Have You Seen This? क्या तुमने यह देखा है ?

Have you seen this? I received my author signed copy of this very interesting, highly imaginative, colourful, thought provoking book by friend and colleague Arthi who is in her own right extremely creative.

Have you read this? I did, very quickly every time I open the book again, I discover something new either in the possibilities that a child of age group above 4 can think of or in the illustrations that speak more than many words. Which is when I appreciate the fact that Tulika books have very few words therefore making it comfortable for the kids to read without getting overwhelmed.

There is a cute little boy with spiked hair and a cute little girl with curious eyes who encounter various fun things in this cute book.

My boys giggled their way through the book and read both the languages with amazing speed and alacrity.

What if a boat that usually swims starts walking like us or your house suddenly decides to take a walk like they do in the magical world.

One fine day, the door may just break all barriers and run away and just like kids jump on chairs and sofas, the chair may pick that habit and try to jump. 

Imagine a hungry or thirsty crow of our stories decides to take matters in its own hands and begins cooking and feeding it to an auto which is as black as a crow!! In fact the kids were discussing what the crow is cooking. Is it potato chips or is it popcorn. They were wondering if only the auto will eat or the boy too!!

And do you think a book knows how to read? I would love to imagine all my books reading each other as I sleep in the night! I really loved the pensive look on the face of the book as it read and the no nonsense look on the face of the crow as it efficiently cooked on a stove of logs!

What will happen if the clock forgets to wake up on time and then wake you up in turn? 

The illustrations are bright and cheerful and giggle inducing and give an impression of a painting! I love the way the objects have been given animated looks and expressive eyes!

The writing is lyrical and lends itself to singing along as we read. The action words bring out a lot of dramatics to the reading session and also explains dramatically opposite action words. 

A chair that jumps...

A door that runs

A giraffe that swims...

A tree that flies

A crow that cooks...

An auto that eats...

the book is suitable for kids above 3 for reading aloud and enacting the same and for kids above 4 who can read themselves and get exposed to the 2nd language also. Kids above 4 would be able to build on in terms of imagining what happens if the clock sleeps or what if the tree in your garden suddenly decides to take a walk or what if your home starts spinning and you are inside eating your favourite snack!

Title- Have You Seen This? क्या तुमने यह देखा है ?

Author- Arthi Anand Navaneeth

Pictures- Roomani Kulkarni

translation- Priya Krishnan

Price- Rs 85

Age- 3 plus

Bilingual Book by Tulika

Buy the book here

Heights

Height of Punctuality Since you have come at 1.27 pm and your appointment is at 1.30 pm, please wait Height of sales generation Instead of Rs 5 change the toll guy gives a Parle 20 20 biscuit. From eclairs to biscuit is a journey due to inflation

Beware the blogger observes- obnoxious head of family

After all the web checking i did, i still end up sitting in the row ahead of the obnoxious family.They were before me during baggage check and the lalu esque man was loudly scolding his wife for putting handbaggage for scan.Then he sits in the only unoccupied seat next to me leaving his family of 3 women and 2 kids to fend for themselves. He then orders his daughter loudly...chai lao. The girl gets him the tea and he says, isko dip dip karo, phir isko phenko aur phir humko do. Then he deigns to take a sip and then shouts again, beta sugar to apne daala nahin. Lao sugar lao. All while the poor wife was trying hard to get a seat for herself and roaming with laptop and two assorted hand luggage.

beware the blogger observes...obnoxious head of family

After all the web checking i did, i still end up sitting in the row
ahead of the obnoxious family.They were before me during baggage check
and the lalu esque man was loudly scolding his wife for putting
handbaggage for scan.Then he sits in the only unoccupied seat next to
me leaving his family of 3 women and 2 kids to fend for themselves.He
then orders his daughter loudly...chai lao. The girl gets him the tea
and he says, isko dip dip karo, phir isko phenko aur phir humko do.
Then he deigns to take a sip and then shouts again, beta sugar to apne
daala nahin. Lao sugar lao.All while the poor wife was trying hard to
get a seat for herself and roaming with laptop and two assorted hand
luggage.

