Photos

Some photos of Agastya over the past 2 months.

[photos]

The mystery of the red penis !

I do not receive personal calls while at work and I have strictly told Monica never to call me unless it is an emergency. I am usually called into design meetings, adhoc, and I never would like my phone to interrupt a proceeding.

You may enquire why not switch your phone off (or) why not have your phone on silent and my rejoinder for that would be how would I then know if Monica calls me and it happens to be an emergency?. So the settlement between I and Monica is that my phone will always be on and that she would send me a SMS for anything other than a crisis. If she wants to chat or call, she would signal that through a SMS first and I would return the favour.

Anyway, after the long weekend, I had returned to work yesterday and keenly catching up on the email which my Japanese employers had written in their best(est) of English.

Ring Ting Ding: The phone rings.

I: Hello, Nagi speaking.
Monica: Nuggie, Aga's penis is red !!!!
I: What do you mean ?
Monica: It is red Nuggiiee !!
I: Ok, check if his testicles are red.

Monica disappears from the tête-à-tête for a while, I hear Aga making unhappy sounds in the background.

Monica: Yes, his testicles are red.
I: May be the heat, check if the area around his Jiang Zemin is red as well.

Again, she disappears and Aga is conspicuously unhappy with Monica.

Monica: No, it is ok elsewhere.
I: Why is he complaining, is he otherwise acting normal ?
Monica: Yes, I think so. Must be the heat and may be too much irritation on his John Howard.
I: Ok, strip off his nappy and let him run around naked for the next few hours. Have you switched the heater off ?
Monica: Yes man, already done that.
I: Ok, let me know and I can arrange for you to see the doctor if need be.

I try to get back to work. One of the email from Japan required urgent technical feedback. I decided to reply and then go home and check on him. Funny enough, as soon as I click send and barely a few minutes further to that, I would receive a follow up email from Japan with a different question. This took a good half hour and after a sequence of 3 replies, it went all quite. I went and told the department manager that I had to go home for one hour as I had an emergency. The manager instantly agreed but was nosy and asked me why. I told him I had to go and see if my son needed medical attention but I just couldn't tell him my son has a RED penis!! But, OKAY, the whole world knows now.

I reached home and as usual Aga came running towards me. That was a happy sight. I wanted to see it for myself. I saw him without his nappy, but in a long suit. I take one look and said:

I: You called me in for this ?
Monica: It is RED nuggie !!!
I: You said his testicles are red !!!
Monica: Yes, it WAS red.

His testicles were all shrivelled up {probably the cold} and he was reaching for his Tony Blair very often. It certainly was NOT red. It was – brownish: Looked like his sperm production warehouse was in perfect shape. That was a relief !!

I: Why is he reaching for his George Bush Jr.? Irritated ?
Monica: May be because he cannot feel his nappy around him ??
I: Ok, makes sense. Have you put aquaphor around that area ?
Monica: He whines when I reach there to apply aquaphor [Petroleum jelly]
I: May be you should put Baby oil with aloe vera generously.

I took off and told Monica to call me if the situation warrants further attention. Luckily, it turns out it was the heat. He was on multiple layers of clothing and one layer was almost non-breathable. That would explain why his sensitive area was RED !! Yes man, RED !

Do you agree ?

I think this is barefaced rubbish; I would like to know how many of you lend defence to this supposition.

Read this [article]

This is almost certainly one report pro-life groups would want to discredit while pro-abortion groups would offer their lot to render this study credible.

Let me know your outlook on this: Please leave a comment, anonymous ofcourse.

Bin Laden can't resist

Thank God, Osama has to change his ways now. How can Bin Laden resist this opportunity ?

[fine deal]

Pain all over.

We have all been afflicted by a stomach bug the past 2 or 3 days and Agastya suffered the most. For the whole of Sunday, he kept none of what he ate or drank: he vomited everything. On Monday it was the same although we had seen the doctor by then. He was on electrolytes for the most part and his condition had improved greatly by Tuesday. Monica had a churning stomach and I not only had that, suffered from fever, back pain and a colossal headache. I am sure it was food poisoning. Agastya looks like he has lost a few pounds in weight and I look utterly hopeless. I have not shaved in a week and I do not even have strength for it. I am at work although I have a slight fever. As I am not overly busy until end of this month, I decided to blog.

I, Monica and Aga went to a chinese restaurant a couple of weeks ago just around the corner from the house.

We had ordered the food already and Agastya is voraciously munching on the crackers.

Monica: Nuggiie, I think they are Indonesians
I: Ok, why don’t you introduce yourself as you have no fools from your country in this area.

Monica thinks hard for a few seconds.. Then to my own surprise..

Monica: Dari Indo ya ?? [or something like that]

I cannot remember that lady’s name but for the sake of making this easier, let us give her a name: Kusumavati Panchawati.

Kusumavati Panchawati: Ya saya ialah dan anda?

Before I could understand what the heck was happening..

Monica: Baik. Saya ayam makan. Keluarga besar. Son Agastya. Saya suami idioto Nagi. Saya tinggal di Brandon jalan
Kusumavati Panchawati: << blah blah blah >>
Monica: Dia berumur satu tahun
Kusumavati Panchawati: Kebaikan!! Apa? Ayam dan daging babi!! Saya berkelahi dengan siklus.

About 5 minutes later, Monica and Kusumavati say their good byes and I felt as if a hurricane struck me.

I: What the heck happened?
Monica: Her daughter is 2 years old.
I: Ok, good. What about that?
Monica: She actually asked what school is Agastya going to?. I told her that it is not time yet as he is only 14 months old. Panchawati was knocked for six.
I: Kek kek kek kek.
Monica: Heh heh heh heh. Nuggiiee, is Agastya fat?
I: What crap are you talking about woman? He looks awesome.
Monica: Everyone thinks he is big for his age.
I: He is on the 95th percentile for height and weight. Under 2 years, you need not worry about weight. He is perfect. They are just green-eyed you stoopid Indonesian!!
Monica: Yes, must be .. you bloody Indian.

As you see, Aga cannot go into a place without overwhelming someone. Every single restaurant we have been to, when it was time for the bill, the waitress usually writes something like Cute son !!! for which I promptly leave a 10 dollar tip. The same usually happens in K-mart, the Glen etc.

Off late, I dread coming home. Aga would run towards me as soon as he notices me opening the door and hassle the heck out of me to lift him. He never asks Monica to carry him. He is happy for Monica to walk besides him or may be hold his hands. If I am there in the vicinity, his royal highness never walks. He demands that I carry him. He gets annoyed if I put him back on the ground after a few minutes. My back is getting weaker by the day. Half an hour with him in one go will sap me completely and it is not a joke.

I asked Monica a couple of weeks ago if she does not get bored staying at home all the time. She said she much prefers the current bargain and requested that I preserve this status quo for as long as possible. She recaps that the onus is on me to bring in twice the income as usual for this arrangement to become permanent!!! What the??? This must be easy…

To be fair, she takes care of Aga so effortlessly and I don't think anyone other than a mother could. She cooks, cleans, feeds, plays, washes, changes, yells, reprimands, cajoles, sings, dances – does all that would keep him happy and motivated.

My niece, Ammu, is entering University this year. She has offers from MIT, Dartmouth, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, BU and a few more I cannot recall. This is amazing and I wish her luck in choosing the right discipline.