Tag: lockdown

Teaching Telugu

November 3, 2025 / / 1 Comment

* I have the habit of jotting down ideas and writing full length posts in my diary, but some get lost in my indecisions (to post or not to!) This one, was written during the bleak period of COVID and here, it is, making a late appearance on the blog*

It all started with the lock down.

Normally, I wouldn’t have started teaching GBee Telugu, because, firstly he enjoys listening only to English rhymes. Secondly, he told me himself,  that he is not a fan of Telugu.

Inspite of that, I tried teaching him Telugu and the results were unsatisfactory.

GBee : Avoiding eye contact and feigning ignorance!

But then, COVID happened and the lock down was implemented,  which meant, GBee had nowhere to go, no friends to play with and had very little entertainment except for YouTube and the miserable light emitting diodes called T.V! ( We stay in an independent house and GBee had been an only child at that time)

One fine day, I tried my luck with him again by introducing the first two alphabets in Telugu and GBee didn’t shut me up!

That was most promising outcome,  more so than my non-existent career!

This started the chain reaction in me and GBee found himself a Telugu teacher at home. (He must have surrendered, since he had no place to go and no other person to use as a friendly ally)

After a week of daily grilling of all the 52 alphabets (4 alphabets are not in usage now), GBee began recognising Telugu.

Tiring out GBee with repetitions.

GBee caved in….!

He had to accept defeat and even began taking interest in learning the dreaded ‘Italian of the East’!

As the days progressed,  one day I asked him to tell me the Varnamala, which I knew GBee has learnt ‘by-heart’.

Instead of reciting all the 52 alphabets of Telugu,  GBee only replied me, with the first and last alphabets!

The re-emergence of the Smart Alec!

After almost a fortnight, the kid became too clever for his own good…

I patted my own back, who likes a boring kid? Give me a smart Alec, any day!

P.S:

1. Telugu is called the Italian of the East, since it is rhythmic, just like Italian language. It is a language apt for poetry and songs. Any person with a little knowledge of classical music will vouch for that.

2. Sri Krishnadevaraya, the Tulu Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire had quoted, “Desa Bhashalandu, Telugu lessa!” in his Telugu epic, Amuktamalyada. It translates to, “Among all the languages in our country, Telugu is the best.”

3. On a completely unrelated note, let me give a shout out to Rishabh Shetty and hope he makes a movie on Sri Krishnadevaraya,  one of my favourite Emperors, along with Chhatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj and ‘Chhaava’ Chhatrapathi Sambhaji Maharaj.

Whenever I think of Sri Krishnadevaraya, the image that appears before my eyes is that of N.T.Rama Rao, in Mahamantri Thimmarusu. My maamma (paternal grandmother) is the reason I watched this movie while I was still in primary school. Although I don’t remember half of it!

N.T.Rama Rao as Sri Krishnadevaraya

4. The sequel of this post will be up next. TATA everyone!

Among the Dragonflies!

May 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

*** This post was written in during the Corona Lockdown of 2020***

How to spend time during the lockdown?

Well, GBee and I spend our mornings chasing after dragon flies.

It all started when it was decided that all the terrace space was going waste, so pots have been installed and seeds sown. Luckily for us, Rain God blessed us early on and with regular watering by Mr.Bee, the seeds have sprouted and plants grew in size.

We have climbers of cucumber and bottle gourd, plants of ladies finger (okra) and beans. Little coriander stalks with a couple of florets at the top, wave at us, with the slight breeze that lingers on the terrace, always.

The result of a dozen potted plants is, we now get to see a minimum of 10 dragonflies flying about our terrace at any given point of time, mostly the early mornings. Some 50 dragonflies already zoom around the bigger trees in our vicinity. (Almost all houses have huge trees.)

QueenBee and GBee discussing the dragonflies!

The impromptu meeting of the dragonflies!

To kill time, one fine morning, I showed GBee a dragon fly, resting on a random plant. Boy, was he hooked! Our daily routine now includes selecting a dragon fly and stalking it (out of its wits!), till it escapes from our line of vision by zooming away, above into the sky, probably for a peaceful life!

I, sometimes hum my favourite song, ‘thuneega thuneega’, a Telugu song, about two childhood friends running after dragonfly! (I am into situational songs!)

Now that we see dragonflies on a daily basis, we have discovered there are many varieties of them, which differ in colour, size and also texture. (Some look like they have been polished and some look rough, like they were chiseled by an amateur artist!)

