Was watching the Oscars telecast last night, not paying too much attention, but generally listening and watching all the same. They came to the part where they paid tribute to all those people who died in 2008. And one name shocked the hell out of me... Michael Crichton. He's one of my favourite writers, and I've read every novel he's written, even the one as Michael Douglas. The shock was not because he's dead, but because I didn't hear of it. Apparently, he was fighting throat cancer and his death was very sudden, on Nov4th 2008. I hadn't been to his website for a while and so missed the news. And I haven't been watching much TV, but enough atleast that I've heard of Octo-mom. They can give hours of coverage to some stupid lady who has 14 kids or something, but they cannot spare a minute to pay homage to a writer whose work is beyond description? Seriously, wouldn't that make better copy? This is the same media who covered Princess Diana's death to death but relegated Mother Theresa's demise to a half-minute condolence news. I wonder who the editors are who sit around and make the decision as to what goes on the news and what doesn't. Idiots!
I'm really bummed that I won't be able to read any more work this genius would've written.
May his soul rest in peace!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Heel Baby!
Kids are like dogs, atleast until they learn to talk.
I have a 16-month-old daughter, Arushi, and all my observations are based on her behaviour, so maybe you want to make your own conclusions based on your kid's peculiarities.
1) She was much more interested in shoes than anything else on the floor until she was almost 1. And they were mostly for chewing. And she follows everyone around dodging their feet.
2) She does a great job fetching things from around the room. " Arushi, go get the ball; Arushi, get that book; Arushi, get me that pillow". And she obeys instantly if she can actually recognise the thing asked for. The pillow took some time.
3) She insists on being rewarded for the dumbest things, over and over again. Like after she learned to climb off a low chair. She wanted a round of applause (and I mean vigorous hand-clapping) and a "Good job, Arushi" every time, for the entire first month she'd learnt this trick. And we thought of her development in terms of how many "parlour tricks" she's learnt.
4) She wants to eat food thats on your plate, even if the same food is on hers. And food on the ground is more interesting than food on a plate.
5) She has a water bottle and a snack cup thats placed on a low table so she can reach it anytime in case she's hungry or thirsty, without having to go through adults. And adults refill the water bottle on a regular basis.
6) She's very possessive about her mother's "stuff". Nobody can pick up mom's bag except mom, unless you want a reprimand and the said item being pulled out of your hands and handed over to mom.
7) She's very interested in batting at dangly things, like earrings and ponytails and dupattas.
8) She doesn't talk yet, but can make her feelings known very clearly. Like walking to the refridgerator and gesturing until you open it and feed her something, or standing near the door and looking at you expectantly for a walk.
9) She loves chasing birds even if she never gets within 2 feet of one.
10) She loves "rough-housing" it with mom.
I have many more, but you get the general idea. Let me know if you've come across peculiar ones.
oh, and another thing, she really loves me unconditionally, atleast for now. I scold her for something and she's crying... and then wants to be picked up and soothed... by me. She's a major ego-booster. I come home from work, and she runs to me for a hug and kiss.
I wish she'd retain some of these dog-like qualities.
I have a 16-month-old daughter, Arushi, and all my observations are based on her behaviour, so maybe you want to make your own conclusions based on your kid's peculiarities.
1) She was much more interested in shoes than anything else on the floor until she was almost 1. And they were mostly for chewing. And she follows everyone around dodging their feet.
2) She does a great job fetching things from around the room. " Arushi, go get the ball; Arushi, get that book; Arushi, get me that pillow". And she obeys instantly if she can actually recognise the thing asked for. The pillow took some time.
3) She insists on being rewarded for the dumbest things, over and over again. Like after she learned to climb off a low chair. She wanted a round of applause (and I mean vigorous hand-clapping) and a "Good job, Arushi" every time, for the entire first month she'd learnt this trick. And we thought of her development in terms of how many "parlour tricks" she's learnt.
4) She wants to eat food thats on your plate, even if the same food is on hers. And food on the ground is more interesting than food on a plate.
5) She has a water bottle and a snack cup thats placed on a low table so she can reach it anytime in case she's hungry or thirsty, without having to go through adults. And adults refill the water bottle on a regular basis.
6) She's very possessive about her mother's "stuff". Nobody can pick up mom's bag except mom, unless you want a reprimand and the said item being pulled out of your hands and handed over to mom.
7) She's very interested in batting at dangly things, like earrings and ponytails and dupattas.
8) She doesn't talk yet, but can make her feelings known very clearly. Like walking to the refridgerator and gesturing until you open it and feed her something, or standing near the door and looking at you expectantly for a walk.
9) She loves chasing birds even if she never gets within 2 feet of one.
10) She loves "rough-housing" it with mom.
I have many more, but you get the general idea. Let me know if you've come across peculiar ones.
oh, and another thing, she really loves me unconditionally, atleast for now. I scold her for something and she's crying... and then wants to be picked up and soothed... by me. She's a major ego-booster. I come home from work, and she runs to me for a hug and kiss.
I wish she'd retain some of these dog-like qualities.
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