Kiddo's Q&A

Before starting the details of this post, I would like to introduce my wife, Varsha and my 3 years old son, Nivaan in my blogging space.

Like many other kids of this age group, Nivaan asks a lot many questions and never gets tired. Varsha and myself try very hard to keep up with his chain of questions by providing accurate answers. The process of answering grow longer and time consuming as one answer leads to his next question and this continues until we end up short of appropriate answers or when we lose our patience, well, whichever comes first :) Believe me, our limits of patience has been stretched to the maximum extend by Nivaan by now ;-)

Here are few questions he has asked and few witty replies from him during my hometown visit this Diwali.

- Why is the lamp (Diya) hot?

 During Diwali time, we had lit few lamps at our main door and on windows. He accidentally fell near the door with his hands on the burning lamp. Poor kiddo burnt his hand a little, cried a bit and continued with his business of questioning, even in that state of pain. He simply asked "Dad, why was the lamp hot?" ("Appa, deepa yaaka bisi itta?"). I answered him, just like cooking vessels, it gets hot when we lit fire. He further asks, "And why is that?" ("Yaaka?") to which I answered, "Fire has this tendency of making things hot or burn things when in contact". Before he could further ask the physical and chemical reactions that happen due to fire, I changed the topic!

 Before anyone inquires as why the lamps were kept at the door when the kid around, let me tell you, it didn't occur to us and it was a genuine mistake :)

- Why are Tom and Jerry not running around?

 Nivaan was looking at the Tom and Jerry cartoon on the wall and asks "Why are Tom and Jerry not running around?". Well, I reasoned out that since he is used to seeing the cat chase the mouse all the time in TV out of curiosity he asked as why the characters are stationary in this photo on wall. I had to tell him that this is just a photo on wall like other photos of family members and not a TV screen where they will be in motion.

- Time out : Time come

 I was playing cricket with him in our house and after few minutes of running around getting the ball which he was hitting left and right I was tried.  To get few minutes of breather time, I said "Time out" gesturing the break signal with T symbol using hands. He was super excited hitting the ball at that moment so wanted to continue it and he immediately says "Time come". I had to ask him to repeat that and he responded again, "Time come". I understood that his opposite phrase for "Time out" is "Time come" :-D I was in splits listening to that :)

- Stomach saying Fries-Fries

 One night, while driving back home, I told Varsha and Nivaan that we will stop at McDonald's for dinner. After few seconds of silence Nivaan says "My stomach is saying Fries-Fries" ("nanna tummy fries-fries annatethi") :)

- Jogging in Car or Bike

 After telling him a bed-time story I told him that I will be going for jogging the next morning so would like to sleep now. He immediately replies, "Even I will come for jogging. Will we be going in car or bike?" ("Nanu barteni jogging ga, car daga hogunu yena bike daga hogunu?") :-D

- Pronunciation and teeth connection

 One night, Varsha was giving some medicine to him and she casually asks why he used to pronounce the word for medicine as "Audh" instead of "Aushadha" when he was younger. To this he replies that he had only 2 teeth then so he used to say that way and now that he has 8 big teeth, he is able to pronounce properly :)

So these days at home, he continues to surprise us with his answers, puzzle us with questions and equally make us laugh :)

I would like to quote below lines from this link:

“In school, we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question,” Wurman pointed out. Which may explain why kids—who start off asking endless “why” and “what if” questions—gradually ask fewer and fewer of them as they progress through grade school.

"Preschool kids ask their parents an average of 100 questions a day. By middle school, they’ve basically stopped asking questions."

The Martian

It was quite sometime I hadn't read a science fiction book. Thanks to my friend Archana who gifted me this book.

This is a story about Mark Watney, an astronaut who is left stranded on Mars by his fellow astronauts, who mistook him to be dead, during a dust storm. He finds himself all alone with all the NASA R&D equipment and setup, and just enough food to survive for few more weeks. The book talks about how he motivates himself, plans for survival and also to establish communication with NASA back on earth. There are quite a few accidents and action which keeps the narration exciting. 
The best part of the character Mark Watney was his humor. Even in moments of great danger and low, Mark's character and his humor keeps things very interesting and makes you lol at many occasions.

I read initial few pages and due to many activities couldn't continue. But after a week, I could get hold of book and finished the remaining 90% in 2 days time frame. Just couldn't keep the book down.

There was the same movie running in the theaters as well, so decided to watch it as well. As expected, the book turned out to be much better. However, there were few scenes and the climax which was done differently in the movie.

A good read and would recommend if science-fiction is what you are looking for.

Trip to Rajasthan & Agra

Finally the time had come to plan for a small vacation as I had got a 4 days off on the occasion on Dusshera.
New job preparation, shifting and later finding the right school for my kiddo had taken it's toll. I wanted a break and this holiday season gave me just that. Of the available options Jaipur-Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Agra-Gwalior and Jaipur-Agra-Ajmer, I decided to visit Jaipur-Agra-Ajmer covering Pushkar and FatehpurSikri as well and here is my summary of my trip.

