[aargee]

Saturday is it? I thought it was Sunday & here in TN & KL, the Vidhayrambam is done on Vijayadasami day, at all temples. We did in less than 10 minutes at Vaishnavi shrine Sunday morning around 7:00 AM. Actually both Wifey & myself took opportunity to write on rice spreaded on banana leaf. We too started with "Aum Sri Ganapadhaye Namaha" in both Thamizh & Malayalam followed by English alphabets.

[gajadonga]

Nice travelogue MX6 am really astonished the way you remember every small aspects of your trip and your daughters actions.
Stirring up our memories of my kids doing the Aksharabyasa.Keep going and excellent narration too.

[anilisanil]

Saar, waiting here! remember you let out a few teasers about your single eyed journey? The sooner you put it the better!!!

[rrahul_2778]

Excellent stuff MX. I had seen the start of your TL when you kind of wrote it, but later on missed this thread all together. Last 1 1/2 days as and when I am getting time I am opening this thread and going thro' it.

First of all hats off to your parenting abilities. Some of the pics of your kid seeing some animals first time, the first river dip, the first sea dip, the GGM and GGD meet, etc were very touching and it stuck a chord more so because me and my wife are expecting our first baby in the next couple of months . Your angel is very cute and we enjoyed seeing the pics. Loved the narration around the Aksharabyasa ritual.

Nothing much to add different from what others have already said, please continue the wonderful narration...

[Driving_Dreams]

[quote=MX6;2117277
Shakespeare. You are great. Everytime my daughter says or does something like this, I'm reminded of what you said. Child is the father of man. [/quote]

@MX6:
Hope you don't mind me correcting you with this. Please Do remember William Wordsworth instead of Shakespeare as the words are written by him.

I Have always been a silent spectator for all your posts and love the way everything you pen. Keep up the good work. My best wishes to your daughter.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by aargee

Saturday is it? I thought it was Sunday & here in TN & KL, the Vidhayrambam is done on Vijayadasami day, at all temples. We did in less than 10 minutes at Vaishnavi shrine Sunday morning around 7:00 AM. Actually both Wifey & myself took opportunity to write on rice spreaded on banana leaf. We too started with "Aum Sri Ganapadhaye Namaha" in both Thamizh & Malayalam followed by English alphabets.

Well, We normally do it on Sunday (vijayadasami). But in Sharada's place, there's nothing better than Saraswathi puja. And thank god we did it on saturday! Reasons would unfold.

Originally Posted by gajadonga

Nice travelogue MX6 am really astonished the way you remember every small aspects of your trip and your daughters actions.
Stirring up our memories of my kids doing the Aksharabyasa.Keep going and excellent narration too.

Saar. Right from the first gaze my daughter threw on me till date, I remember every minute detail that concerns her! Clearing up all junk from my memory to ensure these things are safely recorded! I'm sure that's the way it is with all fathers!

Originally Posted by anilisanil

Saar, waiting here! remember you let out a few teasers about your single eyed journey? The sooner you put it the better!!!

Dude. It will come. Don't let the cat out of the bag. Patience.

Originally Posted by rrahul_2778

Excellent stuff MX.

Nothing much to add different from what others have already said, please continue the wonderful narration...

Thanks for your kind words of appreciation rrahul. Should be on my way with the narration shortly.

Originally Posted by Driving_Dreams

@MX6:
Hope you don't mind me correcting you with this. Please Do remember William Wordsworth instead of Shakespeare as the words are written by him.

I Have always been a silent spectator for all your posts and love the way everything you pen. Keep up the good work. My best wishes to your daughter.

Thanks DD for pointing out that blooper.

To go along with the trend started by SS_T, here's William (not shakespeare) Wordsworth's poem - The Rainbow.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth.

[MX6]

And she leapt off my hands on to the person holding the reins of the horse.
He gingerly carried her and in one smooth action, mounted her on the horse!
Boy the horse was taller than me!
And my daughter happily sat on it, held by a stranger and refused to get off.


