The lil’ birdie hopped out of the nest-

I saw the branches swaying in the wind,
I heard the rustling of the leaves,
And eavesdropped on the leaves whispering to each other;

“Ma, can I fly away?”
“No my dear, just wait wee bit more.”

I hopped from branch to branch,
I saw the delicate buds, and saw them bloom into flowers,
I flew to the higher branches, and saw the quivering tendrils,
I hopped to the lower branches, and saw the mighty gnarled roots.

“Ma, can I fly away?”
“No my dear, just wait a wee bit more.”

I learned to recognise- the raw fruits from the ripe ones
I ate some, I dropped some others,
And I felt, I could hear my buddies call out for me,
Friends who wanted to share with me, to sing with him.

“Ma, can I fly away?”
“No my dear, just wait a wee bit more.”

I can fly from tree to tree, I can swoop down to the earth,
I can spot a grain flying in the sky,
I know a good grain from a bad one.

“Ma, can I fly away?”
“No my dear, just wait a wee bit more.”

The clear blue sky beckons me,
Someone deep inside urges me to take flight.

“Ma, do I know how to fly?”
“Yes, your wings are strong, they can take the wind,
Your are grown up and ready to take on the world”

In addition to these, there are local bookstores in Pune, who keep a good collection of kids’ literature. I do plan to post a review of the local bookstores in Pune sometime soon

1) Pratham books

I have ordered quite a few books from them for Aru and they are quite a hit at our place.

I discovered Pratham Books through a friend who has illustrated some of their books.  Her mother works as a Content Director for Pratham, Mumbai.  Pratham is an NGO that works in the field of child education. Pratham Books come from their not-for-profit publishing division.  They endeavour to develop good quality, reasonably priced, supplementary education material primarily for Pre-Primary and Primary school kids. (They are also coming out with curricular and other books for older kids, but that seems like a more recent project.)  The study material gets used primarily in Municipal schools and other schools in relatively poorer neighbourhoods.  So, naturally their books are mainly written in regional languages, which then get translated to different regional languages and also English.

I had seen their Marathi books and found that the content and quality of books was superior to lot of children’s books you’d find in many popular bookstores in Pune. Aru quite liked them when I read them out to her.  So, I went ahead and ordered quite a few books in English.  When they arrived, I was slightly disappointed, mainly with some of the stories, but the disappointment was short-lived.  They instantly clicked with Aru. For one, she could read the ones from the ‘Pre-school category’ all by herself and others with a little help from me – so naturally she was thrilled.  The stories are quite simple and uncomplicated, which I think works very well for kids who are just learning to read, because they can concentrate on reading and still ‘get’ the story.  Personally, I think their books under the ‘Pre-school’ category are great for kids who are just beginning to read.

(Lesson for me – you are not always a good judge of what your child would like to read and like to be read!)

So, there!  Do hop over to their site and discover the khazana of some of the most reasonably priced, very good quality reading material for your kids

2) Katha

Katha is another popular source of kids’ literature for us.  Their books, however, are more relevant for 3 year and above – though thats my personal opinion.  I bought a couple of Katha books when I visited ‘Sreebhumi’ in Kolkata; Aru was around 2 year old at that time.  They did not click with her.  However, recently Katha books are one of her favourites.

The quality of their books is very good and quite a few of their books have won the ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ awards.  Good stories, very good illustrators who experiment a lot with different forms and styles – overall a very good experience.  They have also come up with some very good books in the ‘Katha World Series’.  ‘Katha World Series’ presents works of some European authors translated into English.

‘The song of the Scarecrow’, ‘The Princes with longest hair’, ‘Mo…aaaning Morris’, ‘A Lion in Paris’ are some of our favourites these days.

3) Tulika Books

Tulika offers a wide variety in kids’ literature.  Their books are very Indian and the stories are based in various parts of India. Various cultures, traditions, behaviours are very naturally incorporated in the stories.  The illustrations depict very Indian images, are mostly in Indian folkart and hence very rich in colour and their form and styles.  Thanks to Tulika, Kolam and uruli are part of Aru’s vocabulary

Tulika is also a very good source of bi-lingual books.  This may appeal to Indians settled in other countries who want to introduce their kids to their mother tongue.  They also have picture books for very young kids – 6 month – 1yr olds

