2012 – February
02-Feb to 15-Feb
These 15 days have been good where I have slowly learnt to adjust to Seetha Thathi’s and Amma’s way of life at Chennai. I have developed my own schedule where I wake up, bathe, nap, get fed at approximately the same time of the day everyday. A couple of new things that I have learnt here at Chennai involve me trying to crawl forward and move my entire body without anybody else’s assistance. At this point I still have to figure out how to make complete use of my hands. Instead I use my head to try and navigate the way forward when I move and Appa tells me that the net result of all my efforts is that I look like I am trying to swim on dry land. Wonder when I will learn to start moving on my own without anybody else’s assistance. One thing I am able to do comfortably now is to turn around on my tummy on my own and I use this to quickly move over from one side of the bed to another whenever the mood strikes me.
01-Feb
Mohan Thatha and Seetha Thathi make their way over to Chennai from Bangalore. This is going to be the beginning of a long stint of baby sitting trips for both of them. Amma has decided to quit her job from BA Continuum and is going to start working at Kannan Mama’s company. R will get to see more of Praba Chitti and Ashwin Chittappa now that she is in Chennai.
2012 – January
30-Jan
R returns to the city where she was born, Chennai. Amma is a little depressed at having to leave behind the pristine Thrissur atmosphere and to have to return to the hot, concrete jungle that is Chennai, but that’s the scheme of things, at least for now.
26-Jan
It is decided to have R’s chorunnu (anna praashanam in Tamil) at the Thiruvambady temple. This function turns out to be more crowded than any normal chorunnu function. A lot of people from both Appa’s side and Amma’s side turn up at Thrissur. R is at her best behavior and quite enjoys the small morsels of solid food that she is being fed for the first time.
01-Jan
The dawn of a New Year. Appa is at Thrissur over the New Year weekend but nothing special is planned and the entire family brings in the New Year sleeping through it.
2011 – December
Not too much happens during the rest of December as Appa continues making his regular trips to Thrissur over the weekends. R is getting naughtier and naughtier with her antics. She has now almost learnt to turn over on her tummy by her own without assistance.
10-Dec
Sreeram Periappa got married with Renuka Periamma on 04-Dec and is having his reception today at Kochi. R, Appa, Amma and Raji Thathi take a taxi all the way to Kochi. R thoroughly enjoys the trip and also has a good time hanging out with all the Thatha and Thathis from the NR Swamy side of the family.
2011 – November
Appa makes the trip over to Thrissur over all the weekends in November. Nothing of real note happens in November. R continues to grow at a normal pace.
R however falls in love for the first time in her life. Her muse at this point in time is Duraisingam, the lion who makes her way into R’s life having flown over to India from all the way around the world, Switzerland. He is a gift that Aunty Irina sends to R via Appa. R is seen to be talking to Duraisingam, coochie cooing with him, biting him, pulling him, yanking his tail around, overall just loving to be in his company.
Why do we call him Duraisingam, well Raji Thathi has a good story about that.
2011 – October
25-Oct
It is R’s first Diwali. And since it is Praba Chitti’s and Ashwin Chittappa’s first Diwali after they got married, they turn up at Thrissur as is the norm. With Kuttan Mama getting all worked up, the entire family ends up enjoying Diwali. And yes, Appa is also at Thrissur during Diwali for the first time in the four and a half years that he’s been married to Amma.
20-Oct
R’s Thottil function is held at Thrissur. The entire NR Swamy clan having attended Rajaram Chittappa’s wedding at Palakkad a couple of days ago decides to turn up at Thrissur for the function. Moorthy Thatha, Shyamala Thathi, Nithya Athai, Nishta Akka, Shekar Thatha, Bhagyam Thathi, Brinda Thathi, Sreeram Periappa, Raju Thatha, Chelli Thathi, Kichu Chittappa from Appa’s side get their first look at R. Amma’s side has Visalam Thathi, Rajalakshmi Thathi, Radhai Thathi, Sivamani Thatha, Pushpa Thathi, Raman Thatha attending the function. Nithya Athai and Nishta Akka spend some more time with R as they take a direct flight out of Kochi airport to New York later that night.
18-Oct
Appa attends Rajaram Chittappa’s wedding at Palakkad. Amma and R badly want to be there but R is just too tiny to be attending weddings, etc. Ganesh Uncle, Appa’s friend makes his way to Thrissur the day after the wedding to catch up with R.
First two weekends of October
During the first two weekends Appa makes his way over from Chennai to see R and Amma at Thrissur. These trips are not without incident and Appa has a few hilarious stories about them.
2011 – September
27-Sep
R has her first look at Kannan Thatha who comes over all the way from Thrissur to see her. R doesn’t quite understand it but having Kannan Thatha travel out of Thrissur for all of 2 nights is a huge achievement and R should feel quite proud of it. Today is the day that R takes her first train journey as well. Amma was not quite excited about all the damn cockroaches in the 3 Tier AC compartment and between Amma, Raji Thathi and Shakti Akka, they end up staying up the whole night just to ensure that none of the ‘roaches get to R. R is going to be in Thrissur at least for the next 4 months or so. Kuttan Mama is all excited to have his first look of his favorite niece, who he will end up calling ‘Jhanavi’ among a lot of ther names over the course of time.
26-Sep
R has her first monthly checkup. So Appa, Amma, Mohan Thatha and Seetha Thathi make their way to EVK again. Both R and Amma are medically declared fit to travel. As has been decided earlier R will now be travelling to Thrissur tomorrow.
04-Sep
It is decided that we will have the naming ceremony – the Naamakaranam ceremony for R today. So, at the Ashok Venkatesh flat, we have this small ceremony with R, Appa, Amma, Mohan Thatha, Seetha Thathi, Raji Thathi, Praba Chitti, Ashwin Chittappa, Sitalakshmi Thathi, Eesha Thatha (who came over all the way from Bangalore) attending. R was looking awesome with a nice little pink dress which Kumar Mama had come over a day ago and gifted to her.
2011 – August
27-Aug, 28-Aug, 29-Aug
Amma and R spend their time at EV Kalyani Medical Center where Amma is given some time to recover from bringing R into this world. In the meantime R gets her first bath and she seems to like it. Turns out that she actually likes water and seems to take to it like a fish takes to water.
R also has her first immunization/vaccine shot given to her. R doesn’t seem unduly perturbed by the pin prick which she feels. Funnily enough she starts crying a good 30 seconds or so only after the doctor gives her the shot.
26-Aug
Appa gets his first real good look at R, and believe me when I say this, R also gets her first real good look at Appa. Amma obviously saw R yesterday in the Operation Theatre, but it was only around really early morning today that Amma is given complete control of R. Amma has her first real good look at R and realizes that this is the ‘bundle of joy’ that has changed her life forever. Life is never going to be the same again for Amma and Appa.
25-Aug
R decides that it is time for her to be introduced to this world, it is time that the world gets to know the wonderful person she is. Of course, at this time the world doesn’t yet know that R is a ‘she’, if you know what I mean. Anyways to cut a long story short, R pops out of Amma at around 7.15 PM IST after at least a good 3 hr struggle. It’s not like she lost her way or something, just that her head was a tiny-teeny wit too big for Amma, that’s all.
