Virtual Travel with Ruskin Bond!

With most schools in Bangalore closed for Dassera vacation, we are now  faced with the formidable task of managing both the kids at home from morning to night…..and life can’t get busier than this! Serves me right for earlier balking at my mommy-friends with two kids who complained of a similar mayhem when the older school-going kid has holidays! Though Abhay is too old to require constant supervision and my little one is yet to reach that stage (which she will very soon!), they are both needy in their own way! Though their worlds are poles apart and will be so in the years to come, there’s nothing worse than when their worlds collide! While my older one has warmed up to his baby sibling quite well, it is younger one who seemed to be slowly learning the ropes of surviving in this world, when it comes to being heard! So be it waking up to find herself all alone, or venting out her irritation over her brother’s  constant cuddling and kissing….she  already knows how to lodge her protest or make her presence felt!  As long as Abhay had school, there was a set routine in place with all attention being showered on the little one during the day only to have the older one reclaim it, once he returned home from school! Now that both are at home, it feels as if both of them are eating into each other’s space that  gives rise to a feeling of neither here nor there, leaving me with absolutely no space at all! J

Anyway, if there’s one thing that the new arrival has taken a toll on, it is with regard to travel and this is probably the first time that we’ve not been able to go on a trip during Abhay’s vacations. Of course Abhay is not thrilled at the idea of being home bound as he will have nothing to show off to his classmates, all of whom, according to him, have made grand travel plans during the Dassera break!    (Talk about peer pressure!) If we don’t act soon, Abhay has even threatened to squeeze himself into his grandparents’ travel plans to Himachal hills in November! Anyway, even we cannot join my parents, we can certainly vicariously visit the high altitude destinations by reading ….Ruskin Bond of course. We picked out his first children’s novel  titled “The Hidden Pool”, ideal for younger and middle level readers. Like any Ruskin Bond story, the story set in ten small chapters literally transports you to the land of beautiful mountain slopes, deep and hidden valleys. This is the story of Laurie who moves to a hill town along with his parents as his father is posted to India on work for two years. As he forges friendship with unlikeliest of people, given his English upbringing, Laurie finds himself drawn to the local people and their customs.Read on as Laurie narrates as to how his friends Anil and Kamal take him on many a memorable adventures from beetle races to midnight dips at the valley’s pristine pools, tedious treks to the Pindari glacier and their run-in with so called Abominable snow woman! Before he realizes, the two years fly past and Laurie finds that the town and the people have grown on him and saying goodbye is tougher than he thought!   More than the interesting events that take place during Laurie’s stay in the hill-town,  it’s Ruskin Bond’s vivid descriptions of the picturesque hills, simplicity of the people, uninhibited childhood experiences, lasting friendships between young boys of diverse backgrounds! A must read for everyone who loves Ruskin Bond’s writings! Why…Abhay doesn’t it feel as if we’ve traveled to a whole new world during these vacations....…thanks to Ruskin Bond ?? J

School Stories!

A portion of this post was first published in  Parent Edge blog

With the arrival of my second child, my life seems to have been put on hold and has become home-bound for now and is all about nursing, burping, changing nappies, swaddling the baby to sleep and so on and so forth. But for the others around me…life goes on like before…school has reopened, there’s office to go to, there are routine things to take care of and so and so forth! Especially my older one (probably the first time Abhay is being referred this way) now a fourth grader, who doesn’t seem to cut me any slack at all! J Why should his baby sister’s colic evenings come in the way of letting out his frustration at having been separated from his friends at school? Who can blame his irritation at not being able to discuss his cricketing feats at school with his mom without any interruptions like before?? Frankly, while it may not seem so, I do empathize with him for having to vie with his baby sister for his mother’s attention.  Well….. school has begun and so have his routine weekly activities …that’s what matters to him the most!  I understand….but believe me, it is tough to be all ears to his who-did-what reports from school with a wailing baby at hand!

Though Abhay’s school reopened a month ago, I haven’t had much time with him as he continues to operate from our house ( thanks to my husband and my mother-in-law!) while I have been staying at my mom’s place. So while the daddy is in charge of our older one through the week, I am with our little one and we try to swap places during the weekend ( if that’s actually possible!). So its only last weekend that I got time to read a back-to-school book to help him kick start this academic year! 

Though I have read many  school stories before, this time I picked out a compilation that is more complex and layered,  titled “School Stories” by Paro Anand meant more for kids aged ten and above. Since some of the stories were beyond Abhay’s reading level, I read them out while Abhay listened on. This collection brought out by Scholastic publications sensitively portrays the  angst, confusion, trials and tribulations most adolescents face while having to grapple with various challenges in their school lives! It is interesting to note that almost all the stories are narrated in first person and this if not anything else is sure to strike a chord with the tweens and teens at home. Though the school years during high school seem tough….it is only when we are out of it do we realize that they were probably the best years of growing up! Each story by Paro Anand echoes such a sentiment ….. from the story of Pratap who almost succumbs to the temptation to cheat to Gita’s bold move of wanting to play the part of the protagonist in a play despite her stammering problem or the hilarious exchange of correspondence between parents and their son studying in a boarding school facing a cash crunch! Besides being brilliantly written all stories present a delightful inter-play of humour, reflection and reality-check for today’s youth! Though I am a little late….here’s wishing all the kids and their parents……..have a great school year ahead! J

Being Boys!!!!

First appeared on parentedge blog. 

Though as a generation, we have managed to challenge certain gender stereotypes, we have still not been able completely break free from the same. While as urban parents we have been a lot more encouraging towards our girls breaking into male bastions, have we been supportive of our boys in equal measure? Why! Haven't we ever poked fun at our boys as being girl-like for shedding a tear or two? Or haven't we ever goaded them into being "a man" and not a sissy? So as parents we do knowingly or unknowingly seek to perpetuate gender bias. In the same breadth, boys or men are often excused from violent or disorderly behaviour and certain sections of the society still seek to justify the archaic notion by seeking refuge under the age old saying that "Boys will be boys"! So what does it mean to be boys of this generation?

