Two months old!

Daddy came to Mumbai on Saturday night and left on Sunday afternoon.

I slept decently on Saturday night (Friday night I slept at 5 AM, so mommy was all tired).

Sunday morning daddy and mommy left me at home and went out shopping for an hour. They got me two new dresses - one blue and one pink. I did not cry when my parents went out without me...:0)

After they returned, they took me out to a nearby centre for the Pulse Polio immunization drops.

Daddy said I dont have a birthday this month, as February has only 28 days...grrr...I wanna meet the guy who made February... :o(
Anyways, I turned two months on Sunday, according to the Hindu calendar.

is that a camera? 

a little better today

Mommy got worried on Monday so she took me to the doctor.
He gave me more medicines (it tastes yummy, btw).

The pain is a little less now. Mommy did not give me a bath on Monday and Tuesday, just some sponge scrubbing with warm water.

Inoculation: Not what I thought

I was very happy that mommy was taking me to another outing on Sunday early morning. I am not sure why I assumed 'Inoculation' means a 'party for babies' or something similar...it is quite the other way round. There were a lot of babies like me around for sure, but all they did was get in one baby at a time and jab him on the rear with an injection. They did that to me too, and boy, it was painful.

I cried a lot. After we came home, my bottom was all swollen and it hurt a lot too. Especially when someone touched it.

Mommy told me that the injection was supposed to protect me from some illnesses after I grow up. I cried a lot. Just like this.


I dont like inoculations :( 

I wear a new look every day

Getting a "bird's eye view" from grampa's shoulder 

Daddy thinks I look different everyday. He came to meet me on Saturday. He left immediately in the evening. Nitin kaka came along with daddy too. He got me this nice dress, which I hope to wear when I go out next.

One more outing :)

Mommy took me to the hospital on Monday for a checkup.
We went in an autorickshaw since daddy was in Pune and the car was with him. I just loved it.

I met Dr. Amish there...he is one nice guy! I did not like it when they put me on that weighing scale though...the scale is so cold! Cant they warm these things up before they keep tiny babies on that one?

I have some inoculation thingie(whatever that means - I heard mommy tell daddy) scheduled on Sunday...so that will be one more outing. Outings are so much fun!

I can now

1. Recognize my great granny. I can greet her with a smile every time. I still dont smile back to my mommy or daddy :(

2. Respond to anyone with some noises when they talk to me. I do this only when I want to though, not all the time. It depends on how I feel at that time.


I like you! 

My first outing

Daddy was here over the weekend. Thank god he came this weekend at least, I was almost beginning to forget what he looks like.

Daddy came to Mumbai on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, he took me to the temple in Andheri. Then I took blessings and we went back home. Traditionally, we dont go back home right away, so my mommy, daddy and I went to Pallavi maushi's place upstairs. Pallavi maushi is in London, but her mommy and daddy were there. They put some coconut oil on my head and gave sweets to my mommy and daddy (nobody gives me any sweets ever!). Then we went back down. The whole trip lasted less than 2 hours but I was already tired. Daddy played the infant music CD and I slept in the car all thru the drive.

My Pune aaji had sent me some new clothes and jewelry with daddy. They wanted me to wear the jewelry when I went out, but I dont like to wear jewelry and told mommy and daddy about it, so they abandoned the idea.

Learnt something new over the weekend :)

I can now make a peculiar noise 'unngyaaanh' when i cry !! It makes me feel so good...so unique !
Mommy feels proud of my new achievement...I even demonstrated it to daddy over the phone the other day and he liked it too !

Daddy did not come to Mumbai to see me, this weekend...he wanted to take some rest....unngyaaaanh !!!! :(

I still dont have a name :(

Daddy and mommy have been doing a lot of research...they have searched frmo more than 3000 names but dont have a winner yet :(

There is a shortlist with about 15 names though...I think my name will be from one of those 15 entries.

One month old !!!

Daddy went back to Pune after that and joined office. He comes to meet me every weekend and any other opportunity that he gets. Everytime he sees me, he says I have grown much bigger than he last saw me.

22 days old ! 

I play a lot with my mommy. She gets tired but plays along as much as possible. I love my mommy a lot. I can recognise her on my own now. She smells nice !

The others play with me too. Anu maushi is all eager to be by my side after she comes home from office. But she only stares at me and runs away if I get into nappy trouble. She loves me a lot. She used to be scared to handle me earlier, but is improving now. Great granny also loves me a lot. As much as my grandparents. I am more comfortable with my grampa...I think he's cool. He talks to me and plays with me after he returns home from the bank. He also plays with me when my mommy has her dinner. I like his spectacles...they look good.

Listening to grampa while admiring his specs 

14 January was Makar Sankranti and my granny from Pune sent me a black dress. It is customary to wear black that day.

My black dress for Makar Sankranti 

They also got my ears pierced that morning- my parents werent for it, but got it done at the behest of the elders. They say it is a 'must' since I am a Hindu. It was a bit painful :(

Then on the 30th, Daddy got me 4 new dresses for my birthday. 1 has a Giraffe, 1 a tiger, 1 a teddy bear and one is a frock :) Mommy made me wear three of them one after the other :)

They both think I am a 'Big boy' now.

Home in Andheri (Mumbai)

Early morning Jan 06 2005, they discharged me and my mommy from the hospital. We went home to my maternal grandparents' house in Mumbai. At 8.45 AM, daddy drove my mommy and me home.
He even broke a coconut in front of the car to make everything auspicious !

