Language transitions.

This morning Jr. is watching PBS kids and they show a small elephant.

Jr. tells her grandma:

"I think this is just a baby elephant!"

Just then, they show a bigger elephant.

Jr. : "I think this is the mommy and I think the grand elephant lives in Bombay !"

I guess the baby elephants grandmother could be called a "grand elephant".

Jr. is always creative (guess kids are creative by default) in expressing herself. The India trip has caused an upheaval of sorts on her English, err Tamlish!

We feel that Major Sundararajan's ghost is somehow circling our house! (FYI, Major was a Tamizh movie actor who used to repeat every dialogue in Tamizh first and then in English.. He would pick up the phone and say "Hello, who is calling? Yaar pesaradhu ?". Dont think the guy had a military background. Think he acted as a military guy in his first movie and got the Major title.. but I digress as usual and that is another post!).

Just to give you some examples of how her language has changed since the trip:

Before : I ate the apple pazham (pazham is fruit in Tamizh)
After : Naan apple pazhaththa eat pannitten ( I apple fruit eat did it)

Before : I am shy
After : I am feeling shy-aa irukken! (I am feeling shy I am)

After I put the lights for her in the bathroom and wait near the door :

Before : Go away! Stand outside the hallway
After : Go away pannu. Velila poi stand pannu. (go away do it. outside go stand do it)

She even says things like "naan read panni pannaren" which translates to something ilke "I read do am doing"!

Guess the message is being conveyed. No issues with that. But she has now one upped Major ! Major used to repeat dialogues in Tamil and English. Jr. does it in Tamlish and Engil. Yes, I have coined the term Engil to complement Tamlish. It is Jr.'s second language.

Yesterday I told her :

Either say "I am shy" or "shyaa irukken"!!, and I realized that I talk in Tamlish! I should have taught her to say "vetkamaa irukku".. but I have to hit middleground with the kids who respond in Tamlish when questioned in Tamizh.

Maybe after our next India trip she will talk 30% Engtamlishil and 70% Tamengilish.

Who knows!

What did you like the most ?

Sweeping in Bombay ..

Sweeping in Madras ..

Sweeping at the function ..

We are now in possession of the very broom which got infinite joy to Jr. on the India trip!! Glad we were able to bring some joys back to the US of A !

It is time for some sweeping changes ..

Enjoying India.. especially Singaara Chennai..

Looks like the previous post on Jr.'s little autorickshaw adventure, is getting some flame..

I had posted this in September 2006!! So, all too familiar with pedophilia in US of A, that too right in our backyard !

I wasn't trying to make a spin (positive or negative) of the whole experience. I was trying to caution careless dad's like me, who let go of their kid's hands in the street while bargaining for auto's. If I had to write a post on why we bargain for autos from 120 rupees down to 70 to go from Adyar to Mambalam, it would be too long a post, and it would definitely start a comment war or sorts, so I am not going to do that..

The mistake of letting her hand go was mine and I did own up to it ! The reason for cautioning other dads was,

1. do not let your kids go out of reach, period!
2. or at least teach them a local phone number! My daughter knows her address, my cell phone number and where mom, dad work, etc. etc.. She could even direct you to our house by saying "go right, go left..etc" if she was in the local area. But in Chennai, those dont help. We have to teach her the local phone number and address here, just to be safe !

Hope that clarifies things...

As for enjoying India, we are all very much enjoying India.. We invariably always do.. We come here knowing about the mosquitos, the pollution, the autorickshaws, etc. etc. These are small things which we get used to within the first 24 hours of our stay here. After all, I was born and raised in this city and every street, every street corner brings back a flood of memories ! How could you not enjoy it ? The only reason for quoting the Delhi child abuse, was that after Jr.'s adventure, everyone around me (relatives and friends who live here) quoted it and said "things are not the same here anymore..so be careful"..

Getting adjusted to these things is easy. It takes me more time to get adjusted to "raagu kaalam", "yama kandam", "kari naal", etc. etc. in my house. This morning I was about to step out for a haircut and almost started world war III. Apparently haircut on friday's is bad for your mom's longevity, and considering the main reason for this trip was to speed up mom's post surgery recovery by showing her the grandkids, everyone cried "Sacrilege!". In the interest of helping other dads, I have taken the liberty of compiling this list..

Day Bad for

Friday : mom
Thursday : dad
Wednesday : brother
Monday : Sister
Tuesday : First cousins second cousins aunty
Sunday : First cousins second auntys dog (or cat)
Saturday : Safe day !!

(ps. except for the friday part, I made up the rest..I am sure they are bad for someone or other!)

So, that said, all are happy and enjoying our last week here.. Today, we were stuck in traffic in Doraiswamy road. Reason ? a dead body procession at peak traffic time! Jr. couldn't understand the concept. I have videotaped the traffic congestion caused by this procession and the procession itself, including the guys dancing in front of the body! Will add it to the long videoblog that is in the works..

India is India. You can't beat this experience..

Dazed and confused..

Last night, Jr. decided to sit herself in some local autorickshaw that was outside the house..We were still bargaining with the three auto's that were in the stand, while she thought that our bargaining was done and decided to sit down inside.

The driver had no clue that a little girl had gotten inside and he started driving away. Luckily, some other local auto stand members saw a little girl with her pooh bear blanket and clueless look all by herself in the back of an auto and flagged the driver.

When he made the U turn, one of the local drivers recognized Jr. and brought her back to the stand. My first impulse was to give her a spanking she will remember for the rest of her life! but all I could do was cry.

This should be a warning to all other parents who are bringing their 3-4 year olds to India.
(line removed on suggestion from sane blogger)..

Hopefully Jr. will behave the rest of the trip!

People : I got more flame and support mail for this post because of one single line.. I was judged more based on NV's comment than on my mistake.

I have removed all the comments. If you took time to write those comments, I apologize.

Land of Paayals and peacocks..

We have been listening to Guru songs..

Now that Jr. is fully Indianized in under two weeks, she is all set to become the next Aishwarya Rai !!

See for yourself..

Just when I think she cannot get any more girly or Indian, she surprises me..

Don't know what else is in store for me..