Two Nine, Two Nine, Three Nine

2-9, 2-9, 3-9 is the way I do my counting these days.....so anything that I see in pairs (for example trucks, cars, tankers, buses, pigeons etc) is counted as 2-9.......while anything that exceeds two is 3-9.....

My father got to know of this new counting technique yesterday after I saw a pair of pigeons on our neighbour's roof-top......I called for my papa.........and, pointing towards the pigeon, I told him that there are "two-nine" pigeons on the roof.....papa tried to correct me by saying that there are two pigeons and not "two-nine"......but I stood my ground.......Left with no choice, he unwillingly agreed that there are "two-nine" pigeons on the roof.....

Later in the evening, I saw more than two trucks parked on the road-side while on our way to the market .........Out of excitement, I again called for papa.......and, pointing towards those parked trucks, I said- "papa dekho......three-nine trucks" (meaning papa, see there are more than two trucks)........This time, he readily agreed that there are "three-nine" trucks on the road.......by then mom had already explained him about my new way of counting.....

However, my new way of counting has left my papa thinking.........as, I used to count easily upto 9 till few months back........"What went wrong" is the question he is asking to himself.......perhaps it was lack of access to learning aid ........ as my counting habit previously was relative to the steps I used to climb on our stairscase.......and since we don't have any staircase in this house, my counting seemed to have changed!

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Mera Mall (My Mall)

As mentioned earlier, we have recently moved into a new house in Sector 15, located on the other side of the NH-8 (National Highway)......And, I am yet to reconcile myself with this part of Gurgaon- an inferior cousin of the other side as it has got just one upmarket mall cum spa cum hotel, few 100 meters away from our house......

It looks so much different to me as I have been growing up seeing malls and big buildings, as the place where I used to stay earlier had at least 3 big malls and super markets within 1 km walking radius......I was so much used to seeing them everytime we used to go out on drives/walks......Needless to say that I am missing all that on this side of the road......

So everytime we step out of our home, I tell my papa to take me to "mera mall" across the highway........Much to his surprise, I also know the way to my mall......so as soon as we hit the NH8, I always tell my papa to turn right........thereafter leaving it to him to find his way upto DLF Galleria-Golf Course road red light intersection.......From then onwards, I again take charge of navigation.....left......idhar (meaning "here" & using my fingers to point in the direction).......bursting into a loud laughter and boisterous shout......"yeah mera mall".........My parents have been hearing stories of "mall kids" and are not amused at being face to face with one at home!

Oh I forgot to tell you that "mera mall" meaning my favourite mall is DLF Mega Mall located at the start of Golf Course road.......

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Shoes & A Complete Sentence!

Many new things/incidents/activities have remained unposted in the wake of my burn injury; and I feel it is time to make amends and log them here by means of this post......so here it comes:

~ My father's new venture (www.utopianoutdoors.com) has finally taken off after one year of planning....... Their first camp for school children of Nehru World School was a huge success and was received well by the participants....I shall be linking the picture gallery of the event to this blog, once it is up. They are now busy planning for other school and family camps during the month of May-June.

~ That I have a penchant for shoes is no new news but off lately I have started wearing shoes of all shapes and sizes.......I like to walk wearing those biggies.........And, you know my mom's prolong wait to spot a mistake in my choice of correct pair of shoes/feet is not showing any signs of tapering off any soon........It never ceases to amaze her as to how do I manage it! For me, it's just a child's play.....

~ I am no more a "two word" girl......so "mumma paa-nee" (meaning mumma give me water) has given way to "mumma paa-nee de do" (a complete sentence for the previous one).......Likewise, "mumma pottey" has become "mumma pottey aayee hai" or "Aaaa-lok coupled with hand gesture urging my papa to sit on the bed" has given way to "Aaaa-lok idhar baitho" (meaning Alok sit here) .......... I guess, it would be much better for me to write one post about the complete sentences that I have already started speaking.........I just said "Mumma nin-nee aayee hai" instead of earlier "mumma nin-nee" meaning Mumma I want to sleep....

~ Rhymes have also started giving way to Hindi film songs....so humpty dumpty video no longer amuses me but a mother trying to make her son eat his dinner do- perhaps because I can relate to that kid. So, why don't you have a look at the video?

And now my burn injury bulletin- a new outer layer also called as epidermis has already started to take shape as my healing is progressing as planned......

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Dressing Visits To The Hospital!

