WFH

Mami was on unplanned leave on 25^th- Monday. I did not have any other option other than to work from home and with no one else to assist, it ended up in a disaster. Chittu thought it was a Sunday and wanted me to spend the entire time with her playing. If I leave her for a minute also, she started crying. And it was a challenge to keep her in the lap and work as she was keen in working on the laptop on my behalf with her own masterpiece keystrokes. To top it all, it being a Monday, I had a whole lot of deliverables and calls to attend. The sweet girl who used to sleep for 4 hrs straight after having pappu mammu at 9 in the morning did not sleep for even 2 hrs continuously. Same thing happened in the afternoon too, when I expected her to sleep for 2 hrs and she promptly got up in less than an hr. God only knows how I managed to push that day! It was so damn tough. And I decided then, that I am not going to take work from home option without a support. I seriously don’t know how people in the US manage this. Hats off to them!!

Today also mami is on leave – but this a planned one. I had taken WFH today too, but, I made S mama come over and take care of Chittu. I fed her in time and played with her in the little breaks that I took and things were a little better today. Thanks a ton Bro!

Tidbit updates – There is another 2^nd tiny white sprout on her lower jaw. She is in a biting spree now…and it hurts! I don’t know what we are going to do if she starts biting with fully grown milk teeth. Hope she doesn’t have her mom’s genes on this front. I am quite famous in the household for my bites that my chithis and athais talk about it in every family get together even after 25 odd years. Chittu is also biting her big toe – from 18^th June to be precise (I had a photograph to cross check the date J)This was something which I had been expecting her to do for quite sometime now – The Vadapathra sai / aalilai krishnar posture as I call it. She is the first baby whom I saw doing this act. All others, I had only heard. She was actually doing it occasionally since May, but it wasn’t perfect. Rather than lifting the leg, she used to lift her head. But now she does it in a picture perfect manner.

In the last week of June, Chittu had a terrible rash problem. It wasn’t a diaper rash. Actually, on a particular day, she pooped many times (though the consistency was normal) and because of that, what started as a dark reddish pink spot developed and became a severe rash. I don’t know what stopped me, but I did not go to the doc immediately for this. Actually the visit was due on July 2^nd – which was like a week from then. So I was ready to wait. And as per A&A’s advice in one of the previous posts, I liberally applied Vaseline many times a day for almost 5 days continuously. By the time we went to the doc, the rashes were almost gone. However, I explained it to her and as a preventive mechanism got a cream prescribed to cure it, if at all we face such a situation in future. We saw the photos taken in Guruvayoor during the Annapraasanam. They have come out very well and Chittu has a photogenic face J My colleagues from office came home to see Chittu. They had bought her a beautiful party frock and it looks damn good on her. When they were here, cameras were continuously flashing and a number of pictures have been taken. She played freely with them and they also enjoyed a great deal. Chittu in general has a soodu udambu. Most of the times her body temperature is .02 degrees above normal and by the time I decide to give her Crocin, it would cool down. Any new person lifting her would say “udambu konja sudra maadhiri irukke?” Initially I used to get panicked, but now I know that it is actually not fever but just body heat.

Ok, got an early morning flight to catch and we have to leave by 2.45 AM. I am thinking of not sleeping at all because, as I type this at 9.15 PM, Chittu is fast asleep on my lap for the past 45 mins or so and this is untime for her nap (which she rarely does). I am sure by the time she gets up and goes back to her 2^nd round of sleep, it will be 1. And the time would just be enough to get ready, prepare something for Chittu, pack and start. We will be back on Saturday early morning. This is Chittu’s first flight journey. And majority of the time, we will be travelling on road during this trip. Not sure how she would behave. Hope things are smooth as her first train journey to Guruvayoor. Let us see!!

Sit, Stand, Crawl, Shout, Speak & Bite

When you write after a very long time, you tend to miss out some information inspite of your super duper memory power. That is what had happened with me. When I re-read my earlier “Vandhuttomla” posts, I realized that I haven’t covered a few updates. And here I am trying to cover up everything till date.

