Not withstanding the frame of mind in my previous entry, which depicts a medium term outlook, the weekend was a good one. Saturday was Aasim’s results day at school. They don’t have exams nor are the children detained back but the assessment was a pleasant though not entirely unexpected. From what was mostly average with an occasional good he jumped to mostly good and occasional average in the last term. He stated he just did not feel like previously.

Woke up late on Sunday to a brunch of fresh Aaloo Parathas and curds. Since Swati was done with the morning maid routine and stuff she was itching to do something to me. So I got a facial massage and a mud pack (eeks!) Since I was in such a compliant mood she extended the courtesy to head, neck, back and …

Long cool shower and I was ready to almost sleep again, but Swati beat me to it. So I cuddled up with Aasim and watched Batman on TV.

Swati was determined that this Sunday we have to go out to one of the Amusement Parks which have come up around the city in recent years. There are plenty of places around Nagpur to go and enjoy on weekends but we never ever went due to sheer inertia 🙁 and also partly because I did not expect much from the places and was apprehensive of the wrong kind of crowd and lastly because Aasim is not too fond of rides, water and pools.

We chose the one nearest to us about 15 KMs

BUT tell you what my village Nagpur has come a long way!! The facilities were decent and the crowd fun loving families, no stags allowed. The manager turned out to be a known person.

Swati promptly found out where to get swim suits from, Aasim was told he could either come on the water slides and pool with us or stay out. I almost felt sorry for him but he had to learn, again to his favor he did not cry and after the first slide and splash he very much enjoyed the water so much so that a while ago he asked can we go again today!

I was pretty surprised to see Marwari women with “sar pe pallu” and Muslim women in “burkha” getting into swim suits.

Soon it was dark Aasim took a ride on one of the mini trains but chickened out of the teeny weeny roller coaster ride.

On way back we detoured to Aasim’s fav restaurant and had a nice dinner.

Yeah I did have my camera but once we decided to get into the pool I stowed it carefully away in the locker may be next time. Next Sunday there already are plans to go to another park which is about 45 KMs away.

Symbolic of me…

My first entry to the community, not much of a photo but it does represent my current frame of mind, I am feeling antiquated like the fossils and under a critical glare of the eye piece, and perhaps not really measuring up…

Dinner of Malai Kebab, Chicken Do Piaza and Naan, Ice Cream Soda for Aasim. Then he playing UT2003 in his room while we listen and discuss Khusro’s poetry – Sheer Bliss

Gimme you Palm, I can’t it is attached to my wrist.

Just read that Palm Inc introduced Zire 71 for just $299. For the price it appears to be a steal for PDA beginners, it has a 640×480 camera built in and also an MP3 player. However if you have deep enough pockets (financially and actually) then Sony Clie NZ90 is the way to go. The

First Love

They were all of 14 years old, and a very unlikely pair. She with her 24″ waist, fair complexion and brown eyes was the most beautiful of them all. He was pitifully thin, had disheveled long hair and was known for his antics of harassing his teachers with snakes, lizards and crabs. Needless to say

pahalii sii muhabbat

‘s post yesterday, reminded me of one of my favorites, again from Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The poem is particularly hard hitting in context of the war and it effects I am once again making a valiant effort to paraphrase it as closely as possible and I am sure the effort will ultimately entail an apology

Looks like finally the war is showing signs of ending. Unfortunately SARS is not showing any signs of abating. War and SARS combined have effectively brought work to a stand still even at SANIsoft. Nobody wants to take any decisions. Have started writing an article, hopefully it will be published. Swati is feeling a bit

Some Indian Palm Squirrels have 3 stripes and others 5

“UhUh!” This was the first thing which Aasim said when he saw him for the first time, the name stuck. UhUh was the first of the squirrel orphans which we have reared in the past two years. He also was the youngest that we ever found. In fact it is quite a miracle that he