First day: Agra -

Immediately after landing at Jaipur, we headed towards Agra without stopping anywhere in Jaipur or Fatehpur Sikri as it was a Thursday and Taj Mahal is  closed on Fridays. Visit to Taj Mahal was something I had in my mind since a very long time. The history behind it and the sheer crowd it pulls from different parts of the world always amazed me.
So here was I in front of Taj Mahal on an October afternoon. The first impression when I was right there in front of The Taj was 'Wow'. The beautiful marble monument against the blue backdrop was a great sight. The first thing that normally comes to mind when we visit such a place is the amount of resource, effort, time, and planning that went in to build something this spectacular. Red sandstone walls stand in front and to its two sides, and Yamuna river flows behind it. The tomb, pillars, walkways beside the pool at the front, the inlay art on the walls, the carvings, everything is treat to our eyes. It takes at least 2-3 hours to go around the place. And it will be better to visit early morning during sunrise time to maximize the experience, as the color of Taj Mahal changes during the course of the day.

Few tips to consider:
1. The guide did not provide any details apart from what we have in Wiki, so you can plan without him if you can take time to read.
   Audio guides (downloaded or rentals) can come handy as well.
2. Don't be fooled by guide or anyone w.r.t entry fees or shoe-cover rates. It costs just Rs. 20 & Rs. 10 respectively for Indians.
3. The battery powered vehicles run from parking lot to the actual Taj Mahal entrances to reduce pollution in the area.
   They charge Rs. 10 or 5 (based on the size of vehicle) only. If you have time and patience, you can have a stroll of 1 km instead to avoid the crowd who run towards the vehicles.
4. Do not visit any place/workshops which claim to give your inlay marble work souvenirs or items unless accompanied by trustworthy contacts.

Second day: Fatehpur Sikri -  

We arrived at the Agra fort the next morning. This is a big fort surrounded by tall and think walls, of course. The fort consists of multiple gates and was planned to avoid and slow down the intrusion attempts. Inside the fort we have quite a few places built and upgraded by multiple Mughal emperors. Taj Mahal is seen across the fort a little away next to Yamuna River. Audio guide tapes helped us to know few aspects about each blocks in the fort. I liked especially the palaces at the terrace where Shah Jahan spent time with his family and the Diwan-E-Aam i.e. the Hall of public audience.
Soon after fort visit we reached Fatehpur Sikri after a drive of around an hour. This city was the capital of Mughal empire for sometime and the city, palaces were build under the supervision of Akbar. The fort, palaces, courts show a great deal of planning and mix of cultures.
There are many buildings and structures in the area surrounding which includes the 55 meters Buland Darwaza, Jama masjid, Tomb of Sufi saint Salim Chisti and Panch Mahal.
Buses run from the parking area to the main fort. Rs. 10 is the general fare for each passenger. Many guides mislead in buying the holy blanket or flowers while entering the masjid which needs to be presented inside in order to get our wishes fulfilled. Well, if you are not there for actual prayers or anything then you are ignore all and just visit the main masjid and back. There is nothing wrong in going empty handed. Make sure to have something like a cloth or a cap to cover your head.
 
Third day: Jaipur -
 

 
Once from Fatehpur Sikri, we decided to go for shopping in Jaipur. Sarees, embroidery etc are Jaipur specialty.
The next morning we visited Jantar Mantar. This is a place of architectural astronomical instruments built by Rajpur King Sawai Jai Singh. Even with the audio guide few of the instruments were difficult to be understood :)
We quickly moved to Jaipur City Palace, the main attraction in Jaipur. This palace mainly consists of Mubarak mahal (see pic above) and Chandra Mahal. Currently Mubarak mahal is converted into a museum which features royal costumes used, shawks, sarees etc. Chandra mahal is the residence of the descendants of former rulers.
Other attractions include the Diwan-I-Aam and Diwan-I-Khas which showcase different aspect of royal armoury and art gallery.
This palace surely takes up considerable time to cover completely.
 
Forth day: Pushkar & Ajmer -
 

Once done with City palace we headed towards Pushkar city which is around 4-5 hours drive. Early next morning, we had a nice 2 hours camel ride to witness the sun rise. This was our first camel ride and had nice time along with few other foreigners. Brahma temple and the Ghat are the attractions here. This is the one and only God Brahma temple in the world and the Ghat is the place to pay homage to our ancestors.
Ajmer was the next city where we visited the Jain temple and golden model depicting the city Ayodhya and Mt. Sumera (see pic above). Later we visited the famous pilgrimage center of Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Make sure to have something like a cloth or a cap to cover your head. And if not planned for any prayers or offers of holy blanket, then you can ignore the requests by many.
 
We headed back to Jaipur to board our flight back to Bengaluru.
This was once of the fast paced trips I had so far. Taj Mahal, the forts and the places are something which will remain in my mind for long.