Bubbly Child!

The Fine art of Persuasion

Howdy! How’ve you guys been doing? Now, I maybe a big boy of 2, but is it too early to learn the art of persuasion? Opinions may differ, but me thinks, Nope! It is never too early to start training on persuasion considering the amount of variance that is needed to master it and make it work with different people.

For instance, the easier one is my mom. There are so many easy buttons I can use with her. Here’s the routine…

1. Start with a nudge to ask her for something.
2. If she ain’t gonna budge, I start calling out her name “Booba Booba”…
3. One of the tough days? Neither worked, then strain the Boooobaa with a hint of a cry…
4. She’s decided not to budge, so I’ve decided to get her to budge. I cry my heart out!
5. There’s no need for #5, so far #4 has had 100% success!

Now I know mom is reading, so even as I write this, I am inventing new ways to persuade her. My doctor figured this out long ago and was inconsiderate to call this fine art as Manipulation! My parents didn’t take that seriously though, thank them for that!

With Dad, I don’t need to go to #3 90% of the times, but sometimes, he’s just adamant. He can’t get his eyes off his laptop. Wonder what he keeps doing on it! Half the time, he’s just staring on a screen that has his picture on it! He’s typing something furiously at it and tries to distract me. He’s using my short term memory as a weapon. So, I decided to use some of my long term memory to defeat him! I pull out my ultimate asthra which has insofar never failed!

When #5 does not work….

#6 — Sit in a corner fiddling around with my toys right in front of him instead of in my play room, with an occasional glare to make him feel guilty.

#7 No?? What a stone hearted, self obsessed parent! Okay, since you’ve left me with no other options, I start muttering “Tu Mera Dil… Tu Meri Jaan” and then loudly… “Oh I love you Dadddy”,,,

That’s it, I can’t even complete my tune, he’ll rush to me, shower me with tens of kisses and attend to my needs!

See… its not that tough, you just gotta know how to nudge people and yes, have a backup plan if A does not work! Simple?

Fellow babies out there… Let me know how I can hone my persuasive skills if you know of other techniques!

Welcome to my new Home!

Hey,

I’m turn 26 on the 26th! and to commemorate it, I have a new home on the web!

How do you like it? It is still work in progress and has mostly standard stuff, but the personalizations are certainly in the works!

Welcome and Hope to see you very often!

The Tarun Twists

Chellamma Surukkamma

My daddy and mommy always make it a point to highlight a young one when we are all staring at a flock of birds or a herd of cows. They prefix it with “Kutti” and suffix with “dee” (to address me, as the girl they probably wanted?).

[Image Courtesy: www.popgive.com]

So for a little cow, it would be “Kutti Cow dee”
For a flying or trying to fly bird, it would be “Kutti Birdie deee”
for a duck, “Kuttie Quak Quak dee”

I found it a bit redundant and hard to distinguish, so I interleaved an extra syllable to identify the young one…

So I’d respond to a “Kutti Cow dee” with a “CaCaCow“
“Kuti Birdie dee” with a “BirdieBirdie“
“Kutti Quak Quak dee” with a “QuakQuak QuakQuak“
“Kutti Ingaaan dee” (Elephant, which I identify with its sound) with an “Ingangangaaaan“
“Kutti Doggie dee” with a “Doggie Doggie“

and so on….

Quiz: What would I call a little cat (i.e. kitten in your parlance)?

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Crakkkkeeerrrsss

Those fire-crackers really really freaked me out yesterday! It was my first time and I was really looking forward to it… the very first trial cracker totally scared the wits out of me and I could not bear the noise!

What followed was a continuous rush of spectacular sound and light, but all I could hear was a big time ringing or beating of drums, only this time, inside the inner ear!

My parents sportingly scouted me out of the loud-zone into a place where I could just appreciate the lights and I did so quite well, except, those ears were still ringing with increasing frequency!! It was quite an experience and it took me a whole night’s sleep to get out of it!

I will surely be in a position to enjoy it better next year! But this one has to go down as a painful one…

Blame it on Charlie!

This Charlie guy really spoiled me! Now I am off biting everyone and everything on my way… why Charlie why??? Now I find myself biting like Charlie, grimacing for my targets like Harry and then smirking like Charlie.. I tried to get a video of me in action on one of my targets, but they were’nt particularly pleased at my request for a video while I was biting

Do they get it?