The way S mama’s “Cho chweet” provoked non-stop laughter in Chittu, the same thing happened for “ellam nee than”, “chill chill chill”, “oops…oops”, “Twaing…pishku” etc. But none of these lasted for more than a few hours. If you expect her to laugh the same way for any of these in a matter of 3 hours, she won’t. The charm for that phrase would be lost by then.  If she is holds onto something and starts chewing it up (like the power chord of laptop, clothes, S’s leather belt, unclean items, etc) and we lift her thinking that we are taking her away form it, the chaalu girl would tightly hold on to it and lifting her from that place wouldn’t serve the purpose. The talent of scanning the floor and “porukki pottufying” continues with increased fondness. S says, because she is closer to the floor, she is getting a zoomed view of those tiny objects. Door stoppers are her favourite and she loves pulling them up and pushing them down. One of us continuously assume the duty of overlooking her always so that she doesn’t eat anything from the floor or hurt herself with the doorstopper / getting hit in the centre table / chair. Chittu’s hair has grown a lot and she adornes a cute single Krishnar kudumi most of the times. She can now shout like anything at the top of her voice, we call it “adi thondaila irundhu katharadhu”. She does this frequently and ends up with dry cough. If she has set a target is moving towards it and we try to divert her in between with something else, she doesn’t pay attention to it and would cleverly bypass it. It is amazing and scary at the same time, that at this age, this girl knows what she wants to do!! Also off late, she shows signs of being stubborn and adamant – adam as we call it. When we stop her from doing something, she scolds us in her own language.

Apart from boiled rice kanji, Chittu has started taking Raagi kanji with milk & sugar, Boiled veggies (beans, potato, carrot, tomato with a tinge of salt, pepper, jeera powder and dhal) and Idly (with rasam / milk & sugar / dhal) Chittu’s 7^th month review got clubbed with the visit to doc for her fever / puking on June 2^nd. So I took her for 8^th month review on July 2^nd. We were supposed to start at 2.45 PM, but I had misplaced her health record and searched for it throughout the house only to find it in the usual place at 3.55. We rushed to the doctor’s clinic as she would leave by 4. Chittu’s weight gain was not as expected. She is underweight. Her weight at 7 months = What was expected at the 6^th month. However Dr.S said as long as she is active and playing, there is nothing to worry. She also prescribed Nestum Rice as an interim food for our Guruvayoor trip. After Annapraasanam we are giving dhal rice aka pappu mammu with ghee and little rasam or sambar thelivu. Chittu is taking it well. I am also planning to give her Pongal, Aavin milk and boiled apple, though the doc hasn't prescribed it yet.

We went for M akka’s wedding on June 19^th and 20^th. It was a grand ceremony and it was an inspiration for me as to how to conduct Chittu’s wedding 22 odd years from now J Someone or the other was carrying Chittu always and she had a good time. She had the vethu mugam syndrome with some, but gelled well with others. She had her own criterion set for it. Both the days, I got up early in the morning and prepared veggies, kanji and idly for her and packed it. It took solid one hour to cook and pack. M akka’s dad had sent us a Logan for our use on these two days and it was very comfortable. Thanks A aNNa!

Chittu met 4 very important milestones in the past 2 months. The title actually sums it all. Below are detailed descriptions in the order in which they happened   

Chittu can sit all by herself. Earlier she was trying to do it by turning on the sides and pressing her hand firmly on the ground, but couldn’t accomplish it and fell down a couple of times. But once she started doing yaanai yaanai it became a comfortable posture for her and she sat in Vajrasana by end of June. She is now adept in sitting from sideways too.

Chittu can stand now with support J This is a big milestone for her. She was trying hard since the end of last month, trying to catch hold of the sofa, chair, centre table, etc and accomplished it by the first week of July. Since then, she has this “standing attraction” (nikkara paithiyam as I call it) trying to hold anything and everything from bottles which are shorter than her when she is in her sitting posture to our knees, clothes, etc etc. She even fell down 3-4 times and cried, but didn’t leave the try until she was successful and is a pro now.

