The Home Makeover Series- More Paintings on the Walls

The husband got bitten by the painting bug. And I got bitten by the bug that makes you want to adorn your walls with lots of pictures. So we went around hunting for good pictures, but none seemed good enough. We are not the types who want the standard boring landscapes and all on our walls. We want something more meaningful and likeable and something with which we can identify - like colourful Madhubani art,

Or this unique work from PhillipinesWe hunted for Kalamkari work done on cloth but I guess I need to wait for the Dastakari Haat to buy it.
In our search for art works- we visited Kalpdruma and noticed a lot of wall art done - we took inspiration from that and came out with ideas to adorn our walls. Take a look.

Painter at work

Impressed- Ojas & Tejas take snaps The Finished Work- on the wall behind the bed
The Sun Shining from our Entrance Wall

Tree of Life - birds, animals and us

Little Cups of Joy

Cactii planted in my terracota Tea Cup Terrariums

The methodology of making the terrariums can be found here

And a large Can(na) of joy that brightened my day one early morning

How Does Your Home Smell Like?

Impossible to tell is it not?

Whenever I think of people, I can most certainly remember what their homes smell of- odonil, musty upholstery, incense sticks, medicines, cockroaches (yes that too), fish fry. But ask me what my home smelled like or smells like even now - I cannot tell.

But I do know from feedback that over the last few years my home has smelled of various stuff depending upon the time of entry into the house- susu waala nappies (thank God no more), Vibhooti (ugggh), incense (too holy for my tastes), cooked non veg (yumm), sometimes even the community dustbin (oowack) until it was removed from the vicinity of my backyard.

For those who know me well will understand that fragrance is extremely important to me. And it makes me feel "blind" rather anosmic when I am unable to pinpoint what my home smells of.

To remedy that I tried pot pourri but to my disappointment, it never worked for me.

I have placed bouquets of tree jasmine in the living room and it has definitely worked- emitting a heady fragrance but that is a very seasonal method.

Then I discovered the Reed diffuser. This comes in a pack of fragrant oil with a set of reeds. You need to dip the reeds in the fragrance and leave it in your room. The only thing you need to do thereafter is to invert the reeds every 3-4 days. The reed diffuser is surprisingly effective for an enclosed space and also for a largish living room. These come in refill packs also.

You can choose from various fragrance styles- I predictably selected a vanilla and a cinnamon mix.

Since the complete set was very expensive I just picked up the refill pack which is a simple plastic bottle.

Given that the kids have a penchant for upturning bottles and glasses, I decanted a small measure of the fragrance into a pretty Maple Syrup Bottle and a lying-around-just-like-that vase and voila- my customised reed diffuser is ready and adorning the rooms.

I Got 10 after 10

nahin 10 because 10 - is what my brother said when he was younger. He couldn't remember that he was supposed to say 10 on 10 or 10 out of 10.

Not Only Paired conjunctions But also adverbials were my pet exercise in school days. Go to the links to check them out.

But however, this post is not about that but about infuriating words in Hindi and integrating English / Urdu words into Hindi and then using them wrongly- my last contribution to Red Marker Blogathon for June 2010.

होएगा- (hoega) - word does not exist- you call it होगा as in hoga tumse pyara kaun!!

सबसे best - It's fine to integrate English words into Hindi but how can one attach a superlative to a word that is already in superlative. Remove the sabse word before best because sabse means maximum like Aaj tak- Sabse Tez

You are fooling yourself if you are not calling it फूल (phool) but fool . And it is not fir but Phir (फिर) - people often confuse between ph or f sound- Tip- Look at Bollywood movie titles to get a hint of the correct pronunciation - Phool Bane Angare, Phir Milenge

अगर वो तुमको तंग करे तो उसका मम्मी को बोल दो। (Agar vo tumko tang kare to uska mummy ko bol do) - Not uska but Uski (उसकी)- The Ka and Ki confusion in Hindi is a major one for most people - The gender of the person or item about who we are talking is the one that takes precedence- So uski mummy and uska Daddy, irrespective of whether we are talking of son's mom or daughters dad. (or uske Daddy if you want to attach respect to the Dad not the son or the daughter)

Sakool / Iskool jaa rahe ho beta? Are you going to School?- Many of us have been asked this question- depending upon whether the question came from a Punjabi or a Bihari!

