Let me be frank and honest - the best thing, to me, about Slumdog Millionaire was that it was Siddharth's first ever visit to a cinema hall. My wife and I were so excited about taking him to the theatre, once we decided to do it with Slumdog Millionaire. We are also victims of the hype. Now I think we could have done with some other movie to mark his debut. One of my friends has been telling me that this movie getting so many awards is a con job. Today, I can't agree with him more.
Infact, I am shocked that it has won so many awards. Yes true, I don't know anything about the technical aspects of the movie. But, if it has won the Best Movie award, I have every right to doubt the other awards as well. By no means, this can be the best movie. Either all the awards were made-up or all the judges were completely blind and deaf. I was so happy for Rahman & Resul, but now I have second thoughts. I have no clue of why they have to make this up, but definitely this movie doesn't deserve so much. I myself have seen many more movies much better than this one - in terms of story, screenplay, music, etc., etc. You can't even dismiss it as 'D. It's written'. I am fairly sure Rahman himself would be baffled thinking why for this, when he has delivered many more marvellous songs and some extremely awe-inspiring background scores recently.
All in all, Slumdog Millionaire was very mediocre to me and you will agree if you think outside of all the hype and more so if you have listened to many more Rahman's scores. Not worth it!
Simple - along with my wife & son, we set out to Munnar in Kerala and got what very few can get - a holiday with home food. Yes, we happened to stay at our friend's house in Munnar and at the same time enjoy the beauty and nature of Munnar. It was such a huge bungalow and going around it seeing the plants, trees, flowers, mountains and smalls streaks of waterfalls was a separate holiday in itself. The mist covered mountains and the carpet-like tea plantations were a delight to watch. Before getting into the actuals of our holiday, it was really a much-needed break as I had really worked for almost 9 years now without a real long break. Needless to say, I was extremely excited. More so because, I was going to be driving my SX4 all through the kilometres we cover. I compiled a lot of song collections, hindi and tamil, and got them ready on CDs for the travel. Also, this was the first time I was going to drive in the ghats. More tension for my wife, but more excitement for me and it was all safe and fine in the end. Sid was also extremely excited about going to Munnar, though he had no clue of what he was going to see and enjoy - just a new place away from the routine for him. After a very good drive almost throughout the day, we reached my friend's bungalow towards the end of the day and had a good rest after a sumptuous home made dinner.
We spent the next four days at Munnar visiting various places which usual tourists don't get access to, thanks to my friend. We drove to the Kundale Gold Club amidst the picturesque tea-plantations, forests and waterfalls - more importantly away from the crowds. Enjoyed fresh carrots and the best part of the trip was yet to come. It came 2 days later when we drove deep into the forests, beyond Eravikulam National Park, on really very special permission to reach Gravel Banks. The drive was just fabulous - up and down the hills - sunny at times, misty at times, dark & shady at times - overall a superb experience to add to your holiday CV. Absolute solitude for the three of us as you could hardly see anyone. Infact, we came across more leeches and we had one getting onto each one of our legs. A scary place to go to, in terms of leeches, but worth the time and drive as the nature we got to see there was beyond words. Green grass, pristine waters, birds chirping, forests all around - I have seen these in movies and cartoons only before. This time it was all real, in front of our eyes and we couldn't even pinch ourselves as we were sure we weren't dreaming - we had to be alert to keep away from the leeches in the meadows. There was a hanging bridge too, though a small one, it was so nice to walk on it with water flowing below - again something I have seen only in movies until then. We also spent some time in the freezing waters and infact Sid even managed to catch a cold. We were lucky to catch hold of a tea-plantation employee there and got to know that bisons and ibexes can be sighted after late evenings there, even some wild monkeys and may be some elephants. Not a safe place to stay on and on, I had to drive back and I did, but honestly I did not feel like leaving the place at all. It was complete nature wherever we turned around, except for that little Sunlight Copper colored car which took us there. My soul still remains there, but the body is back to the concrete jungles to feed stomachs.
And I also had the privilege to visit the tea factory and saw the entire process of making tea from those green leaves. The shredding, fermenting and the various other processes were very interesting to know, but the overdose of tea smell was something that I didn't cherish much.
