Ear problems run in the family

Ask mom and she will tell you that all my family members on my Dad's side have ear problems. Fia and Dada are notoriously hard at hearing leading to some very funny situations. Dad is no better - he can pick out faint sounds of music and recognize the tune, but cant hear television at normal volume. Probably operates at a different frequency than the rest of normal human beings.

Anyways, coming back to my ears. I have developed yet another ear infection and am going through an antiobiotics course. Its the third time I have had this ear infection in a year's time. By all counts thats 2 times too many. I hope this is the last one. It might explain why I hit my head sometimes.

In other news, I have moved up one class. Suddenly from being one of the older kids in the baby care section, I have become the youngest in age group 1.5 - 2 years section. I am not complaining though... I like mixing it with older guys.

Tomorrow is Pumpkin day. Happy Halloween.

A run of bad luck

Well, to begin with, it all started on Friday the 26th, which means double the bad luck of Friday the 13th.

I had one of my not so good days at nursery. Didnt eat well and then I had this chappie who came and bit me on my hand. I cried a bit,but was quiet soon after. One thing did make me smile - someone beat Rashmi kaki to it..:-)

I also had a bit of cough and cold and I am also getting a new molar. So I kept waking the whole night through, but finally the 24 hrs passed. Then I managed to pass on the bad luck to mom and dad.

On Saturday they went to Ikea to buy household items. They had a lot of things in mind and for the first time were able to agree on everything. You know what they say - if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Instead of buying my wardrobe, toychest, a futon, a dressing table and couple of side tables as per plan, we ended up empty handed. Ikea were out of stock on all those items. And if that wasnt enough, the train they took in the night developed a fault and they had to turn back to Croydon. Luckily we could stay with Ritesh uncle, Vandana Aunty and my new favorite friend Tamanna.



Tamanna is quite a girl. She is all of 3 years old but thought I was too small, cant walk, cant talk - so cant be fun. I must admit it took some time,but I showed what a versatile character I am. So what if I cant walk, I can out crawl anyone in the world. In fact, towards the later part of our stay, she was imitating my crawling. It takes time, but my charm works in the end.

I am glad the weekend is over finally and I wish we have less such weekends. But it was a character building one. In the words of Arsene Wenger " We are all a bit more mature and understanding now from our experiences".

I am mom's pumpkin pie

For Halloween, we have a fancy dress competition at the nursery. It is my first competition and my first taste of peer and parental pressure. I wouldnt have been looking forward to it, but I saw the pumpkin dress mom has bought for me. Wait for Halloween for the pics... I am going to look gorgeous.

In other news, Dad has gone Arsenal mad. He has had 2 successive visits to the Emirates stadium and his team won both matches. In fact, last night they demolished the opposition 7-0. Now Dad cant stop chanting Arsenal songs even on the streets. I am suitably embarassed by such mad behaviour.I am still waiting for the Theo t-shirt he has promised me - I guess I can join in the chanting after that. I am sure that if I fail to be an Arsenal fan, he will disown me.

I had a good start to the day after a good night's sleep. Such rare occassions need to be toasted. So cheers !!

14 months old

Yippeee... today is my 14th. Ho hum... its a same old day with the same old routine. But just like companies announce results, let me announce my progress in a true chart style.

The Artist formerly known as Varun

I always knew I had an artistic temperament. I can be broody and tentative or pleasant and receptive in my moods. This temperament was completely under control yesterday - after all I was going to see the works of those who have earned the right to one.

Yesterday, we went up to London to see the paintings at National Gallery. The funniest thing about this expensive country is that the best things to see are absolutely free whilst some of the most hyped and undeserving places charge an arm and a leg. Madame Tussauds take a bow.

The National Gallery has paintings from the 13th century upto the early 20th century. There are about 46 rooms full of paintings from masters such as Cezanne, Reubens, Van Gogh, Monet, Carvaggio, Da vinci and Picasso. It was a truly humbling experience to see some of the best works the world has known. Make it a point to visit this place whenever you visit London next.

Now here's your chance to make millions. Reuben's masterpiece "The massacre of the innocents" sold for £49.5 million in an auction. So you can well imagine the price one of my early works can fetch. You can have this work of art for absolutely free if you answer a simple question correctly.

What was the shape of my 1st year birthday cake ?

