This past weekend there was this Arts Education conference on Diversity and Social Justice. Normally, S would have been there to "care of" P (that's how P says it, and I find it so cute I haven't corrected him!). As it turned out I had to take P along.
I told P there was this conference where a lot would be discussed, and he could be an important delegate. Threw in something about "today's children are tomorrow's decision-makers". P asked me hopefully and very earnestly if by attending the conference on Saturday, he would be qualified to take ministerial decisions on Sunday. I had to dash his hopes, but yippee he was interested!!
P had his breakfast and milk. En route he munched on a carrot and had another glass of milk. It may seem like I digress, but this is very very important. P on a very full stomach is considerably more co-operative than P on saadha-full stomach. Just like saadha dosa will do, but masala dosa is so much better.
In the auditorium, I took the corner seat in row-4 - convenient for me to make a sprint for the door should P voice his protest. It so happened that Astad Deboo made his entry just after us and took the corner seat on row-3. P was on my lap. That meant P was literally breathing down The Astad Deboo's neck.
An hour passed. So far, so good. Lots of great ideas, very inspiring people. Most of all, P seemed to have reconciled to his fate, and was actually enjoying the proceedings. All of a sudden, P said "I want to eat Jangiri". He was kind enough to whisper, albeit loud enough for the person-whose-neck-he-was-breathing-down-upon to have heard. Also, said person may not have known what Jangiri is, or that it is NOT the same as Jalebi (which by the way P prefers over Jangiri), but P chose to explicitly say that he wants TO EAT jangiri, not just "I want Jangiri". Hmph. Our open-precise chose to include two redundant words?!
Anyway, after I offered P an imaginary Jangiri, which he enthusiastically chomped on and greatly relished, we were back to status quo. Another hour passed. It was time for a break. While everyone had coffee, except for P, me & Astad... P settled down on our favourite bench outside - the one that offers a great view of the trees - and got to work on his kaju-kishmish-anjoor-khajur. Unfortunately (for Astad), it was also the only bench that was clean. Or clean enough.. I must add here that Astad was wearing a spotless white kurta-pajama, which is why P christened him 'white shirt uncle'.
During the break, P asked me in his school-marmish tone "What have you learnt so far?". I think this was a clever way to preempt my asking him the same question, and it worked. I told him A Lot, but I would have to think about it. I did too. A lot of lessons learnt in recent years were reinforced - that it takes a lot of determination and hard work to succeed at anything. Even more so when it is the road less travelled. That one must have the conviction to never give up. That joy comes only from learning every day. That so much is possible. Got to meet the amazing folks from Blind with Camera (absolutely awe-inspiring), Salaam Baalak Trust (of Mira Nair fame), and so many others.
The dried fruit (and the accompanying sugar) worked and P walked in without a whimper, though he had declared he wouldn't go back in at the start of the break. The sugar must also have acted to loosen him up a bit. Another hour passed and he decided the chairs in the auditorium needed cleaning.
Now, those who know P well, know that he is a jugaad sort of guy. If his friend has a motorized car, and parent(s?) has decided he has outgrown his push-along ride-on, he will just be content to ride the next best thing on wheels - a suitcase
Or, when P is exhausted but fighting sleep in a vain bid to extend a greatly enjoyable day, he tries to keep awake by "freshening up".. using the self-generated renewable... saliva.
And that is what he used to clean the backs of a row of chairs. As a parent to a four-year old, one becomes unapologetic and very very thick-skinned. I sat there smug, proud of my resourceful cleaner who was able to engage himself and sit through a conference for four hours.
Back at home, P is measuring objects in terms of steps or listening to the flapping of wings as pigeons take off from our window, to click pictures with eyes closed.
Coming up is the Literary Weekend at the same venue. That would have been great under normal circumstances, I love everything about the place. But, a change of venue might have made convincing the pea easier. As it stands, he vows he will not attend any more conferences. Reason - they are "long, very very long". He did make a concession and agree to attend conferences provide they are short - that is, if they are precisely one minute long. Duration not negotiable.
