Quick wit from my four year old...

School has restarted. Achyuta is now in the kindergarten and very proud young boy. He has a full day of school from this year which means that he has to carry his lunch and snack boxes. Like most mothers my worry was if he could finish the lunch so when i picked him up the first day after school i asked him " Did you eat your lunch?" He said that he ate the rice. I said "why not the vegetables?" (I had put in beans& carrots vegetable). Achyuta's reply : " The beans & carrots were talking to each other and didnt want to be disturbed so i left them alone in the box." That was day one of school.

Day two on the way back from school i put the same question to him " Did you eat your lunch?" He said that he ate the bread = aloo paratha. Once again i asked him " why not the vegetable?" Achyuta replied "The vegetable was very tired and wanted to rest so i let the vegetable rest in the box." Not to be outdone i said " why did you not finish your yogurt?" Achyuta replied " the yogurt was so tired he was sleeping and i didnt want to wake him up."

After that day i dont question him about the lunch, just look into the bag to see how much he has eaten.

I cant describe the way i laughed at his response and so did Achyuta's granparents and aunts and uncles. I wont even tell you the expression i carried once he shot those responses to me. Thankfully it was only the two of us.

Until the next time...

Feng Shui effect.

In the first two years of living in the same condo, i made few friends. This year i have a dozen friends and we like to get together for lunch or meet for a drink and chat session once a week or once in two weeks after the kids are fed and tucked in bed. Arranging play dates is not such a big issue and small favours or help are very easy both ways. So i wondered what i did different this year than the last two years? I had the same sweet smile, the same well mannered hellos, my same son asking almost same questions. Then it hit me the building is undergoing some renovation. The swimming pool got new water and new tiles, the playground was moved to the back of the condo to make way for additional parking slots, the basketball court has become smaller and is at one side of the condo, the slides and swings remain the same at the moved playground though and of course now we will have a new intercom system. Bigger gym with more equipment at the expense of the small golf practice swing court. The basement parking area got redone and not to forget the lobby area is undergoing a good new look.

It's apparently being done in accordance to the Feng Shui beliefs to bring good luck to everyone occupying the place and also to give the Condo a really pretty and grand look.


Feng Shui - that's it. That's the reason for my new friends. Areas got redone and moved and i made friends. How nice is that??? More people use the gym so i can imagine, healthy people smile more. I have friends to go walking with me and i have friends in the gym helping me to tone my tummy muscle and i have friends who have kids about the same age as Achyuta and playdates and help is easy. I have friends to just chat and smile together. I have friends who are worried i might drown in the I mtr. deep swimming pool. ( I don't swim but in that pool i can't drown either). I have friends to go to movies. All these from the same condominium.

I had met other mothers from Achyuta's class and school and they were friends too but it took a while for all of them to warm up. I now cant help but believe that it is the "Feng Shui" effect. Wait a minute - it's not Feng Shui it's Achyuta!!!

Here i have this four and half year old very chatty and very friendly and energetic little son who is into all the superheroes and Ben 10 and i kept thinking that it is Feng Shui!!!


Achyuta started school and i met the mothers there. Achyuta started taking the school bus and i started exercising and met other ladies and made friends there. Achyuta played with all the kids at the playground and i made friends with the kids mothers. Achyuta started swimming and even i dared to get into the pool. ( Earlier i could have drowned in a cup of water.)

My son is my Feng Shui. When we moved to Singapore he was little so didnt get to interact much with others but once he started interaction it's a different story. He is the positive energy around us.

Feng Shui..hmmm.. very likeable, very very likeable..

The toilet paper dilema..

Thoughts and Ideas seem to come to us at all different places but the bathroom is a more common place for such things. "Eureka" happened in the bathroom.

No idea came to my mind but only a thought. Let me warn you all reading this dont let out a "uugh" or a "what the..." or "yuck" .

When we fly in the airplane we are instructed about safety and also how to buckle up or unbuckle ourselves from the seat but there are no instructions about the usage of toilet paper. Indians travelling first time specially from small towns or even cities have no idea about what to do with the roll of paper hanging from the holder. It is normal for them to spend longer time in the toilets as they will be hunting for the jug for the water. It is only recently that the so called western style toilets came to India and it took us all some time to figure out how to use that. Do we stand on top of the commode and then squat but wasnt the floor one easier for that?? Ok so now almost all have figured out how to use the western toilet. Beijing Olympics reportedly is facing a big problem thanks to the floor toilets already existing and the cost to replace them with the western style will be very huge so only some will be replaced. The atheletes and officials will have to learn to use it. But coming back on the toilet paper issue.

How would the first time user know what to do with it specially the disposal part. Should it be thrown in the trash or should it be flushed?? How would they know that this paper will not clog the toilet and the dirty water will flood the aisles. Understandbly one cant explain in detail the useage and disposal but maybe a small instruction booklet with basic details will help the first time users. So this is for the flight travellers same can be followed by the hotels, restaurants and the railways. If they worry the booklet will disappear the small letter printing near the toilets might help. For those who cant read i havent thought yet... hmm.. that is worrying.
I found this peice of information :
What did people use before toilet paper was invented? << *Newsprint, paper catalogue pages in early US *Hayballs, Scraper/gompf stick kept in container by the privy in the Middle Ages *Discarded sheep's wool in the Viking Age, England *Frayed end of an old anchor cable was used by sailing crews from Spain and Portugal *Medieval Europe- Straw, hay, grass, gompf stick *Corn cobs, Sears Roebuck catalog, mussel shell, newspaper, leaves, sand- United States *Water and your left hand, India *Pages from a book, British Lords *Coconut shells in early Hawaii *Lace was used by French Royalty *Public Restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick *The Wealthy in Ancient Rome-Wool and Rosewater *French Royalty-lace, hemp *Hemp & wool were used by the elite citizens of the world *Defecating in the river was very common internationally *Bidet, France *Snow and Tundra Moss were used by early Eskimos





I really did wonder earlier when i first walked into the restroom of a five star hotel only to be dismayed at my ignorance but eventually figured out the disposal part by boldly flushing one piece of the paper. I knew the usage part - thankfully.



Would everyone figure it out the way i did or will it be a scene from the movie "Nala Damayanthi" where the character is ignorant and walks away with the roll of paper hanging from the back of his pants?