Indian Writing

Some months ago, the apartment in which we live was taken up for pre-monsoon repairs and painting work. We moved into a fully-equipped service apartment where we only had to bring our clothes with us. Nevertheless it was a complicated move, involving not only A~ and me, our laptops and numerous books, but also my parents, our two domestic helpers, and of course the dog and the cat. Dog and Cat came with their leashes and harness, toys, pet food, water bowls and food dishes, the cat’s carrier basket, his all-important litter and litter box, a packet of catnip and a scratching post that would (we hoped) prevent his scratching up the rest of the furniture…

“We have a lot of stuff,” I said helplessly to A~ as we looked around at everything that needed to go with us.

And then two months later, when we returned to our apartment, in addition to all this, we had one more little person and all his paraphernalia to bring back with us: not only baby clothes, diapers, feeding bottles, formula, bottle warmer, diaper bag, massage mat, etc etc but also innumerable squeaky toys, teethers, a singing snail, a musical book, and a rubber tortoise that squirts water on anyone who’s trying to give Baby a bath…

“It’s like preparing for a war,” grinned the friend who had helped me with baby shopping lists. “But don’t worry,” she added: “there will be times when the baby will go to sleep…”

This is one of those times…

after close to two months of sleep deprivation parenting…

Baby Berry, who has been given all sorts of names from Chakkarakuttappan (by my Mallu sister-in-law) and Pongalkutty (by A~) to Tintin (by his Pishi), is doing well. He has a new game every day: one morning it is to chase the cat all over the house, the next day it is to go “Woo-hoo-hoo” at poor old Whisky Doggie. His newest thing is to do a cool dance to the Ballelakka song from Sivaji (No, he didn’t see the movie. He hasn’t even seen television yet. We did see the film, but we were so exhausted that we slept through most of the cool dialogues).

Oh, and we need to learn some new lullabies. A~’s been trying “Ae Ganpat, chal so ja,” but I don’t think that quite cuts it.

And yes, it’s all been intense, exhausting, and utterly magical so far.

Several people have written to me asking about the adoption process. The steps involved are listed on the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) website. Good luck!!