Two-minute Noodles. One-minute Jangiri err conference
Until next week then
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Dhaatu's Ramayana Carnival
Dhaatu is one of the best things to have happened to Bangalore in recent years, up there with Rangashankara on my list. Hats off to Anupama Hoskere and co.
Dhaatu's Ramayana Carnival, an event that shows children how a story is retold in many wonderful ways.
We spent around three hours taking in the doll display, dance and puppet show. Older kids may need longer to participate in quiz and activities.
Glimpses of the Ramayana Carnival
My favourite -
A Kavad, a story box that unfolds.
Dance - Sita's swayamvara. Shiva's mighty bow that no one but Rama is able to lift.
Puppet show - Hanuman meets Ram.
P's first encounter with demons in 3D. Meet Mareech and Subahu.
Off to the forest.
Sita Apharan
Vali Sugreeva episode.
Is it a bird, is it a plane? Is it Superman? No, it is Hanuman!
Puppets and masks from everywhere
A Ramayana "Board" Game
NOT Raavan, as pointed out by P. A nine-headed rakshas, does anyone know his name?
And here is Raavan. Ten heads in place. Whatever happened to symmetry? Bad design?
Hanuman in action. Jaambhavan in the background.
Puppet Parade
Jai Hanuman!
Dhaatu's Ramayana Carnival, an event that shows children how a story is retold in many wonderful ways.
We spent around three hours taking in the doll display, dance and puppet show. Older kids may need longer to participate in quiz and activities.
Glimpses of the Ramayana Carnival
My favourite -
A Kavad, a story box that unfolds.
Dance - Sita's swayamvara. Shiva's mighty bow that no one but Rama is able to lift.
Puppet show - Hanuman meets Ram.
P's first encounter with demons in 3D. Meet Mareech and Subahu.
Off to the forest.
Sita Apharan
Vali Sugreeva episode.
Is it a bird, is it a plane? Is it Superman? No, it is Hanuman!
Puppets and masks from everywhere
A Ramayana "Board" Game
NOT Raavan, as pointed out by P. A nine-headed rakshas, does anyone know his name?
And here is Raavan. Ten heads in place. Whatever happened to symmetry? Bad design?
Hanuman in action. Jaambhavan in the background.
Puppet Parade
Jai Hanuman!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
films and life
I had seen the screening schedule of the Bangalore International Film Festival, but my head swam. I decided it would take time to do the research and figure out which one to go to. So, I left the IE window open, to come back to later.
It so happened a friend of mine blogged about a movie she had watched at the Chennai Intl Film Fest. It was to be screened in B'lore too, seemed very interesting, and it was Iranian cinema. Now, after a few that I have seen, I am a *BIG* fan. Still... it was a matinee show on a weekday. Decided to hope, and wait for divine intervention.
Well what do you know, I had a meeting at the office that day. Rescheduled it a bit so it would end in time for me to dash to the movie hall, which happens to be a couple of minutes drive from the office!!!
Meeting ends late. I rush, ticketing booth is at the ground floor but my instinct tells me to take the lift and go up. I reach the place and am told to buy tickets at the ground floor. I go back and am told that Film festival tickets are being sold upstairs. I go up again, instinct was right after all. Pay a princely sum of Rs. 100. I grab icecream on the way in, I am *famished*. Just as I take my seat, the movie begins.
"A Separation".
There are many articles and reviews on the internet, they can't really do justice to the many layers, or describe the way the mind reacts to the questions that the drama throws at you. WATCH. IT.
I am transported. I learn so much. Just by watching the ordinary lives of ordinary people unfold on screen.
The performances are superlative. If you can call them that - none of the cast seem to be performing at all, they are living the lives of the characters. It feels as if I am observer, an intruder.
When the movie ends, I don't want to move. The hall is full and many others are in the same suspended state.