And one funny confusion that my kids have- kal ( कल) means both yesterday and tomorrow and when my kids translate what they spoke in Hindi into english for their Dad, I find them debating between the two of them whether they meant yeasterday or tomorrow before finally translating for their Dad!

Saaa... Paaaa.... Neeee

The kids started Carnatic Classes on Monday.
The teacher comes home to teach.
As usual the kids took a while to warm up to the idea of a music class - rather a class at home.
As the teacher sat with the kids right in front of her I quietly faded into our room to give them privacy and freedom but stood behind my french door and felt totally royal- the ladies of the royal household watching court proceedings from behind the jharokha!

Ojas- This is my new TV, and this wall has new paint- don't touch. This is my dinosaur.
Teacher- ok, keep your dinosaur away- we will talk after me finish class
Ojas- this is not class- this is my house
Teacher- ok, next half an hour this is going to be class.

Yes, it was funny but it was also kind of scary for me- I was afraid the class will fold up the day it started.

After this initial talk the kids started singing. The teacher started with the sargam and the various combinations. I almost rejoiced as Ojas' voice rang out clear and Tejas' soft yet audible. I could for the first time appreciate the difference between the treatment of the sargam in Carnatic and Hindustani.
As the teacher sang various combinations she came to Pa...Neee
As if on cue, Ojas and Tejas got up and ran to the kitchen saying - I want water!
Refreshed after the break the teacher started a Krishna bhajan.
So far so good. Fingers crossed for the forthcoming classes! Wish us well!

The Home Makeover Series- Going on Record

After the Warli painting was done, my fingers were itching to do something else. From the time we bought this house, I had been wanting to do a nameplate but somehow, no style seemed good enough or unique enough or cheap enough.

As I was thinking over and over, I thought about punning on the word Name- Plate and paint on a plate. But then I thought it would be difficult to punch a hole and mount it on a wall.


Therefore I needed something with a ready made provision for hanging.


I unearthed an old scratched up LP record and this is what I did with it

I first painted the LP with the left over gold paint. 2 coats were needed. I waited for it to dry completely and stuck pictures of all four of us and painted our names with black acrylic paint.

Cool isn't it? (and cheap also!)

(Note- The original image has been modified using paint - the original obviously has our names on it!)

The Home Makeover Series- Dancing on Walls

Continuing with the homemakeover series-
After doing the changes in the furniture and experimenting with bold new paints, we wanted to embellish further.
One of the problems we suffer from is the numerous handprints and sundry other stains that magically appear on the walls within a week of painting. The husband decided to remedy that by giving a Brick Wall finish to the lower walls so that the hand prints or carelessly held crayons do not make much of an impact on the walls. Here's how he did it using a foam brick- the effect is deliberately patchy to give a worn out look
I got this brilliant idea (not)- actually I simply picked up the idea from Madmomma- of recreating the Warli art on the "brick" wall- thereby creating a representation of the Tulika book- Dancing on Walls- the story of the little girl Shivri who in her attempt to help her parents in her housework meets the dancing people from the moon - how these little dancing people come about to adorn the walls of numerous homes is a mystery that you can solve by reading the book. I picked up the drawings from this very book - it was available on hand and extremely convenient to just copy the same on the wall- (pic courtsey- Tulika) This wall is adjacent to the kitchen- the theme I selected was family, harmony and home while drawing the Warli- So dancing couple- modernised by putting a ponytail for the lady dancer and dancing family with two little boys- the creeper and sun representing vitalty and growth and prosperity. The metal frame above was purchased from Dastakari art at the Orissa counter sometime ago for not more than RS 350 if I remember correctly- Workmen & dancing people I suppose. The reason I chose that was because the circular work inide the square is done in such a way that orientation of the "painting" does not matter while mounting on the wall

The central area with display rack on the top and carpet below was similarly given the brick effect. As usual, I copied images from Dancing on Walls and the husband painted them with a fine tipped brush and acrylic paint. These are various dancing positions and acrobatics- emphasis on movement more than stills. (It has created a stir in the complex with people asking us -how exactly did you do that?)