Chittu is teething. Another significant achievement. It was S mama who found that out first during our Guruvayoor trip on 17^th July when I made fun of him saying it could be a bit of puzhungal arisi kanji she had a few minutes back. But he said when she bites, it hurts a bit. And when I checked the next day – yes, there it was, a minute sprout of a tiny tooth in her lower jaw. Now she feels like biting anything and everything and all items are teether for her.

Finally Chittu can crawl…Yaaaaay! Something she had been trying to do for quite sometime. From last week, she started crawling. She would crawl two steps and then switch over to moving on her tummy. But for the past 3 days, she is completely crawling. Slowly but steadily. Looks like she has forgotten to move on her tummy J Seeing the way she is crawling, thatha calls her “namma aathu singa kutti” J

On 26^th June - the original plan was to go to Mahalingapuram Iyappan temple and read Narayaneeyam, but the temple cancelled the parayaNam due to some reason and so we went to Singaperumal Kovil to darshan Paatalaadhri Narasimhar and ChettipuNyam to darshan Devanaatha perumal & Yoga Hayagreevar. From there we were off to Madhuramangalam – I conceived Chittu immediately after doing a prarthanai here, so I wanted to take her to that place at the earliest possible. We started from J paati’s house at 9 Am and by the time we visited SP Kovil and started from ChettipuNyam near Chengalpattu it was 11.45. Madhuramangalam temple which was near Kanchipuram would close by 1 PM. It was a challenge. In order not to take any chances we called up the priest there and requested him not to close the temple before we come. Thanks to him, he waited for us and we had a good darshan of Vaikunta perumaL, Thaayaar and Embaar (brother of Ramanujar).

The new project which I have been assigned to is a migration of projects from the client side to our side. So we are having daily knowledge transition calls with those US clients from 6 – 8.30 PM. So my entire schedule became haywire. I go to office around 11.30 or 12 noon and I am back by 9 PM. The time I spend since I wake up till 11.30 is all that I get to spend with Chittu. By the time I am back, I am too tired and hungry and I have time only to change her and put her to sleep. Because maami leaves by 6.30 in the evening, J paati comes everyday after her office and takes care of Chittu until I am back. And after that she goes home. If not for J paati, I seriously don’ know how I could have managed all this. As soon as I am back from office, Chittu grins ear to ear, vigorously shakes her legs and comes rushing to me and refuses to go to anyone after that – including J paati & S. And I am back on my guilt ride for this helpless situation LAnd on top of it, we are not able to attend Baba haarthi for the past 2-3 weeks because of this extended work hours and I couldn’t do anything other than feeling bad about it L

I will have to go to the new far off office location from September 1^st onwards. So, after roaming around for almost 2 days in a particular weekend, we have found a rental house closer to J paati’s house which a mid point for both me and S. It is also near the railway station and makes it easier to commute for both of us. We will be shifting after mid of August. Infact, we have a flat in the same area. But I am not interested in disturbing my current tenants as they are a family who occupied the house this April and have a school going daughter for whom they recently arranged for school, van pick up, etc from that house. In the meantime we are also looking for a tenant to occupy our house here. I am planning to sell our sofa as I won’t be able to accommodate it in the new house and buy a 3 seater instead. Also there is no provision for window AC there and there is a space constraint for our dining table. So we will be leaving both in this house for the new tenants to use and maintain. Hope we get a good tenant and a prospective buyer for the sofa.

Chittu’s feeding bottle that V athai got for her during the puNyavaajanam got melted – Courtesy: ME THE GREAT. I had put it in a vessel for sterilizing and thought the vessel was a little small, but because I was planning to stand by the side of the stove until the sterilization is over, didn’t bother to change it to a bigger one. That was when I got a call from my close friend A and completely forgot about the bottle. By the time I remembered and rushed to the kitchen, the bottle had come in contact with the hot vessel and melted. Later that day S mama went and bought another new Avent bottle.

She speaks a damn lot these days. The words are in coherence with her mood. When she is angry – it is “ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya”, when she cries it is “ma ammmmaaa”, when she is simply sitting and doing something it is “pa appa appa”, when she wants to call someone it is “ai ai ai”.

