Kuttlush loves to play

Children love to play, at all ages and all times.Aarshi (a.k.a. Kuttlush) is no exception. And so its not surprising that her all- time favourite place is Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) near her house.

At her favourite place
 This time, on our recent visit , we did a few new things. Sample these:
  • A  recce of the mock underground coal mine ( I remember this place from my own childhood days)
  • Feeding chocolate bourbon biscuits to the guineapigs, rabbits and pigeons ( Yes, crazy but true !!)
  • Buying an educational science project for her

I have been taking her to this place since she barely reached up to my waist in height, and now..she is a tall young lady reaching up to my midchest! I am amused at the prospect of the day when she will outstrip me in height.


Posing with a tiny friend
Of course, there were the usual challenging  times associated with a fireball hyperactive kid.  I struggled to explain the intricacies of a coal mine to her with my rather rusty knowledge, but I did it ! She was all ears, but left well before the end of the show, her boredom switch getting stimulated early, which was not surprising, for she was the youngest person there, the only other visitors at that time being a cackle of older schoolkids who seemed to know the concept of a coal mine.

And then there was the usual games section( her favourite), where we managed to build a toy house after some effort and failure of the last few visits. We drew patterns in the sandbox, built alphabets on the alphabet machine,and she gave the poses she has been doing for the last three years.


Drawing patterns in the sandbox

Drawing The World

Drawing a house

Drawing a car

Waves of energy

Then on to the mirror house, shadow box and other contraptions.She scored five consecutive victories in the football section (a new achievement! ) I am delighted at the exponential growth of her knowledge, which I struggle to keep up with. She quizzed me on the river goddess, which I failed. And she burst out, delighted at my ignorance "Ganga !!"Of course, how could I have forgotten?

Scoring in football - champion five times in a row!

Building blocks

The house we built

Pedal harder!
We went through a wide selection of science project games before we finally settled on the one I felt suited her the most.I do hope she plays with it.

And then, the grand finale! The animal enclosure with the rabbits, guineapigs and pigeons. We fed chocolate bourbon biscuits to them, and probably they were shell- shocked - surely no one had done this to them before. For sure, Kuttlush was delighted beyond all limits, because this was a new and novel one. To quote her, “I will surely remember this for a long time!”

Bourbon treat for the inmates

Having bagged her presents which I had brought, she happily snuggled up to me, after having her way with the Kinder Joy for Girls ( I had mistakenly bought the one for Boys, but how could I escape the scrutiny of this kid?).

There will be a new adventure the next time. Kids grow up fast, especially in this rocket age, and it isn't long before we feel like rather dated old foddy doddies.

Dad and Baby. Two monkeys of the same kind,different ages
Here's to Kuttlush and her happiness now and always. Muahhh!!!!
Location: Ballygunge

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lord Shiva- the first bipolar

Image
  Bipolar. A person who is maniac and depressive alternately. Happy at one time, sad at another. The APA ( American Psychiatric Association) of USA, the imposing grand daddy of the global " mental healthcare system “ ,who decide arbitrarily via their network of psychiatrists worldwide as to what constitutes a mental disorder and what does not ( with gentle and not so gentle prodding from Pharma companies) ,says that people with bipolar disorder , " have extreme and emotional mental states that occur at distinct times, called mood episodes." And going by standard psychiatric literature, the occurrence of bipolar disorder is around 3% in the community (again, based on arbitrary and questionable criteria decided by psychiatrists ). Is that the case, really ? To critically examine this issue, let's look at the "case" of Lord Shiva, whom many of us worship daily, in all his glory.Lord Shiva is silent,medit
Read more

The Spirit-what is it actually

Image
x The spirit does not die. Simple statement of Hindu philosophy, the core of the Advaita tradition. As   said in the Bhagavad Gita, Samkhya Yoga “ Na hanyam, na hanyate ( the spirit does not kill or let kill).”Even while you kill your enemies, your kill their body (and their mind), but never the spirit or soul ( Atman). Bhagwan Maharishi Ramana defines this spirit   as the “ I”,   that which is unique to us all, thus has to be perceived by us uniquely. He defines “ I” as the sole phenomenon that drives the world, the Shiva tattva that is present inside us all , and I wholeheartedly agree with him. The Bhagwan would know- it was this “I “phenomenon which helped him to battle cancer undaunted till his death in 1950 . It was the same spirit which allowed my late father to battle lung cancer undaunted till his end . It is the same spirit that allows all of us to face life’s multiple problems everyday. Without “I”, there can be no “ We
Read more

Sufism- the call of divine humanity

Image
Sufism. The way of  divine humanity. The philosophy of love and syncretism. What is it all about, actually ? In a world of hatred and strife, where the  ISIS gains headlines everyday for the wrong reasons, it might be useful to recall the philosophy of the Sufi. The origins of Sufism are somewhat obscure, but broadly one of its earliest proponents was the   11th Century AD Persian (current day Iran)  philosopher and saint Ghazali , also known among his followers as " Sultan ul  Uluma", or king of scholars. The mantle passed on to his disciple Bahauddin , who was ostracized for the opposition of his  faith to traditional Islam. The inheritor of this tradition was, finally,  Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi . A prominent scholar ,  Rumi was  a sufferer of internecine strife , having been displaced from his hometown of Balkh to Konya,along with his father , who was ostracized for his opposition to hardline, scholarly Islam . He faced hardship created
Read more