Round three of the matching salwars was unleashed today. The girls did not even bother to ask. They dressed up, went to the backyard and said "Daddy, where is your camera?"
We seem to have successfully created genetcially modified photogenic offspring!
Our first thought was that the pink was a little too bright. This one turned out to be the best!
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After a long time, a tag, thanks to Gauri, originally started by HBM, whose blog I had never read till this tag started.
A tag that was ciculating amongst the mommy blogs over the last one week. Read at least 12 posts on this chain on my blog reader, enjoyed all of them and just when I was thinking, "hmm why won't they include a few daddy's in this loop?", Gauri sends me an email.
The people who get this tag are Terri, Anu, Animom,
Swatantra,
violet,
and Witchyangel.. if she chooses to accept this tag and come back to blogging! Hey, one can always try...I know you read this blog every once in a while.
The rest of you that were obvious choices have either completed an entry, don't want to blog and only comment or have not declared to the world that they are soon to be mommies. That said,
Here is the first five things that came to mind when bringing Jr. and the little one to the brains foreground:
1. The little one comes running to me when I pick her up from school. The smile on her face when she comes and gives me a hug, the pride in her eyes as she looks back at her friends at the sharing table that says "He is my daddy and he loves me, see..." that has got to be way up in the top. Almost always makes my day. (jr. doesn't want to leave the playground these days, but she used to do the exact same thing three years ago). There is unconditional love there and sometimes makes me wonder if I was like this at 3 or 6 years of age. My parents told me, yes. I definitely love my parents, but this glow is something very special.
2. Watching the little darlings grow up and the challenges they throw me! Last night mom and grandma had gone to the airport to drop a cousin with clear instructions for me to put the kids to bed. That was when Jr. started wiggling her tooth. She spent the next forty five minutes in front of a mirror wiggling it and made me disappoint the ladies. It was so much fun watching her wallow in self toothery! (that is another thing I love about being a dad. get to coin terms like self-toothery)
The video taping finally distracted her and got her away from the mirror
3. The things they say and do that is just outright gorgeous, funny or ridiculous, but all of which end in a big hug or a kiss.
The on demand fake crying, the angry looks that melt into a smile, the tantrums that make mom's mood swings look like tyres on a rope from a banyan tree, the list just goes on..
4. The constant thought of these gorgeous creatures leaving us someday after they are all grown up. Dad's IQ in the eyes of his girls has fallen more steadily than the stock market over the last six years. The "Daddy you are sooo smart" has slowly given way to "You don't know anything daddy!" while his patent count has steadily increased and even online IQ scores seem to suggest otherwise.
Guess, IQ is in the I of the beholder.
5. The obsessiveness with which they support me. They are my biggest fans. They will defend me against anyone and everyone, including but not limited to mommy and grandma. If she feels that daddy is being cornered the little one goes to the extent of screaming "why don't you go cook or watch TV or something and leave my daddy alone!". Jr. will promptly redirect the ladies to their laptops and ask them to leave me alone. From reading this blog, to watching and appreciating the few things I cook, to admiring my music, they are really my biggest fans and somehow I never disappoint them.
What more could you ask for?
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Today a very well read and knowledgeble Chinese American Colleague (I know he is a US Citizen) told me "India is going to vote today, huh?". They are saying the Beejaaaypeee is going to come back! Aren't these the guys who persecute moslems?
I took him aside and told him that I don't get to vote in India because of my US Citizenship. Got to vote for Obama and that was enough for a lifetime.
Power corrupts. Absoulute power corrups absolutely.
(Most south Indian's attribute this quote to C.N. Annadurai. Apparently it is from Lord Acton)
So no one knows if Obama will end his term or terms with his integrity intact. Still one can always "hope". He is doing things right so far and hopefully will continue to steer change the right way.
That said, it appears as though almost all my desi blog buddies are resoundinly saying that this year going to the polls is a waste of time because all their options are the same and they don't believe anyone is worthy of a vote.
Some have gone far enough to say that the only reason they would walk to the polls is to tick on "I choose not to vote" to make sure someone else doesnt exercise the vote in their name to a standing candidate.
Based on my limited knowledge of today's Indian politics ,explanation to my colleague was :
Congress = pseudo secular communism
BJP = religious socialism
If you have a way of explaining what these two parties stand for in three words or less, do let me know.
Relatives are all just shrugging their shoulders on talking about voting. Their response is "Yaarukkavadhu votu pottu dhane daa aaganum?" (we have to vote for someone right?") and they try to choose the lesser of the two evils.
Democracy is something, isn't it?
So much of this world has been changed, destroyed, remade in the last decade, all in the name of spreading democracy and hundreds of millions of people who are all part of a very large democracy get to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Is democracy something worth losing so many lives across the globe, when politicians the world over seem to be poor choices?
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Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.