Chennai autos

I have not used the famous chennai autos for quite a while. I have been having newspaper knowledge about the great rigmarole of electronic metres, protests and strike by auto drivers, police coming down heavily on erring auto drivers and of late there has been silence in the print media.. So I believed that finally autos of chennai have really become the passenger friendly folk that one dreamt of.
Yesterday I had pleasant surprise. The first auto I hailed was a pleasant faced chap and I said QMC and he nodded and flagged the metre down. I was stunned, I dont remember when was the last time I had such a earth shattering experience! He did not utter a single word, he drove patiently and followed traffic rules. He dropped me at QMC with the metre showing 85 rupees.I had guessed it should cost me a hundred rupees, and I was also pleased with the journey, so gave him 100 rupees and was alighting from the auto. He fished out ten rupees from his pocket and gave it to me. I said it is okay, keep the change. He literally thrust the ten rupees in my hand, and sped off! Miracle! One of a kind.

I was nicely spoilt by this experience, so today morning I spot a stationery autorickshaw. I tell him QMC. He looks at me as if I am speaking Latin. I said college, Raani mary kalloori. He said 'enga, beach road a". I said yes. He said give 20 rupees more than the metre. I said no and moved off. He was not moved and continued sitting pretty and gazing around. I flagged another auto and he was quick to recognise the destination and said pleasantly and with a bit of reticence, 20 rupees above the metre. I said no, he said 10 rupees, I said no, and got in. I gave him a bit of my mind, and said petrol prices have come down, so why do you want to be paid above the metre. He was a bit timid, so kept silent. He drove well and when I got down the metre showed 95 rupees. I gave him 100 rupees and walked off.

This experience was repeated on my return.

My conclusion about chennai auto scene:

1) There are some really decent auto drivers: they behave well, they drive as per road rules, they dont talk unnecessarily, their autos have correct metre readings, they insist on being paid by the metre and nothing more. Not an extinct species that we all feared, sometime back.

2) Majority of them are still well behaved, are a little hesitant to ask for extra and can be cajoled to make the trip and accept any extra the passenger is willing to pay.

3) The 'standing still and not budging from their seat' auto drivers are still on the scene. But I believe, the foul mouthing auto drivers have been chastened to keep their mouths shut.

Will come back to you with updates if there is any marked change from this narration.

Nizhal

Chennai has a voluntary organisation called "nizhal" which wants to promote increase in indigeneous tree cover in the city. It started small, and is now ten years old. I came to know of this initiative through D through one of her teacher friends of KFI school. She took D on a tree walk through 'kotturpuram tree park' that they have helped to create, right in the heart of the city, just along the adyar river.D was very impressed and has been telling me that I can get involved in their activities, as they are doing good work.

I had reached out to them yesterday and I was asked to come to Queen Mary's College today morning, as they are putting up a stall there, as part of Science exhibition organised by the govt for school and college children. I volunteered to be there for the next 3 days of the exhibition for 2 hours from 10 am. So I landed there and was quite impressed with the intense activity and large number of stalls being put up by various govt, non govt and voluntary organisation, working in the field of science.There were more than 200 stalls with  Biodiversity having  more than 20 stalls.School children started arriving from 11am soon after the inauguration. It is such a pleasure to have them visit the stall. They all have notebooks in hand and quickly jot down whatever you tell them about the native trees.They have to give a report in school tomorrow, you see. But they have blotting paper memories and will absorb the essential theme of our stall, that we need to conserve and grow more trees and more native trees.Each tree not only gives shade, fruits and arrests pollution and soil erosion , each tree is a unique eco system.Insects, moth, butterflies and birds choose particular trees and plants.They are choosy.So we have an obligation to preserve indigeneous trees to enable recreation of the ecosystem that they generate and make them thrive. The kernel of the idea sits in their head is enough and it will germinate and come forth at a correct time.

Nizhal is spreading the awareness in different localities in the city, Perungudi, Chitlapakkam and Madhavaram. Nizhal has also spread its 'branches' in Puzhal prisons.