View of Living room and kitchenThis is the latest acquisition- picked up from the Jharkhand stall in Metro plus show - I had been lusting after this form of art over last 3 plus years. Every year I would haggle in the show and leave it because the husband would dart dark glances at me. This time I went alone and could haggle in peace. All 5 pieces acquired for Rs 1800- I know I should have bargained harder- I had already brought it down by more than half- yet I feel an uneasiness that I have been fleeced- but then- I was desperate and that is more important than anything else- These flattish black metal performing women with the gold embellishment goes well with the gold wall

Final Look- Dining and Living Room- view from the garden

The Home Makeover Series- Cutting Down to Size

Things had been dull on the blog for a while. Meaning I had no pictures to post. I was afraid the blog wouldn't survive until the camera started talking to my laptop.

Finally I managed to get the pictures loaded and here is the home makeover series.

We did the first round way back in dec 2008 where in we experimented with bold colors like red- the experimenting made easy because the free ka mazdoor husband was doing all the painting.

Last Diwali we changed sofa and dining chair upholstery as a consolation prize for the year - we were fed up of our grossly misused furniture and had no money to buy new ones.

When we had bought this place, we had done a lot of wood work especially the show case/ rack variety which would hold all our mementoes and show pieces collected over the years. We had a huge crockery rack to house the numerous crockery I had.

Over time we started feeling claustrophobic- there was lack of space, the living room looked heavy and we felt we had no further scope to enhance seating.

And the last straw- we got a Sony Bravia from Club Mahindra. We desperately needed a free wall to mount the TV.

The husband and I cribbed, fought and raged for days to come to an amicable solution which would call for minimum investment and yet give me enough storage and display.

Take a look at what we did.

This was the original showcase in the living room

The crockery rack and the dining table- I must say I had no complains with the dining table except the chairs were a little too low for the kids to sit comfortably/ rather the dining table was high- otherwise I was extremely comfortable with it.
The storage and showcase with a granite top for display in the centre of the houseThe sofa that served us well and took a lot of ill treatment

The Makeover Process

We began with cutting / removing stuff and creating more space.

The central storage and granite top was removed and the top portion of the showcase was cut down in terms of width and mounted back on the wall. It could still accomodate most of my stuff except the loads of plants I had kept on the graniteWe divided the showcase into 2 parts- one part became the showcase and bar counter - and got moved to the corner thereby leaving the wall free for the TV. We brought back our old TV stand to the centre.

The crockery rack was totally removed much to my annoyance and the other half of the showcase became the crockery rack and was moved to the dining area. I had to put some of my "never" used crockery into storage and make the crockery rack contents lean and mean. Note the new chrome green paint that replaced the older light green wall and the gold on the originally yellow wall. These new colours have a gold sheen and they age gracefully on the wall. A new 4 seater dining table was duly purchased - the square one with high chairs - the husband had been lusting after it for quite sometime. It is a little too small for my liking but the husband likes it. The table mats are from Lifestyle- in plastic- exactly what is needed for my household-(pssst- Rs 29 each)

We purchased a new sofa set- 6 seater one and accomodated the invertor inside a newly made cupboard. The wall is adorned by a silk table runner (Chinese)- the husband's idea- Though it looks nice, I have my reservations. My biggest worry was to accomodate my glass flowers and the heavy glass vase- It found a place on this cupboard along with my Kalamkari lamp

The chrome green wall again- this wall looks better because the white tubelight illuminates it from the adjacent wall and the yellow light on the wall itself enhances the gold-green. The left wall is in gold- this is my favourite and expresses well in both tubelight that falls from the opposite wall and yellow picture light.

