Party pooper

Lately, I have been singing Hindi songs to Xena and stopping just before important key words to let her sing them instead. I don't know why, but it's mostly party songs. For example, I sing "Where's the party tonight? On the...?" and she says excitedly, "Dance floor!" I sing "It's the time to...?" and she yells out "Disco!"

(Slight diversion - a friend was trying this out and he mixed up the two songs, and ended up singing "Where's the time to disco?" and we laughed for like ten minutes because of how true and sad his 'remixed' version was.)

Anyway, so I was changing Xena's diaper once and she was squirming so much I decided to sing to divert her attention. So I said, "Baby baby, listen! It's the time to...?"

"POOP." She said with great clarity and certainty.

Letters (of the alphabet) from a daughter to her mother

Last year, around the time Xena turned 18 months, I noticed a shift in her interest. From the characters of her storybooks to the characters in the text of the storybooks. She had started pointing to the letters in the text and asking me what they were. So I went and bought a set of alphabet flashcards and we started going through the letters and corresponding pictures.

You know how they say kids these ages are like diapers? No wait, sponges. Sponges that absorb anything and everything you teach them. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was indeed true. Within a week, she knew the uppercase letters and over the next couple of weeks, she knew both uppercase and lowercase quite well.

The only trouble I had was trying to capture the whole thing on video at one shot. This is the best I could manage. As you will see if you have the patience to watch the whole thing, here I was, trying to speed to Z, and there she was, my Basanti who wanted to chitchat about the weather, her blocked nose, and what not. She even managed to put in a song request! (By the way, the song she's asking for is 'Naam ada likhna' and if you have never heard it, omgdoitnownownownow!).

The inside tody

Have you ever had a toddler bring you a story book and listen with rapt attention, eyes wide open, as you flip through the pages and read the exciting story to her?

No?

Me neither. :/

This is how our typical story-telling sessions go these days.

Xena (hands me a book) - "Witch... Tody!"

The book is actually called 'The Flower Princess' but she prefers to call it "Witch Tody".

Me (pointing to the witch on the page) - "So there was once a witch..."

Xena - "TOPI!!!"

Me - "That's right, the witch was wearing a topi, a hat."

Xena (pointing to the witch's fingernails) - "BADE BADE!"

Me - "Yes, she had bade bade pointy fingernails... Let's continue... So the witch saw a princess..."

Xena - "PITTY PITTY!"

Me - "Yes, the princess was very pretty. So the witch saw her..."

Xena - "BLUE!"

Me - "Correct. The princess was wearing a blue dress..."

Xena - "WALK!"

Me - "Yes, she was taking a walk in the woods. The witch saw her and...

Xena - "FALOUTH!"

Me - "Flower! Yes, the witch turned her into a flower."

Xena - "BLUE!"

Me - "A blue flower... Yes. Later, the prince came to look for his princess..."

Xena - "NEIGH!!!! NEIGH!!!!"

Me - "Yes, he came riding on a horse."

Xena - "Abhijeet??" (She says "Abhijeet" for 'elephant', 'octopus' and 'Angry birds'. Don't ask.)

Me - "No, no elephant. Just a horse ok? The prince was very sad because he could not find his princess..."

Xena (pointing to the prince's eyes) - "EYES!"

Me - "Erm, yes, the prince has eyes. So he asked the witch where his princess was. She told him the princess was a flower. Every night, she would turn into a princess, but she would stay with the witch. If he could pick the right flower, he could take her home and she would turn into a princess again."

Xena - "CHIRP CHIRP!"

Me - "Huh?? Chirp chirp? Where??"

Xena (flips to the front cover and shows me the publisher's logo, which is a robin) - "CHIRP CHIRP!"

Me - "Oh yes, that's a bird. Instead of 'chirp chirp', can you say 'bird'? BIRD?"

Xena - "Abhijeet??"

Me - "Erm... No baby, that's not an angry bird. That's a regular, non-angry bird. Let's get back to the story. The prince did not know which flower his princess was. One day, he met a kind fairy..."