So, with this back to back post, we are up-to-date with Chittu’s diary. However we still have a backlog in Picasa as far as the photo upload is concerned and I hope to complete it by tomorrow. With my KT sessions getting over by end of July, I hope to do the updates properly. And we are planning to go to Shirdi on 28^th and 29^th July. Praying to Baba that everything goes on smoothly. So we will be back with another travelogue soon. Until then, buh-bye J

Guruvayoor - Annapraasanam (or) Choroonu, Thulabaaram & Narayaneeyam

Get up at 7.30 ish in the morning – Spend as much quality time as possible with Chittu – Get ready and go to office at 11.30 ish – Internal team meetings throughout the day - 6.30 to 8.30 PM IST attend US client meeting – come back to home at around 9 – have dinner and sleep at 10.30. That more or less sums up my week day. Weekends are spent rejuvenating myself to face another hectic week. So that is the reason for not updating Chittu’s Diary though there are loads to be written about my darling daughter. But I would like to write this post exclusively on our Guruvayoor trip – on this day, when Chittu has completed her 8 months.

We had planned Chittu’s Annapraasanam (Choroonu) quite sometime back and had booked the tickets for me, S, K paati, J paati, thatha and S mama in Allepey express. J paati and thatha had booked their respective office guest houses too for accomodation. We couldn’t celebrate any function for almost 2.5 years as we were mourning for someone or the other in the close family circle. All of that got over on July 3^rd and we were ready to start to Guruvayoor on 15^th July 2011. I wanted to kick-off with an abhishekam to PiLLayar and so arranged for it on 14^th July in our aasthaana piLLayar temple. I had a prarthanai of breaking 108 coconuts when S was in the hospital after his accident, almost 4 years back. So took this opportunity and completed that one too. I prepared a big list of what all to pack for Chittu and it helped a lot as I started packing on 15^th morning only - thanks to my office schedule.

The arrangement was – J paati, thatha and S mama would come directly to Central, S, K paati and Chittu would start from home in call taxi, pick me up at my office and we would catch up with my parents in the station. The call taxi that I had booked sodhappidifed and came almost half an hour late. S was tensed as 72 year K paati had to walk to the platform (if we don’t get the Senior citizens vehicle – which we actually didn’t get) we had to carry all luggages and Chittu and catch the train in time. So he took a rick and started from home even before the call taxi arrived. I joined them mid way and we entered the compartment just 10 minutes before the train moved. Chittu slept by 10.30 and was a darling until 1 AM. I was awake all that time and slowly my eyelids started drooping at 1 when Chittu got up and was in her peak playful mood and was shouting on the top of her voice, throwing away all the toys which were caught in time by me / J paati so that it didn’t hit our sleeping co-passengers.

By 2.30 or so, S mama said he would take care of Chittu and thankfully I was able to catch some sleep after that. We reached Thrissur station at 6.50 AM and one of thatha’s acquaintances had offered his Innova for our use. The driver Jeyan was very friendly and helped us out throughout our trip. We reached Guruvayoor and all women stayed in one guest house and the men stayed in the other. J paati had bought a new induction stove exclusively for preparing Chittu’s kanji during the trip. Also, we don’t get Aavin milk in Kerala. So, I had bought 2 Aavin tetra packets, which needs no refrigeration and can be used for 60 days until it is opened. Because of all these preparations, Chittu’s diet schedule did not get affected much (just that we couldn’t give her veggies and idly)

Our plan was to have a darshan, read Narayaneeyam in the chuttambalam (another prarthanai which I had during S’s hospitalization) and on day 2 –Annaprasanam and Thulabaram for Chittu. We had our breakfast in Hotel Krishna Bhavan (awesome home made idlys – I would recommend this place for breakfast and dinner for anyone visiting Guruvayoor) We entered the temple’s main entrance from the East Nada and enquired for darshan, when the security there asked us if Choroonu is done for Chittu. We said, we had planned it for the next day. That was when he told us that Chittu cannot be taken inside Sree Kovil (sanctum sanctorum) before that. We didn’t know about this custom. So, we thought that it was Guruvayoorappan’s wish to have Annaprasanam on the first day itself. I had bought a mallu style (off white color with golden zari) skirt and blouse for Chittu from Naidu Hall and thought would make Chittu wear that the next day. But as our plan was turned topsy turvy, rushed to a nearby shop and bought a mallu style frock. We made Chittu wear it directly in the shop and took her inside the temple. It was monsoon time in Kerala and was raining heavily. Thoughtfully I had taken an umbrella and it was damn useful throughout the trip.

