New addition to the family

On 22-Aug-2011, we welcomed another member to our family. While we were hoping for a girl, God decided we would be better off with another boy. Aman is thrilled though - he said, he now has someone to play cricket with. Though he got sad when we told him that it would be some time before the baby started even walking, let alone play cricket.

Sleeping blissfully on the hospital bed, after keeping us all awake for 3 nights in a row.


All swathed in soft blue.


Aman watching the baby. Since it was him that wished for a baby brother/sister, we hopefully would not have to deal with any sibling rivalry here.

The 1st snap of the baby, as soon as it was born. Looks so much like Aman looked at birth.

We had girl names ready, since we were almost sure it would be a girl. Now, we need to start looking for boy names. For now, the kid would be called "Appu", as Aman used to address the baby even before it was born.

Thanmathra (Molecule) anyone ???

Last Sunday I am at home, helping my maternal aunt with her packing as she prepares to return back to Bhopal (where she is normally resident) after spending more than a month at Kerala with us. Among her luggage are two baby tortoises caught from the flooded fields behind our home. Her young grandson is an animal lover and wants to have these as pets at Bhopal. Apparently it would cost you 750 bucks to buy one at Bhopal.

I am packing a carton with all kinds of eatables when my niece Divya comes to me and asks, "Biju-uncle, what is the spelling of Giraffe?". I am amused at the question which I find to be trivial, given that it is an easy to spell the word, but I still answer, "G-I-R-A-F-F-E".

"Then why did you write it as G-I-R-A-F" on the puzzle pieces ?", she asks, while laughing.

I am quickly jolted to the context she is referring to. Some months ago I had bought Aman a set of 4 animal-based jigsaw puzzles, consisting of a camel, tiger, giraffe & hippopotamus. Aman is only learning to solve the easier puzzle and since the tougher ones (having more pieces) are a strain even for adults, I decided to mark the correct order of all 4 puzzles on the reverse of each piece as "TIGER 1 of 8"..... to "TIGER 8 of 8".

It seems Divya noticed this marking on the reverse and that is when she saw that I had spelt it as GIRAF. Now that she mentioned this, I tried to think back as to why I wrote the spelling wrong. But could not see any reason behind the spelling mistake. Being a person who is bothered about spelling/grammar even when sending an SMS, this seemed too silly a mistake to make.

Or, can it be written off as a mistake / oversight ? I hope this is not any indication of memory loss or even worse Alzheimers, like depicted in the 2005 Malayalam movie Thanmathra (meaning Molecule). This is a movie to be watched, given the awesome direction and superb acting by all involved, including Mohanlal who plays the pateint so convincingly. Get a DVD when you have couple of hours to spare. Subtitles would help those that dont know Malayalam.

Rains @ Kerala - and stills that convey falling rain

I was at Kerala some weeks ago, combining the weekend with 2 days of work from home, when it was raining like crazy. While I do like the rains, it can become bothersome if you are working(power goes off, can't hear people over the phone due to the roar of the rains etc) and after a few hours of it, I could swear I was done with rains.

A Mallu colleague @ our Chennai office comes on the instant messenger and asks if it is raining. I tell him that nothing seems to be happening other than rain and I am sorta fed up. Ofcourse he being at hot Chennai, the idea of pouring rains makes him home-sick and the least he could do to satisfy his desire is to atleast see it pouring in a snap. He requests me to take a few snaps of the rain, which I am OK with, though I wonder how we can capture rains in a still photo.

Anyway, I step out onto the porch and take these 3 snaps, which I send to all the mallu-crowd at work. One of them replies, "Nice snaps. I could actually see the rains in your snaps and feel it sitting here". Posting below the snaps I took.

When it is raining, it is bliss to sit/lie on the swing, reading a book or drink a cup of tea/coffee.


This was taken around noon, but look how dark it has become.


Wish a still-photo could capture the swaying trees too. :-)

Freak accidents that leave lifelong scars, which might never heal

Last Saturday I was at home at Kerala, when I hear the shrill-scream of a siren approaching. I assume it's an ambulance rushing someone to hospital, but when it rushes past our home, I see that it is a fire-truck, followed by a Police jeep at high speed with its alarm also blaring. While there is a fire-station in our town, fire-trucks on our roads are as rare a sight as an airplane in the sky above. I don't even remember any instance where there has been a fire that required a fire-truck to douse it. I forget about the fire-truck.

Later in the night, I am with some other friends celebrating the return of a friend from the Gulf, for good. I had played a major role in convincing this guy to quit his job there and start a garage of his own in our town - he would be earning less than what he is paid in the Gulf, but he would be happy being with his wife and kids, instead of only seeing them for a month every year on vacation. And life isn't all about money.

The talk veers to the fire-truck and it turns out that it was not about a fire at all. In a freak accident a 2-year old boy had fallen into the Achenkovil river that runs near my place and was missing. The sad thing was that the kid fell into the water, when his mother, cousin and uncle were near him.

The kid's uncle was dropping the group at the river bank at a place called Keecheril Kadavu (kadavu means the place where boats berth to pick up passengers) from where the Mom and kid were to board a boat across the river to her husband's home. While alighting from the bike, the mother hands over the kid to his 15-year old cousin. In a freak turn of events, the kid wriggled out of his cousin's hands and falls into the water. The cousin and mom jump in, though neither of them can swim. The uncle then rushes in and pulls out his sister and the young guy. Meanwhile, the kid has been carried away by the water (the river is in spate due to monsoons at Kerala). If the duo had not jumped in, maybe the uncle would not have had to waste time retrieving them from the water and could have concentrated on saving the kid.

Anyway, the kid is not traceable and hence the call to the fire-station. Meanwhile, the news has spread all over the place & there is a huge crowd where the incident happened. Search continues late into the night, but the kid is still not traceable, inspite of the efforts of the fire-station folks & local divers.

The next day (Sunday) , I have to catch the evening train to Chennai and like we usually do, me / Sheena / Aman ride around the neighborhood and reach the place where the incident happened. There still is some crowd there and couple of police jeeps. The crowd's attention is focussed on a group of young men in an inflatable raft. The men are from the Indian navy and called in from the Naval base at Cochin, some 100kms away. They have diving gear & are taking turns to search for the kid.


Back at Madras, I kept checking with folks at home about the kid and it seems the navy divers were also not able to trace the kid. The kid remained untraced on Monday too. Yesterday, a passer-by saw the body of the kid floating in the river, just 50ms from where he fell in. Looks like he got stuck in the thick grass/shrubs that grew in the river. In the snap below, you can see the shrubs at bottom-left.


It really pains to even think of what the kid would have suffered and more about the parents mourning their loss. Can't imagine how they can cope with this loss and bear this scar all life long. The Mom's a nurse at the local hospital, while the Dad was working in South Africa. They say time is the best healer, but I doubt if the parents would be able to forget this loss all their life.

