Twenty Five Months Old !!

29th November, 2009 - Yippee, I just completed my Silver Jubilee and in Daddy's words, now I'm '25 months young' rather than '25 months old'. A lot has changed in the last month since I celebrated my 2nd birthday and a lot more may be changing soon, considering that Daddy is now seriously planning to admit me to a Play School.




After being somewhat irregular over the last month, I and Daddy are again settling down to our schedule of visiting the nearby Gurudwara and/or park every night. Though I recite the 'Early to bed, Early to rise' poem fifty times a day without any provocation, it hasn't made any difference to my daily schedule. I get up around 8 (make that 10 for weekends) in the morning and I sleep around midnight. And as you might have guessed it, Ditto for Daddy!

I've started playing Carrom regularly with Grandma these days. However, there's a slight difference in rules for me. While Grandma still has to use the striker, I can use my hands to pick anything from anywhere and place it anywhere. Yup, just about anywhere, and in case someone alleges that I'm cheating, I don't mind throwing a few things out of the room window to prove my point.


And much to Daddy's delight, I'm now no longer a victim of mistaken identity :P. I can now pronounce my name as 'Vanisha' rather than 'Manisha'. It took a lot of lessons from Daddy & Mamma on how to combine 'One' and 'Isha' to help spell Vanisha but I'm glad that their hard work has paid off ;)

And in just in case you are wondering, the memories of Mumbai Goa trip just refuse to go away from my mind. If Daddy asks 'Ghoomne chalna hai', the prompt answer is 'Hum Bombay Jayenge!' :) And finally, here are the hilarious results of our ABCD lessons.

A - Appal, Main Khaoongi
B - Boll, Mujhe khelna hai
C - Cat Mauu Billeee
D - Doggie Black Wala
E - Eleshant, Mujhe baithna hai
F - Shish, Macchli jal ki naani hai !
G - Goat kaise karti.. meh meh
H - Horse Shaadi mein uncle baithte
I - Ice Keem Kool Kool (What Else !)
J - Joker, Papa joker ban jaate
K - Kyte, itni uppar udti
L - Lion Mujhe darr lagta
M - Monkee Kho Kho karta
N - I still find it difficult to find a word :(
O - Orange, mujhe juice peena
P - Peekok, barish mein daancee karta
Q - Qwee (aka Queen)
R - Roz (aka Rose)
S - Duck (aka Swan)
T - TieGurr
U - Umbarla, main barish mein leke ghoomi jaati
V - Van, unkle ke paas hai
W - Ghadi (aka watch)
X - Too complicated to find a word, isn't it
Z - Zebba

Not bad for a 25 month old, what do you say :)

God Bless !

Happy (2nd) Birthday !

29th October, 2009 - Just in case, you thought that I've recently turned two years old. That's NOT the case! That happened last year and precisely speaking, it happened 5 months ago and today is 15th March, 2010. It's time to rewind the clock. There's no other way that Daddy can fulfill his promise of updating this blog at least once every month. So, from now on, we'll have some posts go back with the time machine until Daddy gets his act together to post regularly.

Unlike the last year's birthday bash, we decided to keep my second birthday a family affair. Of course, there were plenty of birthday wishes and blessings from friends, family and from a handful regular readers of my blog. Thankfully, some things never change. Like last year, I was greeted with hugs, kisses, blessings and 'Happy Birthday' messages from Daddy, Mamma, Grandpa, Grandma and Bhua when I woke up on 29th October morning. When they asked me 'aaj kya hai', the prompt reply was 'Mera Happy To You!'.

Doesn't matter if you say 'Happy to you' or 'Happy Birthday to you' as long as you can get the message across, right ;)? Mamma brought me a lovely musical keyboard as a gift and Daadi got me a little yellow chair.

It had been hardly over a month so the Mumbai-Goa trip from September was still afresh in my memories. Here's the Vanu Gyaan from Mumai-Goa trip

- All aeroplanes either go to Bombay or Goa. Whenever I look at any plane in the skies, if any one asks me 'Where is it going?', The answer is Bombay in most cases and in some cases, Goa. It does not matter if the pilot intends to take it to Delhi, once I decide that it has to be Mumbai, the poor pilot has to oblige.

