big basket at 1 am & other fun midnite activities

Dear D

We are back on track for the long winter nights. When the day gets shorter because you nap too long and the night gets longer because at 1 am you tell me “can you tell me how to close my eyes and sleep? Can you tell me? No don’t close your eyes!” yupp I am back to telling you stories where 100 sheeps jump over the fence and you ask me “what happens next” after the 100^th sheep has jumped. The thing is, I tend to lose connect with the narration after the 100^th sheep. The focus on literature gets even more defined as the night progresses. I have picked up “the turning point” from my office library and you need to read the title of the book and then further. It’s not a night-time books for children my child. Infact far from it… So then I hide the book yet again and your roving eyes zoom in on my phone. And that’s when the final night-time activity really happens. No not the videos and pictures. Those are not that interest you anymore. You open big basket and type in the name of your favorite snacks – oreos, kinder joy, haldiram aloo bhujia, maggi etc.

Last night, however we had a difficult time on big basket. They had not kept ironman shoes that you wanted to pick for your friend Ranveer. In some corner of your brain you have figured out that iron man and hulk are best of friends. Since you have hulk shoes, it is but natural that Ranveer should be gifted iron man shoes. Anyways

Over the last one week you have been looking for a spouse. You proposed to me but I had to decline as I am already married. After that you proposed to your little sister Eira over skype. Like most girls her age, I think she ignored your question. I hope you are limiting your proposal to family only. I am not sure what your friends and teachers will say but it will surely not be pleasant response. Atleast I think so…

Yesterday I was talking with your daadi and you interrupted as always. So for the first time your daadi scolded you for the interruption. To which you responded by saying you were disturbing the ants in our house, not our conversation.

These days you are doodling channel logos. Your favorite is Star Gold and CBeeBees. And you want to draw maps of the countries you are being taught about. Did I tell you I am not good in drawing, painting or anything that needs a firm hand?

And we have successfully banned cartoon network from our house or so I am told but you have gone back to youtube and these days Charlie and lola are the ones we have to watch again and again. And that's where you learnt "i don't want to see your face again!"

As always, 

Your loving mom. 

Bua ki shaadi

Dear Son,
We came back from yr bua's wedding last night. While you had fun there, you were asking for return to "e block" quite repeatedly. You met a few of your long lost cousins there but Eira is still closest to your heart. You still refuse to consider Radhika, Tia or Amaira as your "fav" sisters.
At the venue you had woken from a deep sleep and i think you were having a jungle dream because you woke up screaming "snakes on the floor"! After a while you came back screaming cockroaches and then ants... finally your cousin Joy told you it's your imagination and you trusted him enough to stop screaming bugs. The next day i shrieked at the sight of a mouse but you calmly told me it's my imagination and went on with your task. So much for believing in me. Both times.

I was having a heart-to-heart conversation about the horrors of cartoon network to one of your cousins - specifically gumball ki atrangi duniya. He informed me that he used to watch it on youtube as CN didn't show it in India during "his time".

rainbow teaset, red hanumanji and other buys

Dear Darsh,

We had gone to Lucknow for Diwali this year. You had a fun time playing with Pogo this time. Strangely, you did not try to enter his cave beneath the bed this time. You did bully him a lot and at one time we found him hiding beneath a chair by covering himself with a bedsheet. The entire duration you scolded him like he was your errant younger brother in need of a lot of discipline. In retrospect I am glad you don’t have any siblings to take care of at home.

You also had a great time with your friends Ansh, Vardaan, Nivi and Chiku. They are the children of your father’s friends and it was surprisingly nice to see all you children hanging out together and having so much fun. You guys were play-acting in the roles of a princess, a king, a senapati and a pageboy.

And then there was this family photoshoot we went for in the Lohia park. It was so clean and well maintained and with just a few lovey-dovey couples (the Lodhi garden in Delhi is infested with them) it made a beautiful spot for the pictures. While you were as hyper as ever, you did give us some amazing pictures which I am going to cherish forever.

You have discovered the joys of app shopping and like temple run, you need your daily dose of big basket shopping where you are too kicked to type the names of your fav foods and see their picture appear too.

While I went shopping for half a dozen kolhapuris in Lucknow, you had gone to buy a tea set as you needed one for the tea party you are going to throw for your friends in school. An all boy tea party this time. Maybe your father’s get-together with his friends impressed you a lot this time in Lucknow. Maybe you thought they had a series of tea parties for three nites. One that went on till 6 am. You also bought a red hanumanji because of the ‘bajrangi bhaijan’ effect. After receiving lego avengers, you have become a bit creative in your demands these days. Now you want a lego salman khan and a lego munni. Last nite when I was ordering groceries on the hone you reminded me for those again.

