Like Mother Like Daughter

 

Wife is a cleanliness freak. So, is the daughter 🙂 It’s all in the genes!!!

“Happy” Birthday Story

Long work day. Went home around 6PM. Wife wore the prettiest of black gowns. Kid in another new cute outfit. New car. Started a drive to a cozy restaurant. Clicked on the garage door remote. Dang, the door got stuck and wouldn’t close. Treid again, and again, and again! Got the tool box, nothing worked! Tried to close the door manually, not an inch down.

Past 8PM. Wife and kid in night dress. Me had a hopeless look. Called the handyman neighbor. Still no progress. Phoned up garage repair guy. 9:30PM. He said an hour. Dude came after 11PM. Tried everything and the door still didn’t come down. He decides to cut the cable. Both of us bring… down the garage door slowly. It’s midnight. I go to bed. Wife and kiddo were sleeping peacefully 🙂

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

When Do You Restart Blogging?

There are so many times you want to restart blogging, some of which include:

• Seeing at least five photos of Shobha Karandlaje every evening in the local newspaper – Her cycling, running, lighting the lamp, getting on a bullock cart and several other skills are truly admirable.
• Being the proud father of a darling daughter, whose picture was clicked by tens of cell phone camera owners, when roaming around Mysore palace during Dasara.
• Watching cricket on TV, day and night, and realizing how much I miss this in America.
• Completely getting frustrated by the traffic in Bangalore and cursing myself for being the ‘ohhh so sensitive’ NRI.
• Celebrating Deepavali with fireworks after more than a decade.
• Tracing Bendre‘s path which inspired him to write ‘mooDala maneya muttina nIrina’.
• Getting a CD released, which has my poems, my mother’s music and the biggest contemporary singers.
• Getting annoyed by the pathetic quality of Zee Kannada Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and especially getting irritated by immature comments from ‘judges’ such as Archana Udupa.

But, here’s the reason which finally made me write again:

• Mother and son talking way past midnight; listening to Susan Boyle, Adam Lambert, S.Janaki, P.Susheela and others; reminiscing the old days; remembering so many old friends, wondering where they are now; talking about all the happy moments, and the not-so happy ones, and learning several new things in the process; nostalgia……

Life is beautiful…………..

The Dreams In Which I’m Dying Are The Best I’ve Ever Had

As weird as it sounds, this sentence is just kicking the creative juices out of me (whatever of it is left, that is!). As you’ve rightly guessed, I am listening to Tears for Fears, Gary Jules and Adam Lambert. A week ago, I was listening to an Assamese song sung by my mother, over and over and over, again and again, past midnight, of course. And, this week, it’s ‘Mad World’. Anyway, I wanted to write a poem, but I will settle for a blog post.

Fatherhood has been amazing. The fact that she wants me to hold her and jump up and down, is free exercise – you know, I always tend to look at the bright side.  When I come back from work, she will be sitting on her mother or grand mother’s lap. I just go there and give my biggest grin and start talking to her. She instantly recognizes my face and gives the biggest and best smile in the World. Now, that is priceless! (Please note, Master card). I can never give up anything for that.

The twinkle in her eyes when she is happy, the droopy cheeks when she is crying, pure and untainted innocence – I am truly blessed. I am sure most fathers have these feelings – it’s the norm, for most of us, at least. I don’t know how the love gets divided when you have more than one kid (it probably gets doubled!), but when you have your very first child, the emotions and feelings are truly out of this World.

A long time back, there was a comment on my blog saying there is only one sun and one moon. Very true, but few (un)lucky ones will have to live through eclipses. Two days back, I was staring at the full moon. I remembered the bright sun earlier that day. I looked at my wife, and at my beautiful daughter. I was happy, I was content.

I wanted to write a poem, but ended up with this. Not too far, I suppose. It’s not all that cryptics, is it? And yes, I find it kind of funny and I find it kind of sad, that the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.

Baby, The Babe Magnet

It’s been a few weeks that I have been taking my daughter out on hikes. The best one was when I had to drive through dirt roads and then hike around a mle and a half. It was certainly worth the trip – the waterfall was magnificent. But, something surprised me. Several of my Indian friends and their parents are shocked, to say the least, that I am taking a one month baby all around the place. Well, she seems to like it, so why not? 🙂

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At least for now, my daughter has realized that “late to bed, late to rise” is the way to go. I am sure, that comes directly from my genes (although, I have to admit, certainly not from my mother’s side). It has been fun taking care of her past midnight. But, here’s a twist. She has developed all traits of being colic. It starts out sometime late in the evening and goes on for a few hours. The solution? I go into the master bathroom, turn on the vent and stand there for sometime. Sheesh, she has a really weird sense of music!

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All the beautiful girls in the town have been really nice to me these past few weeks. “Ohhh, she is sooooooo cute”, “How old is she? Oh my Gooooood”, “Ohh, isn’t sheeeee a princeeeesss?” etc. have become quite common nowadays. I do rememebr an episode of ‘Friends’ when Chandler and Joey scored with the women, when they carried around Ross’ baby. Isn’t it an irony? When all the single men are waiting for a smile, the girls are busy talking with the new dad – handsome, of course 😉

My latest poem…..and the BEST ever!

My best poem

ಯಾವ ಹೂವು ಯಾರ ಮುಡಿಗೊ?

It’s been two years since appa died. It’s weird! It’s different!!

My father believed in rituals, a lot. So, I make it a point to go through all the rituals and ‘officially’ remember him on chaitra shuddha trayOdasi every year. Well, it’s just been two years now. It was very different, two years ago. I cried uncontrollably. Now, I take a different route. I try the escapist path. I try not to think of him too much during the rituals. It’s very hard not to. When you repeat his name, his father’s name, his grand father’s and the gOthra, several times during the process, it’s hard not to have moments of flashbacks.

They say time is the healer. But I think that’s only partly true. Time is a healer just because we choose it to be. There are several days when I suddenly go back to ‘thinking of everything to do with my father’ mode and silently sob. So, where did that ‘time is the healer’ thingy vanish?

If it is this bad for me, I can certainly imagine how bad it is for my mother. Then again, she is such a strong woman, who has gone through so much pain in her life. So much braver and stronger than I am. There is a reason pathos are melodious, right?

I never saw my father’s father or his grand father. But, here I am praying, so that they can attain mOkSha! Isn’t that strange? As a famous poem in Kannada goes – ಎತ್ತಣ ಮಾಮರ? ಎತ್ತಣ ಕೋಗಿಲೆ? ಎತ್ತಣಿಂದೆತ್ತ ಸಂಬಂಧವಯ್ಯ?

Going South

For the next two weeks, I will be sailing on the Amazon and hiking at Maachu-Peechu. I will be back rejuvenated and re-energized, and of course with LOTS of pictures.

See ya then!

Wisdom, No More

At least 25% of it.

I was so proud of it. I didn’t expect it to just pop out within a minute of me opening my mouth. And to think that the dentist seemed fresh out of college.

The last wisdom tooth came out just a few years back. I was sitting at a terminal in the San Francisco International Airport, waiting to go home for my wedding and lo, final wisdom announced it’s arrival with a piercing pain. Thankfully, I got all my wisdom before the wedding, so my wife really can’t take any credit for that.

But man, it lasted just a few years. And what bothers me is that the tooth was not even paining. The smart dentist suggested that I should get it removed and I did. Now, I REALLY miss my tooth. He wanted me to get rid of the other three as well, and make me completely dumb. Smart ass, no way am  I going to do that.

Whatever, I am still have 75% wisdom and in today’s World that is more than adequate.