Chota Bheem nahi darta!!!

This one is dedicated to my nephew Siddharth aka Sidhu.. kind of like... Pyaar se log mujhe Sidhu bulate hai ... he is an absolute sweetheart and a legend amongst those who know him...he is an absolute rockstar in the making...Sidhu Rocks!!!

The first incident that I would like to narrate is rather cute. This one needs loads of background. If there are kids in your house I am sure you are aware of the new cartoon series which revolves around the legendary Bheema, jog your memory people,"Bheema", "Pandavas", "Mahabharat" got it...Rather I believe it is based on Bheema but the stories presented are new and unrelated, the central character is called "Chota Bheem" and the other characters of note are "Chutki" and "Kalia". Now Kalia is the trouble maker and every episode begins with him creating new problems for Chota Bheem and ends with Bheem solving it and all is well with the world and all that. Now in his mind, Sidhu has created a star cast of his own, his father is "Kalia", his mom(my cousin) is "Chutki" and he Ofcourse is "Chota Bheem", the hero and saviour of all. Recently when we met, Sidhu was plied with the usual cute question "Where do you live ?", "Which School do you go to?", "What is your father's name ?" etc... When asked the question, "What is your father's name ?", he came with some answer like "Pappa". Never the ones to give up, the interrogators tried new tactics, "Who is Vijay??" to which Sidhu replied "Kalia!!!".

The next episode took place yesterday, Sidhu needed a haircut and my cousin (his mom) took him to the hairdresser(note the use of the word Hairdresser, apparently they take grave umbrage if referred to as Barbers, which I noted at the time the film "Billu" starring SRK was released)... but I digress, now where was I, Ah yes, they arrived at the hairdressers' saloon or should it be Salon???...I digress again...Here I would like to mention that usually it is his father who accompanies Sidhu for these hair cutting sessions, but since he is out of town on work my cousin ventured out. Apprehensive that he might get scared, she told the hairdresser to exercise care and keep the atmosphere light. The hairdresser willingly obliged and skillfully cut most of the hair without a hitch, then came the tricky part of cutting the hair just behind the ears, so the hairdresser told Sidhu, "Darro mat, kuch nahi hoga", to which Sidhu retorted "Chota Bheem nahi darta!!!".

The third is the cutest of them all and my personal favourite. My cousin has a very interesting way of making Sidhu eat his greens. Incase Sidhu spies some veggies that he particularly dislikes on the plate, he makes his feeling known to all and sundry. In such crisis situations my cousin uses the magic words "Close you Eyes!" and feeds him all the greens and the poor lamb actually closes his eyes and eats it !!!

Rainy day memories...

The rains seem hell bent on not keeping their date with the city this season. The MET department which began forecasting this season with an upbeat "above average rains" etc, has now changed the tune to "gloom and doom" and keeps postponing the arrival of the much needed showers by a couple of days everytime one of the news scribes asks for their comments. I don't blame the poor souls, the gods sure seem upset with the MET department, as far as I can remember, whenever the MET department predict "rain and thundershowers" the sun shines in a cloudless sky in all its glory and when they say it will be a sunny day, the clouds burst like there is no tomorrow!!!

The BMC has upped the ante by declaring "20% water cuts" in the island city and suburbs and also "requested" the city hotels and clubs to stop filling their swimming pools with water as the lakes and ponds that supply water to the city only have enough to last upto 15th of July!!!

Last week as we scanned the newspaper, and came across the news item declaring that the city would have no water post 15th of July, my mum started reminiscing about the time when she was little and the city was in the throes of a similar rain problem. People were asked to go to their villages as there was no water to sustain the ever growing population.

Every community did its best to appease the rain gods, Christians went out on prayer processions, Hindus performed yagnas and bhajans and the Muslims also went out on prayer processions chanting "Ya Allah paani de, Ya Maula paani De". With all the attention that was showered on them the rain gods relented and the much awaited showers arrived in the city.

My uncles who were four and five years respectively at that time, also joined in all these activities...For days after it started raining they continued chanting "Ya Allah paani de, Kya bola, paani De ??!!!"