4) Karadi Tales

Karadi tales are also integral part of our lives these days   From the site you can see that they have audiobooks, picturebooks, video books a.k.a DVDs etc., however, our experience is limited to their audiobooks.  In audiobooks they have a good collection of mythological stories, folk tales, panchatantra stories, kids’ rhymes (rhymes which have a very indian theme).  The Karadi Rhymes are simply loved at our place.  The stories are narrated by Karadi, the bear, their main storyteller.  Lending their voice to Karadi are some very well known theatre personalities in India like Saeed Jaffery, Naseeruddin Shah, Tom Alter, Girish Karnad, so you can rest assured that the narration will be superb.  The style of narration is very good, the characters are very colourful and have very interesting names – a crow couple is called Kala and Karupi, the stories are interspersed with songs, there are very vivid descriptions of the settings.

They also offer bi-lingual books.  We own their audiobooks in both English and Hindi.  However, I have to admit that we like their Hindi books more than the ones in English.  I think the drama, songs and dance etc. creates more impact in your own language.  In English they sound too polished and sophisticated   This is ofcourse my personal opinion!

5) Jyotsna Prakashan

Jyotsna guys are fairly well-known in Pune.  I think, in general, they are pretty well-known amongst the Marathi speaking populace.  I was introduced to Jyotsna by a friend when he gifted Aru a set of 6 booklets by Madhuri Purandare.  During same time Jyotsna had come up with some very good set of books for teenagers – Marathi translations of Iranian stories by some famous Iranian authors.  These books retained the original illustrations from Iranian books.  I bought a couple of them and quite liked them.  Lateron, English translations of these books were also published by Jyotsna.  I liked the books so much that I bought the entire set of books for Aru; to be read when she grows up   ‘Vachu Aanande’ by Madhuri Purandare, also from Jyotsna is another very good compilation from them – a must for all Maharashtrian households with kids.  So, the crux of the matter is that they have very good Marathi books for kids.

Their website is not of much use, however, if one is in Pune one can easily find their books in local bookstores.

6) Tara Books

Tara books are a class apart!  And no, we don’t own any Tara books nor have we seen any, but I surely have reasons why I want to own some.  Their books are presented in a lot of Indian folk styles – Patua from West Bengal, Warli from Maharashtra, Gond Tradition from MP and many mmore.  Their books are priced slightly on the higher side, however, I think if you have a look at the books, the prices will seem justified.
~

This dahi chicken is kind of comfort food for the entire family.  It is light on the tummy and really easy to make.

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)

1. Chicken                        – 1/2 kg (boneless)
2. Potatoes                       – 2 nos. (medium size)
3. Tomatoes                       – 2 nos. (medium size)
4. Onions                         – 2 nos. (medium size)
5. Curd                           – 1 or 1.5 cup
6. Tej patta (bay leaves)         – 2 or 3 nos.
7. Badi Ilaichi (cardamom)        – 2 nos.
8. Dalchini (Cinnamon)            – 2 or 3 sticks
9. Dried red chilli (saboot)      – 2 nos.
10. Ginger                         – 1/2 inch ginger
11. Sugar                          – 1/2 tea spoon
12. Salt                           – 1 or 2 tea spoon (or according to taste)
13. Turmeric                       – 1/2 tea spoon
14. Cooking oil                    – 1 or 2 table spoon (whichever cooking oil you use at home groundnut/soya bean/sunflower oil)

Preparation:

1. I generally use Godrej boneless chicken as I’m not very confident of buying chicken on my own.  Godrej chicken has neatly cut chicken pieces.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly and keep it under running water for couple of minutes.
3. Marinate the chicken with salt and turmeric for around 8-10min.
4. Beat the curd slightly so that it becomes smooth and does not show its natural granules.
5. Peel the onions and potatoes.  Cut the tomatoes, peeled potatoes and onions each in eight pieces.
6. Crush the ginger slightly or cut it into small pieces.
7. Crush the badi ilaichi slightly so that you get the aroma in the stew.