Both 2 seater sofa handrests have 2 drawers each- a convenient idea- they house our remotes, napkins, extra table mats. We treated the sofa with stainguard- a professional guy comes and sprays the sofa with chemical that repels dirt - you can spot clean any stain that comes and you need to vacuum monthly to prevent dust accumulation. This comes with 2 years warranty and these guys come over and remove any stains that occur during this period. So far we have managed to remove ketchup and mango stains easily. Costed us Rs 3200 for sofas and cushions The floors were bare and we needed to add warmth to it - apart from the need to make the living room extendable. We debated for days on the carpets. Both of us wanted something modern and geometric - no floral carpets. We liked a few in Lifestyle but either they were too small or too expensive. We then went to Wellhome on an impulse and found two carpets- together they cost Rs 3000. Not a big investment. It is not the best quality but ok for a home with children.

The second carpet is place opposite the door in the place of the unit with the granite top- This serves as another extension for seating if needed and also a spot for kids to play. I love this spot because it is central and gives me a view of the TV and the garden on the right - overlooking the dining area. I would love to put a diwan there but right now we are enjoying this spacious look.

Only later, we discovered Fab India durries- bright, rich, ethnic and at around the same price range- Marked for future purchase

The final effect- Living Room- more spacious and "extendable" than the earlier setting.
The wooden centre table is a prized "inheritance"- We do not have a centre table but this is multipurpose- serves as centre table, sitting option when one wants to sit directly under the fan or dining table for kids when guests come- they can sit on the carpet duly covered with bedsheet and eat in style.

Mommy Guilt

Women's Web invites us to participate in their Mommy Guilt Blogging Contest.
Truly said that guilt begins the moment you conceive. Any random reason can make you feel guilty.
Guilt could be induced by others-
The Haemoglobin count is low- Do you want ordinary kids or intelligent ones- eat fish, mutton....
What? you are eating mangoes? Not good for the babies

Guilt could be self induced-
I am unable to solve this puzzle/ crossword- I will have dumb kids

As Mamma of Twins, my biggest guilt was the nagging feeling that I am being unfair to one of them at any given point of time.
From small things like-
Do I feed Ojas the first spoon or Tejas when both are looking at me and the bowl
Or bigger things like-
Whom do I breast feed first when both are screaming their lungs off at the same time.

And even bigger was the guilt when I had to supplement with cow milk only because I was unable to cope with the marathon feeding - I felt I am being a bad mother by taking the easier way out by giving them top feed in 15 days time itself. My heart did not want to succumb but my mind was screaming- let go- they will be happier to get fed on time without screaming and waiting for the brother to finish the feed in peace. The best part of starting top feed was that I did not have to count the minutes and guiltily disengage after 8-10 minutes of feed would be up to feed the second one.

There are moments when a small action or a gesture or an expression triggers a surge of love for one of them - at that moment alongwith love emerges guilt- how could I be so unfair as to feel the love for only of them?

And then there are such moments when both are being naughty. I smack one and the other falls in line automatically so there is no real need to smack the other one, make him also cry and have double duty of making it up to both of them. The easier way is to take a mini guilt trip for smacking only one of them.

Trying to be impartial is also a difficult task especially when personal preferences come in between. For example- I personally like red or black color and let's say there is a red T shirt and a yellow t shirt- I find it hard to decide whom to give the red T-shirt just because it is my personal favourite.

How do we try to tackle this parental guilt thing?

Through repeat performance- like cuddle one and cuddle the other too in exact manner

Dadda takes nearly identical snaps with the kids

Through equal treatment atleast in their eyes- Colour of toy/ T shirt, quantity of food, leg piece of KFC chicken or larger piece of KFC chicken, Shall I hold Ojas' hand & should Dadda hold Tejas' hand or the other way round when we are outside- these important, earth moving decisions are left to the kids. More often than not it is easier that way because they have clear and distinct preferences. We resort to identical stuff only if they decide so.

