Author: Tarique Sani

Yesterday Aasim successfully observed his first Roza.

This was not done by us OR Aasim out of any religious conviction but as a part of the growing up experience for Aasim. Aasim completed it for the sheer fact that he had given his word to his parents.

For a 6 year old who has never really known “hunger” in his entire life this was indeed a creditable feat to go from sunrise to sunset without a drop of water or a morsel of food. He did it in an admirable way. The only sign he showed of real discomfort was that after 1pm he would now and then ask how much more longer…

No promises of gifts / blessing / great food / after life was made to him like are done by several parents – but – that he got cash gifts in the evening after Iftar at my Khala’s place made him feel very happy.

From his 6th B’day we have also introduced him to money management – he gets to keep all the cash he gets as gifts till the sum reaches more than Rs1000/- after which He exchanges it with Swati for an entry in his diary…

Plus daily he is given a Rs1 coin….

Returned today morning from Hyderabad. It is seldom that in India one is impressed by a Govt sponsored setup and more importantly the organization of a Govt sponsored program. At least for me IDRBT was a pleasant change. I arrived in Hyderabad 6am by bus – there was a car waiting for me and I was whisked away to the IDRBT building. The security guy at the front gate there was aware that I would be coming and had my name properly spelled out on a visitor ID tag. Even though I was not staying the night I had a room to my own complete with a hooked up PC, I was later told that these were the rooms where the participants of the various programs stayed…

A phone call gave me my morning fix of caffeine. The program started at 9am – right on time, there were about 20 people and were not “totally clueless” and “totally uninterested”. I discovered that people really can take me seriously and reaffirmed something I knew about my self “I can talk” – SERIOUSLY!!

My sessions stretched into lunch and then spilled into the hands-on lab session.

In short I had fun. I only wish that there were convenient connecting flights and I would have avoided the tiring 8 hour bus ride…

Am scheduled for two back to back talks at IDRBT tomorrow in this program of theirs. I am talking on “PHP best practices” and “PHP libraries for Rapid Development”

Thanks to all of you who have congratulated me on my acquisition of Nikon5700, Much to my frustration I have not had any time to experiment with it except in the “Fully Auto” mode. Like I told the camera is a dud – it shows all the blackheads on the nose and hairs inside even in a shoulder shot, who wants those many details ;0)

I will definitely post more pictures when I get back…

Should document the Sunday before it gets lost in the melee of Monday….
Woke up late… browsed the morning news, played some matches which Aasim. At around 12 we decided it was time to move out, Aasim had been promised that we will go to “Fun and Food” water and amusement park about 35 kms from here. The funny part was the shock and vehement opposition Aasim put up to Swati wearing just a T Shirt and swimsuit for driving… he was very relieved when she put on her wrap skirt 😀

A swift drive by Swati and we were there in no time and all of us into the Wave Pool in a blink of an eye… once Aasim had his fill of pool and slides we had a snack of “Pav Bhaji” by the poolside – it was soon time to leave – a bit too soon but we did not grudge that as we were supposed to be at my Khala for the Iftar.

Now Iftar’s there are a lavish affair with all sorts of stuff ranging from kebabs to milk sweets. A bit later the dinner was Beef Biryani eaten the traditional way. Sitting cross legged on the floor and using hands rather than spoon/knife/forks – I always feel that Indian foods are best enjoyed when eaten without the impediments of unnecessary cutlery… Using cutlery on say a nan and mutton curry is like making love thru an interpreter.

In other things, once again thanks to we discovered https://magnatunes.com and Beth Quist. Magna Tune is a record publishing company BUT they operate on the shareware model applied to music. Also the pricing is flexible and the recommended price of $8 (you can pay less or more) for an album is very fair. So if you were intrigued by “Om Asatoma Sad Gamaya” in the latest Matrix avatar (no I have not seen it) head over here to listen to the rest of the tracks… Do buy the music if you like it.

writes here that Jeremy MySQL Zawodny and Ramus PHP Lerdorf are going to be speakers at LB/2003 WOW!!

This year promises to be one hell of a show… It feels great to have been part of the team which has made the event possible not just once, twice BUT three times in a row. More important than that, our participation has earned us a whole lot of friends 🙂

P.S. There are other big(ger) names as well but thats just a rumor 😉

https://www.tariquesani.net/thumbnails.php?album=14

30 odd 6 year olds, about that many parents, 3 teachers, lots of good food, children’s music = Aasim’s 6th birthday party.

It was yesterday evening – amazingly we are still perfectly sane and unhurt 🙂

I did start with taking pictures but soon realized that I was more needed to attend to guests so I abandoned my quest, will soon put up whatever I have snapped. As a parent the enlightenment for me was how much the girls of Aasim’s class are crazy after him – there were fights for who will be next to him when he cuts the cake and then one exclaiming – “Auntie look I got Aasim” and proudly showing Swati in her plate the piece of cake which had Aasim’s written name on it.

Even though busy I did manage to flirt enough with one of his good looking ex-teachers to convince her to come for a portrait session, yeah Swati assisted me, so don’t bother with all those wry comments.

And that brings me to the other good news – I will have my new camera within next 15 days – the lost $$ (thanks to some stupid bimbo in a US bank) have finally reached my account!!

Amidst the increasing madness and chaos we decided to grab on to that last grain of Fantasia and elope for the afternoon…. We forsake the car in lieu of my Scooter!! The early winter breeze and the still warm afternoon sun was soothing…

We quickly finalised a larger bicycle for Aasim’s sixth birthday and then on the way back entered into a book expo not expecting much BUT there Swati discovered an unexpected gem. Part two of a book which I had given Swati nine years ago.. Presented by Pritish Nandy it is a collection of translated poems by the ancient Sanskrit poet Amaru – Unchained melody

“Her breasts were crushed
in his embrace
               as joy raised
goose pimples on her skin
Her clothes fell
fell well below her hips
as passions rose.
                STOP!!
Enough! she said.

And then?
Then I do not know what happened.
She fainted, fell asleep
or simply became one with me.
Who knows?”

Two days without receiving a single email – I am not missing anything 😀