Procedure:

1. Heat the cooking oil in a pressure pan.  Once it is hot, add tej patta, badi ilaichi, dalchini and turn them in oil.  Add the dried red chillies.  You can break the chillies in two halves or more depending on how spicy you want it.
2. Add potatoes and onions and turn them in oil for a while till they become slightly brown.
3. Add tomatoes and turn them in oil till they become slightly soft.
4. Add the marinated chicken and turn everything together.
5. Sprinkle 1-1.5 tea spoon salt on the mixture.  Remember the chicken has been marinated in salt so accordingly you will need slightly less salt.
6. Add 1 cup of water and close the pressure pan lid.  We don’t need lot of water as the chicken itself releases water.
7. Give 3 whistles, the chicken should get cooked with 3 whistles.  If you are sceptical, give 1-2 more whistles, but that would mean you have to increase the water in step 6 by 1/2 cup or so.
8. After the whistles, let all the steam escape.
9. Open the pressure pan lid and check that the water has dried up.  If not, reheat on slow flame till the water dries up.  Keep turning the prepared chicken slightly while evaporating excess water.
10. Let the chicken cool.
11. When the chicken is just warm, not hot, pour the curd on the prepared ingredients, sprinkle half spoon sugar and nicely mix the curd and the prepared chicken.
12. The stew/dahi chicken is ready.

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)

1. Chicken              - 1/2 kg (boneless or otherwise)
2. Basmati Rice         - 1 cup
3. Curd            - 1 or 1.5 cup
4. Tej patta (bay leaves)    - 2 or 3 nos.
5. Badi Ilaichi (cardamom)    - 2 nos.
6. Dalchini (Cinnamon)     - 2 or 3 sticks
7. Kali mirch (Pepper)           – 4 – 5
8. Biryani Shahi Garam Masala    - 1 tea spoon
9. Dried red chilli (saboot) or green chillies   – 2 no.
10. Ginger             - 1/2 inch ginger
11. Garlic             - 2 or 3 nos.
12. Onions            - 1 or 2 medium size
13. Potatoes            - 1 medium size
14. Ghee/Butter            - 1 tea spoon
15. Sugar            - 1 or 2 tea spoon
16. Salt            - 2 tea spoon (or according to taste)
17. Turmeric            - 1/2 tea spoon
18. Cooking oil         - 2 or 3 table spoon (whichever cooking oil you use at home – groundnut/soya bean/sunflower oil)

Preparation:

1) Marinate the chicken for 20min.  Basically mix chicken, dahi, salt and pinch of turmeric and keep it aside for 20min.
2) Cook the rice just so much that it does not stick and stays firm.  It should not be completely cooked as otherwise it will start sticking to the pan when it is mixed with chicken and cooked further.  Drain all the water and cool down the rice.
3) Crush or grind the ginger, garlic, onion and keep the mixture or paste aside
4) Peel the potato and cut it into two pieces

Cooking procedure:

1. Heat 2-3 table spoon cooking oil in a pan
2. When the oil is heated, add the crushed ginger, garlic, onion to the oil and turn it till it turns red/brown.
3. Add tej patta, slightly crushed badi ilaichi, dal chini, kali mirch and green/red chilli and turn them in the oil.
4. Add chicken and turn it and mix it properly and keep turning for a while on slow flame.
5. Add water and bring it to a boil.
6. When the water evaporates add salt, sugar, a pinch or quarter tea spoon turmeric and biryani shahi garam masala and make the chicken completely dry.  The chicken should be completely cooked by now.
7. Add rice and mix well.
8. Add a tea spoon of ghee or butter, lower the flame, cover the pot and let the rice cook in steam – this cooking takes only 2-3 minutes.  If the rice starts sticking before you are done just switch off the gas and keep the lid closed.  The rice will cook in the steam.
9. Your Biryani is ready!  You can garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and/or fried onions.

1. Moong dal (without chilka)     - 3/4 cup
2. Rice             - 3/4 cup
3. Tej patta (bay leaves)    - 2 or 3 nos.
4. Badi Ilaichi (cardamom)    - 2 nos.
5. Dalchini (Cinnamon)     - 2 or 3 sticks
6. Jeera (cumin seeds)        - 1/2 tea spoon
7. Jeera powder        - 1/2 tea spoon
8. Dried red chilli (saboot)    - 1 no.
9. Ginger             - 1/2 inch ginger
10. Potatoes            - 1 medium size
11. Tomatoes            - 1 or 2 medium size
12. Ghee/Butter            - 1 tea spoon
13. Sugar            - 1 or 2 tea spoon
14. Salt            - 2 tea spoon (or according to taste)
15. Cooking oil         - 2 or 3 table spoon (whatever cooking oil you use at home – groundnut/soya bean/sunflower oil)

See the number of ingredients themselves required one to put pen to paper or rather needed one to hit some keys!

