A fan of Tamil film music

I've now become a total fan of film music, Tamil only for now. I get so happy when I hear some of my favourite songs, like "Kumbida pona deivam" or "Oru vaarthai kekka oru varusham" that I start waving my left hand up and down as if I'm conducting the orchestra! If its a song with a fast beat, I wave faster and if its a slow song, I just clap my hands. First I learnt how to wave my hands to Amma saying "Kai veesamma, kai veesu". Then she taught me to say "Bye bye". So whenever someone says "Bye bye", I show them that I can say it too! Of course, I do get confused sometimes and wave bye bye even when our maid Padma is cleaning the floor near the main door.

My diet is also changing. I now eat one or two "Milk Bikis" biscuits a day. I also have a cup-ful of curd. In addition, I try to sometimes add some carbohydrates and cellulose to my diet as well by gnawing away at Appa's copy of "Wisden Asia Cricket". Last month, I soaked an issue with an Australian on the cover. Appa has promised to get me one with a Pakistani on the cover so that I can do my magic and make India win. When the phone or doorbell rings, I'm the first one to know and I immediately perk up and start saying "Hmmmmm hmmmmmm" asking someone to do something about it. Of course, I also talk to both sets of Thathas and Paatis now and then because I now know exactly how to hold the phone next to my ear and say "Hmmmmmm hmmmmmmm". Whenever Amma or Appa see me trying to digest the newspaper or bits of paper lying on the ground, they say "No! Jaagruthi. No!" and I respond with a grunt "Hrrrrmmmm". Sometimes that grunt means "Ok" and sometimes it means "I dont care".

We went to Madras for Aravind chitappa's poonal. I stayed there for around a week and I had a great time. The first couple of days were bad though, my routine changed and there were too many people around [in comparison to just the three of us at Bangalore] and everyone wanted to hug, carry and kiss me. Gradually I got used to them all and in fact made great friends with everyone. I saw Peria thatha and paati from Pune for the first time and also Jamuna chitti paati. Of course, I'd seen the other chinna thathas, chitti paatis, chitappas, atthais etc. on previous trips to Madras or during my punyavachanam. I had a great time when everyone was practicing bhajans to sing for chitappa's poonal. I'd just go and crawl around in the centre of the room and everyone would be smiling at me. I'd also try to sing the bhajans by saying "Gaaaaa gaaaaa. Klaaaa klaaaaa". I also loved the jaalra with which Aravind chitappa made superb sounds. On the day of the poonal, I met Trichy thatha and paati after quite a while. I was a little tired so I slept on Thatha's lap. Then when I woke up, I showed them some of my newly learnt tricks, including giving kisses. When they were leaving the mandapam, paati couldnt control herself and squeezed my face because she likes me so much. Of course, I started crying but she told Amma she didnt care!

I think I floored everyone with the way I gave kisses to them. All Appa or Amma needed to say was "Jaagruthi, kiss kudu" and I'd pucker up my little lips and blow them a kiss. In fact I blow kisses when I'm on the phone too!

I can stand for a few seconds now without any support. In fact yesterday, I stood for around 10 seconds holding a plastic basket full of onions, all by myself. Appa and Amma were amazed at this since this was the first time I was standing for such a long time. Of course, when I'm able to stand, crawling is quite easy. I can crawl quite fast and in fact play hide-and-seek with Appa and Amma regularly when they hide behind the dining table or in some other room and I try to locate where they are.

You can see lots of photos from Bangalore (last year) and Madras & Bangalore (this year).

Mahesh mama sent me this lovely little lamb through his friend. This is currently my favourite toy. I hold it by its neck, by its arms, by its ears and fling it around.