Xena - "AUNTY!"

Me - "Ok, yes, fairy aunty. He met a kind fairy aunty. She..."

Xena - "PINK!"

Me - "Yes, she was wearing a pink dress. She gave the prince an idea. The next day he went back to the woods and looked at the flowers. He picked one and brought it home. At night the flower turned into the princess!"

Xena (excitedly pointing at the princess' hair) - "KIP! KIP!"

Me - "Yes, her hairclip is blue. She asked the prince how he found her among all the flowers..."

Xena - "Nemo??"

Me - "Huh?? Nemo?! Nemo is not in this story, baby."

Xena (wanders off to find her Nemo stuffed toy) - "Nemo!"

Me (closing the book) - "Uh... ok. End of tody."

[For those who are curious about the story, the fairy told the prince to look for a flower without any dew on it. Because the princess was not a flower at night, she would not have any dew on her. And oh, when explaining this to the princess, the dhakkan prince conveniently omitted the part about fairy aunty and took all the credit himself. Hmmmph!]

Cast in the same mole

After Viv and my Dad, it was my turn today to crack a PJ about Xena. Poor baby.

She was curious about the black mole I have on my chin (which my parents have always referred to as my 'beauty spot' and I have always referred to as 'beauty nahin toh spot sahi') and I told her, "Yeh Mama ka mole hai." She then pointed to her own face and asked, "Baby?" (meaning "Baby ka mole kahan hai?").

"Baby ka mole nahin hai," I told her. "Kyunki baby anmol hai."

(Yeah, I'm pretty sure even she rolled her eyes.)

HNY!

Hey bewdas,

I wanted to drop a quick note to wish all of you a very happy new year! My new year resolution is extremely general -- to strive to be a little better than I was last year. In every sense. What's yours? Let me know in the comments' section, and I promise to hunt you down at the end of the year to see how you did. ;)

Thanks for hanging out at the bar!
Lots of love,
Sayesha
PS: Sorry for the super short post. But... quoting the Terminator, "I'll be back." :P

'Tis the season to be jolly!

Merry Christmas, bewdas!

Time sure flies. The first pic is from yesterday, the second from last year's Christmas. :)

The warrior princess diaries - X

So I haven't posted in almost a month and the world is supposed to end today. So I have to post. Something. Just in case.

We had a great vacation in the US in Oct-Nov. Of course, we were really really nervous about how Xena would take to such a long flight. Before flying off, I had posted on my Facebook an apology in advance to all passengers travelling with us, warning them of the turbulence that was expected as we were going to unlease mini-typhoon Xena upon them. Well, our little typhoon was mostly well-behaved and the long flights were not much of an issue, but hurricane Sandy did slightly affect our holiday. A few of the flights got cancelled so we had to adjust our itinerary a bit, but overall, it was fabulous. Xena got to spend lots of time with her cousins, especially my sister's two kids. What amazed me most is that even almost two months after the end of the holiday, she remembers "didi" and "baby", and always asks me where they are. I tell her the truth. Didi and baby are sleeping. She must think she has Kumbhkarans for cousins because whenever she asks for them, they're sleeping.

Of course, I went camera-crazy when I was there because who knows, when the cousins will meet next! This is my absolute favourite photo of Xena and Aishu. It's a total coincidence that they have similar tops!

It was Xena's first time celebrating halloween. Well, our first time too. I had taken along a ballerina costume for her, but it was sooooo cold we piled on layers on her until you couldn't tell what she was supposed to be. She didn't seem happy about that (see photo below). Trick-or-treating was really fun. Of course, I confiscated all her candy. And ate it.

Though it got really cold sometimes, overall I loved the weather. The weather is one of my favourite things about the US. We really enjoyed the lovely fall colours.

We also managed to catch up with some very dear friends in New York. I miss them. Wish they lived closer to us!