Preparation:

1. Even before you wash the moong dal, roast it slightly till it turns light brown.
2. After the moong dal cools down, wash it thoroughly along with rice.
3. Crush the ginger and keep it aside
4. Peel the potato and cut it into four pieces
5. Chop the tomatoes into 4-8 pieces

Cooking procedure:

1. Heat 2-3 table spoon cooking oil in a pressure cooker
2. While you are preparing masala for khichadi, boil around 6/7 cups of water on another gas.
3. When the oil is heated, add the jeera to the oil.  When the jeera settles down, add the crushed ginger to the oil and turn it till it turns brown.  Add tej patta, slightly crushed badi ilaichi, dal chini, red chilli and turn them in the oil.  Add tomatoes and turn them till they become soft.  Sprinkle the jeera powder on the masala mix.  Add potatoes and slightly fry them.  Add washed rice and moong dal and fry it a bit and mix it with the masala in the pan.  If at any point you feel that the oil is less, you can add a bit of oil, say 1 table spoon.  But, in general you should not see too much oil in the pan.
4. Pour hot water into this mixture.  Add 2 tea spoon salt, stir the water a bit so that the salt dissolves and close the lid of the pressure cooker.
5. Initially the gas should be on high flame.  After 2 or 3 whistles, lower the flame and let it cook for 3/4 minutes.  Switch off the flame and let the pressure cooker release the steam completeley.
6. Open the lid and add a tea spoon of ghee and 1 or 2 spoons of sugar and mix it well with the khichadi.
7. In general this khichadi should be kept a little wet and it is to be eaten while it is still hot.
8. The khichadi can be eaten with curd or pickle.  Bengalis like to eat their khichadi with ‘begun bhaja’ or ‘patol bhaja’ or ‘aaloo bhaja’, the recipes for which will be given some other time.

The conversation got me thinking.

Maya’s only daughter, Anita, worked at my place for 2-3 years before she got married.  I helped them financially and with gifts to get her married.  The help that came from various quarters wasn’t sufficient to fulfill their heart’ desire to wed their only daughter in style, so they took additional loan from me promising to repay me gradually.  For that they feel indebted to me till date.  Though they have not been able to repay the loan, Maya always comes over whenever I need help.  We have a established protocol, I call her husband and she is there at my house around 5-5:30pm.  Maya can take care of cleaning, washing etc., but for cooking she always gets her sister Vatsa.  Vatsa has four young daughters, a drunkard, gambler for a husband who is mostly out of work.  Vatsa is almost bringing up her daughters single-handedly.  Naturally bare necessities score over schooling.  The two older girls, Priya and Priti often accompanied Anita to my place to play with my daughter.  It ached my heart to see them out of school, so I convinced Vatsa to enroll them in the Municipal school in their basti and promised to take care of all their education related expenses.   Vatsa got them enrolled in school, but she does not think much about it or may be she is beyond thinking about it.  When she comes for work, the school is safe place for them as opposed to home where her husband lies drunk, they get a meal, milk – so she is okay.  But, she is not really convinced that we will always take care of the school expenses.  She believes we working, educated women have our own loafty ideas on educating girls and hence we are doing it to please ourselves.  Neither do I try to convince her, I’m just glad she has been able to resist her husband’s demands of sending the girls to work.  Vatsa, keeps worrying about her daughters’ marriage, though they are not even in their teens.  ‘Would she find someone like me to help when it comes to their marriage’, she often wonders aloud.

If I care to do the math, I have probably spent more on Vatsa’s daughters’ school fees, school uniforms, occasional gifts on festivals etc.  While Vatsa is grateful, she doesn’t really think about it as any sort of support.  Maya on the other hand feels indebted to me even today, 2-3 years after her daughter’s marriage.  For them, being able to marry their daughter is so much more important than getting a decent education for her.  I’m certainly not saying I want Vatsa to feel grateful or anything, its just that their attitude towards their daughters makes me really sad and brings back some really unpleasant memories of my village some 20 years back.

I remember another similar case.