We have been enjoying  reading this recently released book that seeks to break the stereotypes about boys and their so called man’s world! "Being Boys " edited by Deepa Nayar and Radhika Menon brought out Tulika publications is one compilation that promises to be off the beaten path with contributors from various walks of life from famous authors and journalists to professors and social workers.  Though supposed to be for children aged ten plus, some of the works in the compilation make ideal read-aloud stories for children aged six and above, and many others serve as a guide for pre-teens and teens during their stressful phase of adolescence. This is a collection of coming of age stories, autobiographical anecdotes, essays, inspirational non fiction write-ups, poems, diary jottings, speech excerpts, etc featuring mainly young boys as protagonists from different backgrounds, different time periods, and grappling with different issues in life- issues of identity, poverty, ambition,courage, passion,  perseverance,  peer pressure, being bullied and being the bully, an understanding of fair and unfair, and a realization of what truly matters in life. What's unique about this compilation is that all the works touch upon the sensitive side of boyhood and seek to confront issues that most often get pushed under the carpet as being unmanly. Whether it's how to ward off jokes about his long hair as a young Sikh boy in "Rinku's hair " by Amandeep Sandhu, or Swami's fear of darkness unexpectedly making him a hero in R K Narayan's "Hero", or choosing the so called girlie interests or fitting into womanly roles in Ranjit Lal's "General Apron Strings" and Samar Harlankar's "Focke-Wulfs and Fish Curry" or the hilarious account of the pimple ridden        truths of growing up in Niveditha Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran's "Destroy, Boy", or a real life story of how an ace footballer tackled bullying in N Sudarshan's "Man-up- It's Football" or delving into the mind of a bully in Jerry Pinto's "Kerrrrah-tuck" or the story of transformation of Chandashoka (Ashoka the fierce) into Ashoka, the Beloved of Gods in Devika Cariapa's "The ugly boy" or Vikram Seth's riveting speech on the occasion of "Founder's day" addressing the boys of Doon school and many such stories throw light on what it truly means to be boys and what actually happens when boy meets world! 

Petu and gang!!!

Bangalore has been host to a multitude of activities revolving around children’s literature…so much so that parents are left with little time for themselves!:-) Every weekend has some storytelling event, book launch, book-reading sessions for kids, with some of them conducted by friends and picture book enthusiasts like me! For instance, this weekend, the Story-telling event (conducted by friend and fellow blogger Cuddles and Reads) at Atta Galata on the occasion of International literacy day is in competition with children’s events at the Bangalore Literature festival or the event related to Tulika’s “Minu and her hair” at Kutoohala rivals with same in the evening at the Lightroom Bookstore! Added to it…there are many such events at the numerous children’s libraries and learning centers that have sprouted in every corner of Namma Bengaluru! With such a large spread…..who can blame us parents for choosing such inclusive events over “adults only” programs! J

Anyway, a few weeks back, I received an alert from the Bookalore team regarding their next monthly event …..to be held in surprise of surprises…J P nagar!!!! ( I cant believe that I found time to write about it only now …when we are already approaching the October event!) I was particularly keen on attending this time as it featured Arundhati Venkatesh’s early reader series “Petu Pumpkin” as we had missed some of her earlier events. But alas…..mommy proposes and work (in my case the Court) disposes!!! As I was stuck in Court that day, Abhay’s daddy did the needful!:-) Though Abhay seemed a little distracted at the event, given that some of the boys seemed to form their own secret society within the audience , he had insisted on buying both the books “Petu Pumpkin  Tiffin thief” and Petu Pumpkin Tooth troubles”. Of course we bought much more than that and also received a special prize from the Funky Rainbow, their travelling bookstore for having bought ten books!!!!

Though I only write about the pictures books on Onestoryaday, the excitement with which Abhay took to Petu’s tales, like no other “Hole books” ….surely deserved a post on Onestoryaday! In fact he devoured both the books within a couple of days and they even kept him from boredom during our annual family pooja!

Petu Pumpkin series is something Abhay could instantly could relate to, considering it revolves around a boy named Pushkin, fondly called Petu pumpkin studying in Class three. However there are times I wonder why as my son is hardly a foodie that Petu is so famous or infamous for! 

The first book "Petu Pumpkin Tiffin thief" starts off with a new academic year in school where Petu pumpkin is found prowling other’s tiffin boxes prompting the others in the class to start a secret society and the second book “Petu Pumpkin Tooth troubles” has Petu trying everything from pulling out his tooth to writing to tooth fairy requesting for a football to fit in and be accepted into the “Gap club” while helping them challenge the fourth standard foot ball team! It makes a hilarious read …and not just for kids….believe me I couldn’t put down the book either…! Besides being appropriate for the reading level of children between the age group of 6 to 9 years, the stories are very well written and the  author beautifully captures the mind of the big little boys in transition! Whether it’s the easily relatable characters and class room situations, intra and inter class politics that younger readers can identify with or the funny limericks that run through the narrative  - a must read for all young and emergent readers….. “petu” or not! 

Friends for life!

When Google plus asks you add people and categorize them into different circles, the “circle of friends” has probably most number of members…right?? That’s because people you bond with in many cases may outnumber the people you have been bonded with!:-) Friendships can blossom from various places and circumstances….. for instance being in the same place at the same time over a considerable period of time. I had read about life-long friendships between people who travel by the same local train, who share everything from their lunch boxes to life stories, but have never visited each other’s homes!  So one may have friends touching upon every facet of one’s life, current and past… from school-bus friends to morning walk or gym buddies you meet  only for a short time in the morning to colleagues and chai buddies at office, from kitty party friends to weekly music /tennis classes mommy friends, from blogger friends online to community comrades offline, friends from a bygone era now with  renewed ties thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp, family friends who mean more than extended family…..truly friends make your life richer, happier and  much more fulfilling …….and this is a day to wish them all a Happy friendship day!