You will find the answer in one of my blog entries. Just write the answer as a comment to this blog and I will send it by post.

Oh and the piece of art is crayons on paper drawn with the same verve and intensity of Van Gogh. Go on, you know you want it.

What should my blog be about ?

I am not entirely sure of it at the moment. Currently, notes and events get jotted in a diary format to help me understand how I was when growing up.

But is it what I really want to know in latter life ? or do I want to know how people felt about me ? Should this blog address my history or should it address the history of my family members? Is this an opportunity for the world to know more about me or is this an opportunity for me to know more about people who matter to me ?

The answer is not simple. Instinctively I think its a mix of both. So occassionally, Dad and Mom will dive into their own history to give a bit of an insight into their world. I also propose to have guest blogs - Kalpesh Kaka has already started writing his own and I am sure Dad can arm twist him into writing a post for me. Dad was also contemplating ideas like conducting 10 questions with people who have known me but wont be able to contribute a post.

So, if you have suggestions about what this blog should focus on or any more ideas about what you want to hear about me - please leave your comments.

Grandpa... I know about your visits...

Here's how

25 visits between the dates 10-sep-2007 and 10-Oct-2007.

Of course, the visit also includes the ones made by Mittal Fia and Kalpesh Kaka. But I am sure its predominantly you. Keep reading and I will keep updating.

Incy Wincy Spider

From the Wikipedia
"It is often chanted rather than sung. Recitation of the rhyme is often combined with actions representing the words. For the first (and last) line, alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other. For "Down came the rain" hold both hands up and wiggle the fingers as you lower the hands. For "washed the spider out" sweep the hands to the side. For the third line bring both hands up and then to the sides to sweep out a semi-circle (the sun). Then wiggle the fingers upwards (to show the rain drying in the sun), and repeat the thumb/index finger movement to indicate the spider climbing up the spout"

Dad and Mom have been singing this to me for a while now. I recognize it so well that as soon as they start it, I put my hands up to show Incy Wincy Spider going up. And I also enact the "washed up" spider. Judging by the delight on their faces you would think I won the nobel prize or something equivalent.

There's also "Row Row your boat", which I learn at the nursery. I do the action of rowing the boat during the opening verse and increase the tempo with the line " Merrilly Merilly Merilly Merilly Life is but a dream". It is amusing to some people. They find it funnier still when I put my hands on my ears during the verse " If you see a crocodile, don’t forget to scream".

I feel self conscious by this adoration, but also feel a sense of pride. I must be doing something right if I can make my parents happy.

Mind you, it takes very little from me to make these two swell with pride.

Doctor....No

Would you consider a trip to the doctor a waste of time if you discovered nothing ? If so, then I wasted my time yesterday.

I had a follow up checkup on my ear infection that was discovered last week. I had also developed some rash all over my body probably as a side effect to the antibiotics and was very much present till yesterday morning. But surprisingly when mom picked me up in the evening to go to the doctor, it was all cleared up. The ear infection has healed as well - so thats cleared up too.

I have developed another bad habit - I sometimes start hitting my head. Dad and Mom ( and even the doctor) thought that it was due to the ear infection. However, I still keep doing it even after the infection has healed.

An old colleague of Dad shared his own experience - apparently this has to do with the alignment of the planes in my head. He suggested that I be taken to a chiropractor as was done for his daughter. Dad will observe for 1 week before taking a final decision on this one. Hope its not in favour of seeing yet another doctor.

Digital identity

I have a digital identity now, which I can use lifelong ( so long as I am willing to shell out $11 a year)

So, if you type in www.varun.gandhi.name on the browser, it should direct the URL to my website. Also, you can always send me an email on varun at gandhi.name

Its so cool !!

Climbing up in life

The need for padding up the place has increased even further. This morning I climbed up the stairs on my own.

Dad was upstairs getting ready for work and Mom had to rush upstairs to look for my medicine. They had left me at the fun table assuming that I would still be playing in and around the area.

But I like to sneak in the odd surprise every now and then. So when they heard my voice the next time around, I was already on the 4th stair and climbing up further. It was exhilarating stuff, although I couldnt quite manage the corner stairs.

Urban legends have it that Dad was a climber too when he was growing up. He used to get on top of those old style water tanks, and then with no clue about how to get down, he would start wailing loudly for someone to come and get him down.

Like father like son