And he wins it- Active Arena

Sunday morning at 8.15am we leave our house to be at the venue at 9.00am. We are on time. But what we see is utter chaos.
Venue: Active Arena, Marathahalli

Supposed to be the 1st Inter school skating competition. Om's Skating Sir insisted that we take him there for exposure into competitions. So here we were in midst of confusion & chaos. Poorly managed and organized event. No banners/ directions put up on what to do or where to go. Kids from LKG to 8th present. Screaming parents, confused and tensed kids and Confused organizers. We had been asked to carry kids ID card, application form with school seal n signature and Birth certificate along with Rs.250/-. What I saw at the venue seemed loosely managed administration. No one checked the id card/ birth certificate or for that matter seal/ signature. I saw some parents sitting and filling up forms there at the venue. I handed over the registration fees and got my sons number tag. No one checked the form. Om got 328, so I imagine there were atleast 400 kids who participated in yesterdays event. The chaos that we saw there forced me to ask Om if we could just go back home-starting from no parking, no place for parents to sit, no place for participants to sit or rest, hardly 50-70 chairs, small space for skating, unplanned way of managing the kids and so much more that I dont feel like writing anymore about it....overall a poorly planned event.

Okay-- I guess I am missing out the exciting part...I wanted Om to get a feel of how the competitions are and not really fight for a prize. But he just surprised us...
He took part in Roller skates, category- Tenacity, class 3-4.
12 kids fighting for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
In the heats round Om managed to come 2nd and pushed himself to final round. That was exciting enough for me...had seen his nervous face at the start of the race. I chose not to stand in front of him, but to hide myself behind the nets and watch him. Appaji went straight into the arena and stood on the side to capture his video. What a thrill to watch the finals. Fear, speed, balance, a want to win attitude..saw all of it in that 2-3 min race. My boy came 3rd. He literally fought for his 3rd place.
Congratulations to him....
And what makes it even better is his attitude...on our way back home near the exit gate, Om saw the boy who had participated in the race with him. Om ran towards him, said something and came back. When I checked what it was for, Om said that boy had won the first place, so he had gone to congratulate him. muah for that!

This was his first attempt at Skating Competition and his first medal. Will always remain special.

What is Junction?

Appaji: Explaining how roads have junctions and asked what a Junction means
Om: A junction is one where there is Juice Junction :DD

Assessment blues

Baby thinks that someone got the logic behind studies and knowledge check all wrong and introduced the concept of exams and assessments. 

Thirteenth

Heavy emotions flowing, dont know why. Its as if my baby just grew up suddenly. But with those emotions flowing, I started to write a letter to her at 12 in the night. A short one. Tears rolled down as I wrote to her. Appaji curios to know what I was doing..peeping and me not allowing. After I was done, gave him the other side of the paper to put down some lines for her without reading what I had written. As always appaji wrote such a sweet letter. I used to love them when he used to write to me.

Morning of April 4th, I gave her the letter with a book. She missed the letter, but was happy to see the book. Kept it aside and hugged as I wished her. After an hour or so appaji told her that she had missed a surprise we had for her. And she found the letter. surr surr surrr...nose leak, tears rolling down baby came and hugged me first and then ran to appaji to give him a big hug.

My baby has got into her teens. Loads of love & attention is what I have to try & give. May she achieve all that she's worth. My blessings & wishes.

2016-17 changes & achievements-- He/ She

This year has been a crazy year. I have been trying hard to settle down into my new role with lesser time left for you kids. 

Discipline issues have been my focus...set them right now to make sure their future is set.

Even with that, baby & baba have managed to put in their best into everything. Here n there, marks dropped, but that drop is what brought them back on their feet and pushed them to perform better in their next assessments.

He grabbed II place in inter-school relay race & III place in school relay race. Tried really hard in the 200 mtr run. He would have won for sure in 100mtr run if he had been chosen for it. Well, there's always a next time. Assessments have been taking a hit with more of TV & video games...I got to put a stop to this (evil me).

She won the 1st place in Song writing competition. She's surely chosen the right path :). She's got her Blue belt in Karate. First assessment we saw a drop in her SST numbers. By the 2nd one she was one of the kids to score the highest in class. Need to see how she performs in her finals. 


Baba with competitive spirit, always butts in when baby is being pushed for better scores or appreciated for good things. 

Appaji told baby, if she scores well in the finals, we will get a Kindle as gift. Baby thrilled with no clue on pricing. Baba jumped in to say 4999 & 8999. How would he know appaji wondered-- now that the power of TV watching. 

He's curious, inquisitive and always questioning about everything and she's curious only about subjects she likes.

This academic year we got baba enrolled to skates & baby into Piano classes with Mr.Sudipta Ray in December 2016. She's now getting ready for 5th grade Piano Theory exam & Carnatic Classical Junior examination to be held in May. 

Good luck to my babies for their upcoming exams.

Slow...?? No, stable.