These days you love to snack on onions and peanuts and bhujia and gummy bears. we recently discovered on our way to Lucknow that you do not like Dhaba food. We also discovered that you can hold on to your shit until told to exit it. We had to check out and reject a few public loos until your father had a brainwave and we went to an expensive restaurant which did have good bathroom but at the cost of a beer. He was happy to pay the price and I helped too a bit J

You are drawing/doodling a smiling ten-headed ravan these days. In Ramayana, you were puzzled on the lack of Bharat’s action scenes and found ram and lakshman naughty that they would choose to fight. I have started reading peter rabbit to you and I am happy to note I have finally discovered a book that makes you sleep. Either that or you were too tired last night. Over the last few days you have been listening to the avenger stories a bit more attentively. So now you know the difference between a superhero and a super villain. Now you know the difference between good and bad. So some days you want to be a villain and do the opposite of what you are told to do. But it seems you can’t even pretend to be ‘bad’ for too long and you always end up by saying ‘I love you too much mama I am sorry.’ Your father is impressed that you know the difference and can choose between the two. I, on the other hand, hope again that is a phase only.

Your 6 packs and other Oct events

Dear Darsh
You have been watching a lot of Salman movies these days and it is showing in your dreams and aspirations. Just 2 nites back after watching 'wanted' you were interested in knowing more about how to get 6 packs. I told you that eating and exercising are the only ways to acheive it. We went through an exhaustive food list but after much deliberation you decided on eating a bowl of rice - not in the list suggested by me but anyways. After finishing that you declared you had 6 packs and showed everything your tummy. Thankfully we won't be visiting that topic again for a few years. Atleast i hope so...
Your teacher insisted so we have been trying very hard to practice alphabets with you but you being yr stubborn self, all such efforts ended in tears. Yours ofcourse. And then one fine day i came across an excellent idea - to let you write what you want to write... as long as you are writing... so now you write the names of all your favorite bollywood actors and their hit movie names and your avenger heroes and the names of their enemies. And we have almost covered all the alphabets here.
You have also developed some nice dancing moves but strangely your fav dance songs (hooka bar and dil kare chu cha) come from Akshay Kumar movies. Your fav songs these days are balam pichkari and mai tera hero. The drawings are anothet matter altogether. Here are two: the first has you and me chasing a colorful peacock around our house (literally) to feed him while your father is flying around in an orange costume. I asked you why is he flying and you said because he needs to think.

The second is a scene between superman and hulk and a bolt of electricity between them. You were not clear about the electricity but you did tell me that superman won.

my scrawny hulk

Dear Darsh, 

your father got back from his annual ten-day US trip last night. By last night, I mean around 2 am. Obviously I was waiting up for him so slept after he arrived. You woke me up at 6 am wearing a Hulk face mask. An angry hulk face mask which was quite scary. I tried to go back to my dreamless slumber after that but at 6:20 am you woke me up to show me your Captain America ensemble. After that, you showed me Batman bedroom slippers, your avenger lego set, the minion play dough set and the list can go on but the excitement level at so early in the morning was just too much to handle. Have I told you that the pitch of your voice is indicative of your excitement level? You were practically shouting in the morning. You also had a ‘welcome back’ chat with your father where you took details of his trip, asked him why was he back and why did he go and did he miss you? somewhat in that order…

The whole of last week you did not go to school as you were down with fever and cough. So you tried to babysit your little sister Tia. Day one was successful and your lullaby and gentle touch made it easy for her to doze off. Day 2 she didn’t want to nap but you kept forcing her to lie on the bed. She still got up as she wanted to play. That was not your plan. After several more failed attempts to put her to sleep, you cried yourself to sleep in frustration.

And this month has been quite frustrating for you and not just because of your ill health. You had made a card for your bestie and wanted to invite him to your house for a playdate but this being the season time it was not possible to make this happen. You wanted to accompany your nana nani to France first and then you wanted to travel to Allahabad with them. You were unhappy with your father as he went to USA without you... I think you have acquired the restless genes from my father which forces him to be in motion even in his 60s. I don’t remember a single month in which he would have not travelled across the state on some pretext or the other. Sadly your restless genes only want to do long distance and not short distance trips – i.e. the park in our society or even for cycle ride!

