Punch the keys

The kids almost jumped up as soon as we called them in the morning. What contrast from the going-to-school mornings! Just a mere whisper and they were up. Finally, it was the day they were counting down to. The day I would start my vacation and our family would start the journey to Kerala to meet their grandparents.  They had started the countdown at least ten days back with the ritual question "How many days more to go?". So I remember distinctly the 10,9,8... The question would be repeated both in the morning and in the evening although not necessarily restricted to two times a day. My eldest even prepared an elaborate check-list, complete with all the items that were needed to reach the destination. The check-list started with a "wake up" and went on for two pages. She had even illustrated it! (I was allowed to put it on the blog with a little blur effects.)  So today as soon as they woke up, they grabbed the check-list and ticked of the first item....

Others may have celebrated Fathers day on 20th of June this year according to the Gregorian calendar. But Father's day for me is today! The day I became a father for the first time. I can still feel the bliss I felt when I looked at my daughter for the first time and got to hold her. It has been 5 years now since the day but the thought of it still gets me smiling and all warm inside. Mashaallah. I was a little tensed up that day with some confusion going on at the hospital. (Well, that's another long story) And the doctor was moving my wife to the operation theater. My wife, as she is going, tells me that we should name her Taheyya if it is a girl. She just had that name pop in her mind and she liked it since it rhymed with my mother's nickname/ "ommana peeru". After about an hour and a little more, the nurse came out with my daughter wrapped in the white sheet. She was looking wide eyed and held a steady gaze at me. She was all pink and looked heavenly. The nu...

Have you noticed how the new generation is able to pick up the available technology like they were born with the know how? I have always wondered at my daughter being able to deftly weld the mouse, while I remember struggling to get the co-ordination going when I started off. I remember my father's comments on the same topic when I was a kid. I had heard him saying that he was struck by how I was so quickly able to pick up the operations of the TV, VCR or the lift, whereas he has some reservations. He has all but given up operating the mobile and constantly asks my mom to handle the mobile :) Am I getting old? Or is it that now that I am mature I hesitate thinking that I may damage the costly stuff? Whatever it may be, it is a wonder how quickly and naturally my daughter, her cousins and their generation has absorbed the usage of all the technology around them. Be it computers, mobiles, gaming console any thing at all. A few minutes tinkering with the stuff and they are ex...

I was a late reader in our family. I started to read books when I was in seventh standard. My sisters, both avid readers, started off when they were in third or fourth. Because of their enthusiasm in reading, I had quite a collection of comics and books at home by the time I had my senses. The love for books is a common factor in our family. I cannot remember a time where books were not around in my home. We used to have all sorts of discussions on books. My ma and pa always encouraged us in this, yet I was pretty late. I used to love the books with pictures when I was little. I would turn the pages of these comics and come up with my own stories, ignoring the print completely. This was more to do with my difficulty in reading. I had trouble reading words and sentences. I remember my classmates reading very fluently where as I could only stammer through the lines. Was I put off? Nope. I was in a world of my own and these things didn't bother me at all. But by the time I was in ...

I have been trying to get a few snaps of my kids together. The problem is to get them in front of the camera. They want to be behind it! Every shot I take, they are on their toes trying to get to me to see how the photo came out. :) I just cannot get them to sit and pose. It was not like this with my elder one. A couple of years back, she would pose for the photos and would be really interested to be clicked. She was not concious of the camera and so taking the photos and videos were very easy compared to now. I like to take snaps and keep them. Not as to display, but it feels nice to take these snaps out and view them. It feels very nice to see the old snaps, of my parents and grand parents. I hope some day others will look at these snaps and enjoy them. Thats where I appreciate the digital world. So easy to store and share. It seems like so many years ago and yet just like yesterday. I am sure my parents would feel that same about me and my siblings. In fact, I am sure I have h...

This weekend has been the last of a set of long weekends.  We had off days either on a monday or a friday since end of September. I was called in or had some pending work in all of the other weekends and so it these weekends were not very great for me. As a matter of fact, I was cribbing a lot since I was not getting to enjoy the days "off". So I decided that this was going to be the one I enjoyed. Thankfully, I was to spend only about 3 hours in office. All the rest of the time I had to myself and family. To finish off the weekend, my family decided that we would go off on an outing. The unanimous destination being the panambur beach at Mangalore. My elder daughter loves to play in water. Be it beach or the swimming pool, the touch part is to get her out :) The beach was relatively free when we entered in and got ourselves settled. People started to move in a bit later, but still the crowd was not as much as it was on our earlier visits. Here are some photos that we ...

It has been four years and more since I became a father. Along the way there are so many memories that I thought I would never forget. As we get busy with our daily lives, these memories are shelved somewhere at the back of my mind. It was the next time that I became a parent, and went through a Déjà vu that all those shelved memories come back. I am so thankful to God to having blessed me with my family. I was just going though some of my older photos and realized yet again that time does fly.