Books

Books and reading are very very important to me. My parents cultivated a reading habit in me and my sister and it continues to date.If we ever wanted to buy a book, no matter how pricey it was or even if it was something that we would never read, my parents have never refused to buy it for us.

I remember in my 10th std holidays, I discovered a small library that was quiet far away from home. I remember taking my bicycle there everyday of my summer holidays and discovering various books- I was heavily into Erich Segal . It started with my mom introducing me to " love story" - I was completely obsessed with him and tried to read all his books .I also devoured Agatha Christie and Jane Austen . I also fell into the Mills and Boon trap and was reading them fervently.Fun times!

When I was even younger , around 8 or so, I think I started reading Enid Blyton books.What a fun author!! The Five find outers, Famous five, Secret seven, magic faraway tree! Wow. Sis/ me and 2 of my neighborhood kids used to pretend that we were the fabulous four :) We would go into a small shed behind our house - where we would meet and drink lemonade and biscuits- just like the books.We did  just that and solved no mysteries unfortunately...We even had a password that you had to utter to get into the shed.We made poor baby sis stand outside because she did not know the "secret password" ;)

Then I graduated to the world of St. Clares and Mallory towers- wow.. mid night feasts and pranks. I used to love dreaming about such fun boarding schools :)

Once I went to college- I was introduced to John Grisham and Sidney sheldon- I didnt have too many people to exchange books with and our college library was a joke.!

My reading habit slowly dwindled and I started reading less and less over the past few recent years.

HD bought me a kindle fire for our anniversary and I am back with a bang!! Have been checking out 5 books every two weeks from our local library and voraciously reading them.The added comfort of being able to check books out from the comfort of my bed on my kindle and have them delivered instantly - ah! bliss!

I will do a post on all the recent books I have read shortly and one about my Aghoo's favorite books. She, to my delight, seems to be obsessed with books just like me!!

Weekend and other udpates

We took Aghoo kutty to the SF zoo.- me, HD, Ava and Ashu ( my sis and Bil-to-be). Much fun was had by all of us.

We started with the childrens zoo area- thinking that Aghoo would like to see it- she was so restless and  had enough of the little "yabbits" and "bunnies" and wanted to go see " giyaffes" and " yions" :)

So, off we went to the bigger zoo area- She loved the zebras , chimpanzees, gorillas, koala bears etc etc.There is a little farm area-where you get to per goats, horses,pigs etc.. Aghoo spontaneously broke into " old mac Donald had a farm " when we she entered there. She kept asking the pigs to "oink", horsies to " neigh" and goats to say " baba". -- " neigh sollu horsie.. good boy pannu.. neigh sollu " Lol!

We then went on a little train ride inside the zoo, where we saw peacocks , penguins etc.She had fun chasing a peacock even!

We had lunch in a cafe- where aghoo pasta packed from home and Amma gorged on a slice of Pizza.

We were all bone tired when we left the zoo. There is a beach right opposite to the zoo- ava/ashu and dada took aghoo there while amma sat down on the pavement and rested a bit.

We made a pit stop at Ashu's house- which is 10 min from the zoo.The bug people had coffee and chatted. Little Aghoo wanted cereal(!!) - which she had :)

We then went to DOSA for dinner -Aghoo fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep till we finished our yummy meals.She woke up and demanded IDLI!!funny little baby,, :)

*Aghooism*
So, this morning I was , as usual being late to work and shouted at poor little Aghoo because she wanted purple clip first, then green clip and geenrally making me late. When we were finally in the car, I told her " Aghoo I am sorry I got angry with you- but if amma is late, my office uncle will get mad and give amma a big time out ok?".She goes " thats ok amma.." and then to the " office uncle"- " office uncle, NO time out for MY amma.. Riya angry ok??" So sweet that my little baby wants to protect me from office uncle, even after I was nasty to her :(

Aghooisms and updates

Aghoo is starting to pick up a lot of English these days . Her primary language is Tamil.

Everyday I ask her how her day was and she always goes " Good" . She usually references herself as "Iya " and has recently started transitioning to "I/Me/Mine" . Yesterday, when i asked her how she was, she said " I fine"!!
She was eating ice cream and she spontaneously says " I like it amma" :)
Her day care provider's father is an old man who walks with a walking stick.She made a walking stick at home by stacking 3 markers and walks around the house saying " like thatha ":):)

Yesterday we had another first of the not-so-nice kind.She fell down from the bed and hit her mouth on the crib. She had a small tear inside her lip and a laceration on the chin.She cried quiet a bit when she saw the blood. She cried even more when we took her to the doctor.

Since HD is travelling, he panicked a bit when he heard the news. When he called my sister to video chat with Aghoo, apparently he teared up on seeing his precious daughter..

** start digression**
Let me record the fact that this guy did not shed a single tear when I, his wife gave birth to his precious daughter-- without taking any anesthesia or pain killers. One measly cut on his precious daughter and the water works open???

**end digression**

So, anyway, at the end of the day, when Aghoo was video chatting with my dad ( her daddy thatha)- she was retelling him the whole story of how she fell down , took her to the doc etc etc. She finishes by saying " riya come home.. dada ipad ( i came home and talked to dada on the ipad).. dada CRY!!!" ROTFL.. She is not going to let him forget this..

