Milestone Day

Shamshad ne angrezi akshar mala complete kar liya hai..!!!! we started spelling CAT and DOG too..:)

yesterday, shamshd was all tears... he had lost one of his 2 good shirts.

abt me...
inspite of everything going well, inspite of the current stability-- somethingz disturbing... unsettling! And I notice it taking vent through the limits of my tolerance! I am afraid am losing my cool a lil too often!!!

Things will be better,... soon! Is that hope or an excuse? Is hope an illusion?

Gandhigiri works!

The only highlight of yesterday was my conversation with Bunty Bhaiyya in the eve amidst all teh hulla-ballo at the dhaba...
I mentioned to him that I think he was doing a great job in taking care of shamshad and how supportive he was to shamshad's studying inspite of all the -customer- pressure!
The unbelievable happened- Bunty Bhaiyya was blushing and appeared to be extra attentive to shamshad ( atleast for the 15 min that i spent in teh dhaba waiting for my parcel)

Yet to see what the long term effects might turn out to be ... but so far so good!

Day 4 with Shamshad

Today shamshad learnt how to spell his name. We covered till U today!

An excerpt out of a 12 yr old's conv with me...
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“Bunty bhaiyya daant rahe the. Bole—padhne ki koi zaroorat nahi hai… kaam pe dhyaan dho! Bohot gussa ho gaye!”
“ Bunty Bhaiyya ne dilip ko mara.. bole wo pagal hai.. wo tho chup chap bartan saaf kar raha tha.. wapis baat nahi karta tho kya hua.. janwar tho nahi hai…”
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Bunty bhaiyya ki alag se class leni padegi!

Diwali-06

Diwali began sober…not measuring it by the pomp with which it was celebrated at home… only by my degree of keenness this time around with everything that was happening…I Wasn’t looking forward to it at all… not that I was looking backward either.. I just did not want to look!
Had it been just upto me,.. all I’d have done is brood at home…The long weekend was the only reason I got out of mangalore( cooking for yourself for 3 whole days was very depressing)!

The twist in the boring kahani came the minute I stepped home( gran’s place)....there was no room to pout!... First, it was Atul..( 3 yr old cousin)- soon after he’d got his customary lolly pop from me, he had these tons of things he wanted to show me that he’d learnt since I last visited him…Secondly, there were so many errands to attend to, it hardly left any time or space for anybody to notice what was wrong with each other--- everyone was just ALL RIGHT … and that’s how diwali brighten up for me…

The funda being similar to... the only way to make an already drawn line smaller is by drawing a bigger line before it!

Some bright things that make diwali-06 different from the others for me :
* Usually my assigned task for diwali is to put the rangoli on –‘Tulsi Katte’ and ‘Devara Kone’. This time the baton moved to soni. Was very happy to see that she’d done a very good job.
* The prsadam while performing the pooja( falling of flowers used to adorn the goddess in the form of blessings) was very heart warming and indeed a sight to see.
* Also attended pooja at Granpa’s sister’s ( 3) places.. felt nice
* I had the most fun time with Atul--the chap’s activities are on exponential pace..

By the end of 3 days, I was sure of 2 things... #1- I’d have to work-out quiet a bit to shed all the extra weight that I’d put on in the 3 days #2- Family plays wonders on you … All you need to do is just be around by them!--- Family cures things without making you go through the painful phase of diagnosis… It just makes you strong enough to take care of youself!

yippie time..:)

Today we covered till Q...:)
And did a combination of -plus- and -minus-... He is moving away from 'jodna' and 'katna' and getting used their english equivalents!

The highlight for shamshad today was that- he is just left with 1 just letter to learn in his name.

It Aint easy!

I am talking about teaching subtraction! covered just Bada Number minus chota number today! Carry forwards n Multiplication are gonna be nightmares soon...for both Shamshad and me…

Today, wanted to cover H to M... but had to be satisfied with
H se 'House' matlad 'ghar'
I se 'Icecream' and
J se 'Jam'

I now get a hint of all that probably goes behind-- "Arre Raju, tum!!" before "Poorab se soorya ugaa.. phaillaaa ujiyaaraa"

Puneet was right-- "Jo humne ek saal mein seekha, tum usse ek din mein expect kar rahi ho?"

