Swati's clay eyes

Plasticine monster by Swati

Ganesha 2009

Gitanjali's 10th Birthday Celebrations

Manga Girl by Swati - 14122008

Fever

My brother was ill.  I went to his school - St. Paul's School - and gave his teacher the leave letter.  He was an old, old looking man.  He had all his bones fused at the joints.  He could move his eyes - just about.  He had no fused bones there. And he made good use of them.  He opened them wide and looked at me.  I looked back at his dark eyes hidden by the bushy eye brows that formed a permanent deep frown.

"What is this letter?", he asked.

"This is a leave letter for my brother", I replied.

"Why can't he come?" he asked.

"He cannot come and that is why I got the letter".

And then he lifted the eye brows.  I understood.

"He has fever", I said.

"How come he plays carrom board at home" He questioned.

That stumped me.  I still wonder how he found out I was playing  with my brother.

"Well. He is inside the house", I said.

His eyes dilated, the gauntlet of his eye brows lifted and he bared his large front teeth, and said if he can play carrom, he can attend school.  No wonder God fused his bones.  I think He made a mistake by not fusing his teeth, and perhaps his mouth too.

"He has taken leave so that other students don't catch his fever", I retorted. I thought it was a smart reply.  And added, "he doesn't run around. He just sits and moves his fingers."

The eye brows came down casting develish shadows on the school compound.

He said. "ok".  I took it as the end of the conversation and ran back home and continued the game with my brother.

My brother was 6 and I was 13 then.  He is now dead for 23 years.

Ganesha 2008

This is a picture of Ganesha that I made out of clay for Ganesha Chaturthi on the 4th of September 2008.  I do this every year and this year I was joined in by a ganas of Ganapathis by the entire family.  Here are the details.

This one is by my first daughter, Shruti.  I think she has done it better than what I've done.

The preparations underway for celebrations.  That is nothing big - we just say (pray) a few slokas, offer him some food and then we eat them!

What I like about Ganesha is that He is the simplest of all the Gods, benevolent and more importantly No Fuss.  He is fond of grass,  the supposedly lowliest but life giving for the entire earth.  The flowers he likes are wild. And his vehicle is the mouse.

Parrot

Benji

Benji opens the gate comes in and has the food offered by Shruti

Prayer at School

Swati during prayer at School

Girl scares an Elephant

Girl Scares an Elephant

Giraffe

Swati's pictures today

A Colourful House

Summer Bath

Kuttimma, Sudarshan & Swati enjoying a summer bath with a bucket of water

The Biggest Star

The Biggest Star, originally uploaded by Madhav13.

Swati says that Sun is the biggest star. But Kuttima does not agree. Swati draws and shows that the Sun is the biggest star. Kuttima says that there are several such suns which are bigger. Swati is not amused - she comes and asks me. I say that Sun is the biggest star in our world.

Turbo Auto Show - Saujas

Saujas, Sridhar's (my co brother) son, is a child prodigy. He has an exceptional talent, sharpness , memory and aesthetics - all about anything that moves on four wheels. Not the toy type - the real ones.

He can recognize any car any model any make that moves on the road today. He can reel off the specifications of the car, tell you the merits and demerits. He can tell you which type of car is good for what type of road conditions and driving requirements. My brother in law recognised this and has given a gift of a year's subscription to a magazine on cars. He is getting better day by day. This also has enabled him to read the magazines flawlessly and make meaning out of it - and Saujas is all of 7 years old.

Like his father, he also has a keen sense of getting things organised. A year ago he had a fad on yo yos and organised an International Yo yo Academy.

This time of summer, he has organised a Turbo Auto Show. It was toy cars show and he did not assume anything at all just because they were toys. As usual his attention to detail is unparalleled. The show included special invites, time to show up and where. The exhibits were classified (bikes, cars) and labels and instructions to viewers. Cars not in top conditions or broken [by him] were categorised under 'Service' - complete with a tool kit. At the end was the feedback form.

It was a great show, Saujas. We all look forward to attending many more such real shows in future from you.

Ho Don't worry

Ho! Don't worry, originally uploaded by Madhav13.

This is Swati's creation. Lord Vishnu on the five headed snake Adisesha. Godess Lakshmi is at the bottom with Sage Narada - as per Swati - the long haired muni. A bhakta is under the spell of Narayana giving the message 'Ho don't worry'. The entire universe is behind.

She has written the message 'Ho don't worry' on her own and was never told about the message of Bhagavad Gita by anybody - 'Maa Shuchaha' which means don't worry.

Sarva dhamaan parithyajya maam ekam sharanam vraja|
Aham tvaa sarva papebhyo mokshayishaami maa shuchaha ||
- Bhagavad Gita - chapter 18 verse 66*

How did she ever write is something I can never imagine and I have not bothered to ask. Children the simple message with heavy import so very easily.

When are we going to be children?

* I was also reminded of a story of the great acharya Mukkoor Lakshminarasimhacharya. The story goes -

A lazy student wants to learn the crux of Hindu Philosophy.

The teacher asks him to read the vedas. The student says that vedas are unending and difficult to understand. So teacher him to read the Mahabharatha, where the teachings of all vedas are contained. The student says that it contains 100000 verses and difficult to digest. The teacher then asks the student to read the Bhagavad Gita, a part of Mahabharatha and the gist of entire vedas. The student says that even the 18 chapters of Bhagavad Gita are way too many. Then the teacher says that he can read just the eighteenth chapter. The student is lazy even to read the 18th chapter which contains the words uttered by the Lord Himself and asks the teacher to reduce it further. The teacher that he needs to learn only one verse - the 66th verse of chapter 18. The student then says that the verse contains two lines which are one too many for him. Then the teacher tells the student to learn just the two words from the 66th verse of chapter 18 which is a gist of Bhagavad Gita which is a gist of Mahabharatha which is a gist of all the vedas put together and the gist of the entire philosophy of Hinduism and those two words are - 'Maa Shuchaha' - don't worry. The lazy student goes back a happy man having learnt the the entire Hindu Philosophy.

Bus Stop

Bus Stop 28032008-1, originally uploaded by Madhav13.

Bus Stop by Swati. You can see a girl waiting at the bus stop with a red roof. A couple of buses on the road facing a block of apartments.

Sudarshan-comic

Sudarshan-comic, originally uploaded by Madhav13.

Sudarshan, my nephew, has the unique capability to down the internet under two minutes. Sometimes much less. No one knows how he manages that.

Here is an attempt to depict him with a bit of photoshop touch to give it a retro comic look.

Have a try here.