Yesterday there was a news report which said, Tamilnadu government will arrange to plant 67 lakh trees in the state to commemorate Amma's 67th birthday yesterday. This is a good chance for Nizhal to involve in this initiative and further their passion.
ps:
Purasawalkam is so called as it was full of a native tree called 'purasai'.

chikoo has started to crawl

Two days back, Chikoo succeeded in moving, but alas in the reverse direction. He tried again, but could not get the mechanics right. Next day he tried again, putting lots of thought and haphazard movement of his bands, legs and head and managed to move a few inches. He was so intent on the movement that he did not raise his head to look around. When he did he was surprised at the change in scenery and was very happy,D tells me. Of course he tried again, but just could not repeat it. He has his feet in the air and wants to move with only the knees and his face on the ground. He is not o far fully utilising his hands in his locomotion efforts. The whole effort is very hilarious and D laughs at all the wrong ways he tries to move forward.I am sure Chikoo does not fancy this attitude of his mom.He is seriously grunting and wants to move forward by power of his vocal chords, so adds a shrill scream to propel him forward!

So, Chikoo is at it.He is on his march and getting set, ready to go!

Beautiful wedding

Last weekend I actively got involved in my friend's daughter's wedding. I was the first to reach the marriage hall the previous day morning when the groom's immediate family members were arriving. My friend came with her daughter a little later to avoid  'rahu kalam'. I took them to their rooms and immediately I ushered them to the dining hall. There is something very fresh and nice about inaugurating breakfast on a cool february morning in chennai. Nowadays, the caterers have in the menu all the south indian breakfast items, except the various upma varieties! We had idlis, crisp dosais, pongal, vadai and all the side dishes that go with it and of course kesari. Coffee was really fresh and aromatic.

I say, halt. I did not start this as a wedding breakfast menu post. I wanted to say the central theme of this wedding was artistic decoration, be it in the flower arrangements on the stage, or on the bride's hairdo, rangoli at the entrance or the kolu like exhibition of the life and times of the groom, or the aarthi plates that seems to occupy a very central theme in their scheme of things. Not to mention the exquisitely embellished cholis of the bride and the young women of the  entire extended family.

Let me be more elaborate. The stage decoration was just too beautiful. I have seen enough of opulent and garish and expensive stage decorations. But here, the theme was beauty and not flaunting wealth. Rajnigandha was the flower used maximum and the fragrance was surrounding all of us as we were passsing through the stage throughout the day. The dexterity with which the decorators were going about their job, added to the wow factor. The stage decor was changed for the reception and it was like a swirling tent made of  rajnigadha flowers. It is another matter that the bride and groom were ready in time as also the singer and all of them were waiting for the florist to give final touches to the decoration on the stage!

For the engagement ceremony, the groom's party were doing a very elaborate and intricate handwork of decorating every piece of fruit in a tray with chumkis and what not. The trays themselves were elaborately decorated by them. We were told, immediately after a wedding date is finalised, the women of the extended family get down to start the arthi plate decoration work. Yes, everything is home-made! The mama takes a kalasam of rice and followed by all the ladies with the decorated plates with interesting goodies in them go to the temple and come back with the maapillai for maapillai azhaipu function.


Just near the entrance, two of their family members were sitting and making a rangoli pattern with coloured small stones. It was coming out beautifully. After a while I saw that it was complete and looking very beautiful. I also noticed that red chillies were kept as though peacock plumes to add colour.I was wondering, when I was told it is for warding off 'kan drushti'.

My friend's daughter the(bride) and her cousin had made elaborate kolu like arrangement. It was like a thematic project work presentations that school children do these days. It showed where he was born, the city he grew up in, the school he studied( where they met each other!) the colleges he studied ,his interests, his workplace and the wedding venue! It was a very nice idea and very well planned and executed.

They had special mallipoo fixes for the bride and immediate family. It had thick strand of circular jasmines closely knit together with rose bud like golden threadwork inbetween. For the bride it was red roses in a circular strand with golden threadwork rose buds woven inbetween. If one was not properly introduced to the inner circle then you need to only look at their colourful headgear and you will know that they matter in the scheme of things!

The priest was not a central person, but an also ran. The central theme was artistry, handwork, beauty and flower work, each of which had a very personal touch.

I am not sure if it is a USP of this family but I really believed that they have got the whole machinery of organising for a wedding nicely mapped out and in an enjoyable way too.

