Chez Moi

So I have set up a blog for my thesis - well, what do you expect? I am a blogoholic! It is mainly for me to help plugging along at a merry pace. Take a peek at it here and of course, feel free to add your two bits worth! 

I know I am meant to be studyin’ and all but I thought I needed a spot of sympathy. As of yesterday morning, I woke up to a gloriously stiff neck and an extremely painful muscle pull. If I tell you it took me more than 40 minutes to scoot out from bed, cos every time I moved a cm I was awarded with a spasm that took my breath away, you can guess what a neat start to my day it was.

Nearly gave myself a hernia trying to pick up my laptop - then figured out basic biology. Neck muscle is connected to relevant hand; hence raising the said limb any higher than a couple of inches pulls the affected muscles, which results in a fresh spasm.

This morning, after a disturbed night’s sleep when the teeniest movement caused a spasm that woke me up , I found the muscles stiffer than before. So am watching the world go by from a seriously weird angle. Am convinced my HOD thought my reason for not turning up to the lab and presentation today is as bogus as it comes. Sigh.

Ooh thanks a bunch to all you sweethearts for leaving me messages of luck. Thanks a ton. Need every bit of it if I have to get through this lot! Muchas gracias, amigos!

‘lo all! I’m taking a temp break from blogging as I need to knuckle down and get on with my coursework submissions / presentations. I have my first submission-presentation next Wednesday (23/4), followed by another on 28/4 and the remaining two on May 2nd. So hopefully all goes well and I shld be back following that long May bank holiday weekend.

Meanwhile, pliss pliss keep your fingers crossed for me and the success of my coursework. Ta!

So P got his first ever certificate yesterday. He has been attending Kumon maths for the past couple of months. His dad and I were surprised when the teacher told us couple of weeks back that P would be taking his current level test. A test? After just 7 weeks? Oh well, we thought, nice experience.

Imagine our pride when he aced the test! Woo-hoo! So yesterday, he got his ‘Achievement Certificate’ and got his picture taken with it. It was hilarious watching him play to the camera. Now that he is comfortable with this, we decided to sign him up for Kumon English too.

He had the assessment to get over with first, to see where he was at. And my son is such a card, I tell you! A girl, she must be in her A levels or something, was throwing words at him and he had to spell them. Another friend of hers was sitting at the same table, watching him. Every time she gave him a word, P’s instantaneous reaction would be ‘oh that? That is too easy!’

After the third such comment, the girls picked up the refrain and chanted along with him ‘oh it is too easy, innit?’

Anyways, the teacher came and told us he did well and they were ever so pleased with the way he is going. We were both well chuffed, understandably.

I know there have been discussions going on in various mommy bloggers’ websites about the suitability of extra coaching for children and how soon is too soon etc. When I first heard of Kumon, P was in his Foundation class and was 4 and 1/2 and we both deemed him too young for such extra coaching and decided to leave him be. He loves his school and though is a bit of a chatterbox, he still does really well. When we decided to move back to India at the completion of his Infant’s school, we decided that we needed some extra help and enrolled him with Kumon. He also goes for weekly swimming and random football and kickboxing lessons so it is not all work and no play!

Would I continue with it once we are back in Chennai? I don’t know. I want to give him the chance to settle down in the new environs and get used to things first. And then, if he seems fine and if the situation warrants it, then we’ll see.

In the meantime, it sure is fantastic to see him chock full of pride over his certificate, which is already showing signs of wear, thanks to some rather enthusiastic playing last night. He is all set for the bi-annual tests at Kumon and wants to win the Gold, this September. If it makes him happy….

 
I spent some jolly 10-minutes reading about young Max, 19, who’s off to India and Thailand, in a bid to discover the world and himself AND blog about it for Guardian. Normal? Harmless? Well, the entertaining commenters (451 at the last count) thought not, especially as it seemed more and more probable that Max’s daddy might be the Guardian’s travel writer. Comments ranged from a fairly normal ‘tut, tut’ to more vociferous ’shame on you, a pox on you!’ kind of curses. Most Brits are getting their knickers in a twist over the gross unfairness of it all and the obvious nepotism. Like I said, pure entertainment.

What was even more hilarious is this kid’s take on India. He’s ’scared shitless’ of the place, right? Then why’s he going there? Good q. He has to take a gazillion shots / pills to be deemed fit to travel. As soon as he lands in Bombay, he’s gonna take of ‘pretty sharpish’ to Goa, and civilization, to ease himself into the land of snake charmers and elephant rides. Ooh, what a lark!

I tell ya, economic boom, one of the world’s viral job markets, exporting some of the best brains to all parts of the world post ever graduation day and still, the world’s yuppies still think we sleep on nailed beds and have pet monkeys. Tut, tut! I tell you what, I bet ol’ Max would probably piss himself the first time someone speaks to him in English. It may not be the Oxbridge he is used to but hey, totally serviceable, mon. I, for one, am going to bookmark his blog and keep visiting. If not to keep abreast of what shenanigans he gets up to in Goa or Bangalore, most def for the bollocking he’s going to get in the comments section.

Good times, people.