Bob the Builder or Tigger T-shirt- they decide!

And by closing our ears- if any external advice does not match with our philosophy of child rearing- we just ignore it and say- we parents know best!

My Name is Ms Red Marker Blogathon-3

And that gets my goat- big time.
Hello, I am Mr XYZ speaking, how are you ABC?
Wrong wrong, take that red marker out.
It is extremely inappropriate and arrogant to prefix a Mr or Ms or Dr when you introduce yourself or your spouse. You need to just use the first name while introducing the spouse unless you want to emphasise the different surnames incase the lady has not changed her surname after marriage.
But while introducing others, one must always prefix the title- Mr/ Ms/ Dr/ Other Titles.

While we are at it, I need to know how one indicates one's gender in emails. Especially in cross country official emails, I often wonder- is this person a male or a female? In most cases I use gender neutral sentences in the email then!
A colleague used to indicate (Ms) after her name in her email signature-
Efg Hij (Ms)
Perhaps this is a good way of indicating gender without sounding arrogant by signing oneself as Ms Efg Hij?

What Exactly...

...makes one's heart filled with pride when somebody one knows does well in exams or sports or any other activity?

You realize what a chronic liar you are when...

You tell your child that the chips packet is over and he peers into the dustbin and says- I need to see the (empty) packet

And you realize what a grabber you are when your child "hides" the TV remote in the drawer before going to the dining table

A 5 Minute Date

Is sometimes enough to rejuvenate. Even if it happens for the wrong reasons.
The husband calls me up as I am sitting in office- is my wallet in your bag?
Without even checking I know it is there. And of course he behaves that it is all my fault that his wallet is in my handbag.
He drives to my office to pick his wallet up and I try hard to coax him - since he is here already and it is nearly lunch time, he might as well take me for a date.
But no. Mr Conscientious Worker has to get back to work.
However we sit for 5 minutes in his car, 5 whole minutes of solitude, no disturbances, bitching about common foes like autowallahs, motorcyclists who scratched my car (yes, yet again, just a week after body work and servicing) and of course the kids...how can we not!
It was perfect. Just perfect.
And a colleague spotted us and asked- was it like old days, sitting in the car together.
I said - no, the car was smaller.
But the affection was bigger and today, as the car gets bigger....
I laugh it away, filling in- the affection is still as big, but probably towards the car!!

When Shue Came

Sue was here in the weekend and we decided to meet at my place.
I spend a day preparing the kids, telling them about the new friend who was going to come.
Me- His name is R
(Incidentally the other set of twins in my building are called R & S)
Ojas- what about S?
Me- no only R is coming
Ojas-Lekin uska S kahan hai? (But where is his (sister) S?)
Me- About time Sue About time!

I did a cheat menu- meaning either assemble stuff or have stuff which are easy to cook. And did lots of preparatory work- made lists - to buy, to make tomorrow, to make today type of lists. And I must say the lists helped (and off course I forgot to carry the list with me when I went out to shop)
So the menu was balti chicken, chicken roast, chole (which according to me is a wonderful cheat dish- easy and quick to make), raita- which according to me is even easier than cutting loads of salad, parathas (and very cleverly I let Sue make the parathas which I rolled out) and brownies and the famous assembled fruit salad with brownies and icecream.

As V, R & S trio walked in, and before I forget, I must add that the short crop really suits her, r gathered all the 4 new dinosaur toys and Ojas began to sulk as a result.
So this is what R explained- I have taken all the dinosaurs as these dinosaurs may bite Ojas Tejas!

Naturally we expected that V & K will bond instantly and so will R, O & T. It took a while before conversation began to flow and the kids began to laugh and chase and share toys and at one point, I said to Sue- psst psst.. we two are unable to get a word in now....
So much so, it became tough to get one picture of her and me together!

