Sunday Comics

Student and Teacher

Art class - Diya teacher, Aadi student.

A rare scenario in this house - almost always I end up as the student with two aggressively competing teachers - not a fun situation to be in!

And that happens even before I get a chance to explain to them what I am about to teach them. :)

Perhaps I should concentrate more on having them explore and discover rather than being told how things are or are supposed to be ...

Sent from my iPhone

Aadi's Artwork

Pink Rock

We had the following conversation on the way to Diya and Aadi's
swimming lesson today -

Suvo: Diya, did you pack Aadi's flip-flops?

Diya: No ... :(

Suvo: Do you remember that I asked you 3 times to pack his when you
were getting yours.

Diya: I didn't hear it :(

Suvo: ... or did you hear but forgot? It's ok if you tell the truth.

Diya: (after a pause) I forgot.

As I promised I didn't tell her anything .

Diya felt a bit generous (mainly because she was not yelled at ... so
better play nice) and told Aadi ...

Diya: Aadi, if you want you can take my slippers. They are pink, and
large. So, it's ok if you don't like it. ...

Since Aadi didn't respond, she was pretty sure Aadi was not interested
in the deal, and continued ...

Diya: Baba, you know ... it doesn't make sense to have some colors
only for girls. Boys can wear pink too. And girls blue!

Aadi chimed in …

Aadi: And boys can wear earrings. Like the ones with the round hole ...

Suvo: What!?

Diya immediately explained which versions Aadi was thinking about.

Diya: ... so, Aadi those earrings are cool, right?

Aadi: Yes! Cool boys wear cool ear-rings! Like the a Rock-n-Roll people. :)

Suvo: How do you know about Roll-n-Roll people?

Aadi: They play cool guitar.

Diya: So Baba, cool guitar means electrical guitar! Aadi - what else
do they play?

Aadi: They play drums. And they sing very loudly!! :)

I was dumbfounded. Aadi is just 4 years old! Where the heck did he
pick this up!?

I took the picture after their swimming class. They bought two gums … and as luck would have it, Aadi got a pink one, and Diya a blue! (Of course, Diya immediately exchanged the gums after taking the picture :) )

Career Counseling

Diya and Aadi came with us to bring Mishti home

from the breeders, when she was ready at 12 weeks of age. While I was finishing
up the paperwork and making the final payment etc, Diya asked the lady -”How
much do the puppies cost?”. She answered -”My puppies are two thousand
dollars.” I saw Diya's eyes becoming big and the gears starting to turn in her
head … and then the question came without any hesitation -”How much profit do
you make on them”. The lady was little taken aback but also decided to engage
Diya in a collegial sort of way. She explained all the costs involved in
running a breeder business and raising puppies and concluded that there is
really not much profit in this, they do it because they love to do it.
Meanwhile, Aadi was rolling on the ground with puppies jumping on him. 


On the drive back, Aadi was pensive and suddenly



declared -”When I grow up, I want to be a breeder”. We were surprised as this
is something we expect to hear from Diya not Aadi. Diya constantly shares new
plans for her future based on what ever is inspiring her at the moment.
Whenever we asked Aadi what he wants to be when he grows up though, his answers
have been -”when I grow up I will be Aadi” or “I don't know” or simply “unhh?”.
We figured he must have been really touched by the puppies and the breeder to
say something like this. But before we could react to it in any way Diya jumped
in. 



Diya - “Aadi you don't want to do that.” 

Aadi - “What?”

Diya - “You don't want to become a breeder. Or
maybe this can be your second job. OR something you can do after you retire …”

Aadi - “Why?”

Diya - “There is no money in it. You need a job
where you can make money.” (conversation closed) 



Aadi has been mulling over it since then. We
were amazed (&alarmed) at our 8 yrs old giving career advice to our 4
yrs old.



Later I had a heart to heart with Diya and
shared my thoughts that we should not pick a job just because of money … it has
to be something you love to do and are good at it naturally ... otherwise you'd
be miserable. Her answer was “ Oh that ... ya ya ya”. As if that part was
completely obvious. Since then she has discusses with me many times about one
job or another … mostly she is interested to find out the relative compensation
packages but then knowing where I will take the conversation adds …. and I know
you have to be good at doing it and like it too :).



Recently, one day when Suvo went to pick her up
after school she showed him what they did that day …. on a wall there were
sheets of paper where everyone in the class had written their names, hobbies,
names of pets and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Many of her
classmates are still fantasizing about superheros and fairies … wishing to
develop magical powers as they grow up. Diya's sheet stood out with “I want to
be a doctor and a teacher”. Suvo asked her why she wrote that and she said …
because these are the highest paying jobs! I am hoping she added in her mind
the other criteria that we have been talking about. 



But in any case … if that is what she wants to
do then we are looking at an MD PhD …. gosh we need to a bigger college
education budget!!!!!!!!! (I wonder where she learned to worry about money so
much?! :))



P.S.: We are on vacation in Florida this week
and Diya has started inquiring about prices of houses and cost of living here !

Mishti - Getting Civilized

Diya's Face Art

Surprised to find out ~1500 photos in my iPad this morning … 80% of them created by Diya using the PhotoStream App! 

While I got initially angry to find all these Junk Photos … thanks to the 'Motion' feature in Google Photos (PicasaWeb), it turned out to be a good content for a blog post :)