All for a swim, without getting soaked

Siddarth went for his first swim class Wednesday. I couldn't go with him; so, no ’live’ pictures of the proceedings. But managed some shots of Siddarth getting ready for his first plunge into the pool.


From what I heard from his daddy Siddarth first swim class wound up with a treat – an ice-cream. That is what his dad had promised, if Siddarth stayed in water through the hour long session. He did, but not without some persuasive bribe - a ball and a toy-boat for him to play with while in water; and the promise of an ice-cream after the class. The swim school management have, thoughtfully, set up an ice-cream vending machine at the poolside.

I have no doubt Siddarth would have taken to swimmig, like duck to water, if only there is a way of learning to swim without having to get soaked. For all you know, cross Channel swimmer Mihir Sen might have thought so too, when he was two years and a half.

At soccer school

Siddarth was up and ready an hour early for the 9 a m soccer training. His mom dressed him up for the occasion.
It was a massive indoor sports facility, where training sessions can be held simultaneously for four age-groups, between 18 months and 9 years. Siddarth is signed up in Group ‘D’ (below which there is no group), in which one of the parents is allowed into the green turf. In the case of higher age-groups parents can watch the training session from behind a glass-wall.
These long shots look hazy because there were taken from behind the glass screen, as I wateched the proceedings from the spectators' bench. Siddarth and ten other determined trainees, and their accompanying parents, were coached by teenager ‘Tony’, who could have stepped out of the cast of girls who play soccer in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it Like Beckhem.
Siddarth with his coach
– Signing up for the training session.

What next, Nikhil?

It appears some children don’t need to be on their knees before they try to get on their feet. Eight-month old Nikhil is here on his feet and hands.

Where does he go from here, I wonder. I don’t see him sitting unless he learns to buckle his knees; nor can he move forward, on all fours, with his head down. This is, what I would call, a nowhere posture. I am no expert in these matters, but a natural progression ought to be for him to sit and then crawl before he stands on his feet.

Before he gets down to the three-step posture.In the last two shots he is down on his stomach, and understandably frustrated; for he can’t get himself to stand up, let alone move ahead on his feet and hands. Oliver Goldsmith wrote She Stoops to Conquer; my mantra for Nikhil – ‘he needs to crawl to get ahead’. Literally; and, in a figurative sense, when he comes of age,especially,if he wants to be in politics.

Life imitates TV

Wonder if you have noticed that children, at times, don’t take cognizance of a real thing until they see it on TV. I showed Siddarth the other day a snail on the walkway to our neighborhood park. He wasn’t impressed.

Yesterday when they showed a snail on TV – Baby First channel – our young friend was excited – ‘Look, it is on TV, thatha’. I reckon his new-found enthusiasm would make him pay more attention when we confront a snail at the park the next time.

That TV image is reality for him is illustrated by his passion for Lightning Macqueen. There is no such race car in reality. It is an image conjured up by Walt Disney studios. Siddarth has this propensity to morph into Lightning Macqueen whenever he is out in the park.– ‘I’m a race car; I always go fast’



If you are Lightning Macqueen, what am I, Siddarth, I ask.

‘You’re Tec’, he says. Tec is a tractor in a Baby First serial.

Father & Son at Work

Siddarth now does it in the ‘big boy’ potty. While at it he prefers to have daddy for company; daddy settles down in the closet with his Blackberry. Makes a pretty picture, doesn’t it?

Related item: Doing(it) without diapers: a grandpa's perspective.

Temple visit

They are dressed for the temple – Nikhil & Siddarth.

Siddarth, who has this inexplicable brand loyalty to GAP, is persuaded by his mom to make an exception whenever the family goes on an outing to a temple – which is once or twice a month. My wife and I were flattered to learn that Siddarth condescended to wear this dresswhen he was told that it was a gift to him from Mysore patti-thatha; and they would be pleased to see him wearing it.