My burn wounds are healing as planned and I will be going to Medanta hospital for my final dressing visit- my fourth since last tuesday. Earlier fears of heat induced infection looks very remote now as my doctor feels that post burning act of putting me under water has helped limit the damage to my inner skin- thank you papa!

I must thank my mom too for managing hospital visits in the absence of my papa and Ashu chacha, as both of them were travelling. You know it is extremely difficult to commute in Gurgaon if one doesn't know how to drive.......and, my mom can't drive.....

Coming back to my injury, I still have a bandage wrapped around my waist and trust me it is not at all comfortable with sun powered heat wave registering in excess of 45 degrees.......Doctor has given some anti allergics to help me manage itching etc. Right now my mom's focus is on healing and I am sure it will not be much before it will turn towards erasing the scar......fact that I am still a 18 month old will surely help!

I have so much to write but then I would like to do that in my next post; I have to go and eat my breakfast........medicines are waiting!

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Funny Moments and Burn Wounds!

6 days have elapsed since I logged-in my last post. And, those six days have been eventful by all means- I travelled 800 kms over the weekend, visited hills for the first time, rode a pony, deliberately allowed cool breeze to hit my face repeatedly after tasting the pleasure of looking out of windows of the moving car, walked the streets of a small bazaar at Gaja (place where my papa is setting up his camp), did lot of running around our lawns of our Dehradun home, played with my dada and dadee, splashed water all over after taking a dip inside our own kid-pool, visited my nana-nanee; in short I had lot of fun......... but everything turned into a distant memory minutes after we reached our Gurgaon home...........A freak accident involving Santoshi didi and a tea cup left me nursing my burn wounds when I should have been sharing about my trip with my Rudra bhai.

My papa, tired after driving non stop from Dehradun to Gurgaon in less than 5 hours, asked for tea......While he was waiting for his tea, I began playing with my Rudra bhai, who I was meeting after a gap of 3 days......mom got busy checking her work emails......Soon thereafter, Santoshi didi made an entry with two tea cups on a tray in her hand.......She bent downwards to adjust her slippers, fumbled and spilled over one cup filled with hot tea over my back.......Screaming and screeching, I bursted into tears....Papa came running, lifted me and took me straight to the bathroom to pour cold water over my burnt back......outer layer of my skin had already started to peel off by then and the diameter of the affected area was increasing with every passing moment......Crying incessantly, I was staring at my mom and papa hoping them to do some magic......Papa called for ice cubes and cold water and would put me inside the tub filled with cold water........But, burning sensation was not giving any signs of tapering off.........seeing the skin peel off rendered my mom motionless; she started competing with me in terms of crying .......Shikha chachee too joined in soon thereafter.......Santoshi didi, filled with guilt was no less different.........

My papa's patience had already given up by then and he shouted at everyone to keep quiet...... He then called our new landlord (Rohit uncle)for the directions to the nearby doctor......Rohit uncle told my papa to follow his car to Dr Yadav's clinic ......... I was lying inconsolably on my mom's lap who was pouring cold water on my burn wounds......Soon, we reached the clinic but my screaming cries would not stop until dressing was complete.......All along this, my worried dada and dadee kept calling as they had seen me off few hours back and I was all smiles then......

Later, my papa called up Vaishali aunty who suggested papa to consult Dr. Aditya as he had treated Tanvi didi in the past for burn wounds.......So we then went to Medanta Hospital to consult Dr. Aditya; who gave me some pain killers and vitamins.......I have to go to doctor again for next round of dressing........He will be able to suggest the next line of treatment only after examining my wounds today......As per him, burn wounds have a tendency to evolve after two-three days......Will keep you posted on the same!

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Gatecrashing Through Lenses

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Youngest Gatecrashers & A Wedding Anniversary

My parents added yet another 5 to their marriage date-05/05/05 after completing 5 years yesterday. Our earlier plan to head out to Nainital had to be shelved due to lack of time and my mom was certainly not happy about that.......Papa's promise to redeem it in some other form fell on deaf ears initially......but as the day progressed, my mom's mood began improving and in the evening we decided to go out for a family dinner. As my mom's phone isn't working anymore, my papa decided to buy her a new phone as her anniversary present. So, he took her to Chroma Store on the way; but too much of variety ended up confusing my mom......In the end, she decided to return after some online research on the currently available phones.......