Finally she jumped back on me from the horse. I was happy that she let go the horse, only to find the real reason why she jumped off back to me.

"Aaaaanai", she said in a shrill voice.

I turned behind to see two elephants decked royally, walking in.

Then I understood. Now she wants to sit on the elephant.
I took her near the elephants and she grabbed the trunk of one of those pachyderms! The mahout was getting worked up. He didn't want a scenario wherein the behemoth runs loose. With other kids maintaining arm's distance, my daughter grabbed the elephants tail next. Then she tried grabbing the ear of the elephant. She patted it.
I tried stepping back so that she doesn't end up irritating the beast.

She spoke the biggest sentence ever till now in her life.
"Appa Aanai Mele Bokkachi Vai".
5 words in all.
this followed by a please as well.
Appa - put me on top of the elephant please is what it translates to.

I was stunned. We had to take her away from there. If I ask the mahout whether my daughter can sit on the elephant, he'd crack a coconut on my head.

And my daughter kept imploring me to put her on the elephant when we saw a great diversion.

COW.

Soon she was pettng the cow to glory. She refers to it as Moo Moo Cow.
Now the guy with the cow got irritated and told us not to let our daughter pet the cow too much. Reason, if all people start doing it, then the cow would get irritated.


Soon we were off to the front of the temple where I saw an amazing assembly of all the mutt vehicles.

Decked and ready for puja (Ayudha puja). The lineup included Benz, Nissan, Mitsubishi etc apart from other sundry cars, suvs, trucks, tempos and two-wheelers. I used my camera on mobile to full and snapped all amazing cars individually. Putting up just one photo here as I don't think it would be good to put up photos without permission from the mutt.


We spent time there amidst all those great fanfare and things like that and then quickly went back to our room.
Evening there was a concert of Madhoor Balasubramaniam assisted by Hosahalli Venkatasubbarao on the violin in Hariharapura and we thought of going there to catch up with that.
Madhoor is my wife's guruji and Hosahalli was mine! We appreciate music.

5:30 pm. We were off to Hariharapura from Sringeri. I noticed what we call as Jalamandali (huge, damn poisonous version of a scorpion) crossing the road. Man man. These areas have some of the worst venomous creatures on earth.

6:00 pm. We have darshan of Hariharapura Shankaracharya. An interesting trivia about him is that he's an Engineer from one of the IITs currently in his 30s. He learnt Vedas in Vedapatashala from Sringeri and after 4 years of learning, took deeksha and became a monk. Very learned man.

I told him about the snake episode. He immediately told me that it's fate. Prayed for a few minutes. Handed out Prasad to me and gave separate prasad to Khoj who drove the car that time.
"Ask Khoj to pray to Lord Karthikeyan on a tuesday and ask him to offer a red dhoti to the lord".

Khoj came home to Pune to collect his prasad and I bartered it for Prasad from Dagudu sheth which he visited that day. And I guess he's done the offering before he left to Delhi.

With clearing of conscience and alleviation of mood, it was music time from 6:15 pm.

7:00 pm. I got a splitting headache and moved to sit outside the concert hall and listened to the concert.

8:30 pm. We were offered food in Hariharapura as Prasad along with the performers. So after a quick dinner we left.

9:15 pm. Back in Sringeri and stopping to buy long life milk for travel back to Pune for my daughter. We wanted to start on Sunday post lunch. Also we shopped for toys for our neighbour's kids.

9:20 pm. "What's in your eye?", asked my wife?
I rubbed off a chunk of yellowy gooey substance from the tip of the lachrymal glands.
"Seems like an infection".
10:30 pm. My right eye was swollen. Now I realised the reason for the headache. Some infection.

11:00 pm. How do we leave tomorrow afternoon with an eye like this?
Well, let's go to the doctor tomorrow in the morning. See what he says.

The pressure was enormous. Right eye felt like it would pop out anytime. The whole right side of my head was paining. Damn headache. And the eye started watering.