Nikhil isn’t old enough yet, to acquire a dress sense. When I see him in this outfitI am reminded of the Chotiwalah eating house on the river bank at Rishikesh. Visitors to this place are greeted at the entrance by a pot-bellied panditji in dhoti worn in panchakachan style.(like Nikhil here). The Chotiwalah figure to this Rishikesh eating-house is its brand image, like the Maharaja to Air-India.

We rounded off the Sunday outing with lunch at Spice Hut, San Jose.

At the temple Siddarth poured milk over Shiva idol – it was fun, giving God a bath (a car-wash in Siddarth's terminology). Our young friend is programmed to spend a few minutes to recite a sloka in the presence of a deity at puja-room in his home or at a temple.

As we came out of the Lakshmi Ganapathy Temple,San Jose, Siddarth wanted to go to Livermore Temple. He said he liked it better. Why? Because, said our friend, ‘they give laddu in there (Livermore)’.

Madhuri Aunty dance like me, thatha

So says Siddarth, spinning round the living room to a Madhuri Dixit dance video. I don't usually contest his utterances. I don't think she would either, if she knows how much of her fan he is.

My camera work doesn’t do justice to his dance.

Siddarth’s Bollywood dance routine is a daily after-dinner event, unless of course our young friend has prep-school the next morning. He goes to school thrice (at times, only two days) a week.

Siddarth is such a Madhuri fan that he wouldn’t dance to anyone else’s number. Aaja Nachle is his favourite.


Ms Dixit may charge royalty, if only she gets to know that we often use her name to persuade Siddarth to finish his carrot-rice (something he finds particularly unpalatable). A mere mention that Madhuri Aunty loves carrot-rice works wonders. Ditto, for oat-meal – ‘Madhuri Aunty eats it to become strong’.

At breakfast at this Danville restaurant his daddy let it be known that the aunty at the cash counter would give Siddarth a lollypop, if he finishes his pancake. For effect, he added Madhuri Aunty loves syrup with her pancake at this place. After a mouthful our young friend asks daddy if Madhuri Aunty gets lollypop for having her pancake.

Milestone: July 2008

Every 16th is a birthday of sorts for Siddarth and Nikhil. The baby of the family completes eight months; his big bro, two years and seven months. Their parents hardly need an excuse; any pretext would do when it comes to celebrating the little ones.

Siddarth in contemplation, presumably, about things he would do on the morning outing.

Nikhil, fastened in his car-seat, always ready for an outing.

Siddarth spent a while at the San Ramon Borders, playing with books – you know, the ones on wheels that can be read as well as driven.Got bored in some 20 minutes; came out of the book store to play around the small fountain.Racing his newly acquired car book, round and round the fountain, our friend tumbled, with his face smack on the cobbled floor. He wound up with a minor cut in his lower lip.

Nikhil was away shpping with his mom and grandma at the nearby Whole Foods store.

Nikhil, July 16, on completion of eight months in age.

Incidentally, we – my wife and I – are mid-way through our US visit; came here on May 16.

Scaring me with his dinosaurs book

Siddarth may have his fears – see Vennai vetti sepoy – but dinosaurs are not among them. For one thing, they have been dead for a million years. For another, he has been told by his mom that these menacing creatures don’t jump out of his dinosaurs book. And Siddarth believes I don’t know this.

So he ‘scares’ me by showing the chapter on Tyrannosaurus Rex. As Siddarth opens Page 18, the mighty jaws of this Rex creature open up and spring out of the page.And I act suitably scared. Our friend is thrilled to see my mouth ajar in horror; and eyes, popping out in panic.

Now and then Siddarth suggests, with mischief in his eyes, that we read the dinosaurs book. My resounding ‘No’ only strengthens his resolve to fetch the book; and open Page18, saying, as he does, ‘don’t be scared’. That’s cue enough for my horror act, much to the merriment of our friend.The dinosaurs book is now kept all the time in my bedroom, to spare Siddarth the trouble of having to go to his play-room downstairs to fetch the book, whenever he needs to scare me.