VALUABLE MONEY

This piece is one inspired from a line from Airtel Ad - 'What is valuable money?'
What is the value of money?
Few searches on the net quoted this:
"It is the ability to use them in exchange for things we want or need that gives them value. As long as individuals have confidence that their money can be used in that way, then the money will have value."

If you ask people what do they consider as valuable money, it will vary with each individual.
It is finally "MONEY AT THE RIGHT TIME AND RIGHT PLACE"

Till today, what I consider valuable money for me, was '50 paise'! This value, I recognized during my college days. We had college bus to travel, and there was hardly any need to take other modes of transportation. In spite of this many students would travel by their own bikes and scooters. I would travel by college bus everyday. One evening, a friend of mine from a different department said she would drop me home by scooter. I wanted to have a change from the routine college bus travel and readily agreed to her suggestion. We started a little later after the college bus and half way, her scooty got punctured. She suggested that I take the local bus. I left her there on her own, and went to take the local bus. Today, when I think of that, I feel I should have been with her and helped her correct her scooty. I don't remember, if I offered her any help.

I took the bus. Luckily got a seat. Conductor was two seats ahead and he was approaching my seat. I looked into my bag, to get money. The ticket was just Rs. 2 from that point to the stop near my home. I could just get one rupee and 50 paise from my bag. I didn't know what to do. I was scared that the conductor would embarrass me in front of all people in the bus. There was a girl 'akka' sitting to me. She was very pretty! Her charm caught my eyes, even though I was in mixed mood of fear and tension. After thinking for a while and evaluating different options, all these in few seconds!, the conductor is nearing me. I asked Akka, if she had a 50 paise and if she could give me. I never explained her anything, and she never asked me anything. She readily gave a 50 paise coin. I took it in my hand and I see the conductor asking me for 'Ticket'. I gave the money and got the ticket. I thanked her! I felt embarrassment till I got down, hated the act that I borrowed money from somebody. Till today, I remember the incident and still feel that, that 50 paise was the most valuable money for me!

Everybody's Crazy!

I grew up in Vellore, a small town, now a Corporation! Initial few years of my life, I spent in place, where houses are very close to each other, small street, people always on the street or in the front of their houses, chatting, gossiping.. Evening, you can see children playing around on the streets. Being controlled by my mother, me and my  brother would be standing and watching children playing, flower sellers going by, sonpapdi wala's bells, people going to market, neighbours fighting and so many new things. There used to be a boy, who walks in the street every evening. He will stand in front of every house and ask for palpodi box(Tooth powder). Everybody used to give him some old empty tooth powder boxes and he will happily take it. I found out that he was mentally ill, had a little pity on him. I used to be afraid of him too, I should be 5 years then. The boy should have been around 18 to 20 years of age. Learnt that he was from a rich family. Somebody would come and then take him home. I could still get the same scene in mind, as I am writing. I used to think, what would he do with that?

Now here I am, 30 years old. When I think what I do now, I almost do the same thing. I like to store my kitchen  stuff in transparent bottles - Turmeric powder, chilly powder, jeera powder, coffee powder, everything! I started buying Lion Date syrup as a nutritional supplement. After some months, it was for the bottle, which helped to store stuff in the way I wanted. I gathered lot of bottles. After sufficient number of 100g bottles, I started buying 200g bottles and 500g bottles. I have a lot of them.. Ofcourse, now I again when I buy, it is as a nutritional supplement only, but still I store those bottles. I don't throw them away!

What difference is there between the guy who was collecting the palpodi(Toothpowder) and me collecting Lion Dates Bottle! NOTHING.. Everybody's crazy right?

Shruti's Pronunciation and Story Telling @ 2 yrs and 2 months

I must write about Shruti's pronunciation of certain words. She says 'Mickey Mouse' as ' Kimmey Pouf', 'Pig' as 'Gip', 'Frog' as 'Gof', 'Monkey' as 'Kumkey', 'Dog' as 'Gog'. I was thinking, if this is going to be a problem, but she can speak other words properly. Everybody likes these words of hers and asks her to repeat.. It's fun!

Next her story telling and rhymes - She can give the hints for us to develop the story.
For eg.'
'The thirsty Crow' - Kakka (Crow) - kal (Stones)- panai (Pot) - Thanni (water)- mela (top) - Num Num Num (Drink)
'Money and Cap seller' - Kumkey (Monkey) - Tree - Cap - Aiya (Cap seller) - all others in action (throwing caps)

For rhymes, you have to hear the tune and actions to find out the rhymes:
Teddy bear, Teddy bear turn around - She will turn around, bend down to touch the ground and polish her shoes, and put her hands on the shoulders to take the bag to school
Ringa Ringa Roses - She will go around, say words like 'Hush', 'Busha', and 'Down' and sit down

You can hear more stories and rhymes from her. She can even remember small things which happened some months back and tell you about it.. Amazing kids!

Shruti: 1 year and 8 months - shape identification

Shruti was able to identify images for quite sometime, she cannot tell, but can identify whatever you ask her from a picture book. I was astonished to see her identifying 'A' from the car number board, a week back. Now, she can also identify M, O, S. She also know that 'S' signifies Shruti. If you ask her, 'Where is S- Shruti?', she can show the letter 'S'. All credit goes to my Mother.

However I draw a crow, fan, cycle, mixie, auto, car, moon, star, feeding bottle, flower, chair, table, elephant, she identifies. Moment to feel good about my drawing skills.

Inside a car, she can point out where the gear, steering, mirror, AC, lock, seat, horn.

This is the time to teach them everything. Good Grasping power.

Dresses I designed for Shruti

Shruti - 1 year and 8 months

Now, Shruti has started to talk, over the last one week. Don't remember exactly how and when she started, but it just happened! Some of her first few words after amma - kaakka (crow), paapa (baby), thatha (grandfather), Daddy (finally, her father is happy to hear this), vaava (come), .....thi (Shruti), .....kka (sister), ....nna (brother) and trying out more. Very nice to hear their first speech!

Shruti's first ride on a scooty: I never thought Shruti could stand in front and travel on the Scooty. She was crying when I took my scooty over the weekend. So I gave took her on the vehicle with some doubts. But she could stand properly and she thoroughly enjoyed the small rounds we made. When she became confident standing, she started turning around, which was little scary and I had to manage.

Her time-pass with dhal

One of the vehicle I drove in Namakkal Driver Training Centre