Growing up in Fast Forward

The frequency of my blogposts to keep up with Jia's developments are far and between. She is growing up and expressing her independence in incremental measures as the days passes by. These days she strikes a conversation and has opinion about what she wants and what she does not!! Its a terrible endeavour to cook up all the conky logics to make her agree to actions which she is not acceptable to :). She also has her group of friends at school and best friends at that. Ofcourse, the "best friends" keeps changing as per moods and fights. The most popular though are R (a boy) & M (a girl). Two anecdotes on her friendships: One evening we found a nice hair clip with her. I asked her where did she get it and prompt was the reply: "R gave me that"! ;). Another evening she said in all seriousness, "Mamma, Mujhe shaadi karna hai (I want to get married)". Mamma had a shock and asked "with whom?". Jia replied "with my friend" (with a but-of-course look!).

Two photographs which gives a nice comparison of the flying time:

Jia finished her playschool recently. She starts going to a bigger school for her kindergarten classes and onwards from June. These days the schools have all the paraphernalia of photos and shows. We never had play school but seeing Jia makes me feel that it is definitely a very enjoyable session.
And I have never wore a graduation / convocation dress - neither after my engineering nor after my B School!!

Dhakka Malo - Updates on Oindrilla

Sometime (few months) back I had mentioned that we will shift Jia's updates to the main blog. However, some friends suggested to maintain status quo as I tend to sometime write serious (read boring) stuff on the main blog and hence the fun of keeping up with Jia will be lost in that. Hence, the status quo is maintained. Sreejata thank you for the lovely idea.

The last couple of weeks have been hectic at home. We were in the midst of shifting to a new residence and it had its own share of workload. And last couple of months has been hectic for Jia. She has been growing and growing fast. She has started speaking more fluently as the days go by and is a serious competition to me as far as being talkative goes.

Every phone call that comes these days - cellular or the fixed line, it is her birthright to answer them. In case you do not toe the line, be prepared to be frowned at and with a deadly pout. In case she has been nice to let you go, she demands that the least we can do is immediately give the phone to her. Her way of asking is "meleko mai" - that is "mereko bhi" / "me too"! She tends to use "l" for a "r" in some cases! And thats the reason for the strange title of this post. She loves to announce and play "dhakka malo" - pushing around!! Family members these days also have given us (me and wifey) the status of a second grade citizen. People calling from home ask about her and for her, more than for us and about us!! As the weeks goes by, her repertoire of conversational questions also increases. She started with the typical bong dialogue "ki korchho" (what are you doing) and generally keeps repeating the question. But these days she also answers questions on if she had food and what did she have etc.

She also has developed a knack for watching TV!! She demands that she wants Tom & Jerry (T&J) everytime the TV is on. And that is her version of cartoon. Both her grandfathers had a tough time catching up on their sports and news stuff during their recent visits and had to rely on her going to school / sleep!

The most recent obsession is her own computer! Our dear friend Ranita gifted her a laptop for kids, during her visit a couple of months back. It is a small, colourful laptop, with a display, a mouse and pre set modes for teaching alphabets and numbers. We took that out for her as she now has started learning alphabets and numbers. So she makes it a point to tell us "mela computer" and keeps it on her lap to work on it, a la her parents. So much is the adaptation of the modern lingua franca, on my asking her last evening, what was she upto, she responded in bengali "am working on the computer" (ami computer e kaaj korchhi). We were in splits and had a hearty laugh at our predicament in handling this kid in the years to come!

And ofcourse she has one constant line every 5 minutes of her waking up time - "Sharanya ghar jana hai". Sharanya is her best friend and she always wants to go to Sharanya's home (albeit it is 20 kms away and of no importance to her!!). Those who may be wondering, Sharanya is the daughter of Manish and Dipti, our very close friends, and a year elder to Jia. So the party of fights, tantrums and destruction is on! And we are loving it!!

I promise to be more regular now as the ideas have started flowing and am fresh these days after shifting to a more green and pristine area of residence.