I seemed to have slowed down in recording the wonderful time with my kids. Work has become hectic giving me lesser time with kids :(

Baby has been very understanding and supports me whenever she can. Lazy bones creep in once in a while..making me call her Buffali (female buffalo lol ). She is growing up to be a beautiful girl who's also lovable. Choosy about who she wants to be with, what she wants to eat, what she wants to learn.
While I thought things had slowed down a bit, she came home yesterday with her certificate from Nazariya. She's got 3rd place in Nazariya Art competition in School level. Also participated in Poster making competition.
This year also saw her participating in Berserk 2016 in UB City. She sang Rolling in the Deep for the auditions. Cleared the first round but unfortunately got eliminated in the next.

Keyboard lessons stopped, but much to her liking we found Piano classes. Its a week since she's joined and she's enjoying playing the Piano during classes and coming back home and practicing for another 10-15mins everyday on her keyboard.

As for Baba, he's enjoying his skating lessons & practicing running. Got him new Spikes. He's all style in his yellow colored Spike Shoes.
Got selected for Inter-school relay competition & won a Silver. Also has participated in Nazariya Art competition again this year. The boy is now getting ready for sports day. He's running in 200m and Relay race. Unwell today, down with fever. Hope he recovers by next week. He also turns 8 next week :) My boy is a year older.

Pain of growing up

Amma why am I the elder one, why should I be the one to get scolded all the time. Ajji never scolds Om when he troubles me. Amma when you are not there, no one listens to me. This is what baby keeps telling me offlate. My little one seems to be getting pampered by his granny. And she being the elder one is at the receiving end always.
What do I have to tell her...being the elder one has its own advantages...when you grow up, everyone will listen to you and not to him :-P,  I know am wrong, but how do you calm your 11yr old. I try and support her or end up scolding both my kids when there's a fight between them. This way, am not seen taking sides. I end up being the bad one though! Doesn't matter, fight ends there. Peace!

Baby do you have a crush on someone, and she says no..Does anyone have a crush on you, and she says no...how would I know. As she starts to feel uncomfortable with the conversation that appaji has started, she starts to run away from the room. Escape!

Amma, Mari & I wrote a love song in school. See if you like it. Well I did like it..for a start it was well written. Then she says, amma dont tell appaji about it, otherwise he will tease me with it. Shy!

Ready Steady Go

This time the sports day at school was called as field day and Om was selected to participate in 100m, 200m & Relay race. Baby was upset that she had to be at school for march past and wasnt given an opportunity to go through selection round for the races.
No complaints...one kid is good at field & the other in culturals :)
Om came back with 1st place in 100m, 2nd place in 200m & 3rd place in relay race.
1st big achievement for him I would say.

Keyboard Written Exam- Grade 2

Ahana had taken up her Grade-2 Written exam for Keyboard via Trinity College London this year. Got her formal certificate today...she's got 98%.

Awaiting her Practical exam results which should be out in the next few days.

Work from home

Om: Ajji can we get a puppy home?

Ajji: No Omi its difficult for us manage one. It will dirty the place

Om: Ok, lets not keep it inside the house, lets keep him in parking porch.

Ajji: No, but Who will clean all the poo it does all over?

Om: I will. You give me two things to pick it up and I will clean it myself

Ajji: But you are going to be at school, how will you do it?

Om: I will do work from home :-D

Social Service

We are off for a 2 day trip to Chennai for some relief work. Baby has been upset that we are leaving her behind. She wants to be a part of it, but this weekend the kids are supposed to give compulsory attendance at school as its field day for them. We have been dropping notes within our friend circle to help us with relief material and generous donation. And the same I shared with baby so she could share with her friends. The request she made sounded so genuine and the message coming from a child in the way it was put across…touched us totally. A simple message “do whatever you can” can sound so powerful sometimes.

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Baby had been to a 3 day tour to Belur halebidu last week. Accomodation in Hotel Ashhok Hassan. The idea behind the tour was to do some social service in a Government school there.

So this is how it turned out I believe….1^st day of tour was about planning whats to be done next 2 days and then some group games. 2^nd day of tour was visiting the government school, playing village games like gilli danda with the school kids there, drinking Fresh tender coconut water, cleaning the school premises, painting the classroom walls and ending the day with some DJ and music. The 3^rd day was a morning walk towards the farms and village tour, milking the cow, planting saplings, guided tour to Belur & Halebidu and bus back to Bangalore.

What amazed me was how baby could adjust so easily to the village environment & activities done there. While I think that my 11yr old still needs to learn a lot of things, it was nice to know that she was the only one who thought of sharing the chocolates with the Government school kids which she had actually carried for her school mates. She was one of the few who tried their hand at milking the cow and again one of the few who dug up mother earth to plant the sapling. 

Learning in a child happens in different ways, or more when they are taken through reality rather than nurturing & protecting them under our care always. Real time Opportunities need to be provided to a child for better learning and to make them better human beings.

Season full of competitions

This year school has been sharing information on a lot of competitions happening around and I am trying to encourage kids into participating in whatever possible. 

