Winning over a toddler

After the first couple of days, Urvi aunty was ready to fly back home in a week. Harsh was proving to be a very difficult customer - he would scream for no reason at all, refuse to walk or stay in the pram.

Harsh has managed to get a sweet tooth from early age and always wants his "Coklit"(Chocolate) or "Ikim" (Ice-cream) all the time. So dad and mom have started using child psychology on him. They substitute "Ikim" with Fromage frais and "coklit" with cheese/biscuits. And Harsh is lapping it up.

Talk about reversal of problems. Earlier, the chappie would refuse to put anything in his mouth and now, he pesters you to no end for food. He likes to eat, which is a relief in a way - but likes to eat all the wrong things.

Mom is using smart options to keep him well fed - he ate Mac and Cheese with relish today. He loves his fruits and he absolutely adores the fromage frais.

Hmmm... so I would expect wool to be pulled over my eyes when I am growing up. Or I have a choice to be good always in my habits.

These are a few of my favorite toys

Time for me to introduce you to some of my toys that I really love.



Meet Monty the monkey,who sleeps in my cot. He is my comfort and joy. Monty has been with me ever since I was 3 months old and I love him to bits.



This is my picture book on Dizzy the donkey. Dad and mom can recite this from their memory. In the story, we search for carrots under Moo cow's patch, in Jack the Pirate's box and within Octopus's gloves only to discover that actually Dizzy had been eating them all the time.




Now here's a larger collection for you to admire. Towards the right you can see a caterpillar, which is a musical toy, which has songs on numbers, colours and birds. I love to hear these songs especially when I am having my lunch. You have to listen to mom's rendition of "Blue" in opera tones... it amuses me always.

Near my feet is a wonderful toy gifted by Ritesh uncle and Vandana aunty. I love to leap onto it and grab it, but still havent figured out how best to play it. Harsh loves it too much though.

In my hand is a book on animals. This soft book came with Shameen masi's playgym. Dad uses this picturebook to tell me stories. Even I love to flip the pages on my own now.

Apart from these toys, here are 2 of my most favorite toys in the world. They are exclusive only for my use and no Mattel or Hasbro or Fischer-Price would be able to replicate it. Do you want to see what they look like ? Here they are..

Hyde Park

On Saturday 21st April, we had gone to Hyde park. It was fun. Mom had kitted both me and Harsh with these cool glares... we both looked so cool and dashing.

Fia and Mom had a bit of comedy of errors. They forgot to pack the picnic food and we had to survive on sandwiches for the day. Gujaratis forgetting food at home before a picnic must really be the first time in history.

We found a good spot in the park and we played a bit with the ball. I think Yash really loves playing... I can only remember him sitting down without the ball when he was eating his food. Dad was clicking away everyone's pics .. if there is a possibility of getting RSI through digital cameras, I bet Dad is a severe risk.

We then hired a pedal boat for half an hour on the serpentine. I say we, but the park authorities make age discrimination and disallowed me from joining in the fun. They have these funny rules about under age children ... clearly they havent seen me cycle in my cot... I can pedal the boat all by myself given half a chance. Anyways, mom stayed behind with me as well, so it was not all lost.

We had some real long walks... especially the one after we finished with this park. I would subtitle this chapter as "The hunt for the ladies loo". Fia and mom were searching high and low for a loo which did not have a huge queue outside it. They finally managed to find a quiet bar in Knightsbridge, where they did the honors. We then proceeded towards Leicester Square and Picadilly circus.

We then had some trouble finding a good dinner joint afterwards. None of the places we went to had the capacity or the child-friendliness we usually look for in restaurants. Finally we ended up at this burger place where we had some delightful food. Dad loves a good grilled Halloumi cheese and he got both Fia and Mom hooked onto it too. Harsh showed some of his true colours there... he screamed whenever faced with food.

We then began our long journey home. We walked all the way from Trafalgar Square to Waterloo bridge. We had a bit of equipment malfunction - One of Harsh's waterbottles leaked and wet my pushchair, but otherwise it was fun. Harsh enjoyed the live music on Southbank so much that he started dancing. We managed to get a train at 8.30 p.m. in the night. I had clearly gone beyond the bedtime, but today was ok.

When we reached home, everyone just collapsed on the bed and slept through the night. I showed a lot of empathy for mom and made sure she got a whole night's sleep without waking her up even once. I must be the most understanding 8 month old in history.

Everyday is a Sunday... for the next 45 days

Yay !! My cousins are here from India. They flew in on Thursday night and dad picked them up from the airport. Fia had to exercise restraint to come and play with me when she reached home - but she waited till I woke up for my milk. I recognized Grandpa instantly and rewarded him with a big broad smile.

I am very fond of my brother Yash and I think he too is very fond of me. I love it when he plays with the big football. I can already see what I am look like in the future !!

Harsh is a bit different. He is quite young and is a bit of a fussy eater. Plus I dont think he is quite comfortable with the new surroundings as Yash. Having said that, Dad has got him hooked on Fromage Frais. Mom has figured out that Harsh is too independent and loves eating finger food. So she slips him with food in his hand from time to time.

Talking about food, it is easy to see why there is a shortage of it in India. Fia and Daada have brought a majority of it here to the UK. We now have an assortment of sweets and savories - Dad is not too thrilled -- he is really planning to get Fia to lose some weight during her stay here... and with all that food in the house, its not going to be easy.