In hindsight, we could say that a little care would have avoided the tragedy. But they had been doing this journey for years, since the lady works at a hospital across the river. So every day morning she would leave for work from her husband's home, cross the river, leave the kid at her parent's place which is near the hospital and go to work. After work, she would pick up her kid and her brother would drop her at the river bank and she would cross the river.

P.S. : I have been coming to Keecheril Kadavu from the time I was in college, mainly to dig into the hot tea and delicious bonda (a sweet snack) sold by a small shop there - tasted heavenly in the rainy evenings. Later I would come here with Sheena and Aman to watch the river flow by and spend some time with nature.

It's easy to be composed when things are good. What you do in tough times is what matters

A couple of posts ago, I had mentioned about a friend who had called me up from Japan on my birthday. We had a long phone chat about the tough situation in Japan due to the quake/tsunami and how the people are coping. He was all praise for the Japanese who handled the situation calmly and in control. Which would be very unlike how we would have handled it. Infact even the US mishandled the Katrina debacle, inspite of being a so-called developed country etc.

A few days later, he sent out an email to friends/relatives which detailed all that he (and others in Japan) went through during the quake and tsunami. It is a long read, but makes for interesting reading and shows what separates the Japanese from the rest of us. Have quoted his email verbatim below.
You can also read it on his blog at http://muralimanikandan.blogspot.com/

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From: Murali M
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 9:01 AM
Sub : Ordinary people's Extra-ordinary resolve

Dear All,

I tried to pen down the weekend after the devastating earth quake on march 11th 2011. As I was trying to write after a long long time, I found it difficult to articulate many things. Sorry if its too long.
--------------------------------------------------------------

I grew up hearing a lot of Japanese quality and religiously practiced punctuality. When I landed in Japan exactly 10 years back, I was surprised, the stories I heard when I was young, were true in every word and spirit. Its not just the people, but nature as well. The four seasons will take turns with such an accurate timing. March is usually the fag end of the winter, but in recent years, thanks to all of us all over the world, the climatic changes are too visible in Japan. Last year after 40 years, it snowed heavily in Tokyo during April. This year, there were snow falls in the beginning of march.

On March 11th, It was another routine bright Friday morning. I as usual was rushing to the meetings. After an unusually long break, I had a meeting in Ibaraki around 1 pm. I finished the morning meeting and rushed to Ueno station at around 10:40 am to take the 11 'o clock train. At the stroke of 11, Hitachi Super express heading towards Iwate in North eastern Japan started off with its first stop in Mito, followed by Katsuta some 150 KMs from Tokyo. I got off at Sawa and heading towards Sawa factory. Had the routine chat with my engineers and after the usual pleasantries with the purchase dept, the meeting started exactly at 1:00 pm. It went on for about 2 hours and at around 2:46 pm, there was a massive earth quake.

Earth quake is no stranger to Japan. We live with it, day in day out. Usually, it will be the ceiling and the hanging lamps that will show signs of quake. But, this one was different. The first signs were on the floor. And with every passing micro second, it multiplied manifold and the customer started panicking. I told him, that, isn't it usual and it will reside in seconds, isn't it? But, the customer shouted, NO... Its different. RUN... By Telling this, he just rushed outside pulling me along with him. We came out and were shocked to see the cars and the massive truck full of load staggering from side to side. That was when, I realized the gravity of the situation. Immediately, I turned to the building and was shocked to see that, the building started developing cracks and the walls started pulling apart. In the last 10 years, I have never seen such a massive earth quake. Usually, a quake will last for a few seconds, and the tremor lasting for a max of 10 or 12 secs. But, this one seemed to be never ending lasting for over 2 minutes. "Porumaikku udaranam, Boomi thaai. Adukku thann, en ponnukku Janani-nnu per vechen" aana, ava kovappatta, thaangadunnu annikku thaan unarden.

The employees of the company were visible shattered and were dumb stuck. One by one, they came rushing outside. Within seconds, they started asking every team and modules to assemble in their locations outside the office in the evacuation area. They asked everyone to check if the immediate member sitting next to him is there. Next, they asked them to check for the members in their row. They then asked them to stand in the same order that they sit in the office. And finally, they took a head count. This happened in seconds and they confirmed that every single member in the whole company which houses more than thousand employees were evacuated with no injuries to anyone.

While they were counting and were checking each other, a massive second quake hit and the building partially collasped. Computers and printers from the 4th floor were falling down. People started calling their families, obviously concerned about their family's well being. But the telephone network was completely jammed and blocked.

My family was in Tokyo, wife and kids were supposed to be back home from school by that time. But, I couldn't check. For over an hour, I was continuously trying. But, couldn't connect. Tried sending SMS, but in vain. And finally realized that the mail in my phone was working. No idea why the GSM was not working, but GPRS was. But, who cares, I sent a mail and she replied immediately. All three of us were safe. I realized the power of technology and the value of investing in an iPhone. I shared the GPS Location, shared pictures, videos etc in seconds. And above all, I could use VOIP application and call India. I called my parents, in laws and my brother about our safety as they will get to know within secs, thanks to the 24X7 TV channels. For the first time, I couldn't call my wife in Tokyo, but was able to talk to my family in India.

The radio in the cellphone was informing us about the earth quake and the areas that were affected. The earthquake occurred at 14:46 local time in the western Pacific Ocean, 130 km east of Sendai, Honshu, Japan. Its epicenter was 373 km from Tokyo. Multiple aftershocks were reported after the initial magnitude 9.0 quake. A magnitude 7.0 aftershock was reported at 15:06 local time, 7.4 at 15:15 local time and 7.2 at 15:26 local time. Over a thousand aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater have occurred since the initial quake.
[Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Sendai_earthquake_and_tsunami] More than the total number of shocks that will happen in a decade.

So, I was there wondering what to do next? I had no idea of the scale of damage it had caused. Immediately, there were warnings of Tsunami and everyone was telling not to venture near sea shore or even upstream rivers, as this location was 8 kms from the sea.

I had 5 engineers working in Ibaraki. 2 had fortunately left a week back and there were 3 left. I thought, I should check their homes before I head back to Tokyo. I asked for permission from all the customer heads and took them to their houses. Their houses were ok in the exterior but were totally messed up in the interior. Everything was affected. The shower, mirror, kitchen, bedroom and even the door fell down. Thank god it was not at night and no one was sleeping there, or else, it would have fallen right on their forehead. There was no water, gas electricity. Everything was automatically triggered and was blocked to prevent any further damage due to fire. We thought, it is temperory and everything will resume in a few minutes.

And I told them that, If it is ok, lets go near station, look for a good restaurant, have good food and then, I will leave. It was a long walk for about an hour before we reached Katsuda station, which was a good 7 kms from there. And then only we realized that the trains are not working because they need to check the tracks completely before they resume operations. We tried for any bus or taxi, but none of them were ready, as none of them were sure about the status of roads and the bridges.

