Olivia

One recent TV favorite for the whole family is Olivia, on Nick Jr.

We were watching the kid's old favorite "Max and Ruby", when one day Jr. accidentally caught this show centered around a family of talking pigs, dadddy, mommy 6 3/4 year old Olivia, her four year old "bother" brother Ian and the few month old baby William.

My initial reaction was "Why can't these serials be about a human family like Calliou?". Max and Ruby is about a Rabbit world where Rabbits do human things.

Now "Olivia" does the same thing in a pig world.

It grew on the whole family within 20 minutes because of the script, the quality of animation and the way it puts things in the perspective of an almost seven year old.

In the show we watched first, Olivia's little "bother" Ian grabs every toy that she selects. She chooses to color and he takes away all her red crayons. At that point, Olivia sees no point in coloring anymore because red is her favorite color.

Then she moves on to do a puzzle and Ian grabs that too.. same thing happens when she tries to read a book! Any refusal by Olivia and Ian screams "Mom, she is not sharing!" and mom promptly reprimands Olivia, gives her a timeout for not sharing.

We were rolling on the floor laughing because this was a normal occurrence in our household, but were totally unprepared for what came next.

You see, Olivia has these little dream sequences (usually 2 per episode) where she goes into a trance and lets her imagination run wild. When her mom gave her a timeout, she thinks about how adults would react if they had to share everything.

In the dream her mom is about to get into her car, when out of the blue comes Mrs. Hogginmuller, Olivia's teacher and grabs the key and goes "I will have to take this car. will return it later"

Her mom is all zapped and goes "but.. bbbb but, that is MY car!" and Olivia comes behind her and says "Mom, you are not sharing! Maybe you should go to your room and think it over"

Now, that is something. The kids were looking at us like "now, there is a serial that reflected what goes on in my head all the time". We were still laughing, but there was a lesson for the parents.

Every episode is a treat to watch. There is a "Rule of life" in every episode that really cracks you up and like the initial caption reads, this serial does indeed teach kids the importance of inter personal relationships.

Truly amazing. If you have kids in the 3-9 age group, they will really enjoy this show and so will you.

Now I watch Olivia while eating dinner after the kids have gone to bed.

ps. found out that the episodes are available on itunes.

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And the swine?

It flew!

To lands far and away!

Somehow when I hear Jr. say "swine flew" with her accent, it brings to mind "Pigs have wings" and Pink Floyd!

It is not a good idea to close businesses, restaurants, schools etc. in the name of "suspected cases of flu" without confirmation! Bad for the economy. Bad for morale of the people who are already working hard.

Worse, it is bad for the kids!

They are already facing the brunt of it, with seeing their parents tense and working all the time, with budgets mentioned to 3 year olds and responsible talk being thrust in their faces every day! They really don't need the fear and panic.

Let's hope that this thing blows over soon.

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Turtle Bay in Redding

As part of our recent trip, almost a whole day was spent at the Turtle Bay Exploration park in Redding.

We have driven past Redding many times without ever stopping to find out what this was all about! Thanks to Mitr, AnuP, and the rest of their gang, who visited this place the previous day, we got to spend a nice day with activities for the kids.

On our way to Mt. Shasta, Jr. empatically declared that "the trip was boring!". On further questioning she said "I only like trips with small driving and where there are structures!". What structures? was our question. The prompt answer as "Structures where kids can play!".

Well, this place had "structures" per her definition. It was nicely laid out. A little bird house where kids got to feed parakeets, a butterly garden, a beautiful kids play area with picnic tables where we had our lunch.

When you have four uncles in the party (namely periappa, chitappa, mama and uncle!) you get a chance to actually free up your hands from kids! It is always nice to have the extra "uncle" hands! Balaji, my brother, BIL and BIL's housemate are all a big hit with the kids!

Many a type of "butterchi's"!

And let us not forget the "bumble bee"!

You cross this and go to a museum, gift store and cafe. The museum had a display of the local fish and some history of Indian tribes that occupied the area. We never figured out why the place was called Turtle bay, but this museum did have a few turtles swimming in the display cases and a wall of little metal turtles with peoples names on it! The little one displayed her counting skills "one, two, four hundred, two fifty...."

Then you get to cross the Sundial bridge. It was neat and clean and had amazing views of the sacramento river This place is apparently more beautiful in the night when the bridge has lights on it, but we could not wait that late. The little one was so thrilled to run around the glass surface on the bridge and pet all the doggies that were on the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge is a international garden of sorts with little sections of plants from every major continent. There were also some interesting ponds, water fountains and bonzai displays.