When the little one was born one lady, Sunanda, used to come and give the little one and myself a massage.  Sunanda had a sixteen year old daughter who was extremely good looking, interested in studies and she also did very well in her school.  No wonder the lady was perpetually worrying about her.  Gauri wanted to study and become a nurse.  But, Sunanda was always faced with a steady stream of suitors wanting to marry her daughter – some from the neighbourhood, some proposals forwarded by relatives etc.  Though Sunanda maintained she wanted to let Gauri study, I knew the proposals tempted her to marry off Gauri.  When she came for work, leaving her daughter all alone at home, it constantly worried her.  Her daughter expressed her desire to go to a boarding school.  I was impressed by the girl and hence tried hard to find such a school.  Luckily, I found out that one of my colleague’s mother-in-law was a Pricipal of such a school.  I did a lot of followups on my own and assured Sunanda that Gauri would get through.  While I was pursuing her admission with single-minded focus, Sunanda got another proposal from a relatively wealthy family.  The groom was a middle-aged man more than twice her daughter’s age.  One day Sunanda casually asked me if I would help her financially if she wanted to get Gauri married to this person.  I remember losing my temper and telling her that I was ready to bear the expenses for a couple of years if Gauri went to boarding school, however, if she was contemplating getting her married to this man who was almost her father’s age, she should forget about getting any help from me.  On the other hand the admission procedure for boarding school had to be completed, but I was unsure if Sunanda was really serious about it.  I did not have to wait for long to find out.  Sunanda stopped coming to work suddenly.  Lateron, I learnt from other maids that she got Gauri married and that she was cross with me as I had refused to help her.

Even today, whenever I remember Gauri I have this strange, sad feeling of helplessness.  Of not being able to do anything about it.  So many years, so many generations, but things just refuse to change.

“To secure a challenging position in the field of software development where I can effectively contribute the best of my abilities, and proficiency in the growth of the organization with the same of myself, to furnish new heights.”

The candidate did not make the cut for various other reasons, but that particular resume got me thinking.

Why do so many resumes look like they’ve been scribbled (okay, what is e-word for that?) in a hurry? Why do people invest so little on making themselves presentable on paper? People get extremely creative while listing ‘Other Interests’ or ‘Hobbies’, but forget to mention the name of their college Spelling mistakes, bad English, bad formatting, over decoration, atrocious font selection, lengthy project description with absolutely no details about their own contribution – majority of the resumes have these problems.

So, what makes a good resume? What do interviewers look for when they short-list candidates based on resumes? How should one go about creating that favourable first-impression with the aid of resume? What are the “dos and don’ts” while writing a resume?

Heres are a couple of things that I care about and look at when I’m looking at a resume-

• I care for correct spellings, correct language, good formatting and the document format. I think they speak a lot about an individual. Of course they are not above the content of the resume, and you can probably ignore them if you are a genius, a geek or a guru in your area. But, I doubt any real geniuses, geeks or gurus would really ignore them.

• I personally prefer resumes in dot text or HTML, even PDF is acceptable. But, the world being what it is and where it is, a well written resume in MS Word format is okay too provided the individual does not consider the resume as a place where she needs to showcase all her Word skills!

• I care for the ‘objective’, _if and only if_ the person knows what she is talking about. A crisp, clear, unambiguously stated objective can go a long way in creating a favourable impression. But, vague and paragraph-long objective written in flowery language only serves as distraction. If you are not sure what to write, jut skip it. No point in copying a seemingly impressive objective that your friend herself picked up from elsewhere.

And objectives have to be line with the position you are applying for. It is heart-warming to see a junior developer trying to align his interests with the goals of the organisation, but it just doesn’t ‘cut’ in a resume. I would rather prefer more direct, but honest objectives where you may simply desire to use your skills and strengths and learn new skills, technologies, work on new platforms etc.

• Summary of work experience/skills is what I look at next. That gives a good starting point while conducting an interview. But, a summary should really be a summary. The space should not be used to list all the cool sounding acronyms used in the industry, or to list ALL the tools you’ve ever used in your life time. Write what you really know, and only that which you know really well.

• A listing of _relevant_ degrees, diplomas and courses undertaken, year of passing and the college attended also help if the candidate is a fresher in the field. Sometimes people wonder if the school one attended should also be listed. Well, I don’t have any opinion on it. It makes sense for a fresher to list it, but after a couple of years of experience it can probably be dropped. Personally I would just leave it there, no harm.