 

 

While we all have been blessed with company of good friends in our lives, here’s hoping our little ones too enjoy the company of friends….at every juncture of their lives. What a better way to celebrate friendship day than to read about two friends who despite their differences and oddities and best of friends! “My Friend is sad” an Elephant and Piggie Adventure by Mo Willems, is a book we received from my blogger friends at the picture book exchange initiated by friend and fellow blogger Bubbleink. Gerald, the Elephant is feeling low and Piggie in her attempt to cheer him up tries many things from putting on a cowboy costume to dressing up like a robot  only to realize that all the while Gerald was unhappy as he wanted to enjoy the sight of a cowboy, clown and a robot with his best friend Piggie! A nice little story that conveys a simple message that most growing kids can relate to - it’s no fun when your best friend’s not around!!! Isn’t it??

Hobbies and Collections!

I need not elaborate on why it is important for one to pursue hobbies. Be it reading, music, sports, photography, art and crafts - everyone needs something to turn to during their leisure time (if there's such a thing as that!) or something to take their mind off the daily humdrum of life! Off late people have been seen taking up hobbies as seriously as their mainstream line of work, often juggling between the two and reserving weekends for pursuing their passion that may eventually turn into their calling! Hobbies are not only the best stress-busters but can also be great motivators.  As parents, it's never too early to get our kids interested in what may help them develop a holistic perspective towards life.  Of course, we may enroll our kids into dance, music, art, or sports, but how many of us do so for the pure joy of it, or simply to enable them to appreciate finer aspects of life, without any performance pressure?? Hmm... that's a tough one! Isn't it?:-)  

Speaking of hobbies, today's book (that seems like it almost belongs to another era) should have been featured on “Onestoryaday” a tad earlier, probably at the start of summer vacations. “Flowers and I” a National Book Trust India publication by Manorama Jafa and illustrations by Jaya Rastogi Wheaton and Sudhir Kasliwal is as much a book about collection hobbies as it is about flowers. Not very often you find a book that has an old world charm to it and yet doesn’t fail to enthuse the generation Z. Not very often you find a book that presents everyday nature and objects in such a charming manner! Not very often you’d land yourself a gem of a book brought out by a homegrown publication with almost zero marketing strategy!   Not very long ago, I had found a book from the very same publishers randomly picked out at a small town book fair and this is another  book from that pile! As soon as I read the title, I knew just who had to read this one to Abhay!

 

Someone who could very well be writing her own "Flowers and I", perhaps !!:-)

 

 

 

 

Well, inspired from the book, Abhay's grandma has even lent her own shell collection .....

 

 The story goes like this .......Taking a cue from his friends who are into collecting stamps, feathers, shells and coins, Ravi decides to collect ….flowers! (In a way breaking the gender stereotype of associating flowers only with girls!) So Ravi goes about collecting different kinds of flowers from different sources, the unique ones beautifully illustrated for the reader to feast on.

 

Ravi leaves no stone unturned to further his collection and even gets pulled up by the Maali (gardener) of the neighbouring garden who later relents when told of Ravi’s hobby. Ravi first presses each of the flowers in between the pages of his dad’s dictionary and later mounts them onto an album with appropriate captions in place.  One day all the hobbyists decide to come out with each of their collections – Mohan brings out his stamps from all over the world, Rita displays her colourful feathers,  Sohan shows off his shells of different shapes and sizes, Zeenat cashes in her coins, old and new At last its Ravi’s turn to present his grand collection – seen in five albums of neatly pressed flowers in all their hues and splendour! Taking a cue from Ravi, everyone then decides to preserve their collection in albums that are in turn exhibited in Sohan’s showcase making it their very own little museum!  With each of children’s collections depicted in a real-life like photographic images, this book is sure capture the minds of little ones while throwing in a few hobby ideas too!  

 

 

Best friends!

Friends are a big part of life one's life and more so when your growing up. Does your little one have a best pal - with whom he wants to do everything? Abhay was in such a phase in the US. We even switched schools, enrolled into classes because his best friend was there. At the final leg of our US stint, we even moved to the same apartment complex where his best friend stayed….and so his best friend’s house was literally a hop, skip and a jump away! With children as best buddies, we moms couldn’t stay far behind…..we became really  good friends too and there were times when our husbands used to wonder who were the best of friends – the sons or their moms! J Anyway, ever since our move to India, Abhay has been looking for a best friend  like the one he had in the US…….and so is his mom! J

When you are a twosome…..is there space for another or what happens when your best friend defects and finds another pal more interesting? Richa Jha’s “SuSu Pals” features a situation like this. Illustrated by Alicia Souza, this book is as much a celebration of friendship as it is about finding one's own comfort zone. Rhea and Dia are two best of friends …..whom you would in India colloquially call “Chaddi pals” (and it is literally so!). They do everything together….play, study, eat…even go pee-pee together! (We totally get this….as something like this almost had happened with Abhay and his friend) One day Dia has a new classmate Isha who turns out to be her new neighbour too. The girls befriend Isha together, but it is Dia who hits it off really well with this new friend. So much so, that Dia misses the next day’s play with Rhea. Even at the Dragon-Slayers Picnic, Dia turns up with her new friend who is not so enthused about playing with Rhea. As Rhea watches Dia cozying up to Isha, Rhea vows never to play with Dia again and forms and becomes a lone member of “Dia-is-a-mean-girl club”! Does this friendship story have a happy ending?? This is a delightful coming-of-the-age friendship story with an added twist of diversity in the end ….. albeit reserving the su-su bit only to the original team members! J Just like the last book of Richa Jha’s that we’d read, we love the illustrations and find it hilarious! We even enjoyed scanning through the little dialogue prompts in small print that echoes the probable thoughts running in the readers’ minds!  If you or your little one have ever been through the best friends-turned-enemies-turn best friends again phase, you’d totally relate to "The Su Su pals"! If not, this is a great book to read and explore and is sure to be laughing riot at home…!! J

Is your G.E.M under control?