Every year, the day your father leaves for usa is followed by the day my bestie comes over to stay for a night or two. We try to do these annual meet-ups without your father because girls like to talk and some of it might be too much for your dad to handle so yes we look forward to these annual stay-overs. Not anymore though. With three children in the house, the fun-stay became a nightmare with you kids fighting, brawling, throwing up or sulking (you). You were jealous of the other kids too. Perhaps I should not have paid her child too much attention but you litereally sat on her, pushed her, hurt her and I was shocked, embarrassed, repulsed and felt really sorry for the child and angry at myself. I do pity you for not having a sibling but what you did was unacceptable so I told you to get out of my room and my sight. That, I think hurt you like never before and you have since then not forgotten it.

Now let me tell you about your hulk obsession. But that is what I am going to call it for now. We have 2 hulk toy models in our house. We also have the other super heroes like spiderman, thor iron man, etc but hulk is your favorite. Even in comic books. Infact you are not even interested in what spiderman is upto in the next story. If hulk is not there, you are not ready to listen to any story. Sometimes he sleeps with us even when there is no space in the bed. You also talk to him and make him beat Spiderman pretty often. After you bugged us for his costume, your father got one from USA. He also got you Captain America costume but that you have not worn at all. For the last 2 days you have been wearing hulk costume. You went to the park and scared the children and their oarents by making some extraordinary hulky noises. Your father is worried. He is wondering why have you chosen hulk as your hero and not any ‘positive avenger hero’. Because we all know hulk stays angry and grumpy all the time. I think he is wondering why are you gravitating towards aggressive heroes. I have a different take on the whole issue. At this stage you are exactly 4 year 8 months old but you still look too small for your age. You are underweight and maybe you want to grow big and strong really fast so that you are treated as an equal in your peer group. Maybe in a class full of older boys, you want to be a force to reckon with. Maybe you just want to see what does it feel like to be with fake 6 pack. In any case I just think it’s a phase that you would outgrow soon. You need to too cause the hulk costume will not survive if your wear at ten am and get out of it at ten pm. Frankly my dear, there is never a dull moment with you so with or without hulk’s meanness, you are still my little baby who sucks his thumb when he wants milk in the morning :*

morning tickle attacks

Dear Darsh, 

All my life I have avoided the tacky crassy movies that are filled with old jokes, fake crying, insane dialogues and lyrics, aging actors and debutante actresses. In short, I don’t like slapstick comedy. But after an incessant chanting of I want to watch singh is bling followed by the “song” for almost 2 days, we had to go for it. It was quite bad and you slept midway. Sadly you missed ‘the song’ as it came at the end. The girl kicked ass in this movie, literally. I asked you how you feel that the pretty girl is hitting so many naughty people. Instead of answering, you just looked at me a bit strangely. Strenage movies have strenger impact on people so don’t judge my sanity yet.

Your nana and nani returned from France last weekend and they came back with lots of gifts and a letter for you from your Advay Dada. That letter has had a profound impact on you. To be fair, it is at the back of a minions postcard. Infact I believe to avoid writing he made a drawing too. But it has touched you in deeper places than anything else ever has. You wrote and drew a long reply, which I have been told to deliver to Advay. You double checked my purse to see if it’s there or not. Before leaving the car today, you again reminded me for it. Oh and the postcard letter was read and reread several times since you received it. Infact that was what you asked for when you got up in the morning. We played with the soldiers in the morning too. But they were bnot fighting. They were actually talking. And just to be clear, you told my soldiers what to discuss… The cuckoo clock, you advised us, had to be in your room. Then you told me to put it in the drawing room. Then you wanted me to put a nail on a blank wall to hang it so that everyone can see it. Which is why I have hidden it for now…  And I am not sure why are you hoarding all the eiffel tower key rings.

This was a long weekend. Very long for our family because you woke up at 4.30 am and wanted everyone else to get up too. On Sunday, you wanted me to make the pingu cake so you assembled colorful ball candies for the eyes. You got the edible color tray, icing and even got out some cake slices. Then you placed 4 bowls on the dining table and waited to be served. It was an exhausting weekend but I guess we are used to all this now so it was fun too my munchkin. Love you lots.

A typical conversation at 4.30 am

You: I love you mumma

Me: I love you too baby

You: Should we tickle attack papa?

Me: no dear not yet. Let him sleep some more. Maybe after the sunrise.

You: ok

After 5 minutes

You: Look the sun is up. Should we tickle attack him now?