Beware the blogger observes ...Obnoxious family

After all the web checking i did, i still end up sitting in the row ahead of the obnoxious family.
They were before me during baggage check and the lalu esque man was loudly scolding his wife for putting handbaggage for scan.
Then he sits in the only unoccupied seat next to me leaving his family of 3 women and 2 kids to fend for themselves.
He then orders his daughter loudly...chai lao. The girl gets him the tea and he says, isko dip dip karo, phir isko phenko aur phir humko do.
Then he deigns to take a sip and then shouts again, beta sugar to apne daala nahin. Lao sugar lao.
All while the poor wife was trying hard to get a seat for herself and roaming with laptop and two assorted hand luggage.


Sent from my Nokia phone

Perfume making

Aunty AD had given the kids a perfume kit which we opened today.
There are small scented strips that can be mixed with water and filldinto vials or pot pourri or can be used to make a scented slime.

Much enjoyment happened.

The husband was disappointed as he expected something more technical.

Ask me huh...
Sent from my Nokia phone

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer

Judy Moody book serious is a series of books that is based on the adventures of a third grader Joardana nick named Judy Moody.

It is LDOS, Last Day of School and there will be no more boring summer vacation. Judy is set to have one of the best summers and she passes a note to her friend saying they join her for the club meeting after school to plan the fun for summer.

However, to her disappointment, her parents are off to California to help her grandparents and she and her brother Stink are not going. Nested, her Aunt Opal will be coming over to take care of them.

The summer promises to be extremely boring. 

So Judy  plans for something that will increase the Thrill Q of her summer. 

She makes a list of thrill points for herself and her friends. To top the list, she, Stink and Opal make a grand plan to earn better thrill points. 

Read on to find out what it could be.

Title- Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer

Author- Megan mc Donald 

Illustrator- Peter H Reynolds

Price- Rs 250

Publisher- Walker, panmacmillan

Weight Loss plans

One fine day I decided that his has gone too far. The weight just keeps on climbing at the sight of food even. I reached a point that I was so desperate that I enquired for the tummy tuck sessions and massages that promise you a flat tummy. I even considered liposuction much to the husband's alarm. 

So I have given myself a challenge last June. 4th of June to be precise. 10 kg deficit by September else I go for drastic measures.

However, this cannot be achieved by gym and exercise alone. So food control has become mandatory.

My first step was to see how I could manage a 1000- 1200 calorie food plan. I read up books and searched the Internet and found various theories that seemed to be based on conflicting principles. I spoke to several friends who have gone through weight loss.

Finally I decided to take it one step at a time. And this required tremendous patience.

I began to follow the below mentioned...

I had stopped all fried food like snacks and most of the processed stuff like biscuits. 

I resorted to snacking on roasted stuff like roasted gram, peanuts etc available at the bhunja walla. I keep a box of this at my workplace and add lots of chat masala and some salt to increase the trip to mouth factor.

I carried with me everyday to office fresh fruit yoghurt shake first with sugar then with honey. 

Soon as the body became more and more used to lesser food, I removed fruit juice from the daily menu and added buttermilk with lots of chat masala and asafoetida. 

I began to take a spoon full of flax seed.

I started snacking on almonds every morning for energy

I carry salads with lime dressing every day and some days I carry cut fruits.

I reduced the number of rotis to 1, began alternating oats for breakfast and reduced the amount of dinner intake.

I started eating roast chicken or fish salad for lunch every weekend and found my weekend weight was always lower than weekday weight. 

As a rule we stopped eating outside except for one meal in he weekend. 

Even when I go outside now, I stick to healthier stuff and ensure I do not hog like earlier days.

I necessarily drank around 2 bottles of water at my workplace

Most importantly, I began going to gym every single evening and once my routine was set, it became easier to follow and I found I was more relaxed during the evening workout as I had no immediate compulsion of reaching home on the dot.

Even if I didn't go to gym I did some home exercises. 

I was able to skip 80 jumps with breaks at 25 instead of just 25 jumps with break at 5.

I could do surya namaskar with more ease than before

I never stopped eating chocolate but stopped eating cakes even at birthday parties in office.

