Counselling

Sometimes I have to play a strong big sister's role for my little sister. She needs guidance :) My extra 3 years of experience is useful for her. How do I help? Here is an instance -

My little sister, MadhurA is upset that her friend joined with another boy who was troubling her in the bus. She has been whining about that for sometime continuously.

M - R ennoda friend ila nnu sonnaan. avan innoru paiynodu serndhu enna keli pannaraan. ennakku busla friends ila  (R said I am not his friend anymore and joined with the other boy N to tease me. I don't like this at all. R is not playing with me in the bus. I am so bored and I don't have a friend in the bus now :(

P who was listening to this after coming school was frustrated with the constant whining and steps in the put an end to this.

P - R onnoda friend illana nee E and N oda vilaiyaadu. onnakku R vendaam dhaane. (If R is not your friend, it is ok. Just go and sit and play with others. I know E and N come in the same bus. So, you don't need R at all.)

P - R apparam onnoda vilaiyaada vanda "po" nnu sollidu. ippo nee friend-a irukka maatten nnu sollu. (Even if he comes later and wants to play with you, you should just send him saying that you do not want to be his friend now)

M - andha N ala dhaan R ennoda friend-a illa. N oda anna onnoda dhaan padikarAn ila pAdukA? (It is because of N that R is not being my friend. N's brother studies with you no?)

P - amaam. good boy avan (Yes he does. He is a nice person)

M - nee avan kitta sollu avan thambi enna trouble pannaraan nnu (Can you tell him that his little brother is troubling me?)

P (after thinking for a while) - No

M- yen? nee nalla akka ve ila po (Why? You are not a good sister)

P - anna sonna N ketpaanaa? enna use? N ona keli pannitAn ippo enna panna mudiyum? (Do you know the N listens to his brother? What is the use? N has already teased you and that is not going to change.)

P - nee vera friends oda vilaiyaadu (you play with other friends)

M (whining and talking to herself)- At least R ennoda vilaiyaaduvaan. indha N dhaan problem. I will go down to R's house and ask him ( At least R will play with me. It is all because of N. I will go to R's house now and ask him)

P (stopping M) - avan aatthukku pogaadhey.  nalla friend-a irundha N tease pannarche onakku help pannirupaan. avan onnoda friend ilave ilai beginning lerndhu ( Don't go to his house. If R was a good friend he would have helped you when N teased. So he has not been your friend from the beginning)

M does not go anywhere and P plays with her for sometime.

Sensible shopping

This is what happened @ school. My teacher was teaching basic division through money and shopping. There was a list of items given with its price.

Teacher - You have 2 rupees with you. Look at the items and tell what items you can buy from the shop

Teacher to student 1(reading from the list) - One aeroplane toy is 2 rupees, how many can you buy?

Student 1 - I will buy 1 aeroplane toy.

Teacher - good

Teacher - Paaduka, one ball costs 1 rupee. How many balls can you buy?

pAdukA - One!

Teacher - Wrong.. That's not the answer.

After a while my teacher came to me and asked if I understood what she was teaching. She explained everything and asked if I knew the answer.

pAdukA - I will buy one ball

Teacher - No.. that's not the answer. Why are you saying one again after listening to all that I explained

pAdukA - I want to buy only one ball and I will have one rupee left which I want to use to buy something else from the shop. Why buy 2 balls??

Sensible right??

My version

I was travelling with my little sister and ammA in an auto. After rounds of word building and clapping games, ammA said that we both should not bother her for a few minutes. I thought it was a fair request and thought that I have to be a responsible elder sister and keep my little sister engaged. I decided to narrate a story that I know to her.

pAdukA - nAn prahalAdan kadhai sollaren onnakku ( I am going to tell prahalAda story to you)

madhurA - ok

pAdukA - oru paiyan irundhaan. avanukku oru "bad" appA (There was a boy who had a bad father)

Avanukku "narayana ommachi" dhaan friend-a vennum. AnA avanoda appA kku adhu pidikalai ( He wanted Lord Narayana to be his friend. But his father did not like it)

madhurA - adhunaala (so what?)

pAdukA - prahalAdan oda appa avanai punish panna. avannai fire la potta, malai lerndhu thallina, thanni la potta. AnnA avanoda friend "narayana oomachi" avanai ellathu lerndhu kaapathina (Prahalada's father punished him by throwing into fire, pushing him from a mountain and ocean. But his friend Lord Narayana saved him from everything)

madhurA - pAdukA, onnoda friend onna ippadi save pannuvAlA? (Will your friend save you like this?)

pAdukA (thinking for a bit) - ennoda friends kku ippadi shakthi illai and ava evvalovu nalla friend  illai "narayana oomachi" madhiri ( My friends are not as strong and they are not such good friends like Narayana oomachi)

pAdukA - First of all, ennoda appA bad-a irundhadhaane. yennoda appA romba good, so ennaku problem-a illai ( I will have all these problems only when my appA is bad. But my appA is very good:)

Google knows it all

Whenever my sister and I put our parents in a spot with a difficult question, they find out the answer by googling it. Well, I knew that they do not know it all a long time back. I have made it clear to them that they can look up Google and answer me :) I love the voice activated search on my father's phone. My belief in Google has been increasing with every answer it provided. But I think I took this belief a little too far. This is why

Incident 1

Relative 1(pointing at her son) - pAdukA, avana annA nnu koopadu (pAdukA, call him annA)
Relative 2 - ila, avan chittappa (He is chitappa)
Relative (after thinking for a while) - pAdukA mama nnu kupadanum nnu ninaikaren ( I think pAdukA should call him  uncle)

Discussion as to what the relationship is continued for 10 minutes. I thought I had to intervene and put an end to this. The solution is so simple :)

pAdukA - Google la kekalaamey. adhu sollum na enna kupadanum nnu (Why don't we ask Google. It will tell us what I should call !!)


Incident 2

pAdukA - Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Prahalaada kadhai laam nejam-a? (Are Ramayanam, Mahabharatam and Prahalaada's story true?)

ammA - Idhu ellaam romba kaalam munnaadi nadandadhu. naan paarkalai. adhanaala ennakku idhalaam nejamma nnu theriyaadhu. idhu lerndhu nalla vishayam dhaan katthukanum (All of this happened long long time ago. I have not seen it, so I do not know if it is true. We have to learn and follow the morals behind the stories)

pAdukA (referring to the voice response on phone used by her appA often) - phone la irukkale avaala kellu ma. avaa naraiya padichirkaa. avaalukku naraiya theriyum onna vida (Ask the person on the phone ammA. That person has read a lot and knows much more than you do )

ammA - !!! ( Am I not more real to you?)