She is gong to be starting montessori school in August and I am so nervous for my baby!!

Every night , before going to sleep , she says her prayers ( ramaskanda), then I have to say this whole thing to her where everyone she knows love her.. it goes like this..

Amma loves you
Dada loves you
Ava loves you ( my sis)
Ashu loves you ( my Bil to be)
Chitha loves you ( Hd's bro)
Chithi loves you ( Hd's bro's wife)
Daddythatha loves you ( my dad)
Ammapalya loves you ( my mom)
Appathatha loves you ( hd's dad)
Ummachi palya love you ( hd's mom.. she is ummachi ( God) so ummachi palya)

 and so on .. all her friends, our friends , some times things she will " how abt vacuum?" or how about " blue chair"  and I have to say " vacuum loves you ... blue chair loves you" :):)

We all love you baby.. very much..

So, Whats Aghoo upto?

Since this blog is supposed to be about her and all, I should be chronicling her..

She talks.No - she actually has an answer for every question.She answers questions that aren't even posed to her.I cant believe that the wee little baby of mine has starting spewing so many words and that she has independent thoughts :)

Scene -1
She sees my dad on web cam.He isn't wearing a shirt - only a lungi ;) [ aside- i dont think i can find too many pictures of my dad from my chilhood where he is wearing a shirt :P]

She says " thatha puppy shame. shirt podaliye"
!!
Then she says " thatha- fufu ( hot) iruka? ..shirt podaliye?" ROTFL

Scene 2
We are in the process of potty training her , leading to many many hilarious comments/ scenes.

She comes home from day care and I tell her,
"Aghoo, pee pee time . va bath room polam". She says
" No thank you amma" !!!

Then when she has done the big job in the potty. She says -

"poo poo swim swim pannudu ma" :P I know disgusting!

Scene 3
We are driving home in the car from day care and she is sitting in her car seat .I am telling her something and she doesn't understand what I am saying.
She says " Turn around panni sollu ma"!!


Scene 4
She knows that I have back ache and we have been telling her that that I cant carry her because of that.
Everyday she will ask me if my back ache "mug ow" ( mug= mudhugu and ow= pain) is better. If I say , yes, she will say " appo carry pannu ma"!!

Scene 5
We went to the mall to take professional pictures. There was an animal adoption thingie going on. There were lots of cats and dogs that made Aghoo's day.

So she says " Amma, look! cat!! dog!!
" Yes Aghoo !"
" 1 ,2 cat dog ma" (1,2 = many many in her diction)
" yes baby"
she thinks for a little bit and says " old mac donald had a farm?" ROTFL!

Jerry Sandosky case..

My God! my blood boils when I read about some of the things the witnesses went through. They were children.Under privileged children at that!

The kind of things that they have to actually tell and also prove to a bunch of strangers in a court room. My heart goes out to these kids..

BURN IN HELL YOU A*******

Attempts at Fiction - 1

My attempts- at fiction (;))

She:-hey, why did u call me and hang up?

He- nenapu.. I Mis- dialed.

S-0h..

H- did u want me to call u?

S- no

H- ok. I won't call?

S- No!!!

H- sigh.. Seri Vidu.. What r u upto?

S- nothing.. Hostel common room la iruken.. Need to start studying for tomm.. Potuma?

H- study later. What r u wearing?

S- red salwar

H- with the green pants? Adhu doesn't suit u..

S- hmph!! When did u notice me? Née  dhan yepodum Shilpa va dhane pape?

H- how do u know? Does that mean u r always noticing me?

S- Poda.. Ask ur friends not to shout ur name every time I enter the class room..

H- then why do u smile( slighta) when they shout?

S-No I don't!

H- fine.. Canteen poviya evening?

S- probably... Nee?

H- nah!! Velila poren

2 hrs later

S-so how long were u waiting for me in the canteen?

H- who said I was waiting for u?? Chumma vanden... Yedhuku sari kattitu vande?

S- Chumma.. Yen??

H- u looked cute:)

S- adada compliment lam thare? R u drunk?

H- illadi..seri ippo yena Padika poriya?

S- amam- u better study for a little bit bfor u go out..

H- serida..... See u tomm?

S- k. Bye

2 hrs later

H- hey?

S- hmm?

H- padikariya?

S- trying. Née?

H-velila poga poren

S- ok..

H- I wanna see u...

S- ippava???

H- pinna? 5 yrs kazhicha? Ipa dhan!!

S- r U kidding me?time is9 pm

H- seri varadhey.. Am going out . Bye

S- kochikadhey da....

 30 min later

H- y did u come?

S- oh! I had to make an international call.. So phone booth vanden..

H- nambiten

S- Poda!

H- hey

S-  hmm?

H- thanks da chellam

S-:) ..paathu Po .. Don't get drunk?

H- seri da.. Sleep tight ..

S- :)

Going under

Made the blog Private.
Its not like I am a huge celebrity and people are dying to track me down. Its just that the past few days, I think of writing something, then I am afraid it will be read by someone i know (outside of this group ofcourse)...

Hope to write more..