I will write in a seperate entry about our day trips to London and surroundings.

Recovered and beyond

First the good news - I am done with chicken pox. For the rest of my life. How cool is that ? Dad's office is amazing - they gave him leave to take care of me and it does not come off his annual leave quota. Mom's office were very understanding too.

Dad and Mom have been doing some hectic shopping this weekend. They bought a stroller, child proofing material, gates etc. in preparation for Mr. Harsh Gandhi. Harsh loves to play with balls - all sizes. So dad has got golf balls, tennis balls, small football, big football and a basketball for him to play with. Now all that is missing is a big beach ball and an exercise ball.If this is anything to go by, I can be sure that I would have more toys growing up than I know what to do with.

My next few entries are going to be about "The three musketeers" - me, Harsh and Yash . There are already side bets being placed about how soon the neighbours would complain on the noise levels, what household item would be the first casualty and which of our respective parents would lose their temper first. Watch the space !!

What's in a name ?

Living in the UK has some advantages. Around this time last year, Mom and Dad found out that I was going to be a boy. Which is so tremendously useful - they could start shortlisting the names, start painting the room blue & buy action toys instead of pink room, frilly clothes and dolls. Not that they were generalising or anything.

Their hunt for a good name was reduced by half now. To find a name, they had the following principles in mind
1. It should mean something - not an empty name e.g. Kevin, Fennil etc
2. It would not try and follow current fashions and risk being too common e.g. Aryan
3. It should not be something that I would be embarrased about at a later date e.g. Gopi
4. It should be easy for Brits to pronounce my name
5. Need not be restricted to letters as specified by my zodiac sign
6. The name should not be reminding them of anyone they dont particularly like
7. The name had to sound good along with the last name

Given these principles, they began hunting high and low. They were careful not to make the search open to public - it would have put them in a no-win situation. They searched websites, books and were consciously registering names they heard in conversations. Mom and Dad also had to bear some ridiculous suggestions like Pradeep ( PRAshant + DEEPali, geddit?).

Finally, they vetted down the shortlist of names, which looked like this
- Varun, Neel, Jay, Siddhant, Arjun

Neel and Jay were discarded afterwards because they were a bit lightweight. For a strong personality like me, they needed a powerful matching name.

These 3 names were then put forward to our immediate families. Arjun then fell by the wayside because our close relatives were not so keen on it. So now it boiled down to a close fight between Siddhant and Varun.

It was then that Dad thought hard about all his friends and influences in life. His best friends while growing up included Viren, Vandan, Virat, Vijay, the 2 Vishals in his college, Viren uncle and also Vikram Mama. It only seemed fair to continue that strong relation with the name V.

Mom too was keen on a name that seemed to fit naturally. Varun Gandhi is not an unknown quantity - my namesake is doing well for himself in Indian politics currently.

So thats how they decided on the name Varun. I am sure I will grow into it. If you are curious what it means, check this Wikipedia entry.

That should explain the picture of Neptune we have with this post as well..:-)

And this year's bravery award goes to...

Me again !!

Mommy and Daddy both think I am a very brave boy to have taken the chicken pox in my stride. I dont want to make this post gross by describing myself right now... but suffice it is to say I wont miss it.

Dad thinks I am like his mom. Grandma faced up to her illness well and never complained despite her obvious pains.

Mom and Dad have found the time to catch up on their gardening and reading. So the weekend is not all wasted. I hope to be all clear by the coming weekend ... we need to get so much shopping done before my guests arrive. Especially the childproofing around the house for Harsh.. he is a naughty one I hear.

Hey, today I stood on my own on the sofa with a support. Dad already knows it in his heart that I will start to walk before I crawl.

Cluck Cluck Cluck

They say that the best laid plans of men and mice go awry. For the easter weekend, Dad and mom had some grand plans - they figured they would be able to buy a car, decorate the house, meet up all their friends and catch up on sleep over the next 4 days.

Guess what happened ? This morning I woke up with boils all over me - I have contracted chicken pox. I had some boils yesterday and mom was already suspecting that it was not just the heat.For once she was right. It just means that we are quarantined for the next 4 days at home and possibly more depending on how quickly I recover.

Dad was panicking because he wasnt sure if he had got it in his childhood. When he called home to confirm, no one could say with certainty. I think he is bracing himself to the possibility of getting infected too. I will be able to see him do his own version of Itchy and Scratchy show.

So dad and mom will now be able to catch up on their reading, their sleep and general household chores. It looks like its going to be a brilliant weather over the weekend - sorry guys, better luck next time.

Curry time

This weekend we had guests at home - Dad and Mom's friends Simon & Linda had dropped in from Yeovil and were staying with us over the weekend. Simon loves a hot curry and that was the theme of the weekend. Mom probably outdid herself with her Paneer Kadai and Tawe ki Subzi.

Consistent with the theme, I had my first curry too - I had mashed vegetables adequately spiced for my age. I really enjoyed it - you can take someone out of India, you cannot take India out of him.

I have been quite fidgety and playful this last week or so. I jump for my toys from my seat, I slide down from people carrying me, I twist and turn around when I am lying on the bed - you get the picture. I have also discovered how loud my voice can be and am exploring it to its full effect. I enjoy blowing raspberries at everyone - somehow dad and mom are not too amused with it. Mom fears that what she saw as the innocent little boy is on his way to become an imp.

Too right mom !!