On hearts and father time's tapestry

We have stopped charting up our red and blue hearts every night. I think the kids have gotten the message. Still they award each other hearts, and sometimes we do too, making it a sort of verbal thing and when i return in the evenings, i would ask

"Were you girls good today?"

And Anjali would say

"Mummy, I got ten hundred red hearts and one blue heart because I cried when patti turned off the tv. Sophia got one blue heart because she hit me on the head with the choppu saman"

And Sophia would say

"Mummy, you must give Anjali a blue heayt ok? Because Anjali cyed."

"I didnt cry", Anjali would counter

"you cyed Anjali. When patti was here you cyed. So you have one blue heayt okay?"

Things are getting a bit to the head when Anjali asks me - "If I put my cup in the sink, is it a red heart?" or "iif I clean the floor after painting and put the wiping cloth in the laundry, is it a red heart"

So I told the children yesterday a little story about father time. I think I read it somewhere when i was a kid.

At the birth of each person, father time creates a tapestry. When we do beautiful things, he adds beautiful images to the tapestry. When we do naughty things, he adds ugly images to the tapestry. When we die, he gives us our tapestry as a present. Do we want a beautiful or an ugly tapestry?

Later, when Anjali was returning her drawing materials after filling her birthday countdown chart, she asks me "If I close the marker and return it to the lightbulb lab, is it a red heart?"

"Do you mean if it is a beautiful tapestry?"

 "Yes"

"Ok. You should be able to tell that for yourself. Is what you are doing good, beautiful and true?"

A thought. "yes"

"then it is a good image"

Sophia Dancing

What do you do with three large boxes that have been around for ever

It was Anjali who suggested the idea



You can find her inside if you look carefully


A couple of days later it became a sleeping nook


Anjali tried to sit in and do her beading, but there wasnt enough light. So she took her string out but left the beads in, where Sophia passed them to her through the curtained windows.

The curtains are scraps of cloth with chopsticks through them taped to the windows on both ends

Pirates

The girls played pirates yesterday. We offered to take them to the nature park, but Anjali wanted to do some activities at home. I came up with the idea of pirates, somewhat inspired from the enrichment programme offered at Anjali's school that she is not attending.

"let's be pirates", I said.

"Ok mummy", said Anjali. "You be one pirate, I be one pirate, Sophia bes one pirate, So we have three pirates. And daddy will be a big box of treasure - you can rest if you are a box of treasure you know", she adds to husband.

As a side note I have to comment on some of the grammar. On Sunday, Sophia was pretending to be Aladdin, put a chair on the bed, climbed it (the bed and the chair) and from there tried to climb the window. Each time she reached the first rung of the window grill however, she would jump back down and run to Anjali, who was, at that time, feeding the guinea pigs, and would say

"What Aladdin dooed?"

Anyway, back to the pirate story - I cut up some small squares of paper for the girls to color. Then we punched holes in them to make eye patches. Sophia refused to wear her eye patch as the string was poking her in the eye, but Anjali and I wore our eye patches.

A green duppatta was a boat that was dragged around the floor. On top of it was a fish tank (A toy bathtub) in which my fellow pirate will periodically put fish (balls) in. Ofcourse, there were those NDP fans with teh courtesy lion on them whcih made very passable swords when we were fighting the bad pirate (Sophia) who was following us by riding on a dolphin (her walker/rider toy)

At some point we came across the clashing rocks (the bedroom door) beyond which the big box of treasure lay. Then we had to collaborate with the bad pirate (Anjali's idea) and slash the rocks with our swords (still Anjali's idea) until the rocks broke and then got flushed down the bathyoom (Sophia's idea).

At the treasure island, we dug the treasure, which was buried under a load of sand (bedsheets) and took the treasure back to our home, where we sold the treasure.

Good clean fun!
   

Some things quiet, somethings new

Somethings quiet:

I have been very quiet in the blogging and in general, in a lot of fronts. There are several reasons for this - not all of which are ready to be shared. Sometimes, it gets to be the combination of several small factors that mount up together. predominant among these is the realization that the children are growing up.

I know that they are growing up. I am not stupid. I can see the change in their height, the way they talk, the way they interact with each other and the outside world. But sometimes, some small thing comes forward and chokes you. When too many of these things come forward so close to one another, choking on them becomes rather of a norm, and you tend to get habituated on choking. Not pleasant at all.

