Tryst with God - continues...

Tryst with God and all God-related questions continue.

Gudiya has also joined the God-questioning brigade now. She asks questions like - God ka ghar kahan hai?

They are slowing coming to terms with the fact that while Nani is with God yet she is among us - can hear us, sends her love to us, can see us, if we want we can talk to her. So, with the dawn of all this realization, Nani is now back to our living room. Yesterday, Kathir and Gudiya helped me clear out the God shelf and settle Nani in a place where we can see her and she can see us more easily.

Couple of times, the kids ran up to her photograph and shared their secrets. In the morning today, Kathir wished her a warm good morning, Gudiya followed suit. Both glowed seeing Nani's smiling face.

Kids continue to dream about her. Kathir says he dreams of Nani everyday. Few days back Nani took him to the playarea, played with him and then asked Dadi to fill in while she went to attend some work. Gudiya says Nani sings to her and she in turn sang for Nani.

Yesterday, Kathir had a chat with Nani and said gleefully that Nani will be back very soon! Thats what Nani has promised him. Gudiya adds happily that Nani ab bilkul theek ho gayi hai aur God ke ghar se wapas ajaayegi.

Kathir was eating prasad from the temple yesterday and asks - Will Panditji also have an ending one day? I asked what? Will Panditji also go away one day, he repeats delicately. I said yes, everyone would. Then a new Panditji will take over? Yes, possibly I said. Somewhere Kathir is trying to grasp the delicate truth about nature - things are born, they live and then they go away. I am not sure if this saddens him or leaves an impression on his mind - but he seems to try to fit this concept with everything around him.

My conversations with mom continues. She wants to be in a place where she can see us all - all the time. So there she is! I am yet to build my picture wall with the collection of pics from down the memory lane.

Kathir and Gudiya are very excited about going to Bangalore - get our Dadu back and meet Anwesha!

Happy days with Dadu and Nani!

Who made God?

An interesting discussion over pizza among 6 year olds + Keya (3 yrs) about Who made God.

(From left to right - Gudiya, Priyansh, Arushi, Kathir, and Mihir)

Enjoy their innocence, ingenuity, and imagination!

Keya′s First Annual Day

This was Keya′s first annual day ever! We had conveniently dropped out of the last one... so pledged not to miss this one. Despite being 40 kms away from home, we set off for the venue. Keya was dolled up in her flowing yellow gown. After the last minute accessory buying (a yellow hairband to match the dress), we set off...

Thankfully, we reached just minutes before the event started. After handing over Keya to her class teacher and energized with chai/samosa, we took our seat. The curtains parted and there she was. One among the 12 odd startled kids dotting the stage looking like tiny butterflies frozen. They were initially too startled to do anything. Slowly they warmed up to familiar nursery rhyme music, familiar teachers swaying to the songs... and finally they moved... an expression here, a wave there... before a howl or a whimper set the neighboring kid scooting off to the other end of the stage...Keya was looking for me and Rips but she did move a bit to the music.

Finally the curtains closed to loud cheers and claps with a demand for Once More...
So again the curtains opened and all froze on the stage.... This time Keya did not budge... we could clearly see her asking for Mamma... and resigned to her favorite activity when she is lost in thought...nose digging!!

Does God have a phone?

Gudiya - Mamma, mujhe nani se baat karna hai
Mamma - Beta, nani God pe paas hain. How can you talk to her?
Gudiya - Kyon, God ke paas phone nahin hai kya?

************
Kathir - Mamma, when does God die?
Mamma - Well, God does not die...
Kathir - But we celebrate his birthdays. So he was born...then he must die...
Mamma (wiping sweat) - Please ask Dadu about this.

************

Kathir - Where does God live?
Mamma - God is everywhere....
Kathir - But if Nani is with God, then God must have a home right?
This question was again redirected to Dadu.
Dadu - God lives inside each of us. Every living person has God in them.
Kathir - Oh ok, then what about the bad uncles? Is God in them too?

*************
Kathir - Mamma, will you also die?
Mamma - Yes, but only after I become old.
Kathir - Your hair is already white. Are you old now?
Mamma - No, only after you grow up I will be old.
Kathir - Ok Mamma, wait till Gudiya also grows up...

And, their search for answers about God, life and death continues...

Block Printing

We had a fun evening yesterday. Kids were happy block printing on fabric. This was a trial session before we make our own table napkins. They are super excited about making their own napkins. Thanks to Dharu, who lent her lovely wooden block printing set to her God children!

The lovely wooden blocks

It all started a few days back. I have been thinking of some creative activities for kids. Somethings that the kids can make for themselves and use them. As a kid, I used to make almost everything by myself - hand embroidered handkerchiefs for dad, mom, and grand parents. I used to love making clay models in our backyard, sun dry them and then put them back in the dollhouse. Most of my dolls were rag dolls, I designed and stitched their clothes, woolens etc. Those memories are some of the best from my childhood and I want my kids too to have these memories when they grow up.

Kathir enjoys building things, creating things and working with paint. He has a steady hand, and aims at perfection every time. He is upset if at times the paint does not come off the block evenly or the pattern does not appear perfect. I will have to get him off his fetish for perfection!

Kathir at work!

Parth - his best pal at work too!

Gudiya′s work - of course with help!