We may envy others who appear to have a perfect life, but who knows what lies beneath the surface! For all you know, that someone may probably envy you for those aspects of your life that you take for granted! Haven't we all come across a situation like that? For instance, a friend or a peer who seems to have everything one would wish for……but the fact of the matter is that while we know the perks, we don’t know the pressure; we only see good days and don’t see the bad days; we only see what that person has gained and not what he or she had to give up! Many a times there's more to what meets the eye and all we see is what we choose to see! :-)

Today we read “G.E.M” by Jane Clarke and illustrated by Garry Parsons, a story revolving around a boy named Royd and his envy quotient called the “G.E.M” meaning the Green Eyed Monster (which is literally a small green object hovering around everyone) Royd thinks his friend Gark has everything – a space pod for a birthday gift, a booster bouncer and a performing magician at his birthday party and best of all a free ride to Mars as and when he pleases!. He doesn’t heed to his mom’s warnings to keep an eye on his G.E.M lest it may gobble him up! But as Royd finds that the party is getting more and more fun, he cannot contain his jealousy and his G.E.M grows twice, ten times and finally a hundred times bigger until it puffs up so much that it gobbles him up! As Royd’s sister drags Royd’s G.E.M back home, his parents sympathise with his state by recollecting their childhood G.E.M experiences and explain that no one has everything. A couple of weeks later, when its Royd’s birthday, Royd’s mom and dad organize a super fun birthday party and Royd’s G.E.M grows back to its normal size. But its Gark turn to check on his G.E.M as he in turn considers Royd to be lucky to be having a little sister and a stay-at-home mom! As Royd’s mom serves some baked goodies, Gark mentions that his mom never gets to bake as she travels a lot on work……and guess who’s G.E.M grows bigger…….Royd’s mom who wishes she were working too! J Abhay was amused that both Royd and Gark were in fact jealous of each other!  So you see…..everyone has their own G.E.M to keep a check on!

The Unboy Boy!

 Though as a generation, we have managed to challenge certain gender stereotypes, we’ve not been able completely break free from them and at times we do unknowingly tend to orient our kids towards perpetuating the same. For instance, though not overly concerned that my seven year old Abhay has never been the “outdoorsy” type from the beginning, I can’t say that I have never indulged in comparisons between Abhay and some of his male cousins who seem kinesthetically more active. Not sure if it’s his basic nature, conditioning or level of stamina, Abhay seems naturally drawn to drawing, books and legos rather than sports and other physically driven activities. While I am not complaining, I confess there have been times when I have been guilty of being insensitive with a “Why are you acting like a girl?” when Abhay obviously upset has shot back “Amma, I am a boy and always a boy”!! Touche my little one!:-)

 

So when author and blogger Richa Jha mailed me two of her recently released picture books around December last year, “The Unboy boy” truly resonated with Abhay! Apart from books on imaginary anthropomorphic characters slaying monsters or age old fables strung into a limerick or multi-cultural folk based stories, once in while you wish you could read something that features everyday situations or day-to-day issues that kids can easily relate to. “The Unboy boy” is one such book that not only does just that but also beautifully conveys a message without being too preachy. We loved the story and its narrative laced with underlying humour, the real-life like characters and their quirks and have read  the book many times over and each time there’s something new we discover in the illustration, almost as if it were a “look and find’ adventure of our own! Thanks Richa for this wonderful book!

 “The Unboy boy” by Richa Jha and Gautam Benegal  brought out under the banner of  snugglewithpicturebooks.com is a delightful read about a boy named Gagan who unlike other boys preferred drawing and reading to fist fights and playing pranks, cared about ants when other boys gleefully stomped on them, took his teddy “Bingo” for the 'Show and Tell ' at class, or cried listening to grandpa’s battle and war stories – all this earned Gagan unenviable names like “Scaredy Cat", “Mousey”, “Baby girl” amongst his friends and even a “Chooha” (Hindi word for mouse) from his grandpa. Many attempted to ‘transform” Gagan from an Unboy boy to a Boy boy, but failed as Gagan was perfectly at ease with who he was, with occasional bad days when the teasing and name calling upset him. On those days he turned to his mother, wondering if he really was a boy to which his mother  always consoled him saying that he was loveliest and gentlest boy ever making her proud! ( Something for Abhay's mom to emulate!) Gagan then slept soundly and dreamed about flying as a Superman with Bingo by his side as the superdog!  But something happens at the year’s annual summer camp that changes the way everyone looks at the “Unboy” boy! Does Gagan actually get to live his dream of the “Superboy” that he really is ….. ? Read on to find out about Gagan’s unboy-turned superboy adventure!  It doesn’t matter if you fit in or you don’t as long as you are comfortable with who you are!  So if you or your little one seems be ill at ease about not fitting in……. “The Unboy Boy” is a book that’ll fit in perfectly for you!  :-)

Our own Willy and Hugh!

 If there’s one thing that Abhay misses the most about our life in the US (which was almost two years ago!), are his friends outside of school! Every kid needs a social circle outside of his school, be it near home or in a hobby class/sports club. Had we lived in an apartment complex, we wouldn’t have faced this problem at all and  the problem would have been the converse - too many friends and too much playtime! But one of the biggest drawbacks in living in an independent house is the lack of social interaction and safe recreational facilities. Of course there are exceptions and you are indeed lucky if your house is ideally located near a park or most of the neighbors have same age kids. But by and large, an apartment life in Bangalore fosters greater social interaction that can prove to be extremely beneficial for kids, if not for adults! J Anyway, off late Abhay is glad to have made friends with our neighbor’s four year old son, Sudhanva and both of them now take turns to play in each other’s house. Though younger, more rounded and temperamentally very different from my six year old, Sudhanva looks forward to playing with Abhay and vice versa…..at least so far so good!