Piyush Manush - Restoring water bodies and planting forests

Sometime back D had sent me a link to a news item which talked about a single man's journey to create a huge forest in a remote, barren area in the north east. It also had a video and it was nothing short of a miracle. Today I heard from my niece that they had gone on a field trip to salem-dharmapuri to be a part of a project a single man has accomplished in the field of afforestation and restoring lakes. She gave me graphic first person account of the trip and I was spell bound.

I just googled piyush and got a whole lot of information on the unbelievable work that he is doing in Salem- Dharmapuri area. I have always believed that one person can make a difference and this story just reinforced my belief. My niece said, all of them helped in cleaning up the lake which he has restored. He does this cleaning up everyday he told them. They went to the forest area and also helped in moving huge rocks to help make the place ready for planting further trees. He lives there amidst the forest that he has created. His wife also plays a big part in his work.She made wholesome meals for the 27 students who had gone. My niece added " we really eat a lot you know"!

The couple are really doing such pioneering efforts, but that she could single handedly cook for 27 robust young adults with huge appetites really took my breadth away. She did not do a mixed rice dish or pongal. She made dosas and kuzhi paniyaram for breakfast and made rotis and two sabjis for their lunch. Hurrah!

He had said to the newspaper reporter once, I do all this to satisfy my soul; I am a very selfish person!
I really wish there are many more people who have this brand of selfishness!

Technology -pulls and pushes

It is exactly ten days since I came to chennai leaving Chiku there in Guwahati. D had told me that the minute I get back home, I will be planning my next visit to see Chikoo. I listened but did not say anything.
For the last one week, it was a time for settling down to a life without Chik. I was slowly crawling to a new routine, seeing one old tamil movie a day to fill up the void. Yesterday D sent a snap of Chiko on all his fours, turning and looking into the camera. That's it, I felt like just taking wings and going there and hugging the soft bundle.Today it is much worse. D has propped him with cushions and he is sitting down and looking directly into the camera. In another he has that curious expression where he is sitting face to face with D's mascot teddy bear as though they are in deep conversation. Chance e illa!

Many of my friends have their children settled abroad and do the customary visits to see their grandchildren. They all tell me that because of technology, they are able to be in touch with their grandchildren on a regular basis. So, they dont feel the distance and the pain of separation from the small babies. I used to believe them. But now I am not so sure. It is easier to talk to D about chikoo and know how he is doing. Occasionally his gurgle or gibberish sounds in the background when we are chatting makes me feel connected. But this photo and the google hangouts make it very difficult to stay emotionally stable 3000 km from him and carry on as if everything is fine.It is quite unnatural to feel a virtual connect without the real connect.

Chiku was seeing me on the screen and hearing me talk to him on skype a few days back. I felt good. But, the next day, chikoo felt quite disoriented, seeing me and not seeing me around after that. He is too tiny to grasp these stuff. So D used to minimise the screen, so Chik cannot see me, but I can see him. Even this became painful as I could see him, but could not even talk to him and hold him close. So. that has also been put on hold.

Now the still photos are also causing intense pain.

Technology and virtual space is okay for adults I guess. But when there is a patti and a child involved, it is just no go. I veto email, skype and what else cause more pain than pleasure

There is no substitute for real, physical presence. Amen.

Chiku's toy collection

We made a very big decision that we will not flood Chikoo with toys and make him feel bored with all them at one go. Let the boredom with toys,  happen one toy  at a time.

So I took out a wooden toy which is a series of colourful rings which we can place one on top of another on a cenral pole and top it with a wooden piece shaped like a face with two green colour pigtails.This toy was introduced sometime back. He was fascinated by the colours and the various shapes the rings assume. The face of the girl had held his attention and interest for the maximum time.I would say lot of stories about the girl and made her turn her head in all directions. Then I used the rings to make sounds by clapping them. He has to wait for some more time to see me or D roll those rings on the floor and he can go and fetch them. So we extracted the maximum out of this doll for a few days and it has now gone back to the cardboard box.

There was a battery operated toy which had a horse and a rider and could make really loud sounds mimicking the neighing of a horse and the song of the horse rider ( a cowboy if you must).It would move all over the floor and of course turn and move in a right angle if it encounters an obstacle. Though the words were very loud, it was not clear what the song was. We concocted our own version as, " dora mutta kozhi mutta pottu daam". We made our own 'sangathis' from this skeleton and had lot of fun. Intense research by the parents had them zero in on this song as a Brazilian rap dance song on youtube. This toy is reserved for really crisis situations, when Chikoo will be stunned at the colour, noise and movement, all in one toy, all at the same time. Now it is sitting in the carboard box waiting for the batteries to be replaced.

