Of all short stories PUNYAKOTI wins the Gold medal

Sugar loves stories especially those that have animals and we parents try to come up with a few that bring sparkle in her eyes, yeah discovering bit of a hidden talent here. So, yesterday I was suddenly reminded of the ‘Punyakoti’ story. If I’m not wrong, this story can never be erased from a person who has done early schooling in Karnataka (Primary school to be precise). I was super thrilled to narrate it to Sugar and she was equally excited to hear about it. While narrating the story, I realised how I fell in love with this story all over again. It brought back a lot of memories and how emotionally it was narrated by the teachers. To me, there is no other short story that has made such an emotional, yet positive impact. The moral is so lucid and perhaps that’s the reason why this story remains intact in our minds.


Sugar, while listening to it didn’t like the bit where Tiger wanted to attack Punyakoti – she kept saying…I don’t like tiger but she loved the bit where he let Punyakoti go to her baby calf. Sugar’s expression – “Mummy Cow is happy happy to go back home to baby calf and give paala and mammamm…. Yay!”

I now hope to teach Sugar the Punyakoti song.

My Daughter, my Delight!

It’s been ages since I blogged and don’t know quite where to begin. It’s fair to blame it all on our hectic routines and with living life. Yes, I have been absurdly busy and so to speak, that writing about Sugar and recording memories have had to fall by the wayside. I feel somewhat depressed – and I’m no different. Being up at 5 am to get ready for a hectic day and falling into bed exhausted at 11 pm does not an active blogger make! But it’s all good as I finally found time under the sun to do some writing… some recording. Sugar is growing up and too soon (scares me as I don’t want to miss her baby-ness which I’m cherishing to bits). She is 2.2 yo now and I can see self-identity traits budding in her already. She loves pink, her eyes twinkle and wears an instant smile when she sees my jewellery box. She keenly observes me applying lips stick and says “Mmmmm that’s Amma’s Lips Stick…Niceee”. Oh! By the way, Sugar talks in English with a ‘Brit’ accent – thanks to the Nursery, its staff and her friends. We talk to her in our local language and she picks both Kannada and Tamil well, replies in English. I don’t complain as long as she understands the two languages. She’s learnt to say “I Don’t Want It” when I try to feed her dinner (although I make sure I don’t feed her regular boring stuff) and also acknowledges if she likes the taste of something I make, says SUUUPER (with her fingers showing the super sign). She loves singing and dancing, she can dance to any tune or just wiggle her body, nod her had in rhythm to any music or even some of her favourite nursery rhymes. She loves Happy Birthday song and she is ever thrilled to sing it to any birthday person. She loves her nursery and her best friend is JESSICA. They are inseparable. She likes to be clean and loves cleaning stuffs herself. She craves for a kitchen towel only to wipe tables, the sofa and her toys that are in her vicinity. She likes her mouth to be dry and hates it if I spill water while feeding her from her tiny bottle. She slowly wants to drink milk from her favourite green beaker. She loves visiting my sisters here in Stratford, loves to play with my little nephew – her baby brother. However, she doesn’t like the idea of me or her dad cuddling the little bundle there!


She is truly the light of my life. She's good, and obedient, and polite, and helpful and naughty, but not the kind of naughty that gives a parent panic attacks. Just the kind of naughty that makes you smile, sigh a little. When I am rushing back home in the evenings my energy is at an all-time low. Magically, my spirits and my energy levels rise dramatically when I see her and hold her tight in my arms. I so crave for that moment when she lovingly says “Hi Ammaaaa” and gives me a nice big hug again. She's all I need to get through the rest of my day/night.

My daughter, my delight. Every day in every way.