3:00 am on sunday, Sleep overcame me.

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by MX6

9:20 pm. "What's in your eye?", asked my wife?
I rubbed off a chunk of yellowy gooey substance from the tip of the lachrymal glands.
"Seems like an infection".
10:30 pm. My right eye was swollen. Now I realised the reason for the headache. Some infection.

11:00 pm. How do we leave tomorrow afternoon with an eye like this?
Well, let's go to the doctor tomorrow in the morning. See what he says.

The pressure was enormous. Right eye felt like it would pop out anytime. The whole right side of my head was paining. Damn headache. And the eye started watering.

3:00 am on sunday, Sleep overcame me.

Arghhhh! What happened to your eye? The yellow thing scared me off.


Loved that pic with S on the horse! While the pic itself should be great, the after effects made it look like some cover page. You remind me of that movie Akaasamantha I am not sure what it is in Tamil, but it is dubbed. Prakash Raj is dad and Trisha is the daughter Pardon me, it sure is an inappropriate example, but it is just me who always thinks life from the POV of cinema!

I am glued for your next episode!

[MX6]

17th Oct - 10 am.
My father gets a rickshaw to take me to Sharada Dhanvantari hospital.
Reason, I can't open my right eye.
Red eye is dark red in colour and swollen.

10:30 am. This is what the doctor has to say.
"It's conjuctivitis. It's rampant here and is highly contagious. Apply these applicabs and eye drops. You've got it very severe and hence take these antibiotics and other tabs for the infection and swelling. Three days and it should go".

I quarantined myself. Only my mother was around to administer the eyedrops and applicabs on me. I didn't want any of my family to get it.

All my plans of leaving on a sunday to reach pune on Monday (to collect wife's passport on tuesday and report back in office on tuesday) went or a toss.

I can't leave with such a terrible pain in my right eye and headache. Surprisingly, though the eye was aching, there was no burning sensation at all.

8 pm on sunday, my parents go to the temple to have darshan and get food for all of us.

9 pm on sunday, when my mother is administering medicine on my eyes, I ask her, "What's that on your eye?"

18th Oct Monday morning 10 am.

My father takes my mom in an autorickshaw. No tabs for her. Only applicabs and eye drops (different one). And it burned like hell for her.

Now my father had to go get food for all of us.


Monday noon 12. My father gets Conjuctivitis. He goes over to the hospital in a rickshaw again with my mom. Same set of applicabs and eye drops for him. No tablets.

All of us were adviced to apply the medicines then cover our eyes with a clean cloth moistened in Tumeric. Got a dhoti from a friend, tore it in to over 200 pieces, wetted them in tumeric paste/ water and kept putting it on our eyes. It used to dry up in 10 seconds. Wet them, cover it, wet them cover it.

That night we were just praying that my wife and daughter don't get it.

My eyes were getting better. But was dark red (almost blackish red). The swelling subsided on the right eye.

Oct 19th Tuesday morning 9 am.
though my wife and daughter were in another room, my wife gets the infection. Possibly picked up from outside. And my daughter is rubbing her left eye which is watering and slightly pale.

I drove out my car and took them to the doctor.

Same applicabs and eyedrops to them. Instead of two drops to my daughter per eye, it's 1 per eye.

It's been 3 days for me and the damn conjuctivitis hasn't gone. My mother's eyes were better and was pale in colour after 2 days. My father's was getting severe by the day.

And we called up the post master to tell him that as a family, we all got conjuctivitis and won't be back today to take her passport.

He agreed to retain it till Following friday.

That left us time till wednesday (which was the next day) to get all our eyes fine and start the drive.

I sms-ed to my office that I managed to get conjuctivitis and won't be able to make it back soon.

All this started, possibly from that one handshake I had with someone who possibly had conjuctivitis and transferred it to me.

There ended the hopes of whipping out my cameras and taking photos. The onus was on how the hell are we going to get back?

[khoj]

Originally Posted by MX6

And she leapt off my hands on to the person holding the reins of the horse.