There is a very colourful rubber ball which can also double up as an educational toy at a later stage. There are the numbers 1 to 10 , with number 7 missing! There are all these colours in various slots. It bounces well but not too much to startle a small baby. It served a lot of purpose one day, when I kept using the ball and twirling it in my hand, then bounced it for a while, and then threw it and caught it between my hands and kicked it to the far end of the room and picked it up and brought it back to him.The last one could  not last long, as it meant back and forth running around from my side. I then threw it in the air and caught it with lot of fanfare. That's it.It worked for a few sittings and spotting a waning of excitement from Chiku, it has gone back to the cardboard box.

There is this toy which is meant to help a baby when he is learning to crawl. Chiku has turned over and trying to move but is yet to succeed.So for now this colourful toy has to be used to amuse him in some other way. It is a cylindrical thick plastic toy where you have to blow to inflate it It has lots of tinkles and noise making stuff inside, so even if you just roll it around it creates soft sounds to draw and hold the attention of a baby.Not much supervision required, so I give it to him when I am nearby but busy.He tries to hold it, but cannot, so tries to tap it and squeeze it between his hands, and then try to roll it around. Since this takes various shapes and sizes, depending on your aerobic fitness that day, it keeps popping in and out of the cardboard box, dressed as a different toy each time.

chiku mom bonding

Last two weeks chiku looks at D in a different way. He has a special smile and it lingers. It appears he cannot have enough of looking at his mother. D was stunned and just stood still with mouth wide open. She called me and said, normally we look at a person and then look away.But Chiku is looking at me and smiling and continues to look at me and smile, his steady gaze not faltering. She was so overcome that she could not talk anymore.

After a while she said, it is normally believed that the mother's love for a child is the purest and does not expect any reward. But looking at Chikoo now, I feel the love that he is expressing for me is the most pristine. I am blessed she said.

It was a divine moment for me witnessing the sacred bonding.

Chasing the clouds - III

The night temperature dropped suddenly and rapidly. I was okay when I was outside. But once inside the room, I was shivering and wore two cardigans over  my thermal wear. I put on woollen socks and also a woolen shawls covering my head. Then I tucked into bed which was nearest to the room heater.I spread the woollen blanket on the bed and pulled the thick cotton quilt over. In this position, I felt comfortable after about 15 minutes.I was feeling nice and cosy and quickly went to sleep. ile

Next day after hot hot puris and potato sabji for breakfast, so lovingly served and downing it with several cups of tea, we checked out and went to a beautiful park nearby. It had a very large lake with boating facility. In every tourist spot where there is a lake and there is a boat, we want to go in there, never mind that we have done this in umpteen places. S offered to pedal and so we sat comfortably and enjoyed the beautiful view. A very cool and misty morning, with the sun streaming in through the tall tress and making patterns in the water surface. Ducks floating about in the edge of the lake, busy and minding their business. It was bliss.

We came out and took a walk around the garden.It was undulating terrain, and put a bit of strain on me. We sat down for a while near a tree and were treated to a big retinue of resting white ducks. They were pleasantly resting with a few of them cleaning their backs and not a care in the world. The scene shifted with a small kitten starting to stroll across. There were 13 ducks and one small kitten. Each duck was atleast twice the size of that kitten. But still when the kitten was at a distance, one duck got up and as if on cue, all the ducks got up  and were in full battle readiness. The kitten made a big arch and did not for a minute falter or change its path. After it was out of their range, he quickly made a trot for a short distance and again into a leisurely walk. It was beautiful play of 'who is bigger, me or you" played out in their animal kingdom.

We had a short glimpse of the golf course. There were leisurely gentlemen putting and security guards shooing away us petty tourists who were using public roads! The golf course was spread across both sides of the road, so. We had some litchi juice from a roadside kiosk and were on our way. We had spotted  a huge lake before entering Shillong, and we wanted to try our luck to go near the waterfront. It was only later that we looked up and saw that Urumi lake is a famous tourist destination. It is really really huge and is nicely nestled between mountains on all sides. What a view that was. It was not just another lake, I can tell you. They had speed boats and we immediately opted for one and had a wonderful ride with the chill breeze hitting our faces and the water splashing all around us. That was very good.

