What kids play with these days.

Yes, that's Tara playing with her new favourite "toy". An i-Phone. I am sure Apple didn't intend for it to be for the amusement of toddlers, but it certainly works very well in that department. She can use the touch screen perfectly and knows just how to navigate herself to her photographs, our photographs... or some music perhaps?

It's not just the i-Phone. Forget blocks, play-dough or rubber duckies, we like to play with mobiles, digital cameras, remotes, laptops (oh and did I mention getting the CD tray in the music system to come out and go back in?)... technology for this generation is literally child's play. So much so that Tara's dad seriously shook his head and murmured to himself yesterday after unsuccessfully trying to pry his i-Phone out of her clutches... "Have to get her her own mobile. Maybe even before the tricycle."

How much culture is too much culture?

You know that your child is getting a lot of culture when you say "Goodnight" while putting them to bed and they sleepily murmur... "Happy Eid". Happy Eid?


For the last few months there has been non stop cultural action where we live. And Tara has been lapping it all up! So first there was Janmashtmi which is big in Bombay, as crowds throng to see groups of daredevils make a human mountain to "matka phodo" (see picture below taken from our terrace) as the strains of "Govinda Alaa Re" are heard on every corner. (Especially from the temple stereo system outside our building.)

From Govinda Ala we went to Morya Re Bapa Morya Re as Ganpati Madness took over this city. Then as Ramadan came lights were strung up outside the entire street especially around the mosque - again, just outside our building. (We live at a place known locally as, whaddayaknow, Mandir-Masjid.)

As Eid crept up there was also Navratri to deal with. Another temporary temple was constructed next to the real temple and an idol of Santoshi Ma was installed, and a DJ belted out "Garba" numbers (Bollywood style) every evening as the cobbled street turned into a dance floor for hundreds of people swirling to the Garba. Then there was Durga Puja and Tara learnt to distinguish between "Jai Santoshi Ma bhagwan" and "Dugga Ma" (the ten hands of the latter made this easy enough.) So between, "Shubho Bijoya", "Happy Dussehra", "Eid Mubarak", "Ganpati Bappa Morya" Tara is in a cultural whirlpool.

It's not over yet. Diwali is round the corner and Christmas not too far away.
Oh well. Merry Diwali everyone!

A Calvin/ Hobbes Moment

(Tara with Tiger, her most loved companion.)

An incident that happened today: Since Tara's communication skills are almost conversation-like now, I asked Tara in the morning what she wanted to take to playschool for lunch without really expecting a real answer.

"Apple aur gems," she replied confidently without batting an eyelid.

Apple and GEMS??

(Candy like chocolate M&Ms, for those unaware of the pleasures of Cadbury's Gems)

Lesson for today: Don't ask kids what they want for lunch. They won't say sprouts or nuts. Exercise your mummitarian authority and just give them those sprouts.

Technology and motherhood

This post is incidentally not about Tara, but about me.

Motherhood is very different these days from what it used to be. (As my mother and mother-in-law never fail to remind me.)

One major difference is the range of technologies available to us to help make the experience "easier". New age mothers are very lucrative markets and the market knows that. While my position on "markets" is less than complementary I must concede that certain items of technological innovation leave me wanting to really kiss the maker. I would like to proffer my cyber-kiss to the following innovations in particular.

The first is the inventor of that fabulous thing, the breast pump, which sounds like a really torturous thing (and is a thing of great curiosity I noticed for non-mothers, who are quite keen to know if it hurts or not. I usually offer it to them to try, but none have taken up the offer yet.) but to those in the circle of users, it is a great release (pun unintended) from the iron clasp of new motherhood. Now, being a new mother is not easy for independent women. For the first time, someone is completely, unrelentingly, day-and-nightly, TOTALLY dependent on you. Even if the someone is a fuzzy little ball of adorable cuteness, it can get to you. The breast pump allows you to turn into a normal person once in a while, instead of the human lactating machine (or cow, as some will unkindly say as being the correct metaphor) you are socially expected to be. If you work with it, you can even stock up and go off for a weekend escape with friends or the husband, as I did on two occasions. It is a fabulous fabulous invention and allows women to go back to work after three months yet continue 'breast-feeding' their baby. Many good workplaces have maternity rooms, where you can go for 'pump breaks' through the working day if you are still feeding. There are electrical sockets for the machine in private cubicles as well as refrigerators where you can store the expressed milk until its time to go home, for use the next day to be fed to your baby (in your absence) while you are away again at work. That's what I call a gender-sensitive workplace.

The second innovation is the sterilizer. I admit, I did a little growl and bark routine at the husband for buying an expensive one from Singapore. My logic was that it's the same as boiling. And what's so difficult about that? Just put bottles, nipples, whatever in a pot of boiling water and there you have it. Sterilised. The Desi inexpensive way. Don't need an electrical steriliser for that, I pooh-poohed. How I ate my words in the coming months. That Pigeon Sterilizer became our faithful companion for the next few months.

Third is something we never really used more than twice because of some incompatibility with sockets or voltage or something. But I would see how it worked beautifully in other people's homes and the concept was just marvellous. It's the baby monitor - a walky talky kind of thing, a transmitting device with two phones. One is kept near the baby and the other you can take with you wherever you go within a certain distance range. So you have the baby sleeping in the bedroom, and you're out on the terrace with a glass of wine in your hand? No problem. If s/he wakes up and calls for you, you can hear it on your baby monitor. In case you want to keep it on silent mode, go ahead, a green light will blink and tell you if the chickita is up and creating a racket. No need to keep checking on the baby every few minutes, you can enjoy that wine peacefully. Have no fear, the baby monitor is here! (At one English couple's house in fact, we never even saw their baby. They always seemed to enjoy their evenings with only each other for company with their little one snug in bed in her own room, momentarily announcing her presence through the baby monitor on the odd occasion that she would wake up. I often wondered how they did it. Getting the baby to sleep at 7 pm. It's an amazing feat.)