When I get out of the hall, I see a poster with a life-size Abhishek Bachchan, it says 'Players'. I try not to look at it, I want the effect of the movie to linger.
I get back and... this is what I see.
I had heard of Queen's English. But... "Ma'am's English"?! That is how P refers to cursive writing.
It so happened a friend of mine blogged about a movie she had watched at the Chennai Intl Film Fest. It was to be screened in B'lore too, seemed very interesting, and it was Iranian cinema. Now, after a few that I have seen, I am a *BIG* fan. Still... it was a matinee show on a weekday. Decided to hope, and wait for divine intervention.
Well what do you know, I had a meeting at the office that day. Rescheduled it a bit so it would end in time for me to dash to the movie hall, which happens to be a couple of minutes drive from the office!!!
Meeting ends late. I rush, ticketing booth is at the ground floor but my instinct tells me to take the lift and go up. I reach the place and am told to buy tickets at the ground floor. I go back and am told that Film festival tickets are being sold upstairs. I go up again, instinct was right after all. Pay a princely sum of Rs. 100. I grab icecream on the way in, I am *famished*. Just as I take my seat, the movie begins.
"A Separation".
There are many articles and reviews on the internet, they can't really do justice to the many layers, or describe the way the mind reacts to the questions that the drama throws at you. WATCH. IT.
I am transported. I learn so much. Just by watching the ordinary lives of ordinary people unfold on screen.
The performances are superlative. If you can call them that - none of the cast seem to be performing at all, they are living the lives of the characters. It feels as if I am observer, an intruder.
When the movie ends, I don't want to move. The hall is full and many others are in the same suspended state.
When I get out of the hall, I see a poster with a life-size Abhishek Bachchan, it says 'Players'. I try not to look at it, I want the effect of the movie to linger.
I get back and... this is what I see.
I had heard of Queen's English. But... "Ma'am's English"?! That is how P refers to cursive writing.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The holidays... so far
Day 1 - Kick Scooter. P in the lift lobby almost all day.
Day 2 - More Kick Scooter. Friend joins on his cycle. Out all day. Bedtime @ 7.10 p.m.
Day 3 - Friend's sister joins. Scooter falls apart as friend falls when riding. Scooter decommissioned. Cycle to the rescue.
Lunch in takeaway style. Bedtime @ 5.40 p.m.
Day 4 - Two more friends join. P and one friend absconding at 3.30 p.m. Hunted down in the play-area. Friend has said he is scared of cars but our pint-sized hero has claimed he is "brave enough to go by himself".
3 members of the search party decide to join in the merriment. One adult versus 5 little imps. Helpless adult ends up in the play-area with laptop. Bedtime at 7 p.m.
Not that I'm complaining. Can't believe I'm able to get so much work done during the school break. And, holidays are meant for having fun :)
What's next?!
Day 2 - More Kick Scooter. Friend joins on his cycle. Out all day. Bedtime @ 7.10 p.m.
Day 3 - Friend's sister joins. Scooter falls apart as friend falls when riding. Scooter decommissioned. Cycle to the rescue.
Lunch in takeaway style. Bedtime @ 5.40 p.m.
Day 4 - Two more friends join. P and one friend absconding at 3.30 p.m. Hunted down in the play-area. Friend has said he is scared of cars but our pint-sized hero has claimed he is "brave enough to go by himself".
3 members of the search party decide to join in the merriment. One adult versus 5 little imps. Helpless adult ends up in the play-area with laptop. Bedtime at 7 p.m.
Not that I'm complaining. Can't believe I'm able to get so much work done during the school break. And, holidays are meant for having fun :)
What's next?!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Carnatic Music Fest
...at St. John's Audtorium, Koramangala (opposite the B.D.A complex), ends tomorrow.
Schedule here
p.s. - Haven't been frequenting the blogworld. I miss it :( Don't know if it's because I've been busy, and feel guilty doing something that isn't productive, or that I should be catching up on sleep instead! Or because I'm trying to figure some things out. Or because everything I might have written gets filtered as too personal, not relevant or important. And what I think doesn't matter. Maybe it is a bit of all. Maybe I am just plain lazy?!
