Riddle: Why is 6 afraid of 7
Apr 16
Akshat – Leaving Kenya
Apr 13
As it was time for Akshat to leave – I thought of having him write something – perhaps a drawing, perhaps a paragraph, perhaps a combination. As I asked him and got the standard response from Dr No – I increased the sternness in my tone until he counter offered by writing a page full in the equivalent of 100-point font.
Therefater I gave him my ultimatum – do something for mama how mama has shown you kenya and left – what he came back can only be justly depicted in pictures -
and here they are – beyond words!
Mama Akshat (Nits this is what you would be called in Kenya!) – lookey what your son did!
Saloni’s english
Feb 8
Saloni, being the fountain of creative thought, likes to find unique ways to express herself – in some sense liberate her from the shackles of languages that she currently knows to express herself in.
So she combines words to express herself more clearly. Upon observing that this could be dangerous precedent (non conforming to the current “correct” English – I happened to read an Amar Chitra Katha of Rabrindranath Tagore – where he used to derided for his style of Bengali writing and his school – Shanti Niketan – ws boycotted by the learnd Hindus of that time. It was only after publication of “Geetanjali” and more importantly its transalation into English and recognition/award by the Nobel foundation – that Tagore ji is now remembered as one of the stalwarts of Bengali literature. Me, being dad, often think I should not clip the wings of my daughters flight of expression!
Poundering was one such word
Another word was – Dad – my computer is not boosting (booting). Yet another was – where is the UPS port on the PC (to plug a USB mouse) 
Some others are/were : where is the UPS drive (USB)?
As I pondered about deeper things in life such as why she might be saying such things – I rationalized that it is probably because she is:
1. creative – so she combines 2 words to convey the true meaning (also probably because she is lazy and conveying suttle meanings in english language is sometimes not always easy)
2. While she was in Jakarta – she used to see a TV series called The Land Before Time- about dinasour kids having fun – and some of the words were – adventuring, shark tooth (t-rex), skywater (rain)….
The other I forgot by the time I write this
3D – Avi Saloni
Jan 5
Saw a movie – Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas – there was a reference to 3DÂ as DDD – Daddy Daughter Day
Found it cute, so the next morning took Saloni to Garden of 5 senses when the sun came up – about 2 pm
For me this was on Fri, 5 Jan in Delhi when me and Saloni stepped out to the Garden of 5 senses and then to Essex Farms – bumping cars & Foozball!
Neemrana
Jan 3
So this is what the forts built in 15th/16th century didnt have!!
There are 3 light bulbs in a locked room. Outside the room are 3 switches, numbered 1 to 3 – one each for each of the bulbs. Standing outside the room (not being able to see the bulbs), you can turn them on or off. Then you have to go inside the room, not come out and tell which switch is for which bulb
Hint: If there were only 2 bulbs, turning 1 switch to on and the other off, you could easily tell which switch is for which bulb…
On his deathbed, the king of Lashkar willed that his wealth be given such that:
- a horse race be help within 30 days of his death among his 2 sons
- the owner of the horse which loses, inherits all his wealth
- if no race is held in the first 30 days, then his wealth be distributed among all his subjects
So, the day after the king’s funeral the 2 sons get ready with their horses, ready to race. Understandably, they do not go fast because neither wants to cross the finish line, wishing the other to go ahead.
Every day for the next 29 days, they never get to the finish line and despair in what to do. A wise man turns up on the last day, listens to the problem, thinks for a moment and declares – “That’s the problem – the solution is really simple”. He then whispers some words in each son’s ear. Before anyone knew, the sons were ready to race and raced towards the finish line at top speed to decide the “winner”.
What did the wise may say to the sons? (same thing to each son – less than 10 words)
Answer!
Riddle: By Saloni
Jan 1
An Airplane crashed and not a single person survived. Yet 2 people were still alive – how can that be?
Answer
When Saloni & Veera went to pay for the photos clicked by photographer Succour in Mumbai, Saloni remarked that Veera was about to have a good meal (ie eating Cuccour’s head!). As Veera was bargaining him down, Succour remarked “cmon – dont be a kanjoos…”. To that Saloni was quick to remark – “If you think my mamma is kadhoos – wait till he sees me…” – she is nonetheless better at hindi than she used to be
Mangalore & Udupi
Dec 26
We reached Udupi, about an hour north of Mangalore, early on 27 Dec. It was cool – and we were at our hotel within 15 mins. The hotel, right on the main road had an excellent, par none, mangalore dosa breakfast. Having grown wiser that Dosas in this part of the country are only available for breakfast – my personal goal was to eat as much for breakfast to last me for most of the day!
Father John was able to join us for half a day and with him we went to a pristine beach at sunset where a fresh water river also joins the ocean!
We met Rani & Dominic’s son – the inimitable Daren – who was definitely the highlight of our trip.