Me: Go to sleep Darsh!

You: But why…

Marsh and bollywood

Dear Darsh, 

Your school is making you guys enact Bharat milap or some such similar scene from Ramayana today. A performance to delight the younger crowd in your school. Not for the parents though. You are delighted to play the role of Bharat. Namish is playing Ram. His mother informs me it’s because Ram does not have much to speak and Namish is a quiet boy so it suits. You, I know are quite talkative so I am really wondering what’s happening in your school today. But I love it that you have such amazing teachers who sustain daily through your chatter. But you know na that they too have started complaining about the non-stop urge to talk.

We went to Vaishno Devi last weekend. We were excited for your first train ride with the whole family but you slept most of the time so it was mostly uneventful. You were initially scared but were looking forward to hop on to the helicopter for the to and fro journey to the mountain top and back. But the skies were cloudy enough for the helicopter service to shut shop. So we tried to climb up. Which did not last even a kilometer so we hired ponies. Later we were chased by a monkey because you were carrying a chocolate in your hand. That was the only time you decided to walk. We all came back with the divine blessings and headaches and backaches but you got a load full of memories. Treasure those because we are hoping to repeat the experience only in the next decade and not before that.

During one of your pony rides, you revealed to your father that you have a cute little younger brother and his name is Marsh, just like Darsh. You told him he plays with you and you hold him in your hands. Frankly my dear, these days your imagination is giving me a slight chill. After that, you have been telling us daily to go and get you a little brother called Marsh.

On our way back, you went through the inflight magazine not because you wanted to buy some toy, but because you were looking for a picture of Ranbir Kapoor. These days, I am so often reminded of the scenes outside my school when there would be vendor guys trying to sell stickers and bollywood actors pictures and posters. I am embarrassed to admit your big mosi did buy some of those posters but I think she was in the 7^th standard then. Not a 4 foot person. Your bollywood craze is driving me nuts these days. Last night instead of watching the half hour of American sitcom drama I am so used to, I had to endure Chennai Express because you wanted to see ‘Shahrukh Khan.’ And then on top of that you asked me to repeat some dialogues too. 

Today's update – your grandmother called up to say that you came home crying and you were crying in the bus and the school too. I called up your class teacher puja to find out and this was revealed:

it seems today end of the day you were disturbing the class. repeating after the teacher and singing songs. so your mam asked you to keep quiet. to that you said there is a bird in my throat and i can't keep quiet. She asked you is it a parrot as only a parrot can be repeating exactly what she was saying.

Then she warned the class that if anyone disturbs further has to go to the blue sky class to sakshi mam. you continued to disturb the class and refused to go to blue. so puja mam lifted you up and put you in that class. 

after that you were crying loudly (and she told me here that when you cry you really do cry with lots of tears) and finally puja mam went to you, chatted and cleaned your face etc. but then you started the Mikhail story (same old – that he hit you) and started crying again. 

i told her i have never told him that birds can enter a person’s throat. 

to that she replied that darsh is a very smart boy. a very very smart boy.

i was too embarassed after all this to ask her how was the enactment and did he eat lunch today.  And this is why your mother has decided to not go to any of the ptms in 2015. It’s too embarrassing to face the teacher after all this.

e ptms in 2015. It’s too embarrassing to face the teacher after all this.

Sept 30, 2015.

school admission

My dear son,

Both your kaakis think you are a prodigy. One of them says because you were saying z for zucchini last year. The other said because you can pronounce r for refrigerator. I am not sure you are a prodigy. Analytical like your father maybe you are…

Anyways I wanted to tell you about something very important that we recently concluded. Your admission to a ‘big’ school. While I love your current school, it was limiting you in extra-curricular activities, stage performances, sports. It was also getting too expensive. And you are getting pampered like anything by your teachers, friends and the faculty as you were the naughtiest and the youngest in your class. And I would really miss this school. But from a small but exclusive school which has one section per class you will be moving to a school which has 8. From a class strength of around 20, you will be sitting in a class of close to 32 kids. Ofcourse it will be a big change. But I am sure it will be easier for you to adjust now when you are still a slightly wild enthusiastic kid, ready to mingle and learn. So we chose Heritage for you. Or more like heritage chose you. But you are not ready to go to a different school yet. I know you will miss all these friends you made in the last three years L

We went to close to 8 schools in the last 2 months and the funny thing is, none of them are teaching as much as your current school. You are not yet 5 but you already know about nouns, adjectives, architecture of different countries, vowels, rainbow colors etc. I checked at all the schools and some of them don’t even start half the things you already know like addition, subtraction, writing 5 letter words etc. To be honest, I would be happier if you become a bit more sporty rather than being grammatically correct at this age.

