Welcome to Kara world

Recently the little guy came to dad, and introduced him to this place called 'Kara world'

Dad initially ignored that.. but Kara world increasingly comes into all conversations at home.

Kara world is a place that has taken birth to solve some of Nishu's pains/problems with the world.

Bangalore is very far from California, he knows - to his chagrin. He knows that it takes a long time to go back and forth. And he's even more troubled when his dad travels to California and stays there for upto 2 weeks.

So, here comes Kara world.

"Where, Kara world, Nishu ? "

"Kara world, is next to Bangalore, and also next to California"

Ah.

Why not Santa Clara or Cupertino, you might ask. He never identified the city while he lived there. It only became significant when he went away to Bangalore. And the songs he was crazy then about - 'Hotel California' and 'California Dreaming' probably contributed.

Anyway, back to Kara world. That becomes the wonderland of everything these days.

" In Kara world, the trucks are very big, and very clean "

"In Kara world, the firefighters are everywhere"

"In Kara world, there are lots of Lego toys"

Any new phenomenon learnt that doesn't show up easily, happens almost daily in Kara world.

We recently went to SFO Cable Car - a restaurant that has a San Francisco theme. All the pictures of San Francisco - including those of the 1906 earthquake triggered his imagination quite a bit.

There were some detailed questions - how long ago did the earthquake happen in California? How about Bangalore ? No Earthquakes in Bangalore ? How about rest of India? etc. etc.

Today came a revelation : "In Kara world a lot of Earth quakes , volcanoes happen"

"Actually, six earthquakes happened already there"

After reading about Tsunamis (usually called cinema), Kara world also has lots of Tsunamis. But with one difference - the trees in Kara world are pretty strong. The Tsunami can't destroy them. Also, Kara world has these people called 'Tsunami Fighters' . They carry guns with very strong bullets. They shoot them into the Tsunami, the waves get 'big holes' and the Tsunami goes away.

As the amazed Dad is busy documenting these wonders, in comes the son with fresh news.

"Hey Papa, I think the ground is shaking ... can you feel it ?"

How many things are in your brain?

Today ..coming back from tennis class, Nishu goes   

"Papa, I have 6 things in my brain" 

"Really, what are they ? " 

"Hm.. Fire truck, Airport fire truck, Police car, Ambulance..." 

"... Fire chief's truck, Rocket, Satellite, Fuel tanker .. " 

pauses for some counting " actually I have 8 things " 

" Garbage truck, Tractor, Backhoe ... " 

the list goes on until .. 

"Papa .. I have 21 things in my brain" 

"That's nice, raja..  21 things !" 

"How many things do you have in your brain ? " 

Not wanting to get dragged into this .. 

" I have less than 21 things, raja..  " 

"Really, less than 21 things? " 

A couple of seconds later, the question comes back 

" You have less than 21 things? I think you have more " 

..pause.. 

" I think you have more than that"  he concluded. 

The father was  relieved the matter didn't go further.  

 

We'll check the bank ... repel it ..

This happened sometime in 2006-2007.. the days when Bob the builder ruled Nishu's consciousness.
I needed to put a check in, and drove to the nearest Bank of America. Being a weekend afternoon, the little master also tagged along.
We got into the bank parking lot near the ATM, and out came the question.

"Papa, where are we ? "
"We're at the bank" 

"What it doos ? "

"Er.. we're here to put a cheque"

Anticipating the 'what is a cheque?' question, I was already wondering how to explain that.. when 

"Ok, we'll check the bank, hammer the bank, and repel (repair ) the bank" 

"??!"

"And the bank will be fixed" 

The momentary confusion cleared as the tune 'Bob the builder, can we fix it ?.. " played for a second in my head. 

I smiled at him   "Sure Nishu .. we'll hammer the bank.." ..

You did it by mistake, Papa ..

Sometime in 2006: Nishu is 4.5 years old.
I have this C size Herman Miller Aeron chair. Huge & Heavy - but got some quirks coz I bought it second hand from some Russian guy who wasn't exactly forthcoming on the 'things that don't work' .
Nishu was browsing google images for his truck pictures. He got the quotes wrong in a full word .. eg: '"" fire truck ' and got upset about the pictures showing up.
So, I slide over to help him type it right. But my chair wheel gets there first. It partially rolls over his toes.
He screamed in agony, and started wailing. I felt horrible about what happened. I apologized profusely, and tried to calm him down. Even my face probably showed distress. ( Usually I don't get too perturbed at his falls, bruises, fevers.. though I soothe him, etc. ).

Then, in between his sobs he said " No, papa. Don't feel bad. You did it by mistake.. its ok"

I didn't need to write this down to remember it, did I ?

Don't worry.. god will put ..

Evening of Dec 11, 2008: 

Avaneesh's brother Nischal was just born in the morning, and Avaneesh came to visit for the first time. 

He gives mom one good look 

"Hey Amma, what happened to your tummy?" 

"The doctor took out the baby.. (pointing to the crib).. go see your brother" 

"Oh... don't worry, God will put another baby in your stomach" 

If we could have taken pictures of our faces, we'd have been owners of priceless art. Goodbye coding, hello Sotheby's. 

[Another baby is VERY strongly out of the question for  us - doctors have forbidden it VERY vehemently.  So, that clearly is a blessing that we'd dread.]  

One of us recovered .. 

"heh .. eh .. uhm.. I think we have enough kids now, son. Come see your brother" 

There's a google in ...

Earlier today .. Avaneesh walks in with a troubled look on his face & holding his tummy. 

"Papa, there's a google in my bum"

"!!!?##?" was my dumbstruck response.

Once I figured out what he meant, I promptly dispatched him to the loo where he did relieve himself of his 'google' .   

So,  why did he say that? 

Google images is his browser homepage, and is QA'ed extensively for pics of cartoons, trucks, cars.. and youtube for videos of firetrucks, cars, and cartoons. But in his terminology that is 'using the computer' and not 'google'. 

Yesterday I suggested 'Why don't you use google to find the pictures?' when he had very specific questions about Orc & Ogre body parts/armor..etc. (He's my active audience when I play Battle for Wesnoth)

He nodded again that too-quick nod.  Clearly, the word stayed in his head without the meaning. 

So, why did he pick 'google' of all words in the world to indicate diarrhoea ? 

I guess the word had the right  'sound'. 'Google' is close to gurgle, gul gul.. ( which is an slang in kannada to indicate an upset tummy) . 

I bet this is one usage of 'google' that never was, and probably never will be!   

Dirty Horses ?

Yesterday Nishu came back from his cycling .. and came screaming to me.. 

"Papa ! Papa ! .. in that 7th main (road) .. " 

`Accident? I was thinking..` 

"horses have done kakka all over the road.. " 

I start to smile.. 

" I couldn't cycle properly at all .. there was horse kakka everywhere .. ! " 

"Ok, Nishu, maybe you should call the horses home.. they could do it in our toilet ? " 

He starts to nod.. then again shakes his head   " No.. no" 

"What else do you want them to do ? They don't have any other place to do it.. " 

Pause...

"They should go to the side of the road, and do it in the gutter"

The picture of a horse balancing its rear to aim for the gutter brought a smile ..

That got replaced with a video of many horses lining the road side all teetering on their hooves. Some were even whinnying with alarm. 

BBMP would definitely add an addendum to their dog shit on the road law.

Sigh.. wish I could draw cartoons or make a cartoon movie