Illness, Injury & School

The title of today's post needs no explanation- I have not been keeping well and was diagnosed with acute stomach infection....my mother had to take a week off from work. If that was not enough, I ended up injuring my right eye on Monday after a freak accident involving a paint-brush that landed on my eye.......an injury that could only be noticed yesterday after my mom saw a blood clot underneath my lower eye-lids......26th being a republic day, doctors were not available; so had to resort to phone advice- nothing serious is what he says!

Amidst all this, in their bid to to divert my attention and make me "feel-good", my parents took me to show me my likely school-
Dihika - and it seemed to have paid off as from then my infection started to give way to new-found desire to go and attend my new school..... My parents have chosen that school because it is based on "Education for life" philosophy instead of currently in vogue book based education......An excerpt from their website is as follows:

"With parents working long hours, the already sketchy nuclear family survives on minute windows of 'quality time’. Young parents look to the child’s school to provide care, nurturing, stimulus and inspiration…. to "deliver the finished product”, as it were. Credible surveys have found contemporary learning to be rote-based, taking place in watertight compartments with little relation to life. The school simply churns out neat little beings that speak correctly, follow rules, sing rhymes, and rattle off factoids about Continents and Constitutions.... yet all the while, the beautiful wiring INSIDE them lies neglected and untended. An easy answer to fears of encouraging bigotry has been for schools to abandon moral and spiritual instruction altogether..... effectively throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We see people everywhere growing into set patterns of negativity and only after being buffeted by life's storms "finding" spirituality and trying to straighten out their lives. Einstein’s revelation that the Universe is composed of ‘Energy’ rather than ‘Matter’ validates the ancient Vedic premise that this Dwapara Yuga that we live in is, indeed, the Age of Energy. Dihika uses the eternal principles of Yoga Vedanta to provide a spirit-centered learning environment that takes into account this new Energy Paradigm, using techniques continuously refined in the Living Wisdom Schools in the United States. A central part of the curriculum is teaching a child how to be aware of his own energy and how to harness it towards what he is trying to accomplish."

Let me end this post by uploading some pics of me and my Rudra bhai having a laugh-riot.....you will love these pics!

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My Crazy Balls & My Books

I love the sight of my three crazy balls going up and down, every time I throw them on to the ground- those balls are my new found love and a good friend. My other best friend at home are my books- few of them are old books of my Rudra bhai. Every night, I ask either of my parents to help me read those books- covering subjects as varied as English alphabets, Birds, Vegetables, Fruits, Opposites, Vehicles etc etc. That I have already mastered them is no big statement but what is more important here is my fondness and love for those books- despite them having lost their curiosity value. I always insist on sleeping with one of books placed inside my pillow.......fondness and love for books doesn't mean that I forget my other love-crazy-balls......and, I always keep one of them inside my pockets; even when I am sleeping!

Another quotable thing here is my recent one night departure from daily ritual of sleeping, clinged on to my mom.....Reason for the departure lied with my Rudra bhai who proudly told me that he sleeps clinged on to his papa. In my true competitive spirit, I told my papa-""papa mere ko aapse chipak kar sona hai....jaisey jeenu apney papa ke saath sota hai" (papa, I want to sleep just as Jeenu sleeps with his papa; tightly clinged on to him).......my papa couldn't stop smiling and so didn't I; mom left surprised!

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Visit To Sector 15 Park!

The Sun God generally gives a miss to His daily date with Delhi during the winters; so it calls for celebration everytime He shows up. Last Saturday was one such day-perhaps Sun God had some extra time with Him- Saturday being the weekend! Taking benefit of the opportunity offered by the bright Sun, my mom thought it best to set up our date with the nearby park. Great Idea......next moment, we were off to the park.......Once inside, sight of us matched with that of detainess set freed after years of detention or house-arrest. But, a sight of few babies of labourers sitting in the park in skimpiest of clothes was enough to break the spirit of celebrations. I walked back to my mom-sitting on the bench- and said "Mumma, mere kuch clothes poor baby ko de saktey hain, sab mat dena , par thode se de do" (Mumma, can we give some of my clothes to the poor babies,don't give all but do give some")........ Astonished and surprised, my mom couldn't stop herself from giving me a warm hug of gratitude.....

All the running and shouting that we did saw us gasping for breath.....Refreshment time...yeah! So, out come oranges from my mom's bag, handing us one orange slice each, she egged us on to eat fast......My Rudra bhai followed her to "T" but not me....as my eyes were set on the orange peels that my mom had thrown on the ground. Picking up those peels, I handed them over to my mom and instructed her to throw them into the near-by dust-bin.......Mom was left surprised again!

Running and shouting began, again!

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Cocktail Post- Bit of everything

At the stroke of midnight on 31st, we bid goodbye to 2010 and it was all done on the rooftop of our home in Gurgaon. Rohit uncle- our landlord- had arranged for a small get-together comprising of his family, ours and that of his friend from Rohini. Our entire family was present as my dada and dadee had come for my Rudra bhai's birthday.......With music, camp-fire and good food, it was all fun- my Rudra bhai enjoyed it most after gulping few spoons of brandy- he was a joy to watch afterwords......