Box Cricket!!!

Raashi had an Inter-department Box Cricket tournament at her office. Each team has eight players (2 girls and 6 guys). A total of five over were to be bowled, of which two were to be compulsorily played out be the girls, everytime a girl got out the team earned minus two runs. The third over onwards the guys played and it was like a normal game of cricket, except for the underarm bowling, ban on sixes (if you hit a six you are out) and the fact that you played it in a ground hardly larger than a average sized room.

Raashi's Team won the toss and elected to bat and made 13 runs and set the target of 14 runs to the opponents (The lowest target set for chasing during this tournament) not a very big total to chase. Both teams played a very below average game and there was nothing great to write home about, except for the what happenned after the match. The opposite team struggled to make the 14 runs and one of the "batsmen" came up to Raashi after the match and in full view of all says, "Thank you very much!!!"

Raashi was zapped, it is true what the wise men of old used to say, if you want to judge a man, watch how he conducts himself on the sports field. Here is a "sportsman" who just barely won(they made the winning run off the last ball and if they had lost trying to chase a paltry total of 13, they would be laughing stocks), instead of being humble in victory, he was so consumed in his "victory" that he forgot basic ettiquette!!! Everybody on the field made mistakes, some gave away their wickets for free, some gave away a few runs, some dropped catches, etc, then why was Raashi singled out for this "sporting" gesture ??

Innocence is bliss!!!

Just back from my cousin's wedding, one memory that is etched on my mind is the innocence of kids when it comes to money!!!

The bridegroom arrived at the bride's(FYI- my cousin) house for lunch. All morning my nieces and nephews had been trained to keep a look out for the grooms shoes and pinch it. The shoes would obviously be returned to the groom after a couple of thousand quid changed hands. This money would then used to buy chocolates, icecream and sundry soulfoods for the main perpetrators of the crime(the children).

Back to the plan of action, there were four kids (all under the age of 10, the youngest being 4 year old) on this covert operation (A, V, S1 & S2). Accordingly S1 was given the responsibility to check out and pinch the shoes while A, V & S2 diverted the groom and his entourage with their manifold charms.

When the glad moment arrived A, V and S2 were at their charming best and successfully diverted the attention of all and sundry. Pinching the shoes was a piece of cake for S1 and the shoes were then transported with much efficiency to the designated hiding place.

When it was time to leave and the shoes were not to be found the haggling began. I have reproduced the entire conversation for your benefit. The impromptu committee put in place by the shoe-nappers for aiding in the ransom dealings consisted of the kids, their moms and other sundry uncles and aunts.

Groom: Ok, how much do you want ?
S2(loudly): Ten rupees!!!
Groom (fishing into his pocket for the money, blessing his stars): Here
Moms, Sundry uncles and aunts(proper meelee ensuing): NO, NO, NO... ...he meant Ten thousand...Nooooooo....He meant Ten lakhs...Nooooo...He meant Ten crores...
Groom & Co.: Lets sit and arrive at a number...

Finally it was decided that Two thousand rupees would be paid for the shoes. The money changed hands and each child received Five hundred rupees.

Now A is from Dubai and she has not seen Indian money and thought the groom was pullng a fast one on them. She took the note and marched to the Groom and told him what she thought of the money, you can just imagine the laughter that erupted at this declaration.

While this scene was taking place outside the house... inside the house V(who was the youngest of the lot at 4 years) was trying to get his moms attention by standing on the sofa and holding the 500 rupee note like a banner...

V(standing on sofa): Mom, Mom, Moooooooooooom...will you please tell me, how much money I got???

P.S.: The picture is off Google images and is the closest I could get for V's expression after learning he got Five hundred rupees... hope I am not infringing any copy right laws!!!

Ode to a Friend ??

Rather it should read as an obituary to a twelve year old friendship...

Dushman na kare...dost ne woh kaam kiya hai...
Umr bhaar ka gham....hame inaam diya hai..

Goodbye... you know who you are...

Live in peace!!!!