On the way to the station we realized that there may not be any restaurants and we tried to get something to eat for dinner in the convenience store. But, they were not working as they need power to use their register. We were desperately searching for one and finally found a small convenience store, they were working. B'cos they were using the age old technology... hand counting and no computers.

That night we spent around 9 to 10 hours on the streets. It was biting cold and the toes and fingers started paining from freezing. I usually like winter a lot for the cool breeze and the serenity it brings. But, that night changed my perception of winter. I understood the kind of winter life a homeless in Japan has. We found a hotel nearby and thought of checking in for the night. But, they were closed as there was no power. But they allowed us to sit in the lobby for the night. They even provided us with a blanket.

It reminded us of the nammalwar, Peyalwar and Boothathaalvar story. The blanket was enough to support one person with full comfort and luzury. With two, they can cover themselves from neck to toe. With three, they can barely manage to it and cover themselves from their hand to knee. We three were sitting and covering ourselves. In a few minutes, "Anda perumale vanda madiri, naalavada oruthan ulla nerukkaraan..." Ippadiyaga, anda irava kazhichom.

The receptionist in the hotel told that usually, there is a bus from Katsuda to Tokyo and the first bus leaves at 5:40 am. So, I didn't want to miss it as I had a class from 8 am in Tokyo on all weekends. I didn't sleep at all and at the stroke of 5:00, I took leave from the 3 guys and left to the bus stop. I waited there for over 2 hours. There was no sign of any bus. I inquired the police station near by and they told me that, the roads were broken, bridges crashed and the broken train tracks and above all the roof of the station itself crashed down last evening. And there is no way, I can leave now. That was when it really dawned on me and I started planning long term. I enquired if there is any evacuation area or any support available. The police man gave me directions for a near by elementary school. I went there.

It was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. There were a lot of people, food was available, water was in plenty and above all, we could use the blanket. I called the 3 guys and was glad that they were still there in the hotel lobby. I asked them to come there immediately. They came there in no time.

There were over more than 300 Japanese in the evacuation area. But, there was pin drop silence. People of all age group. kids, youngsters, elders ... But, none of them cried, no traces of pain or fear on their face. Immediately after the quake, the roads were flooded with people and cars. But, you can see the classic Japanese order and compassion there. The signals were not working due to power cut, but none of the automobiles moved. They restrained themselves from taking the "Me first attitude". It was an amazing view. At the junction, all the four sides were flooded with cars, but none of them moved. They requested the other side to take the first turn. This is the kind of next generation, I would love to build. Even if it takes decades together or even a rebirth, I would like to work towards this kind of a society in India.

Similarly at the evacuation center, the new born babies and the young mothers were put to utmost test. With the biting cold in the winter and a few fires to keep yourselves warm, there was nowhere for the young mothers to go secluded to feed their babies. In front of their fellow citizens, they were feeding and what can I say about this society? Words fail and heart takes over. I have never cried in my life, even when my beloved grandparents died. But, this scene pushed me to the brim of my inner strength. It was paining and was crying deep inside me. The country and the people who gave me everything were torn apart and were struggling for their basic needs... Forget about food and water, there was not even a safe warm place to cover themselves and feed their kids.

It was more than 20 hours I had my last meal and was feeling very tired, hungry and thirsty. And the sight of the food distribution at the evacuation center was like dream come true. We stood in line and when my turn came, they asked me, which one do you want? They were distributing plain rice and a mixed rice. As I was a vegetarian, I preferred the plain rice, even if there is nothing to mix. But, I was for a surprise, when the rice was ready made dry rice and if we put hot water, it will turn into hot fresh good smelling rice in minutes. But, due to lack of fuel, they had only this rice and cold water. They asked me to open the packet, remove the preservative and put a cup of cold water. Asked me to wait for 2 hours before it turns out to be rice. That was the longest wait for me in front of food. It was mouth watering and was left with no other choice but to wait. And after 2 hours, when I finally ate it, it was the most delicious food I ever tasted in my life. Amritham-na epdi irukkumnu annikku thaan therinjuthu...

Konjam kooda moonjiya sulikkaama, the ward office officials were distributing everything. I requested them for the price to pay. They said, that it is free and were very sorry that, they could only give this at this moment. They were preparing the toilet in the middle of the wonderful clean school ground. Dig a long wide hole and placed a couple of metal sheet to prepare a toilet. Split it into two with a flimsy white sheet and switched on a motor operated lamp. I offered to help them in digging. But they kindly refused and told me, that, we are very sorry for the inconvenience and at this moment, this is the toilet that they could provide.

All these were provided by the city ward office officials. A Panchayat equivalent of India. They knew how to handle such calamities and they were prepared for such a massive evacuation and support. There was total order and no one claimed any credit for doing it. Karnan-na pathi namma padikkarom, aana evvlo per kadaipidikkaromnu ketta theriyaadu. Aana, inga, idathu kai kodukkarathu valathu kaikku nejamaave theriyaadu. Anda madiri, every one did their part.

For example, the workers and owners from the super market brought their foods immediately and gave it to the officials. The officials just distributed it to everyone, with no favor or fear. No influence or bias towards any local or foreigner. The telephone companies especially the NTT, made the public telephone free. Again, you see an order in front of the public booth. Its free and you can use as much as you can. There is a huge line in front of it and people use it only to say hi and their where abouts to their family. No one took anything more than a minute. What a display of compassion towards other souls.

I have been to this place for over 5 years and have seen a particular old shop closed. But, suddenly, that day, it was open and an elderly lady was distributing some bread to the passers by. The convenience stores were giving their left over food for free. They could have charged a heavy price, but they didn't. There was a huge line for over a km in front of the petrol bunks. They could have charged a heavy price, but they didn't.

The third day after the quake, the city officials in the evacuation center were running out of supplies and were kind of looking out for more thro' each and every source. I realized that, its time we left and allowed the local people to get better care. But, the trains were still not yet ready, bus was not operating. The city official told that, it is going to be atleast a month's time before the trains start operating. So, we had to make our next move.

Also, the nuclear power plant just another 80 kms north of this evacuation center was fuming and this place started getting scary with the kind of information that was coming in. The bridges were damaged and the tracks were broken. So, the options left were to find a taxi that can take us to the location from where trains operate towards Tokyo. But, to get the taxi, we were told to walk to the next station that was some 10 kms away. So, I requested the 3 guys to get their passport and pack few of their dress and get ready to travel. I was planning to take them to my home in Tokyo.

They went ahead to their house to pack. I went in search of a taxi. After a while or walking and losing a few of them, I finally negotiated and got hold of a taxi. He was willing only to take us to a station called tsuchiura. If he travels too far, the risk of he not getting petrol to return back was high. So, He promised us only yo take till tsuchiura. Got on the taxi, went to their house. Picked them up and headed towards Tokyo.