Gudiya is excited about the excitement all around her. She runs around pulling out paint, trying to clean up, or trying to help Kathir - which he furiously refuses. The activity Gudiya loves doing the most is washing - wash hands, wash the palette, wash brushes, wash the tumbler that has water, and finally wash the fabric thats been recently painted. No wonder her nose resembles a leaky faucet all year round! Gudiya found the sponge pieces very fascinating. She kept brushing Kathir′s cheek with it much to his disdain.

I notice a sea change in the kids since we started our activity sessions every evening. They are happy, enthusiastic, less cranky and clingy, and more even tempered.

We have grand plans of building on our block printing abilities. First, the napkin set, next the table mats, then the table cloth, some T-shirts, and then the kids room curtains. Grand plans! Lets see how we go about fulfilling them.

  

Kathir’s Lego Creations

One of the activities from Mr Maker!

These are some of Kathir’s lego creations in 2010 and 2011. Kathir loves spending tonnes of time with his lego blocks on his bunk bed! If we are out for sometime, he has to get back to his legos the moment we are back. No morning is complete without 30 mins spent with his lego.

I had started this post in 2011 and never got back to it. This is 2014, Kathir is now happily 6 and half! He is growing up really fast. Lots of things are the same and lots of things are changing. His fascination for Lego continues - he has now moved to more complex imaginary creations. Like a flying car or a submarine that can fly, run and swim etc... He has got into detailing his vehicle - some indicator somewhere, a fueling point, a signaling switch, or an fire alarm...things that we think mundane are novelties for the young mind.

He has an added task now. To teach his little sister Keya how to build Lego cars. All that the little sis now knows is to make a ‟dhishu"a small L-shaped structure like a gun. Other than that her primary interest is to fiddle with Kathir’s creations, and get alarming shouts from Kathir about ‟no touching".

Kathir has a friend now who is very keen to partner with him in his Lego creations. That is Parth, our front door neighbor. Parth too is pretty good with his Lego work now. And both of them can spend hours building their imaginary flying-submarines or under-water cars etc.

Keya, Kathir and Parth with Dadu

Sloka - Kathir's new school

Saturday was the first parent-teacher meeting at Kathir's new school - Sloka! At the end of the meeting, I came out of the room with a strange feeling... Do I really know my child?

"Kathir is a gentle boy, does not push anyone, eats on his own, eats everything, loves carrots (!!)" If I heard it right, he is an angel! My my, do I really know my little boy?? Well, he is about to turn 4 so he is naughty and certainly not gentle by any stretch of imagination - even his 4-month old kid sister will nod in agreement to this! He used to eat on this own when he was 2, not any more! He used to go to the toilet on his own when he was 2, not any more! He used to love eating - anything that we gave him - not any more!! So, it was really strange when I heard all those eulogies of praise from his Geetha teacher.

Sloka is certainly not for the faint-hearted. We enrolled Kathir here because Sloka follows a "no-stress" curriculum. It follows the Waldorf philosophy - emphasize on the child's imagination/thinking skills and not literary skills. They do not teach the famous ABCD, 1234 until they are at least 7. It's another matter that Kathir has learned A to Z, 1 to 50 (reading and writing!!) in his earlier play schools - which he is quite emphatic about unlearning now!!

Coming back to Sloka... we got Kathir into Sloka with the utopian thought of letting him enjoy his childhood and keeping him away from the rat-race. If you ask Kathir what did you do at school? He replies: "Main gana gaya, khela aur khana khaya" No wonder, he loves his school despite being woken up at 6.30 am everyday!

Daily routine in school (8.30 am to 12.30 pm)
Morning play (inside class)
Sing
Sand play (outside class)
Sing
Fruit time (we send one whole fruit a day, its cut and fruit salad distributed to all)
Sing
More sand play
Sing
Snack time (every parent takes turn to send mini meals for 20 kids every day)
Sing
Time to go home

Routine for kids at home
- Follow a ritual that does not change (including timings on holidays - coz kids their age do not know the difference between a working day and a holiday - so any change in ritual will stress them out. In short - no sleeping late and partying late on weekends!!)
- No TV - Strictly NO TV (well - it stops creativity in kids!! - esp no cartoon channels, no mythology, no music channel, no animal channels - they can be violent at times, no news - coz that may also color their thought process... In short - throw out your idiot box else your child may turn into one!)
- Dinner at 7.30 and off to bed at 8 (in short - come back from work early, no excuses!) Read out nice fairy tales or tell them stories (no mythological ones!)
- Kids learn through imitation - no cursing, no shouting, no gesturing, no complaining in front of the child, lest they imitate!
- No saying "NO" to the child. Tell them stories about right/wrong (sigh!). I thought my instructional design skills were rusting, and I had to seek alternative career options - no such luck!
- Parents can volunteer to do the class laundry once a month
- Parents must send nutritious snacks, soup (if its cold) and juice (if its warm) etc...
- Parents will organize the Diwali mela, parents will create crafts, parents must take them for nature walks, parents need to read to them everyday, parents must allow them to eat on their own, paint their hands/legs/houses in any color, play with "atta dough"... phew!

Little did we realize that "keeping the kid stress-free meant making the parents stress-out"! I was reminded of the first law of Thermodynamics that my dad had taught me - energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is transferred from one form to another. Do you see it applicable to the "stress factor" being transferred from kid to parents??

Hmm... but finally at the end of the day when I see Kathir happy and looking forward to school, all my maternal instincts take over and I'm happy he goes to Sloka!