Do let me know your feedback. Am planning to write the next post on her new phase of school going! Will also upload few snaps of Jia in her new abode along with her "lappy"!

Post Update

Its a year now that there has been any post on Oindrilla’s blog which was set up to chronicle her birth and growing phases for the huge group of Uncles & Aunts, Grandparents, Grand Uncles (& Aunts) and cousins spread all over the place. Days have been zipping past with us and not leaving enough time to chronicle the happenings on a regular basis. She has been growing fast (very fast I guess) and too many things have been happening. And therefore definitely busy to get back to blogging. Hence, I thought about shifting our experience chronicle to the main blog.

PLEASE VISIT http://amitabhaghosh.blogspot.com

Am back - With a bang

Hi Everyone,
I am back and am sure back with a bang. I have thanked my "old man" for his service over the last one year. But he is progressively getting busier and hence neglecting my work. So I have taken up the responsibility to do it on my own. The snaps above is ample proof, isnt it?

I am now 15 months old and today is "Poila Boisakh", the first day of the Bengali New Year - 1415. I have started walking a week back. I have my 5th teeth out and the 6th is on the way! And now I am more fluent in my gait :). I drink normal milk, I have normal bengali lunch - fish curry and rice, and I am highly tantrum throwing personality these days. I know papa is a little softer and pampers me more and hence I cry more loudly when he is around. And I have now started climbing from the chair onto the table as well as climb on to the window sill. These days I am trying to get a hold on the feat of climbing onto the dining chair. But I barely am able to reach my toes and need a support to be pulled up.

BTW, I also know to switch on the TV and change channels as most of the time the TV is switched off with a remote. Seeing this my parents made the smarter choice of switching off the power button of the TV and my fingers are not yet that strong. Just wait for my stronger fingers. Its taking a little time as I have to maintain my diet for a nice figure (read it as my less appetite and dislike for everything bland & boring)

But you know what I love most? I love speaking on the phone. Continuous, undisturbed long chats. And I have many phones - 3 models (2 cellphones and one desktop); my mom's Nokia (which I have proven is not so strong after all) and the cordless handset.

I have been going to the movies quite frequently and the most recent one was Shaurya. I like going to the PVR near our home. It has nice seats and mostly empty for me to play around without making much noise.

So thats what I have been doing these days. Its good to be back on my blog and that too without any interference.

See you all more frequently.
Till then have a good time

Jia on Prowl

Update update

Hi Everyone...

Sorry for the looong hiatus!! The months of spring passed and summers are almost through and I was missing for good. Actually all of my family was busy keeping me tied up and busy all through and not to speak of my Dad, who was successful in making a tight schedule of trips and movements!! The month of May was more of a whirlwind.

In May we all visited Puri for me to pay obeisance to the famous Lord Jagannath. And it was a wonderful experience. I boarded a train for the first time in my life. I was initially a bit edgy of suddenly being in a curtained small hole and some strange kind of cluttering noise, but then the sleep was amazing. Cool climes, a blanket and mommy dear wrapping me in herself. And morning we were in Puri. That evening I saw a huge water body with huge splashes and noise and tried to see if there was any semblance with the water tub at home and alas .... I found none. But I found an amazingly heavy flow of air .... probably some hidden mammoth fan. And I went into a sound sleep as my dad was carrying me, walking along the beach with momma alongside and singing some "lullaby" (God save the original singers!!). In the evening my Dada toook me to a place in the hotel with another huge bath tub and I saw many kids splashing around with couple of nice guys around!! And I was quite glued until time was up. The next day was a visit to the temple. I felt a little scared when I was going around the main deity on my Dada's lap and there was an area of utter darkness. But then it was light again and it was all hunky dory. All of them prayed for various things and I prayed for none. I actually met my old friends with whom I often play in my dreams. Thats what my grannies say. Check out the snaps at http://picasaweb.google.com/amitabha.ghosh75/PuriVisit

After coming back was the start of packing and preparing to relocate I guess. I saw mom, dad and quite a few people packing all our things with harried speed and Thammi looking forlorn. And then was the preparation for the great day - My Onnoprason.