So when I chanced upon this book by Anthony Browne, not only I had to grab it as Anthony Browne is our favorite author but also for the obvious similarities between Willy and Hugh in the book and our very own team closer home! “Willy and Hugh” by Anthony Browne is a charming tale of friendship between the two most unlikely individuals! Willy, the same chimp from the other Willy stories, is a lonely chimp in a Gorilla world! He laments that everyone seemed to have friends, everyone except Willy. No matter how hard he tries, no one lets him join in any games as everyone feels he is useless. One day when Willy walks in the park, and a huge gorilla is seen running towards him in the opposite direction and their paths collide resulting in Willy falling flat on the ground. The gorilla insists on apologizing, taking Willy by complete surprise. Willy then learns the gorilla’s name to be Hugh Jape and both Willy and Hugh hang around the park for some time when Willy bumps into Buster Nose who has always been bullying Willy. “Can I be of any help?” asked Hugh. On seeing that Willy has company of a formidable fellow gorilla, Buster Nose quickly leaves the scene. So Willy and Hugh decide to go the zoo…which in most Anthony Browne illustrations, shows humans chained in cages, looking sad and lost! They go the library, where Willy is seen reading to Hugh, much to Hugh’s delight! As they leave the library, Hugh stops suddenly as he spots a terrifying creature – spider. “Can I be of any help” asked Willy as he carefully moves the spider out of the way, cementing their symbiotic friendship! “Shall we meet up tomorrow?” asked Hugh, to which Willy replies “That would be great” and guess what? “It was”! This story beautifully demonstrates that friendships can be formed when you least expect it!  Here’s to our very own Willy and Hugh!  

A Gift of Ramyana...!

Over the Christmas vacation, we got to spend time with my cousin Vijay, his wife Supriya and their son Vikranth who were visiting from the US. Vijay has been one of the biggest influences in my life as I was growing up and in many ways he still is! Being an avid reader himself, Vijay encouraged me to transition to chapter books while I was still hooked on to comics at the age of eight or nine. Had it not been for the Famous Five/Nancy Drew/ Hardy boys series, I would have never known the pleasures of reading…and for that I guess I have Vijay to thank! J So it’s not a surprise that this time when he came down from the US, he got Abhay a wonderful book, a book that my six year old can’t seem to have enough of! Thanks once again to Vijay for introducing Abhay to “Ramayana” and more so with Abhay’s new found  fascination being mythology, he simply couldn’t have asked for a better gift from his Vijay Mama!

 “Ramayana - Divine Loophole” is a brilliantly illustrated book  by Sanjay Patel, an animator and a storyboard artist for Pixar Entertainment living in Oakland, California. This book presents Ramyana like never before and is a treat to both the kids and adults. Narrating the Hindu epic in three acts and 120 chapters, Sanjay Patel,  an Indian American, dedicates his version of Ramayana to his dad Gopalbhai, mom Ramleelaben and bro Amulbhai. The author uses the technique of graphic storytelling that not only captures the imagination of young minds but also provides an interesting perspective to this timeless epic. For instance, I was quite intrigued by his uniquely titled chapters like “Cosmic Bully” that explains how Ravana, the scholar transforms into a ten headed walking one man army on Brahma's grant of his wish, "Vishnu's Loophole" that has Vishnu thinking about a way to work around Brahma’s grant to Ravana and   "Fatal Attraction" and "Nosey Demon" that features the subplot of Shoorpanaka during Rama's exile.   At the end, the author even provides an illustrated glossary of all the Devas and Demons who make their appearance in Ramayana. Though the book’s size appears to be daunting to read to a six year old, the chapters therein are short and concise serving as a perfect introduction to the story and adventures of Rama which in Sanjay’s own words “explains just why Hindus honor a Blue Warrior and Mountain moving Monkey!" However, a small caveat before any of you decide to make it your bed time story,  make sure to set the expectation at the beginning of the book or else you would be doing an “Arabian Nights Style” storytelling the whole night!

Wanted: A Friend!

Remember those days of "Friendship bands" .....or "True Friends” and "Friends Forever" cards ....those days when your friends were be all and end all of your world!!:-) What happened to those days, certainly seems like a different era now!! Years pass  and we've grown out of an idyllic world into a world of responsibilities!!! Does “Friendship day” then mean the same even today? Well, as for me, I am neither an enthusiast nor a cynic…I am somewhere in between. While I remain skeptic as everyone from private radio stations to retailers seems to have encashed on this Hallmark sponsored day, at the same time, I feel it doesn’t hurt to acknowledge the role played by friends in our lives, presently, or in the past – our old and long-lost friends, new and current friends, work and personal friends, online only friends, tea break friends, travel and commuter friends, once-close-not-anymore, once-neighbor-now-faraway friends …..and the list can go on! Thanks to the social networking sites, we have now managed to get all of them on the same platform. And thanks to the social networking sites, we don’t have to call each of our friends separately, but post a status to say “Happy Friendship day”! Finally, thanks to days like these, we can reawaken the “adolescent young girl/boy” that we once were and in a way will always be!! To all my friends.....Happy Friendship day!

