An Offering to Govinda ummachi

I have backlog again :) Is 5 months too much of a time to have umpteen number of updates? In general, in majority of the cases NO. But when you have a growing kid at home, it is a BIG YES. For those who have doubts, here we go - Graduating from speaking words to sentences, walking to non-stop running for hours together, carrying to insistence to walk without hold hands even in staircases and traffic prone roads, responding to situations, identifying relatives, recognizing voices over phone and having long tele-conversations, knowing how to use touch mobile and view photos, frequently switching ON & OFF the TV (thereby forcing us to put on a tape on the power button) and computer, konjifying other kids by hugging and kissing them, giving the remote to us and requesting for a cartoon channel, saying THANKS when we oblige to any of the requests, showing interest towards books & reading, picking up new words from adult conversations, two mottais, reciting slokas, expressing adamancy and a lot more!!!!  Now you bet J

After the Thinniyam mottai, life was going on in the usual pace with me & S office routine & Chittu’s evening trips to J paati’s place. The Apple Tree nursery rhymes CD is a superhit with Chittu that she knows every rhyme just by seeing the title slide. Reminds me, it has been a long time since we watched it and Youtube videos had overtaken. Time for a restart J We also started a new tradition of going to the nearby park – Jyothi nagar / Fountain park / CPKM local park. She loves the slide, jhoola and merry-go-round but is scared of see-saw. Most important of all, she loves to run around. With one of our help, she can climb the steps of the slide and slides down with a big grin only to be caught by us on the other end. She doesn’t have friends in the park and mostly enjoys alone. Once she met my super boss’ daughter there and they had a good time together. From then on, whenever we go to the park, she keeps searching for AKKA.

Ok, as far as the story goes, first let me start with the 3^rd mottai @ Tirumala. We went to TTD @ T Nagar and registered ourselves for Rs. 50 ticket against 14^th (evening) & 15^th April (morning). Accommodation was full so we decided to take care of it by ourselves. This time we decided not to eat out and packed everything right from raw rice, dhal, pressure cooker, ghee, podis, papad, salt to the usual Aavin Delight milk, sugar, Sunrise coffee powder sachets & induction stove. We started from home at 6 AM on 14^th morning. K paati felt the journey would be tedious and stayed at B athai’s house. NSK mama had office so he too opted out. So it was me, S, Chittu, J paati & thatha. We started by our Wagon R and Rajan was driving. Known for his super speed and super control, J paati had heart in mouth many a times as she was experiencing his driving for the very first time. To add fuel to the fire, speed breakers in Andhra did not have any white / yellow color paint on top of them and we could make out between roads and speed breakers only at a few mts distance. In one place, he also hit an Indica though the mistake from his side was only 10% and 90% blame was on the Indica’s driver. Luckily, our car didn’t have any problem other than a bent front number plate.  So finally we reached Tirupathi by 10 AM with a break in between for breakfast (packed idlys by J paati) First stop was at Tiruchanoor and we had a very good & serene darshan of Goddess Padmavathi with the Rs.100 ticket. We reached Tirumala by 12.30 PM. Kutty thatha had arranged for accommodation through his Andhra Bank tie-up and we got a room at Ahobila Math at just 10 minutes walkable distance from the temple. As soon as we reached the parking lot of Ahobila Math, Chittu vomited all over me. The hill climbing didn’t suit her. We got her cleaned up and I did a quick change and after lunch, we went for the first Darshan after visiting Varahaswami shrine who had given refuge to Govinda Ummachi (Lord Venkateswara) in Tirumala. The Darshan was pretty quick and we were out in 1.5 hours. Chittu looked at the temple elephant and this time around she was a little scared to get the BOP. We came back to the room and after dinner (packed rotis and subji…needless to say who prepared J)retired to bed.