After Munnar, we drove through the beautiful landscapes watching more tea-plantations & waterfalls to reach Thekkady and enjoyed the exciting Elephant Ride and the boring boat ride in the lake to supposedly see a few wild animals, but just caught a few deers here and there. The Elephant Ride was worth every rupee spent, though you can argue better rides in Pattaya. Inhouse, this was fabulous and it was all the more exciting to see Sid enjoying thoroughly. We were taken for a ride on a male elephant for about half-an-hour and Sid also got to feed a pregnant elephant and took some photos very close with her. Spent the night at Hotel Ambadi after a delicious buffet at Cardamon County. Woke up for some shopping and headed to Madurai to visit a cousin for a day, before we got back to routine at Bangalore. After a lot of nature, met some loving people and also went into the Madurai market area just for the heck of it and I was reminded more of my beloved Trichy as I walked through those crowded streets. Spent two nights and then fastened our seat belts for the drive back home - home is home always, wherever it is. The drive back was a pleasure too accompanied by rains for most of the distance. The car looks like a dust-bin inside which would be cleaned only this weekend.
Obviously, I really had to push myself very hard to work on Monday when my mind and heart were refusing to come out of those pleasant green memories, infact still is. Probably for the first time in life, I took a long break and definitely for the first time since 1999, I was away from emails for 9 full days. Life was very different as I was in a www - world without www.
Got to know about slide.com through Maya and tried my first slideshow there. I tried with Sid to make sure that it looks good irrespective of the features.
Today was the first time, Siddharth was in school all by himself for three hours. It wasn't actually long for me, but too long for Laks who was almost in tears when we left him inside the play-school and escaped before he could realize that we are gone. Unfortunately, he knew it within a minute and rushed to the gate crying. But, we had to keep our hearts tough and turn back as he has to get used to it. Its already been a enough of play-schooling for Laks, as she was with him there for a week.
Laks kept calling the mobile of the lady who takes care of Sid there, but unluckily, the mobile was never picked. Later, we understood that he had stopped crying in a while and has gone to play with the kids. Again, he has spilt his snacks from the box and has eaten from another child. Since he was doing it last week, we decided to send him what the other child brought. But, that child also changed the snack and Sid was attracted to the new snack yet again. Now, I understand why some big branded schools don't allow snacks from home and provide their own stuff to all children. Later, we learnt that he has enjoyed his day there and the irony is that he wasn't willing to come back home when Laks went to pick him up at 12 noon. It seems, he was so engrossed in playing outdoors and even bid a bye to her as he wanted to continue playing with the kids.
I just couldn't imagine that Sid has grown up so much that he has started to go to a play-school. The nurse holding him and me seeing him for the first time is still fresh in my minds and its been more than 25 months since. Time flies, but with Sid, time rockets even faster.
I was forced to agree to one mottai for my son, though I was against the idea initially. Along with the mottai trip, I had promised to take my wife to as many temples as possible, as she has never travelled much before and hasn't seen places. This year, we decided to dedicate the outing to temples and make it a pilgrimage. Again, I am not a very religious/pious person - infact, I am agnostic. I was completely comfortable with the tag of a glorified driver for the entire trip and I loved to drive my new Maruti Swift all along the 1018 kilometres we travelled to visit many temples, which actually counted up to 34 temples. Many friends & relatives wondered (still wonder), how did Ganesh visit so many temples. I should attribute it to my wife, as I was happy to take her wherever she wanted to go. Though, I didn't do the real worship as others do in those temples, I enjoyed all those stories in the form of sthala puranams. Almost every priest in each one of these temples seemed to say that their temple was the most sacred of all and you get to wash away all sins by offering prayers there. Oh, what an easy way to wipe off our faux pas. Let there be Gods or not, but I certainly believe that going to many temples and by offering prayers and money, one will not be relieved of their sinful acts.
I should also not forget to tell you that I relished the calm and quiet atmosphere and tranquility of some of those temples along with the ancient architectural beauts.
Very quietly, Siddharth got past his 1st birthday last week. There were no parties, no cake-cuttings, no special sweets - though my wife took him to the temple in the morning. I had time to write about him reaching 100 days on the day he reached, but now work has increased and I don't find much time to blog. The Ayush Homam happened on Nov 29, though the real birthday is Dec 9.
