Gloomy & indeed

I was asking my husband K in my daughter T's presence, "Are you going to Bombay for that meeting tomorrow?"

He replied, "Yes." (He was going on work.)

T immediately commented with her bit, "'Yes' Appa says gloomily."

Gloomily? I asked her. Yes, she said. So I asked her what she meant. She explained, "Oru madhiri, dark and the clouds will be like a ghost...or like a cave...he is saying 'Yes' in a very sad voice. that is called 'gloomy'.

**

I told T that she would need to keep her hairclips safe. She replied with: "Indeed, I have kept them safe."

Indeed? I ask her in amazement. What does that mean? She explains patiently, "See here, 'They were pretty indeed, but their selfish nature made them ugly'." She was quoting from Cinderella I think!

Not sure if she knows what 'indeed' means yet. ;)

T and her hair!

For the umpteenth time since her haircut a few days ago, T asked me: "Ma, WHY did you cut my hair so short?"

I told her I hadn't meant it to be so short, but...and anyway, she was beginning to get lice in her hair and so I told her that if she was getting lice, then she would need to have it short.

She kept quiet and then came out with, "The lice can sometimes stick to my hair like a magnet, no? And my hair is like metal."

Metals and magnets now...whew.

Birthday gift?

I asked T what she wanted as a gift for her birthday. She said, "Ma, you have already got me so many things, so I don't want anything!" I asked her if she was sure and she replied:
"CONFIRM-ah I don't want anything."

Yematraadhey!

Tomorrow is T's birthday and so we (T & I) were discussing the programme. I told her I would take her out anywhere but that we would have to be back home by 6 as I would have to go out at 7 pm.

She asked me: "What about Appa?" I said yes, he and I were going. She asked me where to and I told her 'for some Rotary party'.

She thought for a moment and said, "I know, I know, you both are going for some movie. Every time you say some work, and keep going for cinemas. Yennai yemaathi yemaathi poreenga, I know, I know."

Steam elimination

At home, K said he had a bad throat and needed hot water. He meant hot water with salt for gargling, but T thought it was for inhaling the steam.

She summed it up and said knowingly, "it is for ELIMINATION'.
;)

New words

As I was getting T ready for bed the other night, she said, "Ma, I don't like your weird and wicked bangles."

Apparently, they had hurt her as I was changing her outfit. The big words she has apparently picked up from her favourite 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle' video.

This Corporation...

One day when T and I were driving back from school as usual, T did what she likes to when her water bottle has only a little water left -- she pours the water into the cup-shaped lid of the bottle and drinks from that. That day, she removed the lid but seemed to be having some difficulty which I did not really observe, as I usually try not to take my eyes of the road for anything...

"Ohhhhh!" she exclaimed in annoyance. I asked her what happened. She replied, "This Corporation! Because of this corporation, I am not able to drink my water." I was amused that a) she even knew there was a word like 'Corporation' and also that b) the Corporation (Chennai Corporation) had something to do with water... and so I asked her what was wrong.

Said she, "This Corporation has made the roads bad and so, I cannot drink my water now."She got that right, eh?

Spelling a challenge...

Another drive to music class.

To keep ourselves entertained, T and I played a spelling game. But she was getting frustrated as she only knows the spellings of a few words. And so, she began asking me just to see whether I could answer without hesitation. After all, she would not be able to say if the spelling was right or wrong.

She would say, "bridge" and I would spell it, then came "building", "police station" and so on until she decided I needed a real challenge. So she puffed herself up and said, "Now, spell Mahendra Singh Dhoni!"

My other half guffawed on hearing this story, apparently proud of his smart daughter, as he was convinced I would not know how to spell his name, what with him being a cricketer and all. Hmph.

Manasaatshi (Conscience)

One evening, Seetha paati (grandmother) was taking Tara by the hand and walking behind Tara's dad to the car. Grandmom told granddaughter: "Tara, walk faster, as your Appa is going ahead alone..."

So, Tara told her grandmother Seetha paati something new as she held her hand: "Look, paati, Appa is not going alone. His manasaatshi is going with him!"

Well, what do you say to that?

'That's a good thing'?!