This way, we changed taxi in the same way a couple of times and after 7 hours of travel, we reached a station called Toride, closer to Tokyo. Trains were operating from here. From here, we had another couple of transfers and reached my station Nishi-Kasai. From here, it was another 20 mintes walk and reached home - Sweet home after 10 hours of travel, the longest ever from Ibaraki to tokyo. We reached my home on Sunday night.

By the time I reached tokyo, I was in for a surprise. The roads and pipes in Tokyo were uprooted from the ground and it was the first time I could ever see my place in such a mess. But, on top of this, the nuclear scare had taken a different turn. All my fellow foreigners were planning to mass evacuate and go back to India. In the middle of all, the next morning was bright and sunny. I woke up to the sound of the kids in the near by kinder garnen, next to my home.

In the middle of chaos and foreigners fleeing, the kids displayed hope and the dawn of the next generation Japanese. I was reminded, Hope is the pillar that holds the world. How true, these kids had realized it, when are we going to?

In the whole, exercise, the display of order, process, patience, perseverance, tenacity and compassion was mind blowing. I have lived in this counrty for over a decade and I was all along thinking that, the salient feature of this country was analysis. They go to the root of every problem and always come out with a sustainable solution and was under the impression, that their strength was root cause analysis. But, I was proved wrong. The strength of this country is the patience. Patience at the face of adversity, the patience to undergo pain with a smiling face. If only, we can inculcate this to our next generation, we can be sure of having a sustainable future. Nothing can shatter us as a society / culture.

Best regards,
Murali M
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Reading too much into a name

I am riding the lift to the Pantry on the 8th Floor to have lunch when a young girl and 2 guys hop in at the 4th floor. From their looks & their behaviour, it is clear that they are fresh out of college and have been recruited from campus, their employer being one among the big three of Indian IT.

They are jabbering on in Hindi, most of which I ignore, till I hear them mention the name of my organisation. I am all attention now. The girl is animatedly telling about someone working in my organisation whom she came across earlier in the day and who had a last name of Khanna, which according to her falls in the same group/caste as Khatri to which she belongs. She also mentions about Khurana being another member of the group. The guys rib her about how she now has options available, for marriage.

I am not aware of anyone with a last name of Khanna in our organisation at Chennai. But then, with the headcount hitting 300 recently and me not being the type who is outgoing enough to go meet new joinees, it is possible that there is someone fitting that description. Anyway, I forget about it.

After lunch, we have a 4-hour workshop on MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), involving a good deal of group-activity, and I come across the afore-mentioned Mr.Khanna (as indicated on his badge) in the group. But hey, he does not at all look like a North Indian, inspite of meeting the critical condition of being fair-complexioned. And to top it all, he speaks ultra-fluent Tamil.

I get a better look at his tag & see the last name of Sekar below his given name of Rajesh Khanna - on our tags, the surname is written below the given name. So, he is "Rajesh Khanna Sekar" and if my guess is correct, his Dad must be a big fan of the yesteryear Hindi-movie actor 'Rajesh Khanna' and would have named his son after the actor. Not very surprising in Tamilnadu, but obviously not something the Punjabi lass from up north could be aware of.

The nut and fruit of cashewnut - for the city slickers

Last Friday, me and Aman were returning from the railway station after dropping Sheena, who had to catch a train to Cochin on work. I am in the midst of answering one of his many queries (he is in a want-to-know-it-all age, with loads of queries), when I notice something fallen on the roadside. After a quick check in the rear-view mirror to confirm that there are no vehicles behind me, I park by the side of the road, ask Aman to stay put and go pick this up.


For those of you whom cashewnut is something that you pick up in a tin from the supermarket, this is the raw nut attached to the fruit. The fruit is edible, but kinda sour in taste - I believe its main use is in making Feni - the Goan brew. This fruit-nut combo used to be a common sight in our yard at Kerala some 15 years ago when we had a few cashewnut trees. Strangely I somehow don't seem to remember when these trees were felled, as today there is not even a single tree standing.

The cashew tree (or is it plant) is not very tall and has sturdy branches which make it easy to climb and as kids I remember climbing the tree with my siblings and cousins. The trees used to bear quite some fruit and we used to pluck the nuts and roast it over a fire in the yard, till they turned black. Then the nuts were removed from the fire and broken open to access the sweet tasting kernel inside.

At one of these nut-roasting sessions during the annual school vacations (May-June) that we spent in Kerala every year, I came close to losing eyesight in one eye. When put in the fire, these nuts spray out a kind of secretion. It seems I was not careful enough and leaned too close to the fire, thereby taking a hit in the eye - bang in the pupil itself. If it were not for my Dad who in the evening noticed me continously blinking one eye, I would most probably have ended blind in one eye.

He rushed me immediately to the doctor who did some minor surgery (to basically scrape off the offending secretion from the eye). Post the surgery, we had to go every morning for a month or so to the hospital to have the wound cleaned and medicine applied. This medicine would end up leaving a bad taste in my mouth for which Dad would get me a tall glass of lemonade, which was a big treat in those days. :-)

Anyway, the main purpose of picking up the fruit/nut was to show/educate Aman, but for some strange reason, he was not in the least interested. Infact, he found it strange that I should pick up this from the road and kept insisting that I throw it out.

Cashew Trivia :
Am not sure how much truth is in this rural legend, but it surely is interesting to hear. There is this story about how the nut came to be called cashewnut. It seems, centuries ago, when the British (or was it Portuguese) came to the Kerala coast, they saw these nuts being sold in the marketplace and out of curiousity, ask the seller what these are called. Since the native does not understand English, he assumes that the white man is asking the price of the nuts and replies "Kaashinu ettu", which is Malluspeak for "Eight nuts for a Kaashu". A 'Kaashu' being a small denomination of money in use then. White man assumes that the name is "Kaashinettu", which gets anglicised as Cashewnut.

Traffic-jam in God's own Country - and its not even rush-hour

Last Saturday, as I set out on my morning walk at Kerala, Aman wants to join me. With him along, I would not be able to walk fast as he can't obviously keep pace with me. Also, being a kid, he would tire quickly, while I would need atleast 3kms to work up a sweat. But I do want him with me because it would be a nice opportunity to spend time with him.

As I am thinking of how to handle this, I remember that the day before he had loved being taken around in his pram, which I had cleaned up. I decide that I can walk, while he can sit in the pram and enjoy the cool morning. It would surely look odd for a 3-year old kid to be taken around in a pram, but who cares. Infact in the small sleepy town that I call home in Kerala, the pram would still turn heads even if it were a baby inside - because it is not a common sight.

Anyway, we set out on our walk, taking the road that lies in front of our home, heading towards the bridge on the river which is like 1km away. I ignore the curious stares from passersby, instead focussing on small-talk with Aman. As we reach the bridge, I see a flurry of activity in the river, which I instantly make out as a huge group of ducks being taken out on their morning swim-cum-feeding session. I believe I have earlier made a post on this before, but it always is an interesting sight to see. And since Aman is also interested, we stop to have a look.

You can see the 2 keepers in their canoes guiding the birds under the bridge.


