My first craft project - at home

Amma thinks she's smart, can keep me occupied for a while with her craft project and get her job done. We make quite a few crafts at the nursery every week and I bring them home, so amma tries to imitate them. I had other plans though. So on a sunday afternoon, after my nap, amma brings out a few chart papers, some pistachio shells, marker pens, glue, scissors and newspaper all laid out in front of me.

Amma plans to:

• write something on the chart paper
• spread some glue
• stick the pista shells on them and
• make a nameboard.

I try to:

• sit on top of the chart paper. Amma shoes me away.
• spread the pista shells all over the room. Amma tries to ignore me.
• taste the shells. Amma pulls them away from my mouth.
• spread glue on my hands, knees and face. Amma stops me just in time.
• walk on the pista shells. Amma tells me to be careful. Otherwise I'd trip and fall. As if I did not know that!

So finally this is what we achieved.... If you are wondering why amma was making these pista shelled nameboards, they are to be part of the forthcoming Golu...

Bless You

This morning, the little girl walked up to me and asked for 'pal'(milk). Just as she finished her milk, she stretched out her palms wide open with a grin on her face. First thing on my mind was her palm was dirty, let me grab a tissue and clean it, but no the palm was as clean as it could be. So I waited for a second, not knowing what the smile meant, then held her palm, bent down and kissed it. Turns out that was what she wanted. But the game was not over yet. She stretched the other palm. I bent down again, kissed it again and then the other palm was stretched out for a kissie. So we played this for over half a dozen times,when she lifted her head high up and sneezed. So me being me, mechanically said 'Bless you baby' and placed my hands on her head. Then the little head goes up and down again waiting to hear the 'Bless you' and would be repeated many times, until I said' Bless you baby'. I felt truly blessed to experience such joy this morning. Oh such sweetness, wish they retained it forever.

Festive Days - Part 3 - Ganesh Chaturthi

This is the most eagerly awaited festival of the year - mostly to eat the lovely modaks - but also to participate in the grand preparations that precede this important festival in the Hindu calendar.When we were young, dad and I would go shopping the previous night to get the Clay Ganesha idol. My mom would instruct us time and again to bring the pure clay idol and none of the fancy colourful idols that would also adorn the market place and would wait to be picked by some happy customer. The accessories were many including the 'kodai' or paper umbrella for the Lord, the eyes(the black and red beads)the malai(garland) which was made from small purple flowers. The idol would be placed on a palagai(wooden seat) and carefully brought home. Many varieties of fruits would be offered and the shopping is completed after picking some blades of grass(arugumbil). This is used exclusively for the pooja the next day.
The next morning we would quickly bathe and start the decorations in the pooja room. We would place a small table, place the Ganehsa idol over it and decorate the Lord and His seat with all buntings. Then my mother would start the pooja, by which time we would get impatient, and wait for the pooja to end, for the prasad to be offered to the Lord. Then we would happily start our modak eating spree.
Fast forward to now, when we have to rush to work and still try and fit in whatever we can. We also celebrate Gowri Habba the day before Ganesh Chathurthi - a practise that is followed by the MIL, and hence new to me. In August we celebrated Varalakshmi pooja and now it was time to welcome Goddess Gowri. I prepared a very simple sundal for prasadam and invited a few of my neighbours for tamboolam. It was past 9:30 in the night when they left and as I went about my usual chores that night, I wondered if I'd have any energy to wake up early and prepare modaks the next morning.
I was too tired and hence got up at the usual time, got ready for work, but Aditi was still asleep. So I decided to make prasadam that evening. As I quickly refreshed my memory, by reading through Meenakshi Ammal's 'Samiathu Par' for the recipe, realization dawned on me - that the recipe was actually very simple and could be managed within 30 minutes. I quickly prepared the dough, made the filling and started making the modaks. They came in all odd shapes and I made just 11 of them. Left them in the pressure cooker, while I tended to Aditi's morning needs. It was steaming hot, when I presented it to Ganeshji for neivadyam and said a quick prayer. We left for work, leaving the modaks to cool and to be tasted later.
We returned home, and Aditi saw the plate full of white balls in front of the pooja area. I was sure she'd not like it one bit, so I happily gave her one modak in a plate and a spoon to use. The little girl carefully cut piece by piece and relished them. She finished one and wanted more. And you can imgine my joy, for this girl hated any sweets that were offered just a few weeks back(during Janmasthami) and now was enjoying my hurriedly made modaks. I was truly happy for that momentous decision to make it that morning. In all, she had about 2 and a half modaks. They came out prefect in taste, though not in shape. We then visited our neighbour, who had invited us for tea.
And we retired our Lord until next year.