Schedule here
p.s. - Haven't been frequenting the blogworld. I miss it :( Don't know if it's because I've been busy, and feel guilty doing something that isn't productive, or that I should be catching up on sleep instead! Or because I'm trying to figure some things out. Or because everything I might have written gets filtered as too personal, not relevant or important. And what I think doesn't matter. Maybe it is a bit of all. Maybe I am just plain lazy?!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Of this and that
Svanubhava, a music and art fest for and by students - http://svanubhava.blogspot.com
The on-demand webcast will be available for a few days.
P enjoyed the Yakshagana performance the most, though he did watch everything else with a great deal of interest as well.
Yakshagana depicted the story of Ramayana - something P hadn't been comfortable with until this.
Resumed the process of introducing him to it, and the Mahabharata, first with the beautiful doll-display at Dhaatu's Navrathra Mahotsava. The chakravyuh was my favourite, while Kumbhakarna - with trumpets being blown in his ear, elephants walking over him, and drums being played next to him - was P's.
Their puppet show that both of us greatly enjoyed was 'Vijayanagara Vaibhava' - the show talked about how art was promoted and flourished in the region, from the Thraeta yuga, the reign of Krishna Deva raya, the Wodeyars, to the present-day Dasara Habba in Mysore. The Kolatta was beautifully done, as were the classical dance and fight sequences. The show was in Kannada, and though P speaks the colloquial version, this was beyond his comprehension and I had to provide commentary.
A puppet show at NGMA is next, this time it will be Silappadikaaram - Oct 16th, Sun, 6.30 p.m.
The Dhaatu doll display is still on, do check it out if you get a chance. Call ahead for directions - the last stretch is a bit of a maze, and asking around may not work.
School has resumed. We did manage quite a bit, P had a month off, and thank goodness it wasn't a day longer, I was running on reserve energy!
Highlights were :
- Visweswarayya industrial and technological museum -> Will be revisited! Did justice to the ground floor - gears, brakes, levers, pulleys, turbines... P was fascinated by them all.
Had originally intended to take him to a factory, this was the next best thing.
The moving dino exhibit provided the most entertainment, and P insited on one last darshan before we left. We had a *friendly* Spinosaurus with us for a couple of days :)
The other floors we had to rush through - there was stuff on Space, Biomedical, Electronics - but we did enjoy the children's area and the mirror maze(there is no warning sign, but I think this needs an adult accompanying the child)
There is a shop on the ground floor, and a book stall on the first - didn't find anything this time, but maybe on subsequent visits.
- A much-postponed visit to Blossoms on Church st. The place holds memories for us.
Seems ridiculously overpriced to me now, maybe the IPDA has spoilt me?
That didn't deter us from carrying back loads of books - the most treasured is one that P is poring over in his eagerness to become an engineer (This past month, we have gone from saying "office work is so boring, everyday going in the morning, eating, coming back at night, only weekends..", to reading "THE Engineering Book". In between we had the forgettable 'MonkeyChaser' phase. Yes, P was quite serious about that, and it does seem quite romantic - one gets to carry a rifle around, act like a fillum hero and command the respect of suitably-impressed 4 year-olds.
- we are going through a Kaveri obsession right now, so a day trip it was. We spotted a croc on a rock! And we went to see a dam too - but P isn't letting us off easy, he says this is the first of four, he wants to see three more dams
- yet another trip to Monkey Maze. Went to Indiranagar to get a friend's b'day gift. No trip to I'Nagar is complete without a visit to MM. So MM it was. P had a stomach bug and we did multiple trips to the loo each time there was a wave of nausea, but enter MM and everything was miraculously alright... for a bit! The thing did come back with a vengeance shortly after we stepped out of the place.
- The many Golus we went to, and P's own. He was given three boxes and a free hand.
