When I say I am growing along with June this is one example. I managed the courage to play Holi (this is the second time in 30 years).

Thats mom and girl. But the mom is the center of focus in this one. The girl is just a prop. Doesnt matter she is the one who has taken the brunt for nine whole months. She deserves her bit of centerstage too. 

I really liked this one. Ayush at his masterly best. Mumbai seems the best place for him to be brought up. He is a born performer. Some of his bag of tricks

• Dumbcharade
• SuperHero Roleplays
  
• Extempore Speech

And all this before his 5th birthday. And whats more his mother is in the show business. Hats off! Opu & Guddi. You have provided the best environment for this guy to bloom. I am sure this list will increase as time goes.

This is the three some in Mumbai - Shirley, Ayush & Harsha. My playmates during all my trips to Mumbai. Ayush is the emotional performer. Always trying to conjure up games but often marked by the occasional outbursts. Harsha is the big boy, innocently trying to push his agenda on the other two. Ayush would rather keep up the super hero act and monster games going. And Shirley usually plays along with him. Hence at most times most times Harsha is isolated to do his own things alone. But Shirley is the herione. Tough, ever-smiling, sporting and inclusive. She is a charm. I am amazed how many times they have seen Koi Mil Gaya together with the same intensity and interest.

June again...

This is Ayush and June during our recent trip to Mumbai. We were playing our version of X-Men. June this time round had a first hand glimpse of Ayush's fantasy world.

India, China, Asia and Me

There has a been a lot of June, June and June in here. And I am sure most of your are not as excited as I am about her. I mean its reached a point where it may be termed as "over exposure". So lets not discuss June, humanity, death and life etc. I"ll discuss politics.

Its one of my favourite topics and when free, is one of my favourite subjects after life. So I thought why not suffer you all to my worldview (atleast its much more holistic than my dear friend George Bush's and its harmless and a good timepass).

There has been a spate of articles on India, China and about the huge economic churnings in Asia in the Economist. They have touched upon these:

• China's Godzilla like growth both on the economic and political front
  
• India's slow yet steady progress which is only now reaching a brisk pace
• Japan's unnoticed shift in its pacifist foreign policy
• Comparisons about the pros and cons of China's and India's growth
• Middle East realignments after George Bush orchestrated Irag war
  
• And ofcourse on what many are terming as the Asian century

There was an article recently title China and the key to Asian peace. If any of you want to read the article I can share the my password. I have a problem with the aritcle. It talks about the Asian century and it doesnt even mention India. Here is what I wrote to them:

Sir,

China's inherent and acquired traits give it an unmatchable clout in Asia. But Asia is not about the Orient as your article makes us believe. It will be foolhardy to discuss about Asia without even touching upon India and even Iran. But its a recurrent problem even the Asians are led to think about the continent in four different blocs.

21st century will certainly belong to Asia. But the meaningfulness of it will depend on how China, Japan, India, and Iran engage within themselves, their respective region and with Europe and America.

There are apprehensions that Mr. Bush' s worldview, highly polarised and exclusive, will be a major impediment. As America increasingly looses its economic clout, as the wheels of history duly turn, the politics of the neo-conservatives will take centerstage. The key will be a truly pan-asian approach to measure up to this.

Only then will the Asian century be able to bridge the world.

Sincerely,
Kaushik Som
Pune, India

I doubt this will get published but I hope you all appreciate my concern....

June is growing...

June is now all of eight months. She is no longer an infant - she is now a child. Recently her steady gain of weight has come to a halt. The rigours of having to cope with a new environment has taken its toll. But unfortunately everybody is more focused on the physical aspects of her growth. More fascinating is the steady development of her mind. Its a brilliant experience sitting on the sidelines and watching this magnificent metamorphosis. The more I think of it the more I am spellbound. Its all rubbed on me and I have started to grow again. I am sure sudeshna wiil admit the same.

Each day she is adding something to herself. From a nameless, genderless, personless baby she is growing to be called June. I remmember her first perceivable reaction - a furrowed brow to the flashlight when I took her photograph on her 3rd day on earth. Initially the only thing I remmember was her animalistic cry of hunger. Slowly her eyes opened up. Then she started responding to sound. However every reaction of her's was all to insensate. She was like an alien trying to figure the activities of the earthlings.

But then she smiled one day to her mother's call - her first reaction which did not come instinctively but took some processing. Soon she was replying to our sounds with her own groaning imitations. And one after the other there were the little things each bearing out her steady progress. She is now keenly observant and likes feeling things and touching faces. She observes everything around her trying to drum up an adequate response to each new happening.

And ofcourse she is slowly recognising her near ones and understanding their roles in her life. If she is hungry she will look for Mashi, if she wants to have fun (both of the gourment kind as well as the wild ones) its me to fall back on but all said and done if she is pesky, cranky, sick or hurt no one else than her mom will do.

The first time June fell she cried less out of pain and more out of shock. But then one day after coming to Pune she cried the whole night because of an ear infection - this was a her first recognition and acknowledgment of pain. It was the first time we had to take her to a doctor for reasons other than the occasional poke.

Her most recent development - her ability to move from one place to another. Only yesterday she crawled for the first time. I coaxed her to do the same this morning. She had blithely forgotten. But I am sure she will remmember by the time I am back home.

Sudeshna beware! Our daughter will soon be going places....