Lunch was easy peasy because the kids were given their own low table with a bed sheet to cover the carpet.
R held the paratha against his face much to our amusement - we assumed he was copying O & T as they often bite bits of paratha from the centre and pretend that the paratha is a camera. But V & S were not so amused.
Turned out that R said to O & T- I just wiped my face with the paratha- now you also do that.
There was also a general community chewing of the chicken bones with the bone moving back and forth from one plate to the other.
The kids finished their lunch in record time and so Sue said- Tejas first, Ojas second and R third.
Tejas - no, Ojas also first
Sue- ok, Tejas 1st, Ojas 1st & R 2nd
O & T- he he, R is second R is second.

And so it was time to leave and we dropped the trio back and went up to say hello to Sue's parents. Turns out that the Sue's Dad was the husband's client in his previous company! Small world eh!! And off course the kids had a good time getting the grandtour of the place by R and appropriating his toys this time!
Somehow, it already makes me sad that after her parents move from here, she wouldn't be having a valid excuse to come down to Chennai!

Pants Off

Ojas- comes running crying showing his elbow- Dadda, I got hurt - blood
Dad-go wash it
Ojas washes, wets his shorts in the process, changes and starts to go out
Comes running back- Dadda, again blood is coming.
Rushes inside the bathroom, then comes rushing out, removes his shorts, washes his elbow and wears his shorts again.
Practical eh!

Overheard the word Kill in the kids' conversation
So I asked- what is the meaning of kill
Tejas- you shoot with arrow / gun and then sauce blood comes on the shirt- that is kill
movies aaargh.......

Tulika Blogathon- Lalla Lalla Lori

Tulika's latest Lori -thon is on.

And here's my list that I made earlier ...
But specific to the post is

Aa re ninda
Ninda banase
Baba aaya Mamu ghar se
Mamu ghas baba kya kya khaye
Aath pithar nau ghaaghar khaye

What I understand is that the kid is supposed to have gone to his mama's place and eaten a lot of goodies!

On Mallis and Jasmines

This old post of mine which people had anyway debated a lot on for various reasons, was linked by Sue on my request in her Red Marker Blogathon post. A reader pointed out yesterday that all flowers are not Malli- only Jasmines are called Malli!

I get her point. As I was composing arguments in my head on what exactly is my grouse with labelling "all" flowers as Malli I found they were too many, so I decided to write a post. Infact, not only with Tamil but my grouse is with English also- Read on why.

Now to me, each flower is different. Each has a unique look, feel, scent, beauty, size of plant, colour of leaves.

Take the chandni flower-Moonbeam?? - (nandiavattai- I so love this name- moves around so deftly in the mouth) - it comes in different varieties- same size and "design" of flowers on both a plant that can go upto 6 feet tall with dark leaves and a shrub with light colored leaves. On the other hand, the tiny flowers form on a tiny plant with tiny leaves-that are ideally grown in pots. Apart from this variationin size and type of plant, it comes in other "designs" also- looks like a rose, or single layered, but with twisted petals. Now I take serious offence because they are called Crepe Jasmine in english. Seriously.... why call it jasmine again- get creative now. It doesn't even oxidise like a true blue jasmine after plucking.

Similarly I take serious objection that all "jasmines" end with Malli (Ok, I am not talking about Kotta malli- that's definitely not a jasmine). In all fairness, as long as the person with whom you are communicating understands what you are saying, it is fine. So when I am asked give me "malli" I will hand over coriander rather than jasmine in 9 out of 10 instances. Still, why Malli again?

Beli, Juhi, Chameli, Parijaat (Night jasmine, Pavala-malli).... all of them are either jasmines or malli. WHY?

