History

This post is about a thought provoking comment letter that was read out in the local radio news this week.

A listener had written in to compare today's Iraq to pre-independence India in the 1940's!

My intitial reaction was "bah"! After some thought, I realized that the comment was right on!

Both the countries were/are in a state of unrest caused by civil disobedience.
Both countries plagued by attacks on the occupiers (Brits/Americans).
Both countries dealing with separatists within, thanks to divide and rule policies and a furthering of various local interests (in India it was Hindus vs. Muslims and in Iraq it is the different Muslim sects!)

The point that was made based on these similarities was :

1. The British decided India was no longer a place they could occupy!
2. They came up with an EXIT STRATEGY!!!!
3. They got out a few weeks ahead of schedule and Lord Mountbattern just pulled out and handed over control to the Indians.

This resulted in the following :
1. Indians were forced to react!
2. They formed a govenment and learnt to embrace democracy and developed a system realtime.
3. They did go through a painful partition with a lot of bloodshed to appease the separatists.

It took a few decades, but finally, they got their act together and are a major player in the modern world!!

So, an exit strategy today might not be a bad idea after all!

Who knows, history might do the one thing she is best at doing.

Repeat herself !?

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1 2 3 4

Baby at 1 year :

DeDa (daddy, yes.. it was her first word!)
sha (sock)
SHA (shoe)

Baby at 1 year and 3 months :

added Maa (mommy)
Mmmaa (grandma)
ka (elder sister)

Baby at 1 year and 4 months :

added Damma (falls down, break, get down .. basically down)
akka (elder sister correctly pronunced)
baa (bad girl)
kaaka (crow, or any generic bird)
bow (anything from a dog to a zebra on TV which walks on 4 legs)

At 1 year and 5 months :

akka baa (akka is a bad girl)
SHA damma (I have dropped my shoes)
(deda, ma, akka, Mmmaa) + (sha, SHA, kaakaa, bow)
Nooooo (with a nice sing song tone, worth mentioning considering it was Jr.'s first word).

At 1 year and 6 months :

Amma sha Damma (I just threw down mommy's sandals)
Deda akka baa (daddy, Jr. is being a bad girl)
Ma baa (mommy is a bad girl. so far everyone has been baa except deDa!)

Today : (1 year and 6 1/2 months)

Deda, maa, akka sha damma. akka baa ! (daddy, mommy, sister didnt wear her shoes, she is a bad girl).

We are having word fun, all over again, and enjoying every bit of it!

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Happy Mother's day!!

A belated mother's day wish to one and all, including my own mom!

This morning I called India and forgot to wish my mom and SIL a happy mother's day. Worse, I didnt call my sister at all. But we normally don't wish on mother's day in India and they do not hold it against me, or so I hope.

Jr. made mom the usual trinkets with "I love you mommy!" written all over, and needless to say the stuff was presented in a surprise party at the daycare. Somehow, I feel they could do a better surprise.

As for me, I had plans to be the nice husband for the day and failed. If I were to take today as a "mother's day exam", I got a 40%, a D- by my own admission.

1. I had an allergy attack. So enough said on that front.

2. Expected Jr. and baby to somehow understand "Mother's day" and co-operate with me on making mommy happy. What was I thinking ?! Jr., the drama queen that she is, was going at around 34.5 tantrums/hour this morning and she sprinkled it with 3 crying spells/hour.

Baby, not to be outdone decided to get her earing caught in Jr.'s bike helmet when no one was looking, and yanked her earing out of her ear! This was the gold one that we put during her ear piercing ceremony in India just three months ago. We have one broken earing (the stud split in two !), and a very sore baby ear. Needless to say, the whole street heard her wailing, the Mrs. screaming in shock and Jr. crying with guilt because somehow she knew that she had started the whole thing with the helmet.

3. I forgot to get the diaper bag! To a new reader of this blog, this might sound trivial and raise questions like: "So, he forgot the diaper bag! Big deal, People forget. So why even mention it ?".

Let me explain. If you quiz Jr. on the human body, she would say that a "man" has two hands, two legs, two eyes, 5 fingers/hand, one nose, one mouth and one diaper bag. Considering I am the only man in this house and also considering that the bag was attached to me like a body part, it is ironic that I should forget it today, of all days. What makes the situation even special is that baby decided to do her thing in the diaper when we were shopping for furniture! I got the "eye of the basilisk", from the Mrs. when she asked me about the bag!

Somehow, the evening was salvaged partly because my allergies worsened and the two mommies in the house decided to be more sympathetic, and also because I managed to make San's one wish come true. I got her a subway sandwich!

The woman does not ask for much, and I still disappoint. We did have our little moments though! I made breakfast, we got baby a new earing, saw Jr. and baby giggle away during our drive to subway and back, danced with the kids every chance we got, shopped for the kids, etc. etc.

My hope is that next year, mother's day should be a lot better because the kids will be older and might actually behave on that day as a special favor! and yours truly will watch what he eats a couple of days in advance.

Once again, Happy Mother's day to all those mommys out there! Without you, blokes like me don't have a chance.

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