Started with India Posts Childrens Day stamp design competition. Topic given was "A day in the rains"

Kids had a good time thinking and putting their heads into what to draw and which colors to use. After repeated number of drawing n coloring n losing patience kids have produced their final output which I have sent to the India Post. Will upload the pictures once the competition results are out. 

A day in the rain - Ahana

A day in the rain- Om

Next came the Nazariya 2015 competition which was conducted at school. Om had Water conservation & Ahana had Global warming again. This time since the kids had some time to prepare helped them with some ideas on what could be drawn. I dont have the picture of what the kids finally did at school and submitted..so have to wait for the results to be announced and see if theirs gets shortlisted.


Updated December 09, 2015- Om won 1st place in Nazariya art competition Sub-Junior School level.  

Updated February 13, 2016- Om won 3rd place in Nazariya art competition Sub-Junior National level. 

Water Conservation- Om

 Updated June 05, 2016- A mention of his drawing in the newspapers
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/550448/children-turn-green-ambassadors.html
Mangalore edition of deccan herald is supposed to have published a picture of his drawing too. 

Two weeks back kids submitted their art for Camlin color contest. For Om it was Incredible India and for Ahana it was Ganga- The river of life. Idea generation done in a days time. Kids had to be taken to one of the crossword centers and had to do their artwork there. Since the center we had chosen, had not been informed about the registration, we had to wait for close to 1 1/2 hrs, before the center manager finally allowed the kids to do their art and submit their paintings. Now although we've submitted, I am not sure if it will reach Camlin or if it will get misplaced. I am hoping that the effort the kids put in that day has not gone waste. Wondering what the problem is with blogger site..my images are getting turned when I post them here :-S Nevertheless as a record I am putting it up here.

From Om

From Ahana

Om was part of the Choral Recitation at school- The Mosquito by J Patrick Lewis. When the poem was first sent home, I was shocked to see the size of the poem and the words used in it. The kids were to bi-heart all the lines! After two days of trying, I gave up coz Om had managed to learn just 3-4 lines. After a week or so, he came home saying he's been selected for choral recitation competition and started reciting the whole poem with actions. A cute one, shall record the video and put up. His team got the 1st place :-)

Ahana got an opportunity to perform on August 30th with her indian music group at Shubha sadan. The opportunity was to render it in front of Guruji part of Sri Sringeri Shivaganga Math. The kids sang 25 songs, ranging from shlokas, carnatic classical songs to some sugam sangeet. It was a great experience for both the kids and us. Brought the children closer to our hindu culture. Not that I follow all the rituals, but I would certainly like the kids to know how to behave in a temple premises, or in front of a teacher or crowd. How to collect prasad/ teertha. How not to waste food...we had our dinner at the math without any wastage for the first time. Sometimes these cultural experiences are required to bring us closer to our roots. 

The Group with teacher Mrs.Rama K Murthy

 

Next...Saturday September 5th, kids had their Karate belt exam. Ahana moved from White belt to Yellow and Om from Green belt to Blue. Couldnt take any pictures as parents were not allowed in the premises this time.

Yesterday took the kids to Cubbon park for 10th National level students Arts competition-2015 conducted by Lalithakala Center for Visual Arts. Took Meera along. Since appaji had a breakfast ride to go to, I booked a cab (who wants to go through the painful search of a place to park). The cab guy promptly took us to venue by 10am. 3 rounds of artwork to be done. First one was Coloring competition, which had the maximum number of participants. 12.30 was the next round of Drawing & painting competition. By this time the number of children participating reduced. Mostly the younger ones did not participate. Ahana said that Om had done a fab job in the 1st round of coloring. 2nd round again Om had done a better job in terms of coloring. Ahana should have chosen color pencil to color, but since she felt she will be short of time she went in for painting, thereby missing the detailing that was expected out of her. Third round was Pencil shading. I think Ahana has done a good job on this one. By this time the number of kids participating dropped to just about 30-40. This round got over by 3.30 or so. Plan was to take the kids for a Toy train ride, but then ended up on one those dragon rides because of the rush. Quickly done with it, I booked another cab to take us back home. Although I didnt have any company to spend my time while the kids did their paintings, I had a good time watching what the participants were submitting.

Updated November 16, 2015- Ahana won Silver medal for her Pencil shading at the competition organised by Lalithakala Center for Visual arts.

Drawing n coloring round 

Drawing n painting

Pencil Shading

Fun at Cubbon Park

Next is the Doodle4Google. Topic given is "If I could create something for India, it would be..." . Got to see if the kids are interested in coming up with something and submit. 
December update....they didnt participate in Doodle4Google.

Updated February 2016 : Ahana also put in her efforts on another competition organised by India Post. Topic given was "Vibrant India". Though hers didnt get selected, she was happy with her creation.

Vibrant India- National Animal Tiger, National Flower-Lotus,India Dance, Speed Rail, Indian music, Mission to Mars, Indian colors & artists, Holi festival of colors, Olympics Boxing. We are everywhere.