Somethings new:
So here are the things that have been flowing, so quickly one after the other that makes me tear up.

1. Anjali lifting up her hair when I zipper her dress up at the back
2. Sophia having opinions: like telling me in the center "I dont want to meditate mummy. I dont want to talk to my star. I dont want my star to shine mummy..."
3. Finally caving in and getting an EZ link card for Anjali. She was rapturous about it. I felt very mixed. Ofcourse I have to. She's over a meter high and the sensor is starting to beep when i take her on the train. But there it is - another concrete evidence of losing a baby
4. Sophia inventing names: Like how she calls the center the "close eyes place"
5. Realizing that Anjali's child EZ link card expires on 2014, and that 2014 is not very far away and then she would be seven years old.

Kumon books

I simply have to post this. When Anjali was two years old, we got her a Kumon beginners maze book. ofcourse, she didnt even understand what a maze was all about. But now, she has finished the whole book and yesterday was buggering me to buy another one. We got it from popular, along with a couple of other Kumon/ general work books.

Anjali has reached a stage where she likes to do a lot of paper and pen work - drawing, tracing, mazes, puzzles... I am not going to push it too much, but will make the resources available.

How to make a cake: Dont read if you have just eaten and are picky about stuff

Mash up bananas and carrots


Hand full of carrots


Hand full of eggs


See how squelchy it all is


Now add flour


It is coming together


At this point, i helped her to pour the stuff onto the baking tray - ofcourse we used our hands

And then we lick the batter clean

Random scenes ffrom around the house: Craft bits

Modified nature table


Upside down tomato plant


Pistashell photoframe


Anjali's song written yesterday evening


Snowmen set to dry that the girls made after watching What's this from nightmare before Chrsitmas

Photos from universal studio

The crappy donkey show


The fairly decent pterandon

Dragon breathing fire

One of Sophia's favorite things to do is to breathe fire like a dragon. Here is how she uses is, along with her general bossy tendencies to get husband out of bed before running to bake cake. Enjoy!

Mother's birthday program

And so it was decided that Anjali shall be progress and Sophia shall be Aditi.

============
I was trying to convince Anjali to wear pink to represent progress.

"No mummy", she who wanted to wear her green gagra said "I want to wear the green sprinkly sparkly dress"... "green is progress because plants are green and plants progress"

I let her wear green
============

"Why is Sophia Aditi and I am progress? I want to be Aditi in the center"

I explained that progress is necessary for Aditi to manifest.

========================
Kiran turned naughty on stage, and so we decided to let Anjali play both progress and courage. She took it up marvellously. When she said "Progress" is was soft, and when she said "courage", it was loud and firm.

=====================
We have a number of conversations about the qualities.

"Who is progress's best friend?" she asked

"Well,", I said, "who do you think is most important for progress?"

"Who?"

"When you want to make progress in your piano, what must you do?"

"I must practice"

"Exactly, that's perseverance"

"So perseverance is progress' friend?"

"Yes. And courage also, because you need courage to persevere"

====================

Sophia playing Aditi was quite a hit. She started walking on the stage, fiddled with the flowers on the vase, walked back to me, smiled prettily at the audience, walked around some more, picked a flower, and walked to Jayalakshmi aunty who was holding the chocolate, took and and said

"I having one chocolate mummy!!"

And then she took the stalk of orchids from me, and put it in the vase where the other children had placed their orchids, ran back all the way going

"I having one chocolate! I having one chocolate over here!"

Husband reckons that I shouldnt make fun of how Sophia speaks, but I simply cant resist it. When she puts on a pouty face and drawls "Why muuuumy?" I simply have to put on the same drawling expression and answer her.

Universal studios

As Mother's birthday program was on Monday, it has seemed like an extended weekend.

On saturday, husband and I took the girls to universal studios. Here is a list of rides that we tried and the kids' and our takes on them

1. Mini dragon roller coaster @ far far away. I am the roller coaster person in the family. And I sat with Sophia, who, after a lot of talk while waiting on the queue about breathing fire and mooku shali on the dragon,  kicked a ruckus and wanted to get off before the ride began. I had to get out with her, leaving husband and Anjali to go on the ride. Anjali was "a little scared" when the ride dropped over a river, and she held on to the dragon. Conclusion: neither kid really wants to go on it again.