Festive Days - Part 2

For Part 1, please read this.

A week later it was time again, but to invite little Lord Krishna. Again memories of last year lingered - we had dressed a 6 month old Diti as little Krishna. This year too, Prashanth wanted her to be dressed as Krishna, but we settled for Radha. Preparations started even earlier this time. On Monday night, I made uppu seedai, Tuesday night - some thathais and on thursday night - vella seedais. We have grand celebrations at home for Janmashtami and one of the highlights would be the drawing of little padams(footprints) like the shape of the number '8' followed by small vertical lines on top for the fingers. We usually make the rice flour kolam maavu by adding water to rice flour and make the footprints from it.

As Lord Krishna was born at midnight, it is customary to celebrate and perform the pooja inthe evening. So the kolam is done in the evenings just before the pooja. But considering the tot at home would create a mess of the kolam before it dried off, I drew the padams during her morning nap. Surprisingly the child did not mess around, instead considerd it as 'Lakshman Rekha'. She was scared of going over it and would ask us to lift her and safely deposit her on the other side. Before the pooja, I got some aval(poha) and butter for neivadya along with the goodies prepared earlier that week.

After the pooja at home, we went to the local temple and Diti was dressed as Radha in the Rajasthani suit gifted by her grandparents.(I am hurriedly feeding her some curd before we leave for the temple).We put on her a yellow bindi to match her dress and the hairclip was removed before it could even be put on her.

What does 'Ka' mean in boddler language?

Of late, the little girl has been talking quite a bit, learning new words and trying to speak in words rather than actions. But she likes to also abbreviate and get me thinking on what she exactly means.Here's an example
Ka could mean
Cat
Car
Corn
Kodu(give in Tamil)
Kaal(leg in Tamil)

Given the situation, I'm supposed to interpret the 'Ka'.Have you been in a similar situation?

Festive Days - Part 1

The last few weeks have seen lots of festive celebrations and our home was no exception. It was special this year cos I could deck the little one up and get her involved(read help) in the preparations. The festive season as usual kicked off with Varalakshmi Vritham. Its not performed at my parents house and I have only started doing it after marriage. Last year, my in-laws were here and hence every pooja was performed as religiously as possible(within limitations of this country). And this year, I wanted to do at least half as much. Also we've a few friendly neighbours who are Indians and whose parents are here. So I could easily spot people for tamboolam.
Var Pooja fell on a friday and we started preparations on Thursday. We went home, cleaned and cleared on top of the chest of drawers(so it could not be reached by my little tot)and proceeded to decorate it with a kalasam and coconut. We subsititued local flowers/leaves which added a bit more colour. Then comes decorating Goddess Lakshmi which is my favorite part. We put a few necklaces and stuck them to the photo frame with turmeric and decorated the mandir area with more flowers. Food and prasdam form a very important part of any Hindu festival. Once I was done with the altar decoration, I went on to make carrot halwa that night. Woke up early next morning to make the actual prasam of kadala sundal and sarkarai pongal.
We wanted even number of dishes, so made a quick cucumber kosambri for prasadam. We then assembled for pooja and performed aarthi and neviedyam. Daddy them rushed off to work and I tried giving Diti some of the prasadam - halwa and pongal. The little girl prompty turned her head away and refused to eat anything sweet. So I fed her usual breakfast, sulked about her dislike for sweets to my mother and left for work that morning. In the evening, we had invited our neighbours(Indians from the friendly state of Karnataka) for tamboolam. The aunty was a classical singer who sang a beautiful song on Varalakshmi and we had a good time chatting for a while. The little girl was dressed in pattu pavadai and she looked so adorable.

The next day was raksha bandan or avani avittam as we call it. Basically men change their sacred thread and recite the 'Gayatri mantram'. The function itself was very simple with Prashanth doing the pooja and we simply sat around. The little girl enjoyed herself and learnt to do the namaskaram just as we do it and enjoys doing it ever so often at various places as desired.
Part 2 - Janmashtami celebrations & pics coming up soon

Oh-ho

Thats a new word Diti has learnt and has been using most often. When something accidentally falls on the floor, she's quick to respond with a oh-hoh. And its so cute when a 19 month old says them. And the accent is sooo different from what I've ever heard before.There's been a lot of new words from her in the last few weeks. And she demands more independence with eating/drinking and basically every activity.
On a completely different note, she plays often with her little laptop that aims to teach her the letters of the alphabet. It has a little quiz like 'Point to the letter ... or shape ...' The quizzer tells her the the same 'Oh-ho.Try again'., when she presses the incorrect button. I'd like to think she learnt to say the Oh-ho from there although she's definitely learnt it at the nursery.