An explosion of words

We were at the airport. It was close to midnight, India time, we had checked in, cleared customs and were waiting to board the airplane. Anjali was sleeping in patti's arms. Sophia had woken up straight after checkin and had refused to go back to sleep. Husband and I decided to take a trip to the airport bookshop - Sophia was in my arms

We were browsing, when the imp suddenly said

"mum mum"

I looked around, and sure enough, there was a recipe book in the collection with tantalising pictures of idlis on the cover. I flipped it and Sophia spent an enjoyable three minutes perusing the pictures, exclaiming "mum mum" and "jus"

The book finished and I looked among the volumes for something more inspirational. My eyes fell on some issues of tinkle magazine, the cover of the top most one featured suppandi stepping on some stones to cross a river

"apu", says the imp. Yes, apu, I said
(For sophia, water in a tumbler/ bottle is jus and anything else is apu)

We flipped until we reached another story

"oorrr"

There was a tiger on the page

and then

"anai"

for something with an elephant

We got in the plane and were flipping through the entertainment pages in the magazine. (I dont know why I bother to do that, it has been three years since I actually watched a movie on the plane).

"do. do"

I looked a1ll around, trying to spot what she was referring to.

"do, do"

And there is was, in a corner, a thumbnail poeter, 2 cm by 2 cm for the movie UP

Dakshin chitra

Henna
Anjali really wanted henna, and this made her happy

A house with a thinnai. How long it has been since I saw one.

Learning how to work with palm leaves

Later, we told Shankar mama that we had been to Dhakshin Chitra

What is that?

Kumar thattha: You know the houses in vittalur, they take the houses and put them there and ask you money to see them

Thattha: Shankar is thinking about why he didnt ask money to put his vittalur house in there

visit to crocodile farm

Sophia's blooming buzzing vocabulary budded during our visit to the crocodile farm. We were at the snake gallery looking at the pythons

"Anjali, see, that is a python"

Sophia: Ptho

We turned to leave the gallery. Sophia began to cry and point backwards

"Ptho Pthon"

Which, I supposed meant python, so we simply had to turn back for a second look

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you

Those crocs are waiting for food
Please dont drop the girl
birds in the background

Husband enjoying pollution free air after 4 days in chennai

days in chennai

The first days in Chennai included three days of visiting relatives - grandparents and uncles and aunts, most of whom the girls knew only by name. I wonder if two or three hours of play in a certain home is enough for the girls to remember the home and the people living there... Anjali remembered Chitra patti, Kumar thattha and Sandhya very well (stories of what went on there would follow).

There was a particularly memorable incident in Picchai mama's house where Jayanthy mami let them run loose in the altar, and the girls had kolam mavu and flower petals all over the house (Jayanthy mami claimed that the cleaning lady was due to arrive at 4pm and would take care of the mess)

A evening in Periyappa's house, where, saturated with adai, idli and pongal, along with periyappa's stories about dragons and damsels in distress, Anjali loosened up much more in front of strangers than I had ever seen her do.

A nice half hour spent on the terrace of sumathi chitthi's house, where the girls, stripped down to their underwear, took advantage of the bare space and the corner tap to slish and splash and splosh about, and to pour water down three storeys

But the sad bit was that when the girls were just getting nice and warmed up, it was time to leave. Sandhya was about the only person with whom the girls played without looking for me for a long period of time and thats because we spent most of the time staying in Sandhya's house.

Sandhya, in her part, I think, had a great time cleaning up red paint (which she had meticulously set up on top of layers of newspapers on the floor, layers which the girls totally ignored, as that painted all over the nice white floor), and hamam soap, which Anjali and Sophia decided was playdough, and used their fingernails to scrape it into pieces and put it all over her floor. That mess was not cleaned properly till we left. patti says that there is no need to put soap to mop the house for three days. i told Sandhya that she need not take a bath, just roll around the floor for a couple of days and it will be all fine.

We took many photos during the road trips, and the pictures in the houses in chennai are limited, but here are those that have been taken

Story time with Chandru thattha

Sandhya reading puss in boots with the girls. Sandhya has more pictures, as her camera was more accessible. Pictures of the girls painting the floor, and dunking themselves in the bath, and putting hamam soap all over the floor


Painting on Sandhya's room
Anjali peels an onion. Chitra patti wanted to frame the onion or something, but didnt end up doing it
Shruti and Anjali on the first day in India. Anjali is half sleepy and groggy

An eventful plane trip

The flight was scheduled for 9am. The plan was for us to be in the airport by 7am, for thattha and patti to come at 6 in the morning to acasa and to take the taxi from there. The imps, who normally never wake up before 7.30, were supposed to be carried in their sleep to the taxi.

However, this was not to be. Both imps woke up at 5.45 and refused to return to bed. They were put in the taxi and taken to the airport, where they had a great time at customs and charmed all the officers (maybe, next time, they could charm some more and get us upgraded). Anyway, so we got into the plane.

And then the tricks began. Sophia slept in my arms, having woken up at 5.45 tired her out. Patti offered to keep Sophia while I made Anjali sleep. That was not to be, as, immediately after reaching patti's arms, Sophia let out a shriek and woke up. Then began the circus, the details of which are fuzzy. It involved - loud singing, smiling at all the other passengers, walking up and down the aisle with husband (who had earlier said that Sophia would walk to the door and say "out"). She didnt do that, though she tried a couple of times to go into the first class, some crying, snatching all the headphones etc.