- Survived 10 days with the domestic help having to go on emergency leave, and with S, P and then me coming down with fever-throat infection in quick succession.
- This time too, Navratri puja has left its mark - we have P chanting his own version round-the-clock, starting with "Skande na Nande na... " then modified versions of many classmates' names thrown in, and always ending with Om shanti shanti shantaye!
The on-demand webcast will be available for a few days.
P enjoyed the Yakshagana performance the most, though he did watch everything else with a great deal of interest as well.
Yakshagana depicted the story of Ramayana - something P hadn't been comfortable with until this.
Resumed the process of introducing him to it, and the Mahabharata, first with the beautiful doll-display at Dhaatu's Navrathra Mahotsava. The chakravyuh was my favourite, while Kumbhakarna - with trumpets being blown in his ear, elephants walking over him, and drums being played next to him - was P's.
Their puppet show that both of us greatly enjoyed was 'Vijayanagara Vaibhava' - the show talked about how art was promoted and flourished in the region, from the Thraeta yuga, the reign of Krishna Deva raya, the Wodeyars, to the present-day Dasara Habba in Mysore. The Kolatta was beautifully done, as were the classical dance and fight sequences. The show was in Kannada, and though P speaks the colloquial version, this was beyond his comprehension and I had to provide commentary.
A puppet show at NGMA is next, this time it will be Silappadikaaram - Oct 16th, Sun, 6.30 p.m.
The Dhaatu doll display is still on, do check it out if you get a chance. Call ahead for directions - the last stretch is a bit of a maze, and asking around may not work.
School has resumed. We did manage quite a bit, P had a month off, and thank goodness it wasn't a day longer, I was running on reserve energy!
Highlights were :
- Visweswarayya industrial and technological museum -> Will be revisited! Did justice to the ground floor - gears, brakes, levers, pulleys, turbines... P was fascinated by them all.
Had originally intended to take him to a factory, this was the next best thing.
The moving dino exhibit provided the most entertainment, and P insited on one last darshan before we left. We had a *friendly* Spinosaurus with us for a couple of days :)
The other floors we had to rush through - there was stuff on Space, Biomedical, Electronics - but we did enjoy the children's area and the mirror maze(there is no warning sign, but I think this needs an adult accompanying the child)
There is a shop on the ground floor, and a book stall on the first - didn't find anything this time, but maybe on subsequent visits.
- A much-postponed visit to Blossoms on Church st. The place holds memories for us.
Seems ridiculously overpriced to me now, maybe the IPDA has spoilt me?
That didn't deter us from carrying back loads of books - the most treasured is one that P is poring over in his eagerness to become an engineer (This past month, we have gone from saying "office work is so boring, everyday going in the morning, eating, coming back at night, only weekends..", to reading "THE Engineering Book". In between we had the forgettable 'MonkeyChaser' phase. Yes, P was quite serious about that, and it does seem quite romantic - one gets to carry a rifle around, act like a fillum hero and command the respect of suitably-impressed 4 year-olds.
- we are going through a Kaveri obsession right now, so a day trip it was. We spotted a croc on a rock! And we went to see a dam too - but P isn't letting us off easy, he says this is the first of four, he wants to see three more dams
- yet another trip to Monkey Maze. Went to Indiranagar to get a friend's b'day gift. No trip to I'Nagar is complete without a visit to MM. So MM it was. P had a stomach bug and we did multiple trips to the loo each time there was a wave of nausea, but enter MM and everything was miraculously alright... for a bit! The thing did come back with a vengeance shortly after we stepped out of the place.
- The many Golus we went to, and P's own. He was given three boxes and a free hand.
- Survived 10 days with the domestic help having to go on emergency leave, and with S, P and then me coming down with fever-throat infection in quick succession.
- This time too, Navratri puja has left its mark - we have P chanting his own version round-the-clock, starting with "Skande na Nande na... " then modified versions of many classmates' names thrown in, and always ending with Om shanti shanti shantaye!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
