Monday, October 01, 2007

The ultimate man vs. machine war

Baby Aish has reached the age where she has started saying things. Not like she did not say things before. There has been more than one occasion where Aishu has held the telephone and poured her heart out to me, narrating heart-wrenching stories of how her evil parents and grandmother are making her bathe every single day (oh the horror!), eat yucky mushy stuff, and wear stuff that is so not her style *coyly looks at nails*. Of course what I actually heard on the phone was something like what you would see on your screen if you accidentally fell asleep on your keyboard:

"Ksajkrhjkbnfjkdnflkajfoiuerohiflkhas
asjkhjkkaeruhblkhlkj
jafcfnlkjelkjareoprjnjfklds!!!!"

But a conversation it was, even though it was heavily intercepted by “beep beep beep” sounds, which was not Aishu using expletives, but her expressing fondness towards pressing the buttons on the phone, especially 'cancel' followed by 9-1-1, in that particular order. It was no wonder therefore that my sister decided to confiscate the phone. Aishu was not to go anywhere within 100 cm of the phone. And every time I’d ask for Aishu on the phone, my sister would decline.

I was devastated. If she did not hear her eklauti mausi’s voice, how would I become her best-friend-godmother-confidante?? So I bought a webcam. Forget hearing, now she could see me! So I asked my sister to point to me when I was online and say "M-A-U-S-I" ("aunt") as often as she could. Baby Aish was excited at the proceedings on the computer and the delightful proximity with another gadget she could destroy.

So last week, I asked my sister what baby Aish had learnt to say so far.

“Oh she says Papa, Mama, everything. And she can count to six. She drops the four, but she goes on to six. And we’re trying to get her to say the computer parts – we point to different parts and make her repeat it.”

Sheesh. What do you expect from two programmer parents?

“What about 'mausi'? Can she say 'mausi' yet?”

“Aishu, say 'mausi'?” I heard my sister say.

“Mauuuu…” Aishu said, in true Shakti Kapoor style.

I didn’t give up. Over the next few days, I tried and tried till she finally gave in one day.

"Mausss..." I heard her say.

"She almost said 'mausi', she almost said 'mausi', she almost said 'mausi'!" I said, jumping up and down.

Over the next few days, I heard her say it many many times, my heart exploding each time with utter joy and adoration.

“You know, I feel so happy when she says 'mausi'…” I was telling my sister once.

“Hehehe…” my sister laughed nervously.

“What? Why are you laughing like that?”

"Errr..." said my sister.

"What? What?? What???"

"Actually, she doesn’t actually say 'mausi'."

"Of course she does! I’ve heard her say it so many times!" I yelled.

“Errr… She didn’t actually say 'mausi'.”

"Well, what did she say then?"

"She said 'mouse'."

"Mouse?"

"Yeah."

"Mouse as in the rodent?"

"No! Not that!" my sister said emphatically, as if that was supposed to make me feel better. "The computer mouse!!!"

Ooh, the computer mouse. :/

Sheesh.

My niece thinks I am a computer mouse. Not the CPU, not the monitor, not even the keyboard, but the mouse – a part that is actually redundant in some computers.

“I don’t think she quite knows the difference between 'mouse' and 'mausi' yet. We point in the same general direction when we say either word, you see.” My sister explained.

:/



25 comments:

Thisisme said...

golddddddddd :D:DDDDDDD

Thisisme said...

hahahhaa...same is the case with my niece :D:D
i taught her to say Buaaaa....and drilled it so much into her..that she calls every one and everything arnd her Bua :D:D talk abt being an evil bua. intially i thot she loves me too much..but now i know its all abt mentorin the right way..my heart beats with joy {:P} when i hear her call even her frnds buaa :D:D

Thisisme said...

n now comes the bronze as well/...:))))) u srsly made my day :D

Bivas said...

lolz...
if its any consolation...asking her to say Mausa wud also result in the same word...MOUSE ;-) hehehe

Sudeep said...

:))
nice..

Shekhar said...

//I don’t think she quite knows the difference between 'mouse' and 'mausi' yet.

I think your sister's got a Nobel prize winner on her hands..either a sociologist or a computer genius!!!

satish said...

Fight maarte raho Mousey!

shub said...

:D mmuah to her!

Manchus said...

That is so cute! She may even say Minnie Mouse sooner than "Mausi", unless she starts playing with the doll called 'Moxie'. Good luck with your wait!!

Deepali said...

I can empathize with u..
When my nephew was of Baby Aish's age, sister took him to national park and showed Hippo. She said "see Hippo", he understood "see Deeppu" :| ( my pet name is deepu)..
And then for rest of the trip he kept crying "Deeppu dekhna hai, deepu dekhna hai". First she thought,he is missing me but actually he was missing ....

Now smile, You are only a computer mouse, I was a HIPPOPOTAMUS.

Di said...

Arre u poor dear...im sure she'll come on to calling you a perfect "Mausi" literally :D

Sandip Chaudhuri said...

hahahahaha
hello there minnie mouse.

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Billu mausi aur Sayesha mausi... dono chuhe (err... matlab mouse) ke peechhe bhaagte hain! :D :D

Nidhi said...

This was such a cute post!!!! :D

Unknown said...

muahahah, my nephew got bhua before he managed dadu and dadi:p but i have this other nephew....just refuses to get masi. he gets the 'ma' and the 'si' but he NEVER joins them and so he calls me 'si'!:o

Parul said...

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww :)

Mohan Kodali said...

lol..
=))

qsg said...

Really cute! You have a great niece, mouse! :)

shub said...

q. what do we call your house?
a. mouse pad :D
muhahahaha!
[ nope, not to-talli talli (yet) ]

Sukhaloka said...

Gawd, woman! Just be glad it isn't Art Speigelman's graphic novel "Maus". :P

Iday said...

I kind of figured it out when u dragged the "Mauuusssss..."

Makes no difference i say :p Atleast during video chats, the mouse and u will pretty much be in the same direction :p

Sayesha said...

#Thisisme,
Hehe! So when she goes to the zoo, she points at all the animals and says "Bua"? Awesome! Muahahaa! :D

#Bivas,
Naah, my war is not against the mausa. My war is against the machines! :/

#Sudeep,
:)

#Shekhar,
Haha! Yeah, looks like it! *Touchwood* :)

#Satish,
Bilkul! :D

#Shub,
Hehehe! :P

#Manchus,
:D

#Deepali,
Hahahaha! I am only a mouse, you are toh hippopotaMOUSE! Ahahahaah! :D

#Di,
Yeah... waiting... waiting... :)

#Sandew,
Arre! Bhai ko mousa bola? This is a privilege extended only to family members of age two and below. :D

#Sudipta,
And here come the bad cat-mouse jokes! I was expecting them though! :D

#Nidhi,
Thanks! :P

#Duhita/Si,
Hahahaha! :D

#Parul,
:D

#Chandu,
:D

#QSG,
Abbe! :/

#Shub,
Eh tu? Shuru ho gayi??? Sheesh!
ps: Waise joke achha tha. Matlab PJ level par achha tha. :P

#Suki,
Okay I have not read that, but it already sounds scary! :O

#Iday,
Exactly! I have to do something about it. A winter trip is due perhaps... :P

Adorable Pancreas said...

Saw that coming. My nephew calls his dad is light. His mom is light. His grandparents are lights. But I am red light. Damn!

Iday said...

yay for winter trip. happening???

Sayesha said...

#Adorable Pancreas,
You are red light?? Ahahahahahaha!
*clutches tummy and laughs*

#Iday,
Nope, not this year. :(