Yeah, I am writing here after a long time. And before you think that being active here is my new year resolution I insist that it is not.

Now to the post.

Am fine, alive and kicking. Changed employers and very busy at work. Am busy at home too. Baby sitting has become my primary activity at home. This gives some breathing space to my wife. I haven’t indulged in any of my favorite past time activities. The last music I downloaded was ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ and that was 6 months ago. I don’t remember the last time I saw a game of football. And my last book was a year ago. Only when some one asked about my blog at the alumni meet yesterday I realised it has been a while.

So am targeting 5 posts for January. Please not Target =! Resolution

Nothing more to write today. Will catchya soon.

I said “Yes” even before my dear wife could finish the sentance when she proposed .

Besides, I want to buy a cool cell phone, a video camera, a car and a flat. I have been struggling to prioritise the list.

A lot of books lying around craving for attention. ‘Avenger’ by Fredrick Forsyth, Jeffery Archer’s ‘The collected short stories’, The Sunday Times’ ‘Undercover Economist’, Sujatha’s ‘Pirivom Santhipom’.

A lot of movies to catch up. A few blog drafts to complete and publish.

A few decisions to take …

Is someone reading my blogs ?

We need to accept the fact that the Islamic community’s movements have come under the radar. We know that the terrorist organisations and the underworld are funded by some well known faces. We also know that SRK has an ego of the size of earth and he would never take anything like this. But he should also understand that these detentions and questionings are done for a purpose. Inface he certainly knows this but just couldn’t accept that it happened to him.

The media also blows these things out of propotion. One even commented that this was like Brad Pitt being strip searched. I am sure the american media nor Brad Pitt would make similar comments if that were to happen. And why do the media play the racist card everytime ? Don’t they know that we are the biggest racists in the world ?

Edit – I came across this after i wrote this. Lol …

I have been calling so many numbers to get my daughter’s birth certificate.  For the uninformed, this is how it works. The hospital provides the corporation with the record confirming the birth, requesting to issue the birth certificate. The corporation issues the same and it can be downloaded from their website. For a lucky soul, all this happens in 7 to 10 days.

Now, when Nethra was born, we diligently filled all the forms for the above procedure. The liasion person at the hospital, lets call him ‘M’ assured us that we will get certificate in 10 days. We waited for more than 2 weeks and no signs of the birth certificate. When contacted, ‘M’ told me that corporation thought a few of the babies as special ones and did not approve the forms. Another 5 days and then we see the certificate on the site.  But the smart ass working at the Birth certificate department of Chennai Corporation decided to add an extra ‘N’ to mine and my daughter’s name. ‘M’ now washed his hands off this matter and informed us that it is between me and the corporation. The corporation site has a ‘rectify’ option where we can request them to correct spelling mistakes. I put a request on the site. I even got a request number. Great .. India Shining. Their SLA was 10 days. So i waited for 10 more days and called them.

Me – Saar, I had requested correction on my daughter’s birth certificate

He – Aanlina ?

Me – Yes

He – It will not work

Me – !!! Saar, i also got a complaint number

He – It will not work

Me – Ok, what should i do ?

He – You have to go to the corporation with all documents

Me – What documents ?

He – All. Whatever you have.

Me – Ok.

He – Cantact hospital. They help you.

Me – Ok. But I have a complaint number

He (got irritated) – It will not worknga … Paper correction should happen before aanline.

Me – Ok sar .. But why did the site give me a number then ?

He – Sir, go to the corporation.

Now I called up ‘M’ and he asked me to get all the documents and meet his boss. Aah .. another person!. Fortunately, this boss was good and he gave me the required letter that will help me in getting the certificate. So for the first time, i am meeting this corporation person later this week.

Yeah, they work Mondays to Fridays, 10 30 AM to 3 30 PM.  One day of hard earned leave gone

She – Happy returns to you too …

I – Nandri Hai ..

She – Hello .. Where is my gift ?

I – Yeah … Here it is ..

She – Wow … I love donuts …

(After eating a couple ..)

She – Yummy da ..

I – Good ..

She – What else have you got me ?

I – Well … I didn’t have time to go out and you know that

She – Yeah … but only donuts is a little too much ..

I – Think of the people who don’t get donuts also ..

She (eating her third) – Who ?