As I look back, 2010 was a great year for me as I went on to learn many new things- walking, running, speaking, identifying places by their names, meaning of relationships, sense of ownership to a relation or a place, alphabets, rhymes etc etc- the list is endless. And most of it wasn't captured on this blog in the manner my papa would have liked. As he got busy establishing his business after quitting his job, my blog started to suffer. So many posts died in his head, so many moments couldn't be captured as our camera gave in, so many important events went un-posted- my birthday being one- still there were so many things that he could capture and write about......and whatever we have of last two years is nothing short of a treasure......His desire to write and capture those moments is still very strong and he is determined to make up for the lost time. We shall see!

Just a day prior to 31st, we had celebrated my Rudra bhai's birthday- he completed 3 and seemed to have made most of his 3 years of his quota of first five formative years. Going by his mannerisms, his talks, ideas and his sharp intellect; my Rudra bhai is a natural contender for any exceptionally talented kid competition- to which I fully agree fully. Can you imagine that despite my over powering nature and frequent outbursts, he never loses his cool and has never hit me back. If I hit him, all he does is to report the matter to either of my parents- never to his parents. If I fall off, he is the first one to run to the site and hit the culprit with his leg saying- "Meri behan ko kyon maara- ganda" meaning "why did you hit me my sister- you bad"....And that "bad" can be anything ranging from wall, floor, cycle, table etc etc.......Although, I do the same when he suffers the fall........Also, he never call me by my name- always call me behan-...........We both do fight over toys; it is but natural for us to do so as we are still trying to learn the concept of "sharing' and we will overcome that too. First thing he does upon reaching home after school is to ask for me.....hugs me and ask me, behan bhaiya ko miss kiya tha......(sister have you missed your brother?)......I am benefiting most out of him as I am learning most from him- what best can you ask for than an umbrella kid like him in your home.......I love my Rudra bhai and owe all my rhymes, alphabets, dance steps, accent, likes and dislikes, habits to him- bad habits are my own domain. The reflection is very powerful......Let me reproduce a conversation that happened inside our car yesterday morning on our way back home from the airport- had gone there to drop my dada and dadee...

I started crying as I saw my dada-dadee walk towards the airport entry gate as both of us were under the impression that we too are going to Dehradun....Papa, forcibly entered me inside the car to avoid the approaching policeman.....And, once inside the car, my Rudra bhai took the charge saying- chup ho jaa behan- stop crying....and I stopped crying in true "he proposed, I disposed" fashion.....

Me- Jeenu, dekho ....aeroplane aa gaya....(look there is an aeroplane)

Jeenu- Behan us aeroplane main na hamare dada-dadee hai (Our dada-dadee are travelling inside that aeroplane)

Next moment, my mom called.....and I picked it up....mumma, aeroplane main na hamare dada-dadee hain, woh dehradun chaley gaye....(Mumma, our dada-dadee are inside the aeroplane on their way to Dehradun)...

Tear drops are still there under my eyes and my cheeks are still wet, no other sign of crying.....was I really crying??????? That's the sort of calming influence my Rudra bhai has over me....

We move little ahead and the conversation moved to a new plane...

Me- Jeenu, dekho...temple aa gaya ...woh hai (pointing my fingers in the direction)- Jeenu, look there is temple, it's there.

Jeenu (that's how I call him)- Kahan hai behan- where is it behan?.....

Me- Touches his face, helping it move in the direction of the temple....dekho (see)

Next moment- both of us have our hands folded in "namaste" position....."Bhagwanji, sab ko theek rakhna"- on our mouth (meaning, Oh Lord, bless each one of us with good health and best of everything)- A prayer that we say every-time we see temple or a prayer....

Me- Jeenu, temple chala gaya (Jeenu we have gone past the temple)....

Now, we start identifying cars on the road-

Jeenu- Tauji Wagon- R, - Dadaji ki car-
Me- Jeenu dekho dekho- Honda......chacha ki car
Me again - i10- Anil mama ki car
Jeenu- Swift- tauji ki car
Me- Jeenu- dekho dekho Santro....sunil mama ki car....and the conversation goes on....

A Tata Indigo drives past in a tizzy....My Rudra bhai didn't approve of his way of overtaking us.....He said- O bhai, maarega kya......gaade chalani nahin aatee (Don't you know how to drive.....out to kill us???) And, I repeat his words.....papa helps us reclaim our cool....

Jeenu (pointing in Indigo's direction)- Tauji, woh saamney waalee gadee se aagey jao...usey hara na hai.....(get ahead of that car, we need to beat him).....

Refusing to do so, my Papa says- fast driving is bad.....But, quietly he started accelerating the speed (without taking any risks)....soon, we managed to overtake that car........joy of overtaking him was all written on our face..........our faces turned in the direction of that car.....with a tight raised fist, we both did a rally driver on the driver of the other car....all the occupants of the other car couldn't stop laughing......And here are some pics that describes our mood as it fluctuated through first few hours of yesterday morning......
Both of us with our dadee- want to go to Dehradun written all over face....
With our dada-dadee at the airport-"wanna go to Dehradun" still written on our face
Back home from the airport....
See our shirts- that's what we call "dabang" shirts and have specifically asked for it from our dada-dadee...they got that for us from Dehradun

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I am here, I am here!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words!- that's what they say; so I decided to let them do the talking..........
Thinking yet smiling me....don't forget to notice my deceptive smile....

And, that's a real naughty kiddo in me.....no one told me to do so!

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