Oh, 17 Nov was World Prematurity Day. I wouldn't even have known there was such a thing if I didn't have a little preemie warrior of my own. There's a prematurity awareness ribbon too, and I did up this photo to celebrate the incredible fighting spirit of the li'l warriors.

In other news, she's still rejecting all solid foods. If she had her way, she wouldn't even drink any milk. One would wonder where she gets all the energy for her monkeying around. I, for one, strongly believe that she photosynthesises. We have tried everything, offering her every possible kind of food (she rejected even Kitkat; who rejects Kitkat???), totally starving her till she asked for food/milk herself (she chose to remain hungry the entire day) and enticing her with cutesy food. I bought animal-shaped biscuits for her, and what did she do? She examined each biscuit, made the correct animal sound (moo, baa, woof woof, meow, oink, quack quack, etc.) and handed it back to me, expecting applause. And I just noticed two days ago that she has tiny biceps. Great. I am sure she got them from all her 'Talk to the hand' gestures whenever I offer her food.

Her doctor suggested that we put her in playschool to let peer pressure make her eat. We have actually noticed that she does eat a bit when other kids are eating. So we went to some eight preschools and have finally picked one. She starts in January. They gave us the smallest uniform size they had, and well, two of her can fit inside that.

I am excited about her starting school. So far it's just been her and me, and I wonder how she will cope in a drastically different environment. She's quite friendly and social, so I am sure she will adjust well. As long as she starts eating, I'll be happy.

She's been up to all sorts of mischief. And what's really hilarious is the way she tries to copy us (except when we're eating; she never copies that!). She saw me accidentally drop a spoon and say, "Uh oh." She flung her penguin soft toy with all her might across the room, looked at me and innocently said, "Uh oh?" She also loves to wipe spilled water for some reason. In fact, wiping is apparently so fun in a toddler's universe, she asks me for water, spills it on purpose and then gleefully wipes it. Oh, and looks at me expecting applause. (Yes, I oblige.) So yeah, making her wipe whatever she spills is not a deterrent at all.

I try to find something new to do with her every day. Sometimes totally random things. Like walking around with her standing on my toes. The first time I did that, she thoroughly enjoyed the joyride, and very graciously invited me to stand on her toes so she could return the favour! If only, baby!

I have also started her a bit on the alphabet and though she can say a few of the letters, 'W' is her absolute favourite. I'd have thought it was the hardest of all to pronounce, but she loves it so much, she spots it everywhere. Even upside down. Yesterday, she saw the 'M' of McDonald's and excitedly pointed and said "W!!!"

She has now mastered shapes and spots them everywhere. Even I hadn't noticed there were so many heart shapes around us. She has pointed out what she calls "aht!" to me on milk bottles, T-shirt labels, ice-cream tubs, newspapers, toy packaging, books, and what not. It's amazing to see the world from a toddler's perspective. Yes, darling, there is so much love all around. We grown-ups are just too self-involved to see it. But we're lucky that we have you, to point it out to us and remind us.

So yeah, if the world does end today, I will have no regrets. I am thankful for everyone and everything I have, and particularly my little one who shows me every day how funny and amazing everything is.

Tech support system

It's been a while since I did one of these posts, but here it is, guest starring Xena's cousin (yep, he's Aishu's brother).

KJ wali movie

Ok, first things first. I was kinda sure that Student Of The Year would be a massive flop. Debut movie of two star kids (kids of David Dhawan and Mahesh Bhatt no less). The ingredients seemed perfect for a superdupermega flop. Think Saawariya. Think Sadiyaan. So when I found out that the movie was a big hit, I was curious. I also wanted to see what Karan Johar was upto, and whether his filmmaking style had changed at all. In all honesty, I had absolutely loved Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and mostly liked Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (in spite of a very irritating Kajol) and Kal Ho Na Ho. It was only Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna which had shaken me to the core. How could KJ direct SUCH a terrible movie? I mean, when you go to watch a movie, you have to care for at least one of the characters, right? In KANK, I couldn't be bothered with any of the whiny lot (and I was shocked that SRK played such a whiny guy!), and I was kinda hoping everyone in the movie would die quickly so I could go home. My Name Is Khan didn't do much for me either. I felt sad. 