The tail-end of the procession finally making it under the bridge.


We continue our walk for another half-km or so and then retrace our steps back, only to see that the keepers have led the flock of ducks from the river to land and are now having them cross the road we took, to get into the wet-fields where the ducks would have their feeding session.

Hundreds of ducks crossing the road, leading to a short traffic-jam on an otherwise empty road, early in the morning. Men and vehicles stop to give way to the flock.


We wait and watch the sight till the rest of the flock also makes its way safely across the road into the fields.


I believe, the keepers and their flock would retrace the same path later in the day, to get back to the farm from where they started off in the morning. Must take immense effort & co-ordination on the part of the keepers to accomplish this task.

Anyday a better sight for the eyes than the automobile-jam on the streets of Chennai.

A noble gesture - wish many more of us could emulate this

A couple of days ago, I received this email from a colleague at work ;

Sub : Sweets @ my desk
Happy to share the arrival of a new member in my family. He is 4 months old Vijay,
who has joined our family to cherish our parenthood.

The "4 months" part had me confused. If not for that, I would have easily understood this as a new parent sharing the happiness of a birth in the family. For a moment I am thinking whether they have got themselves a pet. But I dismiss the idea since a pet has no connection with parenthood, though I have read of people thinking of their pet dogs and cats on the same lines (or even more) as their kids.

So, while it sounded too good to be true, it logically had to be an adoption. I say logical because I know the colleague (and his wife) for a long time and this young couple have been trying to expand their family for some years now. And it is too good to be true because we in India haven't yet opened up to adoption. I know a couple who love kids but even after knowing for sure that they can never have a kid of their own due to a medical condition, adoption is not an option they are considering. Even when couples finally make the decision, society in general and close relatives in particular do all they can to dissuade adoption.

While majority of couples face issue at the starting stage (conception), this couple had no issues with conception. Instead their problem was in successfully completing the full term. After many pregnancies getting terminated at various stages, leading to both physical and emotional stress for the lady, the doctors had suggested in 2009 that they put on hold plans for a child for atleast 2 more years.

I walk over to my colleague's desk and a quick chat reveals that while heeding the doctor's advice, they had also decided to adopt a kid and put in a request at the adoption agency. While most people prefer to adopt girls, they decided to go in for a boy and were overjoyed when they could bring a baby boy home in less than 2 years. I believe this is pretty quick - my understanding was that it takes years of battling lethargy and paperwork at the adoption agency before you got a kid.

I am curious about how his parents felt about the adoption and he agreed that it was indeed tough to convince them. Hmm, exactly as I thought. Anyway it is laudable that my friend and his wife persisted and managed to convince them to go along with their decision to adopt a kid.

In my opinion, adopting a kid would be one of the most noble things a person could do. One of the reasons why the Tamil movie "Kannathil muthamittal" by director Mani Ratnam is an alltime favourite. Me & Sheena came pretty close to going the adoption route when after her first miscarriage in 2002, things were not looking good on the kids front for years. Anyway, then Aman happened & adoption was forgotten.

I thought we could adopt a baby girl as our 2nd kid, but Sheena wasn't sure about convincing my/her parents. I think she felt motivated by this adoption done by my colleague & his wife because the other day she mentioned that if our 2nd kid also happens to be a boy, we would register for adopting a baby girl. Ofcourse it remains to be seen if we actually walk the talk.

Another year, another birthday. Not exactly.

Another year, another 1st April, another Birthday. Well, not exactly, due to how it turned out this year. For starters, an old friend/ex-colleague calls up from Japan to wish me. Given that he was affected by the tsunami/quake as he was just 60kms or so from the place where the maximum devastation was seen and the fact that things are not yet back to normal in Tokyo (radioactivity in food/water etc) where he is with family, wishing me should have been the last thing on his mind. Anyway, we had a long chat about various things & caught up with each other after a long gap.

And then in the early hours of 1st April, another friend/college-mate calls up to wish. I was fast asleep on the train to Kerala and took the call thinking it is already early morning, but it seems he waited for midnight just so that he can wish me the moment the calendar moved to 1st April. This guy is not really into email/Facebook etc, but has almost never forgets any birthdays - can't say this about myself instead of having reminders set on my laptop, phone etc etc.

I am received at the station by Sheena & Aman. Since my Dad had gone to Cochin to check on his cousin who had just had a bypass surgery, Sheena had taken on the task of picking me up. Aman shyly hands me the Birthday Card that he had made himself (with quite some guidance from Sheena), including the cover which was not only made from an A4 sheet but was also painted by him. Was overwhelmed seeing the effort he had taken.

The painted cover on the left and the front of the card :

The inside of the card - which Dad would not like to be called the best ?

As has been the norm for the last couple of years, I was expecting a book as gift from Sheena, usually a novel by one of the famous Malayalam authors. But this time around, she surprised me by gifting me a Louis Philippe 'Gods & Kings' formal white shirt. These are obscenely priced (by my standards atleast) and I would not buy one for myself.

But in her case, it seems there was another reason to go for this shirt, which goes to show how women might forgive but never forget. :-) Just after our marriage and on her maiden visit to Chennai, she had by mistake stuffed a wet towel into my bag, which resulted in a favourite white Park Avenue shirt of mine getting those dark damp spots, which never went off. I believe I gave her a mouthful then and looks like she was on the lookout for a similar shirt to replace my favourite. And when she saw this shirt with the same looks/texture, she had to get it, money be damned.

All in all, All Fools day turned out to be more interesting than I could imagine.

'Early to rise' is indeed awesome. Now if I could also get early to bed...

Last Saturday morning at 5AM, I am woken up from deep sleep by the irritating sound of the cellphone alarm. Since I had gone to bed only around midnight, my mind is still groggy taking time to focus my brain & as soon as I realise that it is a weekend, I wonder why the hell would I want to wake up at 5 on a weekend. My still-drowsy mind assumes that it must be a mistake & I hit snooze to get back to slumber-land.

Before I drift away to sleep, I remember (thankfully) that I had signed up with
some of my colleagues for beach-volleyball sessions on weekends at 6AM, which explains the alarm set at 5AM, since I need time to get ready & haul myself
to Thiruvanmiyur beach, which is 15-kms from my home. Since it won't be good to
opt out, I pull myself out of bed. Takes me some 20-mins to get ready & I am
on my way to the beach, with a 1/2 litre bottle of water - to quench my thirst
after the game.

All along the 15km drive, I can see people walking/jogging and the beach has quite some early-risers active. A couple of my colleagues are already there and we tie
the net and play some practice shots. Another group of guys (whom we don't know) have come over (they have the ball, but no net) and join us & we now have the required 6 players on each side. The game is fun and gets us some much-needed exercise.

A snap taken of my colleagues after the game. You can see fishermen pulling in the net from the sea, in the background.


