Dengue ke side effects

A couple of weeks back, wifey dear was diagnosed with Dengue. Before you panic - she is alright now and recovering.

She might not be afraid of anything else, but post this incident, she is definitely scared of mosquitoes. Oh... I so envy you.... you lucky mosquitoes....

However that's not the only thing that has changed; there are many other. For example, my contribution to Indian economy has increased.

Fruit sellers have started earning more (of course from my pocket). A nariyal pani wala has got a new daily customer.

Shares of companies like Odomos, Mortein, All Out etc. are soaring. We're using so many products that mosquitoes have started behaving like whales. Doesn't make sense? Here is how - just like a whale has to emerge out of water for breathing, mosquitoes have to step out of our apartment for fresh air.

Supermarkets like Easy Day, More. are seeing huge profits. Why? Because sometimes we might enter the store to pickup just one item, but we never NEVER come out with just one item. And, if anyhow (in rarest of rare cases) we come out with just one item, it is never NEVER the item that we went inside for.

Dr. Lal Pathlabs' business is flourishing. Now whenever I enter their premises, I wonder if they are going to welcome me with flowers. 

I've also started wondering whether Airtel & Vodafone are planning to give me any discount because of so many calls that we have been receiving.

Papaya leaves from nearby papaya tree have vanished. Now I've to get them from a neighbouring society (on a serious note - papaya leaves have been very useful in wifey's recovery). Entire kitchen seems to have been papaya-fied :)

So, the only good thing that has happened is - I've started contributing in household activities! I call it shramdaan (श्रमदान); although some people prefer to call it "life of a husband". What? You don't agree? You feel it's not really a good thing for me. Well, this proves two things:

1- You are my true well wisher :)

2- Who said that the good thing was for me, it's for my dear wifey. Get well soon honey!!!

Barfi

Yesternight, while I was going home, "Main kya karoon" song from movie "Barfi" was being aired on FM.

I started humming the song along, but didn't notice when I twisted the lyrics. So, I present to you, the customized lyrics...

"Chhutku mera, bas mein nahi...
Pehle kabhi, aisa hota tha nahi...
Koi bataye iss Piku ka ab main kya karoon...

Kehne pe, chalta nahi;
Kuch dino se, meri bilkul sunta nahi....
Koi to bataye iss Piku ka main, uff ab main kya karoon, main kya karoon... arey kya karoon.....koi to batao bhai ki kya karoon... pit jayega mujhse isliye jaldi bata do ki kya karoon..." :-D

The 3 Angry Birds

Did you know Angry Birds is the most popular video game these days.... I knew, but never thought of the havoc it can create in real life.

So, it happened this Sunday when we were visiting a supermarket. While we were looking for other important stuff, Piku caught glimpse of Chuck, the famous yellow coloured "angry bird' on one of the boxes.

"Papa, I want angry bird game" he said... I chose to ignore any kind of sound voicing similar to this and hurried towards the next aisle.

Piku repeated with a louder voice "Paapaaa... angry bird". I don't know whether it was the sentence's literal meaning or the devil inside made me do this, I looked at him and pointed towards his mother saying "Beta you've already got one". Unfortunately, wifey saw me through the corner of her eye and I immediately fired a correction turning the pointing finger towards myself "Beta you've already got me. Me... you've already got me!".

"He he he... I was just teasing him" I tried to justify. "I was really teasing him" came another justification. "I was pointing towards me only" yet another one. "Shut up" my brain told my blabbering mouth but another alibi came out "I was not pointing towards you...". The brain fired next instructions to my hands (to cover my mouth), but it was too late till then because the mouth had already blurted: "I mean, I was not calling you an angry bird".

Anyhow, dear wifey (the 1st angry bird) decided to ignore all this for the moment ( read - save it for later), and spoke to Piku "we will get you this game, but you will have to be a good boy till tomorrow".

Piku said "I'm a good boy, now can I have angry birds game?"

I said "No, you'll have to be a good boy till tomorrow; and you will have to promise that you will not cry".

Piku immediately made one of those BIGGG-innocence-filled-eyes expressions and said "Pleeeeezzz papaaaaa....I will not cry, now can I have it.... pleeeeezzzzzz.....".

Ignoring his charm, I said "No, you're about to cry. I will get you this game only if you promise not to cry".

Piku said softly "I'm not crying...",
then repeated with little flatness "I'm not crying",
then again with slight sadness "I....am.... not...crying... ",
then his voice grew louder "I'm not cryinggggg....",
then "I'm not cryinggg....",
then "I'm not cryinggg...."

I wasn't even getting a chance to speak or think, and within minutes he was on crying on top of his lungs "I AMMMMM NOT CRAAAAAAYYYYYINNNNNNNG......." 2nd Angry bird .

All I wanted now is to wrap him up in a blanket and run away from the store, but that would've given some other impression to the on-lookers resulting in me being inside jail. So, I was just trying to say "Piku, piku, pikuuuuuu, peeeekooooo...." but he was not even listening to me.

