This is why I love my in-laws' home

The 8 day long vacation in Aju’s home at Kerala has ended and it has left us incomplete and nostalgic. Honestly, I didn’t expect the vacation to be pleasant considering Atul’s sensitive health. Both my sister-in-laws' families were at home and all I expected was chaos. Surprisingly, I never had this much fun in the recent past with all of 'em at home prattling away endlessly. Here are a few pics:


At the airport... I should mention that the new international airport at Bangalore is truly incredible. We reached Kerala in an hour and as we stepped out of the airport, we took a lungful of fresh air. It felt revitalizing as opposed to the polluted air in Bangalore.


Two days later was Vishu festival which is the Malayalam New Year's Day. The sadya (traditional lunch) that we managed to put up on that day left me and my MIL sweating.


Adi and cousins busy with goats in the neighboring home. I never got to see Adi around most of the day as he was busy exploring the neighborhood and the vast green land surrounding Aju’s home.


The Buddhist monks on an expedition carrying fishing rods (Adi had a close hair cut to save himself from the sultry weather)


Check out the approach road in front of Aju’s home. Myself and Shilpa (Aju’s niece)


Aju all set to fish in a canal running close to his home.


Cousin's vegetable farm


Bitter Gourd plants


Fishing in style...


..and the poor fish got caught so were 8 others which were fried and eaten that night


Carefully transferring the fish into the jug...


Lush green greenery


A Happy Adi

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Panic struck …

…Month . I am glad that I got through this month. The viral fever I suffered from last month caught up with Ajith and just as he got over it, the worst of my fear came true. Atul fell ill with pneumonia which came in as a side effect of one of the seizure medication he is on. Just a day of fever led him to the hospital with severe breathing problems. The little one’s immunity is almost zilch because of his immobile nature which leads to no exercise and bad health. He was in the ICU for 4 days and they stopped the seizure medication abruptly. The doc kept us on our toes by updating his situation. I cried all along as they put him on a ventilator. My petite little one had tubes connected all over his body and he was a heartbreaking sight. Fortunately he was getting better as opposed to what the doc predicted. She had petrified us by predicting that kids like Atul may get adapted to the ventilator and emotionally blackmailed us by saying that we should give it in writing if we didn’t want the ventilator. We had just one thing to say “Don’t ask us for our permission to do things which you feel is absolutely necessary. You are the doc and you know what is best for our baby”. I am not sure if Atul ever needed the ventilator as I got this gut feeling like the doc was marketing for it. Why should she ask for our permission if she felt he was in danger?
A journey through hell!! I wish I didn’t have to go through this situation again but I know I have to be strong enough to deal with circumstances in this manner concerning Atul . This may just be a beginning and am glad he is back to his normal self after a struggle for 7 whole days

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I am Unwell…

…So people, pray for me to get better by tomorrow as my hubby may get sick again if I fall ill for more than two days!!!! Time now is 10 A.M and the situation so far in brief is…

7.30: I drag myself to where aj is sleeping and tell him to fix baby’s milk. No answer! I manage to hop out of the bed and make my way to the kitchen to fix the milk.

7.40 : Baby is sound asleep and he is not willing to devour the milk . I sleep by his side and keep nudging him to suck the milk. The sluggish guy takes his own sweet time. JUST like his dad!

8: Adi is up and lazing around in the bed. I call out to aj to brush his teeth. Now the man hears and gets himself to sitting position.

8.15 :The man slowly inches to the bathroom to brush his own teeth while Adi is still fooling around and the man doesn’t care. The sick me is losing patience and I want to scream my wit out to get the man moving.

8.40: Aj is done with brushing and reluctantly enters the kitchen to make his brown liquid which will fuel his grey matter.

9 :The liquid is ready but he doesn’t get to drink it at leisure as always and now heads for some serious business. The little guy is dragged into the bathroom and forcefully brushed and cleaned.

9.15: Adi gets to drink his first sip of water. Much behind his regular schedule and mind you guys , my patience is running out as Aj doesn’t prioritize !

