Ear up or ear side???

Moment: Meera was asking (preaching??) Aditya to assist her in folding his clothes.  As usual he was not in this world...dreaming??? Possibly.

Meera: Aditya! Can’t you see Amma doing all this chores on her own? Why don't you help me?

Aditya: ......

Meera: A..d..itya!!!

Aditya: mmmm.....

Meera: Did you hear what I said?

Aditya: MMMMmmmm...

Meera: Ok...! What have you decided? Are you going to help me?

Aditya: Amma....I have a question?

Meera: What!

Aditya: I've a question related to Animals

Meera: Go ahead! Make it quick!

Aditya: Why do some animals have their ears pointing upwards and some towards their sides?

Meera: m...ha...Well....let me think? (Not an easy one???)

Even Aditya (after this question) started thinking about this....there was a brief pause in the room (brains at work??)

After few minutes...

Aditya: Mom!!!! I think I know the answer!!

Meera: ....continues to think

Aditya: I think God has produced all Herbivorous animals with their ears pointed upwards, because they have to hear all sides and should be able to turn the ears like a dish antenna. When a lion comes near them silently they should be getting ready to run.....but carnivorous animals..... They needn't have to be that alert...so they have it on their sides.

With wide opened mouth and just been enlightened by the answer...Meera..couldn't help herself but to hug this little think master.

How does our brain know when to have a baby?

Date : 5-Oct-2009

Aditya : 8 years and 1 month old

Meera came to me couple of days ago and said that Aditya had asked her when parents would decide to have a baby.  She was terrified by the question and without further complicating she had told him that a baby is born after their marriage.

He came to me in the morning,

Aditya: Appa I've a question! can I ask you?

A question from Aditya? nothing new....I was anyhow ready to face the battle.....

Me:  What is it?

Aditya:  "Mom said babies are born after the marriage"

Me: Yeah... well not quite so.....but she was right!

he continued...

Aditya: "How does the brain know that someone is married and then tells the body to produce a baby?"

Anyhow I'm not going to write what I said to my son....its a looong story.

The concept of babies is extremely fascinating for everyone and at the same time very much confusing for the children during their early ages.  While growing they quickly graduate from those "little blabberings" to "What's" to "How's" to "Whys" in their mind and their ability to reason is what makes them really lovable, unique and interesting.  My son is not an exception :)

26-Oct-2009

I really would like to share what happened yesterday,

He came to me and said "Appa now I'm very clear about how babies are born after marriage (he had also learnt it through a book called "The Young Scientist"), humans decide when to get married, we invite our friends and family, we take pictures and all of us know about the marriage but tell me one thing, how do animals know that they are married...."

Aditya loves small and slow pets.. :)

This is the third month Aditya has been asking me to bring a pet for him.  It all started with an advertisement shown in the television in which a little boy affectionately picks a green caterpillar falls off from a basket of green peas. 

Few months back when we went to visit one of my colleagues home we met a beautiful 3 months old 'Shadow' a black Labby.  Aditya fell in love with it....

Another time... another pup Laika.....the passion for pets has been growing in him.

Yesterday he was reading a story for his sister from the Tim and Topsy series about a black and white rabbit with the name 'Wiggle'. He expressed his desire to have a pet again....

He also has a name for his pet 'William...'

Though I too love pets I wanted to be little practical with him.

I told him how difficult it is to bring up a dog in an apartment...."You must take care of it well...it needs food on time...water on time....then need to be bathed...cleaned...taken out for a walk...taken to the vet for regular checkups for fleas....might have to jog and run with it so that it is fit all the time.....have to feed it good and healthy food and also meat.......we can't do that since we don't eat meat at home....we can't go out anywhere without them....someone must take care of it all the time ................and its really note easy to bring them up"

He said..."No Appa! you don't have to do all these things...its easy to take care of it and will never leave us...."

Huh! its never been easy with my son any time....I was little tired and called Meera to make him understand.

She too tried.....but Aditya was very calm and continued "You don't have to bath them...." they are always clean.

Another round of explanation and it wasn't leading us to a conclusion.

Finally Aditya said...."I think you got everything wrong....and I'm not referring to a Dog....!"

Meera and I were confused and were still looking at him...."What kind of pet are you referring to.....?"