While I have been blessed with good friends all my life, Abhay has not been so lucky, especially after his move back to India. If there is one thing Abhay probably misses the most about Portland, it must be his friends! Though he has friends in school, he not been successful at forging friendship with anyone near home, partly due to the fact there are no kids of his age in our area. ( one of downsides to living in an independent house as opposed to an apartment) So as I was browsing for books at a children’s book fair at RangaShankara, I found “Wanted: A Friend”, I was instantly ready to be charmed by this Lenny and Tweek Adventure by Klaus Baumgart brought out by Pratham publications. A level 2 in Pratham’s Learning to read series, this was originally published in German and translated in English by Braumhaus Verlag. Lenny who lives in his Caravan truck finds one day that there is something missing. As he thinks hard, he realizes that he is lonely and wants a friend, with whom he can have fun. So he decides to pin up a note on a tree that says “Wanted:A Friend, Contact Lenny, if you are one”! Lenny waits for a response but receives nil. As he makes his way to the tree to make sure that the note was still pinned to it, he trips over something that looked like a tiny little caravan. It turned out to be the house of a bug named Tweek, who apologizes for being in the way. Tweek then attempts to befriend Lenny but Lenny curtly refuses to engage in any kind of friendly chatter. Lenny explains that he does not have the time as he has to wait for a friend at home. Tweek offers to wait with him. Friendship blossoms between the reluctant Lenny and inquisitive Tweek who cant stop asking questions to which Lenny does not have answers –  Do you know what a friend looks like? When is this friend coming? So Tweek suggests that they could play together while they wait for this “elusive” friend! So they end up playing hide and seek, flying aeroplanes, treasure hunt, diving into pool and gazing at the clouds, watching the sunset. As it grows dark, Tweek decides to head home and wishes Lenny good luck in his quest for a friend. As Tweek leaves, Lenny suddenly feels alone again and soon he realizes that the friend he was waiting all along for was none other than Tweek! An endearing tale of friendship makes an apt read on the occasion of Friendship Day! So here is me saying on behalf of Abhay– "Wanted: A Friend for Abhay - Contact Onestoryaday if you are one! :-)

A new release from an old favorite!

For the last two weeks, my life has been turned upside down by a host of routine-altering events both at home and at work. Our house has been under renovation for the last four months now and it is still nowhere near completion! It has now got to a point where none of us seem to remember why we even embarked on it, in the first place. So with our ground floor pulled apart, the aged and the ailing packed off to a relative’s house, Abhay sent off to my parents’, (which explains my absence from onestoryaday!), I along with my husband and my in-laws are all huddled into a three room portion of our first floor that serves as a living, dining and cooking area - so the four of us are literally breathing down each other’s necks! Of course, the fact that it has become unusually hectic at work only adds to all this sudden race against time! So in all this ….cuddling up to my little one (who is now hardly at home as he spends most of his weekday evenings at my parents’) with a book to read takes a hit!

But somehow today being Sunday and the carpenters, painters and construction workers being given a day off, I managed to find some time to read to my little one  specially because I stumbled upon a picture book by Peter Horacek whose ‘"Butterfly Butterfly" was the one of the first picture books I had read to Abhay almost three years ago in Portland….which seems like another world now! This one is titled “Elephant”, a story about a little boy and his imaginary friend, the Elephant. Narrated in first person, it begins with the  boy asking his grandpa to play football with him but his grandpa appears to be too busy and the same with grandma who is also busy in the kitchen. So he summons his imaginary friend, the Elephant who according to the boy is never busy to play football in the garden. Of course, it is the Elephant who is to blame for messing up the flower beds, or breaking grandma’s vase in the hallway, or splashing water in the bathroom floor, or for knocking over the orange juice! When grandma and grandpa don’t believe him, the boy is upset and darts off to his room. As he sits alone in his room, Elephant comes to cheer him up and plays with him all day. At night, the Elephant  takes him on a jungle safari to see a tiger until it is morning when grandpa walks in to his room offering to play football. As the boy wonders how did he get to bed, his grandpa too takes the name of the Elephant letting the boy believe that as he was tired last night, the Elephant carries him to bed! A delightful book to read with your little one whose imagination knows no bounds!

......On a side note, I'd like to make a mention that I now blog on momdairies and here is a link to one of my recent posts http://www.momsdiaries.in/book-reviews/reading-with-dad

Hello!...Ocean...

Having lived in the interior region of Karnataka for most of my life, I have always been fascinated by the sea. In fact, a trip to the Panumbur beach was always included in our itinerary when we visited my maternal grandparents in Mangalore. I remember how we couldn’t contain out excitement on our short drive to the beach, how we didn’t mind walking barefooted on the sand that was burning hot and how we squealed with laughter as we got soaked by the foam filled waves that splash their way to the shore. I also enjoyed basking in the seaside sun and then watching it paint the sky crimson red as it set in the evening. It was a dejavu for me as we drove the boys to the same beach, on the last day of our trip to South Kanara last weekend. Abhay who was never a beach buddy during the first half of our stay in the US, slowly began to enjoy our trips to Hawaii and the Oregon coast as he loved to play with his beach toys and make sand castles. As we reconciled to the fact that our darling son was probably more of a sand lover than a sea lover, he did a volte face on our final trip to the seaside last July when he insisted on playing in the cool waters of the Pacific Ocean rather than the sand on its shore.  Whatever said and done, I am happy that three years in the US had turned my son into a beach lover just like his mom!

Anyway, last Sunday’s experience at the Panumbur beach gave me more reasons to smile, as Abhay got more adventurous with the sea waves, thanks to his beach loving brothers! In celebration of the same, last night I read,  “Hello Ocean” by Pam Munoz Ryan and illustrated by Mark Astrella. This book highlights a young girl’s discovery of her love for the ocean complemented by true to life illustrations of the picturesque ocean. So much so that the pictures that seem more like a montage of photographs than hand-sketched illustrations, make you yearn for a day out at the beach, the minute you put down the book. As the girl arrives at the beach with her family, she cant wait to hit the waters that change colors from gray to blue and then to green just like a chameleon. She stares at the wide open water reflected in a bowl of skies and loves the way the ocean looks. As she enters the water, she hears the crashing waves sounding like a lion roaring and feels the water rushing in between her toes only to whisper back to the sea again. She loves the various of sounds in the ocean – froggy songs from distant boats, gentle clangs from bobbing floats and the screak of seagull flying high above. As she prepares to surf on her board, she gets pulled and pushed by the restless sea and waves pounce on her in rowdy play. As she touches the squishy, soggy ground and slippery seaweed, the sudden breeze blows away the sand in her hand held shovel, she realizes how much she loves the way the ocean feels. She sunbathes on her beach mat and inhales in the fresh salty wind of the sea, the smell of the fish, drying kelp and musty shells –she loves the way the ocean smells. As she swims in the ocean water, she recalls that its taste is similar to how her tears taste and she cant stop licking her face as she loves the way the ocean tastes! As the sun goes down, the little girl bids goodbye and promises to visit her old best friend again, the Ocean! A must read for any sea lover or an aspiring sea lover!