And in other news, you are the only kid in class who refuses to practice Hindi and English alphabets in class. So much so, that your teacher actually scowled at us while ranting about your errant behavior in class. It seems, instead of practicing in the journal like the other children, you draw. About family holidays in Hong Kong and other countries where we are yet to go… Of puja ceremonies in which you make stick figures of your favorite uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins and cosmic rangoli drawings in which, very strangely, you insert Hindi alphabets.

Last weekend, we went to the mall and I was assuming you would ask to go to the toy shop or even the gaming arcade. How little do I know you! You insisted for half an hour so we had to go to a hypermarket. You picked up detergent and dettol from there for your father. I fear stranger things might happen still.

It was Ganesh Chauth last weekend and we went t a couple of house to pay our respect to the God. At the first place you were missing your prayer book. At the second place you smeared lots of tika on your forehead, several times. You ate the Prasad on your own and while the other children touched the deity’s feet, you did what we call a dandwat pranam. You lied down on the floor to seek God’s blessings instead of just bending over.

Signing off now because the next one is going to be longer as it will include metro, train, flight, helicopter and maybe a horseride. 

Mr Bollywood

Dear Darsh, 

Lately, I have started calling you bollywood. No really. I think the name suits you because you are totally in love with the songs, dance, dialogues etc. After seeing bajrangi you started chanting I love Pakistan. I think I did mention the BB locket in the last mail.

Even while we were adjusting to you dance version of jai jai bajrang bali, you gave us the soulful rendition of mai tera hero. To say you are in awe of salman khan will be an understatement. Maybe this will portray your true feeling: last night during yr dinner when I play your favorite youtube videos you made me type out and search for darsh and salman khan. Yes you did.

Moving on… you tried to buy kinder joy with an india gate fridge magnet that resembles a credit card so I gave you some old cards and you picked a manly wallet from my collection (it’s brown with white flowers) and you kept all the cards in it. The last time I counted you had more than 20 cards including a metro card, a bodyshop card and several other brand cards.

Last night you narrated a hilarious incident that happened in the school loo. You had gone to wash your hands and a friend was shitting so the whole bathroom was stinking so you quickly washed your hands and covered your nose and ran from the bathroom. Your principal caught hold of you and asked the reason for the haste so you informed her very politely that XX is shitting and the whole bathroom is stinking so she let you go then. I have always believed that narration is the key to a story’s success and you I believe have already mastered it. Your stories are always funny or maybe I am wearing the mommy goggles but I love all your stories. I hope one day you get famous for your stories my baby.

Last weekend was janmashtmi and we had tried to make it a big event for you to enjoy. You made rangoli design that was pretty with hindi alphabets you had learnt till now. For some reason you were against painting English ones there. You made river ganga, made your lego characters participate and helped with the strategic placing of the clay statues your nana got from Allahabad. In the evening you dressed up like Krishna, pretend-read bhajans and tried to sing and also accompanied us on the drums. On Thursdays too, you sit with me and read sai baba’s story books. In short, you really enjoy the pujas.

Last weekend we had to get you blood tested and we were very scared for your first such encounter with the needle. So was the blood collector. But you shocked us all. You did not finch, cry or scream. I guess I was most shocked because I get loud and abusive and teary when injected.

You are pretty excited about going to a birthday party this weekend you have not been invited to. I tried to tell you but I guess you are too excited about it in any case.

Habits:

The night rituals have become longer. You first try to sleep with us for an hour during which a lot of book reading and tickle attacks happen. Then you pick up your blankie, your pollow and your water bottle and go to your daadi’s room. After another hour you come back and sleep in the middle.

And for some reason you have started using your own bathroom for all short and long durations. Maybe it has to do with that bathroom incident. Maybe you are as fiercely independent as your mother.    

After almost a two year gap, You have started sleeping again while holding on to the blankie for some reason. 

the august letter

 Dear Darsh,

You are finally over PK, but at what cost! Every night before sleeping you make us play bajrangi bhaijaan the movie, without any forwards. You dance at all the songs and rush to the bathroom so that you don’t miss even a single scene. This has been going on for a few weeks. Yesterday we had gone to the market and you made us buy the now-famous BB hanuman gadda locket. You dance to selfie le le re wearing it. We had put an animation movie for you today but you slept during it! Did I mention you never sleep when BB is playing… I am not anti-bollywood at all but you have become an extreme Bollywood fan and it’s hilarious and exasperating at the same time.

