Pre-Trinity Composers Music Festival in Nashville Hinde Temple

Aren't we matching matching?

Yesterday we attended the Pre-Trinity Composers Music Festival in the Nashville Hindu Temple. My parents tried to make me sing Bhaja Govindam on the Stage. I even went to the stage with my mom but refused to sing there. I dont know if I am Shy at times or I just dont have mood to sing. But my parents are working hard to change this behaviour of mine. They want me to be enterprising all the time and want me to utilize the opportunities given. These days I am getting trained to sing along with the Sruthi. My mom wants me be serious during learning and tells to sing in unison with the Sruthi. How should I do that? I dont listen to any distinct sa, pa, sa from the Sruthi box. All I hear is a 'ding ding ding Boing' sound. Gosh I am going nuts!

We are like Yashodha and Krishna

When I came home from school, I asked Mom to give nail polish. She gave it and I did on my right hand and she did the left for me. Could you make out the difference? I have learned to paint nail polish these days without making a mess. Mom was stunned at my performance and gave me lots of kisses and was busy in the kitchen making dinner.

I was very silent and did not trouble her at all and let her do her work. Dear Thathas and Paatti's! Have you started praising my glory? Yes I could hear sounds like 'Very Intelligent girl.... Samathu....etc'... Mmmm.. Dont praise me yet. Mom knows that if I am silent, I have a job waiting for her. Yes.. I made mess all over. I painted my hands with the nail polish and she had toiugh time to remove it. Want to see???

Picture Day

I am very excited today. Because I had my portrait pictures taken in the school. Last time when they took me pictures I cried and dint cooperate well. So this time, I prepared very much to smile and got myself pictured on several poses. The photographers congratulated me for ever smiling during the session.

Next thing is we made Orange Juice with Ms.Cathy in the School. All of us peeled one orange each and then Ms.Cathy belended them on a juicer. The Juice was yummy.

I have started to ride three-wheeler bikes on my own. We have 2 hours of outdoor play time everyday. But when the whether is bad, we ride bikes on the Fellowship hall (a large hall empty most of the time). So I learned to pedal up and down and riding bikes these day. Its a lot of fun.

Bubbles Bubbles here and there

My recent craze is playing Bubbles. Its very easy. Dip it, Blow it. You can be busy for half an hour without troubling Amma or Appa.

Cakes Cakes Everyday

Whenever my grandparents send parcels from India, they send a lot of cakes with that. I like all kinds of Indian cakes - Mysoor Pagu, Milk Cakes, Cashew Cakes, Almond Cakes etc. And when they send, I give samples for my parents and eat the rest all by myself. Sometimes when I freak out for dinners Visa aunty and Radha Aunty give Cakes for me to take home. I finished them all last weekend and asked mama to make some more. She said 'No. They are Junk'. :-( But the truth is she does not know to make any.

So, at the drop of a Hat Appa and I picked an Instant Cake mix from the Grocery Store. I opened the packet, poured some milk to it. And stirred it on the stove for 5 mins. Appa helped me pour the mixture on a greased plate. To my surprise, it settled in half an hour to form nice soft cakes.

Appa and I enjoyed the cakes that evening. We gave nothing to Amma. Afterall, she is grumpy.

Remember folks, If you are tired of making cakes at home. Try 'Gitz Instant Halwa Mix'. Its easier than a 2 minute noodles. Thanks to Gita Aunty. She gave the recipe.

Pony tails everyday

I like to dress up good and go to school neat and trim everyday. When I was very young everyone used to ask me whether I was a baby boy. I was so pissed of about these comments and decided to create identity of my own. I asked mama to make pony tails from then on.

That was the best picture Mama could take of my back.

Did you look at the partition -vagudu on my back? Is n't it a nice straight line? It took several months for her to train herself .

But these hairstyles dont stay for a long time. The hair bands break off after sometime I reach the school. But Ms. Cathy fixes them back again. So I come back from school neat and gay too.

Eating Experiences & my gift to Daddy

I had trouble eating solid foods when I was young. My Parents, Grand Parents and even Pediatricians worked with me a lot to make me eat solid foods. All in vain. I was very stubborn and kept my mouth shut for solids all the time. My Radha Athai used to narrate how I used to keep my mouth closed during feedings.

Then my parents thought the best way to make me eat is to send me to the daycare where I can see other children eat. I started going there ever since I was 19 months old. Ms. Kelly was my teacher. I used to create a lot of mess during lunch time. I annoyed her a lot too. But she worked with me very patiently. I started to eat on my own slowly. She did no magic, but gave me some space, respected me, believed me and gave me a very long time (abt 8 months) to improve. Ta-da that worked. My teething could have been a factor too. Now I am a good eater. Idly, Dosas, Chappati, Puri, Adai, Vadai, Idiappam, Bread Toasts, Pizza, fruits, vegetables, Paruppu Mammu and Thachi mammu are my favourites. I eat very well in the daycare. But I trouble mama at home. She is after all my mom, not a teacher.

Second thing I like about Ms. Kelly was she created a movie for my dad as a gift for Father's day. He was quite emotional after watching it and gave me lots of kisses. I know you are most excited to look at it too.