- All beaches are full of 'Nangu' people

- 'Maine church mein kindle (Candle) jalayi'

- All temples should have 'Kissna' in them, doesn't matter if it's a shiv temple.

- All mosques and churches are same as temples (Sarv Dharma!)

- 'Bombay ka taffic bhot ganda hai' is repeated at least once daily even if you are not in Bombay

- 'Ice Keem Cool Cool hoti hai' :))

More updates coming soon!

To Grandpa - With Love!

The first thing that comes to Daddy's mind while writing this post is that it's been ages since he wrote on this blog. To be honest, he's been struggling to do anything since a while now.

The picture on the left is what will always stay in Daddy's mind - the two most lovely people in his life together and celebrating. The unfortunate part is that he won't have an opportunity to shoot more such pictures with me and Grandpa. After a long illness, Grandpa departed for his heavenly abode on 18th January, 2010. Though he was ill since last few years, he was always full of life, smiling and a dear friend of mine. Every morning, my day started with going to his room with Daddy and saying 'Gud Morning' and he used to bless me and hug me every single day. Every day ended by meeting him by giving him the prasad from Gurudwara before he slept. When I was away at Naani's house, he used to miss me and often ask Daddy as to when will I return. Whenever I saw him in pain and I asked him 'Daada, aapko oui hui?', he used to ask me to kiss him on the forehead/ arms and he'd say 'Vanu ki paari se oui theek ho gayi'.

Even though he was in pain and suffering, he never let it show on his face. There would be days when his diminisia would take over and he would not recognize anyone else but me. He'd barely sleep when I was not well and pray all day long for me getting cured early. Shortly after he left us, if anyone asked me 'Dada kahan hain?'. I used to reply 'Dada gande... mujhe chor kar chale gaye' and start crying. Daddy then told me that Grandpa has gone to God and God will cure him so that he does not experience any more pain. Since then, my answer has changed to 'Dada Bhaan (Bhagwan) Ji paas gaye, woh unki oui theek karein'.

Grandpa - I miss you. Perhaps when I grow up and I understand what life and death is about, I'll miss you even more.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I'll shed the ghost writing part for this post and that'd probably be the last time on this blog.

Daddy - I could go on and write that your memories will always live with me. But I never wanted your memories. I wanted you to be my side forever, hugging me and proudly saying like you used to often tell me - 'You are my best friend' and 'Mera beta mere saath hai, mujhe koi chinta nahin'. You've left a void in my life which can't be filled by your memories alone. Though it's been nearly a month, but I'm yet to accept that you are no longer present physically with me. Every moment that I look at your photo, I walk through your room, I go to the nearby park or I'm alone thinking about you - I've tears in my eyes.

May be it all sounds non-sense but to be honest, I never imagined losing you. I felt pain when others lost their near and dear ones but now I realize, that no one can share that pain. A couple of years back, the doctors told me that Parkinsonism will slowly take its toll on your health and you have at most 5 years. I knew it all along and I shifted back to Jaipur to be with you. It was my greed for your love and affection that made me take that decision. However, it was not to be for 5 years. God chose to separate us after two years. May be, he wanted to save you from the pain and suffering for another 3 years. I thought that with love and care, I could delay the inevitable - I was wrong.

I know you were suffering, not even able to walk or stand by yourself but you were still there for me and I was there for you. I'll miss our daily conversations. I'll miss discussing sports and politics with you. My day started and ended with you - giving you medicines, bathing you, feeding you and putting you to sleep. Now, I've nothing to do and it feels terrible. While everybody tells me to be strong as I've a family to take care of, I never realized it when you were besides me. For you, I was a kid and I knew, you are there to take care of me. You suffered due to other people's wrong doings & greed and I hope that God does justice to them.

I hope I've been a good son to you. I tried. I apologize if I've ever done something or said something which I shouldn't have. I hope that God gives you a good new life. I promise that I'll forever abide by your principles in life.

To say that I'll miss you would be an understatement. May God bless your soul.