abu & rabad

I like to think of myself as a liberal person. But, some things just don’t feel right. Like, having your 6-8 year old girls choreograph a dance to ‘sheila ki jawani’ and the adults will later watch the performance. Even if it is a private party for a few close families. Even if everyone’s daughter […Read More…]

Rabad dislikes reading. More accurately, I think she would love to be able to read a lot, but is currently not able to, and hence finds reading frustrating. She loves me reading to her, but does not want to read herself. Mainly because she hasn’t yet mastered the basics of sight reading, and hence reading […Read More…]

Abu and Rabad’s cousin Pr___ (who is 18) was with us this weekend. She is starting college this week, and she will be staying in a hostel. Abu/Rabad’s friend Sw___ (who is 9 years old) was also with us on Sunday morning, and when we were all together, I asked the kids this question: “Pr___ […Read More…]

One morning, I was reading a Hardy Boys’ adventure to Abu. There’s a part where the Hardy boys visit the mansion of a rich man. When they’re about to leave, the rich man asks them to stay for some more time – he wants company; he gets very lonely in the mansion alone. “What’s ‘lonely’, […Read More…]

it is a morning ritual between father and kids. he reads them the newspaper, explains what’s on and off in the world, and answers their questions. today was bt brinjal’s turn. i tuned in towards the fag end of the conversation between navin and rabad. (i think it was because navin wanted to show rabad’s […Read More…]

navin, abu, rabad and i went out for dinner a couple of days ago. i’m the only vegetarian in the foursome. abu confirms – mamma, are you vegetarian? me (confused, he already knows that!) – yeah abu – you know what? if everyone on this table was a vegetarian, this would be a vegetable! HA […Read More…]

“Pappa, don’t give me milk today,” Abu announced this morning while getting ready for school. “Why?” “Because then I’ll vomit.” Kids learn random things like these from their friends, and we have to fight very hard to reverse the thought process once they get it stuck in their head. Telling them that am a more […Read More…]

“Do you have any homework today, Abu?” I asked. “Yes, I have to draw some sea animal. But I can’t draw.” “Of course you can draw. Let me give you an idea.” So I showed him a picture of the Manta Ray from a book we had, and I gave him tips on how could […Read More…]

I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education – Mark Twain These days, I am telling the kids stories of Shivaji, and I happened to be talking about the fact that Dadoji Konddev was Shivaji’s teacher, and how he taught Shivaji horse-riding, archery with a bow and arrow, fighting with a sword etc. And […Read More…]