We were just in time to get back to Guwahati before 5pm.What is the deadline you may ask. The whole of north east observes hartal on both independence day and republic day from 5 pm the previous day to 5 pm on the day. So back home just before 5pm.

No traffic jams this time.Anywhere.And that was a wonderful gift!

Chasing the clouds- II

We reached Chirapunjee. We went inside a huge park.The holiday crowd was in full swing. We had almost come to the end of India and we could spot Bangaladesh plains from various spots in the park. It was misty, so we could only see in the general direction of Bangladesh. I asked one of the girls who had come for a picnic, if there is a road going upto Bangladesh. She said not much of a road, but you can make your way. People from Bangladesh do manage to come across the border into Meghalaya she said. She spoke very good English.Also she was quite stylishly attired. She was no exception.As I observed during our trip, people of Shillong are very comfortable in English and they are very particular about their dress and their aesthetics was very pleasing. We saw the men in the usual western attire, they could be from any part of India.But among women we saw quite a large percentage of them wear their traditional dress. It is a skirt(more like a malayalee mundu) with a long blouse and a loose cloth worn across the chest and tied at the shoulder. The lady in the Purbashree emporium clarified that she is from a different tribe and she wears her dress differently. She was in regular western outfit then and when I asked her, she said she wears traditional dress on special occasions.

Chirapunjee is famous for caves. They have a separate circuit for visitors, called 'cave tourism'. We went into one such cave. It was large and very very narrow in parts. The huge holiday crowd was jostling inside the dark caverns with small kids and elderly men and women packed tight. The caves were lit at regular intervals, but if there was better regulation of the crowd inside, we would have had a more leisurely and less scary experience. Some of us felt claustrophobic. I had visited Aruku valley in Visakhapatnam some years back and the caves there.This is my second experience. These caves aree much longer and more intricate to manoevre than those in Aruku valley.

We got back to Shillong just in time as dew was settling in quite fast. It was peak winter on 25th January. Our hotel room was large with room heaters and had two bathrooms. Can you believe it? One with western closet and the other with an Indian one. Otherwise both of them were fully fitted and plush with all necessary fittings. I was wondering if they would have a special tagline to advertise for this particular room, "It is a room with two bathrooms!"

I went out to do some typical shopping in Shillong. Our driver guide took me to a regular mall there thinking this is where I would like to shop. It had all brands and readymade garments which you can get anywhere. I asked a lady at a shop selling mobiles.She spoke very good English and said I can try the emporiums down the next road for typical Shillong momentoes. Almost all shops are manned by women, not as helpers but as people owning and manning the cash counters. I was told this is a common feature. Bought two cute modas in Purbashree. I also picked up a very bright coloured hand woven shoulder bag for my mother. The meghalaya tourism outlet was closed at 5.30 pm. When I narrated this to my daughter, my son in law said the regular eating joint that he goes to for dinner was closed early on new year eve.When he asked him why, the owner told him. there will be a big crowd today so I am closing early! One would have thought they are in the business to do business and earn money. But apparently not. So it was no surprise that Meghalaya emporium closed shop early, when it was peak tourist season and that day was followed by a long weekend of sunday and republic day.

Night halt at Shillong. It was freezing cold.

Chasing the clouds

Chikoo was coping well with us being away for a couple of hours during our short trips, so we felt we could make a weekend trip to Shillong. Shillong is just over a 100 km from Guwahati, but it is a totally different place. Meghalaya did treat us to clouds and we were literally chasing them all through the trip. The clouds used to hug the car so much that we would be sure there is going to be atleast a sharp shower. But that did not happen. We could see semblence of rain in the far hills and we could also see the rains travelling quickly to cover one mountain top after another. It was literally a dance of the clouds and vast expanse of it wherever you can see.