The main reason why I had liked KKHH was that it had made me laugh and it had made me cry. I cried when little Anjali got the word 'ma' in her extempore competition and SRK saved the day and said, "Lekin hamaare paas Papa hain, aur woh bhi kaafi acchhe hain." I cried when a heartbroken Anjali sang "Tujhe yaad na meri aayi" in the rain. I cried at the last scene, when SRK mimed 'I love you' to Kajol in her bridal dress. Ok, I may have also also cried a little bit at how insanely handsome Salman Khan looked in the song 'Saajanji ghar aaye'. Anyway, my point is -- it is not easy to make the audience cry. Crying for/with a fictional character had made me feel human, feel real. If I could cry for a fictional character, I was not dead on the inside. Phew. And at times, when I feel myself getting too cynical, I crave to experience that feeling. But somehow watching KKHH on DVD is not the same as when I had watched it in the theatre. Maybe it's just a certain age and stage in your life that such movies move you the most. 

It had been a while since my Bollywood buddy Starbreez and I had watched a movie together. So I took the holy name of KJ and convinced her to go with me. What about Xena, you ask? Viv and I have a new arrangement. He watches English movies, while I watch Xena, and I watch Hindi movies when he watches her. It works great, because if we really like something, we recommend it to each other and then find other friends to watch it with. I think it will be a while before he and I can watch a movie together.

Okay, first things first. The story. It was definitely weaker than KJ's usual stuff, and at one point just seemed like a day-to-day account of college. Even the competition, which is the central theme of the movie, kinda seemed silly with  a kiddish treasure hunt, and boys and girls in the same swimming competition. Just when I tried to justify it as Bollywood fluff, it was addressed towards the end of the movie. That took me by surprise.

The actors. Okay, I SO did not see that coming. These kids can act. Well, they're not great actors, but I expected them to be really really bad. I was glad to be proven wrong, for all three have made confident debuts. Kudos to KJ for moving away from his bag of established stars and putting his faith in total newcomers (star kids of all actors!) for his directorial comeback.

I started off with a softer spot for Varun Dhawan over Sidharth Malhotra. Because you know, Varun is better looking. But as the movie progressed, Sid also grew on me, and by the end of the movie, I actually liked both of them equally. But I will still maintain one thing. Varun is better looking. And oh, he's a great dancer. Alia Bhatt is very very cute. Flawless skin, symmetric features, nice hair, cute dimples, beautiful smile. And boy, can she pull off red lipstick. By red, I mean RED. And just when you dismiss her as just a doll, you realise she's not too bad as an actress.

In several places, the movie reminded me of Dil Chahta Hai (friends falling out over girl issues, reminiscing and meeting in a hospital) and Jaane Tu (story related by a gang of friends).

The movie was light and breezy and funny in places. I remember laughing at a number of scenes in the movie, but strangely, I couldn't remember any of them by the time I came home. The only one I remembered was the next day, and it was "Bas bolna tha - Be Punjabi!"

I don't know why KJ likes to rope in Kajol for guest appearances in his movies. There she was, appearing out of nowhere in the Disco Deewane song. Frankly speaking, she looked awkward and totally out of place. Kajol fans are now going to throw their hands up and close the browser. I'm sorry. I used to like her at one point. I really did.

I loved the songs a lot more after watching the movie. But, I still can't get over the idiotic lyrics in Ishq wala love. Oh, did anyone else mishear 'Waise wala love' as 'Paise wala love?' I really really wish it had nice dreamy lyrics that justified the Kashmir backdrop. Who takes the cast and crew to snowy mountains to shoot something called 'Ishq wala love'??? 

Bollywood has progressed so much, but one thing will never change. Songs shot in the snow will ALWAYS have the hero nicely bundled up in layers and layers of sweaters and scarves, but the heroine will always be in a translucent chiffon sari and sleeveless blouse, or a sleeveless short dress. Sigh. If you look carefully, at one point, you will see poor Alia literally shiver as she lip syncs the song.