The right caption for this picture would be "Cute - On Demand!"

It was long walk and on the other end of the garden was a kids play area with a beautiful water fountain and a "structure" made from willow branches which made Jr.'s day.

Pavan uncle watching the kids while they pose. They definitely did a better job of posing from the fountain top compared to the mountain top!

If your kid demands "structures" and you have no clue what "structures" are, they are there in the Turtle Bay Exploration area. Even if you dont spot them, your kids will!

Strongly recommended as a break for kids in between trails, hikes, snow, forests, lakes and mountains.

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To have or not to have Pongal ?

Pongal is a festival that gives us a chance to thank the Sun for shining down on us and giving us food to eat!

2006 was great!

2007 Pongal was spent in Bombay with the in-laws (We had just reached, and were starting to go out)!

2008 brings us some questions. My aunt passed away a few weeks ago in India. My dad, who is the only sibling left of what was a dozen kids, could not even go to the funeral as he is tending to my recently operated mom in a city that is alien to him! I know that he shed a silent tear or two and moved on because of his current circumstance. That said, my mum told me over the phone that this year, there is no Pongal for us!

I do not know if this is a custom restricted to Indians? south Indians? Hindus? Brahmins? a sub set of Brahmins? etc. etc.

It is possible to understand the sense in the one year mourning(yes, it is a no festival celebrations rule, till the anniversary of the death), to remember the person who passed on. It might make that person's soul happy, when they are looking down and they see their family is toning it down when the rest of the townspeople are painting the town red, but no one can actually verify this.

The thing that gets me is that this is very hard on the kids. Many a year, as a kid, when my parents would declare no Deepavali due to the death of some older relative we have hardly met, we would actually curse that relative! If kids are closer to god and we were actually cursing the dead relative, the parents were doing more harm than good by not celebrating! They could have cut down the prayer and given the kids the sweets and fire crackers.

However, I do have to add that when two of my uncles (dad's brothers) passed away within a three day period, I really did not feel like celebrating anything for a long long time... I was also not a kid anymore! That was 1993 and those two back to back events left my dad and his elder sister the only two left out of a 12 pack!

On the one hand, I am torn by what my dad is going through. None of his generation is left. He might be feeling lonely for all I know. I do feel that my aunt (who I knew) could be remembered by a toned down pongal!

Not fair to Jr. and the Little One though. They do not know my seventy year old aunt. Jr. spent 10 minutes with her three years ago, and the litte one has never seen my aunt!.

I have decided that there will be no prayer, but there WILL be Pongal for the kids to eat. Planning to make the Pongal myself, with a silent prayer for my aunts soul to rest in peace.

In the event I do not make the Pongal, we know at least two local Indian restaurants that will have free Pongal! for all who eat there...

Here is my grandmother's recipe, in case you are interested in trying...

1. Take 3/4 cup rice+ 1/4 cup moong dal + a few spoons of channa dal, roast in pan in low heat to make them dry. Then, put in pressure cooker, add two cups water, one cup milk, cook partially (let your cooker whistle once if it normally whistles thrice) and set aside.

2. roast cashewnuts, raisins, cardamom seeds in ghee (clarified butter) and set aside

3. soak some saffron in a few spoons of water and set aside

4. In a big vessel, add 1 cup jaggery (or 1 cup of molasses liquid, if you are in a place like Troy, New York and Jaggery is not available! works the same) and 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir till the consistancy of the liquid is such that when you take it on a ladle and drop the liquid back into the vessel, the liquid does not break or spatter. Remember the ad's you see on TV where the cough syrup smoothly coats the inside of your throat? That consistant!

5. At this point, add the contents from the rice cooker to the sugar syrup and start stirring. Add some more Ghee and the saffron water and keep stirring. When the ghee starts to segregate, add the roasted Cashews etc.

6. Finally, sprinkle some pachai kalpooram into the pot (literal translation is green camphor. don't know where this is available in the USA. we have a small box, which I got from India in 1998!) and give it a final whirl.

You are now ready to taste something that is downright Divine!

To all those out there celebrating, Happy Pongal!

"Iniya pongal nal-vazhthukkal!"

May your year be as sweet as the Pongal you make!

A footnote: it is spelled pachai and not pachchai!! Here is the Wiki Link to the edible camphor! Got to go find out if this tree is available in the US! and plant one in the backyard right away...
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