And hey, I have been learning a few things too..
1. Waking up at 6.00 am irrespective of the time you go to bed (Commitment)
2. Patience
3. Complexity of Teaching Maths( I salute all Math teachers who made things seem so effortless to us)

Also honestly, I must confess- the respect I have for shamshad keeps rising with every meeting. His enthusiasm and dedication is very touching!

By the way,
Shamshad was up at che-painthees today.. when I asked 'itni jaldi kyun?'.. he replied- ‘wo Arjun utah diya aur sone nahi diya…bola Padho!’

Shamshad

He is a 12 yr old boy working at Punjabi Dhaba. One afternoon, when Rahul, Puneet and I where on our usual 3.00pm Sunday lunch routine, a thought ran across us- could we sponsor Shamshad’s schooling?. We agreed instantaneously. We called Shamshad and asked if he’d be interested in doing school along with work.

The response was shocking- the kid had never been to school.

That was the back ground for my meeting this morning with Shamshad.
As I knocked on the PD door at 7.15 am, a sleepy kid came out rubbing off the sleep from his eyes… 5 minutes later, I was teaching Shamshad to read and write English Alphabet (I chose English- so he can at least find it useful while reading names of places/ buses while traveling). I decided to cover basic math and English in the first few weeks for him. We covered from A to G today. Though, currently, he is at a stage where he first remembers A se ‘Seb’, he is trying hard to relate ‘Seb’ to Apple…:)Shamshad is remarkable with addition.

His homework for today is to solve 5 math problems and write A to G, 5 times. He seemed pretty enthu about getting it done. He seemed very excited when he could identify 2 letters ( A , D) in his name.

Though, I must confess I am totally nervous about how I would be communicating to him the art of ‘subtraction’ tomorrow. Anyways, shamshaad seekhe na seekhe… humari hindi kafi refine hone wali hain…:)

On a serious note, Thanks Shamshad- for an opportunity to unveil another shade of me… to myself!

Solitude, An opportunity

Solitude is an opportunity... to discover the real you
Solitude is an opportunity... to pat yourself for all the mountains you've scaled
Solitude is an opportunity... to let go of the memories of your fall
Solitude is an opportunity... to gather the rays of hope around you
Solitude is an opportunity... to acknowledge the elegance of your life
Solitude is an opportunity... to define your life, your way

Life is beautiful...
And Solitude is an opportunity to comprehend its beauty!

The Palans in Gods own country ( Oct 1- Oct 8, 2006)

After almost 2 months of planning, could manage to get a window of 1 week where all the 4 of us could excuse ourselves from our routine and spend some time with each other-- it was after almost 7 yrs that just the 4 of us got to spend 1 week just with each other…J

Day 1, Day 2- Munnar ( Mattupetty Dam, Horse Riding, Devikulam, Eravikulam National Park- neela kurinjji, neelgiri tahr, anamudi peak, loack heart gap, echo point—and oh ya.. an amazingly relaxing ayurvedic massage at the Hotel Edassery Eastend’s ayurvedic center.)

Day 3- House boat ( night-stay) from Kumarkom to alleppey—The moonlight ride was indeed a great experience

Day 4- Trivendrum- Kovallam Beach( very international…)

Day 5- Kanyakumari ( Gandhi memorial, Kamaraj memorial, ferry ride to Vivekananda memorial n Tiruvalluvar, shopping, Kanyakumari temple…and the amazing Triveni sangam)

Day 6- Padmanabswamy Temple, Padmanabhapuram palace, Ravi Verma’s kuthiramallika Palace

Day 7- Back to the curfew-struck Mangalore.

If I were a cookie, ....

You Are an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

On the surface, you're a little plain - but you have many subtle dimensions to your personality. Sometimes you're down to earth and crunchy. Other times, you're sweet and a little gooey.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?