Well, I am jumping the gun. We started off fairly early to beat the traffic. Guwahati- Shillong road is a national highway and it is being expanded to a four lane. There are stretches of beautifully laid smooth wide roads, where the car just zips past and there are pockets of intense construction activity that is dusty, noisy and bumpy. People are working in these places 24/7 just so that we can travel quickly in luxurious cars. Any development is heart rending if we scratch the surface of the fleeting comfort that it brings. Coal laden trucks were parked miles on end on the shillong-Guwahati side. We could see that the drivers and cleaners had made a makeshift kitchen and makeshift sleeping quarters. They should be waiting there for the 'weigh bridge' to clear them for not a few hours but a few days. It was very perplexing. I got the answer when I was able to look at Shillong times in the airport on the way back to chennai. The truckers were resorting to strike, as the 'weigh bridge' was taking days to clear them in the Meghalaya border. The argument on the govt side was that the trucks were terribly overloaded and did not have the necessary papers. We saw such serpentine queue on the way back from shillong. But this time they were smaller serpants!

The driver, who doubled up as our guide asked us about our night halt. We said we had booked a hotel in Shillong. He said this hotel is on the other end of the town and Shillong has heavy traffic jams, so we will skirt and go to Chirapunjee directly and come back to Shillong in time for night halt.
We went to Elephant falls on the outsirts of Shillong. It was beautifully  laid out picnic spot. The water falls at this time of the year was not very heavy,but was enough to make it not dangerous and pleasurable. We had to climb down quite a few steps to reach two waterfalls. It had the ideal location to wait and take photo shots. As it is the case with Meghalaya, tourist places were very neatly maintained.
We had a beautiful view of the entire Shillong city from a view point which is inside the Air Force Base. What a view it was. I never thought a remote hill city of Shillong could be so so large.Our driver was a diehard Assamese and remarked, but madam, guwahati is bigger than Shillong!

We were on our way to Chirapunjee. .Pristine country drive  and could believe how the Britishers who developed Shillong wanted to recreate Scotland there.Huge undulating mountains spreading to the left, right and ahead of us.. We could see coal mounds all along the route. But could not see any mining activity. It had us puzzled. Again the answer was in the Shillong times newsreport that I read. The govt has banned 'rat hole mining' of coal, and penalising them who were indulging in such activity.It talked of a casualty in one such mine. Perhaps what we saw were from such rat hole mining. It was the first time I heard this expression.Again, it was the first time we knew Meghalaya as a coal rich state. We thought it was Bihar and chattisgarh and Jharkhand and  a bit of Odisha.

Well, travel is educative.

We arrived at Chirapunjee by evening.

Kamakya temple

The presiding deity of Guwahati is Goddess Kamakya. It is a Shakti Peetam. A very powerful deity. All this and more we have heard from D's friend from Guwahati. She had prayed for D and it was such a devout prayer that not only it helped finalise D's marriage soon thereafter, it also made D come over and live in Guwahati!

I had planned to offer prayers at Kamakya temple during my earlier visits. But it did not materialise. This time I had come to Guwahati with Chikoo.So we planned and went to the temple on a winter morning at 8 am. The temple is on top of a hill. It is a entire village style eco system and a thriving pilgrimage centre. The view from the hill was quite enchanting.

We had asked for special darshan and waited in queue for over an hour.We were told the sannadhi will open after morning puja by about 8.30.If we miss that then we may have to wait for a very long time. There were some 50 devotees in front of us in the queue. While we were waiting we saw lots of saffron robed sannyasis in the complex, going about their morning routine.

 We had to climb down a few steps and the sanctum sanctorum is like a cave. Actually Kali temple in Kolkatta also has a similar structure.Vaishnoo devi temple also the approach is through a cave sort of aperture and we go down to have darshan of mata.

Goddess Kamakya was fully adorned with flowers.We were able to go very near and there was a small stream like water flowing.The priest asked us to touch the water and sprinkle it on our heads. He also kept his hand on our heads and recited some mantras.

I had only one prayer. Chikoo has come home to her place. Goddess Kamakya has to take care of him and his parents as lovingly and caringly as her own children.

I felt good and happy.

short forays

There is a game reserve very near Guwahati city called Papithora. Nobody other than guwahatians would have heard of this place. All of us pitch for Kaziranga whenever Assam tourism is mentioned.Actually Papithora has  a good population of one horned rhinos. We were short on free time away from home, so this was a very good option. Kaziranga was out of question, so the poor country cousin would have to do for now.