Our lives have really changed in the last one year. We have enjoyed a lot of joyous & happy moments during this time. When I am very tired and really want to take rest and sleep is when his playtime starts and it is such a wonderful feeling to sacrifice rest and play with him - it helps me burn calories too. Whenever we are out, just the thought that Sid is back home when we get back brings smiles in the heart. The way he smiles on seeing me when I am back from office, even late in the night is divine. To call him paapa sir is something I would love to do all the time. The different postures of his sleeping, his playing with the red helmet and there are lots & lots more, which I may fail to key down right now, but they never cease to fascinate & mesmerize me when Sid does them. The way he gets destructive with his toys and the tub and the way he throws all the toys insouciantly is a delight to watch. I am still not able to figure out if he is left-handed or right-handed, as he uses his left hand when he throws with disdain. If someone who reads this know when a person becomes a particular handed, please leave a comment.
Sid started of with Jaagruthi's dresses and now thankfully, Prabhu and Madhuri send a lot of dresses for him from the US of A and Sid looks exceedingly cute and precious to our eyes atleast. I, infact, have a separate day-wise blog for Sid and there is already some pressure on me to stop it to be a daily.
Read the title again, it (in)directly would tell you that I am the King!
Almost everyone whom I knew was against me when I wanted to name my son, Dravid. Eventhough my wife agreed to it (probably for my sake), we went with the name Siddharth which was 1 on her list and on my brother's list, but last in my list of 2. Now, Siddharth/Sid has fit him and he is a delight to be with. As any parents would, we love him for whatever he does and the name isn't a worry at all and don't complain about my son being Siddharth, though I would have loved it to be Dravid still.
Isn't in my mind too these days much, but was reminded of it when I read about Walid Elias Kai who lives in Sweden who has named his son after something he really adores. Probably, the company can start to pay royalty to them. Some pictures of Kai's son here. Hats off Walid !
Its been a year since I moved to this work and I have seen lots of ups and downs in this one year here. New responsibilities and new letdowns - its all been there. I love it for some reason beyond explanation though my complaints supersede everything at times. Yes, as I had said last year, the world has been slightly different with respect to work, but my personal world has completely changed since the arrival of Sid.
Last weekend, Sid experienced his first train journey as Laks, Sid & I accompanied Madhuri & Rahul to Bangalore. All of us left on the Friday (Jun 24) night and spent five good days there. We happened to do a lot of shopping, eat out and also spent an evening with Jagadish, Krithika & Jaagruthi. Everything was so pleasant with Anu and Abhi playing the perfect courteous host by tolerating the chaos and pandemonium we were creating at their home. Amidst all this, Sid quietly got past his double century on Sunday (Jun 26) - here is how he got to his hundred.
When we left, the biggest worry to Laks & me was how would Siddharth cope with the train travel. What if he cries all night? What if he doesn't sleep at all? We were anyway prepared to sit up all night if he refused to sleep as long as he doesn't cry and make us a big disturbance to the other passengers. Sid, being such a nice child that he has been all these days, never troubled us and slept all night peacefully in the train eventhough the train was late by more than an hour to reach Bangalore. It was a great relief to us and we didn't worry at all about the return when he again zero-troubled us. It was actually, Laks, Madhuri & me who didn't sleep for a long time in the train as we were very busy talking, talking, talking,...
The apartment where we stayed and the Bangalore climate fascinated us a lot - not a drop of sweat was felt, though it was quite sunny at times. Needless to say, that we enjoyed Madhuri's company and were laughing happily making all the fun in the world. It was wondrous to have Rahul & Sid together and enjoy their childics, though Rahul's possessiveness hurt Sid at times. We also spent a day at The Forum where Shankar also joined us for the lunch and fun.
It was very tough for me to get out of the holiday mood and get back to work on Thursday. But, I have lived up and has spent 2 good days at work though I am waiting for the weekend to come sooner.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I have now started to wear a five face rudraksha which I bought in Bangalore.
