Little Conversations - X

I had talked to my son yesterday over phone !

My family is away on a longish break. Though we have realised that this break was a tad too long, it works out fine every summer ! Me bumming around here and wife and son doing the same in chennai ! I do travel couple of times. Yet, six weeks is long - too long !

Coming to the point, my son learnt swimming this summer.I have been having these short and loud conversations with him on phone on his progress !

Couple of weeks ago "DADDY, I went in and came out myself"

Last week : "DADDY, I swam the entire length"

Yesterday : DADDY, we are going to "oor" in 2 days

(In Tamil) Yeah, you are coming to Bangalore in one week !

DADDY, I am not coming to Bangalore in 2days, you are coming to chennai in 2days and we are going to Andaman.

(In Tamil)Yes, yes, but ....

DADDY, then why are you saying I am coming to Bangalore in 2 days ? You are coming here and we are going to Andaman

(In Tamil)Yes, yes (with the phone kept a few inches away, as he was pretty much screaming in excitement now) .. ok ok .. what did you do in the swimming pool

DADDY, I jumped from the diving board, and its for big people, and not for small people and I jumped from it !

(In Tamil)Very nice, so ..

OK, bye

He abruptly ends gives the phone to my wife and runs away ! Talk of attention span !

I will miss seeing him learn swimming - as it is I missed seeing him learn cycling ! ( One fine day I see him just cycling - my only contribution was removing the support wheels a couple of weeks earlier ). But I am not overtly sorry ! Had he been here, he probably wouldnt have learnt at all ! In my misplaced enthusiasm, I might not have allowed him to learn from else where - thinking that I will eventually make time to teach him swimming myself - and would have just prolonged or even hindered his learning !Now, when I dive in a well or pond or a pool or the sea ( In Andaman in 2days ;) - but the place is flooded, so I am not too sure), I will have my son joining me too !!!

Yuppiee !

P.S. OOR - Tamil for town or city ! BTW - his Tamil is pathetic ! I AM worried !

Tagged : Writing without writing !

I have been tagged by Priyamvada. A really long time since I have "actually" blogged - other than posting photos from Flickr !! So this pseudo blogging excercise is a welcome change !

Rules : Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better

Priya says : "So here I went a-digging up old blogs, and trying to post links that are relevant. When it came to choose, I have favored older links over the newer ones. " Since I want to say the same thing and its easier to copy and paste, I will leave it unchanged !

This is a really tough execrise for me ! Its like Boys Zone trying to release a "BEst of Boys Zone" album !

When I went digging, I found what was really obvious to me subconciously. I am a cautious blogger ! I dont "reveal" my self too much ! The blogs are a very narrow slice of me - there are very few references to some key people in my live - Wife, for example ! Not many (other than the bloggers) in my circle actually know I blog ! So its been a tough excercise. There might be no real connection between the words and the blogs I associate with them - but trust me - those are the real "meaning" of the blogs !

Family : I am a family guy ! Actually I am a "united" "extended" family guy ! So when I talk about the summer times or my son's interaction with my dad - I have this "family" in my mind which is big, noisy, some time intrusive (may be not something I like too much), loving, caring and in a very selfish objective way - the best insurance policy I have !

Friends: Surprisingly enough, there is no reference to my friends except in this photo blog. This was a trip to Wonder La with my friends recently - a extempore getogether of sorts ! Those four are me, my wife and a couple of other friends since 1993. They are still as crazy as then ! None of the other photos have our faces in the frame as the rides where rotaing on more axes or moving faster than this one.

Love: For a guy who met his wife face to face in front of a 200 + noisy crowd on a stage (dynamics of large united extended families), writing about love is as far as this goes ! Or May be this goes. She is a part time poet though and is lot more expressive than me !

Yourself: All the above has been about myself ! But still (the modest guy that I am) .. this and this reminds me of me ;)

Anything: This is something that I like and this is the first travelogue I wrote ! Long ago ! INcidentally this is about friends too !

Now comes the difficult part ! I have to tag five others ! Typically when a tag has reached me, its like in the direct marketing thing - the last point has been reached and the chain cannot go on much further from here ! Every one has been targetted already ! Yet, since I dont know that of a few people I will actually tag a unsuspecting few : bilbo, IW, sal, LL and Siri ( who will almost fall in the new acquaintances) !

Hurricane

Hurricane in Wonder la ! Multiple axis of rotation !

Pic(k) of the Year

Almost a month ago Ano tagged me. Here is my pic of the Year 2007.

I had 100s of photos to sift through.2007 has been a year of trips, moves, check marks in to do stuff and lot of cliched things in my life !

I guess this photo signifies all that !

I dont think I will tag anyone as always - mostly because if I want to tag some one, they have already been tagged !

My Name is Billa

I saw this movie just a few days before new year.
Let me compare it to the orignal copy of the original at the outset and do away with that formall - it didnt measure up to it in entertainment value. But I think it beat it in every other department. Style particularly. I think that is quiet acceptable because even the most stylish Rajinikant in 80s is not as stylish as least stylish Ajith in 2000's
Coming to the new Billa, except for the annoyingly repetetive posing and slow motion walking, a plump woman, Ajith's lack of comic sense, and the loss of Thengai Srinivasan's subplot and absolutly annoyingly noisy background score - Billa was fun ! Nayanthara's entry was lot more fun than Sripriya's and Ajith's. Lot of skin show, sets, and nice locations and suits ! Not much of a scope for acting - because the movie was entirely - mostly - a collection of poses and stares and glares !
Shoot me for saying this - I liked Prabhu in this movie ! Ajith was good as Billa. But as the pickpocket he was not funny at all ! Even that character was cut down so heavily. Rehman and the other police guy were okay ! Doing their job kinda thing. Ajith ( Manohar's character) had no presences at all ! It was probably by design.
Apart from the movie, I guess what was much more fun was the whole deal with the act of going for the movie ! With a 5 year old kid of my own and a 4 year old nephew,wife, Brother in law and sis it was a drama of its own !
Finally doing this more often these days !
What was really scarry at the end of it all was, the two kids - after reaching home - taking a slow walk away from each other, reach out for something stuck in their belts from behind their back, spin around slowly - and act as if they are shooting each other and dramatically, slowly colapsing to the ground !!!