My boy says hi… hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂 Past couple of days, he’s been crying a lot… not sleeping much even at night! Guess babies cry and there’s nothing we can do about it, but for the parents it can sometimes be quite far from easy to do any ‘root cause analysis’ 
…as Shruthi’s described in posts like Help! and The Sound Of Music.
Hope your good wishes are with him and all the children in the world… they are our future! 🙂
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(photo by Vijetha)
Step 1: naanonthu yedheLallappa!
there’s no way I’m going to wake up!
Step 2: seri yochane maaDthini
ok let me consider the option
Step 3: aithappa nODONa…
Ok lets see….
Step 4: nijavaaglu yeddelLebeka
do I really need to wake up
Step 5: hecchu kaDime yeddebute konege…
more or less finally woke up…
Step 6: yeddu yenappa uddaara maaDbekaagide
what do I do waking up
Step 7: innu aidhu nimsha
5 more minutes
Step 8: seri, yen samaachaara…
Ok, what news…
Step 9: adh yen gOLina prapanchakke bandidinappa!
What miserable world have I come into!
Step 10: yenaadru maaDkOLrappa nanpaadage nanna bitbudri
do whatever you want, just let me be
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Photos taken by my wife Vijetha, they’re obviously better than what I would’ve managed… 😉 Can we put all these pictures online, I wondered. Our son belongs to the whole world, not just us, she mused. Hope he’s brought a smile to all readers here (in case there are any)
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See also: reunion with an old friend
Shruthi’s written this fascinating post about how her new born baby daughter only seems to admire her hair more than anything else! I was reminded of her post when a physiotherapist Sonali visited our home, and she was telling me to show flash cards of simple geometric shapes in black and white to my new born son for a few seconds once in a way, during his first month. So we made a few and stuck them on cardboard to make them like flash cards.
Sonali explained something which reminded me of Shruthi’s post, that kids for the first 1.5 months or so (earlier it used to be 3 months, they’re smarter in recent generations!) recognize and identify only B&W – jet black and pure white. This is because of the chronological difference in the development of rods and cones in our eyes. the more sensitive rods develop first (which facilitate vision at low light levels, but not color), and then followed by the cones (which can recognize color). For the time being, anything that’s gray looks just kind of hazy. Apparently red is the first color they start recognising, so she recommended adding in that color in subsequent flash cards after 1.5 months!
It seems one of the advantages is also to help in developing attention and interactivity. I’ll never know if it had never made a difference to my son if we hadn’t tried it out, but since this was a natural thing and he might as well look at those cards for a few seconds instead of anything else, we gave it a shot. Most of the time he didn’t seem to have any particular reaction to them, so who knows whether it helped or not, but it was good fun anyway! 🙂
Another interesting suggestion she gave was for the father to spend good amount of time holding the baby as well. And to talk to the baby, read stories to him, etc even though he may not look like he’s understanding anything. Also she suggested we speak to him mostly in a normal tone like we’d talk to any adult, rather than in any coochie coochie tones [and this I happened to have been doing most of the time anyway 🙂 not bad my paternal instincts heh heh ]
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See also: baby whisperer (wow… had never imagined when I’d posted that that I’d have my own son few years later!)
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PS: I made a website for Dr. Sonali but as she’s not too web savvy (also she dosen’t stay in Bangalore so we’re not much in regular contact) and dosen’t look like she’s going to be updating it much.
Posting this message (slightly edited now) forwarded by my respected senior Muktha blog friend Pranesh:
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Hi, If you have a function at home and have more food than needed and you don’t want to waste it, then don’t hesitate to call 1098 – MakkaLa Sahyaaya VaaNi (children’s helpline).
They will come and collect the food.
Please circulate.
We have to thank God for the food that we can have easily.
But on the other hand….ironically, we still waste the food that we buy!
“Helping hands are better than Praying Lips.”
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As we receive many such emails, I called up the line to validate it, before posting it.
A very sensible sounding lady picked up the phone, and she clarified that yes if there is extra food left over, then we can call them up and they put them in touch with the agency who will pick up the extra food.
Then I also asked one question that’s been nagging my mind for ages…
One of my colleagues had sent out this short story…
> Bommaka was 10 years old and was working at the construction site. The
> government implemented a total ban on Child labour. “Bommu”, her Amma
> called out. “Yes, Amma”, she replied. Take care of your little brother
> till 5.30 while I am away to work.
>
>
> – EOS : End of Story..
I was really touched by this rather poignant incident. Engineering teaches us that the first step in solving any problem is to first understand the problem.
I had replied…
I’d speculated earlier that in a way, humanity is gasping for breath being swept around in a tsunami everyday (just a metaphor), but of course that’s probably not very easy to digest.
Most of us would hardly ever admit that there really is any real problem, esp if we have accumulated the opinion over age that “I’ve seen a lot of life, and there’s nothing more to learn”. Except maybe once in a way after some disaster when a dozen people die, or we lose someone very close to us… it exposes our real vulnerability. And even then, within a day or a week even that becomes a mere emotional memory having made no real difference to the way we live.
Though once in a way, I can see all this clearly, yet I’m so so helpless. Because you see, I myself am merely an amateur swimmer – a common man, there’s not much of a question of me helping anybody else!
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Was returning home this evening in the company van. There was some mishap, and an altercation started between the driver and the other person. Usually these things last for a few seconds and they get on with it, but this time it seemed to go on for a couple of minutes.
This is from a colleague (with minor editing), she’ll be able to keep track of any responses here…
[Another old report from a few years ago…]
Mr. Mani, a retired bank employee hails from an ordinary lower mid-income background. While cycling to work everyday, he used to pass by the Bangalore Central Jail. He observed children crying outside the jail with the breadwinner of the family in the prison. The kids of life-convicts who had no support from the society. These kids were a "burden" to the society.
Its easy to make a kid smile – such a simple thing but a really rewarding experience. Once in a way when I’ve tried it, not only the kid is happy, its also brought out the best in me!
[happened to accidentally e-unearth an old report from a few years ago – still very much valid actually]
I believe that children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be
The Paraspara Trust members might not
have heard Whitney Houston’s hit song “The Greatest Love of All”, but on
visiting them, I was convinced that they indeed are living out the words.