Names and nicknames

The decision “to nickname or not to nickname” is certainly not something I would lose my sleep over. Yet, I decided to give it some serious thought when a wise, worldly and well-informed acquaintance of ours asked with concern, “Aren’t you going to have a nickname for Lil’ General?” That was the most natural thing to do, according to him. A name that is personal, known only to family and something creates a special bonding. Hypothetically, when LG is 50 and I’m nearing my 80s (I know, high hopes to live on until then), I wonder how calling him “chotu” would look like. Make him feel younger? Read more

What’s it like to live in Pune?

We’ve lived in Pune for over two years now; not decided to make it our home, at least not yet. I don’t love it; I don’t hate it. There’s something about the place that I can’t quite point my finger to that makes me oscillate between this love-hate thing.

Indian cities that way are quite different from the American ones, never been to Europe so I don’t know if they are stereotypical like their American counterparts. Every Indian town and city is diverse from the rest - in its culture, its people, language, cuisine, tolerance level for people from other states, festivals, real estate, mannerisms and communities. Every city will not have a Reliance Fresh or Spencer’s, though that’s changing now. Read more

The Lead India initiative is such a mockery

Lead India is a Times of India initiative. In their own words,

On August 15, we embarked on an ambitious journey — a unique talent search which has the potential to make a huge difference to India. We began a hunt to identify new leaders for a new India, men and women with the vision and ability to empower India with the kind of political leadership that is so conspicuous by its absence.

The Lead India campaign stemmed from our belief — and overwhelming reader feedback — that even as India takes giant strides towards fulfilling its undoubted potential, it is doing so despite, not because of, its political leadership. ‘‘Good people don’t want to join politics’’ is an oft-heard lament. And yet, good governance is the cornerstone if India is to overcome the many hurdles that threaten to slow its journey to developed nation status. Read more

Is The Times of India trying to be Playboy?

The Times of India - a daily Indian Newspaper in English with the largest circulation started a small colorful column on its last page a few months back. It’s called Graffiti. I have no idea why they run this column - more often than not, Posh Spice occupies the space here with cheesy news about their over-publicized lives.

Sometimes, I think it is one of the strategies of The Times to boost readership just as their city supplements do. I know of many people who read the Bangalore Times / Pune Times first and then if time permits, go on to read the main paper.

The point here is the Graffiti column I totally out of taste bordering on reporting news that can easily fit into the indecent category. Sample this one titled “Posh discloses all” if you don’t believe me. Of late, also giving Posh company is Lewis Hamilton who gets more attention in Times for his exploits than his races.

Lil General : You turn ONE today


Happy Birthday, LG. You turn ONE today.

For once, your mom is on time with her monthly milestone posts. This is a special edition - the yearly one.

First, the monthly updates; then, a recap of the year.

It’s Goodbye to fear of falling down and no signs of stranger anxiety yet.

We’ve given up on teaching him meaningful stuff like where is your nose, show me your mouth, say bye etc. I was very excited when “nose kaami” (read” show me your nose) was met with a aaaah aaaah from LG opening his mouth wide. Unlearning something is tougher than teaching kids something. It took 3 days to undo the nose-mouth connection. Read more

Another feather in the cap

Don’t ask me where I’ve been. We’ve got one piece of junk for a laptop that’s ready to be tossed into the dustbin any minute. Compounding to this problem is the now-on, now-off broadband connection from BSNL. By some stroke of good luck, if both these are functioning, then my Dear Son feels moms are meant to be playing with kids all day, so he plugs off my laptop. And, the boys have been taking turns in falling sick for the past ten days - it’s tissues, salt water gargling, sneezing and getting high with cough syrups time. That should explain my blogging absence.

Anyways, so I got back from the dark ages today and was casually checking Little India. Guess what? My article Raising Your Multilingual Child has been published. Those of you who know me, if you are wondering if it wasn’t soon enough for us to have a daughter after Lil’ General, don’t worry, it is only one for now - I have my hands full with Lil’ General. Ananya was the name I had chosen if we had a daughter, hence its usage in the article.