Bed-time tales - II

As difficult is it to put Sid to sleep in the night, its even more difficult to wake him up in the morning, to get ready for the school. On weekdays, he will protest and cry even if we wake him at at 7 o'clock. But many times, on weekends and holidays, he gets up early by himself - sometimes as early as 6 am. And then wake us up - while we would like to catch up on sleep a little - "Dekho subah ho gayee, uthne ka time ho gaya na, main curtains khol doon?" [See, its already morning, its time to wake up, shall I open the curtains?]

One friday morning, he woke up quite early, around 6:30, while we were still having our morning tea. Surprised, we asked him, "Aaj aap itni jaldi kyun uth gaye?"
Sid: Mujhe laga ki aaj saturday hai!!

###
Us: Why did you get up so early today?

Sid: I thought today was saturday!!

###

This saturday morning, once again, he woke up early - just as I was waking up, but before I was ready to get out of the bed. He smiled at me and said, 

"Mujhe bahut bhookh lag rahi hai".
Me (sleepy and lazy): Ok, I'll give you some milk
Sid: Nahin, usse kuch nahin hoga
Events of two days earlier got me on to his agenda at this point, but I played innocent.
Me: I'll put some chocos and honey-loops in the milk
Sid: Nahin usse bhi kuch nahin hoga
Me: Phir kisse hoga?
Sid: Breakfast se ...
Me: Breakfast mein kya khaoge?
Sid: Jo bhi aap banaoge
Me: Parantha?
Sid: Parantha nahin
Me: Poha? Seviyan?
Sid: Nahin
Me: Aaj to breakfast mein Parantha, poha, seviyan, idli, yahi ban sakta hai
Sid (sad and disappointed): Nahin ye sab nahin chahiye
And I was looking at his face, laughing inwardly, waiting for the truth to come out ...
After few minutes, it did:
"Maine kitne dinon se pasta nahin khaya na!!"
###
Sid: I am so hungry!
Me (sleepy and lazy): Ok, I'll give you some milk
Sid: That won't help
Events of two days earlier got me on to his agenda at this point, but I played innocent.
Me: I'll put some chocos and honey-loops in the milk
Sid: Even that won't help
Me: Then what do you want?
Sid: Breakfast ...
Me: What will you have for breakfast?
Sid: Whatever you will make
Me: Parantha?
Sid: No, not Parantha
Me: Poha? Seviyan?
Sid: No ...
Me: Today I can only make one of these .. Parantha, poha, seviyan, idli ...
Sid (sad and disappointed): No, I dont want these ....
After few minutes, the truth to came out ...
"I haven't had pasta for so many days!!"
###

Part 1: Bed-time tales

Bed-time tales

It is very difficult to put Sid to sleep at night - the naughty guy always tries to find excuses to delay going to sleep.

One day, I was trying to put him to sleep, while N was winding up the things around the house for the day. Sid was, as usual, in a playful mood, evading going to bed. So I tried to scare him ...
Me: Jaldi so jao, nahin to papa daantenge.
N (loudly, from kitchen, pretending to be angry): Ye soya nahin abhi tak?!
Me: Dekh lo, papa daant rahe hain ...
Sid (cheerfully): Nahin, mere ko nahin daant rahe, aap ko daant rahe hain!!
###
Me: Go to sleep quickly, otherwise papa will scold you.
N (loudly, from kitchen, pretending to be angry): He hasn't slept yet?!
Me: See, papa is scolding you ...
Sid (cheerfully): No, he is not scolding me, he is scolding you!!
###


Yet another time, as I put him to bed, he started crying (as you can figure out, it was just another excuse ...) "Aaj maine Aryan ke saath nahin khela..."
So I tried to calm him: Ek din mein sab kuch nahin ho pata. Dekho, aapne school se aa kar kitna kuch kiya to ... blocks se khela, TV dekha, homework kiya, niche park mein khela ... 

He immediately protested: Par homework koii masti nahin hota!!

###
Sid (crying): I didn't play with Aryan today ...

Me: You can't do everything in one day. You did so many things after coming back from school ... played with blocks, watched TV, did your homework, went down to play in the park ... 

Sid: But homework is not something fun!

###

Whose song is it anyway?

When Sid takes a liking to a song, it becomes his song - "Ye to mera song hai". He gets quite excited when a snippet plays on the TV (and it does air quite often, around the relase of the movie); after a while he is able to recognize it even on the radio, just from the initial music.

One such favorite song was "Rabba main to mar gaya oye" from 2011 hindi movie "Mausam". Yesterday evening, as we were driving in the car, this song came up on the radio, and even as the initial beats were playing N asked Sid, "Ye kiska song hai?"
Sid listened for a couple of seconds and said, "mera!"

