Gosh! I am in God’s own country – Kerala

Check out the sweaty me. Don't even have a deo on me...wonder what the visitors will be thinkng of me. Didn't somebody say, Kerala was God's own country? Besides, can somebody explain it to my parents that hoods are no longer fashionable.

Today, I came to know that I am Kerala. Some district called Kannur.

Kerala seems like a very hot place. Apparently, it is summers and summers are supposed to be hot. I know because I overheard my father and mother fighting…father was saying that if he were back in Yahoo office, he would be happy in an air conditioned space. That’s when mother got angry and started saying that he should have thought of the Kerala weather before asking her to marry him. I found my mother very logical in her approach.

While on the weather, let me tell you about my clothes. I have a boring wardrobe – all whites and all of them linen. No shoes…just socks. My parents definitely don’t have taste. Everything around this place is also white…the walls, the bed sheets, the fan, my clothes…I am bored.

“Give me some pink,” I shouted once, but nobody seemed to have heard it.

I have some bad news as well…my father is going back. He can’t stay with us any longer. I will miss my dad, though he didn’t do anything special for me…besides hanging around the room.

There was talk of ‘bringing home the bacon’..what in God’s name is a bacon?

My mother doesn’t feed me chicken & fish

I have realized that my mother is selfish. She eats all the chicken and fish that two old folks bring her but never gives me anything.

A few times I did open my mouth but my mother didn’t notice. How self-centered.

And when it comes to my breakfast, lunch and dinner time…my mother feeds me milk. Gosh! Imagine, milk!

And to top it Dr Dinesh was asking my mother to feed me her milk for as long as possible. How am I going to survive that? I just hope my mother stops being self-centered and starts giving me all the chicken and fish soon.

While on the subject of food, today the nurse put some eye drops in my eyes. Initially, I didn’t know it was for the eyes and opened my mouth. She laughed so loudly that my delicate ear drums burst. It was quite embarrassing. I just hope some other nurse comes in tomorrow.

I need to work on my sleep schedule…I feel sleepy most of the time.

My mother was pregnant?

Thats my mother when she was seven months pregnant with me. Trust me, when I was inside the womb I thought my mother would be pink.

Today I heard my father say that he was here in Kannur only for me. He called up his boss and told him that he needed to be with his wife (that’s my mom for a few days more). It felt good.

Father and mother were also discussing the pregnancy days.

Apparently, my mother was 61 Kgs when she was 6 weeks pregnant and gained 13 kilos and was at 74 Kgs when I was born. I feel my mother is using me as an excuse for gaining weight. Bceause I was only 3.5 Kgs when born. How does she explain the 10 odd Kgs she gained?

I also overheard that Dr Amudha Hari, who has a polyclinic in Adyar, Chennai was my mother gynecologist in Chennai and Dr Dinesh handled the delivery and pre-natal care in Kannur. I wish I can send them a rose to thank them for being good to me.

Apparently, my mother used to hare oil but after she became pregnant with me, she started loving pooris and other oily items. Some day, I intend to tell her that when I was in her stomach…I used to eat up all the pooris she would gobble up.

I also loved the ice creams and chocolate pastries (from Coffee Day & CakeWalk in Chennai) that my mother had.

Visitors kept streaming in today also. Wonder why they have to come so close to look at me. Sometimes I can smell sweat some times…a nice fragrance…wonder what that is. Is it something I can get for myself?

Today, I saw the band on my hand again….so is Rekha the name of my mother?

Gosh, smiling is easy

Did I tell you I first smiled on March 31, 2007? That’s two days after my birth. While my mother hugged me tight after seeing me smile, my father just stood there dumb struck. Isn’t a girl supposed to smile at a man? How old fashioned can one get?

It isn’t my fault that my father was wearing a yellow shirt with a gray trouser – I mean, anybody would smile (or laugh, depending on how old you were) at such a color combination.

I had once tried smiling inside the womb. I think it was when my mother came across this quote by Al Capone while reading his biography: “You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun”.

I remember being confused about what both ‘smile’ and ‘gun’ were. But then, in the evening my father came home and said something to my mother which made me understand ‘smile’. He had said: “Rekha, everything will be fine. Now, just relax and give me a smile…show me some teeth.”

It can be seriously stifling inside the womb, but I tried to relax. I then showed my teeth to the blood-red wall I had right in front of my face….I had smiled. Just that I might have allowed a few drops of the amniotic fluid inside…for I felt pukish the whole day.

I still don’t know what a ‘gun’ means. Someday I intend to find out.

Day 2 in this World

Who is this man taking my picture? Doesn’t he know that flash isn’t good for newly borns? Why doesn’t he listen to my mother? “Don’t touch my mother, I say!”

I woke up with a start when it started getting cold, and then realized my mother had got up. Didn’t know where she had gone so started crying. In case you didn’t know…I can only see up to 1-2 meters….everything else beyond that is a blur.

I did catch a glimpse of my father late last evening – one short, dark guy. With a big nose and unkempt hair (luckily I am not talking of the nose hair). For a long time, he kept telling my mom that I was way too delicate and he can’t lift me. I was upset and happy at the same time – happy because I didn’t want to go to that short, dark man and upset because he didn’t think I was strong.

All I need is some time in the gym…why don’t people understand that.

Later in the evening, Nisha came. Apparently Nisha used to be my mother’s classmate in college. Nisha found me really cute and…and for a moment I was scared that I would be sent away with her. Later, was glad to know when I over heard my mom ask Nisha: “So, how are your two kids doing?”

Savithri aunty, Lakshmi Kutty aunty, Raji aunty and Divya sister came to see me today. They were might excited to see me…but I couldn’t see them well.

With too much action in a single day, I fell asleep when Divya sister sang my first lullaby in this World.

*I have some concerns with feeding. I need to speak to my mother tomorrow.