Finally, I gave up and grabbed the Angry Birds game and heard "                                    " (Piku's voice was instantly put on mute).

I thought that I've gone partially deaf, because I was hearing only one long beep "-------------" (remember good old Doordarshan's beep sound). This happens usually when a high-decibel-noise goes mute instantly .

Wifey came to my aide "we shouldn't give in to his blackmailing like this. Let's not buy this. This would set wrong example... etc. etc. etc.". I "feel" that she must have been saying such things because I was still hearing the beep sound only.

Anyhow, while still looking for the MRP on the box, I moved towards the next aisle when Piku said "I want that big gun toooo...................".

No points on guessing angry bird #3.

Movers and Shakers

An update from my side - recently we have shifted to a new rental apartment.

Wait, something needs correction here... let me think... ummm.. I think I should say that we're still shifting within the new apartment. Yes, that's better.

So, we're still shifting in the new apartment by 3-4 cartons per day. This is accurate statement.

This exercise has taught me so many things, but the most important lesson is what we're being taught since childhood - बिना मरे स्वर्ग नहीं मिलता (bina mare swarg nahi milta).

Question: Who taught us this lesson?
Answer: The movers and packers. The experience has been such, that instead of "Movers and Packers" I would prefer to call them "Movers and Shakers", or even better: "Dumpers and Shakers".

It all happened like this: when we (finally) decided to relocate, we called upon multiple M&Ps inquiring about their services and quotations. I'm a man of planning, and this was yet another golden opportunity for me to show-off my planning skills to wifey.

After talking to 4-5 different vendors, I did some heavy background checking about all of them for a week or so, and finalized upon the best one  ( this was what I told everybody, specially my better half).

This was what happened actually --- After talking to 4-5 different vendors, I did many things except background checking about any of them. A week later, I garbled up all the numbers and quotations and then finalized upon the one who had been consistently calling me up.

To ensure that wifey didn't miss my smartness, I called up the marketing guy and instructed him to send his folks at 8:30 am.
True to their commitment, they called me at 8:30 mentioning that they would be late by 30 minutes or so. I didn't know that "or so" included multiple "30 minutes". They arrived only 3 hours late.

I spent rest of the day watching what they were doing. It would've been better if I would've "observed" what they were doing.

By evening, they were done with packing almost 80% stuff and had consumed 100% of cartons, lamination sheets. Since I was just looking, so they comfortably took some of our bedsheets and wrapped up remaining stuff into them.

Anyhow, we reached the new apartment around 9 pm and then began the exercise of emptying a truck-full of cartons into a meager flat. By the time, they managed to assemble the big items it was already 2 am, and I asked them not to unpack every carton.

This was day before yesterday. Since then, we've been unpacking cartons one by one and getting amused by our findings:
- Cartons labelled "Clothes", also have kitchenware
- Top layer of carton labelled "Books" was packed with footwear
- Carton labelled "Mandir" had Piku's toys
- We asked them to pack crockery in news paper, so they packed some of the crockery items with single sheet of news paper
- Onion & potatoes were found lying at the bottom of ocean of woolen clothes...
- Upon opening one of the package we discovered that they had dutifully packed the garbage bin.... along with the garbage
.... and the ultimate (you're going to love this)
- The latest carton, when opened today, gave wifey a scare of lifetime. When she opened it up, something jumped out of it and ran away. Yes, it was a R...A...T...
... and by the size of it, I guess, it is same as the one that I mentioned about in one of my old post: "Rat in the flat" :)

Click a pic!

Kids grow up so fast... they learn to communicate so fast... and they learn to express themselves so fast !!!

One day, I was taking Piku's random snaps, when I clicked following... 

He was so tired that it showed on his face, so I asked him to cheer up so that I could get a better photo.

This was his immediate response....

Kids grow up so fast... they learn to communicate so fast... and they learn to express themselves so fast :)

Who wants an ice-cream?

This one is about our visit to a mall in Gurgaon.

As soon as we entered the mall I received a phone call. When the call got over, I saw that Piku was "mumbling" & "bouncing" in front of an ice-cream stall, and his mom was trying to control the situation (& hide her embarrassment).

"It's just an ice-cream" I thought and ordered one.

When the guy handed it to me I asked casually "how much" while reaching out for cash in my wallet. "220/- only" came the reply. Trust me that was the hottest ice-cream I've ever held.

My next automatic question was "do you accept card", which got an affirmative response. With heavy heart I handed the credit card to the sales guy and ice-cream cone to Piku.

Although now I was getting an urge to bounce & mumble like Piku was doing few moments ago, but my sense of dignity held me back. But, Piku certainly had something else in mind because he had started bouncing & mumbling again... when I asked him with a stone-cold accent "what's the matter", he replied: "I want only cone ...."