On Sunday night Kaia’s Auntie Brynne arrived after a long trip from
We spent this evening on the beach, introducing Auntie Brynne to some of the local sights (the sea temple), sounds (peanut man’s bell), and tastes (deep fried chili peppers). As you can see, a few typical ‘friends’ also introduced themselves to her.
Each term at Kids Central there is a school wide community event. Last term, if you remember, it was held at a nearby palace along the Adyar river, quite an impressive location. This time it was at a more humble locale—the Kids Central grounds. This term’s theme is “bugs and insects” and children and parents were asked to come dressed up in appropriate themed attire. Conveniently, Kaia has his grasshopper shirt so he was decked out in that, and his mama made us all antennae so that we could att
end as a bug family. Being that it was from 400-530pm, Kaia’s typical nap time, he wasn’t in the most energetic of moods (although he hasn’t taken a proper nap in about a week), so it was close to papa most of the time. It being India and all, there was a snake charmer there with a cobra and ‘pet’ lizard tied up to a pole (I’d never seen such things before coming here), as well as face painting and themed food (‘squid
sputum’, ‘ladybug pizza’, etc). One of the things that I will really miss about Kids Central is the great diversity of children and families. So many little critters from all over the world interacting with one another….it is really fun to be a part of. Much has been made here in this weblog about illness. Without a doubt, the past year I have been more chronically ill with this and that nagging virus and bacteria than ever before. You can’t blame it all on the typical culprits such as compromised water, as Kaia’s entry into school has opened our home to the host of necessary childhood illnesses. But whatever the source of infection, being sick has made parenting here very challenging. I have come to expect being sick every 3 weeks or so--just last week I was wondering when the next wave was going to hit our family—and, unfortunately, something always comes around, just like clockwork. The most recent unwanted visitor was an intense gastro-intestinal attack that (literally) uncomfortably close to the symptoms of cholera. The fact that it lasted for nearly four full days told me that it wasn’t the typically food poisoning, and the fact that I couldn’t leave the house because I was ‘incapacitated’ every 15-20 minutes, well that told me that this was going to be a painful ride. Indeed it was, regardless if it brought me closer to one of my favorite novels ever.
There are a few things that I am quite certain that I will not miss when I leave here: the frequency of stomach problems, power surges and cuts that fry electronic devices, our leaking air conditioner that makes the bedroom marble floor a major hazard, and mosquitoes—make that, MOSQUITOES. You could probably add to that, indiamama’s long business trips, and you would have had the perfect storm of a nightmare evening the other night. I wont waste time describing it—indeed I’d like to just forget it—but you can imagine how it was with my condition and her being away in
When I’m sick I often find myself resorting to parenting in a way that I don’t really like—more ‘nos’ and ‘don’t do that’ than I prefer to say. This time around, because I was feeling so crappy, I had to lean on empty threats to try to keep peace. This of course, meant bringing out the ‘clown’. I think I have written about this before, but Kaia has been deathly afraid of clowns ever since he saw these dwarfs dressed up as clowns in a nearby amusement park. By my standards they were pretty scary too and since they were so short, he could really see them at eye level. When one came bounding up to him, he freaked out like I’ve never really seen before. Anyway, about a month ago, we discovered that the “if you don’t (fill in the blank), then the clown will come” works wonders and moves mountains. Usually this form of short-term reward parenting is used in times like leaving places when he doesn’t want to or when he is being very difficult, but it must be used very sparingly for obvious reasons. Since I’ve been sick, however, I’ve probably leaned on it more than I should be…truth be told, it is a perversely wicked little trick that can turn his mood in a heartbeat—from screaming on the ground because he wants to drink juice out of the bottle to sitting up and gripping me tight in silence, whimpering “no clown come, no clown come.” I know that he’s going to hate me for it down the line.
Why I Love this Time: “So funny papa, that’s so funny.”
Some of the more devoted readers of indiapapa know that Kaia has a real affinity for traditional Indian music and dance. Ever since we took him to multiple performances over the Chennai Music Festival season last December he has been enraptured by the whooopms and twangs of Hindustani compositions. I am anticipating the arrival of a new iPod when Kaia’s Auntie Brynne comes next week from the 
For some time we have been meaning to visit 
transit time where you are hardly there in mind. Indiamama was going to be returning from a weeklong business trip and flying out of 
More than anything, this trip allowed Kaia (and all of us) to experience things that we have been unable to do in Chennai—a roll in clean grass, a real bath, eat salami and gouda cheese, chase butterflies, watch television, listen to frogs… From the time that Kaia ran onto the grounds, he face just lit up—he could ran around without indiapapa at arm’s reach scanning the area for broken glass, stray dogs and uncovered cesspools. Of course, I exaggerate a bit here, but it was like he was an uncaged puppy—doing rolls in the grass, picking flowers and leaping after butterflies—all with an ear to ear grin. It was sweet to watch, but a sense of guilt overcame me in that I felt that I have been denying him these core pleasures of childhood because of this place that we have chosen to live—that is, in Chennai. As someone who used to expose elementary students the wonder of gardens and the environment is it wickedly ironic that my own son has been so locked in this concrete jungle for the past year. It was at this point that I clearly recognized what being here any longer than we need to be would deprive Kaia of. Our time here has been so memorable and he has developed in ways that we can never really know, but I think that we may be nearing the upper limits of what this environment has to offer him…
But living in
Sometime, about 3 weeks ago, our friends Tom, Lyanda and Claire came to India for a long family vacation and we had the please of housing them here on their first night. Last week, they returned to Chennai after a memorable trip through 
Today we had a surprise birthday party for Kaia’s mama in a nearby Korean restaurant. It was a complete shock to both her (and Kaia) when they walked in a dark room of the restaurant to be greeted by a loud “surprise!” and about 20 close friends singing happy birthday. The place ended up being a terrific place to hold a party with karaoke machine, long tables, open grills and lots and lots of tasty food. 
I brought a bottle of good sake that Kaia’s ojiichan had gifted us from 
