The jungle vacation

Just been lazing around in a nice vacation. It started with the big bang world cup victory. The grandparents got to meet Sid and I got to do more shopping. (time to upgrade to summer collections!) Was not excited enough about any movie, otherwise there could have been some theater time too. When I planned this vacation I told myself that I’m going nowhere, and will only be relaxing at home and spending time with Sid. But as the days approached, we decided to drive to my parents’ place so we can meet my grandma as well. That was abt 13 hrs of drive summing to & fro. So much for a relaxed vacation! That was done, and then we went to Kabini on a jungle safari! That was another 10 hrs of drive totally. So there, never ever plan, I told myself.

The Kabini trip was one of the unique trips I’ve done, the first jungle safari trip we went to. We stayed in the Jungle lodges and it was beautiful. In a way the resort reminded me of the BITS campus, maybe because it was huge and there was a lot of greenery around. The room we stayed in, opened to a lawn and Sid was busy catching butterflies and ants. At his 8 months when we went to wayanad, he screamed his heart out as we entered the room we stayed in. But, he is now grown up a lot since then, and was able to enjoy in a new place completely. Ofcourse, that we were visiting animals helped. We reached on Day 1 around 1 pm and had a decent lunch ( the food is ok-ok ), took some rest and then set off for the jungle safari. We spoted a herd of elephants and deers and then an occasional bison, gaur, mongoose, birds like peacocks. It looked like all the elephants and deers from all over the country decided to meet here. There was a tiger that was spotted by a few people in another jeep, but by the time we reached, there was nothing to be seen. The same thing happened with the leopard as well. First time not-so-lucky.

Day 2 we did a boating ride-cum-safari that started at 6:30am and we did spot a crocodile. Thankfully the boat went nowhere near that. We also could observe a few storks & the elephants and the deers from a distance. I definitely enjoyed the jeep safari the previous day much better than the boat safari. One gets a much closer view of the animals from the open jeep. The highlight was when we spotted a mommy and a baby elephant in such close quarters. The baby was disturbed by the jeep movement it seemed and trumpeted so loud that most of us got taken aback for a moment. Sid, on the other hand, was truly excited and started singing his elephant song from his favorite animals CD — ‘ Dham dham dha dham — he sang loud amidst the deafening silence much to my amusement and embarassment.

Choosing this spot for the vacation seemed like a perfect choice!! And now we’re back in the grind..!

 

Musically yours..

Sid has taken to singing songs all the time. Maybe every kid does this, but to hubby and me, he is already starting to resemble Ilayaraja. We’ve been making future plans for him in the music industry and even prepared the speech for him when he receives his Grammy award. Haha! just kidding! or maybe not!

He has a particular liking for ‘Paiyyaa’ songs. So, the other day, I was looking for my cellphone.. so I ask Sid.. ‘chidhu, amma cell phone pathiya?’ And the next second he goes..
‘sel sel avalidam sel.. sol..sol..avalidam sol..‘ humming ‘thuli thuli’ song from Paiyyaa.

Another day, time for paiyaa songs again..he asks me to sing..‘adada mazhada’.. so i start with ‘adada mazhada’…and he corrects me…‘thandhane thandhane thannanane..’ Uhm!

Another favorite of his is ‘mannippaya’ from Vinnaithandi varuvaya. It feels really wierd to hear a loaded intense song like ‘mammippaya’ from him..and he sings ‘orunaal…sithen..marunal…nanathen..mammippaya’..

Today morning he stunned me by humming..‘konji konji pesi madhi mayakkum..’

I used to tease my cousin for listening to a lot of kuthu songs, while I was more inclined to melodies. Life has come a full turn, and Sid has off late taken an addiction for kuthu songs. Latest on his list are ‘nakka mukka’ ..which he sings as… ‘adada..kakka ..kakka.. larry sona..larry sona’ ..kadavule ellam en neram! That too, that stupid song with the horrible looking nakul and unfathomable lyrics and incredibly confusing dance! And also Vijay continues his stride after the initial ‘Vettaikkaran’ (nan adicha and puli urmudhu ruled Sid’s charts for atleast 6 months ) influence.. with Sid taking a liking to ‘appadi podu..podu..’ He just went to sleep watching the song 10 times in a row on my ipod.

God save the music world, and by the way if you’re wondering about the title.. I dont know how it sprang in my mind but it just sounded nice enough, forget the complete relevance. This is called creative liberty! Maybe someone should name their movie with this title and give me royalty.

 

Irony!

I’ve been humming this song for the past 2 days..

‘A little cock sparrow sat on a tree..
looking as happy as happy could be..
..
..’
(Too much influence of Sid’s rhymes)

Sid has been humming this song for the past 2 days..

‘Rum bum bum arambam bum bum bum perinbam’
(where the perinbam sounds like peyinbam..)

(Too much influence of FIL)

Irony, isnt it?

 

It’s been some time!

I know its been some time since I wrote. Its been a busy month. To start with I had a couple of busy weeks at work, lined up with a release and then I was supposed to get some peaceful time in coimbatore for diwali. Hubby and I took a week’s vacation, and its really rare for us to plan impeccably in this manner. The vacation started out well, but then Sid fell very sick, with a bad fever and cough that lasted for a week. It scared us a lot and loads of tests for swine flu and dengue and other diseases were taken, and thankfully results turned negative. But still Sid was in a bad shape and lost a lot of visible weight since he refused to consume food for a few days. It really took a toll on me, juggling work and seeing him so sick and being helpless about it. This is the kid who doesnt sit for a moment and drives me mad with all his mischiefs, and here he was lying in a corner with drooping eyes. Really turned me into a paranoid mom for a week. And also it was painful to see him running away from me, since I was the official medicine administrator. As stealthily that I would try to give him his syrups, he would spy on me and watch for what I was carrying in my hands on a subconscious level and had his ways of knowing when the terror was around. Anyway, it is glad to have things back normal.