At the end of a month I discovered that,

I no longer felt tired after 3 minutes of treadmill walking.

I felt more energetic

My rings were fitting better even the one that stopped fitting me 10 kg away

My clothes seemed to be slightly loose.

I could run for a while on treadmill without feeling compelled to stop

I ate less and felt full and satisfied faster

I lost 3 kg at the end of 1 month plus.

What I did next was to take the personal training sessions that I had skipped over last year. This challenged my body in more ways than I thought, even though the individual exercises were not new, the sequence and speed made a difference.

What helped me was that I had conscience keepers n the mail and in office and at home to stop me from straying.

I plan to take at least 3 cups of green tea in office everyday to cut calories. Even though I don't like the taste.

I am exploring if I could experiment with yoga

I intend to do pranayama every day.

I need to challenge my body much further

I should be able to climb stairs without panting. As of now even five times is a challenge

I want to be able to do push ups without feeling that my arms are breaking

I want to be able to sleep well at night as sleep aids weight loss.

While I wouldn't say I am supremely happy with the results so far, I will not be until I achieve the first milestone of 10 kg but I am ok so far.

 What is your weight loss tips?

Frangipani

In pink. I have a special affection for these as this was one of the rare trees in my garden in my colony

Sent from my Nokia phone

Lilies

Arrive as usual suddenly, taking us by surprise

Sent from my Nokia phone

Oh my kittens

This tiny kitten and its black and white sibling have found a nice cozy resting place on this bag of newspapers.
They are bold enough to grab a prawn piece from the children's plate and even walk into my bedroom to explore.

A cute distraction

Sent from my Nokia phone

Bodyguard

Ojas- Where is my toy? I kept it on the bed at night

Tejas- I don't know

Ojas-  You should have taken care of it. 

Tejas- What, I should not sleep? Am I your bodyguard?

Petrol Bunk Cheats

A common con job that petrol bunks, mostly Indian Oil bunks do is to con us into believing  that they filled more petrol than what you saw. Here is how they do it.

You drive in with your gullible face and ask very clearly for tank full.

The guy does a big show of asking you to check the zero in the meter. And repeats the process at least twice to ensure you have seen the zero. Then he fills up to Rs 300 and removes the hose.    

Naturally you scream at him and ask him to do a tank full. He apologises and says ok madam I will fill it. At the same time another guy comes to your side so that you turn your face away from he meter and asks you to

take the free newspaper 

Take the membership card that gives you points

Asks if you want your window cleaned

Shows you your credit card that you had given for him to swipe and starts asking you irrelevant questions like madam shall I add points. This is just a silly question which has no consequences. 

All this takes a few seconds and you turn almost instantly to look at the meter and you find that the meter had moved to Rs 700.

When you ask them if they had reset the machine to zero they will claim yes but they wouldn't have shown you the zero. 

The more you ask the more they insist that they indeed reset it.

However when the meter auto stops, it will stop at your max capacity if filled in one go. Which means they never reset the meter.  

However they will show you the current reading and ask you to pay this plus Rs 300 which means you pay them cash without getting any petrol in return.

Yesterday this happened to me and I screamed like a rowdy which instantly had them pacifying me that no madam, we did not reset the meter. Else they insisted for a while that they did reset it to zero.

The petrol bunk in Indira Nagar, Adyar Signal and ABT showroom on Guindy has till date attempted this with me. 

Is IOC listening.

Fashion Conscious

Since the shoes are not yet bought and of course the old ones have magically become too tight so the kids are wearing sandals with their school socks. Mamma surely has no idea of fashion so she insists that they wear their socks even if they are wearing sandals.

Ojas however comes back every evening with the socks stuffed in his bag.

Tejas - Ojas why are you always removing your socks?

Ojas- if anyone sees me with the sandal and socks they will laugh at me. 

-------------------

The other day the kids came back very annoyed. During the sports class they didn't get a chance to show their skill with he basket ball. Is it not unfair when the kids wait for so long for the sports class and then you spend the class sitting in one place?

I spoke to the teachers and expressed my displeasure at the unfairness of it all.