Urvi's World : Child Art and Imagination

There's been a new addition to our family. She's called Mac.

Lately our Dell laptop has been acting pricey, bossy, elusive, and unyielding to the various cajoling tactics that hubby and I have been trying on it. At times it would refuse to boot up, at times refuse to shut down, but mostly it had the most unpardonable habit of shutting off without any notice. Because of this K was unceremoniously booted out of several online chess tournaments, tournaments which he claims would have established his ultimate supremacy in the online version of the game, would have entered his name in the annals of the chess playing world right beside the Kramniks, the Topalovs and the Anands, but most importantly, would have proved, once and for all, to his ever doubting and skeptical wife that all those hours in front of the computer was well worth it, after all! Where would the wife get that kind of reflected glory, if he spent those valuable hours going to the market or the gym or helping out with the laundry? (Women!) I imagined a shelf full of invisible trophies...it was a heady feeling...

A new laptop, therefore, was very much the need of the day.

We vacillated between getting another Dell or making the ultimate shift...to a Mac! Our Mac-initiated friends used various degrees of threats and persuasions in order to convince us that Mac really was the way to go. After several days of 'Seriously, we should go for a Mac' we visited the Apple store, where the salesman managed to convince K that the MS Office was far superior to IWorks. Damn! We were back to square one.

K was now thoroughly convinced that he'd go for a Dell again, the MS Office for Mac being obscenely priced. Any argument I came up with (against a Dell and for a Mac) was met with I won't be able to run regression models in 'Numbers', or Will i be able to do Linear programming? What about macros? Goal programming? How will i get the STATA and SAS packages for Mac...etc etc

I persisted. She arrived yesterday. And this is what followed:

K: Just look at the packaging! Will you look at the packaging!

Me: Yeah, nice! Does it have macros?

K: Look, honey, the power cable just glides in...like that (he glides it in)...its magnetic...look I'll do it again...see?

Me: Yeah, yeah, what about regression models? Have you tried that?

K: Just look at that trackpad...look, I'm not even clicking, I'm tapping..Awesome! Amazing! Look look..

Me: STATA, SAS...?

K: Look at how that apple lights up when you switch it on! Cool, na?

Me: Linear programming?

K: See what happens when I minimize windows....it goes whoooosh!

Men! Go figure...

Urvi: Mamma, why do boys always like to chase girls?


Me (feigning ignorance): Oh, they do?


Urvi: Yeah...don't you remember? In my French school there were J and P who would always run after Emma and me, screaming 'Je t'aime, je t'aime' (I love you, I love you). And now in this school there is this boy M, who is always running after me saying, 'Will you be my girlfriend, will you be my girlfriend?' C'est embettant (Its irritating)!


Me: Hmm..


Urvi: Mamma, what's a girlfriend?


Me: A really special friend...


Urvi: You mean like me and Aishwarya?


Me: Not exactly... I mean when a boy and a girl have a very special friendship..


Urvi: Special?


Me:You know, when they really, really love each other...More than they love other friends..

Urvi: huh?

Me: When they are 'in love' with each other...

Urvi: Oh you mean when they are 'amoureux'?

(Honestly, I don't know why I waste time explaining in English, when there exists a perfectly good French word that apparently needs no explanation)

Me: Yes...amoureux. Are you amoureux with M?

Urvi (making a face): Eeeew!

Me: Well then, you can tell M that you are only his friend and not his girlfriend.

Urvi: Yeah, well I tell him that ...what more does he want?

Me: What indeed?

Urvi: M told all the boys, Urvi is my girlfriend. Its a secret. Don't tell Mam I said this.

Me: I see...

Urvi: But why do boys do this? Chase girls, I mean..

Me: Umm...I don't know...may be you should ask Bapi.

Urvi: Why??!

Me: Because he is a boy...or rather he was a boy...

Urvi: Bapi! (sigh followed by rolling of eyes - This is her usual reaction to anything concerning the dad, complete and utter exasperation. It seemed to say, Now what does he know about chasing girls?)

Mamma?

Me: yeah?

Urvi: Are you Bapi's girlfriend? (giggles)

Me: Let's talk about your situation here...

Urvi: Its complicated.

Me: How?

Urvi: Well A and A (the girls) don't like M(the boy). They keep telling me, Don't be M's friend, don't be his friend. But M(the boy) has told all the other boys that I'm his his best friend and girl friend. So now A and A (the girls), who thought they were my best-friends are not happy. They say 'Don't be M's best friend'. Thing is, M is really nice to me, so I don't know how to tell him, I don't want to be your friend anymore. But then, M is friends with W, who I don't like very much. But if I'm friends with M I have to friends with W...

Sigh! God help me when she hits the teens...

p.s: We also have real diyas, this time :)

Dosas are like French crepes, and very popular in India. They are made from rice and lentils, soaked overnight, blended in a mixie, and then left to ferment. Its time consuming...but this particular recipe from my neighbour Nitu is easy to make, and is as tasty as it is nutritous.

Soak overnight one bowl each of whole moong (also called green gram or green soy) and rice.

The moong will have sprouted by next day, and this is what it'll look like.

2. Blend the rice and the sprouted moong, adding a little salt. If you want to make it hot and spicy, then add to this green chillies and sambhar masala.The mixture will be thick and slightly coarse.

3. Heat a little oil on a shallow pan, and pour some batter. Spread it out evenly with a spatula. Cook till evenly brown on both sides. Enjoy the dosa with Onion-coconut chutney.

Onion-Coconut chutney

1.Mix in a blender half an onion with 1 cup of grated coconut, salt, green chillie and corriander leaves(optional).

2.Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to splutter, pour oil over the chutney.

Sprouts are considered the meat equivalent for vegetarians. They are an excellant source of fibre, vitamins and minerals. For more information see this site.