Rishi Kapoor got a lot of rave reviews for his portrayal as the gay dean, but I thought he was ok. I was just glad they didn't make him over-the-top gay, like they do in a lot of movies.

Ram Kapoor. Ronit Roy. Gautami. What's with all the TV stars in the movie? KJ showing loyalty to his friend Ekta Kapoor? But they were all well suited to their roles, so no complaints. 

Overall, the movie was watchable. I did not enjoy it as much as the two obnoxious teenagers sitting next to me and saying the dialogues ahead of time. Of course, I found it really silly that for someone who has obviously watched the movie, they put their hands together and fervently chanted "Come on, Abhi! Come on, Abhi!" during the race. Sheesh.

The best moment in the movie for me was the scene during Rohan's brother's wedding, with just instrumental music playing in the background as the characters interacted with one another without saying a single word. Beautifully done, and reminiscent of KJ's old signature style. 

PS: I just realised that if I wasn't so mad at the chap who plagiarised my emoji posts, this would be my third consecutive post on Student Of The Year!

Emoti(c)onal abuse

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

But not when the imitator puts his frickin' watermark on your work.

We got back from our US holiday on Tuesday, and I found several emails and messages from the bar's bewdas about content from my emoji pictionary posts (particularly this one) being spread on FB pages without any credit given.

Those who have followed and played the emoji posts would know that idea of using emoji icons to play pictionary came from my friend Pizzadude and I have since posted several such posts on my blog.

The first page I was informed about was the ROFLIndia Facebook page with the following post:

As you can see, ten songs have been featured using emoji icons and the post has 1,555 likes, 1,450 comments and 3,261 shares as of now. Hell, it even has a watermark. Great.

Here are the relevant posts from our blogs where the ten songs have been taken from.
Songs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 are from this post on my blog.
Songs 6 and 7 are from this post on my blog.
Songs 8 and 9 are from this post on Pizzadude's blog.

Over the last few days, it has been shared again and again on different FB pages. Here are just some which were sent to me by the bar's bewdas:

https://www.facebook.com/SocialKonnekt (link to post)
https://www.facebook.com/page4bollywood?fref=ts (link to post)
https://www.facebook.com/SrikanthGopisetty (link to post)

Each of these pages have hundreds of shares, likes and comments.

UPDATE (11 Nov 2012): Kanan has sent me yet another post on the ROFLIndia FB page!

Every single song featured in this has been lifted off this post on my blog.

I wrote to ROFLIndia.com to complain (since they seem to have an actual website in addition to an FB page), and to ask them to either give us credit, or remove the plagiarised post from their Facebook page. Of course, I have not received any response.

I have checked up Facebook's copyright infringement policy on this, and I don't think they will be able to verify page by page and remove the content. Some of you suggested that I should at least write a post on it and so I did.

Many thanks to all of the bewdas who took the time to write to me about it. Not only does it show that you care, it also affirms the fact that this is truly an infringement and not just my imagination. While I am not implying that no one else could have thought of the same idea of playing pictionary with emoji icons, I am sure you would agree that the fact that each of the songs in the Facebook post and the icons used to represent them are the same as those on our blogs is indeed remarkable. And so is the fact that there is not a single song on the Facebook post that has not appeared on our blogs. That's too much of a coincidence. What, they couldn't come up with even a single one themselves?

Of course, it's not like I was going to make a book out of my posts. The posts were written in fun, and were indeed meant to be shared and enjoyed by Bollywood fans. What bugs me is the fact that it was so shamelessly copied without any credit given to us.

Even if they didn't want to bother asking us for permission, how hard is it to put a little credit line at the bottom?

I probably can't blame the subsequent 'copiers' and 'sharers' as they probably didn't know it was stolen content, but to the first person who copied it off my blog (and is probably and hopefully reading this), I send you a thousand e-curses.