Making faces, 'kothi'-like

 Don’t act like kothi , was their mommy’s   refrain  whenever Sidharth and Nikhi started jumping around in our house  with excitement, making funny faces. Children , I believe, tend to feel untethered when they have grandparents visiting them from India. Besides, it was the day  their school term ended . I got them clowning about in the play-room. As they saw me taking out my camera the boys made faces, determined to put up kothi-like pose for the camera. Kothi is Kannada term for a monkey. 
 I told them about a friend who made faces for a living. Irshad Panchatan , my friend from college days in  New Delhi , took to pontomime as a profession  and made it really big as pontomime artiste. He even founded a school for them in Europe. Now retired, Irshad lives in with his wife and daughter,
It has been a while since this blog has been updated. But then my posts here appear only when my wife and I visit  San Ramon to spend time with our grandsons.
My wife and I are pleased to see them grown up since our last vist one year back. Sidharth, 6, is leaving  kindergarten to join a public school this August. And we hear  his Montessori  school head is so satisfied  with his performance that he  would recommend Sidharth for admission to the second grade. Nikhil, 4, moves into kindergarten at San Ramon Montessori.  Both are belt-holders in Taikwando – the younger one has yellow, while Sidharth is brown belt.
Since  we last met the boys  I notice their passion for cars has given way to basket ball. They spend their regulated half-hour with family i-Pad watching NBA matches. Okklahoma Thunder is their flavour of the month, though the boys have a grudging admiration for Lebron James of Miami Heat , which isn't their fancied team in the current NBA series.