J paati and thatha went to get the tickets and the rest of us were waiting in a small mandapam near the Thulabaram counter.  Almost 45 restless minutes passed by and they both came back with the tickets and said there was a serpentine queue for getting the ticket for Annapraasanam. Chittu slept well in that gap and was fresh and all ready to taste the first bite of rice. Just outside the Sreekovil entrance, on the right side near the kunnikuruvu uruLi, we were made to sit. Chittu sat on her dad’s lap and had aravanai paayasam, rice, pappadam, pachidi, kootu and vaazhapazham. She was a sweet heart and tasted all of those with all smiles. Since cameras and mobile phones are not allowed inside the temple, the temple photographers clicked the pictures for us and we got the CD from them (awaiting hard copies through speed post) The photographer assigned to us was kind enough to comply to all our requests (as to how we exactly wanted the photos) and we even took a group photo with Kesavan’s tusks in the back ground. Kesavan is an elephant – a parama bhagawathan, who was extremely close to Lord Guruvayoorappan and after his demise, his tusks adorne the entrance to Sree Kovil.

After Annapraasanam, we stood in the queue (which was short and moved pretty fast) for Thulabaram. We gave panchasaarai (Sugar) and pazham (Banana) as offering. We had taken a couple of snaps there too. It was almost 1 PM by then and for Choroonu, there was a free quick darshan allowed for the mother and baby. So, me and Chittu had our glimpse of our dear Guruvayoorappan and prayed to HIM. The last I had seen HIM was around 10 years back when I was doing my college. We saw him at close quarters, where we were allowed just before the steps that lead to the main deity. In the inner prakaram were Lord Ganapathy, Dasavatharam idols, Sesha sayana perumal with Sridevi having HIS head on her lap and Bhoodevi having HIS foot on her lap, Brahma from HIS naabhi, and all devas inscribed on the walls and Hanuman shrines. We joined the others after darshan and went to Brahmana samooham for lunch and retired to the room to take rest.

2^nd half of the day started at 4.30 PM. We went to the temple and our driver and thatha went to the Devaswom board office to meet an official who could help us for darshan. Thatha’s acquaintance (mentioned earlier) had already spoken to the officials and we were taken to a shorter VIP queue and had a serene darshan. This time around it wasn’t as close as our morning darshan. Just as we entered the Sree Kovil, we also saw the vathilmatam - platforms where Narayana Battathiri (who was affected by paralysis) was lying and rendered Narayaneeyam to get rid of his disease. Legend says that he sang one dasakam a day and by the end of 100 days, he was completely cured. We prayed to Sastha and Bhagavathi amman shrines in the chuttambalam and once we came out of the temple, we found it very hard to locate our driver. I still don’t remember how we survived before mobile phones became a part of our lives. From there we headed to Mammiyoor Shivan temple after dinner (Same Krishna Bhavan – home made dosas J). The sthala purana says that Lord Shiva gave permission for Guruvayoorappan to stay in Guruvayoor and the Guruvayoor trip is not complete without a visit to Mammiyoor. We came back to the guest house and all of us slept like a log.

Next day morning, we had our breakfast and went to Narayana Siras – temple pond and proceeded to the temple, searching for a place in Chuttambalam to sit and read Narayaneeyam. It was a Sunday and the temple was crowded than usual. The side (non-darshan) entrance, through which we entered freely the previous day, had a long queue on Sunday and it took 15 minutes to enter Chuttambalam. We searched and searched but couldn’t find a place in which we can sit throughout uninterrupted by the rains. Somehow thatha was not in for reading in Chuttambalam as he was scared if Chittu would poop in between and it could cause any hindrance. But me and J paati were stubborn as that was a prarthanai. Just then someone showed us a staircase near the West nada entrance (it was the backside of the main deity) and told us that we can read there too. When we went up, we saw 2 long halls with N number of Krishna idols. There was a discourse going on in one of these halls and the other one was empty. We entered this hall and started our parayanam at 9 AM. Our only aim was to complete all 100 dasakas by 1 PM. Chittu helped us a great deal by sleeping throughout and not disturbing us an iota. S mama took care of her during the short while she was playing. S gave her pre-prepared kanji when she was hungry. With all the assistance from everyone and with Guruvayoorappan’s blessings, we completed 90 dasakas by 12.30 PM.