Aditya said "A Tortoise!!!!! - see you don't have to bath it because its always in the water.....(wasn't that a turtle??) you don't have to walk or run with it....its always fit(??), no need to maintain its fur.....no fleas problem.....no meat.....and finally....it can never leave our home.

Does anyone know whether anyone sells tortoise as pets in Pune?

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Date : 23-Sep-2009

Time : 8.30 PM

Moment : Aditya has just returned from his friend Sudharshan's Birthday Party

Me : Hello Aditya! how was the party!

Aditya : Great Appa! Wished Sudharshan....Enjoyed the party a lot...had some cakes, wafers and chocolates...

Me: I see....Well, did you give him the gift? Did he like the idea of Book Vouchers?

Aditya : Yes I think, He would buy some books from the store

With some hesitation Aditya said "Appa! I think Sudharshan is lucky"

Me : (Beginning of a trouble :() What makes you think that way Aditya?

Aditya : He has got a Cool Computer gaming package which has around 80 games in it....all of them are really cool...there are even Spider man, Batman, Superman games in it (Hanuman???)

Me : Thats good - why did you say he was lucky?

With a pause Aditya said "I don't have it...."

Me : Not everything in the world can be owned by you....you have some cool toys that he doesn't have and since you are friends you can always share your toys

Aditya : But I still think he is Lucky!

Me : Aditya! stop comparing with someone who has something more than you have....remember the street children at The University Junction....they don't have money or even proper clothes, but you have a lot of them.  Don't you think you are lucky too?

Aditya : But I still think Sudharshan is Lucky Appa....

I gave him some more examples to convince that he was also Lucky.... This was going on.....for some more time....and this time (for a change) he wanted to close the discussion first...

"Appa! Well.....I'm convinced that I'm Lucky too.....but...,,I think Sudharshan is VERY LUCKY!!!!!"

I was speechless for some time....

Blame the Gravity

Aditya was very sad when I returned back home from work. He looked dull and weak. I certainly knew that there was something wrong he did (or happened). After our usual greetings (Haaai Aditya....how are you? and how was your day? Did anything interesting happen today? Did you help anyone? Did anyone help you etc., etc.,) He patiently listened and answered only 'Yes' and 'No' to me. There was absolutely no energy in the answeres.

I raised his chin and asked him "Did something go wrong today?" He said "Yes...Appa..." I accidently dropped my (New) Pencil box and it broke into pieces. (This box was one of the flashy ones that was bought by Meera couple of weeks ago. Aditya was really proud having it with him because it had around 20 buttons...and each button would either open a door for a sharpner, or a sliding pencil slot, or a compass....or a thermometer etc., etc., All the kiddy gadgets were nicely packaged in it....sometimes I felt...a gadget....too much for this age :) ).

I was not happy hearing this. Then I asked him how it happened. He went on explaining about his part of story and I was really not convinced. Then I said "I want you to be little more responsible Aditya and I'm not convinced with the reasons. Everytime you end up breaking something like this and the answers are not convincing. You need to be little more careful in taking care of your things, now I'll give you 5 mins for you to think about it and tell me how it happened " I really wanted him to understand the aspect of taking good care of his things.

After few minutes he came back to me and said "Appa I think I found why it happened...!" I was very glad that he realized this. He continued and said...."Gravity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....Appa! I wouldn't have dropped the pencil box but for the Gravity. I think God created Gravity and he is at fault"

I was speachless....(yet another time). My anger started to fade and I gave him a tigggghhht hug.

Escape from Sobibor

Time 2.00 PM 27-Jul-2009 : We visited one of our friend's home and I had to go out with him to fix a damage in my Car. Dad, Meera, Aditya and Anjali had to stay back @ my friends home, and as an incentive (usual... :)) I had to order for Pizza's from Pizza Hut. Aditya loves visiting his home because he gets unrestricted access to his laptop to play NFS (and he loves cars....any game that is fast....adventures....). He plays NFS like no one else...even the inventor of the game doesn't play like this, even the NFS champ of the world can't compete with him. You know why??? he always goes in the opposite direction :).

Anyways - My friend is a hero for Aditya because of this freedom. At home this doesn't happen. There is time for everything and a lot of restrictions.