2. Shrek 4D movie. Husband and i thought that it was really cool. The girls, especially Sophia, was very scared of the effects. She would have been scared, had there been no effects whatsoever, with all the chasing etc. But with the chasing, and the dragon fire, she was quite crying. Anjali got very annoyed by the donkey yechal. When the show finished, she was quite pouty. Then she perked up when husband showed her where the water dispenser buttons were. Then in the taxi, she struck up an argument with Sophia about how it is not donkey yechal, but just water.

3. Donkey live show. Really lame with an animated donkey doing silly jigs and trying to talk singlish. And surprisingly, the kids liked it and danced with the silly donkey doing silly stuff.

4. Pterandon ride: Sophia clambered on husband's lap in the middle of the ride and they both ignored the dire warnings that no lap sitting is allowed for their own safety.

5. Some Sci FI based merry go round. not bad but it didnt make an impression either way

6. A Steven Spielberg movie special effects thing. One word for it, from me and husband - well done. Evidently, the children didnt think so. It was too realistic, and the fire effects where we could feel the heat from the fire, along with the boat crashing and the window opening caused Anjali to begin crying in my arms, and Sophia to begin crying even earlier in husband's arms. But the show was cool.

I finally finished the spinny speller and other random things

Its been a while since I posted crafty stuff, and so here's what we have been up to in that avenue.

I have made two lapbooks - one about the runaway bunny and another about astronauts. Both have yet to be tried.

I finally took some time to complete the spinny speller. While the original tutorial used wooden square beads, we didnt have those at home, so I decided to go with cardboard dice stuffed with scraps of fabric. The result was usable, but I made a mistake in painting the speller primary colors. Would have been better off with pastels.
===================
I am also making another book, this time using a different kind of illustration. I am not sure how it will turn out, but I am sure that the making of it will be fun.
=======================
There is a kite that has made its nest close to our house. I have seen it twice, circling above the trees when I bike back. It makes me think that it has a nest there, especially since I have seldom seen kites circle so low in Singapore.
====================
Sometimes, I do a bit of literacy proper with Anjali, things like writing a letter on her skin and asking her to recognize what it is. She is pretty good at it.
========================
Sophia has learnt that she is omnipresent in her body. If I asked her who my favorite baby is, she would say "me". And I would say "Where are you?" And she would point to her chest. "So you are not my favorite baby, your chest is my favorite baby.", I would say, kissing her on the chest. Then she would change and point to her nose.. Until suddenly she changed tactics. "I am circling", she exclaimed, quite giggly. "I am circling, here and here and here. "
=====================
"How come you read so fast mummy, ", asks Anjali, as I read her a book over breakfast.

"Because I practice", I said.

"Can you teach me how to read fast?", she asks.

I guess the journey thus begins.
==========================
I have been reading bounce. And got caught at the chapter where the father teaches his daughters chess. I am now very motivated to teach chess to the girls. There is a lot of drama in the chess game and a smart parent could take advantage of it. I wonder if I am smart enough.

=======================
Husband is working more days from home. sometimes up to to or three times a week, so he has officially taken the role of ensuring that Anjali practices her piano. The crux is not the practicing, its the internal motivation and the intrinsic desire of the child to compartmentalize some of her time at the keyboard. I think we are somewhat getting there - yesterday Anjali cried when we were discussing that she didn't practice and that there was no time last night - what with returning from the library at 10pm.

================
I found a website called http://www.daddyread.com It has a beautiful selection of picture books. We borrowed yesterday a number of books from the selection at daddy read and are very happy with the plethora of new authors that have been discovered and the new themes to explore. I was getting a bit tired of Dr Seuss and Julia Donaldson - nice as they are, their themes are getting on my nerves. A book called Pete and Pickles really appealed to my more mature self. And I guess, to the girls also.
=========================

The girls are taking time everyday to do some drawing and painting. Last time we had a playdate with Kiran, Anjali drew a seashell. It was first a seashell, and as she began to color it blue, it became a pond. Then we were talking about a picture of Krishna that she had drawn, probably for last Krishna Jayanthi, and Anjali decided to make her seashell/ pond a peacock feather for Krishna. So after drawing, she taped it to the top of Krishna's head.

Yesterday patti and the girls had been painting. Anjali painted what looked like a bold mass of blues, oranges and purples. "Its a butterfly!", she said.

