StarDust

June and July every year take me back to my school days. New books, Bags, various accessories, Rains and Gum boots. Now with Tara going to school the nostalgia has heightened. However, I never quiet understood the Indian logic of covering school books with brown paper. In my days, it was the brown paper and then a plastic sheet for tropical places like Mumbai. These evolved to plastic coated sheets to lessen the efforts of covering the books. Mid-term the covers went haywire and one needed to redo the exercise of covering once more. Towards the end of the school year, we just left the books uncovered exposing the art work on the front and back. CBSE textbooks oftentimes had artistic covers and they made me wonder why the teachers make us hide them under layers of revolting sheets. These days the plastic coated covers come in so many varieties – rolled papers, large sheets, pre – labelled . And the whole exercise of covering the books before the school starts. The books have...

Blocking  The immense opportunities that blocks present to you. You just love those. You never get bored of the blocks (plastic or wood) that we get you and neither do they I guess.  Most of your creations are tall towers from which Aajoba bungy jumps. But, couple of days back you discovered these that run horizontal and there were trains and snakes all over the house. That's a great activity to keep busy and I am restraining myself from trying to predict your future profession.  I am loving this phase of our life Stardust: I guess I know what we will spend our max time in till June5. Either it would be drawing or blocking 

 Romancing the Waters  I had all the advantages when I was in IIT campus. But for some reason, I never got over my initial fear of water. So as you take steps into the lovely blue pool of water, I am just hoping you will fall in love with water for good.  Swimming is an essential lifeskill and hope you feel so too when you grow up. So when you showed a little inkling of liking the water, I guess I hurried up and showed you the real swimming pool early in the day.  Hope you had and will have a great time StarDust: Just wanted to make a note of today, so when you look back you know this date. 

Kaddak Meethi Chai,  the Black tea & filter Kappi My Saturdays and Sundays in Mumbai are set. When everyone else is on their siesta break and nap in the sultry afternoon, I get a nice cup of tea to keep awake.  Thanks to Baba and his tea making skills in this household the rest of us tend to forget the art of tea making.  Same is true in my other household too. The man of the household makes his version of tea in Bangalore too.  I strongly believe that the men have a special skill of making the most important drink in any household. And the household that doesn't let the men of the house do this important task loose out on the  most essential ritual in the family.  Statistically speaking, maybe this is the case of small sample but this seems to ring the bell for me in every new household I enter. Take for example my in-laws house, when Appa does the decoction for coffee, the coffee has an extra ounce of caffeine that wakes you up....