We had arranged (with the Devaswom board official) for a special darshan at 12.30. So started from the mandapam and joined the VIP queue. Started from the 91^st dasakam while standing in the queue and when I was face to face with Guruvayoorappan I was in the 93^rd. After fervently praying to him for aayur aarogya sowkyam, went to the exact backside of the sanctum sanctorum and finished the remaining 7 dasakams there. I couldn’t control my tears for I had a nagging thought if I would be able to complete this when we started at 9. Guruvayoorappan not only helped us finish this but also gave me a chance to read in the inner prakaram of Sree kovil. I had goose bumps all over when I read the namaskara slokams (98^th dasakam – 10 slokas) and did the prostration. We were done by 1.30 PM and came out with complete satisfaction and absolute peace. We had lunch at Brahmana samooham, came back to the guest house, packed and were off to Thrissur. The return train was late by 1 hour and we reached Chennai at 7 AM the next morning and were at home by 7.45. Chittu was a highly co-operative kid and I am so proud of how my little angel was able to cope up situations. When Chittu grows up and becomes a little big of an understandable age, I want to take her & S with me for Nirmalyam / Vaagai Chaathu darshan. It is a wish which I am sure will get fulfilled by HIM J

When I look back at the trip, all I could see is the way how the omnipresent Guruvayoorappan guided us throughout

·         Change in plan. The temple was extremely crowded on Sunday. If we had Annaprasanam and Thulabaram on Sunday as initially planned, it would have left us tensed and exhausted as the queue was too long. Also, we were able to do the procedures in Aani month itself (Sunday was aadi maasa pirappu) rather than in Aadi

·         Getting a big hall exclusively for us to read Narayanaeeyam uninterruptedly was a miracle

·         Making us complete 100 dasakas in a record time of 4.5 hours and doing namaskara slokams in the inner prakaram

·         Making Chittu sleep on day 2 and helping us out in the parayanam

·         Thatha’s acquaintance, whom he has not even seen, assisting us with the vehicle and darshan

Tips for people visiting Guruvayoor

·         You don’t have to see Nakshatram / Thithi to do Annaprasanam or Thulabaram in Guruvayoor. Everything happens as per God’s will and wish.

·         Chorronu ticket costs Rs. 10 and can be done anytime when the Nada is open in the morning hours (upto 1 PM). You may need to give an amount as dakshina (of your wish) to the person performing it

·         The baby cannot be taken inside the Sree Kovil before Choroonu

·         Avoid Sundays

·         There is a non-darshan entrance through west nada (main entry point) and east nada (bhavavathy amman shrine side). Check that out if you want to enter the temple without darshan

·         Mother and baby are entitled for a free darshan after Choroonu. So retain the tickets with you

·         On any day other than Sundays, you can pay Rs. 250 per head and enter the VIP queue for a quick Darshan. There are people (near East nada shops) who have contacts in Devaswom board and make it possible unofficially. We came to know about this when we were waiting for our driver to come, when a person who looked like a broker, approached us and offered. But did not use this option.

·         Hotel Krishna Bhavan – here you get home made breakfast and dinner. It is in the East nada opposite to Akshaya tours and travels. When you come out of East Nada take the first left.

·         Brahmana samooham in East Nada – here you get free lunch for Brahmins. However, you need to book and get a token before 10 AM. You can pay whatever amount you wish as donation. A simple curry, kootu, sambar, rasam, buttermilk and Paal payasam prasadam is offered for lunch.

·         If your want to dress up your kid in mallu style, there are lots of shops that sell these just outside the temple at economic price, from where you can buy