Get off the road!

We have a 1 km ride from our gate to the main road.
Main road= a road that has a divider
Divider = something that sometimes keeps oncoming traffic from ramming into you! Sometimes being the key word here.

This 1 Km road does not have a divider but technically can accomodate two vehicles - one going up and one coming down! Well two small cars - like our Maruti Esteem and another Esteem. Or even our Eritga and an Esteem

If two big cars are coming - say a Bolero and a Scorpio or a Safari and a XUV, then both cars will have to get one wheel off the road.
Off the road = a bumpy, pot hole filled mud path

Well technically both cars should get one wheel off the road. But as it goes - survival of the fittest or rather survival of the biggest in this case. So there are two reasons why another vehicle will push you off the road
1. If its a really huge vehicle like a truck
2. If the driver in the other car realizes that there is a lady driving this car and gets the kicks to see the fear in your eyes -- fear of having your rear view mirror knocked!

Whenever I am driving and Suresh is on the passenger seat he keeps yelling  -- telling me not to get off the road when I see rouges coming ramming into me. My reasoning for taking the safe way is I dont want scratches on the car!

But pride gets the better of me most times and I hate being driven off the road!  So I learnt a new trick. If you see a truck coming from the opposite side of road, pull your car to a complete halt ! Stop! And wait. The driver in the other car (obviously a jobless nut! --- well most of the time) will honk and pretend he is in a hurry and try to force you off the road. Well he cant. Since you have come to a complete stop he will be HAVE to get off the road. He will honk madly and glare at you. Smile peaceful and enjoy the few moments of being on the road!

Oh yea! Well all's not well since if I end on this note .... well it would just be a terrible example to set now - wouldn't it! So listen to this next small bit as I close with a Proverb at the end.

Tuesday morning I had driven to pick up a few things and on my return trip I was on the 1 km road with a truck on the opposite side. I played my part carefully. Halted and smiled spitefully as the owner of the oncoming vehicle glared at me. I was so happy I had won the game!

A few meters further ... my pride took a deep hit! A herd of buffaloes! I honk ... they do not budge. I inch slowly towards them hoping to scare them ... they continue to ruminate their juicy grass. Finally one of them bent her horns at the car and I quickly drove the car off the road  and glared at her as I drove past!

Leaving you with two biblical verse

1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Animals!: Quotes from Isaacland

So Isaac is crazy about animals. We are glad that it is animals and not cars or guns. I guess I owe big thanks to Suresh who refused to accepts cars as gifts and blatantly told people he didn't like cars as a toy - 'he' being Isaac.

So animals it is! At age 22 months he would keep turning to the 'Hippo' page of his animal book and we had to read again and again and again about 'Pygmy hippos' and its fears and its love for water! I even learned that the hippo was a 'Pachyderm' - something I never knew till I was reading Isaac's book for him.

So he's got a favorite. About a year ago we visited the Trivandrum zoo with my uncle and aunt and they promised to show him a 'Hippo'. The zoo had like five hippos bathing in the water and eating! Isaac was mesmerized.
I still didn't realize how much he loved the hippo till he started interacting with story time buddy Dhruv. Now Dhurv's favorite animal is the Koala and Isaac realized that 'favorite' was a nice word. So Hippo it was! The rest in the family were assigned animals according to his liking. For instance Ziva's favorite was the zebra ... Appa's favorite was gorilla and Amma's was alligator (Maybe because when I yell at him I look like one!)

I still didn't realize how much he liked the hippo till one evening at dinner time. We were sitting around watching  the movie - Three Idiots. Well just watching the songs!
Suresh turns to Isaac and says 'Isaac don't become an Engineer and don't go to IIT OK!
Isaac nods: 'hmmmm' Which means Yes
Suresh: 'Isaac, what do you want to become when you grow up?'
Isaac: 'A Hippo!'
DONE!

One and a half: Quotes from Isaacland

So we have been training Isaac to say his age. But since he seems to have no concept of time we have to regularly update him that he is growing 'older'. I am also trying to help him see opposite ... fast ... slow..old... young
So we are a taking a walk and a few school kids walk past and say 'Hello' to Isaac and Ziva.
Isaac turns around and says ' Ziva is one and a half'

The kids have a puzzled look shrug their shoulders and start to walk away when I call out 'He means Ziva is one and half years old!'

I look at Isaac and say 'Isaac you have to say Ziva is one and half years old'
Isaac 'No Isaac is old .... Ziva is young!'

So much for opposites!

Whats the time?

'Whats the time?' I ask
The man across the table rolls his eyes : '12:15'
'Oh we have plenty of time!' I say
He smiles!
'What time do you have to be home by?' He asks
'1:30/1:45' I reply

We spent 45 minutes eating! No we werent eating that much. Just eating slowly.... eating without being interrupted by arm tugging or someone asking us to take them to the bathroom or Ziva claiming out loud 'Poopooo'

Suresh and I ate lunch together -- alone --- today after a long long long time! A pre- celebration to Valentines day! We had been complaining  for a long time that we do not get time with each other anymore. Since the kids arrived, it seems that they are always around. I have been very reluctant to leave them and go anywhere. Normally we at least take one of them with us! But last week I told Suresh ' Ok we are doing lunch on Valentines day - just you and me!'
Suresh ' I have a meeting with the new Team leader '
Me 'Great - how about earlier'

And it was set. Carefully planned and executed beautifully.
Suresh woke up early and left. Kids woke up at 7/7:30 and after a few hours worth of 'schooling', a bath and off to the park they were sent with their aunty  who was warned of my absence from 11:30 to 2 pm. I left home at 11:30 promptly and cursed traffic as I headed towards ITPL mall for a much desired burger with Suresh. We met at Reliance Time Out -- checked out puzzles for Isaac and movies for ourselves ... strolled into Nandos and shamelessly ordered the 'bottomless' coke. Suresh ordered something that looked like Biryani with a peri .. peri name to it and cleaned it up. I ordered the Butternut Chicken burger which is happily sitting in my tummy!

12:15 - 1 pm peaceful eating ... no shoving food in anyone else's mouth ... no running to the bathroom or praying that no one throws up at the table. No hiding our soda's from the kids and in general no interruptions! In retrospect I am thinking I should have taken a picture of us at the table just as inspiration that lunches such as these can happen!


Happy Valentines Day Suresh ... Thanks for choosing me to be your valentine some 12 years ago! I hope we can have more lunches like this!