Around 8AM, I wind up & drive back home. Near my home, I stop to buy a newspaper and also pick up 500ml of milk in the now-empty water-bottle (I avoid buying satchet milk to cut down on plastic). As I sit down at home with a steaming-hot cup of tea, I realise that it is not even 9AM and I have the whole day in front of me, which is very unlike my usual weekends when I would wake up only around 10AM or so.

I have a list of tasks cut out for the weekend and I know that if I wake up at 5AM the next day too for Sunday's volleyball session, it should be a breeze to get all of it done. Incidentally, I did make it to the beach on Sunday.

Sunday evening as I sit back and go over what I did during the weekend, the sense
of accomplishment was huge :

- Most of the laundry done (point to note is I don't use a washing machine).

- Cooked all 3 meals at home both days of the weekend + the morning/evening tea.

- All dishes done - which given my cooking on both days was quite some...

- Swept & mopped the whole home - 2 rooms + hall + kitchen + balcony.

- Walked 3-kms (30 mins) in the evenings. //To ensure I don't outgrow size 32-waist.

- Finished the bank work + shopping for Aman + picking up groceries for the week.

- Gave my friend's bike a quick checkup - oil, filter, battery, idling etc

- Plus some time for reading, watching TV etc.

Since I am currently alternating my weekends between Chennai and Kerala, I would
be missing beach-volleyball the coming weekend. To make up for that, I have bought
a shuttle-badminton net - plan to play with my friends in our yard at Kerala during the weekends I am there.

I was able to continue the waking-up-early practise yesterday and today morning
also and since we don't play on weekdays, I instead went for a walk in the morning, after having a glass of freshly made sweet-lime juice. After the walk, had some egg & toast, washed down with a cup of tea and was out of home by 8AM to work.

While it does feel good till around 3PM or so, after that I kinda feel tired/sleepy, which I guess is because I am not getting to bed early. Sleeping at midnight or later and then waking up early in the morning does not seem like a good practice,
as it deprives me of the basic quota of sleep required by the body. Need to try to hit the bed latest by 11PM.

Aman's graduation day snaps

My last visit to Kerala happened to co-incide with the year-end photo session at his school. While the school had arranged a professional camera-man to cover the event, I dropped in with my camera to have a personal copy of this major event in Aman's life, about which he was excited days before it was to happen. In hindsight, this turned out to be a good decision, because looks like Sheena did not like the print from the photographer. Anyway here goes.

All the kids of Kids Garden school with their 3 teachers, 2 of whom are related to me on my Dad's side. Aman is seated in the front-row at extreme right. Should have used the flash (though it was bright day-light) because it is kinda dark at where Aman is sitting.



A close-up of the area near where Aman is seated. We asked him why he is keeping such a grim face and his response was interesting, "We were told by the teachers to smile without opening our mouths and that is what I was doing". :-)


The kids in uniform are those that are studying L.K.G and U.K.G., while Aman and the other kids sans uniform are those in play-school. Some of the uniformed kids were having their individual snaps taken and I thought Aman would be interested in having one taken himself. But the way he has his face in this snap, looks like he did not really relish Daddy coming in & singling him out, causing 'embarassment' within his group of friends.


BTW, credit for attire goes to Sheena - who bought this dress specifically for Aman's school photo-session.

The first of many exams to come in life - cleared with flying colors

I was in the midst of a meeting yesterday when I get a call from home. Since it's always me who calls home (daily) and my parents call only when it is really urgent, I decide to take the call after excusing myself from the meeting.

Its my Mom and she says that Aman wants to talk to me, which comes as a great surprise to me given that after the initial craze for the telephone, he is now bored and it is really tough to get him to speak. When I feel like hearing his voice, I have to cook up a fib about how I am at the toy-shop & would like to know what he wants. This would bring him to the phone instantly.

I have noticed this with my niece Divya too - as a kid she would like to chat endlessly on the phone (many of my initial blog-posts here were tele-conversations that I had with her. Then she became bored. Now her brother Dany is in the I-love-telephone stage and irrespective of who calls, he wants to speak to them.

Anyway, Mom hands over the phone to Aman & this was our conversation - he was all excited while talking :

"Biju!" // He calls me by name mostly and very rarely as Biju-papa.
"Yes, Aman. What is it that you want to tell me ?"

"Biju, I got 50 out of 50 in my exams." // To me it sounded like 60 of 60.
"Really? Did you answer all the questions ?"

"Yes. I wrote from a to i as was asked to. And also correctly answered the orals".
"Wow!!! That is indeed great. What do you want me to get for you from Madras for your awesome performance ?"

"I want.. hmm. I want.." //He is not sure what he should ask for.
I ask him if a Thomas train with its own station and controls should be fine, since I remembered him asking for this since the time he saw an advt. for this on Pogo.

"Yes. Yes. Get me a Thomas train."

He has completed 1-year at play-school and will join a proper school from June-2011. Our intention in having him spend a few hours daily at play-school was for him to be able to spend time with other kids and enjoy himself. Inspite of our clearly telling the teachers that we don't want him to be actually 'taught', they taught him the alphabet, make him do homework and finally an annual exam too. Ofcourse, while I am not too worried about his exams, Sheena had been spending time with him over the last week, which shows in his acing the test.

While he is all excited about exams and scoring, as he grows up, he will find that this is going to be a way of life for another 16-18 years or so and thus not really fun. We should have a law which mandates that schooling for kids should start only after attaining atleast 5 years of age. In Kerala it is currently 3.5 years - too early in my opinion. Kids should be able to atleast enjoy the 1st 5 years of their life without worrying about lessons, exams etc.

Change brings joy to many and sorrow to some...

It is around 9AM last Thursday morning & the train from Chennai is approaching my station (Mavelikara). As is the usual practise, I had called home while at the previous station so that in the 20-mins or so that it takes for the train to reach my stop, my Dad and son could drive down to Mavelikara station to pick me up.

As the train nears my station, I look out of the right-side door to see if I can spot our car parked on the road parallel to the railway tracks. Our station Mavelikkara is as sleepy a station as you could imagine and from my childhood, it has looked the same - 2 tracks, 2 platforms, big FCI godowns on one side, couple of small buildings on the other side that house the ticketing / reservation office & waiting area. On the platform you have a small book-shop, the usual hpmc juice kiosk etc. The only thing that has changed is that some 20 years ago you had taxis parked outside, which have been replaced by auto-rickshaws today.

But today something seems different - different enough for me to think that it's some other station. For starters, the train is neither going to Platform 1 or 2 as is usually the case. Instead it is coming to a stop on Platform-3. Ha, that is new. Plus as seen from the approaching train, I feel like there are a multitude of tracks - to someone used to seeing 2 tracks, even 4 or 5 is a multitude. :-) And this change has happened over the 2 weeks that I had been here last.

Not just that, the approach road to the station, which has been in shambles for years is now properly laid with tar. The parking area for cars and scooters that used to be uneven ground, is also levelled & tarred. Wow !!! I almost felt like I am approaching some other station. I had heard something about Mavelikara station being developed as a "Model station" and this change must be related to that. I don't care whether it is a model station or not, but it does feels good when basic infrastructure is in place.