Last weekend, Sid had his first long outing as we went to Pondicherry to attend Peripa's Sashtiabdhapoorthi. It was a good get-together of all cousins and relatives. The only noted absentees were Prabhu and Madhuri, who couldn't make it from the US and I felt they really missed a lot of fun - actually, it would have been more fun had they been around. Anyways, it was a nice little break from the normal Chennai weekends, though it was a bit tiring in the heat and sweat. Almost everybody there was fascinated by Sid as most of them were seeing him for the first time. People are infact asking us to come to Pondy again this weekend. Vijay is even prepared to bear the cab expenses. We haven't decided yet, though.
One glaring change was that I used to be running around along with kids at such get-togethers, but now the times have changed and I was a bit old watching the next generation run and play around.
A landmark today - Siddharth is 100 days old today. The sheer delight he has added to our lives since Dec. 9 in just unexplainable and I run out of adjectives to explain his acts and plays. I am even criticised by Prabhu and Jagadish for not talking about how Sid behaves and plays. Actually, I am in total awe and really don't know how to explain Sid's activities to people living away.
Sid smiles at almost everyone and even if he doesn't, people don't complain. He sleeps whenever he wants bothering about nothing and when he is awake, he has his own language for his babbles, but is still understood. Sid can kick and hit anybody and no one is hurt. Without any reason, he exults and leaves others envying his cute little face with those wonderful lips, eyes, cheeks, etc. He keeps smiling which suddenly turns into a weep without a drop of a tear, but it soon vanishes. Sid just spreads loveliness all over the place and its so nice to be a child like him holding zero grudges. Every child might do these things and it would be wonderful for those who are concerned. To Laks and me, Sid's actions & antics are super-special - obviously !
The flute and lute are sweet they say Deaf to baby's babble's lay !
Laks & I, now completely understand what that thirukkural means. Yes, the sounds that come out of Sid's mouth is the best music we have ever heard in our lives. He has so many words which defy all logics and the way he expresses his feelings without actual words is absolutely awesome.
Now, catch a glimpse of how Siddharth looked 15 minutes after he was born and how he looks today on his first century !
Life's getting too exciting these days with Siddharth around. He has slowly started to recognize me as well in addition to Laks & his paati. If there are Gods, they certainly would be coming down to earth just to see Siddharth smile - its so heavenly. He doesn't give us a smile or two, he does it more and keeps all of us immersed in joy. Further more, he has started to utter a few meaningful words like 'iiiinnnnnggghha', 'aaaauuuuwwwwhhh' etc. I really feel for Prabhu who is missing all these lovely little things, but he will have his chance soon as he would be losing his bachelor's degree in June 2005. Along with Prabhu, there are few others who happen to miss Siddharth and his loveliness - some for valid reasons, some for reasons which can't even be termed as one and some for the contempt on me.
I really hate it when I have to step out for work or anything else and be away from him. But, I am afterall the dad and not the mum to spend all the time with Sid. His limb movements are another delight to watch. I term them right arm legspin or left arm seamers out of my passion and others give me a stare for that. Whatever, its so fantabulous to get engaged into. His adjectiveless postures of sleeping makes me crush him to plant a kiss or two and Laks promptly shouts at me for disturbing his sleep !
Sid's sleeping schedules are as peculiar as any other child and keeps Laks & his paati awake during nights and he happily sleeps during the day time. He prefers to sleep on people's laps rather than the cushion beds. And already he has more dresses than me & Laks with lots of new dresses bought by a lot of people (major share held by Pavithra) and a lots of dresses from Jaagruthi and Athithi - yes, girl babies - they have outgrown their dresses now. Even Sid is starting to grow and quite fast at that as many shirts which looked cute and fitting last month , now look just cute !
Yesterday (Dec 9, 2004) was such an important day in my life when Laks & I were promoted as parents from a couple. We have decided to name our son, Siddharth, as preferred by Prabhu & Laks, though I had a 60-40 (or is it 90-10?) dilemma between Dravid and Siddharth. More about him soon.
Let me be frank and honest - the best thing, to me, about Slumdog Millionaire was that it was Siddharth's first ever visit to a cinema hall. My wife and I were so excited about taking him to the theatre, once we decided to do it with Slumdog Millionaire. We are also victims of the hype. Now I think we could have done with some other movie to mark his debut. One of my friends has been telling me that this movie getting so many awards is a con job. Today, I can't agree with him more.