One event sticks out loud. I had taken Anjali to the bathroom. When I came back, rather proud of myself and of Anjali, the other little imp was covered from top to toe with idli sambar. Anjali's seat too was covered with idli and sambhar. None of the grown ups offered a clear explanation. Husband mumbled something about how Sophia reached the meal plate and then the whole thing toppled on her (that is kind of obvious from her state)

I guess Jet airways was glad to see the back of us. And the seats we left behind were not museum pieces. In addition to the remanants of the toppled tray, there were other souvenirs - pieces of paper, airplane pillows (probably covered with sambar too) etc.

Both girls fell asleep at half an hour before we were due to land, when I, out of sheer desperation and need for sleep, turned on karadi rhymes on the plane tv. That kept Anjali occcupied while Sophia drifted off, and then I was able to make Anjali sleep. But half hour before landing is not enough for a sleep deprived mother and therefore sleep deprived I remained, until night.

after a long time: Highlights on trip to India

We just got back from India after a long three week break. A lot of things happened, which will each make wonderful mini stories. They include

1. An eventful flight trip to Chennai (which included a tray table of food, no sleep and me, out of desperation, turning on the tv)
2. The first few days of visiting relatives and acclimatization, visits to Dhakshin Chitra and the crocodile farm
3. Sophia's birthday celebrations
4. The road trip to Auroville: Mahaballipuram
5. Forest walks in Auroville
6. The road trip to Kumbakonam: Highlights include several sightings of eagles
7. Darasuram temple
8. Swamimalai and tonsures
9. Trip to Yercaud
10: Back to Chennai and playing with all the relatives
11. The relatively uneventful flight back home

More stories to follow

books

I took the morning off today. Sophia and patti and I got back from the playground, after which patti hung the imp's feet over the sink and washed her up.

Then she took Sophia to the bedroom to grab a towel. AS patti was wiping Sophia, Sophia began the chant

"bu, bu, bu, bu"

We continued to the living room to finish wiping her off and changing her shirt.

"bu, bu bu"

"Wait", said patti "I'll change your dress and then your mummy will give you booba"

But I thought that the imp was meaning something else. Her way of saying booba was "bua bua"

"You want a book?"

Imp looks at me.

"bu , bu bububububububu"

After changing her clothes, I carried her to the bedroom. There, on top of Anjali's cupboard were the set of books that we were reading last night, among them, the pooh nature book that husband and Sophia had spent a particularly happy half hour exploring.

I picked the whole stack of books and dumped them on the living room floor.

"There. Which book do you want?"

Predictably, she chose the pooh book. Sophia flipped through the pooh book and I pointed to some of the snimals and stuff on it. A few minutes later, patti asked me a question and I went to the bedroom to look for something.

Imp began to cry.

"bu bu bu bu"

"I am coming. wait, just let me check this"

"bu bu bu, wah wah wah"

What patti asked me was not really important. So I dropped the task and came to the living room. Imp was carrying the open pooh book (its big and fairly heavy), and was trying to walk towards me

"bu bu bu"

The I sat down beside her and took the book.

She gave a satisfied sort of giggle and spent a happy quarteer of an hour mentioning all about

"be" (birds), "da" (ducks), "ba" (bears) etc

tomatoes tomatoes

Guess what, my one year old knows that tomatoes grow grow

And that cars go brrr

and that sheep go baaa

If I tell husband that I want to turn off the tv when the vegetable cd is running, she begins to look at me and cry

Spicy food

Anjali had broccoli and potatoes for lunch on Saturday. Husband was eating drumstick sambhar and had some drumstick skin on his plate.

Anjali grabbed a drumstick skin off husband's plate and was munching it.

This didnt strike me as too hygenic, so i tried to make her give it up.

No go

patti had a better idea, which was to exchange the skin with a new drumstick from the sambar.

Anjali took the new drumstick and put it in her mouth.

"waah waah waah"

"what happened?"

"Its spicy"

After that, everything on the plate was spicy, even the stemed broccoli and potatoes, which just had salt in them.

That is funny, because patti puts jaggery and sugar in her sambar
==========

later we told Anjali

"When you go to India people will give you only spicy food. What will you do?"

To which she immediately begins

"I'll put some cheese and gobble up all the spicy food. That is my question. Then there will be no more spicy food in the world. I'll put some cheese and gobble up all the spicy food"

First sentences

Sophia is really talking, and it is very amusing to see her words develop and come out of her mouth. We were at the playground near patti's house yesterday evening. Anjali and Sophia were playing and thattha had come down with us.

Both girls ignored their shoes and ran barefoot on the playground floor.

Sophia was on the slide, and Anjali on teh other side. Thattha was with Sophia

"la la la la"

"Ok, you can sit on the side"

"la la la la"

"Oh, there is a dog"

I carried Sophia to the dog and Anjali came running behind. After Anjali had petted and hugged the dog (Sophia doesnt do it, she just goes really close to the dog and says hello, but refuses to touch), the dog went running and we went back to the playground

Imp holds out her hands

"thathathaaaaa"

Thattha carried imp

"did you see the lol lol?"

"lol bu bie!!"
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The cool thing is that she can understand nearly everything we say in both Tamil and English. Husband says that the stuff she doesnt seem to understand is not that she cant understand, but that it just doesnt fall into her agenda and she chooses to ignore it