And my daughter happily sat on it, held by a stranger and refused to get off.

Finally she jumped back on me from the horse. I was happy that she let go the horse, only to find the real reason why she jumped off back to me.

"Aaaaanai", she said in a shrill voice.

I turned behind to see two elephants decked royally, walking in.
She patted it.
I tried stepping back so that she doesn't end up irritating the beast.

She spoke the biggest sentence ever till now in her life.
"Appa Aanai Mele Bokkachi Vai".
5 words in all.
this followed by a please as well.
Appa - put me on top of the elephant please is what it translates to.

I was stunned. We had to take her away from there. If I ask the mahout whether my daughter can sit on the elephant, he'd crack a coconut on my head.

And my daughter kept imploring me to put her on the elephant when we saw a great diversion.

COW.

Soon she was pettng the cow to glory. She refers to it as Moo Moo Cow.
Now the guy with the cow got irritated and told us not to let our daughter pet the cow too much. Reason, if all people start doing it, then the cow would get irritated.

mx6 jr (if it is OK with you I would like to refer to your daughter thus, on the forum) is growing up and how, God bless! I recall very fondly how she handed the remote of your LCD to me when we had to interrupt the movie that she was watching to put on the Kaas slide show. All you had to do was explain to her that you only wanted to show some photos to me and would resume the movie thereafter. Amazing, no tantrums nothing. She just walked over and gave me the remote. Her grasp of the going ons is superb and I think that the way you are with her in terms of treating her as an individual and not merely an extension of your self that will do your bidding no questions asked, is indeed the right way to bring up a child.

Her episodes with the various animals at the mutt, scream out the need for petting zoos all over the country. I am sorry but ever since I left my job I just keep on looking at business opportunities every where.

Originally Posted by MX6

6:00 pm. We have darshan of Hariharapura Shankaracharya. An interesting trivia about him is that he's an Engineer from one of the IITs currently in his 30s. He learnt Vedas in Vedapatashala from Sringeri and after 4 years of learning, took deeksha and became a monk. Very learned man.

I told him about the snake episode. He immediately told me that it's fate. Prayed for a few minutes. Handed out Prasad to me and gave separate prasad to Khoj who drove the car that time.
"Ask Khoj to pray to Lord Karthikeyan on a tuesday and ask him to offer a red dhoti to the lord".

Khoj came home to Pune to collect his prasad and I bartered it for Prasad from Dagudu sheth which he visited that day. And I guess he's done the offering before he left to Delhi.

With clearing of conscience and alleviation of mood, it was music time from 6:15 pm.

MX6, per the Shankracharya's guidance as conveyed by you I did do the needfull yesterday. Got up at 0600 hrs. had bath and went to the temple in Chembur. It was Aashaad Chaturthi a very pious day to offer puja of any kind and for the first time in my life I was at a temple on any such occasion. I attended the complete Abhishekam of Subramaniya Swami and the priest assured me that the dhoti would be used in decking up the lord and that I could come back after 0915 hrs to see the same for myself. However, I wanted to come back to offer prayers to my own Ganpati at home as it was a holy day and I was not sure how much longer I could hold on on an empty stomach. So at 0830 I started back to appease the younger of the two siblings having already prayed to the elder one.

The Silver medallion that you got for me with the Shankrachaya's blessings is adorning my neck and so thanks to you I have been able to earn some credits with the one above and also bring this unintended and unfortunate episode to a its proper and complete closure.

Meanwhile in Pune I felt really bad as I wanted to meet mx6 jr. and also because I had to turn down the kind offer from your mother for the tea. Could not even thank you properly and both were stuck behind the dark glasses all the while. I trust that all of you have fully recovered now.

All is well that ends well. Words are not enough to express my gratitude and it warms my heart to see someone I met just a few months ago look out for me and think for my benefit without any expectations of any sort. Having said that I am reminded of your father's noble, and magnanimous gesture of donating hundreds of acres of land towards the Sansthan at your native and it dawns upon me that you dear friend indeed are a rare individual carrying the same genes from your parents incorporating the virtues of kindness, and selfless thoughts and deeds and that I am very fortunate to have met you and your family.