I was quite amazed, I could not recognize it at all, and this little guy could do it after a gap of few months!
N checked again, Pakka, ye aapka song hai? Ya papa ka?
This time, Sid replied with more confidence, "Nahin, ye mera song hai."
In this while, the lyrics came on, and Sid told N, "Dekho, maine kaha tha na ye mera song hai"

To prove his claim, he started describing the video:
"Mujhe iski AD (he meant the video trailer) bhi yaad hai. Isme ek boy hota hai, aur woh tree mein hide karta hai. Aur uski mumma use dhoondh rahi thi."
This left us in splits, and we tried to tell him, "Woh to theek hai, par wo uski mumma nahin thi!!" [For those who don't remember, or couldn't make out, the "boy" was Shahid Kapur, and the "mumma" was the heroine - Sonam Kapoor"]
But he was confident, "Nahin mujhe pata hai. Woh uski "mumma" hi thi aur use dhoondh rahi thi."
So we stopeed trying to convince him, and just listened on.
"Woh neeche let jata hai jameen mein. Phir uski mumma usko neeche se bhi dekh rahi thi. Aur ek baar woh andhere mein baitha hota hai aur uski mumma baithee hoti hai .... dekho mujhe poori ad yaad hai! Ye mera hi song hai na!!"

Hmm, quite a good description, but the "mumma" in the story had us laugh like crazy for a few minutes!

EDiJ - the rest of the month

I think I made good progress on EDiJ challenge after the previous post. I didn't miss too many, and graduated to colors too :-)

EDiJ #20 Draw a screw.

 

EDiJ #21 Palm of my left hand.
I think the proportions are a bit off .... neverthteless here is my left hand :-)

 

 

EDiJ # 22 - Draw some gloves.
A cousin got these cute red-and-yellow gloves for my son a couple of years back. Apart from the obvious fact that they kept his tiny hands warm, what I loved about them was the stick-on cartoon with "revolving eyes". Her daughter had a similar pink-n-violet pair. Last year we moved to a place where he doesn't need those gloves, so I have tucked them away somewhere and had to draw them from memory.

 

EDiJ #23 - Draw something bubbly
Tried painting some bubbles in watercolors.

  

EDiJ #26 - Draw a shirt
A bit delayed in drawing, and more so in posting ...
Currently my favorite shirt - cool & comfortable.

 

EDiJ #27 - Something orange.
An orange traffic cone (from my son's Lego blocks set).

 

EdiJ #28 - Draw a snack
These are called "Fry-em's" ... crispies made of rice flour and/or refined flour. Supposed to be fried, but I usually microwave :-)

 

EDiJ #30 - Draw something you can keep in pocket.
I usually do not have a pocket in my dress, but sometimes I keep my wallet in my trouser pocket. My reliable companion for many years ... I love it for its comfortable size and utility, despite a broken zipper.

EDiJ - Continued

EDiJ #15 - Draw something summer
In this part of the world, the best thing (or may be the only good thing!) about the summer is some of the most delicious fruits I've had - Lychees and Mangoes!

EDiJ #15 (contd)
Mango! delicious mango!!

Of the two best summer offerings - the mangoes and lychees - I can never decide which I like better!

EDiJ #16 - Something I've always wanted
I've always kept my books in whatever shelf space was available, but I've always wanted to have a nice, simple, spacious book-shelf.

Kalam Aaj Unki Jay Bol

A beautiful, inspiring poem, by my most favorite poet ....

This is quite a famous poem, most of us would have read in school text books (though I think the textbook did not have the complete poem, only two paras). For a long while, I was not able to find the entire text on net either. But recently, I did find the complete poem, and it was a great pleasure indeed ...

कलम आज उनकी जय बोल!
    - रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'

जला अस्थियाँ बारी-बारी
चिटकाई जिनमें चिंगारी,
जो चढ़ गये पुण्यवेदी पर
लिए बिना गर्दन का मोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

जो अगणित लघु दीप हमारे
तूफानों में एक किनारे,
जल-जलकर बुझ गए किसी दिन
माँगा नहीं स्नेह मुँह खोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

पीकर जिनकी लाल शिखाएं
उगल रही सौ लपट दिशाएं,
जिनके सिंहनाद से सहमी
धरती रही अभी तक डोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

अँधा चकाचौंध का मारा
क्या जाने इतिहास बेचारा,
साखी हैं उनकी महिमा के
सूर्य चन्द्र भूगोल खगोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

KidSpeak / SidSpeak

My blogging activity had again seen an interrupt, as I mentioned earlier. However, here are some collected "gems" of kids' wisdom over this period ....

***

As I got ready to step out one Sat morning: "I don't like your dress. It's not beautiful!!"

***

To N, sitting in some deep thoughts, who he wanted to come and play with him: "Papa, what are you thinking? Come and think in my room."

***

Sid insisted on going to a "toy-shop" with a very specific objective in mind. There, we told him to ask the shopkeeper himself for what he wanted. So, Sid told the shopkeeper, in no uncertain terms, "I want a FLYING helicopter". The shopkeeper kidded him, "Will you take a toy one, or a real one?" Pat came the response - "Do you think I have a license? Can I fly a real helicopter?"