What about the Rangoon Creeper (Madhumalti Lata)- Irangoon /illankara Malli? SERIOUSLY WHY?

pic courtsey- Travelpod

Ok this is yet again a jasmine- Tree jasmine- Millingtonia- arrrrg jasmine again and guess what it is called in Tamil- yes.. kattu malli. And how uncreative to call it Neem Chameli in Hindi? What the Hey

Ipomoea- Cardinal Vine/ Kamlata- is called kembumalligai.. yup, malli surfaces again

Arvensis is nakamalli (pic courtsey- Wiki)

Gardenia is Tikkamalli and the joke is -it is called Dikamali in Hindi (malli minus l)

And here's a malli that has nothing to do with Malli at all- infact it is as far removed from a malli as possible- A delightful Tulika book- Mallipoo where are you- on a piglet called Mallipoo. Payto the mother piglet goes for a sugarcane walk with Amma the elephant and Hutoxi ( I so love that name) the horse, leaving Bahadur the baby elephant and his brother & sister to look after her lovely babies- all 7 of them. As luck would have it, the piglets go missing and the three of them manage to find them one by one, Mallipoo being the most elusive yet most perfect of them all- read the book to find out why I say that. Ojas and Tejas loved the book - calling out Mallipoo where are you with great gusto as we read this book. The illustrations are delightful as usual, colourful and err... illustrative in a perfect manner.

pic courtsey- Tulika books

Tamil & Botanical Names courtsey- http://siddhadreams.blogspot.com/2008/09/tamil-name-to-botanical-name.html

Red Marker Blogathon -2

I covered lots of redundant words in sentences and some more in the previous post on the red marker blogathon

In this post I would like to look at Frequently Mispronounced Words


Bury- Is pronounced as Berry rather than Burry - a lesson I learnt in class 10 - which was still a little too late for me perhaps! And since I do not bury the hatchet as often as I use the word Desserts (Dizerts) it took me very less time to get used to the right way to pronounce desserts because I had more practice with that word

Faux Pas- It is not like a fox passing but Fo Pa

Caveat Emptor- Not straight at all- Kaviat Emtore

Passe- Don't let it pass until it is said as Passay

Tortoise, Porpoise- The Alice in Wonderland silly Pun-rhyme says it all-

`no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.’
`Wouldn’t it really?’ said Alice in a tone of great surprise.
`Of course not,’ said the Mock Turtle: `why, if a fish came
to ME, and told me he was going a journey, I should say “With
what porpoise?”

So Tortus and Porpus it is- though the teacher taught this to us in class 6, I still took time to get my tongue around this one. What they say about habits dying hard.

Jewels/ Jewelry- No jwels or jwelry- Jools and Joolry

Mauve- Doesn't pronounce as is- needs to be Mowed a bit- Mowv

Suite- Doesn't suit me at all- I like it Sweet

Excited- Eggs do excite but not here- Ekcited not Egcited

Dais- Day us or Dais not Days

Vehicle- Don't take the Ve-hi-kal - take the Vee-i-kuhl

Edited to add
How could I forget my favourite Jalapeno- Ha la peno
Take a look at this site- you can just roll your mouse over a word to hear the right pronunciation
howjsay.com

Why did we worry at all!

The kids show no sign of discomfort about being in separate classes. They have adjusted beautifully with the new arrangement. Ojas said- hum nahin roenge!

Last night they discussed-
Tejas- Ojas, tumko kaun toy milaa?
Ojas- humko toy nahin milaa
Tejas- Kyon?
Ojas- Hum good boy ban rahe thay, nahin ro rahe that isiliye (so therefore people who cried got toys to play with!)
Tejas- tumko star milaa? humko milaa
Ojas- hmm hmm (I guess he didn't get)
Tejas- smiley milaa kya?
Ojas- sidetracking humko toy nahin milaa. Hum good boy hain naa