9.30 :The BREAKFAST: Aj checks with Adi if bread would do and he readily agrees. I would have preferred idli at this time but it’s me who is sick and so I don’t get that luxury unlike the situation otherwise. I would like to add that the sickness had been doing its rounds in our home for a while now and I was the last to catch it. It’s never a problem as far as the menu for sickness goes if the lady of the house is in perfect health.
Hmmm! Looks like I have to be content with cornfalkes. Thank God! I had it stocked and thank god , today is Sunday! What a perfect day to fall ill!!

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Obsessed Reader…

… is what Adi has been lately and I am not sure if I should be worried or happy. I am pleased that he is gaining some knowledge and worried that his eyes don’t seem to get rest. Recently during the republic day celebrations at our apartment, couple of us had put up food stalls, book stalls and game stalls. I and hub had raised a food stall and we were busy selling our stuff while Adi kept nudging us repeatedly to give him money to get the coupons so he could venture around buying things. Out of frustration, Aj gave him a hundred rupee note shooed him away telling him to buy anything he pleases. Adi disappeared amongst the crowd while we got to work. I glanced around time and again but could not spot him in the dim light. After an hour or so, Adi approached our counter with 20 books in his hand. While we looked at the excited boy disbelievingly, he was content with buying books rather than getting himself something to eat. However he had to do with the leftovers in our stall, but the books have kept him busy ever since.

P.S : How I wish one of the book he read belonged to his school bag.

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The Funny leave letter template

Ajith and Dad partied on Saturday for apparently no reason, drank heavily, puked all night and the following day, consequently giving himself and me a headache. Today being Monday, he is off the hangover and still not ready for work. While contemplating on a reason to take off , as *hangover* doesn’t sound decent in a time of recession and lay-off, he tells me about the standard leave letter template that he and his friends used during their school days and THE CLASSIC LEAVE LETTER that one of his friend wrote due to poor English writing skills. It goes like this

THE TEMPLATE
Respected Sir,
As I am suffering from ---------, I am unable to attend school for ----- days. Please grant me leave for the same.

Yours faithfully
Name

THE CLASSIC LEAVE LETTER
Respected Sir,
As I am suffering from MY SISTER”S MARRIAGE, I am unable to attend school for 3 days. Please grant me leave for the same.

Yours faithfully
Name

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Trip to Gurukul in Adi’s words

On 5th Feb I went to gurukul. I went by bus and it was a long journey to gurukul. In the bus I was sharing food like biscuits , popcorn, chips and many more. As soon as we got down from the bus,we were shocked to see 12 huts , two of which were huge. We even saw 1000‘s of plants and trees. Then we went for breakfast .They served dosa with carrot slices on top. Next, some actors came to teach us how to act. They introduced themselves and we introduced ourselves. Then our main actor teacher separated the groups. I was in group A. We played lot of games and they were very good and interesting for us. After that we had lunch. For lunch we ate papad ,rice chapathi , chana, and curd. After that we painted. Our group was told a story. According to that we had to make a portrait. of the story. Our story was the clever jackal or the foolish lion. The teacher said that mine was the best painting but I did not do it fast, I was only second. Then we played games again and started learning how to act. Just then the other group came to see our act. The lead teacher said that, both the teams won. We were very happy. Then they showed their act . Their act was about the two swans and turtle. It was very nice. Next we played a little more games. Then we had our snacks. I had two cups of coffee. Then we took some plants like kacha mango, Actually I only took kacha mango. Then we went back to our school by bus. But when we were returning, it was not good because I hit my forehead and teeth on the bus handle. Then we settled in our school waiting for our parents. As my father came, we had greater fun in the car because I had my friends with me and we got our own bingo chips. I went back home and had a nice hot bath. Then I slept. I had my dinner and that was the time when my mother typed this for me.
Aditya.

P.S : New Horizon Gurukul,is a nature campus meant to provide a whole new learning experience for children. Classrooms without blackboards. Teachers without textbooks. Students without uniforms. And no ding-dong to remind them of break time.

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