Some other innovations also deserve mention. This special SMS reminder service that our pediatrician got us on that would send us a reminder about Tara's vaccinations that were due. Brilliant. And I can't possibly not mention the two incredible things that are the foundation of Tara's daily life - diapers and wipes. Diapers one can still be less enthusiastic about, but wipes. Ah. There are few crises that match the crisis of running out of wipes with none in stock. (Some of you will know what I mean.) So this one's for the inventors of baby goodies - anonymous inventors of crazy things and brands like Pampers, Pigeon and the hundreds of others that really are making it easier for us. Thank you and keep up the good work!

First month at Playgroup!

Some pictures of Tara at Kidzee, her playgroup.

Playtime!

Snack time

Outdoor play

Getting ready for the Mumbai monsoons - learning about rain

The Nursery and Playgroup team poses for a group picture on Yellow Day

Everyday Life

Caught red-handed! (Or Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?)

Forgotten Firsts

Traditional parenting involves a keen attention to all the 'firsts' of a baby's evolution. For the more enthusiastic ones even a precise documentation of The Moment. You know, the first time they smile, flip, sit up, crawl, take a step, say mama/papa and so on. I am ashamed to say we have fallen behind tremendously in this department. At what age did Tara take her first step? When did she first utter a legible sound? Er. These kind of questions leave Tara's father and mother looking at one another blankly, not quite sure whose responsibility it was to have noted and documented, and remembered these details!

So here I am going to try to piece together for posterity, some from memory, some from digital aids (like a Cybershot viewer which tells you when a photograph was taken!) and some from general asking around, some of Tara's important and not-so-important Firsts.

First Holi: Sunday March 4th 2007 (thank you Cyber-shot viewer!) Saket house, New Delhi. Well, technically this is not her first Holi. (On her first Holi she was not even a month old!) But this was the one she was actually in her senses! Here she is enjoying her first gujias (they had to be hidden from her greedy clutches) with her first smears of gulal... Holi Hai!!

First time on an aeroplane: January 2007, Delhi to Mumbai. She didn't really get it this time round. Our excited attempts to point out planes on the runway were just met with bored stares. The second time however, later in April 2007, there was uncontrollable excitement and she was hooked.

First time on a train: February 2007. Rajdhani. Remarkably well behaved.

First time on a Mumbai local train: Yes. I've taken her on the legendary locals. Only once so far. Andheri to Grant Road. On some balmy afternoon in May 2007. Not something I will be repeating very soon.


First time on the beach: January 2007, Juhu Beach, Mumbai. In a pink and white tennis dress Tara met the wonder that is the sea as the sun set on Juhu beach. She gurgled with delight and wriggled with excitement as the waves licked her little ankles. (She is now a regular beach bum as this picture will show - that's Tara digging at Versova beach near our house.)







First day at her Playgroup: 3rd May 2006, at KIDZEE 7 Bungalows. She wore a pink dress and bloomers, mauve pumps, and a pink clip in her hair. (Which she lost three minutes thereafter.) She only cried briefly and forgot about us as soon as she was taken into a room full of kids singing nursery rhymes. (She is now a play-groupie currently enjoying her first Summer Hols. Here she is, not her first day, but the first day we managed to get her hair into two pony tails!)





First time she won a painting competition: End of term day 30th May 2006 at her Playgroup at the age of one year and almost four months. Tara made a scribble-fest with crayons of all colours UNAIDED and was declared the winner of the competition by popular voting as she was the youngest participant who had created her piece without any help from Papa (who had taken off to go to school with her for the end of term celebrations) or any of the Aunties.



First time paddling in her pool: Sunday afternoon some sundays ago!

New Beginnings!!

Hello and welcome to a new look for Taraville.

There are many new things to welcome actually.

We are in a new city - Mumbai, that city with many labels (maximum, never sleeps, of dreams and so on) - where we have just relocated, from Delhi, that wonderful wide-roaded, sweltering, stunning-in-winter, city of extremes which is now part of our sweet memories.
(Tara is loving it, but we'll get to that later).

Tara is new at the playgroup she has recently joined.
I am 'starting afresh' in this city and exploring the many different avenues open to me to pursue. I am also reviving this blog anew after a break of almost eight months. A sense of new-ness surrounds us. It is both delicious and sharp like...hmm, like vinegar-soaked ginger.

I am not sure how to unfurl the quilt of events that have accumulated over the last many months. When I look back at this blog I realise that I have forgotten about the time when Tara had no neck control or couldn't crawl or did not know how to (or would not) eat! Within one year, things have changed INCREDIBLY. Tara is a real "little person" now. She listens, understands, loves, kisses, demands, complains, communicates, goodness even EATS (we never thought we would see the day). She is now one year and three months old.









Tara's first birthday was celebrated with family and friends at the Country Club in Sainik Farms and saw her in a pretty hat cutting a cake filled with coloured candied stars and kissing three handsome young boys (who rushed about blushing in embarassment afterwards). She discovered the joy of balloons on this occasion - and the deeper life lesson that balloons have a propensity to burst unexpectedly! Here she is at her party.




The first birthday as they say, is less for the child than it is for the adults! To some extent that is true (although Tara had a ball). And as Tara was tucked into bed after the party, the party continued for her parents and friends outside on the terrace as we raised a toast (and then some) to congratulate ourselves for making it through the first year of sleep deprivation and new kind of chaos in our lives. The end of the first year marked a closure of many many teething troubles of being new to parenthood and the beginning of forgetting those days. Cheers to us all!