It is just a  couple of hours trip from the city.We stay another 25 kilometres away from the city to the north, so it made the trip slightly longer. There are two options as usual. Elephant ride at 5 am and 6 am and jeep rides from 7.30 am onwards. I was a little excited about elephant ride but the unearthly hour meant we needed to leave home by 4.30.It was just not possible on that biting cold winter night. Sorry morning, if you want to be technically correct. So reluctantly we settled for the jeep tour of the reserve.

It was an enjoyable one hour drive inside the reserve.One horned rhinos were quite a few and were happily grazing or staring at the distant horizon. We had believed one horned rhinos are rare in other parts of the country, and Assam is the only place which is home to this unique species.That it was so readily viewed in a small neighbourhood reserve made me quite surprised.There was a female rhino who was a nursing mother too.The tiny rhino was wagging its tail vigorously and trotting behind its mother at a brisk pace and gave us quite a good view. There was a huge rhino standing still and rock solid, willing to take on the world, as it were. Our guide told us that he is a fully grown 35 year old rhino.We saw few more rhinos quite easy to spot in the grassland. Rhinos are herbivorous by the way,one would never believe so, seeing  their size and strength. I had my fill and then we turned into the jungle and spotted some rare birds. We wound up by watching migratory birds from Siberia and Rajasthan nesting and creating quite a racket in the huge ponds in the reserve.

That's it. A no nonsense tour. We stopped by for  a bit of breakfast and tea in a nearby shop.They served wholesome roti and dhal at 9 am and we headed home.

That we got nicely stuck in a traffic jam is the usual story ending. So nothing new there.

But we had seen one horned rhinos at close quarters and a good number of them too as though in our backyard.  That experience will remain with us.

campus walk

First three days in Guwahati went very very smooth. Actually too smooth in fact. On the third day he slept through the night and D had a solid 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. She got up not knowing if she has woken up from a dream and she woke up to her body rhythm, rather than the needs of the baby( or me, asking her to wake up to attend to the baby).So we thought he has nicely settled down in his home in Guwahati. Despatches were sent to all immediate family who were sitting with fingers crossed !

And it started to pour from the fourth day. Rather chikoo was coming back on his own in his home turf! Unpredictable sleep patterns and unpredictable feeding patterns started. He was as usual in his best behaviour when we had guests.He would flash such a winsome smile at them that they would not believe a word when we tell them that he is a very demanding kid.  The 101 ways of putting an infant to sleep did not work. So D and S bundled him up to make him resemble a junior astronaut and took him out for a walk. Rather they walked and he was nicely perched up. Only his beady beady eyes were exposed to the world and he had a jolly ride. He was turning his head first left and then right as if there is a tennis match with a longish rally going on. He was exhausted from taking in so many new sights and bird sounds in the campus, that soon he fell asleep in his father's arms. So they came back victorious with a big grin pasted on their faces. They now have a key to his mysterious sleep room!

He slept for a while and woke up and the show continued. The next day the campus outing was less dramatic.He was peaceful and he did sleep off but only towards the end of the walk. The day after he did not sleep during the walk, but did once they were home and put him in bed. The day after he was peaceful when he got back but sleep, no way. You get the pattern.

My friend had gifted us with a baby backpack.Or front pack. We tried it out today. D had opened it and declared that it can be used once he weighs 7 kg. So it was put away for a later day. Yesterday I was curious and picked it up again. It said 7 lbs and not 7 kg.So it was taken out. Chikoo was all strapped to D and we went for a walk around the lake. His view was blocked, he could only see mama's face and that was okay, but not enough. So he kept up turning this way and that and generally saw to it that sleep did not make any entry.

But we did stop by to listen to the rustle of the leaves and waited for a yellowish brown leave to slowly disengage itself and fall on the ground.We saw the ducks in the lake, having a soporific mid morning siesta.And one duck flapped his wings and then one by one all the ducks took to the skies. Against the backdrop of the hills in the distance and the spotless sky blue sky they made a grand spectacle. We stopped by at the children's play area and spotted a host of bees humming away at the pink and blue flowers in the bushes.

Chikoo did not see this, but he would in due course and more and tell me in his own words.

Waiting for that day, today.

teething? so early?