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful. We woke up early and by 6.45 or so were there in mini kalyana katta (for those who are staying in the nearby maths) standing in the queue. At 8’o clock it was Chittu’s turn and she sat in S’s lap and cried non-stop throughout the tonsuring process – right from the beginning till the end. There was water problem in the math. When we reached, there was not a single drop of water. We requested the assistant there to get 2 buckets of hot water but he got only 1 and 3 of us had to take bath. We made trips from ground floor drinking water point (where water was still coming) to the room in 2^nd floor 3-4 times and got the jugs & waterbottles filled with water and somehow managed the show. J paati had prepared Pongal breakfast and lunch was also ready. We devoured the breakfast and went for the 2^nd Darshan. This time too we got to see the Lord of Wealth in 1.5 hours. While we were waiting in the queue for both the days, Chittu slept and woke up only when we reached the Mahadwaram and that was really a boon. Otherwise, in the crowd it would have been a marathon task to control her. While she slept peacefully, I put her on in my shoulder, kept my left hand around her leg to hold her and used my right hand as a shield in front of me so that nobody comes and falls on her as is the usual case with these queues. She kept saying “GOINDA GOINDA” whenever we asked her to. 15th April was anti polio day, so there was a counter inside the Mahadwaram where Chittu had her polio drops

We had been to Tirupathi many a times, but only this time we got to know about the shrine of Lord Narasimha in the first outer prakaram of the sanctum sanctorum. Also there is a stone where you can write your prayers and they are believed to be fulfilled. After a wonderful Darshan and whole hearted offering in the hundi, we came out after having sakkarai pongal / curd rice prasadam. J paati got the laddus for our ticket and we went back to the room, packed and started climbing down by 1 PM. There is a deer park on the way and we had a good look at the MAAN and took photographs too. Chittu was scared here also. Intentionally, I didn’t give anything for Chittu to eat as I was not sure if she would vomit again. But inspite of all the precautions, she puked when we had almost reached the plains. This time it was on thatha. We cleaned her up, stopped in a shady place for lunch and were back in Chennai by 6 PM with the same heart-in-mouth feeling :)

This is one of my best trips to Tirupathi barring that one water problem issue. Everything was so well planned and executed. Because we went on a weekend, we could have the Darshan from a very long distance only. A quick tip to people travelling from Chennai – Once you decide on the date, go to TTD @ T Nagar and get your thumb impression registered for Rs. 50 ticket (Sudarshanam). It is a kind of advance booking and there are a range of timings which are available for this ticket. You can select the time that you think would be convenient for you. If you go on a Tuesday / Wednesday, you can have laghu darshanam where in you can get even closer to the Lord. Also, going by this ticket would be faster as the number of counters available are minimal and they have multiple time slots in a day. Most importantly this ticket is not available once you reach Tirumala. In my opinion, this is even faster than the Rs. 300 darshan. When you book Darshan tickets, you can also book accommodation, but most of the times it would be full and you may have to make arrangements of your own. Also Arjitha Seva (Suprabhatam, Thomala, etc) tickets are sold at these counters 90 days in advance but you need to plan really well as there is a huge demand.

Falling Sick - ON & OFF

I have been postponing writing this particular post for a very long time – because these wouldn’t give me any bit of enjoyment. But how long can I procrastinate? So here we go

Chittu had her Measles vaccination by August end 2011, the day before we shifted. That was Chittu’s last consultation with Dr. S. Once we shifted to the new house, I had to change her pediatrician, as Dr.S’s clinic was too far off and it was impossible to take her during emergency. The main reason behind choosing Dr.C was that

• From what I heard from people he is one of the best pediatricians in the area
• He runs a 24hr child care hospital
• He gives appointments both in morning & evening. His last appointment is around 10 PM – very useful for people like me who come late from office
• He gives appointments on Sunday mornings too – a rare phenomenon

Once we were back from P & PK’s wedding on September 3^rd 2011 evening – Chittu was all OK. Suddenly around 7 PM she started crying profusely, completely uncontrollable, not calming down even when I fed her and was churning out of my hands. I did not know what to do and tried to soothe her by all possible means. She was in that peak stage for 10 full minutes after which she was OK all by herself and slowly temperature started increasing. I took her to SD akka’s pediatrician Dr. KA, whose clinic was very close to our house. Chittu was all normal when we took her to the doctor but for the temperature. The doc said the crying was probably because of stomach pain and gave her Neopeptine drops. Dr. KA also said that she wouldn’t be available the next day (Sunday) and gave Dr. C’s reference if there is something urgent. I gave her Crocin and the new drops and she was fine.