[KRRaj]

I figured out from the first few words that you landed up with Conjuctivities. Experience says it is of no use to go to a doctor and gets eye drops and tablets. They stay for 2 or 3 days and go. Very contagious and thankfully nothing serious happened.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by khoj

mx6 jr (if it is OK with you I would like to refer to your daughter thus, on the forum) is growing up and how, God bless! I recall very fondly how she handed the remote of your LCD to me when we had to interrupt the movie that she was watching to put on the Kaas slide show. All you had to do was explain to her that you only wanted to show some photos to me and would resume the movie thereafter. Amazing, no tantrums nothing. She just walked over and gave me the remote. Her grasp of the going ons is superb and I think that the way you are with her in terms of treating her as an individual and not merely an extension of your self that will do your bidding no questions asked, is indeed the right way to bring up a child.

Her episodes with the various animals at the mutt, scream out the need for petting zoos all over the country. I am sorry but ever since I left my job I just keep on looking at business opportunities every where.


MX6, per the Shankracharya's guidance as conveyed by you I did do the needfull yesterday. Got up at 0600 hrs. had bath and went to the temple in Chembur. It was Aashaad Chaturthi a very pious day to offer puja of any kind and for the first time in my life I was at a temple on any such occasion. I attended the complete Abhishekam of Subramaniya Swami and the priest assured me that the dhoti would be used in decking up the lord and that I could come back after 0915 hrs to see the same for myself. However, I wanted to come back to offer prayers to my own Ganpati at home as it was a holy day and I was not sure how much longer I could hold on on an empty stomach. So at 0830 I started back to appease the younger of the two siblings having already prayed to the elder one.

The Silver medallion that you got for me with the Shankrachaya's blessings is adorning my neck and so thanks to you I have been able to earn some credits with the one above and also bring this unintended and unfortunate episode to a its proper and complete closure.

Meanwhile in Pune I felt really bad as I wanted to meet mx6 jr. and also because I had to turn down the kind offer from your mother for the tea. Could not even thank you properly and both were stuck behind the dark glasses all the while. I trust that all of you have fully recovered now.

All is well that ends well. Words are not enough to express my gratitude and it warms my heart to see someone I met just a few months ago look out for me and think for my benefit without any expectations of any sort. Having said that I am reminded of your father's noble, and magnanimous gesture of donating hundreds of acres of land towards the Sansthan at your native and it dawns upon me that you dear friend indeed are a rare individual carrying the same genes from your parents incorporating the virtues of kindness, and selfless thoughts and deeds and that I am very fortunate to have met you and your family.

I'm speechless and moved reading your tribute. One word about my daughter. I'm not a maverick father who is in to groundbreaking parenting. I owe a lot to my wife who has been extremely patient with our daughter in teaching her and grooming her. And I owe a lot to my mother who has literally appreciated every small thing we do related to our daughter. This is how my father brought up his kids. So the learning is just being passed on.
Above all, I owe everything to my brother, who, I saw nurturing my neice with more care. People are surprised when they come home and see my daughter. Absolutely no tantrums. Right from the age of 1 she listens, understands and reciprocates.

And yes, we need a lot of petting zoos. Luckily, I being an animal enthusiast, have taken every opportunity to expose my daughter to nature. It would sound dangerous to put a toddler next to these wild animals for purists. But it's a way of life in appreciating life in all forms. These acts are done by trained people and I'd urge others not to try this with their kids.

And regarding the words of my father, this Sanskrit couplet comes to my mind.
Aakashat Pathitam thoyam. Yatha gacchati Sagaram.

How water from the skies take different routes, but finally end up in the sea.