I – Well, that is a tough question …

(After a while)

I – Those on Orkut …

She – What ?

I – Orkut used to say “No donuts for you …” he he

She – What nonsense ..

I – (still laughing) It was a joke ..

She – Shut up ..

I – It is a guy’s thing …  am not surprised that you didn’t get iyt

She – Shut up ..

I – Well … Actually …

She – I told you to shut up ..

I – ok

She – You don’t seem to learn .. grow up …

I – Ok … Happy 3rd wedding anniversary .. Love you

She – Me too da. But I want my gift …

After 20 to 25 minutes of feeding your baby is ready to sleep. Count yourself the luckiest couple if your baby sleeps immediately after feeding. You may choose to skip this post, comment if you have to and move on. If you don’t have a baby yet, you should go till the end of this post and also make notes.

For those unlucky folks whose baby does not sleep right after feeding, welcome to parenthood. Now for the preachy bit.

First thing you do is to make her feel comfortable. Babies like to be warm. So wrap her to make her warm. You would see an adorable smile once you do this. Don’t think that she is smiling at you. She is happy about the situation. Some babies sleep immediately. But most don’t.

The next thing is to get her into the zone. Babies are least bothered about the toys you wave infront of them. But they like when you talk. Atleast mine does. So i talk to her about anything and everything. The point is not to stop inbetween. Keep talking. She would have stopped crying at this point and would be listening to whatever you talk.

The next item on the list is to start singing a lullaby. Lullaby need not exactly be a lullaby but some kind of soothing music. It is important for the parents to sing because the baby feels happy when she hears her parents. I have started to force Illayaraja on her. In her first week she liked whenever I sang “Ilaya Nila” song. Now she has evolved and wants me to sing “Pala Palakura Pagala Nee” from Ayan. The idea is to try and sing a lot of songs till you find what she likes. The song plus a gently swaying movement is heaven and she sleeps in a while. Keep holding her for a few more minutes. 10 to 15 may be. Keep singing, keep talking and there she is sleeping beautifully in your hands.

The last and final item is hope. Hope that she continues to sleep for the next couple of hours ateast. Even if she doesn’t, hope that there is a vacant bed in the dorm in your office the next morning. This is very important as we all know that hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies

At the end of the session, you would have spoken to the baby more than what you have to your spouse till date, you would have sung 100 songs and songs that you thought you never knew, you would have wrote a song for your baby. Yeah she brings out the creative best in you.

Happy parenting

All the tension during my wife’s relatively short labour (*touchwood*) of a little over 2 hours multiplied a million times when the hospital staff took over 30 minutes to tell us that both mother and baby are fine. So when the doctor wrapped her in a pink towel and said “Look at your beautiful daughter” and when she looked right into my eyes, it was a great feeling.

I have been off  most of the things that are a part of my routine. No reading, No blogging, no emailing, no chatting, no Orkut, no Facebook. Infact it took me a few days to send the pics of Nethra to the near and dear. The learning curve has already begun for us. Don’t be surprised when you read my next post on how to put a 3 week old to sleep.

Nothing much has happened on the job front. But now that Paapa has come, I have made myself available for any work. Besides, I have started blogging more frequently at work. Nothing serious types though. I will definitely cross post a few of my interesting posts.

6 months of food at Mom’s and MIL’s mean that my waist size has increased again. I have never been a big fan of the Gym. With the commute to work ruling out any time for exercise or cycling in the mornings, I am planning to attack the swimming pool in my office. Let me see for how long I go there.

Another thing To Do in my list is to popularise this blog. I am a fame monger and my erstwhile Vetti Payan blog was so famous. It is a shame that my gmail account was hacked and blogspot decided to delete that blog. I promptly renewed this domain and the next step is to write regularly.

My next post is already ready. Will post it tomorrow. See ya …

I am glad Mumbai Indians did not make it to the Semis for the second season in a row. As expected, the Fake IPL Player was wise enough not to reveal his identity. Hope he comes back for season 3. He may not have the ethics expected of him but he definitely rocked.

That blog defined my past. It has always brought lot of memories. My B School happenings, new friends, legendary posts by me, wonderful comments, the fights that happened over trivial posts with unknown people.

RIP Vettipayyan. Thanks for everything.