The next morning temperature had shot up and we decided not to wait and booked an appointment with Dr. C. That was our first consultation and there was a long queue, but he was handling the kids very patiently and listening to whatever we said. He prescribed Ziprax for fever, T Minic for cold, Grilinctus BM (Paediatric) for wet cough. He also asked us to continue with Crocin and Nasoclear. J paati was concerned with Chittu’s underweight and asked him for some vitamin drops. But he said, as long as she is active and playing, we should not bother about her weight. He also said, she is extremely active and whatever she takes in gets burnt up very soon. And one more reason could be the genes as I am of thin stature. Still he prescribed Astymin-C & Zincovit. Also these days Chittu was crying uncontrollably for 10-15 minutes in the night at around 11.30 PM. The first time I was so scared – K paati was also not there as she had gone for her brother's mourning - that I called J paati in the midnight to come home and check what was going on. By the time Paati arrived, Chittu calmed down and was all normal. She did so for atleast 3-4 days so we took her to a mosque and got her mandhirichufied by the Muslim priest there.

U mami said it could be because of an evil spirit as the house was located near the track & many mishaps could have happened and the spirits could be roaming around. She even went to the extent of trying to prove her theory by saying, the house was locked for 6 months, why didn’t people come and occupy a house that was so close to the railway station for such a long time. To top it all, she said spirits are scared to come near her (sarcastically..Even spirits?? :P) and because they are unable to attach to your baby they are making her cry. I didn’t believe an iota because I don’t have faith in spirits, I knew the house was locked down by the owner as he as shifting slowly and got the house whitewashed and all. After a few days, she was OK and all normal.

I had given clear cut instructions to U mami as to what medicine and how much quantity had to be given to Chittu and I should say she followed it pretty religiously (dhideernu dhaan paithiyam pidichuduthu) Thatha had bought a digital thermometer and I taught her how to measure the temperature too. I thought Chittu’s fever was kind of OK when on 8^th September all of a sudden U maami called me at 2 PM when I was in office and said Chittu is having 102 degrees temperature, she had been giving wet towel bath continuously but the fever wasn’t subsiding. I was clueless, had a very important deliverable for the day and few meetings. I advised her to continue giving wet towel bath, cancelled the meetings, completed my deliverable by 4 & started from office. I also called her many times in between to check the status and she said it was getting better but not OK. When I reached home, Chittu was playing and there was no sign of temperature. I didn't want to take chance and so anyways booked an appointment. Dr. C advised not to let the temperature cross 101 at any cost as some babies are prone to get fits. He asked to continue the course and asked me to monitor the temperature and if it crosses 101 had given a series of tests to be taken. Fortunately that time, we didn’t have to take tests.

By mid October, fever shot up again to the same level. Couple of my friend’s kids were down with dengue and I didn’t want to take any chances. We took the same prescription and got all the tests done except the urine routine as it was very difficult to do it with such a small baby. Chittu cried like anything and I felt someone hit my heart with an axe and twisted it. But sorry kiddo, I had to do it for your good health only. The test results came out normal. Dr.C asked me why I had to rush like that when he didn’t even prescribe, but when I told him my fear of dengue, he gave me a look of understanding and said not to worry. This time he gave Cefoprox and asked me to take precaution by covering Chittu completely and making sure there are not rashes / severe mosquito bites. The moment I saw a rash, I was supposed to take her the hospital immediately. Thank God, nothing of that sort happened.