Sadly, we are nowhere near Harry Potter’s amazing skills as a Seeker. He has keen vision which makes its easier to see and snatch a snitch in almost all his Quidditch matches.

GBee and I tried stalking a young dragonfly, which was hardly visible. It was a difficult task, because the fly was so thin and grayish in colour, matching the cement flooring on the terrace. It flew at a height of 5cm from the ground (low flier), and was difficult to perceive. I, now admire Harry Potter even more!

Nope, I and Gbee are not meant to be seekers, but we may get there soon, with practice and a little hardwork, stalking the dragonflies, that is!

P.S:

  1. This was before KBee was born.
  2. I hated the lockdown, because that made GBee a silent kid. Luckily, once the lockdown was lifted, we would regularly visit maternal grandparents, because, we didn’t trust any other place during Covid and slowly things came back to normal.
  3. Incidentally, during PP-2 graduation ceremony in March 2023, all the parents of GBee’s classmates had similar stories to share, about kids being affected due to Covid lockdown. (Parents were asked to speak on stage during the ceremony, impromptu!)

Till the next post!

Baking is fun!

April 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake baker’s man,

Bake me a cake as fast as you can,

Pat it and roll it and mark it with a ‘B’,

Put it in the oven for baby and me!

so goes the rhyme….that is how much fun baking can be, if you put your mind into it!

B for Baking….

If you search the net for the definition of baking, you will know that, baking is a process in which cooking is done using dry heat, like that in an oven or cooking on hot stones or even hot sand. (I remember when my mom used to make yummy Osmania biscuits, which she baked on hot sand and fed us poor souls! She loves to cook, so I have tasted many varieties of dishes and that has made a picky eater like me into a complete foodie. Thank you Amma.)

Thankfully, baking doesn’t only mean cooking in oven or on hot stones and sand, it can also be done through steam, called steam baking and our own pressure cookers are the perfect examples of that. You can even buy Steam Oven if you are invested in cooking healthy!

But it is difficult to talk about baking and not to mention French Bakers and their breads.  While we lived in Charlotte, NC, USA, Mr.Bee and I used to visit a French Bakery Amelie, which always had a heavy inflow of customers, coming for their chocolate eclairs and croissants. Although I didn’t mind eating there, I still missed the curry puffs from our Desi bakeries, back home! I love their bread, though. Never seen so many different shapes of bread and I found heaven on earth. (Bread makes me salivate!)

Anyway, baking is a good hobby. I managed to bake a cake on GBee‘s third birthday, during peak COVID lock-down, with the help of Mr.Bee. I decorated it with crushed Gems, because GBee loves them, like a lot!!

The cake may not look like it, but it was yummy. We made it with bourbon biscuits, thanks to my friend K. (Even Marie biscuits can be used to bake a cake. They are Indian alternate to Graham Crackers)  Even though the cake had a wonderful taste and vanished into our mouths an hour after our baking, GBee hardly had a spoonful. He hates cakes. Even now, he only eats the chocolate flowers or balls which are used on top of a cake for decoration, but leaves out the main cake!

Now that I think about it, Mr.Bee baked me a cake, a year into our marriage.  He made it from scratch, moulds, multi purpose flour, whisking, baking in oven etc etc. (we were in USA then) I think it was a chocolate lava cake or something. Thank you Mr.Bee, once again!

Mr.Bee made the cake, topping it with my favourite fruit, strawberry.

So, have you even tried baking as a hobby yet?

P.S:

  1. Cooking in a Tandoor (clay) oven to make naan comes under baking.
  2. The French bread that I love is the Wheat Stalk bread, which I had at the Venetian, Las Vegas. (That might be because I loved the place as well!)

3. I love watching MasterChef Australia. It taught me so much. Although I don’t cook most of what is shown in the series, I enjoy watching chefs exhibit their creativity.

I also love a webtoon, Gourmet Hound, which taught me so much about French Baking!

Let me add Li Ziqi in the mix! She is a Chinese vlogger, whose videos I watch, which promote healthy traditional way of living.

4. The other hobbies starting with a B are Barbecuing , Badminton and Body Building. I have a long list of hobbies to post, so there will be a windfall of posts this month. Till the next hobby post, cheerio. Oh, do check out all the links in the post, if you want to go deeper into the topic. Au revoir my French bread loving friends!

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