Ranjani and Gayatri Concert - MMU 2009

When I come home from School, I have snack real quick and then help mommy making dinner for the evening. I have made rasam several times these way. Mama keeps salt/ rasam powder/ Tamarind paste/ cut tomatoes on the table. I add all these ingredients according to her instructions on a vessel. She adds water to it and keeps it on the stove. She takes care of the seasoning part. Ta-da Rasam is made in 15 mintues.

But when it comes to dinner time I go through the hall round and round. She comes behind me for every spoons. Sometimes when she is tired, she has a nice way to make me sit at one place. That's by switching on the Ranjani and Gayatri MMU concert on youtube. I like two of the songs very much. 'Orarau Mugane' and 'Saka Maza Narayonu'.

The latter is a Marati Abhang. I dont know Marati and neither my parents do. So its kinda tough for me to sing it. But I tried the tamil song on Reeti gowlai. Wannu listen???? Here we go.... Remember dont make fun of me. I am still too young to handle delicate ragas.

Ride with me on the Dinosaur train.

Dinosaur Train is one my favourite shows on PBS Kids. Every morning mama and I wake up early, have milk, have shower, dress up ourselves and sit before the TV at 8.30 to watch the show. My friends Buddy, Tiny, Shiny and Don explore about a dinosaur in the cretacious time period and at the end of the show a Paleontologist discusses about its features. Mama and I love the show. It ends at 9.00 and then I go to school. Would you like to ride with me on the Dinosaur Train? All Aboard!

Count with me in Spanish

Learning Spanish is very easy if you are a consistent viewer of all the Dora / Diego episodes. She taught me numbers, colors, animals and some words in Spanish. I love the way she counts the stars - iStreya. Would you like to count with me?

The Best use of my car ride

We live in a place called Cookeville, where there is nothing much to freak out. My parents always want to travel during weekends. Wouldn't they think about me? I had to be tied in the little car seat during the ride. I have wondered several times on how to make best use of these weekend drives. I started to listen to the Bhajan CDs which I got from India and mastered most of the songs from them. The Song that has Captivated me the most is Adhi Shankara's "Bhaja Govindam". Listen to some of my Bhajan recitations.

My Heart is a Pump - Make some sense on Shiva's Thandavam

We have "My heart is a pump" as the theme of this week. Ms. Cathy said that our heart pumps all the time to circulate blood to our body. She said it pumps slower when we sleep and faster when we run. She also said it pumps faster when we are angry and slower when we are happy.

When I came down from School Mama taught me about Shiva's Thandavam. Shiva dances to the Kanda Nadai beat (faster beat) when he is angry (Thaka Thakita, Thaka Thakita) and dances to Misra Nadai (relatively slower beat) when he is happy (Thakita Thaka Dimi, Thakita Thaka Dhimi).

Now doesn't it make some sense on why Shiva cut Baby Ganesha's head while he was angry? When he danced to the faster Kanda Nadai, his heart was pumping faster without enabling his brain to think. Thats why ke killed Baby Ganesha in a Haste.

Projects that we do in the School

We do a craft project each week according to the Week's theme and bring them home by the end of the week. Some of my projects are Turkey Greeting Card for Thanks Giving, Native Indians Tribal dress, Christmas Theme Wall Hanger, Snow Man with Cotton Balls, Bird feeder, Sensory Caterpillar etc. Ms. Nikki, Ms. Billi and Ms. Cathy would work with us on projects to make us successfully complete them.

One of the projects that I did recently was the Card Holder for Valentine's day. Please have a look at it.

Sheemaro's Bal Ganesh

My Thatha and Paati have sent a lot of Indian Mythological Videos for me to watch. I love Bal Ganesh and Hanuman the most. Because I remember watching them with my cousin brother Saashu when I was in India last year. Saashu would pretend to be the Ganesha and I would pretend to be the Mooshika and both of us would take a ride on our Thatha's back who would play the Nandi role.

But these days, I play the Ganesha role. Cos, I have a little brother / sister on the way to take over Mooshika's place.

Everyday after watching, my mom would ask me to narrate what I saw on the video. I told her several times that Ganesha would do ice skating on the Icy Kailasha Mountain. But she is not convinced with my answers. She excused me that I am too young to narrate the stories. After all I am 2 yrs and 8 months. So she decided to test me by asking questions about the Video. Would you like to play the audio file to listen to one of the tests that she gave?

Valentine's day Celebration at school

I celebrated my second Valentine's day last friday. Ofcourse I dont remember what I did the last year. But this year I had great fun with my friends. Ms. Cathy decorated the class room full of pink and red hearts. We had designer table cloths on our snack tables with candles lit on them. That was lovely. I wore a pink dress with heart designs on it for the party. I had muffins, Donuts, Cupcakes (my favourite), fruits, gummies and chocolate milk for snack. I got 19 valentines from my friends and teachers. I have saved them on an heart-in card holder, which was my last week's project.

My best buddy Ajay was transitioned to a different class room 2 weeks before. I gave my valentine to him with a special note on it saying that I miss him in the blue room. Now he has invited me to his home to play with him.

After coming home, I dint have my snack or supper through out the evening. But I munched all the chocolate treats I got for the day. Wasn't it fun? I love Valentine's day. I wish I could get lot more next year.... Yeah!!!

On Sunday, the Valentine's day, Mommy made Milagu vadai (lentil fritters). I had 2 for break fast, 3 for lunch and 2 more for dinner. Wasn't it a grand feast???