• Finally the details of the work-experience or the projects executed. It helps and makes more sense if it is listed in reverse-chronological order. I mainly look for a short description of the project or the scope of the project, but I’m not really interested in the project itself. My main interest lies in knowing the individual’s role in the project and her contribution to the project. So, naturally I look for a detailed description of the roles played, responsibilities handled and the individual contributions made to the project. But, contrary to my expectations, I mostly find resumes where the projects are described in great details, but the contributions or responsibilities find very little space or sometimes they are completely skipped! I just don’t get the logic. And if you try to get the details during the interview itself, people again start explaining the project. I don’t understand how hard can it be to put what you yourself did on paper!

Thats it. Thats what I look for in resumes. What about you?

(Runs off and fetches a small stool from the store room, the same room where she was scared to go. Climbs the stool to reach the lamp switch and rides out triumphantly on the tri-cycle.)

Me    : ?????

The little one has been talking about a tiger ever since she started recognizing animals and started talking in sentences. I don’t remember clearly when she chose a tiger over all other friendly beings from the wild. But, its always been – tiger ne paani gira diya, tiger ne book phaad di, tiger ko music sunana hai, tiger ko baahar jana hai (tiger spilled water, tiger tore this book, tiger wants to listen to music, tiger wants to go out). Back then, this Mr. Tiger used to be green in colour. He wasn’t little one’s age, but slightly older than her. Maybe a couple of years older, or may be in his teens, I’m not too sure. And if he got angry, he’d run away to his jungle. But, he spent most of the time at our place. And just in case you’ve started wondering if he lives in my imagination too; well I used to keep probing the little one to see how far this would go and she would keep giving me these tiny tidbits.

Not sure its just a coincidence that I used to be, and for that matter still am, a great lover of Calvin and Hobbes. I particularly loved Hobbes and his pearls of wisdom. Now I have one staying in my very own house To complete the picture, I actually got a stuffed tiger home last month. Not sure if it sounds way too wieird? Ah, well. By the way, the stuffed tiger has been a favourite at home ever since he arrived. And needless to say, he isn’t only little one’s favourite

Over the last year, things have changed. The tiger is no longer green, but he has turned nice golden yellow with black ‘lines’. When I told her, her tiger used be green when she was small, she laughed and said, “Tiger bhi kabhi green hota hai he he he. Mamma buddhu.” (Is the tiger ever green? Mamma is so dumb). And it is no longer about one little cub, sometimes it seems we have an entire family of tigers living with us. Its almost feels like a joint family! We have two “bada tigers” (big tigers), who I suppose are mamma tiger and papa tiger, and two “chotta tigers” (small tigers). Somehow these tigers don’t have a name. If asked about the name of her tiger, the little one responds – “woh only tiger hai” (he is only a tiger). Whatever that is supposed to mean! And we are spinning stories around these tigers day-in and day-out. “Mamma tiger ko bhi chocolate chahiye”, “Tiger ne newspaper phada, who suntaa hi nahin hai”, “mera tiger mujhe bahut pyaar karta hai”, while returning from the day care “Aaj tiger ki mamma tiger ko jaldi lene aayi thi”. I play along. Mostly.

At times the water starts flowing above the head when Mr. Tiger starts becoming a scapegoat for everything that’d raise mamma’s eyebrows. I couldn’t bring myself say there is no tiger. So, one day mamma got her very own companion and calls him ‘Ram’. Ram gets cross when the little one doesn’t do things she knows how to do, like – wearing her shoes, keeping her books in place, eating at the table, drinking from a glass without spilling. So, we have our house full of people, real and imaginary, all bumping into each other. Who said we are a small nuclear family?

When the little one started scribbling/drawing lines on her own, I noticed her strokes would always begin closer to herself and move upwards. I was amused, but I did not realize what was happening Then one day she called me excitedly to show me a picture of a balloon she had drawn. The balloon was hanging upside down, or so I thought. Same with flowers, they were drawn upside-down. The flowers were at the bottom of the page with the stems going up. Exactly the way I drew And it wasn’t only the drawings. Left on her own, she would hold the picture books upside-down Always.

One evening I tried to reason with her and tried to show her why the balloon should be drawn the other way round. She promptly drew it upside-down, turned the page and said ‘Dekho correct ho gaya!’. Hmm…this wasn’t going to be easy. Even to this day, she holds the book both ways, and mostly in her first instinct upside-down, and goes about turning pages and merrily spinning stories around pictures.

I’ve learnt my lesson and stopped sitting in front of her whenever we do any activity together. We sit together. Side-by-side. Period.