Time 5.00 PM : We returned back and it was time to go home. My friend said that he wanted to visit one of his cousins place to stay over that night. Aditya jumped up and said "Uncle can I come with you today?". We were extremely surprised by the fact that Aditya wanted to go out with someone else to stay over (he has never asked us before). But the motivations were very clear. He was looking for freedom...... freedom from me...freedom from his mom....freedom from Sundu Thatha...and freedom from last but not the least - his "little monster" sister!!!

The kind of expression that he gave was awesome....(remember the puss in Boots in Shrek) Meera and I were dumbstruck to see that he was terribly excited about the basic fact of going and staying with my friend. He was looking at us for an approval..... and decided that he will accept only a "Yes" and nothing else from us. We finally said "Ok" and there was celebration for some time. We even said "Aditya we might go to McDonalds tonight...." he promptly replied and said "Its Ok Pa....I'm fine with that" Wow....unbelievable, whats going on...my son says Ok to miss McDonalds. Meera was very happy that she can have some peaceful time at home (see sometimes it's required...I don't know how many times she says this whenever I go out...). She had so many plans...."Kannan take Anjali out for a walk and I want to sit and watch some TV today....its going to be very long since I got a chance like this..." I was anyhow prepared for this.

I called Aditya and asked him to behave nicely. Gave all kind of advises that my Dad gave me when I left home to stay in a hostel in Coimbatore way back in 1989. Suddenly I realized that I was overdoing this and said to myself that "Kannan...relax its only for a night..."

Time 8.00 PM : Meera was getting little restless....she said "I think I'm missing Aditya.....and do not know what he is doing there". She called my friend and the call was picked by a sweet voice...yes it was Aditya in the other end. Meera thought that Aditya would be missing her and would want to come back and there was another shock...when he said "Mom! we are having a little party here....I'm having Mushroom Soup and have ordered for a Cheese Uttappa...." (I promise that I'll write a lot about the love Cheese has over Aditya :))

Time 9.00 AM 28-Jun-2009 : We called Aditya (chose to call him at 9.00 expecting that he would be getting up late on a Sunday morning) we were pleasenly surprised to hear his very jubiliant voice (he was certainly playing some game in the computer or watching television). Meera was again disappointed to note that Aditya did not miss us.

Time 2.00 PM : The door bell rang and we all rushed to receive Aditya...Anjali was running ahead of me...and screaming "Aditya anna vanduttan" (Aditya has arrived). Meera opened the door and Aditya was standing there quite giving a bright grin. She went and hugged him (see they were meeting after 12 long hours). It felt as if Aditya was returning home after 4 years of hostel life. I was standing behind and he came and hugged me too. Then he said...."you know what Appa...both the uncles were very kind" (all of us know the reasons...) they took care of me very well, it was fun to be staying with them"... "I missed you all (a very little)"... "I did not get enough time to play all the games" "My eyes have not reddened and i'm perfectly fine" "I did not trouble them" etc., etc., etc., and also said "Appa...can I go their house every week?"

Note: As very responsible parents we think we are doing the best for our child ...by those little conditions...restrictions...for their wellness. But what does the child think?....only they can tell....for me the experience he had was like an "Escape from Sobibor" not permanantly but atleast for a day.

i-Pill and Kids

On the other day my 7 year old Aditya (very sentimental at times) was watching television in the front room and I was busy in my work. Suddenly he came running inside and asked 'Appa I saw an add for a medicine called 'i-Pill' (its a female contraceptive sold in India) and I was wondering how can mothers be so wicked to kill (abort) their baby inside their stomach by eating this tablet?????' I was spell bound for a minute.

He was very upset after that.

Does anyone have an answer for this question? I don't have one :(

I felt really sorry about the fact that the advertisements with such strong message can disturb the children so much.

Are the ad makers listening?

GoBechYou!!!!!