Abhay goes to a village fair!

Last week was a truncated week at work with one holiday in the middle of the week and another towards the end, making it ideally suited for a quick getaway. Ah!….the pleasure of working in India with its numerous Government holidays! J Since my husband’s native Polali, a small village in South Karana District of Karnataka was holding its annual temple fair the same time, we jumped into the travel bandwagon too and headed out of Bangalore for a couple of days. My husband was excited about going to his native temple fair, an event he had grown up watching, after a gap over four years and Abhay was excited about travelling with his cousins for the first time! So with three little monkeys, their respective moms, the older monkey (with due apologies) and his mom (my mother in law), we travelled to a village fair and were enthralled by the rustic charm of rural India in all its hues and colors!

We left the boys free ……to jump, play and run as much as they wanted across the vast open spaces that typically lie in front of an Indian village home, something they miss in a crowded city like Bangalore. More than the temple pooja, they were interested in the makeshift giant wheel rides and stalls selling ice creams, toys and other knick knacks (understandably so!) while we got to see the splendor of a village fair through the wonderous eyes of a child once again ….thanks to our kids! Remembering the good time we had over the weekend, I read “The Village Fair” a bi-lingual book from Tulika by Radhika Meghanathan and illustrations by Nancy Raj. It is Meenu’s birthday and she is thrilled when Grandpa promises to take her to the village fair. However, when the day arrives Meenu slips from the stairs and breaks her leg. Meenu at first feels dejected at not being able to have fun at the village fair. But thanks to her family and friends, Meenu is able to experience all the fun by staying at home – with grandpa bringing in two men with two huge bundles of new clothes to choose from; Her grandma buying her new toys from the village toymaker who calls on them; A sumptuous birthday feast at home leaves Meenu thirsty when the ice cream man walks in with colouful ice candies; In the evening, a woman comes pushing a ferris when her grandpa lifts her onto a basket and swings the ferris wheel that goes up and comes down sending Meenu into a tizzy! Just then a man with yellow stripes dressed as a tiger performs acrobatics called “Pulivesham” and Meenu cant believe her luck to have the entire village fair at her doorstep! This is a great read for someone completely oblivious to the vibrant life in rural India. Abhay liked the colorful illustrations that made him remember all what we did last couple of days in our village fair, particularly the tiny ferris wheel being swung by a couple of men. So if your child has never been to a village fair, read The Village fair and don’t forget to visit one too!

Will you play with me?

With the academic year 2011-12 coming to a close, summer vacations have begun in full swing for most young kids. Over the weekend we had Abhay’s close cousins visiting us right after they turned in their last exam paper! So for the last four days, we had three boisterous boys creating havoc in a place that used to be our home! J Abhay of course enjoyed the company of his older cousins while they got to pamper their youngest cousin who seemed too young to rival with them!  With their academic year drawing to an end, exams over, schools closed with no more lessons or homework to do and days getting longer, there was nothing to stop these three boys from doing what they’ve always wanted to do - non-stop, uninterrupted and unadulterated play leaving us parents and grandparents short of breath, energy and at times  … our temper!

Before we knew it, our action packed weekend flew past and it was time for them to go home. Since Abhay missed his beloved cousins today, I tried to cheer him up by having him read about Margret and H.A.Rey’s Curious George in “Let’s play” written by Catherine Hapka.  A part of Curious about Phonics series, this Early Reader introduces emergent readers to long a  vowel sounds. George wants to play but cannot decide what to play – should he play a board game, or baseball or with a toy train, or with his pail and spade by the river side? Just then an alligator swims out of the river and offers to play with him! ‘No way” he shouts as he runs away! The book ends with George asking you ( or your little one) a question – Will you play with George? This is not a story book of sorts but Abhay definitely got perked up on seeing Curious George and his funny antics! Cheer up …...my curious little one, if not Anirudh and Aditya, you’ll sure find someone to play with you this summer!!!

I'm not your friend!

Abhay resents being told to stop doing anything he is engaged in – to stop playing, or stop watching TV or stop drawing or stop whining or stop shouting or stop holding me tight! The minute we utter the dreaded STOP word, Abhay gets upset and declares that he would stop talking to us instead!  All kids resist transitioning from one activity to another, especially when it comes moving from something they like to something they spike and the only difference being the mode of resistance chosen. How does your little one act when you inform him that it’s time for homework, dinner or bedtime? Does he whine or sulk, or create a fit, or take to satyagraha and refuse to heed to your orders, or does he go on the offensive declaring you as persona non grata?!!:-)