"I thought it is a landscape", I countered. "The blue is the sea and the orange is the sky?"

"It could be anything you want it to be mummy", she said. "I want it to be a butterfly, so it is a butterfly. If you want it to be a landscape, it can be a landscape!"    

Taking pride in your work

Some where along the way, children learn to compare. Is it innate, part of their nature, to compare themselves with others, or is it something that they develop when they see us comparing and contrasting. We all do it, we do it unconsciously, even when we tell ourselves all about individuality. Comparing, in some ways, leads to imitation, and that helps us to learn.

Yesterday when Sophia and Anjali were playing in the playground, eleven month old Veer, who is just learning to toddle saw the two girls clkimbing the ramp. As Veer's mother and I exchanged pleasantries, it soon became apparent to us that he was trying to copy Sophia as she climbed the ramp. ofcourse, he cant walk much yet, and his attempts often ended up with his bottom on the playground floor. He was not in the least bothered by it, but kept ploughing on up the ramp. I could literally see the determination in his face - If these girls can do it, he thinks - so can I.

Yet comparing and competition results in the development of a complex. We know this about competitions where children do their best and still do not get the prize and then they donot want to compete again.

Something happened at home yesterday after we got back from the playground. I had planned heart printing - to get a bit into the Valentine day spirit. There were some old foam vegetable trays. I had discovered earlier that printing with the foam trays works much better than printing with cardboard or craft foam, and ofcourse, it is recycled and everything. So last night, I cut out three hearts out of an old cucumber tray and gave them with red and purple paints to the girls. As I was free, I also joined the painting. Anjali printed for about ten minutes and then said, rather tearfully

"Why my heart is not as nice as yours?"

"You heart looks very nice", I replied

"No. I want my hearts to be like yours"

I paused. I needed to think this out carefully. I could teach her techniques for better printing, but this didnt seem like the time to point out errors.

"Your heart doesnt look like mine Anjali", I said finally, "because they are not my hearts. They are your hearts."

"But I want my heart to be like yours". More tears

I picked her up and took her to the room. "Nicks. Your heart reflects the person you are. You are not the same as me. You are your own person. So your work can be different from mine, and still be beautiful. Ok?"

A little more tears

"See your painting. Its your work right?"
Nod

"Did you do your best when you painted it?"

Nod

"Thats all that matters. Not whether it looks like mummy's or not."

She nodded. "Now do you want to hang all our hearts on the wall?" I asked

"Want to wash hand", said Sophia, who had a load of purple and red paint on her hands and feet along with the paper prints, none of which looked remotely like hearts. Husband helped to wash Sophia up.

"Mummy", she said, returning from the bathroom "i taking one Schisshors and one schotch tape for you fyom the lightbulb lab!"

Oh. Its much easier when they are two year old!

"Letsh hang the paintings mummy", she continued.

Thankfully, Anjali perked up. "I want to hang them here in the bedroom", she said. "so that I can see them when they dry"

We hung the paintings up. Honestly, Anjali's heart prints didnt look all that different from mine - I'll put up some pictures if I get around to taking them, but they really looked like mine and a casual observer wont be able to distinguish whether a child did them or an adult. Just that hers were red and mine were more purple. 

Tattle tales and observations

Sophia: Mummy, Mummy, when patti was here Anjali ciyed mummy!!
Anjali (calling from the other room): I didnt do any such thing
Sophia: When patti was here you ciyed Anjali.

==============================

Anjali: Mummy, Sophia needs a blue heart
Me: Why?
Anjali: She hit me on the head
Sophia: Soie Anjali. I say soie mummy.
Me: good
Sophia: I having no blue heart?
Me: If you say sorry, then you wont get any blue heart

=======================

At night
Husband: And the prince saw a nest. What was in the nest?
Anjali: Birds!
Husband: Nope. There were eggs
Sophia: Why having no birds in the nesht? Why having only eggs?
Husband: Then the prince saw a snake. What they snake was going to do?
Anjali: It was going to eat the eggs
Husband: Should the prince let the snake eat the eggs?
Sophia: Noooo! Snake alwaysh eat eggsh. Shickens alwaysh eat eggsh
Husband: Chickens dont eat eggs. They lay eggs
Sophia: yesh! shickens  always lay eggsh. My patti alwaysh gives me eggs to eat daddy!
Anjali: No! She doesnt touch eggs. She only touches paruppu sadam. 