End of October, she had a bad cold and was crying whenever NSK mama tried to kiss her. We thought mama’s beard was irritating her. We were going for 7-aum arivu movie that night when J paati gave her dinner. While wiping the mouth again she started crying profusely. Then we thought may be she was teething. The next morning I was casually checking her ears when I saw a small amount of pus swelling out. That day was S’s chithi’s house sumangali prarthanai. I said, I will come late and let S & K paati go there early. I took her to Dr.C and he said it is because of severe cold and gave her Advent. She was also nebulised once so that she is able to breathe comfortably and Nasoclear had to be given regularly. And all was well in a couple of days. Because she was falling sick frequently, J paati & thatha took her to a homeopathy doctor to increase her resistance power and to increase her apetite. That kind of stabilized her health. Though cold was there ON and OFF. We manage with Cetzine, T-minic, Nasoclear. Throughout Hyderabad trip, she had a bad cold and we took all immediate necessary actions to make sure she didn’t suffer much and thankfully she was all OK. December beginning again, she had a bad cold and Asthalin & Omnacortil was prescribed additionally to have immediate relief

Somehow or the other, we had to visit the doctor atleast once a month. January 1^st 2012 – New year was Thatha’s star birthday. He was starting 60 and we had a small homam at J paati’s home to celebrate it – Ugra ratha shanthi. I stayed with Chittu at J paati’s house on 31^st night. The cot was occupied by Appu athimber as he cant lie down. It was raining heavily couple of days before and the ground water level was very high. We had to sleep on the floor, so I had made a superb bed for Chittu to make sure she is not feeling chill a bit. The next day morning dawned beautifully. Chittu woke up, took bath, dressed up in the beautiful pattu pavadai that S perimma had gifted. Things were good until I gave her morning breakfast – idly. She puked the idly bits along with the milk she had in the morning. I rushed to the nearby pharmacy and bought Domstal and gave her the dose. She puked that too. A little later, we gave her water, even that came out instantly. Needless to say, I was scared. So another visit to the hospital was on the New Year day. Dr. C is a Christian and so was on vacation. The duty doctor there said an injection was necessary and administered Vomiset. She asked us to give her Pedialyte to keep her away from dehydration and Domstal dose everytime before food (kanji / semi solid food). Chittu gave us a tough time by not having pedialyte / water. But somehow we tricked and made sure atleast she was having water. It took 4-5 days for her to be back to normal, but definitely it was a wise decision to take her to the hospital on 1^st Jan. Otherwise, things would have been worse and we may have been forced to admit her in the hospital. I initially thought of taking off on 2^nd Jan, but because it was the first working day of the year worked from home. 3^rd onwards she was kind of stable and SM was able to handle.

Later, J paati took her again to Homeopathy doctor near our house and definitely the medicines that she had prescribed helped in building Chittu’s resistance and we went to the hospital only once in the next 5 months – that too because Chittu had a minor sprain for reasons unknown. This was in mid February when she wasn’t walking properly, no signs of pain though and we are guessing it should be because she put the lock on her leg as she was frequently playing with it at that time. Doctor gave Ibugesic  and within 2 days she was running around as usual. A generic observation on Dr. C is that majority of the times he prescribes suspensions - ie the medicine would be in powder form in a small bottle and it would have distilled water that we'll have to mix and shake.

So sum it all, Sep 2011 – Jan 2012 was a rough phase as far as Chittu’s health is concerned. She didn’t gain much weight because of this and even till now, she hasn’t reached thrice her birth weight L I am also to be blamed as I didn’t give her Astymin C or Zincovit properly because of my absent mindedness :@ But better late than never, now we are giving her Longifene for inducing hunger to make her eat more and Visenerol Z which is a Vitamin drops. In my opinion, kids should never fall sick. It is difficult for them to put up with the pain and they can’t express it much too. And worse for helpless parents, being unable to do anything about the kids’ hardships other than to sit and monitor and giving medicines.