Its amazing to see how with each passing month his perception of the things happening around him changes so much, and also how well he is able to communicate what he wants ingeniously. His vocabulary has piled up a lot more words, as he can identify many objects around him with ease now, and also tries to guess what their color is. He has also started singing bits and pieces of songs, and counts till 20 in English and till 10 in Tamil. Whenever he see any objects in multiples, he would just start counting ..like …1, 2, 3, 4, 5.. thalani.. (counting pillows as he goes to sleep)
We also have our end of day conversations..
Amma: Chidhu, inniakku enna pannine nee?
Sid: Cow.
Amma: evlo cow pathe?
Sid: ‘dhendu cow’ - 2 cows
Amma: Vera enna pathe?
Sid: naay (dog), bear (surely imaginative I hope!)
Amma: Patti enna thandha unakku?
Sid: bichi (biscuit), kai (as in the vegetable), mei mummum (ghee rice)
Amma: thatha?
Sid: coquette (chocolate)
(And that’s how I found he has been feed chocolates so beware people, he can now tell on you! )

And this is my favorite – he calls out to me, like I am in the kitchen and he wants something..and he goes “ammmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. That, I tell you, is a sheer moment of BLISS!

 

Mini-conversations?

Me: Chidhu, vaa thoongalam
Sid: Eeya Eeya (asking me to sing Eeya Eeya Oh, from Old McDonald rhyme)

Me: Singing some song I like.
Sid: nanana..venamma (expressing his dislike for the song, and repeating this until I sing something he likes)

 

Words time

Before I forget here are some words that Sid speaks.

thatha (I think the only word he says as-is), caaaaa (car), dhai (nai - dog), dhatheee (patti), P (for poo), Kha (kakka), idhi (idli).

Some words/phrases he understands:

Plants – looks around to see where they are and flashes my favorite two-toothed  smile once he spots them.

Toys, porcupine (he had a porcupine toy, trust me, I didnt buy it, someone else gifted, but it was his favorite, until the air in it got busted and he started biting it and so hubby decided to throw it out),  phone (the toy phone he has), quack-quack-quack (its this duckie toy he has which makes the quack sound – sid loves it), muttu monkey (a  monkey toy we play muttu muttu with)

fan, light (crazy about lights in whatever form they glow in), paal, mummum, tha (give), diaper change, clip (yeah the clothes one, its one of his favorite toys)

pidi pidi pidi (he starts running away from me in some random direction, if hubby says that he comes to the kitchen when I’m cooking and hugs me from behind – my moment of the day)

tata (this one he has picked up since yesterday, to wave his hand randomly when someone else says tata)

kaanum kaanum (i’d hide my face with my hands, and he would come running and take my hands off)

konji pannu (he rests his head down on my shoulder expects me to sing ‘konji konji’ to him)

paatu padaren vaa thachi (my way of coaxing him to sleep, once i say this, he comes and lies down on my legs and expects me to sing for him – ALWAYS works and he REALLY picks and chooses what he wants to hear)

thanni kudikkariya (runs to where I keep his bottle)

I guess there is definitely more but this is all my memory can help with right now. More later!

 

Family anthems

You know how people come up with various cutie words to call their kids? Hardly people call their kids by their actual names. I remember when my cousin took her kid for the school interview, she was asked ‘How do you correct your child when she is doing something wrong?’ She replied, I usually call her ‘cutie name’ but when I’m angry I call her ‘real name’. So true!!! So, we have a family of really creative people, who use lot of weird sounding terms to call Siddharth. I guarantee the rest of the post will not make much sense to you, but I’m writing it anyways, so maybe when Sid grows up he can read this and have a hearty laugh (or scorn at the kind of family he got!)

So my FIL calls Sid ‘kogudu thimmu’ ..apparently that’s some kind of dada (mini-dawood maybe) in Karnataka and he was referring to Sid being a rowdy like that and then the name just stuck.

My dad on the other extreme calls him ‘Krishna’, maybe he thinks Sid is some kind of avatar.

My mom used to call him ‘naikkutty’ for a long time, but now she and the rest of us have stuck to ‘Sidhu’ or ‘chidhu’.

As for me, I call him gummi, gumli, pattani (stole from hubby), amlu, …hmm…cant remember the rest now…but the list is long, trust me!

 We’re also a family of lyricists and music directors. So, we have come up with family songs to sing to Sid. I think if our family ever gets split like it happens in the double role hero movies, we could really put one of these songs to good use!

 Here goes one by my FIL.. ‘ingu kuchiniya, nee thathava adchiniya’  (roughly translated as you drank all the milk and beat up thatha)

There are remix versions of the above as well.. so the above lines would adapt to the tune of one of the popular movie songs, depending on whatever is the craze at that time. 

Hubby came up with this one whenever he wants to let a clinging Sid down on the floor..he used to sing this so many times that my mom threatened she would not play the babysitter if he sings this even one more time!

‘podungada siddhuva dhoppu, podungada siddhuva dhoppu, dhoppu, dhoppu’ (meaning, lets put Sid down in crude language! )

 Inspired by me calling Sid as gummi, hubby came up with this one..

‘nakki gummiya nee, thuppi gummiya … illave ille..nee gumikka gummi’ (And for God’s sake I cant translate this one, since it really makes no sense whatsoever, but is my favorite)

 If you are thinking we ‘re one bunch of lunatics, you may be very well right, but Sid has to make do with this bunch If you come home sometime, we can actually sing one of these family anthems for you