What do you do when people comment on your kids

I know it is a problem that many mothers face, being told to do this or that with your kids. Its fine when the comments come from a family member, but for them to come from total strangers is a lot more than I can stomach.

Husband and I were returning with the kids from Sibu and as usual, they were playing on the bus. It was a routine play, not quiet, not overly tantrumy, just the usual singing, talking, sometimes whining, as kids are often apt to do when stuck in a small enclosure for a length of time.

In front of us were the only other people in the bus - it was a mini bus -an American man with his chinese girlfriend (I know their nationalities because I saw them filling up the passport at the ferry terminal). The man was 45 (again courtesy of my nosiness and the ferry terminal form)

So the man and his girlfriend spend several minutes of the journey making clear undertones and signs about how the children are disturbing them, and at one point, when Anjali got up to look in front, he blew his top

"Can you please ask them to behave?", he asks. "We have not had a single moment of peace in this bus!"

Now, I am not supporting my children. I know better than anything else that at times they can get quite rowdy, but this was not one of those occasions. Infact, both husband and I felt that they were generally well behaved. So naturally, I lost my temper

"Please get your own private transporation next time if it bothers you", I told him

"So we have to get a private transportation because your kids are not behaving"

"They are children. Play's what they do"

He rolls his eyes. "Children! Thats the next thing they always say"

"When you have your own, you'll know" I said

That shut him and his girlfriend up. I would have, out of sheer pettiness and spite loved to have the girls annoy him further, but they both fell asleep shortly afterwards.

But I have been very annoyed about the whole episode. And after all this time, i keep thinking about all the nasty things I could have said to him

Like

"If your mother has let you play when you were a kid, you wouldnt be such a narrow minded bloke" (I thought of other adjectives to narrow minded but dont want to put them in the blog)

or

"I am not stopping my children from playing just because a person like you, who obviously has no sense of civility, tells me to"

There. thats out. I feel better.

Heart chart

I saw a craft activity on crafty crow about a string of hearts. It seemed to be a good way to reinforce values. When the children do something good, give them a red heart

We changed it a bit, and made a chart, one for Anjali and one for Sophia, spanning two weeks. The idea was to give a red heart for each good deed/ control of temper/ cooperation/ giving in, and a blue heart for every naughty deed. We are careful not to misuse or overuse them. For instance, if the naugthtyness is part of exploration, we dont give a blue heart. But if the naughtyness causes purposeful hurt, or if it is repeated after several warnings, or if an unnecessary tantrum is thrown, then we award a blue heart.

The idea is to keep track every day of each kid's red and blue hearts and mark the numbers on the chart on the wall to keep track of how they are improving. And also for us. Sometimes, tantrums get overwhelming, and they seem to take over our lives. But keeping a chart makes us realize that the tantrums are only a small part of the day. YEsterday, Anjali had 3 red hearts and 2 blue hearts. Sophia had one red heart.

Ofcourse, I only measure the hearts in the time I am with the children and not the time when patti is when the children, so I guess the number of hearts will increase significantly during the weekends. 

As the children grow up

As the children grow up, their conversations become more and more mature, and sometimes, more and more outrageous.

I heard Anjali telling Sophia - they were pretending to be Glinda and Dorothy

"Dorothy, you must marry me"

"No!"

"I am pregnant you know! So you must marry me"

What on earth?

Sibu Island photos

For those whose silverlight behaves wierdly, they can just click here

Anjali in the flying fox

At Sibu island

I am sitting in the porch of a chalet. The chalet has two rooms- a bedroom and a living room, a small bathroom.

"Why our houshe having no kishen?", asked Sophia, on the first day that we landed here.

Apart from the fact that the houshe has no kishen, even Sophia is impressed by the place.

The kids are both sleeping. They were worn out because the whole three days has been one long picnic with mom and dad. A picnic made all the more better by the fact that mom and dad are not cooking/ looking at the computer/ there are no televisions/ and there is unlimited amount of sand and water.

Given that the children are sleeping, husband took the time off to chase after some shells that have long caught his eyes.

There is a small palm tree right in front of where I am sitting that is swarming with humming birds (does the word swarm apply to humming birds?)