Listen to this… I try my best to explain that there is a “Hot Air Balloon” up in the air above us… it even has a banner attached to it explaining the rules of usage for anyone in the ground that’s interested. I try to coax my dad again and again to draw closer to it. Dad nods but looks straight at the ground and walks on and on. Mom on the other hand, seems to understand but claps on saying “Good Jaab.. Good Jaanb”, but she never looks at the balloon itself!

Did they get it? Is it so normal to see a hot air balloon? I for have seen one on TV every single day, but for the first time in real thin air! So, my bet is that they just humored me as if they understood! And nooo.. I wasn’t dreaming! I’d see much more super-natural things there!

The Tarun Turns Two

Whoaaa! What a monstrous weekend! Arguably the most enjoyable one I’ve had! And it all began with a small private celebration at home on my actual birthday Jun 26th… (t626 ring a bell yet, you quizzers?) Then the big event we all were waiting for, Jun 27th, the Grand Celebration for my 2nd birthday, the first big celebration in the US, where I was born and  live today!

To all those who came, thanks a lot for coming and making it a Grand Success! I really liked meeting and greeting each of you in my own way, be it a cry, be it a laugh, be it a pat on your back or just a run away. You see, my social skills are not as good as my writing skills on this blog so far, but rest assured, I am learning. Put yourselves in my Sherwani Sandals and you know what I am talking about.. if not, just ask your little kids or grown up kids or well.. upcoming kids

I hope you guys enjoyed the “Lion” as much as I did.. initially I got freaked out, but then when I knew he was just an imposter, something I found out when he was not responding to my calls of “laaaaainnnn… laaiinnnnn”… “Kuaaa Kuaaaa”… (don’t ignore these terms, as they may be coming to a quiz near you)..

The clown guy was fun too… only I was getting too hot inside the hall, especially due to all the pressure and attention on me. Plus it was way too irresistable for me to rush out to count the number of black cars that were parked in the parking lot… Just my own fun, isn’t a birthday all about freaking out and having fun? Well.. that’s what I did… several uncles and aunties took care of me when my daddy or mommy were too busy to take me out and I’d like to thank them all… the music was superb and all my favorites were there! I could not stop wondering where those songs came from! They were supposed to be coming from the car stereo, were we in a big car of some kind where 100 people could sit, stand or walk?

To all my kid cohorts, Truly amazing performance singing the A B Cs.. I would have loved to join in, but I thought, as a host, I should be neutral and not get prizes Good excuse eh? How was that quiz??? So many of you guys were trying to ask me the answers! But daddy had instructed me to turn away or to distract you guys with something else when asked any of those 10 questions! Good effort from everyone. Although the winner seemed to be on steroids, everyone else did very well… I will treasure those messages in question 10 in my scrapbook for ever! Wonderful quiz, song, dance, game performances and truly sportive attitude from all you guys! Thanks for the enthusiasm, participation and energy! Hope you guys enjoyed your return gifts as much as I am enjoying your gifts to me! Sorry I was too tired and slept off before I could bid individual goodbyes to each of you.. but I hope you’ll understand that it is tough to be a two year old! I was coming to grips with all the increased responsibilities! So many more toys to take care of! Hugsy is growling in jealousy at home! He’s too angry that he wasn’t invited to my party! But hey, he got to attend the home celebration!

To those that could not make it, I am sure your thoughts were all with me, after all I was coughing through some part of the morning, so we thought you were remembering me on my big day.. I am sure all your prayers and best wishes lead to the success of the event. I hope you received and have seen all the pics. I will try to get daddy to post a video or two soon, it would be the next best thing to having been there! I can’t stand the other kid on the video who everyone is celebrating! He looks just like me! Did he also have an exactly same birthday party? Better stay away from that guy in the video, he scares me like anything!

Of course people behind the scenes made it possible… the aunties at the cake shop, the aunties at the party stores, the uncles at gift shops and the thatha at the party hall. You were all great and made it possible! The cake was a big hit and although I did not have much cake, I heard everyone liking it a lot! Thanks to mommy for all the advanced planning for months! and the diligent execution and thanks to everyone who helped organize and cover this memorable event for me. I will appreciate this much much more as I understand what’s going on…

Thanks to all and hope I will see you all on your birthday parties and of course on my Big 3rd Birthday Bash! Keep watching this space for updates from me!

My Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!

Tarun is 2

Thanks to everyone for making my phone ring continuously, filling my email inbox  and decorating my blog with kind comments! I am humbled! I wish to thank everyone and hope I will see most of you tomorrow in my official Birthday Bash!

I am told that 20 children in Somalia and Sierra Leone are also celebrating my birthday thanks to the kind efforts of UNICEF!! I hope I can get to know their birthdays and celebrate on each of those days too. I am so very grateful to God for having given me everything he has and I wish that all my comrades can get a good life too. I will do everything I can to make a difference!

Happy Birthday to me! Thanks mommy and daddy for making the day very special for me!! You didn’t even say anything when I painted those walls with my prints!

imPrints

Can’t wait to meet everyone tomorrow!!! Are you all gettin ready yet??

The Tarun Reads

Now in HD!

Fannnu….

Now in HD

You're not coming?

I don’t care… I’ll get going…

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My 2nd Birthday is coming soon!

My video invite …

Watch out for an invite coming to your inbox real soon! If you don’t get it before the end of May, drop me a comment with your email id or just email me at tarun.ramakrishnan@gmail.com ….

Obamaaaa..

Lights HD Camera Action!

Aaami

Who is my favorite cricketer?

Well.. I only know one.. “Aaaami… MS Aaaami”… as I see him say in the Chennai Super Kings’ ad. He is their captain! Why do I like him? Well.. he is the one that encourages me to have Boost these days!

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Genie in a Bottle

I had fun at the zoo… my favorite birds/animals were the Cranes, especially when they stood on one leg! The Giraffe and of course the Elephant! I had to make a choice and felt compelled to honor my favorite animal. After long deliberation, I chose the Elephant. I have always been amused since childhood on the elephant. But what do I give him? I gave him my priced possession, an Ingi bottle!! I loved it, just moments ago, I was savoring it, but now, it is for the elephant, to feed her young ‘un when it arrives! Good Luck Elle!!!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Home Grown Produce

Hey… look what’s growing in my home, besides me that is… umm… how much would they fetch?? Never mind.. let me get started working on my spin.. if I can spin oranges, the cuckaboora should be piece of cake, eh?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Need for Speed

I am developing a big taste on to these fast moving vehicles like planes and trains. Whilst I have been on some of the fastest planes as well as the Thaly’s, TGV and ICE trains in Europe, I was still young then to remember the details. Plus, back then, I was busy analyzing the floors, communicating with my fellow passengers, so I did not have the time or height to look out the windows. But thanks to Youtube, I can live that experience with some great camera angles.

Some of my favorites:

Train..

Nice sound track by the way, never mind the anglais…

Plane..

Babaaa…

Did they really think they could fool me? They changed the characters, the title song on me, but I can identify Baba… Babbbaaaaa…

The old…

and the new… I’m still trying to find on Youtube… it is on TV all the time though…

The Tarun Tweets

What keeps a baby my age from getting into Twitter? Nothing… so from today, The Tarun Tweets Too! (TTTT)… you can follow me on Twitter or just check the sidebar on the right for my latest tweets… I kinda like keeping some updates short and tweet!

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Mooom

Remember that little kid that could appreciate but not call the beautiful moon? Turns out, just a couple of months later, the same kiddo can now say, “Moooom” and an added bonus, “staaash” (stars)!

I am also doing a commercial for Apple being shot by my dad!
It goes…

” A for Apple….
B for Apple…
C for Apple…
…..
Z for Apple…”

Apple — Your kids’ll love it!

Anyone from Apple Marketing team listening? You heard it first from me, The Tarun!

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Birthdays Galore!

There have been so many birthdays this month that I have had to block my calendar for! Phew! I am half way through and each experience, like the age groups of those celebrating, could not be any more different! At the two extremes, my cousin, Shyam has his 6th birthday at one of my favorite locations, The Jungle, where daddy took me to a couple of weeks ago. I got to go again and it was fun.