Another change happening on this stretch between Kayankulam and Ernakulam is dual tracks being laid. I know it sounds primitive to have just 1 track for a 100km stretch, but that has been the case till now. This means that if a train leaves from Kayankulam to Mavelikara, another train going in the opposite direction has to stay put at Mavelikara till the former arrives. This has to be done for all the 8-odd stations between Kayankulam and Ernakulam - you can imagine the time lost in this process and how it makes almost all trains run late. Currently most trains take close to 3 hours for a Mavelikara-Ernakulam run . Once dual tracks are laid it should be easily done in less than 2 hours.

Unlike other states where land is available in plenty, Kerala is very densely populated and thus acquiring land to lay another track takes a long time - due to litigation. Also, Kerala has many rivers and thus dual tracks mean building another bridge - another time-intensive effort. Anyway, work is progressing on the dual track effort and some sections are already dual track. The Kayankulam-Mavelikara section is the most recent one to be completed, which would gladden the hearts of regular travellers.

However, this recent change brought grief to a few families in just 2 days after the new track was thrown open. On the first day (or night actually), three young men were killed when they were hit by a train when they were crossing the tracks. Looks like they were not aware of the fact that the new track was now in use. As if this was not enough the next day 2 more deaths were reported on the same section - again hit by trains. It was painful to read in the newspaper about the grieving families - especially the wives and kids who lost their husbands/fathers.

Finally a low-cost automatic hatch that is fuel efficient too.

The Indian car market has traditionally been averse to Automatic (AT) cars due to the higher initial cost and the fact that an AT car is usually less fuel efficient than its Manual Transmission (MT) version. And due to lack of customer interest, manufacturers also have typically avoided providing AT options. Sort of like a chicken-egg syndrome.

If you wanted a small hatchback with AT some years ago, your only option was the Santro-AT and the WagonR-AT. If you go back in time, the Zen used to come in AT and even the humble M800 had an AT version, but this was only for people who are physically challenged.

Apart from the driver & the engine's efficiency, one major reason that determines fuel-efficiency of an AT car is the number of gears that the AT has internally - the more gears you have, the more efficient the car since the engine can move to the optimal gear for the speed/rpm at which the car is operating in. Small cars usually have a 3 or 4 gear setup, while higher segment cars go upto 7 or maybe even more.

Most Marutis till date had a 3-gear setup which found few takers. And since people were anyway buying Marutis in the MT version and being the market leader with 50% market-share, Maruti did not find much of a need to change things. Hyundai however was more pro-active and had a 4-speed AT in the Santro which found quite some takers. Especially women, elders & those returning after a long stay in the US where they are used to AT cars and find it tough to use stick-shift (as they call it in the US). When i10, the successor to the Santro was launched, Hyundai provided an AT version in that car too and currently this is the market favourite.

It was only last August (Aug-15 to be precise) that Maruti woke up from their slumber and launched their A-Star hatchback in AT version. By launching on the Indian independence day, I guess they wanted to suggest a freedom from gears/clutch for Indians. Unlike the M800 / WagonR, this was a proper 4-speed AT - the same car that is exported to Europe, where it is a favourite small car. For those that don't know, A-Star is the latest Alto in Europe. The M800, Zen, Alto, A-Star are all successive versions of the Alto, as it is called in Europe. BTW the Santro is called Atos in Europe.

Around the same time that Maruti launched the A-Star-AT, we had booked an Estilo-MT for my in-laws. However, since we found that my FIL was having trouble using a geared car, we decided to change the booking to the A-Star AT. It did mean increasing the budget, but we reckoned that if it makes life easier, the extra money would be well worth it.

The car had just been launched and there was no TestDrive car available in Kerala. However, Maruti had offered a car for an official drive and review to my car forum www.team-bhp.com and I went ahead with the feedback from the review by ajmat (team-bhpian and forum-moderator) which mentioned that it was a peppy city car. They did not do much detailed Fuel Efficiency (FE) checks, but since the AStar-MT is a very FE car due to its K-series engine, I reckoned that FE of the AT version should be maybe just 1-2 kmpl less. The detailed review can be seen here.

The only other option available in the upto-7 lakhs range was the i10-AT, but this was around Rs.75000 costlier than the A-Star AT. Also, FE is not known to be the strong point of the i10 even in the MT version & I count FE as a major factor while buying cars/bikes. A colleague who moved to Blore had reported getting 8-9kmpl on his i10-AT and I would be damned if I bought a car (a hatchback at that) that had single-digit FE. Moreover, wherever there is an option available, I would prefer a Japanese car. Korean cars are not my favourites.

We got the car on 8-Dec-2010 (the final price after all discounts was Rs4.65 lakhs) & in the 2 months the car has done 1200kms, with most of the driving by my wife. Since both FIL and wife are now good enough to take the car out on their own and are happy that it is AT with no worries about clutch/gears, I think it was money well spent. Sheena now confidently takes the car to work and recently did a 40km round trip on her own.

My FE calculations show that we are getting 14 kmpl in Kerala town driving which is not bad for a new car - it takes a few thousand kms for the engine to settle down and for the FE to stabilise. I am yet to do an FE-check by the full-tank-to-full-tank method - a more reliable way of measuring FE. Need to do this soon. You can see my review of our A-Star AT here.

A month or so after we got our car, another team-bhpian at Bangalore bought the A-Star AT and he did a series of FE checks via the tankful-to-tankful method. The latest update shows 14kmpl in Blore traffic with 25% A/C, which given the traffic in Blore, is a phenomenal FE for an AT car. More so, when compared to the i10-AT. His review can be found here.

However, there are areas where the i10 scores over the A-Star and if those factors matter to you, the i10 would be a better choice. The interiors of the i10 are better than the A-Star. Plus it is more roomier with more space inside - the rear of the A-Star can get a bit claustrophobic. Also while the A-Star is better in city driving, the i10 is a better option for highway driving due to its bigger 1.2 litre engine and higher power. While the A-Star can do 3-digit speeds comfortably on the highway, overtaking would be easier with the i10.

I am not going into looks because it differs from person to person and anyway both cars are not really lookers. For those that rate a car's handling high, the A-Star is the better handler of the two - its squat looks help.

There is a small fly in the ointment though when it comes to the A-Star - availability of the car. When a manufacturer launches a new model, I would expect them to have enough cars to meet demand. But when it comes to the A-Star AT, Maruti seems to be concentrating only on exports, . The MT version is available off the shelf, but the AT version would take anything from 1-3 months, depending on how persistent you are in nudging the dealer and Maruti folks once in a while.

Prem, if you are reading this, I know that you have been looking at buying a small car. Not sure if you already finalised the car, but if not, do give the A-Star-AT a try. I am told the car is available for TD at Popular Velachery, which is close to your place. For your requirements, it would be perfect. And since it is an AT, when you move to a bigger car later, this can be used by your wife as a 2nd car for running errands, dropping the kids at school etc.