My son often gets lost in his thought process and that has put him (us too) in trouble many times. We always have to remind him that he should stop thinking and move on. Today morning he was sitting in the 'thinking pot' :)....guess what!! and you are right.....and as usual 'lost' in his thought process. I was standing next to him and harvesting the last night's growth (i meant shaving... :)) then suddenly he 'sneezed'. Immediately I said 'GoBechU' (@ our home we used to say this whenever kids sneeze and that has over a period of time become a standard word uttered whenever anybody sneezes anywhere, even in the New york city ha...ha...) I was expecting a 'thank you appa' as a reply from him and he dint say anything (he was thinking!!!). After a while I continued and said 'Aditya you should always thank others when they say 'God Bless you!' whenever you sneeze. He came back to normal (while still thinking about something....) after few seconds and said very reluctantly a 'Ok'. I continued and said 'Well! lets do this again....I'm going to say GoBechU and I wanted you to say 'Thank you' and said 'GoBechU' this time even louder. To my surprise (I thought I expected this) Aditya kept quite and started looking me as if nothing happened.

My temperment rose a little bit and asked 'How can you not say 'thank you' when I said 'GoBechU' even after that little lecture from me?'

He took a pause and quitely said 'I did not sneeze this time'

Oh! GoBechMe!!!!

Why SIEMENS is better than WIPRO

When I woke up my son Aditya on a Saturday morning he started the day with a question "Appa! do you know why Siemens is better than Wipro" (These questions are nothing new to me). Puzzled (and excited because I knew the answer!!) I started giving definitions like "Siemens is a very large corporate, global company, lacs of employees, billions of revenue, diversified industry etc.,"

He patiently listened and said "No....Appa"
I was really worried about my ability to answer a very simple question.
after a brief pause he continued...."Appa! those are not the real reasons..........The real reason is because Siemens makes lots of Trains (Earlier last year he had seen lot of Siemens made trains in Switzerland), that two Zurich Trains.....that two DOUBLE DECKER trains........but...but....Wipro makes only "DIAPERS".
I slowly started fainting.....

Moral of the Story

Date: 25-Sep-2008

I was loudly reading one of the stories written by Sudha Murthy to my seven year old son. The story goes like this,

"Sudha surprised to find a tribal boy named Hanumanthappa whose father earns less Rs. 40/- a day to have topped 8th in a state level examination and wanted to help him.  She had sent a letter to the boy asking him to come and meet her. She also sends some money to him so that he could visit her foundation wearing new clothes. The boy later shows at her office and after a little hesitation expresses his interests to join a nearby college and wanted Sudha to fund his education for approx Rs. 300/- a month. Sudha promptly sends him money for the next 6 months. To her surprise at the end of 6 months she recieves a cover with some currencies along with a letter. The boy had mentioned that he did not spend Rs. 600/- as for the last two months the college did not operate. Sudha was touched by this gesture and closes the story by saying that "honesty doesn't come from the rank, power or money but truly from the heart"

At the end of the story I'd asked my son whether he understood the storyline and asked him to tell the moral of the story. I was actually expecting him to talk about helping the poor and needy or on the aspect of simple expectations from the poor little boy and or about the honesty part.

My son looked through my eyes and said "Yes! I understood the story and in my understanding there where 5 letters exchanged between Sudha and Hanumanthappa"

Moral of the Story: "Though he behaves like an adult many times I've realized that my son is still a little boy"

Aditya's Wedding Plans

Date - 15-Aug-2008
Aditya's Age - 6 years and 11 months
Place - Singapore
Location - I was walking with Aditya towards my friends Home from Boon Lay MRT
What Happened?
Aditya: "Appa I have decided something very important?"
Me: "Did you decide? What is this all about?"
Aditya: "I'm not going to get married very soon!"
Me: "Whaaaaaaaat!!!!"
Stunned by this statement...i stopped walking and looked at him, he was very determined and confident about what he spoke
Me: "Why Aditya! Why did you decided something like this?"
Aditya: "I want to work for loong time, I want to visit various countries including Egypt, do some business and make lots of money!"
this was getting serious - i pinched my hand and wanted to understand whether this is coming from my "soon becoming 7 years old sons mouth" - He was right he really stunned me his wedding plans, this was really happening.
Me: "What happens if you really like someone Aditya - will you get married"
Aditya: thought for a while and "Yes Appa, may be I'll consider marrying then"
Moral of the Story:
Never discuss important matters when children are around particularly the active ones with their Antenna's open in every direction. He was actually overhearing my conversation with one of my friends couple of days ago when I was giving some advice on getting married at the age of 29. I'm going to be careful from now on!!!!