Lego

 Sid is a big time Lego boy.

When he is at it, he is in his zone. He can sit, sing to himself and do this for hours together. The focus he has while building Lego is amazing. He is currently building a London bus. He starts playing with it even when it is half built. The bus has a name already - Mack.

Makes me wonder where all the focus goes when he has to study!!

Tamil

I recently made a shocking discovery.

I am having difficulty talking Tamil!  Okay, I can talk absolutely fluently, but find myself struggling to get the appropriate word right in the middle of a conversation. This happened in the last few weeks as I started work and got to talk to a few in Tamil.  I stutter, stumble and sound pathetic. I think the fact that I couldn't find the right word, kills the rest of the sentence too.

Imagine me, someone who grew up learning Thirukkural and Thiruppavai, rattling the brain to find the basic words. What do you say for "difference" ? Is it Vithyasam ? That sounds like Malayalam?What do you say for "again"? Should it be marubadi or thiruppi ? If my friends were to read this, they will hack me to death.

I don't know whom to blame - a decade with one who talks mostly Hindi (He says "en re"and thinks that is Tamil)  or my diminished social circle or plain ageing. No one in the family talks Tamil now. The last Tamil movie I watched was Vishwaroopam and the latest song I followed was "kangal irandal un kangal irandal"!

I think I am completely mallu-ized now. Have watched more Malayalam movies and songs, talk much better Malayalam and love rice jaggery based sweets.

I have to get my Tamil back. High time I start watching Tamil soaps.

Learning sarcasm

From the drafts..

This happened a couple of years ago. Sid had started primary school and was just getting used to the new class.

One day he came back from school and declared he doesn't understand the teachers anymore. After a lot of nudging, out came the story.

That day, when his science teacher walked in to the class, the children were loud and not seated. She was annoyed and told them - "Only those who are interested in studying need stay in the class, the rest of you can leave".

I am sure a lot of us can relate to hearing this.

My little boy, seated in the front row,  closes the book and (loudly) says, "Oh wow! I anyway don't like this class". He got ready to step out - as suggested by the teacher.

You can very well imagine the after effects of this response.  Poor Sid, he was left confused as to why the teacher was angry when he was only following her advice!

I couldn't stop laughing when I heard this incident!

Later on, I explained to him that it was a "sarcastic" way of talking. 

How was your year ? 2018

Blogathon is the monsoon that brings posts to unattended blogs like mine for atleast a month. Thank you Ani for reviving my space this year too.

I realise that a lot of memories are here in this blog than in my brain. So here I go, about the year that went by!

Sid moved to grade 3 - in his words, the last year he will have to use a pencil.

Better half started work that is radically different from what he has ever done - and what probably the world never expects him to. Well, am with him.

Out of the blue, a friend calls up with a work from home offer.  Now officially, I am back to work!

Long awaited road trip for a week. Amazing journey with friends. Lots of travels for weddings and then the trip to centuries old Hampi. Trust me, its a must see in India.

Remember I mentioned minimalism - Been on it for more than a year now. Lesser stuff, lesser clothes and much less confusions. I am sold.

Every year is a learning about life. Looking forward to the next lesson!