Sr Kg

The school reopens today and with much fanfare we left this morning, ready on time. This day was much awaited atleast by Ojas as the entire summer vacation he has been asking- night mein so ke, morning hoke, school jaenge?
And I would answer no, the holidays are going on.
And Ojas would get frustrated- kitna holiday hoga?
So this morning as I had done on many other days during the holidays, I gave them the talk- trying to prepare them for the inevitable- separate sections.
They protested vehemently. They could not accept the fact that they would go in separate sections or for that matter they would be going to a different class.
With bated breath I studied the list. I spotted Ojas' name in one list and inspite of scanning twice the 6 different lists, I could not find Tejas' name. Relieved I thought I will slip them inside the same section saying I suppose they have missed his name. But then, in my attempt to be doubly rather trebly sure, I scanned the list again and with a heavy heart I realized they are indeed in separate sections. Though I knew this is a planned move by the teachers as per their suggestion during the last PTA, I still had hopes that they would feel sorry and put the two in the same section.
As we walked towards the classes, Tejas balked. I had to drag him towards the class. Ojas firmly asked me to leave- tum jao and left my hand and walked confidently to Jr Kg class. I dragged him away but not before he noticed that the teacher in the Jr Kg class was not the one he was so familiar with.
We stopped in front of Tejas' class and he refused to enter.
So we walked up to Ojas' class who refused to enter without Tejas (probably he suspected I would take him home with me leaving Ojas back in school). I walked inside the class with Ojas, pointed a few toys and random friends and walked out.
Now this moment is the most heart rending moment for a mother- once, twice, every time it happens- to tear oneself away from the screaming child without a backward glance.
I dragged Tejas to his class, scooped him in my arms and walked in with him. The teacher asked him to spot his friends. A boy sitting inside gave a sweet smile and beckoned. Tejas immediately walked towards him forgetting Mamma (Nirmohi kahin kaa).
Yet again, I walked out without a backward glance to buy uniforms.
As I finished emptying my purse in exchange of uniforms- the maa kaa dil fir jaaga.
behaving like the typical annoying parent, I walked up to peep into both classes and found the boys not crying.
Reassured I drove back - back in my element cursing random autowallahs and bikes, with absolutely no time to delve on my personal sorrow of separating the duo in class- even though it is just for 3 hours- How could I agree to separate them in school?

Red Marker Blogathon

After Sue announced the red marker blogathon , I could not able to remember a single thing that I would like to write about. However I promised Sue I would revert back to her soon.

Anyways, this post is up as now I can able to remember the usage errors that get my goat.

Myself, ITW has come to discuss about Red Marker Blogathon.

Can I talk about it now?

Yes offcourse you can but you may not.

What? Please repeat again.

Let me desert you for a moment and get some deserts.

You have seen ferocious loins in the joo in zoon?

Come home and I will show you my ferocious dog who will literally pounce on you, lick your face, push you to the ground and bite your head off.

Oh, if I would have known about your fear of dogs, I would have kept him tied up, instead of allowing him to literally bite your head off .

Both participants did well. They were neck to neck with each other

CORRECTED COPY
I could not remember a single thing I that would like to write about.
Or
I was unable to remember a single thing that I would like to write about. However I promised Sue I would revert to her soon. (the back in revert back is redundant)
Anyway, this post is up as now I can remember the usage errors that get my goat. (can is redundant.)
Myself, ITW has come to discuss the Red Marker Blogathon. (Oh, this just gets my goat.. Why say the Myself or about)
May I talk about it now? (Yes I am one off those can and may brigade)
Yes offcourse you can but you may not.
What? Please repeat again. (again ko maaro goli... just say repeat)

Let me desert you for a moment and get some desserts. (It is pronounced Dizerts)
Have you seen ferocious lions in the zoo in june? (Now if you can say Joo, why can't you say June or If you can say Zoon, why can't you say Zoo?)

Oh, if I had known about your fear of dogs, I would have kept him tied up, instead of allowing him to bite your head off .
Both participants did well. They were neck and neck with each other (One more time I catch you saying neck to neck, I am going to just go for the err. jugular)

Edited to add- There are 2 deliberate errors in the post- Latha has spotted one. There is another one - look for it!