Of course, fun for me at the Jungle, a kids indoor play place, is just playing in the puddle of balls in the toddler area. These elder bullies don’t leave us tender toddlers alone in our exclusive zone! They’ve got so much more space that we can’t go to, why on earth would they want to invade our teeny tiney area? Wait till I grow up to past the toddler stage, I will fight for toddler rights! Having been there, I know what it feels like and I am not a revengist. I will make life better for toddlers! So, patience…

I was not much interested in the cake cutting or the other festivities or foodies. Everytime mommy or daddy plucked me from the ball pool to the party room, I would find my way back. It was almost magnetic. Why? For starters, I throw up whenever the cake hits my tongue. I did so, even at my own birthday, so I did not want to inconvenience anyone else. Next, I prefer Veggie Pizza over Cheese Pizza and the adults were fighting for that one here. I don’t stand a chance against kids, what would I do fighting with adults for just a bite of that crust?

The balloons were fun, but they kept going away from me far far away up to near the Mooom… (moon), so after losing a couple, I would not get any more What does the moon want with balloons anyways? So, I came off tired and sleepy to have ingi.. it was a fun day at the Jungle!

The next birthday was the first one that we got invited to, because of ME! It was my classmate, Abhinav’s birthday. So, I was excited, even though I had my share of illnesses to fight with. I was so excited that we landed there perfectly on time as per the invitation, but were the only ones! Would you believe it? I was rushing my parents thinking we were late, but alas, we were the earliest! Then I got reminded that I always rush, as I did to get out into this world, over 3 weeks ahead of anyone’s expectations. Hey, from where I come from, punctuality wins the prize. Maybe that’s not the case everywhere. The birthday boy himself arrived after me! I had a sheepish thinking that if Abhinav did not show up, I could cut the cake and gobble it too, without of course letting it touch my tongue Who cares about the eating anyways?

Then we hung out at a nearby dosa diner, while waiting for others to arrive, where the perusunga had dosas and offered me a few bites. By this time, I got sleepy and cranky, plus I was not at my 100% fitness. Then we headed back and there was a decent crowd in place… I met some known faces, my caretaker, Neenaaaa (Seema), her two sons, Happy (her husband) and Sarvajeet (asst caretaker). Was this day care in disguise? Why are there so many people here today? Before those answers came, guess who came? Tigger and the clown! Tigger looked authentic, but the clown, I didn’t care much for. Hey, even I can pronounce the name of the b’day boy correctly, Naninaav (Abhinav), right? This guy struggled before blurting out, Abnav or something of that kind. Maybe he did not have enough time to practice. Anyways, they had a lot of games, but I decidedly stayed away from any of those. My daddy was very unhappy and called me a “Tiger at home, but moose outside”. I did not care about the abuse. He seemed to be missing the fact that I was unwell and did not want other kids to take ill. They were all so joyous, so I made the supreme sacrifice and did the right thing for my community. If my big man does not like it, well he’ll understand when he grows up! Then I slept off and woke up only when we got home.

Today is another birthday, mine!! I am 1.75 years old today!!! We had a Happy Birthday song at home followed by a round of applause for me being a fighter and spirited through my illness. I guess I gotta live with just songs instead of all those colorful delicacies with a number that marked how many months old I was. I must be getting old already! 21 months! It seems like a lot!

Happy Birthday to Me!

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Getting Better

Thanks to all my readers and well wishers for praying for a speedy recovery. I am sure it will help in due course.

Mr.Cough however, does not seem to hear those requests and is in no mood to give up the spotlight he’s enjoying at my expense. I am not amused. I am trying a bunch of different things! Mommy even had me try tea for the first time today! I did not like it as much as daddy does, but am “warming” up to it lately.

I hate it when I can’t get through the night without continuous sleep! It is really, well, disturbing. Hope there are not too many more of these posts! I hope to get to the real deal soon!

Getting Better

Thanks to all my readers and well wishers for praying for a speedy recovery. I am sure it will help in due course.

Mr.Cough however, does not seem to hear those requests and is in no mood to give up the spotlight he’s enjoying at my expense. I am not amused. I am trying a bunch of different things! Mommy even had me try tea for the first time today! I did not like it as much as daddy does, but am “warming” up to it lately.

I hate it when I can’t get through the night without continuous sleep! It is really, well, disturbing. Hope there are not too many more of these posts! I hope to get to the real deal soon!