Vehd

the joshi train museum

We made our way to the very cool joshi train museum a few days ago. Housed in a 25' x 25' room on the top floor of an old instrumentation factory, this museum is the most unassuming one I have ever been too. That said, its exhibit is one of the most compelling. The museum opens at 9:30 am so against the advise of hardened Indians Vehd and I made our way there right around 9:45 am. The museum was open. After paying a hefty sum (by Indian standards as opposed to the usual $0.50) of $3 as entry fee for the two of us, we waited to be led up a set of stairs to the actual museum. As we waited we took in the museum shop that sells true to scale train sets made out of metal and plastic running on electrically charged tracks. Very cool! We also reveled in the train compartment facade of the restaurant next to the shop.

Finally, a green signal at the bottom of the stairs leading to the museum room announced our welcome. We made our way up, slowly and excitedly with Vehd stopping at every step to comment on all that he saw. His incessant commentary came to a complete halt as he entered the museum room. Before us, on a platform about 4 feet high was a 15' x 15' display of a miniature city, complete with train tracks, mountain sides, lakes, swimming pools that contained people swimming in it, ducks, a circus tent, a hot air balloon, train stations, cable cars, upside down trains, cars, people, factories spewing smoke (yes!), a park, dogs and everything else you cannot even begin to imagine.

We were asked to choose a spot on the two benches that went around the display before the "show" started. Then it was showtime! Amidst changing lights and sprays of water, a genie transformed us into miniature people who could walk through the city before us and then told a story of the life in the city. The plot included people waking up in the morning and getting to work using cars and trains (of course), using factories to generate coal for old-time trains, viewing upside-down trains next to a circus tent that lifted to reveal a complete circus production. This was followed by an afternoon of people swimming in the pool while others took cable cars (another type of train) to the top of a mountain or others that boated in the local lake. In the middle of all this a building was on fire and a fire engine (also a type of train engine) made its way there. On and on the story went...

As I took 50 plus pictures, Vehd stood motionless and speechless, soaking it all in. In the end he said, "again, please. I want to see circus tent go up and more...". Unfortunately, our steep $3 charge covered only one show and I figured we should walk away while at the height of the experience.

Needless to say, we will return again this week.

Skype playdate

Vehd and his buddy Brayden have had a standing weekly playdate for the last 1.5 years. As we got ready for our 7 week departure, I started to wonder how we could keep the boys in touch while away. Sarah, Brayden’s mom suggested we try Skype! Tell me there is nothing more trendy than that! 

So, now Vehd and Brayden are having a Skype playdate each week with a 13.5 hour time difference. The first date happened this past Monday (why skip a week when we are so digitally connected?) morning for Vehd. As Brayden finished his Sunday dinner, the two boys got online to do a little show-and-tell. 

They were so excited to see each other. Between several dropped connections, Brayden told of his Thanksgiving trip while Vehd showed off his new bike. Then, Vehd told of the “baby efelant” (Lord Ganesh idols) he is seeing everywhere and picked one to show to Brayden. Seeing the red swastik on the idol’s head, Vehd remarked that “baby efelant has an aowi”. Then Brayden needed to go pee so the date moved to the bathroom as Vehd witnessed Brayden peeing into his potty – when you got to go, you got to go!

I am so looking forward to their next date.

"baby efelant, marching it with a stick"

As Vehd got situated in the back of my father’s car with a little stick in his hand, he noticed the figurine of a Ganesh in the front of the car. He comment of it being a “baby efelant” got a huge laugh from the adults in the car. To this he added – “vehd marching baby efelant with a stick”. The image of Vehd marching the God Ganesha had the rest of hysterical for a long time to come.

new friends with old friends

My best friend Manjiri and I got together with our kiddos for a Sunday morning of fun. Her two girls, Keisha age 5 and Anaya age 1.5 instantly stole Vehd’s heart. The three worked with playdough, read books and ate all morning long while Manjiri and I took a little time to get caught up. It made me smile to see our little ones take to each other as well as we have to each other all these years.

A new bicycle!

