Repaired my grandmas harmonium a week back. This was given to my grandma by her dad when she was 8. Now she is almost 80. I really felt thrilled when I saw her so happy when she played it again.
Inicidentally a couple of days back, I was chatting with Mrs. Uma Devarajan, who is a founder member of Vishranthi - a home for destituted women. She was telling me the story of how this was found with just one patti who was made to stay in a rented house. Now there are 160 pattis there. when I told her my wish to visit them sometime, she was telling me about how glad the pattis are when someone come to the home to visit them and the amount of enthu they have in doing any kind of activity. Planning to visit them with Kimaya.
I always have a great respect for old people as I've lived with my grandmas and grandpa. They are really fun to live with. My grandma for example can relate more with this generation than my parents do. You learn a lot from them.

So since the harmonium is back, I have started learning carnatic music again... ( I dont know how long my interest will last this time!!).
Started understanding the funda behind raga and thala. Trying to practice atleast once a day.

Day before yesterday, our house owners younger daughter came and told us that her sister is unwell. She said that the doc has said that her sister has some kind of phobia and she may come to our place and demand that she will take the rent from now on... In five mts time, the whole family came upstairs and as the younger one had warned, her sister told my mom that she will take the cheque and demanded for one for the current month. My mom spoke to her nicely. After a while, she just roamed around the house and went of. Since I was feeding Kimaya, I could not speak to her.

Later the house owner mami came to our place to check whether we are shocked. Since we knew that her elder daughter had some kind of psychiatric issue, all in our family took it as just another incident of the day.

Gist of mami's talk was this - Her husband had been very strict and dominating in the house with his wife and kids. There had been incidents where he had beaten up his six month old child because she took one of the papers he had kept. They are all completely under his control and starting from who should they talk to, where should they go and when etc., etc., - everything is done as directed by him. Because of which the elder one is really scared about everything and anything and the younger one is slightly better because of the friends she has got.

I really cannot understand what makes such people act the way they do. Was he treated the same way in his childhood? What is it result of? Before his daughter is treated, I think he should get treated.

Kimaya's first travel by train on Aug-27. Went to my home town Mettur (Near Salem) with her. First one hour was terrifying as she did not stop crying. Once she settled down, journey was okay. Stayed there till Sep 13th. That's why no posts. Mettur is still just more than a village. When I was studying computers and email were unheard of and while the world is talking about WiFi, net cafes are still on dial up. I feel life here is healthy as you get fresh air, fresh food, do lots of physical activity, and less stressed. I realised that how much better you can be with less of TV and shopping. (Cable gets switched off every time it looks like it is going to rain and shopping here means only for necessity. ) Can u believe that a couple can live lavishly if they have 2K per month!!!!
I think Kimaya also enjoyed her stay here as she could see more open space. amount of time she spent in the cot in the verandah would have been more than the time she spent inside the house.
My brother and I feel that whenever we come to this house, our mind becomes calm.
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Kimaya has been trying to turn and lie down on her stomach. Amount of effort she puts in to acheive it is amazing... Her complete focus is only on trying that. This single mindedness and hard work seems to wane once a child grows up to become an adult!

She turned on 11th September. Felt really proud that she could turn :-)

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My sleep cycle has been affected so much because of Kimaya's timings. As a result, I've been lazing around all thru the day for the past few days and hence no posts...

I watch Zee Tv's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa very regularly. Past few weeks it is a challenge hunt for little champs - that is kids. One child in the final six is Diwakar and he is blind. He is very talented and one of the comments he constantly gets from Alka Yagnik is that his expressions are not good. I really wonder if someone cannot see the world as we all do, can the person express the emotions right?

Todays episode was very sentimental as the kids sang the songs that are thier parents favorites and the parents commented on it before the judges did. It was very nice to see that on the 'frightful friday' no one got eliminated.

Am also glad that for this selection, Zee did not use viewers poll to select the kids. I dont like the talent hunts that selects the winner based on audience poll very much.

It is sad that the Eng-Pak test series ended with such controversy. I support Inzy and his team with my whole heart if they have not tampered with the ball as Darrel accused. Such accusation without any proof, at this level is unacceptable. I think Pak board reps were trying to be diplomatic and made their team to come back to the field. If the team has really not tampered with the ball, then the umpires should apologise for what they have implied!

Kimaya has started to look at people and bright coloured objects(that's what we think). It is really nice to be recognised by your child and see them smile at you. It is also very fascinating to watch her change expressions when she sleeps.
Slowly am enjoying motherhood and am happy about that.

Women of the past generation - Cant imagine how they can live life like they do (Hey , am not a feminist). They got married when they were very young. Never questioned anything. Kept their thoughts to themselves for they have been told that they should not raise their voice! Men dominated and took them for granted and never appreciated them for anything. May be I'm generalising too much, but I think it is true in most of the tamilian families.
Just found out that my mom is afraid of telling what she thinks to me or my brother because we argue about most of the things that she says (as we try to be logical and practical) . And she has got the stupid idea that she is not 'good' enough to please anyone in the family - talk about being insecure in life!!
This is what triggered the lines in the first para...