When ignorance is not bliss.

I am at the office pantry with a couple of colleagues for the usual 4PM coffee break, when I notice that one of them is kinda glum. A slight prodding reveals the reason. The previous night he had dropped in at a gas station to fuel up his car and as is his usual practise, he asked the attendant to fill up the tank, which in his case takes up around Rs.1700 worth of petrol.

As the car is being fuelled up and while the meter is at Rs1400, another attendant comes over & tells him that the front tyre of his car has a flat. He moves to check out the tyre, which looks OK. Meanwhile the attendant mumbles some garbage about how using nitrogen to fill the tyres is a better option etc.

When my friend's gaze returns back to the fuel-meter, he sees to his shock that it has been reset to zero by the attendant who was filling fuel. On questioning why he reset the meter, the attendant says that the car had taken in a full tank of fuel coming to Rs.1700 and so he had reset the meter. Though not convinced, my friend pays up and leaves.

For anyone who is familiar with the cheating done at Chennai petrol-pumps, this is a clear case of diverting the customer's attention to cheat. The part about tyre being flat, when it is not the case, is a clear indication of fraud.

Anyway, after some 150kms of driving around, the fuel-gauge in his car is at 1/2 tank position, while it usually reaches half-tank only after running 200-odd kms. This is a clear indication to my friend that he has been cheated and like any normal person, it is not a good feeling.

I tell him that he has been cheated, but there is an option to get back. All he needs to do is go back to the pump, ask to meet the manager & request for the complaint-book which each gas-station has to maintain. I tell him that in all probability, the manager will dissuade him from entering his complaint and instead will make up for the loss.

Around 10PM I get a call from my friend. He thought he had nothing to lose out in trying out my suggestion and had gone to the pump. He told the manager what had happened the previous day and that he had been cheated. The manager predictably told him that they don't indulge in such practices. My friend calmly tells him to give the complaint book so that he can atleast make a complaint.

As I had told him, the manager tries his best to dissuade him from making his complaint and instead says that he will not only take action against the errant employee, but also make up for the loss by giving petrol for Rs500, which is more than what he had been cheated off. Friend accepts the deal and tells me that he is feeling good now. In most cases, we are not aware of what to do, when faced with a similar situation. And knowing the next course of action makes all the difference, as it did for my friend.

Having been dealing with the city gas-stations for many years now, I am aware of the dirty tricks they do and my modus operandi is simple. On reaching the pump, I get off the car, ensure the meter is reset to zero before fuelling & ask him to key in the amount (usually Rs2000) on the pump-keypad. Then I tell the attendant to enable auto-shutoff on the nozzle & after starting pumping fuel to take his hands off the nozzle. And ofcourse I ignore any other attendant who tries to indulge me in some discussion.

BTW, just so you guys are aware, this is the BPCL pump at Guindy - at the corner where the Velachery road meets Sardar Patel Road (opp old Concorde Motors).

1 is lonely. So would 2 be company or a crowd ? We will know in 8 months.

Happy New Year, folks.

The last time I was here was just before the annual 10-day X'mas holidays kicked in. And for the last few years that we have been having this year-end shutdown in place, it has been pure bliss. No worry about emails, no tasks on to-do list, no nothing. Just fun and enjoyment with family. Infact after shutting down my laptop on the evening of 23rd December, I did not touch it for the next 1 week.

Year 2010 was as always a mixed bag, with its share of losses and some gains. Losses were mainly about people - 2 of my cousins lost their husbands, both young guys in their 30s. One of them died in a freak accident at the oil-well where he was working in the Middle-East. The other cousin was indisposed for some years now with a mysterious illness that rendered him dependent on others to do even basic tasks. And to think that this was a guy who was working, an adoring husband and a devoted father. Both are losses that cannot be made up.

As far as gain goes, it was in the fag-end of 2010 that we knew that if all goes well, we would be welcoming a new member to the family in end-Aug or early-September.

Knowing only too well that most of the problems in our country can be traced to the exploding population, I never wanted more than 1 kid. Sheena on the contrary, wanted atleast 2, if not 3 kids. We debated over this, with each of us putting forth arguments supporting our respecive choice. While she did agree with my reasoning, her wish of having atleast 1 more kid stayed. And that was when she happened to put forward an argument for which I did not have a counter-argument.

Her point was that after parents, the next closest bond was between siblings. Yeah, Aman has 3 cousins now whom he is fond of and they too like him. But then how often does he meet them ? Once a month is more like it. As we get more entangled in the business of life, the meetings would become rarer. And when he grows up, he might feel the absence of a brother / sister even more. Sheena infact was thinking much further into the future, when she said, "Aman's kids would not have an uncle or aunt, if he is the only kid". You have to give it to women for their reasoning.

Anyway, this one point had me cornered. It was something I could relate to because I have 8 first-cousins on my Mom's side and we do meet once in a while and all that, but they are not as close as I am with my sisters. Again, while I have no first-cousins on my Dad's side (he was the only son), there are numerous second-cousins on Dad's side with whom I am chummy, but again it is not like real brothers/sisters. I had no option but to accept defeat.

Another major reason was Aman himself. He was always complaining that he had no one to play with, which was true given that there are no kids in our neighborhood. We told him that he has us to play with, but his reply was "I don't want big people, I want small people (kids) to play with".

And so we decided to go forward with having another baby. I had always wanted a baby-girl and was kinda disappointed when Aman was born. But over the last 3 years with Aman, found out that boys are fun too. I just hope it is a girl this time - that would complete the family. Also, given the immense energy that boys come with, it would be tough to handle two boys - especially if the second one happens to be like Aman.

Aman wants only a boy though. At his age, boys don't like girls. That will change as he grows up, I know. :-) Anyway, to avoid disappointments, we have told him that we have no idea whether it will be a boy or a girl and that he should accept whichever God decides to gift us. This has not changed his choice, but he has come around to the possibility of it being a girl too.

He is all ready to take full care of the baby - I will feed him, play with him, take him to school etc. And the funniest thing is he has already named the kid. The name he chose was Ragol. We have no idea where he got this wierd name from. We tried telling him that maybe he is confusing Rahul as Ragol, but he insists that it is Ragol only.

The only thing that he finds unacceptable is the long wait. To be frank, the 8 months to D-day seem like a long time to me too. But then waiting is part of the package. Aman would be 4 years old when the kid comes and old enough to be a responsible elder brother. I just hope all goes well.

EDIT on 25-May-2011 : It is just 3 months to D-day, with the due-date being around 23-24 August. Aman has now moved on to newer names for the baby - Appu being his current favourite. He has also come around to the fact that it could be a girl and the other day he was telling cousin Divya that it is upto God to decide whether the baby would be a boy or girl and that he is OK with either - a big sigh of relief from me and Sheena.