Daredevils ?

A few years back one of my cousins moved to NJ, being in a new country and wanting to see places it did not take them long to visit Niagara falls. So after the visit in all excitement she began to fill me in with how their trip went.


Although I don't remember the conversation exactly, it went along the lines of, "did you go to take the boat that went very close to the falls?" followed with "did you go to the cave of the winds, its exciting and it takes you right behind the falls?"


As the conversation went on it began to sound like we saw everything there is to see over there. So I said, "What scared me most was to sit in the large oak barrel and float down the river into the falls and hope they fish you out of the river on the other side in one piece, you were brave as a kid it would have been easy for you!!".


Screech...!!!! &*#&$^% . There was a sudden break in the conversation as it dawned on her that she did miss out on something after all. I filled her in on how much fun it was and hyped up the whole adventure. The conversation ended on more resigned note and regrets that it was surely an exciting thing to do and they missed out.


A few days after that conversation I receive and e-mail from Dakshi and her saying that they checked with several friends who made trips and nobody has heard of such a thing at Niagara falls and wanted more information from me. At this point I did reveal that it was all made up and I had just taken her for a ride.


Although this story is a few years old, the reason it came up now is they made another trip and she sent me a picture as proof that they floated down the falls.

It's always the small things that you remember...!

First Day of School

After a long summer of doing nothing it is back to school time. Nishanth is still attached to his pre-school teacher and all summer long he has insisted on going back to Mary's class. It is here that he lost his fear of insects and bugs. His fascinations for bugs were so profound that he made pets of earth worms, grubs and frogs that he gathered from the yard. Even a couple of bee stings have not stopped him from running to the Rose bush, capturing them and putting them in his butterfly basket. It would be no surprise to us if we were to find a couple of dead bugs in his pocket at laundry time.

Veena took him to the kinder garden open house and his teacher asked him if he was excited to go to school and his prompt reply was an undiplomatic "NO". He was still hoping he could go back to his favorite teacher.

At dinner that evening Veena was making small talk with the kids and she expressed how happy and excited she was that Nishanth is starting Kinder garden, so he questions her about why she was so happy. "I am happy because my little boy is growing big", to that he responds "No! You are excited because I won't be home all day making trouble"

That is truly a sign that he is growing and beginning to shed his childhood innocence. I am sure Veena was genuinely excited that he was growing while I was more excited for reasons he cited.

The next day after an initial hiccup he reluctantly got ready to go to school, once at the bus stop he seemed to forget that he was not supposed to be excited. The bus came and off he went with a big happy smile.

That evening on his return I could tell from his excitement that Mrs. Mary's chapter had ended and Mrs. White's had started.

Grandparent encounters

With grandparents around this summer kids have become used to being indulged and disciplining has gone by the way side.
As is typical of many grand parents, they have an outstanding invitation / wish that the grand kids can move back stay with them. One such conversation put an end to this invitation. It went like this...

Grand Ma(to neetu in Malayalam): Molu, kutty enda koode vannu irriku. Avade school poova, amuma, mutasha'd kude kalikya...

etc etc and all the good stuff to entice her into going.

Neetu(In English): Ammmmmuma...!! you are old and will die, who will look after me then....?

****
Typically we try and enforce a rule with the kids that everything on the dinner table has to be at least tasted before you can claim to dislike it and refuse to eat it.

We had some fish for dinner the other day and the kids were seated alongside their grandfather who used to head an ammunition factory before retiring. In kids speak he made guns for a living as they knew it. He is a staunch vegetarian all his life was dumfounded with this conversation.

Nishanth: Mutasha, how will you know what fish tastes like if you don't try it ?
(That's typically how my conversation goes when I try to get them to taste something)

Mutasha: I don't like it..(for lack of a better response)

Nishanth(persisting): but if you eat it you may like it..

Mutasha is now in a spot trying to gather his response, I stepped in.

Me: Mutasha may probably like the taste but he does not want to kill any living creature and eat it..

Neetu who has been just a silent listener so far chimes in

Neetu: But you made guns that killed animals

We burst out in laughter, and this bout goes to the kids.
The justification remained unresolved however.