Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Poorna aahuthi

Last sunday - April 17, 2005, we had Sriram's ayush homam conducted at London East ham Mahalakshmi Temple. Wow, I never had an ayush homam for myself, and this lad has it in UK!!!

The function went on well, and had a moderate friends turnout. The homam lasted for one and quarter hour. Through out the homam, Sriram took it in stride and sat silently. He was generally sweet and watching all that the purohithar was doing.

Purohithar offered purna aahuthi (the final offering that ends the homam) to the yagna flames. When the yagna was completed, Sriram thought after all it is his ayush homam and he should offer something.

He dropped his silicone soother from his mouth into homa gundam as his 'purna aahuthi'

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

From Daddy to Caddie

Football is a popular sport in UK. And Sriram knows that well. Morning when we wake up, he won't drink milk; nor will he let me brush my teeth. He will take a small football I got for him, and will ask me to play football with him.

Now rules are different when playing football with Sriram. It is not like he will kick the football and I will kick it again, so on and so forth. He can't walk all by himself, still unsteady. So, I have to hold him by his arms, and position him in front of the ball. He will give a hard-kick. Then, I will have to carry him, run behind the ball. When it stops, he has to be positioned again. So he plays.

To me it looks more like his version of golf and football.

In a way, am his caddie! From Daddy to caddie -- interesting.

Sriram -- Aandu Niraivu

About Sriram on his aandu niraivu:
Sriram has become quite playful and understands small words. He can now understand and point to a few objects. He now can crawl very well, and he keeps running around. He is quite fun-loving and playful, but never a pest or a cry-baby. He is cheerful and any given pint of time, his laughter can cheer us up like anything..he very cutely bends his head to look at us...he keeps babbbling something, and tries to make a conversation with us...he tries to grab our attenti! on when we dont pay him attention wth some babbling or some funny act...really cute fellow...

And about aandi niraivu celebrations:
Poor Sriram, he had fever and cold. For his birthday, we wanted to go to London-based temple, but we went to a Doctor instead - Dr. Mahmud- GP in Billericay. Normal Flu.

Now he is back to normal self. Explained by his culinary skills in carpet dosai(see prev post)

Carpet dosai

The other day, Nisha had prepared dosai maavu for two people. She was told that dosai maavu can be made sour, by placing it near heater in the room (Remember we are in UK, and getting curd sour or batter sour is not possible by natural means!). If the maavu is not pulippu, then dosa or idly may not be very tasty. Apparently, she was asked to keep dosai maavu near the heater so that flour can rise up and also become sour overnight.

Nisha was thoughtful enough to keep the maavu vessel on a plate to avoid having the maavu spilt on rugged carpet we have. So far, so good.

Sriram - given his playfulness - I ensure mostly, we do not have easy-to-manipulate-by-Sriram-stuffs lying around on floor overnight.

These include
slippers, pins -- he will put them in mouth
paper, tissue paper, books -- he loves to tear them to fine pieces
noisy rattler/toys -- well, we don't want to wake up with a headache
mobile phone -- ah dont want exhaust inclusive minutes this way; he loves pressing random buttons - on a speed dial, my account manager mobile number is on top; so...

This dabba was never on a alert-Sriram-priority list. Infact, this was the first time (and Sriram ensured that it is last time too) the dabba was lying around.

Sriram woke up by 6:45am and started crying to be let on the floor. Wanting to steal another 10 minutes of sleep, Sriram was embarked onto floor.

I woke up by 6:55am exactly; and by 8:10am, me and Nisha were short of two dosais to eat. The two dosais shortage was because Sriram made a carpet dosai.