A very special Roti

Date: 18 February 2006
Farheen was rolling roti in the kitchen when Rida went in and said "Papa ko bhook lagi hai. Main roti banaoongi" ("Papa is hungry. I will make a roti"). Farheen casually gave her a small lump of dough. She rolled it into, surprise-surprise, a very cool roti and insisted that Farheen actually fry it. And fry she did :-) This is how that little roti looked like:

It was, somehow, one of the most tasty rotis and indeed THE most special roti I ever had in my entire life.

Rida goes to school (contd...)

Rida is going to school. Yeah! (well, this is a continuation as in "contd...", so what did you expect?). And Farheen and I are already into that typical parental routine...wake up early...wake her up...take her to toilet...bathe her...dress her up...talk about how wonderful schools are...prepare breakfast and get her to eat it...pack her little bag with snacks, a spare pair of clothes and water bottle...buckle her up in the car's front seat while telling her how wonderful schools are...take the bubbly child to school...drop her with one of the teachers...and she goes "waaaa waaaa pappa pappa"...walk past the gate with a heavy heart...

Her first day on Tuesday reminded me of the following Peanuts cartoon by Charles M. Schulz (dated Sept. 5, 1962):





Her inclination to cry when I leave her and when she sees me at noon are still intact, three days after her first day. But, the teacher tells me that her stay is improving. I only hope that she will, very soon, sound like Sally from the next Peanuts comic (Sept. 6, 1962). What a wonderful artistic soul that Schulz was!


To my mind, an improvement in her school going habit stems from the fact that the disturbed countenance she carried home the first day is not seen anymore.

Rida goes to school

DATE: 14 February 2006
At 2 years and 4 months, Rida is a bubbly chatterbox exuberating rare intelligence and great social skills (like her papa, shyness is an alien feeling to her). To facilitate her intellectual growth, it is important that she meets and plays with more children of her age. And what could be better than a play school?
Farheen and I spent a week visiting play schools in and around our area and talking to various parents. As expected, we had myriad opinions and advises to confuse us. And confused we were. But, after a very careful analysis involving factors such as proximity to home, school times, teaching methodology, play facilities, teachers etc. we rounded on "Bricks, The School" at Kamalapuri Colony (Phase 3). Just about a mile or so from our home and scoring decently on all of our attributes, we finally admitted Rida today in it.
She was very excited about school in the morning. "I am going to school. Yeah! Yeah!", she shouted while having her breakfast. We had taken her with us to some of the schools during our visits and she saw children play, and was now looking forward to it. Unfortunately, once inside the school, she had the company of a couple of children who were crying at the peek of their voice today. Naturally, my little darling got a little disturbed and decided to join the chorus. At this point, comforted by the staff, I left her and headed to office. It was 10 in the morning. Poor thing, she cried so much that she vomitted in the class room :-(. But I am told, after that vomit, she was great. The teacher tells me that she recited rhymes, pointed to colours, played in all the glory of a two year old and was well on her way to her chatter-box style when I went back to pick her up. It was half an hour past noon. One look at me and she went "Papa...waaaaa...waaaa...I want to go home. Lets go home to mama....waaaa". A quick chat with the teacher and off we were to home.
It pained a little to see her visibly shaken from being away from us for two and half hours, among so many new faces and wailing children. She came home, hugged mama, played with Rayan, had her lunch and was quickly asleep.
I hope and pray that her experiences be happier from tomorrow. Experienced souls tell me that second and third days are mostly worse than the first, but I am sure she will adjust soon.
My little darling is going to school. She is playing now, but in a few months (once in nursery) she will be introduced to studying, gradually. Thus will start a brand new chapter that will consume most of her life for the next 18 to 20 years, at least. As I write this, my eyes are a little, just a little, moist and I don't know whether from joy or sorrow. Joy, from knowing that Rida is growing up so well and sorrow from thoughts of various academic pressures her young mind will have to cope up with.
May God always be with her. I am not asking God to lessen her pressures or dilute her experiences but to make her strong. Strong enough to be able to master life- no matter in what form it presents itself to her. Please pray for her, and for Rayan and for all the kids in this world. Amen.
My little Rida is going to school. Yeah!

Rayan is circumcized: 2 February 2006

DATE: 2 February 2006
In keeping with the Islamic tradition of circumcising male children, Rayan went through this procedure on 2 Feb 06. It was carried out at the famous Crescent Hospital, Hyderabad, using the Plastibell technique. The 'wound' took a couple of days to heal and Rayan showed no pain or discomfort except for the first half hour or so, despite being given local anaesthesia.

Please refer to the following links for more details of this tradition:
1. Why is this done?
2. Male Circumcision: a Muslim perspective

Also, this very day, Rayan's head was shaven clean by our friendly neighbourhood barber. Our little sonny didn't cry- I guess he was too young for that. Rida's head was shaven when she was a little older- six months or so when we were in Ilford, East London. She had cried her lungs out.

Rayan is born: 28 September 2005

28 September 2005
Two years and fourteen days after Rida's arrival into this world comes a 3.1 kilo bundle of pure joy. Rayan Tauqeer, our second child is born at 20:10 IST in Tanveer Hospital (no, I don't own it), Hyderabad, India.

Rida's second birthday: 14 Sep 2005

DATE: 14 September 2005
A few photos from Rida's second birthday. Cute.

Basic Facts about the two jewels

Rida Taazeem
Born on 14 September 2003 in Nellore, India, Rida spent the first year of her life in London, England, before we moved back to India.

Rayan Tauqeer
Rayan came to this world on 28 September 2005. He was born in Hyderabad, India, in a Maternity clinic called (co-incidentally) "Tanveer Hospital".

Welcome to a cute world!

Hi,
Rida and Rayan are my daughter and son, respectively. Needless to say, I dote on my kids and this blog is to log various events in their life for all posterity.