Vennai vetti sepoy

My wife has a Tamil term – Vennai vetti sepoy - for the likes of Siddarth whose brave talk do not quite match action. He would talk of shooting the wind in a race car,but wouldn’t sit in a simulator car in the play area of the Pleasanton Mall.
Well, he sat in for this picture, but couldn’t wait to get off the car as it swung and swayed to simulate high-speed car movement.

Siddarth wouldn’t hear of giving the jeep a try, while Nikhil appeared to enjoy its rhythmic moment. He wouldn’t want to get off it.

In an earlier trip to the mall we shopped in vain for a cement-mix truck – Siddarth is crazy about trucks as well. We brought home a fire-truck, instead. However our friend wasn’t keen to get into the real thing, for a look-see into the inside of a fire engine. The county fire department brings a fire-truck for the thrill of children in any fair ground.

When he was an year earlier – 18 months – Siddarth used to look forward to Wednesdays, when the garbage truck came on its weekly round to collect trash from our place. But he wanted to watch truck from afar, with grandpa carrying him.

This is as close as he would get to a cement-mix truck, parked right in front of his house in San Ramon, CA.

Title of this post, translated literally, would read: Butter-slicing warrior.

Nikhil’s Annaprasna

It was Nikhil’s feed-ceremony; and elder brother Siddarth played a perfect host to the invited friends – Ankit, Dhruv and Aunsha. He was the first to dress up for the evening. And he made a last-minute call to friend ‘Joshi’.She couldn’t make it, though, for Nikhil’s Annaprasna. But then Siddarth’s friend Joshi isn’t a living entity, only a creation of his fertile imagination. Incidentally, the Joshi is a ‘she’.

A few words about friends who made it.

Ankit, a cousin, is too young for words; he speaks with his eyes. Ankit likes Siddarth, but loves his grandma more. He preferred to watch the proceedings of the evening from the secure lap of grandma Vaidehi.

Dhruv: Goes about his job rather quietly, without fuss or noise. Occasionally, we hear him calling out for ‘Daddy’, presumably, to ensure someone is around. His grand-father is usually there, at Drhuv’s beck and call. Says his grandson has a well ordered routine that starts at 6.30 in the morning; Dhruv goes to bed 9-ish, even during weekends. Unlike Siddarth, his friend Dhruv is enthusiastic about play-school. He gets ready without any prodding; and goes on his own to the garage to await his mom to take him to school, says grandma Shankari.

Anusha is more than a cousin;she's a friend to Siddarth. They were seen engaged in some serious conversation for much of the evening. When she broke away briefly, to present a Hawaiian item number at the living room, Siddarth didn’t want to be left behind. He did a brief dance number for the benefit of those who cared to watch. Siddarth is more into Bollywood numbers; Madhuri Dixit’s Aaja Nachle is a favourite with him.

Annaprasna was timed to Nikhil’s evening feed-time; The difference was in the menu, which included rice and payasam; What was more, relations and guests waited in line to feed him, each a spoonful. Nikhil appeared to relish what was on offer. That some milk items on the menu didn’t agree with him was quite another, if somewhat worrying, matter.

My favourite shot of the evening:

The rowdy in sun-glasses

Like all big brothers, Siddarth, at times, does some tough talking to Nikhil, when the latter picks on his toys. In such moments the big B gets close to Nikhil for an eye-ball-to-eyeball and sings out – ‘Not done, Nikhil’.
Siddarth striking a toughie pose, complete with sun-glasses.

But the real rowdy in the family is Nikhil. His response to the e-b-to-e-b confrontation is grab Siddarth's hair with both hands for a shake-down. These pictures show he can wear glasses as well as his big-B.My thought: the photos could be the ones of MGR, miniaturized. Dark glasses and the topa were his signature fixtures.

At the wheel

Siddarth’s first outing in his Ford Mustang didn’t turn out to be a dream run. The car didn't behave;wouldn’t stay on course.
It wasn’t like the mimic-drive Siddarth does in the park, where he races me in his fantasy‘Lightning Macqueen’.My role is to play a slow coach that is left way behind 'Lightning Mcqueen' in our race round the park.

The Ford Mustang in his garage is demanding, in the sense that the battery-run red convertible wouldn’t ‘behave’ unless Siddarth keeps his foot firmly on the accelerator; and his hands, on the wheel. And our friend has yet to master the skill to keep his foot down on the ‘gas-plate’ for more than 30 seconds at a time

So, Siddarth’s first outing, a short drive on our neighbourhood walkway in San Ramon, CA, was erratic. It was a let-down, considering that he has been looking forward to it for some weeks now.Though Siddarth acquired his Ford Mustang several weeks back he couldn’t take it out of the garage for want of a helmet. He had been told that if he took the car out on the roadside walkway without helmet, the ‘police aunty’ would come. The Ford Mustang was stuck, all Siddarth was allowed to do was tinker with it in the garage and show off his car to brother Nikhil.
When his daddy brought home a helmet the other day Siddarth was thrilled because he could now take his car out of the garage – ‘police aunty won’t come’. He is familiar with the police aunty. She once gave Siddarth’s grandpa a ticket for not wearing seat-belt while they were driving to the airport.

Prefers GAP to kurtha

My thought on this: Rahul Gandhi might have looked like this at Siddarth’s age, 30 months. His mom Meera tends to agree; my wife wouldn’t have her grandson compared to a politico, even if it is merely in terms of attire.

Meera likes to see her sons dress up for occasions, such as this one, for the ‘annaprasna’ of Siddarth’s brother Nikhil, seven months, this Saturday. This pictures were taken at a dress rehearsal, Tuesday.
When it comes to personal preference young Siddarth goes for a GAP t-shirt, full sleeves, giving rise to a mom-son disagreement, usually before a family outing.To give credit to my friend Siddarth, he invariably allows his mother to prevail. Tantrums are not his style.

Water-colour

Once in a while our young friend Siddarth, 30 months old, gets into a mood to mess up his hands with watercolours. This was the upshot.
Not quite the Sotheby material,perhaps; but then we found it fit for Siddarth's play-room gallery.


The artist striking a pose; and his cheer group holding up Siddarth's latest creation for this 'bralog' - braglog.