A difference this year!

No secret that this weekend is much anticipated in the Traveling Narayanan family!

This year, there is a twist. Daddy Narayanan will be on a plane for the most part of the Father's day and the 15th wedding anniversary. 

We did our usual "dinner at Chaat House" early and as a present to the kids, I bunked yoga today and spent the entire morning making "hama bead art" with them. It was their request! They had already worked on this the previous day and made the "secret present".. more Hamma bead art!

I tried to do some powerpoint template to fit some patterns on to the bead frames. They sensed that although my body was with them, my mind was in the Hot yoga room. It was a suggestion that I try to do a Yoga Logo for my project! 

In the process, the kids learned the concept of "resolution". If you dont have an entire box in one color, chances are the final product will look nothing like the logo! So we hunted for other pictures and they found an "AUM" symbol for me to work on.

Jr. ironed out the bead art to make the beads stick. For a second I was worried that the 20 year old iron had been compromised by this ironing session. The little one was honest enough to let me know that the mishap had happened the previous day when ironing on a carpet and I was not to blame!

San was glad to just see us relax, do art, play cards (the little one is now adept at playing Rummy) and other board games. 

My dad gave us his "advanced" wishes for our anniversary, over the phone and I told him "the one good thing you did in this life is get me married to Sangeetha. so if anything, congratulate yourself for a job well done!"

They say that if you have a perception that "time flies" , chances are, you are having good times. As kids we were taught that happiness tends to create a perception of time moving fast and sadness makes you feel time is moving too slowly. 

Cannot believe it has been 15 years!

Good Karma?!

Wishing everyone out there a happy father's day!

Pandora

There is only one thing worse than opening Pandora's box. That is opening her underwear closet instead.

Last thursday, a routine mission to pick up the little one from school turned eventful. There were TV crews outside the school and a dude thrust a mic in front of my face and said "Sir, what is your reaction to what is happening here?" and my response was "What IS happening here? I don't know" and walked in to the classroom.

The teacher tells me that the school is closed by the County because there is a probable case of swine flu in the school. Apparently some sick kid attended school on Mon/Tues and did not show up for school Wed/thursday and the school was going to close till May 11th!

Most of the parents were frustrated more than concerned by the school closure. They were all just hoping that their kids (who looked fine) would stay symptomless for another couple of days and then things were fine. Some parents told me that chances were, if our kid was infected she would be showing some symptoms already!

The little one jumped on me and kissed me all over my face. She gave it the extra saliva for the special occasion. That meant, if anyone was going to be quarantined with her, it would be me.

So we showered with extra care, waddled in germ killing lotions and stayed put indoors for hte most part over the weekend. No symptoms from anyone. That meant the family was safe but there was still no school.

Finally last night they figured out that if they request sick kids be kept at home, they can open the school. Now we are all back to our regular routine.

The headlines today?

"The responsibility is now on the parents who have to make sure they keep their kids at home for at least 7 days if the kid has a fever of 100 or above"

The responsibility was ALWAYS on the parents, irrespective of school being open or closed. It puts an even greater burden on more parents if the school is closed!

The little one is finally happy. To have a three year old ask you if "we are all going to die because of swine flu?" is very very difficult to handle.

Shouldn't kids be spared the panic?

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day - as told in Desi families!

We were driving around on sunday.

San asked Jr. "Tomorrow you dont have school. Do you know why?"

Jr.: It is Dr. King's birthday!

San : Who is Dr. King ? (For a second I was wondering why San was quizzing Jr. as I knew Jr. usually gives San a run for the money when it comes to facts)

Jr. : Dr. King is the guy who said "that's not fair!"

Me and San : Chuckling.."why did he say that?"

Jr.: In those days, white people had nice water fountains and all others had dirty fountains to drink from.. he said "thats not fair!" .. also the white people could sit in the front of the bus and the rest had to sit in the back and he said "that's not fair either!" and then he had a dream...

At this point, I was reallllly impressed with her school for teaching her all this. They have even shown the 5 and 6 year olds a video of the March in DC and the "I have a dream" speech from Dr. King!

San : what dream did he have?

Jr. : he had a dream that everyone can do anything they want!

San : Yes. But only after they are 18 years old!!

Jr. : Okay mommy! But when you are 10 years old , you can chew gum already! Right?

Me : Desperately trying to control laughter (telling San) "why do you have to corrupt the message!"

San : You can't just tell her she can do whatever she wants to do in the name of Martin Luther! She is a kid..

Now Jr. is having a dream!

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