You refuse to go to the park as you are afraid of the bugs and lizards there. You have hardly gone to the dance class this month. Infact you have devised a new form of dance for all your favorite songs sung by atif aslam and arijit. I feel it’s a slow kathak and western mixed but the jury is still out on that one.

You are learning physical violence in school. Today you punched me in the nose and when asked, you revealed that one of your friends had hurt you in school. But you still refuse to hit back your friends and depend on your teacher to intervene on your behalf. Let’s see how long that goes.

You made us buy a microphone last night and made us listen to your Bollywood renditions, speech on Japan and instructions on discipline among other things. And then we had an interesting session with you on mic and me on drums. You have realized you can’t wait for your birthday to have a party so you invited all your friends for a party and then told me about it very solemnly one evening.

The bitter-sweet relationship with your father continues. Things had peaked last month after the famous fallout when you pinched and pulled him repeatedly for a week even though he kept telling you it hurts. Finally he threatened to lock you in the bathroom which led you to believe he is you enemy no 1. The incident, you narrated, told and retold to all our relatives, random people in the lift, all your school friends, teachers, your vice principal and even a toddler and his parents in the mall. Ofcourse it has reached epic proportions now since you are a Bollywood fan and in the last version I heard, you were showing mosquito bites as places where he had hurt you! I did try to tell your teachers that your fabrications (please read LIES) have become quite fantastic but they praised you for your story telling skills and creative bent.

It was my birthday this week and after the dinner-out you were still wondering where the party was. Needless to say you were hugely disappointed to finally figure out what a grown-up’s party really means.

On rakshbhandan day you were very excited to get all the ten rakhis tied and you kept proclaiming loudly that you love all your sisters very much. However, you refused to get even the second rakhi tied, took off the first one within one hour and were ready to leave the minute you got the rakhi gift from your cousins. You grabbed the bags and told your daddi, “chalo daadi ho gaya”. Yes we were a little embarrassed.

But all in all you are cute kid making us proud with you perfectly formed sentences and new learnings every day. We love you and your funny antics!

the right fit

My dear son,

The family project this Saturday was pingu cake for you as you had been chanting for it for almost a week. Somehow during the summer break, while you were on a daily puja schedule with your grandmother, you had quietly learnt the benefits of chanting. It worked like magic for you this Saturday. However, chanting for a water-park theme cake is a little too much for my patience lever, especially since you just eat the fondant and not the cake itself.

This last one week, you have been obsessed about telling me a story about three friends – ironman, hulk and captain America. How hulk was angry and threw around cars, creating a lot of fire. I guess the fire troubled you. You wanted an explanation for hulk’s behavior. So I had to tell you the truth that Hulk wanted burger but his mom packed him a sandwich for lunch so when he saw that he became a big and green with anger and hence the fire. How did the story end? Captain America took Hulk for lunch to his house where his mom made burger for everyone and Hulk was not upset anymore. Which is why I have been telling your father I need to order the entire Avenger series since I was those kids who grew up reading diamond comics, not DC comics. I am sure you would not even know who Saabu is or how intelligent chacha Choudhary is. I will tell you in detail later.

The entire week, there was something we talked about daily. Either with each other, with friends, relatives, retailers and even your dance teacher. What kind of under-pants would make you comfortable the most. And we got lots of different answers. From no underpants, to cut ones, to long ones, cotton ones, etc. The jury is still out on that one but I am proud to say we have all the variety in colors and shapes for trial. However, you still look pretty uncomfortable to me.

July 6 

fly to singapore

My dear son,

Yesterday, after months of waiting, your dream came true. PK (the movie which has an alien trying to go back to his planet), was being showed last night on television. In anticipation, you jumped up and down, danced to the PK tunes you could remember and sang loudly. We are used to it  actually so no surprises there. Then the movie started at 8 pm and you sat down and since you were sitting with Big Daadi you assumed she knows nothing about PK so you were fore-telling her. Each scene and she had to listen too. Infact we were told not to talk so that you could listen to the dialogues, sitting very seriously on the comfy-end of the lounger. All was fine until the songs came and then all hell broke loose. You were mimicking all of PK’s antics, expressions, dance movements, neck cranes during the songs. During your favorite song ‘bhagwaan hai kaha hai tu’, you were even rolling on the floor, and fake dipping in holy water, with extremely spiritual facile expressions. Like your Big Daadi said, “PK’s spirit is haunting you” and we hope to see the end of it hopefully.