Last night, we read about one such fox who was angry with his mom for not letting him continue s play! “Im not your friend” by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Kim Lewis is a charming little story that sounds too familiar to be in a book! Once upon a time, there was a little fox who loved playing with his mother in the fields. They play running games, sneak-up and pounce games and stand-completely-still games and many other games until the sun goes down. The mother fox feels that it is  getting late and tells the little fox to stop playing and get ready for the night. As every kid does, little fox protests and continues playing hide and seek. When mother fox assures him that they would continue tomorrow, the impatient little fox is not ready to wait until tomorrow. He plonks himself on the grass and asks her to go home without him and that he is not her friend and will never be her friend again! Soon it is dusk, and everything turns quiet when the little fox senses somebody watching him. When he realizes that it is his mother after all, he persists on being miffed with mom and says “I wont be your friend for a long long time” when his mother asks how long is a long time, the little fox indignantly replies “until I’m big”! His mother then gives up and heads home leaving little fox alone in the woods. As he hears the eerie sound of wind blowing the meadow grass, little fox is scared and feels its time to soften his stand against his mom. He shouts “I can be your friend tomorrow” and hopes that his mom has heard them! When there is no response, the little fox begins to wonder if his mother has after all left him. As he gets up to look for his mother, he sees strange shadows everywhere and he decides to run and runs as fast as he can to find his mother waiting for him in the last of the daylight. Secure in the presence of his mom, he no longer feels intimidated by the dark. Delighted that her little one has come around, the mother says “I hope you will be my friend tomorrow” to which the little fox stretches up to whisper into his mother’s ears “You don’t have to wait until tomorrow. I am your friend now”! His mother is relieved and says “Im your friend too and do you know what? I’ll always be your friend!” Both Abhay and me loved the book and in fact I felt that the dialogues of the little fox may as well have been Abhay’s words when angry!  A great read when your little one no longer wants to be your friend! :-)

Memories.....from the sea!

Last weekend was a nostalgic one, spent reminiscing about our days in Portland while relaxing on a beach resort at Karwar with close friends from Portland. When you live abroad for some time, your friends are your family and when you meet them here in India, it indeed feels like a family reunion! Just like there is no awkwardness when catching up with our extended family after a while, we were at ease picking up where we left off……even after over eight months! We met them in Kumta, a small town in North Kanara from where we drove to Devbagh Beach Resort in Karwar. Well….what can I say…it was truly one of the most memorable weekends in recent years! Thank you Shwetha and Srini for making the time to meet us during your hectic two week visit to India! Cheers…..to good times with friends!

Abhay has always been fond of Shwetha aunty and Srinimas uncle who always had a pack of cookies up their sleeves, wherever he met them, be at home or outside. Abhay was thrilled to meet them in Kumta and had a whale of a time playing in the Karwar beach. Since we just returned from a trip to the beach, last night I read “A gift from the Beach” a bilingual book from Tulika publications by Melanie Kunz and illustrations by Srivi. Rani is heading to the city next week and she excited to learn that the city situated by the sea as she can play in sand the whole day (Just like Abhay!). Rani plans to pick out a gift for her grandmother who is not able to join her on her jaunt. On the beach she first spots a feather and wonders which bird is it from? She then sights a green slipper and wonders where the other slipper is and if it belongs to a boy or a girl! Throughout the beach, she finds odd little things - strings of flowers, coconuts, dried star fish, a cloth bag and a smooth bottle all of which intrigues her but none of them seem good enough to be a gift for her grandma. Finally, she stumbles upon a large conch shaped shell as the waves retreat, and she knows what do to do. She picks up the bottle and fills it with sea water and fills the cloth bag with sand and drops the shell into it. When she returns home, her grandma opens the bag to feel grains of sand, wets her lips with sea water stored in the bottle and holds her ears close to the sea shell to listen to sound of the sea waves ….she experiences the sea like no one does as Rani’s grandma is blind! As touching as the story is for adults, it was not an ending I expected Abhay to comprehend fully and he was bursting with more questions on the grandma’s condition, rather than Rani’s experience on the beach. But besides a beautiful montage of photographs of the seashore, this book carries an important message – even the most common things in nature can be special, provided you have a mindset to enjoy it! Having enjoyed the pristine shores of Devbagh with the company of great friends, we take back our gift from the sea – memories forever with friends forever!!

  

The Sharing Business!

We all know sharing is the most admirable thing to do and harangue our kids into doing it, but how many of us actually do it ourselves? Do we share the narrow road with the oncoming vehicles when it is possible to do so or do we assert our right of way? Do we offer to share a seat with a fellow attendee at an event with limited seating capacity or do we hold on our seat as a right? Similarly do we let our kid get away with wanting to hide a toy in order to avoid sharing the same at a play date? If you’ve answered No to the first part of each of the above questions, I have to further ask you if your answer is No all the time. I for one believe that sharing is not practical all the time and there is always a distinction between sharing your toy or lunch and sharing something that results in the pains taken to gain that something go in vain! While it is more practical to flash your headlights to signal the oncoming vehicle to wait, or try to safeguard a particularly expensive toy, the value of which none of the kids realize in their game of tug-of-war, it also true that kids are not circumspect enough to understand this difference. What may start as not wanting to share a toy may grow into not wanting to share anything at all!  Finally….I  admit that  I have never been great with sharing (Confessions of an only child!) and in this aspect, I hope that my son doesn’t turn out like me!

I discovered a wonderful story in Last Friday’s Open Sesame,  a children’s supplement of Deccan Herald that will probably assist me in my endeavor. "Care to share" by Leela Ramaswamy  is a story of a little girl who loves chocolates; Ranjini loves chocolates so much that she cannot bear to share them! Ranjini wins a prize in a word game at a friend’s birthday party and to her chocolaty delight, the prize happens to be a big box of shell shaped chocolates. She pops  one into her mouth and finds that it tastes heavenly. She couldn’t wait to get home to show her mom. On her way home, she suddenly realizes that her cousins Ajay and Rinku are visiting and her amma would insist on sharing her prize with them! She feels it’s unfair to expect her to share her prize with her cousins as she had worked hard to earn it! So as soon as she gets home, she tucks the box deep into the lower shelf of her cupboard away from the prying eyes of her cousins. After a few days, her cousins leave and Ranjini rushes to her secret hiding spot to retrieve her prized possession. She is shocked to find her entire shelf covered in melted chocolate and all her dresses smudged with brown. She bursts into tears as her mother comes in asking what happened. When Ranjini lets Amma into her secret, amma observes that Ranjini has already been punished for the wrong she has done that will help her  remember that it does not pay to be selfish and dishonest. So it’s not just about sharing chocolates but it’s about caring enough to share! Lets hope we all learn from Ranjini's experience.