Chikoo is 'walking 4 months'. For those of you unfamiliar with this literal translation from Tamil (naalu maasam nadandundu irukku) it is to say he is 4 months plus some days old. Okay, the bottom line is he is yet to complete 5 months and here he is chewing on everything his hands are able to grab; including his own fingers of course. The act went largely unnoticed, as he was anyway fond of putting both his hands and all the fingers into his mouth.We even had a viewer's choice for that snapshot and is part of family album, meant to embarass him years later.

But he puts only one hand into his mouth these days and when you try to take it out, holds on with such force and his face goes into such a determined expression, that we stopped and took notice.  Of cours he wants to put your fingers also into his tiny mouth and grabs your hands to prevent you from taking them out. He cries out for no reason and it is a different cry from the various cries that we have carefully catalogued.

D tried to feel his gums to see if she can spot any teething activity but there was none she said. She is no doctor.But chikoo is such a sensitive kid, that the first ball would have been bowled in the divine scheme of things in his body to initiate teething. It will be working slowly and peacfully in the sub conscious system but chikoo being chikoo has felt the stirrings and getting all prematurely geared up. Yes, you might think I am heavily exaggerating. But when he was hardly one month old, D could spot why he was grunting for no reason and could actually spot the contractions at the beginning of the colon when he is feeding. After an hour or more he would pass his stools! So it was that D could predict quite exactly what time we need to be ready for his Big job! She used to stun me the first few times, before she let me into the secret.So that is chikoo for you.

Amma, the kollu patti ,was surprised when I told her that he might be teething soon. Innum anju maasam kooda agalaye, enna avasaram!  I gave her this big story and said the waiting time could be long, so dont worry.

So he is all padded up and ready for the first tooth which is to arrive a couple of months later.Virgo baby, what do you think!

assam chronicle

Chik has travelled the entire length of the country and arrived at guwahati two weeks back. We had alot of anxiety about how he would handle the nearly four hour flight with two take offs and two landings. D had a couple of friends who did the Singapore -India flights with a five month old baby.They exchanged do's and dont's. For me it gave me confidence that it can be done. D's friend had done the trip alone with the infant, so it gave me added confidence.

We were on the way to the airport and we got a message that flight was delayed by 2 hours at chennai. Was it due to fog at Delhi or Z category VIPs from Delhi coming for a wedding in the city, is still an unsolved mystery. We were a little anxious but after locating the child care room on the ground floor , D was fairly comfortable and so was chik. I was the chaperone and kept hovering about. We carried the baby stroller with us. We need not check it in, but can carry it right upto the aircraft.It is meant to help mothers who are travelling alone with an infant. I was with the stroller and D had gone past the security with Chik. The stroller could not go through the security box.I had to fold it, but I did not know how.The CRPF personnel at the gate just kept saying that this is not going in. D saw me from the other side, spotted a gap and quickly rushed in and told me to press some knob. By which time the CRPF lady was shooing her off saying, once you are through security you cannot come back.The seasoned traveller that D is, she was unfazed and kept guiding me to fold the stroller properly and saw me pushing it through and then vanished from the scene.

In the child care room, Chik was exposed to a colourful  screen for the first time. Arrivals and departure information kept flashing in different colours and Chik was fascinated. Suddenly so much of stimulation of all kinds, he was transfixed. A usually restless kid, was quiet and excited and helped us to spend the extra time there in the airport without much difficulty. Once inside the aircraft, he was again stunned at all the activity at such close quarters. Take off and landing at Kolkatta airport was not much of an issue. He did sleep through during that stretch. Thatha had to just take him for a walk a couple of times and that's it. He became restless during the stop over at Kolkatta and the stretch to Guwahati was a bit of a problem. He had had too much stimulation and he wanted his own bed and his cosy home. But D managed to keep him a bit rested and calm.

D had arranged for express check in and luggage clearance, so that part went through smoothly. Yes you guessed it, we had got nicely struck in the  traffic jam in the bridge across brahmaputra.Well actually it was much ahead of the bridge that we got stuck. Our driver said the traffic jam is quite bad right from 3 pm. It was a sunday night and a long weekend due to sankaranthi, a k a bihu in Assam  was perhaps the excuse for the jam.

Reached home a full 9 hours after leaving home at Chennai. Chik was cranky once we reached home but managed to get pacified after comforting. The marked change in weather in chennai and guwahati also must have troubled the tiny fellow. But he managed it gamefully.

Chik is home.