In other news, you have changed loyalties and now you are not interested in going to Pakistan any more. You are in fact interested in going to Singapore to visit your favorite brother. And there was a “problem” at the house last weekend but it’s stuff that I can only tell you about and not write so remind me when you are actually old enough to read this.June 22, 2015

movie marathon

Dear Darsh,

We saw a few scenes from Spiderman 2 yesterday. You were very excited to see Toby McGuire’s bravado. I made you close your eyes during the kiss scene and you did for me. I don’t know what you think of this when you read this but it was so cute you closing your eyes with your little hands cos mama told you not to watch the smooch.

And we watched another hindi movie in the theatre Sunday morning. Your father got you ready and was slightly taken aback when you chose your clothes and the accessories(read bag) and the shoes. He was amused that you went through your entire shoe drawer to figure out the perfect matching shoes to complete your ensemble. In the evening we decided to go out again but you didn’t want to part from your doremon tshirt. So you decided to get it re-ironed.

On Saturday, you played with me non-stop until it was time to sleep. It felt like you were making up for all the lost time during the week. Saturday eve there was a birthday and you threw up ten minutes after reaching the place.  

June 8, 2015

your first crush

My dear son,

Today at 7:30 am, after your morning rituals were over, I decided to teach you how to spray paint with a tooth brush. This was one of the very few art works I loved to do. You sprayed the brush once with your thumb, looked at your hands and ran off to wash your hands. At your return, I asked you to resume the brush art work. You nodded, showed me your hands and said “now hands are clean”. That was the end of that. You screamed at your very good friend because she messed up your room. It has been a couple of days since then but you are still refusing to do a play-date with her because of that incident. Yes, I think like your father, you are a cleanliness freak. 

Yesterday, you insisted on going to the market in your superhero cape and mask. And for some unknown reason you were very kicked about the fact that children might laugh at you. And vainly you roamed the market like that until a little girl laughed at you. Thankfully you removed your superhero gear then. I guess like all the children in the world, you want to be a superhero too.

Last Saturday was a revelation. You went with us to the opthamologist and responded to her in the most mature way possible. I think you also fell for her a little bit as you have been religiously following her advice – to the point of even reminding me also that the doctor told you to have a banana,

Yesterday, you woke up at your usual 6 am but said you were sleepy. So I asked you, “should we sleep some more?” To which you replied with a question, “no office today?” You are 4 years, 3 months old now and for the last 3 months, since I joined office, I am sneaking off to work, literally. The few times I tried to say good bye to you, you would start crying. But in the last 3 months, I am proud to say you have become more independent than ever before. In the bathroom. You still refuse to eat food on your own and we are still threatening / cajoling on a daily basis during all meal times.

I made you join dance class this week. For two classes you just observed and your eyes were glued to the dancing children, but you refused to dance. And then just like that, at the tail end of the second class, you got off from the chair, told me not to follow you very emphatically, and joined the other kids.

A few days back, we had gone to meet your little cousin Tia. Your grandma had not accompanied us. And you were quite miffed about it. So much so, that you took my phone and faked a conversation with her for 20 mins trying to convince her to come and join us.

In the month of May, we were involved with two dinner dates. You threw up in both. We organized a couple of splash pool party cum play dates. We also went to HK which was a hit and you fully enjoyed the flight, the hotels, riding in the metro, bus, and ofcourse the highlight was hour-long market visits while you were perched on to your dad’s shoulders.

 Two movies and you slept in both. The second movie, you insisted on sitting on your seat and not sharing it with either of us. I ended up watching the movie from an aisle below.

Everytime you poop, you go check your weight and height. Your favourite channel is rhymes tv and these days you are obsessed about eating jackfruit. So we sliced and offered melons and you were happy to eat our version of jackfruit. You wear the blue-pink car shoes for every outing and fall asleep listening to pepper stories. Every night. 

your first train ride this year

My dear son,

train rides are very important for you as you hardly ever get a chance. my entire clan was getting together at our village and i just had to be there! it's still hot and i was double minded about taking you but since you love family gatherings i decided to take you. it was an awesome trip. we picnic-ed on the train with all my cousins and took a cab for your first visit to my village. we visited your nana first who was almost-camping at the newly-renovated ancestral temple and then i took you to the family house. you enjoyed every bit of the 48 hours and then some more.

i did not realize until this trip that you are growing up as one of the most accommodating child i have ever known. and it's very sweet to see you open up in front of relatives of all kinds. you make me want to mingle more with my own kin :*  

ten days back this was us...