Family dinners for us usually means dining at IKay's for their accommodating nature towards kids....Prying eyes don't follow kids every moment and we are good to be left alone to do our bit while elders eat their lunch/dinner......Yesterday, we found company in couple of other kids.....so four of us were doing "round and round" with ocassional fights......And, who else but me was the one who would beat the other two as and when they tried to bully my Rudra bhai.......

While everyone was busy having their dinner, two of us sneaked out. My papa was vigilant enough to take note of sudden silence and ran out to find us standing outside the door of the adjacent pub- with me talking to the tall and big bodied bouncer.......The bouncer jokingly asked us- "do you want to go inside" ......... "YES" was the loud answer; he wasn't expecting us to be so prompt with our reply.......As he was busy trying to figure out his reply, somebody opened the door to come out.......And, that was all we were were waiting for; we barged in even before they could come out.......leaving the couple and the bouncer smiling.........

With my both hands raised over my shoulders and my Rudra bhai by my side, we quickly hit the dance floor......the bouncer uncle allowed my papa to follow us......Our entry on the dance floor didn't go unnoticed to the boisterous crowd; and the entire attention shifted to two of us, infact three of us, as by then the third kid inside the Ikay's too joined us.........The DJ changed the song to

to make it little soft on our ears......We were indifferent to the song, as all we were interested in was to tap our feet. By them my Ashu chacha, Shikha chachee and mom too came in........As my papa wasn't carrying a camera, one of the guests handed his camera to my papa allowing him to capture the moments; ......moments that had to be cut short as we were quite late............Gatecrashing ended soon thereafter and the bouncer was all at smiles-very unusual sight to see them smile!

My papa is now waiting for the pictures to arrive on email; but for that guy's thoughtfulness; he would have lost an opportunity to capture something this great!

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Free For All!

Both, I and my Rudra bhai are relishing and making best use of our "free for all" days as we moved into our new house yesterday. With everyone busy doing something- firstly packing and now unpacking stuff/belongings; watchful eyes don't follow us like a shadow.......they peep in and out at fairly longish intervals; in between we get enough time to do stuff that we are good at- playing with mud-slush (after rain effect), run around everywhere, sneak out downstairs (new house is on first floor and they have not gotten used to bolting the door from inside), throw things around, eat anything that comes in our hands; the list just doesn't end; words do!.......

With such a huge list of available activities, a constant tussle is always on to outsmart the other and be on the driver seat. Net result is nothing but fights at regular intervals......few bites here and few there, one slap here and another there......And, despite my age, I am the one who gets to win most of these battles.......... with my Rudra bhai mostly at the receiving end.......However, after every such act, I have made it a habit to ask him- "Davayee (Hindi word for medicine used by me to ask him should I apply ointment?)........ But biting him on his hand and then asking him if he needs ointment are two separate and mutually exclusive acts ...It just happens that I am the one who is the doer of both!......

As my papa is writing this, I just did something that made him shout and laugh in quck succession......And, you know what I did?

Well, I just pulled my Rudra bhai's long hairs moving them in circles and singing "round and round-round and round".....until my Rudra bhai started shouting for help.......thus prompting my papa to shout at me........I quickly figured out that I am at fault so I went upto my papa and raising my right cheek, I said-"idhar maaro" meaning (slap me here)......my eyes were closed waiting for the imminent......Once, my left cheek's turn got over, I got down from the bed.....went upto our dressing table and started shouting again- "Davayee (meaning should I get you some ointment?)..........Although, all this was not meant to be a joke, but for some reason, it was good enough to make everyone burst into a laughter!

Now, what else would you expect from a eighteen month old......yes, turned eighteen months today!`

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Gaa-dee Hatt (गाडी हट)!

These days, गाडी हट (me telling a vehicle in front to give way to our car) is my favourite "phrase" when seated inside our moving car.....I say it whenever a vehicle in front obstructs my view of outside thus prompting me to ask for a right of way.....

This recent trend started on the day we were coming back from Dehradun after I noticed a big truck on the Delhi border. As I love trucks, I exclaimed "Truckkkkk" as soon as I saw a big one......with a smile on my face and fingers pointing in it's direction. However, my papa corrected me that it's not a truck but a concrete mixer..... Mixer?????- to which he replied Yess-mixer! And, my eyes started following it soon thereafter.....However, crazy Delhi monday morning traffic started obstructing my view of that mixer. I wasn't enjoying that obstruction and soon my patience caved in; I shouted "गाडी हट"- telling the vehicle in front to leave my view. Although my shouting wasn't of much help in improving my view but it has become a car riding ritual ever since!

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