***

Earlier, when Sid was younger, whenever he found a rubber-band, he'd come running to me, "meri chonti (choti) bana do"  [Make a ponytail for my hair]. I thought he had grown out of this phase, but yesterday as I was tying my hair, he said, "Give me a rubber-band too, make my 'choti' also". To humor him, I found a small rubber-band, and tied a small bunch of his short hair on top of his head. He went to check his appearance in a mirror, and immediately exclaimed - "I look like a girl!"

EDiJ - The progress so far

As I mentioned, after the EDiM challenge got over, I was inspired enough to join the EDiJ (every day matters in June) group. I am not a regular like most of the people on the group; I am usually hard-pressed for time, and due to my lack of practice, cant do a drawing quite quickly. So, I skip on the days when I don't have time, or don't find the topic quite interesting, without feeling guilty about it :-)

EDiJ #1 - Draw your favorite well-loved object, or a childhood toy

In childhood, my brother and I, didn't have too many toys, but had a lot of games. This is "Plot 4", that my brother and I played a lot with, over years. One player has red coins, other has yellow coins, and you take turns putting the coins in slots, aiming to make a row of four coins of your color, straight or diagonally.

EDiJ#3 - Draw anything you like

I love flowers, and pansies are amongst my favorites. Tried my hands at oil pastels again ....

EDiJ #5 - Holiday theme.
Deepawali (Diwali) is one of the major festivals in India - the festival of lights and cheer. Modern electric lights now replace the traditional earthen lamps, but those have their own charm, and most people will still light some for the tradition. Many people also create colorful patterns from colored powders in their homes - called rangoli (rang = color). Quick drawing in color pens, to wind up the day :-)

EDiJ #6 - Draw a self portrait

I am not good at portraits, and guess I have been a software engineer for too long. So I decided to make a "functional" drawing of myself.

EdiJ #8 - Draw something tart or sour.
Tried to render some lemons in color pencils.

EDiJ #9 - Something green.

EDiJ#11 - Draw something alive.
What could be more full of life than a child?
Sadly though, my sketch does not well capture the innocence.

EDiJ #12 - Favorite food.
I love cakes!!

The EDiM challenge

EDiM #11 - Something with wings.
Catching up on backlog (May 29)

 

EDiM #12 - Draw a button or buttons
Some belated buttons! (May 26)
I bought these decorative buttons for a dress, but havent yet put them on after a year! :-P

EDiM #16 - A neighborhood store.
This is the first one I did, after joining this group mid-way through May:
I didnt find an interesting store to draw, but there are these road-side eating joints, found profusely specially in southern cities of India, that offer a quick bite, (come/eat-whiel-standing/go) quite fascinate me. This one is on my way to office.

 

 

EDiM #17 - Bread.

This is garlic bread served with soup, I had for lunch that day.

EDiM #17 - Bread (2)
The result of the first attempt was not quite interesting, so I decided to draw the whole-wheat bread (Roti) we usually have with our meals. It turned up looking more like a bun though :-)

EDiM #20 - Draw a streetlight
The streetlamps around were rather plain and boring, so I drew one of these lamps that light up the parks in my apartment complex.

 

EDiM #25 - Flowers.
For this drawing, I borrowed my 4-year-old's crayons (who has by now misappropriated whatver little drawing supplies I had). I wanted to experiment a bit, with color and shading, though the crayons didnt give the results I wanted.

EDiM #27 - Clouds.
Went to a small hill on weekend, and saw a fascinating pattern of clouds. Tried to capture in a pencil sketch ....

EDiM #30 - Something representing your favorite sport.
Well, Table Tennis is the only sport I have ever played ...

 

EDiM #30 - Sport:  Another take.
Figure Skating is perhaps the only sport I like to watch, for their beautiful, graceful movements (and not to say, pretty dresses!). This is my first attempt at oil pastels, all the while trying to ward off my 4-year old who kept saying, "Even I like these colors", "You have to share them with me", etc :-)

I am back. Again.

I am back. Again. Or am I??

 

So, it has been a long break again. I had taken a two week break, and couple of weeks on either side were spent in preparing/settling. And then the usual challenge of starting to write again .....  I'll keep my fingers crossed on the duration of this burst of activity :-)

Other than the vacation which was spent visiting family back in north, there was one significant development in this while.

A friend added me to a group on Facebook, called "Every Day in May" (EDiM). The group had defined a list of things to draw for each day of the month, and the objective of the members was to draw the subject chosen for that day. It is not a competition, just a challenge (and its not even mandatory to post everyday), but just do it, for the joy of it.

My friend had added me midway through, but when I looked at the amazing work done by the people in the group. I was inspired (even though I cant do tenth as well as most people there) - to draw again after a gap of four years.

I no longer had any drawing equipment - whatever little remained of the few things I had, have been "misappropriated" by Sid :-) But, I was inspired enough to draw, even if it was simple sketching, using just a regular pencil on printer paper.

In fact, I was inspired enough to join "Every Day in June" challenge when May ended, and also to buy some new books, paint and brushes this weekend.