My dear son,

Today at 7:30 am, after your morning rituals were over, I decided to teach you how to spray paint with a tooth brush. This was one of the very few art works I loved to do as achild. You sprayed the brush once with your thumb, looked at your hands and ran off to wash your hands. , I asked you to resume the brush art work. You backed away, showed me your hands and said “now hands are clean”. That was the end of that. 

The other day you screamed at your very good friend because she messed up your room. It has been a couple of days since then but you are still refusing to do a play-date with her because of that incident. Yes, I think like your father, you are a cleanliness freak.

Yesterday, you insisted on going to the market in your superhero cape and mask. And for some unknown reason you were very kicked about the fact that children might laugh at you. And vainly you roamed the market like that until a little girl laughed at you. Thankfully you removed your superhero gear then. I guess like all the children in the world, you want to be a superhero too.

Last Saturday was a revelation. You went with us to the opthamologist and responded to her in the most mature way possible. I think you also fell for her a little bit as you have been religiously following her advice – to the point of even reminding me also that the doctor told you to have a banana, an apple and a blue tomato!

Yesterday, you woke up at your usual 6 am but said you were sleepy. So I asked you, “should we sleep some more?” To which you replied with a question, “no office today?” You are 4 years, 3 months old now and for the last 3 months, since I joined office, I am sneaking off to work, literally. The few times I tried to say good bye to you, you would start crying. But in the last 3 months, I am proud to say you have become more independent than ever before especially in the bathroom. You still refuse to eat food on your own and we are still threatening / cajoling on a daily basis during all meal times.

I made you join dance class this week. For two classes you just observed and your eyes were glued to the dancing children, but you refused to dance. And then just like that, at the tail end of the second class, you got off from the chair, told me not to follow you very emphatically, and joined the other kids. You simply didn't want me hovering behind you. And you are an amazing dancer. Specially on true blue bollywood numbers ;)

A few days back, we had gone to meet your little cousin Tia. Your grandma had not accompanied us. And you were quite miffed about it. So much so, that you took my phone and faked a conversation with her for 20 mins trying to convince her to come and join us.

In the month of May, we were involved with two dinner dates. You threw up in both. We organized a couple of splash pool party cum play dates. We also went to HK which was a hit and you fully enjoyed the flight, the hotels, riding in the metro, bus, and ofcourse the highlight was hour-long market visits while you were perched on to your dad’s shoulders.

 Two movies in May and you slept in both. The second movie, you insisted on sitting on your seat and not sharing it with either of us. I ended up watching the movie from an aisle below.

Everytime you poop, you go check your weight and height. Your favourite channel is rhymes tv and these days you are obsessed about eating jackfruit. So we sliced and offered melons and you were happy to eat our version of jackfruit. You wear the blue-pink car shoes for every outing and fall asleep listening to pepper stories. Every night. 

And you are still in love with kitchen set. I love you my munchkin. 

when you were four months short of four

My dear son,

When you are 50 and planning to write your memoir, this letter will come in handy. You might want to reference it when you are raising your child. Please remember I wrote this letter out of love. Only love. ok fine i'll admit it - with a little bit of apprehension too.

You are four months short of making it to the big four. Yep you are yet not there… but when we go to a restaurant you take the menu and read it upside down and announce that you want noodles and gulab jamun. Every time. Even in a south indian resteaurant. But that’s the cute part. Here comes the slightly scary part.

When we got to a toy shop we ask you to pick something you want. There are all kinds of toys, guns, swords, masks, puzzles etc but you either want a toy house with all the amenities or a kitchen playset. You do already have an ever-expansive kitchen set and a cute little pink toy house. But you keep wanting bigger and better ones. And you are always lifting my kitchen utelsils to your play area. Please stop that now.

Even your youtube playlist is strange. Kids your age watch jake and the neverland pirates, animation series of racing cars and fighting soldiers. Or even flying doremon or crying nobita. You do watch handy many the repair guy sometimes but your heart is always set on tutorials of playdough ice cream sets and cupcake sets. Or hello kitty bath sets and kitchen sets which teach you how to make a fake hamburger.

So when I meet moms at theme parties and ask them about the theme characters I get a little conscious. Of what boys your age watch and play with and aspire to be. Do you understand my dilemma? Should I already be worried my dear son?