Pi chart

Went for Life of Pi at last. Just me and the kids, who had to bunk school for the purpose yesterday. It didnt matter that we had to sit in the third row from the front near the wall. Surprisingly, it was running house full on a week day, and that too over 2 months after it was released.

The kids enjoyed the drama though they didnt get the philosophy of it. 

Great visual effects and a good attempt to explain India's religions and their seamless existence in the protagonist's mind. 

Talking to girls

V comes home and instructs the maid not to let the children disturb him as he has a telephonic meeting. Mira is at home, having bunked school on account of acute ear pain. A one-day excursion to Dakshinchitra seems to have aggravated cough and phlegm, and which has percolated to her ear.

After he has finished with his conversation, he comes out of the room to see a curious Mira waiting patiently for him. 

She asks him: Where are the people you were to meet?

I met them over the phone, he tells her.

Was it a boy or a girl (for her, men and women are boys and girls), she persists.

Girl.

Oh, is that why you closed the room??!!

Tooth fairy

Yesterday, another of Mira's milk tooth fell. Tooth extraction is a time of great excitement at home among my two kids. It fetches them some money if they keep the tooth under the pillow - a Western custom I promoted in fun initially but now has turned out to be bit of a headache for me. For instead of the shiny coin or small gift (usually dental kit), their expectations have gone up to bigger currency notes.
Mira was already asleep when I reached home after a late shift at work. The maid told me she had kept a note for the tooth fairy. The note read: "Dear tooth fairy, Do you know how old I am? I am six [I think she deliberately subtracted one year fearing 7 yrs and older wouldnt fetch a reward]. Please give me note money." I guess she badly needed the tip to buy something from the school canteen.
The last tooth had won her only a silver chain and pendant, much to her disappointment. Only money matters to this generation, gifts in kind are taken for granted as ever-eager and consumerist parents indulge their wards wantonly.  It wouldnt have got so bad if V hadnt intervened to increase the allowances from the tooth fairy - he once deposited a Rs. 50 note under Ash's pillow, so ever since any gifts from me have failed to make them happy.
Tooth fairy and Santa Claus are such real people for the duo that it will be a big let-down when they find out that it was actually mom who was leaving the gifts under the pillow. By then, hopefully, mom would be their real-life fairy :)

Surprise

The greatest & sweetest surprise today was Google wishing me a happy birthday with the Doodle on its search page.

Stream of pictures

At the aruvi

Dad 

Tuls and Raahi take a walk

Perunthenaruvi

If you need a fish pedicure for free, try dipping your feet in the rivulets of water created by the cascading waters of Perunthenaruvi (the Great Honey Stream), one of the lesser known waterfalls in Kerala. Located in Vechoochira near Ranni in Pathanamthitta district, this honey stream eventually flows into the Pampa river. Vechoochira's other claim to fame in district circles is the Navodaya Vidyalaya, a boon for rural children especially the underprivileged. In fact, the Central-government-run residential school is a stone's throw away from the waterfall.
We set off early morning on the Pathanamthitta-Ranni route. The weather is mild being December. Our destination is about 36 km from the district headquarters.  'Swami Saranam' vehicles carrying Ayyappa devotees to the Sabarimala temple are a ubiquitous feature on the Pathanamthitta-Ranni route in December-January.
All of us, save for the person behind the wheel, settle for a short nap. The winding roads get more and more rugged after Ranni, which is enough to break our slumber. The locals are ever eager to give directions, which varies from 'go straight' to 'just another kilometre' but the final leg is not as easy as they make it out to be with almost non-existent signboards to a Kerala Tourism-listed landmark.

The girls.

The climb down rugged rocks to the stream is tricky. An employee of the water pumping station at the site helps the little ones trudge down. The dry weather means the rocks are not slippery though; in fact this is the best time to visit the waterfall than during the wet months of the South-west monsoon when the waterfall attains its full form and splendour, but making the area flooded and inaccessible to the public.

The boys, Ash and Raahi

We haven't come prepared for the hot afternoon sun that made our picnic plans go a bit awry. There is no canopy of trees to provide shade, and we have to spread our mat on a frying pan of a rock. But the water is cool and the children forget the discomfort as they half immerse themselves in some of the safer looking pools. Fish rush in to nibble at their tender feet while the same service for my callused ones are less forthcoming.
Tourists are only a trickle at this time of the day, and the idea of a picnic does not seem to be in vogue here. It is a blessing for the aruvi though, littered as it is already with plastics and even a leftover plum cake that lent a film of oil over one small pool of water. The "do not litter" board on one corner of the entrance never applies to oneself – it is always meant for one's neighbour. The huge circular water tank, catering to the needs of the local population, is awash with lovers' graffiti – names linked by hearts and arrows. The summer months can lead to a water deficit in this hilly region. A dam is coming up to cater to the thirst of two panchayats here; the drone of a JCB earthmover could be heard across the stream.

Lunch

We take a lunch break from the waterplay -- packed sandwiches and oranges fill our tummies. As the sun moves westward, there is a steady trickle of people, many of them youngsters who have come for a swim in the bigger pools of water. I move to less crowded spots to marvel at water-chiselled wells in the rocks

Teashop

Leaving the poor man's picnic paradise, we make the arduous climb up. Stopping at a wayside teashop for an 'authentic chai', we are charmed by the warmth of the couple running it. Another friendly local face soon drops in, telling the host that he be served after us. He happens to be running the local ration shop, which he says wont be 'viable' after the biometric system comes into effect in PDS outlets. He doesn't plan to be in the business for more than a year more; the State government will introduce biometric cards only in January 2014.
As for Perunthenaruvi – supposedly flowing honey owing to mineral-rich upstream water or from the numerous beehives in the path of the water - he tells us that the local population cares two hoots about it. As the vernacular saying goes, "the jasmine in your premises has no scent".
Published article in The Hindu

Santa Claus

The tree comes down from the loft.

After the birthday gifts, the gifts from Santa are the most awaited at home. This year Ash told me in advance that I neednt write what gifts they want, and that he'd rather ask them himself. So in the beginning of December itself, Ash and Mira had their letters ready and which I duly informed them I had posted.
But in a week's time they began to worry that Santa wouldnt have got the letters, and if he didnt, I had to buy  the gifts for him. Next came the peer pressure. Ash told me that a couple of his friends and a neighbour's kid had got their gifts from Santa. A friend had got PSP gold (playstation portable), which cost only Rs. 6999. And that gave him new ideas. He decided to write a second wishlist with PSP included.
V, who had been egging me to give the gifts ever since we bought it, was as impatient as the kids. So I decided on a compromise date of Dec 22, which conveniently fell when Xmas vacation started for them. Mira had her second letter to Santa ready - another attractive one with flowers and caps to please him.
We put them to bed early so that I could work on the letters from Santa and put the gifts out.

Mira was careful to mention that she was a girl in case Santa brought her boy stuff.

Mira woke up first, saw the gifts and ran to Ash to give the good news. They seemed quite content with what they got though Ash looked a bit miffed with Santa for giving a PSP only to his friend and not to him!