there was lots of romance everytime I went on those practice sessions with DH ..but didnt last too long ... I had to choose between my marriage or driving skills ! I chose to drive him around and continue to live as a happily married couple .

He is married . I am Happy .

Deserved it for not heeding my experienced friends advice on hubbies being terrible at teaching their wives to drive .

My so called morale booster - my husband -never fails to remind me of the incident when I hit a scooterist at south end circle and said "it is ok -dont worry '' without for a moment realising they should be the ones saying that !

Unrelenting - I tried once again after four years ...encouraged by Suresh , who used to Drive my DH to office . He too tried teaching me but he could speak only Malayalam and I ran the risk of driving off to TRICHY when ever he said 'tiruchi" in Malayalam ( This PJ is my DHs )

This time I did the test well -did all that was asked but did an awful reverse ..Just  how do I explain to the RTO that I am a very forward looking person and really dont believe in reversing !

Riding a bike , driving a four wheeler -not for me in this janma ...May I add to this list typewriting ( my little finger got stuck in the Brother machine and I came home bleeding .) and walking with sunglasses .  Bizarre sounding though ,I simply become deaf when I wear sunglasses and cant hear a thing !

Therefore I took the pledge to equip my children with all the above skills before they are 18 !And today April-03,2007 I have moved an inch Towards my goal ...Congrats Sashvat !

kadhai kadhaiyaam

Like all mothers' minds mine too is doing overtime these days ...it was one of those days when i was just too tired to start a story -(an unending one always )..I hit upon this great idea (pat pat !) of giving my children a topic and asking them to narrate a story for mommy !

The topic given to my son was "fan "and the story goes thus :

"there are two kinds of fans .one white color and other brown . brown ones are always exhaust .there is a motor which goes round and round .the wings of the fan are traingle .and the motor goes round when the security on's the generator.!"

The topic for he next story was chosen by my son -"coins "

" once there was a boy .he had coins .he put all coins in the bag .and the bag ateup all the coins .the boy was shocked !"

Mani rathnam in the making ??!!

Eee kathai ( Story of a house fly)-A gem !

We have such fantastic pieces of nursery poetry in Tamil, and this one in the form of a little story is my favorite .I must have told my children this "ee kadhai" or Story of the common fly umpteen times with the same gleeful response every time.
The story of the common fly or Eee kadhai  is a memory game, a funny story, all rolled into one.
The story goes thus :
An " Eee" or  common house fly , was about to get married and so started out to give invites to all its friends. The Eee ( being a female) , wanted to dress up for the occassion and applied kajal to the eyes , wore jhumkas et al .
After all that make up the Eee,  sets out on its venture ...But the little Eee in all that dressing up forgot its name, so she went around asking every other creature that crossed her path  for her name in the form of a song .
Eee: Kozhu kozhu kanre en perenna ?( Hey, plump and healthy looking calf, what is my name ?)
The kannukutti ( calf ) nodded its head and said ask my mom.
Eee: KAnrin Thaaye en perenna ? ( Hey, mother of calf do you know my name ? )
The cow said ask my Idayan .(cowherd)
Eee: Thai meikkum idaya en perenna ?( Cowherd, do you know my name ?)
The cowherd says ask my stick.
Eee: Idayan kai kole en perenna ? ( Hey cowherd's stick, what is my name ?)
The stick said ask the tree on which I am hung.
Eee: Kol irukkum kodi mareme en perenna ?( What is my name, oh, creeper on which the cowherd's stick is hung ?)
The Creeper said , ask the stork sitting on me.
Eee: Kodi marathin kokke en perenna ? (Hey Stork sitting on the Creeper , what is my name ?)
The Stork said ask the fish which happens to be my food.
Eee : Kokku thinnum meene en perenna ? ( Hey Fish , who happens to be the Stork's food- what is my name ?)
The fish said to ask the fisherman .
Eee: Meen pidikkum valaya en perenna ? ( Hey , Fish catching fisherman - what is my name ?)
The fisherman referred it to the earthen vessel in his hands.
Eee: Valayan kai chatti en perenna ? ( Hey earthen pot in the hands of the Fisherman, what is my name ?)
The Earthen pot reffered the Fly to the potter who made it.
Eee: Chatti seyyum kuyava n perenna ? ( Hey  Potter who makes the pot , what is my name ?)
The Potter refers to the soil .
Eee: Kuyavan kai manne en perenna ? ( Potters 'clay what is my name ?)
The soil refers the fly to the grass that grows on it.
Eee:Mannil vilayum pulle en perenna ? ( hey grass, which grows on the soil -what is my name ?)
The grass refers it to the horse that eats it .
Eee: Pullai thinnum kuthiraye en perenna ???( Hey Horse that eats the grass, what is my name ?)
(Here comes the climax and the last  mouthful of whatever dinner that I am feeding them ...my children are on the edge of their seats , all starry-eyed , ready to burst out laughing ( every single time).
They make such excellent audience for my  PJ's.
The horse says" heee heeee ..." and the Fly remembers its name!
There is one more , which is a hit with my children that goes ..
Appa kutty magan suppa kutty
suppa kutty magan sundeliyaam
sundeli raajanukku kalyanamam
elie yay koopudungal band vaasika !
It has  a catchy tune . I don't know if there are more verses to this song ...