Vehd’s grandparents got together to get him a bicycle. He now sports a dandy yellow-red bike with training wheels. His tall built makes it easy for him to get on a bike this size. He is not really riding it yet as much as he is pulling it along and determining what about it needs to get fixed – maybe bike fixing is the way to go instead of bike riding?!

in-step, lockstep

vehd's excitement at reaching bombay rivaled his excitement for the last month of talking about coming here. he arrived like he had never left -- in step with the place, lock step with the people. he jumped into my father's arms and just soaked in the chaos at the airport as we waited for our bags. he walked into my parent's home, straight into the room he had slept in last time and said, "this is my bedroom". next he turned to my father and asked to go water the plants he saw outside (they would water plants every morning during his last visit a year ago). like last time, he is receiving all the very many people like he has always known them and is eating everything in sight. it really is like he never left. i wonder how that works for a 2 1/2 year old. its fascinating to watch him just taking it all in and be at such ease with it.

while he is so at ease in many ways, it took him only 10 minutes out of the airport to declare that it was "too loud". it sent trepidations through me as i cast my net way too many years ahead to imagine all the many things he may not like about india as he grows more used to his life in seattle.

plane announcement

I've been talking to Vehd about our big upcoming trip to India. He has chosen to prepare himself in the most interesting ways including his obsession with having me make announcements mimicing the hostess' in the plane. I have to put on my best nasal, flat, rapid accent to say the following ...

... "in one minute this plane will be leaving seattle for bombaaaaiii. please fasten your seat belt and be seeeated. you must turn off all electronic devices including cell phones, radios and computers. smoking is strictly prohibited on this flight. we will take off in just a minute."

He is having me say this about 10 times in a day and requests it by saying, "anoo, say in-one-minute-vehd".

It makes me think of how the announcements were what he most dreaded on his trip last year.

as vehd would say it ..

... zincici = zucchini, efelants = elephants, juice = milk, zipits = wood chips, misacher cracker = cinnamon crackers, onj = orange, gifaf = giraffe, peti = petunia, our neighbor's pug, anoo/daddy/mommy/mamma/ my mommy = anoo, yeya/my papa/ramshi yeya = vamshi, paus=rain, kutela="kuthegela"=where is vehd

this list has already shrunk significantly in the last 3 months. it is sad recognizing that one day it will no longer exist!

playing all the time

2 year old's play all the time. This afternoon, Vamshi engaged Vehd in shredding and recycling some old papers. At one point, he asked Vehd to toss into the recycle bin a large stack of papers. Vehd placed the bin some distance from him and "shot" the papers into the "basket". Soon enough, all three of us were doing this. Play, play all the time ...

time to reflect

much happened on that trip to india. so much happened towards the end that i lost track of being able to record it all in my head so i could write about it on the blog. if you are wondering what happened to my feelings of not knowing where home is, see my personal blog. on the vehd front, the boy was as at home in india as he is back here in seattle now. the highlights from his trip were ...

... he walked his first complete mile: he led the charge of a group of 10 as we took a walk in hyderabad's city park. he walked ahead of the group and fast too!

... he ate most everything in sight. he is yet to do this in seattle.

... he said, "baba" (maternal grandfather), "tata" (paternal grandfather) and "mamma" (great grandmother). for the first 48 hours we were back in seattle he called out to baba relentlessly. only now, after a whole month has he stopped calling out to baba at least once in the day.

... he now knows what it means to talk on the phone with his grandparents. he will often pick up the phone and say 'baba', asking to call his grandfather.

... he learnt to identify all the domestic helpers in the various homes he went into and he loved all the helpers. they were all instantly his friends. we never understood this instant connection he made.

... he made chappatis with nani (paternal grandmother).

... he learnt to water plants with baba.

... he said, 'kaka' (granduncle) and spent his day asking 'kaka' to show him the trains.

... he learned that all animals eat just like he does. he then fed the dogs more bread than they could care for.

... when he arrived into india he did not bat an eyelid. it was as though he was meant to be there. when he returned to seattle, he didn't seem to recognize the house he has grown up in or the housekeeper he sees twice a week. what was that all about?