There is nothing like ours, so we gave back to god what we got from him. Thankfully, those genes are passed on to both his kids. My brother is a wandering monk. Every week he is in a new country. But all he carries is his research work and a pair of clothes.
We are constantly searching for ways to simplify life and reduce needs and wants. It's a humble existance. That's what I always mean when I say I'm out of the rat race.

As Ramakrishna Paramahansa says, it's needs that propel a man towards unhappiness. there's a story called - The gold guarded by the ghost, written by him. people can read the same.

So the american way of life Pay check to pay check is actual implementation of Sanathana Dharma. How a person is supposed to live. Keep what he needs for the day and give away the rest.

Enough rants about these. But Khoj, you stirred memories in me. Let me go back to my humble self and to the concluding part of this trip.

And anyways, happy to note that the small puja at a nearby temple has easened you, cleared your mind and lightened your spirits!

Originally Posted by KRRaj

I figured out from the first few words that you landed up with Conjuctivities. Experience says it is of no use to go to a doctor and gets eye drops and tablets. They stay for 2 or 3 days and go. Very contagious and thankfully nothing serious happened.

Saar. conjuctivitis it is. But then, it didn't go away in 2 or 3 days. As I type this, my left eye is slightly red. Last few days. My return trip was a chilling experience. Drove back in worst possible conditions.

Let me clear out my overflowing emotions, thanks to khoj, and then be back to the return leg.

Cheers. And thanks to all who are following avidly till here. Apologies for an overflow of sentiments. We are very simple people in reality.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

So the american way of life Pay check to pay check is actual implementation of Sanathana Dharma. How a person is supposed to live. Keep what he needs for the day and give away the rest.

Sorry MX6, I somehow could not accept this. Reason being that Americans buy all the things they want & the things that don't want through loan. They then, work hard to close the loan. Our culture always stated to earn money & then buy things.

But Thanks for the word on "Sanathana Dharma" which provoked me to SanathanaDharma

[KRRaj]

Originally Posted by MX6

Saar. conjuctivitis it is. But then, it didn't go away in 2 or 3 days. As I type this, my left eye is slightly red. Last few days. My return trip was a chilling experience. Drove back in worst possible conditions.

Let me clear out my overflowing emotions, thanks to khoj, and then be back to the return leg.

Cheers. And thanks to all who are following avidly till here. Apologies for an overflow of sentiments. We are very simple people in reality.

Well, it does move to the other eye once it is done with one eye. I guess you got hit with a severe form of it.

The "Overflow of sentiments" is what makes your travelogues good to read actually. Pls dont hold back on them. I can relate to most what you state

[MX6]

Originally Posted by aargee

Reason being that Americans buy all the things they want & the things that don't want through loan. They then, work hard to close the loan. Our culture always stated to earn money & then buy things.

Ha ha. Aargee. Let's not be that critical with the American way of life. Shouldn't categorize all americans as credit driven, with poor credit history, work only to close loans.
Credit worthiness is important in US. Hence every transaction is done over credit card there, which also brings with it a benefit of openness. Not like the under the table dealigns that happen in corrupt nations.
And they enjoy fruits of labour and work hard for it. So what's wrong in that? Atleast, they don't go around investing in a flat in cincinnati, an estate in napa valley, a sea-side condo in california etc like most of salaried middle class and upper middle class in India do. Flats after flats. Most of my colleagues are in to booking flats before their onsite.

Most Americans live on rented houses. few invest and save like us. It has it's pros and cons. But then they have social security to lead such a lifestyle. We don't. The argument can go on. All I wanted to highlight was their lifestyle where they don't bother about hoarding wealth or saving for a rainy day much like half of our populace.

Earn, work, play, live a good life is all they do.

Anyway, let me stop the OT here.

Originally Posted by KRRaj

Well, it does move to the other eye once it is done with one eye. I guess you got hit with a severe form of it.

The "Overflow of sentiments" is what makes your travelogues good to read actually. Pls dont hold back on them. I can relate to most what you state

I got the worst form of it saar. Badly affected. Story will continue later tonight.