Aug 30, 2006

Don't you mess with GI Ria

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Anybody in there ??

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Aug 22, 2006

3@3

Its been a long journey for both of us. Time flies..well..it truly does ! Still remember the day 3 years ago, on a balmy August 18th evening, when we said 'I do' and held our hands together and walked down the church aisle. That day we entered the institution called 'Marriage'. 3 years hence and we have Ria in our midst reminding us that we have entered yet another phase in man's life called 'Parenthood'. Oh ..what an ebullient feeling to cradle her in our arms and see her wry smile !

'Turn'ing a new leaf

Ria has for the first time managed to turn on her own last week. She still needs to learn how to get her arm out of the way after turning over.Now, she likes doing it so much, that a small nudge is enough for her to show the latest trick she has learnt. Posted by Picasa

Give me wings that I may fly

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Aug 3, 2006

Veliammachi with her kochumol

This is much better than my baby cot

Dawn to dusk

I really like this dress

Ria in her Baptism Dress

Aug 2, 2006

What's in a name !

That's what we thought when we knew we were going to have a baby. We went about methodically shortlististing names. After this tiring drill we came up with a couple of names that we thought both of us liked. I'd like to emphasize on 'both' here...why ? well..that will become clear soon. So there we were ..we very much knew what name we would most likely name the baby. I thought the story was over there but little did I know that the story was just beginning !!! Let me tell you that we thought we were quite lucky because we did not have to bother about numerology, astrology, scientology or even biology when we had to name the baby. We had this wide expanse of baby names and no constraints or so I thought. Like in some countries, we did not have to keep the name as soon as the baby was born either. I thought that was a boon too. I did not want to miss a better name just because of that. What if we thought a better name just a minute after we named the baby..you know..a better name is better anyday..right. Alas ! I was wrong ! I really wish now that we had named the baby as soon as she was born. So after the inital hiccups and all..we got discharged from the hospital and we had time to think on other things such as a name for our little baby doll.So we said ok..lets name the baby with the name we thought. However, now we just could not reach a consensus ! and there
begun the excruciating task of finding a suitable name that all liked. Either Tara would like it or I would like it and when all liked it...the baby would start crying when we called her that..making it known in the only language she can speak that she abhored the very thought of the name !

Reminded me of the TVC where a group of friends discuss about different names for the child and suddenly, out of the blue the baby says Dinku' . I knew we were very close to this happening to us too. It was almost a month since she was born and we still hadn't narrowed down to any single name ! One of my daily prayers was that the Almighty just speak to all of us, in one united voice and decree that she shall be called 'her majesty'. He did give us a big..or rather a big small blessing in giving us the lil' one but now we were asking him a new blessing. All we were thinking of was some decent name which the kid would not be embarrased of later in life.

The following 2 episodes highlight this more than ever. There was this relative of ours, who was looking for a life partner. Finally, it seemed that she found the right match. He had all she desired in her Mr. Right but wait ...!! what did you say his name was !! WHAT ! did I hear that right ..once more please...I was rolling on the ground laughing my guts off !! the poor guys name was 'Snobby'...what were his parents thinking when they named him !! I can undestand..bobby, jobie..but Snobby ! this was ridiculous..they wrecked the poor guys life the day they baptised him with that name. To cut the story short..the girl rejected the proposal 'just because of his name'. Just last weekend a family friend of ours came home to see the baby. She narrated another interesting episode. There was this girl in her class whose name was...guess what !! 'mind' you..it was so 'thought'ful of her parents when they named her 'Brainy' !! and the story does not stop there...she managed to score a paltry 4 marks in the mathematics exam and the entire school got to know that 'Brainy scored a 4 in Mathematics'. The point hit her so hard that she got her TC and left the school. So we dediced not to go in for some exotic name but rather a tried and tested name.We scoured through the entire WWW but a consensus always seemed to elude us.

Finally...on a dour rainy June afternoon, we finally reached a consensus and the name dawned on us much like an oasis in a desert..well..not really...we had thought of this name too but it remained in the background for want of attention.Just like Moses (a character in the Bible) got the attention of Pharaoh, Mi'ria'm (the name of his sister) meaning "wished for child" caught our attention.So she was baptised (naming ceremony) as Miriam on the evening of July 15th (Tara's Bday too..yes..the entire church congregation sang "Happy Birthday" much to her chagrin) at the Marthoma Church, Bangalore. God must have been mighty pleased with the name as he too sent his blessings from above in the form of a heavy downpour during her baptism ceremony. We plan to call her Ria her home.

Am sure she will wonder when she grows up as to why we made so much fuss in deciding her name ! alas ! as the Bard said "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. "