Sometimes, a peacock, or two struts by where we are lounging. The girls got pretty excited the first time they saw the peacock and began to run after it. Fortunately the peacock was running in the direction that we wanted to go. Now they are used to the peacocks, and dont give them more than a passing glance

So far, I have seen three peacocks and one peahen at the same time. There may be more.

Of course, less easy to habituate to are the deer. About 20 of them live on the island, And they all flock out at around 5pm to be fed. They eat right off the girls' hand, and they like being touched when they eat off your hand. I have made about 20 photos with the girls and the deer in various clothes and angles.

And when you get past the peacocks and the deer, there is the beach itself. Beach 1 and beach 2 are sort of the same distance from our chalet. Beach 1 is littered with seashells. It is by far the girls' favorite beach. Husband and I found seashells on the beach. Such sea shells that I have seldom seen outside a shop. Clam shells thrice as big as my palm. The one husband has ran off to get is about five times as big as my palm. Conches just as big, and there are ever so many of them. Of course, we dived and took as many as we think we can carry. Husband has gotten this huge conch which he claims is going to replace all the rubbish that he puts on top of his computer table. I think it will make a very unique flower vase. The first evening that we were here, we collected ever so many seashells and put them all in a big plastic bag.

The next morning, we sorted them out in the porch according to size and color to decide which ones to take with us home and which ones to leave behind.

"Take them all", I said to him. I had never seen shells this unique and perfect elsewhere, even in Tioman, where I had collected a whole bagful of corals and had to bleach them in boiling water several times to get rid of the fishy smell that they gave off.

Maybe we could take some of the more uniform shells and use them to make a photo frame. Anjali and Sophia against the backdrop of the ocean, in a photo mounted on a seashell frame. Mmmm... its a nice idea.

In the dining hall, they have little bowls with seashells in them for decoration. Its a cool idea, but I am thinking woven baskets. Palm baskets will be the best, but newspaper weaving wont be amiss either

Yesterday morning, we went hiking in the jungle. The guide took us to the top of a little hill which overlooked beach 3 and a viewpoint. Then we walked down to beach 4, which required us to come down some rather steep slopes and climb them using ropes.

One thing that I found interesting was how Anjali often asks us to carry her in the road but never when we are climbing the rocks or the forests – something that even thattha noticed in Yercaud. Nevertheless, anjali's climbing skills were a bit rusty – if I am not wrong, her last rock climbing was in Taman Negara and that was nearly eight months ago. I dont know how much of Taman Negara Anjali actually remembers, but she was very surprised with her forest and root climbing agility.

"Anjali, you have been climbing rocks every since you were as small as Sophia", we told her.

"Huh?" she asked. Quite surprised.

Sibu island resort seems to be one of those places where the children can roam around as and how they like. There are no cars – the whole island is so small. The guide said 65 acres, with most of it left as jungle and hill and probably a third of it developed into the resort.

Husband is back, not with one, but five huge seashells. I wonder how we are going to get them out of the border.

Anjali tried the flying fox. I will be putting a video of that in the archives. She was quite brave about the whole thing, and w encouraged her very much. Sophia stood at the base of the flying fox contraption and threw a good little tantrum when she discovered that no one was serious about making her go on it. We couldnt. The thing was three storeys high and I am sure they didnt have a harness small enough for her

This morning we tried a bit of snorkelling. It was more of an experiment, but didnt turn out as well as we had hoped. The children were too young, the waves too violent, and the water not clear enough for a good visibility – at least not near the shore. I guess snorkelling is an experiment that we will leave for a couple of years down the road.

The island of snorkelling though was beautiful. I do have some pictures.

Anjali's sum up: Anjali, mummy, Sophia and daddy went to the rainbow trail. When we went to the rainbow trail, we saw a beach. We built some sandcastles, holes, and filled them up with water.

I miss the deer and the swimming pool with the blue slide and the peacocks and the flying fox.

The funniest part was having Anjali explain to thattha in Tamil about her experiences in Sibu while we were showing him the photos and videos on the computer. It went something like

nama botala ponom, boat turn over pannithu, nama waterla fell panninom, yenna appo shark varum.

"What is this", asks patti, in Tamil, pointing to a photo of a peacock

"idhu mayil", says Anjali

"No. Peacock!" says Sophia

"Mayil in tamil", says Anjali

"No peacock!", insists the contrary one very stubbornly