In the Bengali community, a child is given the first morsel of rice with great celebration and joy. This is also done with religious rites and rituals. There are religious tomes which prescribes that a girl may be given her first morsel ceremonially after she is five month old. My grandparents wanted to conduct this event big time before I shifted to Mumbai and rightfully the priest modified the counting methods and found a "good" date (18 May 2007) for the event. It is said that the entire event is replete with almost all the procedures of a marriage except few. It was great fun. I was dressed up in lot of strange (Obscure??) fashion and people were making a big chaos over feeding me the proverbial bengali sweet dish of "paayesh" or what in hindi is called kheer. And it sure was yummy. Then all were making a huge brouhaha of what I pick from a plate with pen, books money and jewellery. So I took a smart call of picking up the plate!! Have look at the pictures at

http://picasaweb.google.com/debroop/KritiSAnnaprasan & http://picasaweb.google.com/amitabha.ghosh75/OindrillaSOnnoprason

Any event in the bengali community is incomplete with a good feast or what they call "bhuribhoj" (Obeisance to the gastric). As the day of the puja was a friday, my dada had decided that the "reception" would be on sunday afternoon and with a long and detailed guest list. However, one should not think that there was no feast on the day of the Puja. It was just that there was only vegetarian delicacies on that day!! On the "big feast day" I was totally drained and harried. The entire place was teeming with people and people. And add the sweltering temperatures of Kolkata and one can imagine what a pain it was. I just cannot stand heat!! And above that, everyone who comes, wants to see me, touch me and cuddle me and this had no end. So the best thing to do was throwing a tantrum and I started screaming at the top of my voice and with the accessories of tears and anger. And that did the magic. I go to sleep and no disturbing by anybody. Just have a look from faraway!!! Everyone said that the guests were overflowing. Everyone invited had turn up and even mom and dad's friends from schools. The pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/debroop/KritiSAnnaprasanFunction. The next day was my first formal lunch (by invitation) at my "mamabari" or maternal house and this too had its own version of another big feast.

And with that was the begining of my preparation of shifting to Mumbai. Things are a little dicey with my grandparents not there to pamper me but will have to check out things. Will update you all of how it was in Mumbai in a few days.

Do read and send me your comments. Daddy has been typing for sometime now and I think I will allow him some respite.

Spring Cometh!

Hello, all of you Aunts, uncles, grandpas and grannys

It has been a little longer gap since my last obscure post on the Chinese Year of the Rat!

Actually, I had been a little busy with almost "nothing" over the last month and a half. But in midst of this I turned 2 months old which coincided with my darling mom's birthday. And I gave mommy dearest a surprise emotional gift - I turned fully on my own. But then I realised that I had not learnt the faculty of turning back and mommy and Diu were laughing at my predicament. So very BAD ... huff!!!! And they were happily clicking me. Here are some snaps:

Hey, thats fun!

My nose is struck!

I cannot turn back and I am screaming (howling?)

My mamu had come down to Kolkata for a 10 day holiday during that time. Thankfully, because of him, I got to listen to some melodious lullabies! Else, you can all understand my predicament of listening to "not so melodious" lullabies and Dad singing them were just outright sleep unfriendly!! So we all had great fun and a family gettogether. We celebrated mommy's birthday with big pomp - Dadubhai got a cake from the special Flurry's for his darling daughter, all of my maternal clan were there especially for mommy dear. It was a blast of a time.

It ended with me finally going out for a formal dinner at Sourav's. Now Sourav's is one of the most famous fine dining restaurants in Kolkata, started by the cricketer Sourav Ganguly. Everyone hogged away to glory and I could feel the aromas of the gastronomical delight being served. Unfortunately, I am lucky enough just to have a whiff of the aromas!

With that, it was time for me to move to another realm of pampering, going to my dad's house. It was a two month long acute pampering of both, me and mommy, with mommy convalescing back to normal to take care of my whimsical nature.
With that, let me take some rest and think what I do in the coming few days. C ya guys!!