He was pretty tense as he drove, he was worried I might not like the car ride. He had got a special CD (Infant music) for me to hear and 'calm me down' in the car, but he forgot to play it :)
And my mommy was still a little nervous handling me all by herself. But I sensed it all and just slept all through the 30 minute drive. I actually enjoyed the drive !

Then when we went to the 1st floor, my granny and great granny were waiting to welcome me home. I was still asleep. After I got up, I was amazed...the place was so different from the hospital ! This was real good...after a complete visual tour of the facility, I went off the sleep again. Some neighbours came to admire me in the evening. Anu maushi and ajoba met me in the evening, after they returned from office.

The next day, this new lady reported for duty-she had apparently been appointed to bathe me ! Attrocious things these people come up with, really. I cried my heart out...I did not like that woman at all. She was pretty rough one me. After the bath, I was tired from all that crying and slept for 3 hours.

Dont know what caused it, but I have picked up some rash all over my body. It makes look pretty bad. The doctor says it will go away after some days and has given me medicines too.
Mommy and daddy are more worried about me since then.

On Jan 7th, my daddy went out and bought me my first toy ever...it is a colourful clown.

At the hospital

The hospital was a nice place. The doctors were good too. There was Dr. Amish and Dr. Kunal and all the nurses and 'aayas' who took care of me. Their timings were good too...they used to pick me up at 5 every morning and give me a nice hot bath. Anyways I dont like to sleep at night...I mean, its so boring ! I really dont know why people switch off the lights at night...why dont they just keep them on?
I love looking at the flouroscent lights and I used to get very upset when they turned them off.I made sure I told them about it.

Daddy says I started learning new tricks on day 2itself. Like the time when I managed to remove my hand from all the wrappings and put it into my mouth (it was yummy !) right on day 2. Daddy has clicked pictures of that too. (Daddy - why are you not uploading it here ?)
daddy:Ok dear, here it is.

Trick 1, Day 2 

Then on the 2nd of Jan, Ajay Kaka, Preeti Aatya, Athu dada and my other granny came down from Pune to meet me. My gramps was tired after the long return journey from hyderabad and did not come to Mumbai. I slept most of the time.

with Athu dada, Pune aaji and Preeti Atya 

There were many many other visitors every day too - there was Maushi aaji, Shilpa and Preeti maushi, Milind Kaka, the Tamhane family, Mami aaji from Kandivli and many others.

Daddy used to give me company in the nights on some days and my granny stayed for a couple of nights when he was in Pune. I would always want to play with him but he wanted to sleep :(
Finally it became a questions of 'who wins' and I did :)
Daddy used to hold me in his arms and pace the hospital up and down to put me to sleep.

I did get to play some games though - when daddy walked me up and down, I would pretend to be asleep and then surprise him when he tried to put me down ! Or like when the girl nextdoor cried, I tried to match her volume with my own. Daddy said the place 'resonates' - whatever that means.

Then one night when the girl nextdoor started a nappy race with me.
That day soemthing was wrong with our stomachs and the nurses had to change our nappies and clothes so many times that they ran out of clothes at 6 AM. She got the last available pair of clothes and I had to wait for half an hour until the next fresh batch of clothes arrived.
So i won !!

The hospital was fun indeed.

Responses to the announcement

These are just some of the email responses that came to daddy. There were many more emails, SMS messages and phone calls.

---Sid Kinare
Congrats Proud Dad!!
That's awesome news :)) Hope the baby & Priya are doing fine.
Wishing you all a very happy new year.
Cheers,
:Sid & ReshPS - someone in the Loyola group suggested 'Siddhant' ??!! Was that a typo? ... did he mean "Siddhartha" ... ;)

---Mukul Senapati
Hey Parag,
Hearty congratulations to you and Priya on the arrival of your new baby. Hope to catch up with you guys on my next India trip.
Take care,
Mukul

---Indraneel Chatterji
Hi Parag,
Congrats to you and your family.. It is a gr8 news.. You can always name him Indy.. heeheheh !!!! just kidding..hhee !! anyway that is a good news again..
bye
Indy

---Boris Lerner
Congratulations to you, Priya and the baby !!! He almost made it to be the first baby of the year :-)
Just don't call him Number 2 or Dr. Evil, otherwise kids are going to make fun of him in school. Austin is good name though :)
Congrats,
Boris

---Latchezar Nikolov
Congratulations! What a wonderful way to bring in the New Year!
You can call him "Prime Minister" (as in Number 10 Downing Street) :-)
Latcho

---Siddarth Mehta
hey parag,
congratulations to priya and you.
wish you all a happy new year and wealth of health.
how do u like "Arihant" ?
-sid

---Mayur Pendse
Parag ..
Congratz to Priya, No 10 and yourself .. . Nice New Year's present ..
regarding name suggestion: how about "Siddhanth" .. or it may be "Siddhantha" .. I think I got the spelling right ..
Happy New Year to all.
Cheers !!!
Mayuresh

---Dr.Nikhil Parikh
hey daddy parag,hearty congratulations to both of u. take care and wishin u a prosperous new year.
nikhil and mercy

---Rahul Nabar
Congrats Parag ...
i suggest name your kid after the great mithun da .... haik !!!
just kiddin
Have a very Happy New year!!!
-R

---Anup Lodha
Hey PAragWishing you & Priya all the very best.Best wishes to all of you out there a very happy newyear.Anup

My arrival is announced

This was the email that daddy sent out to all their friends and relatives on Jan 3, 2005-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Priya delivered a baby boy late night on Dec 30th, so we are proud parents now ! Baby and mommy are both doing fine.

Do send in your suggestions for names - we call him "Number 10" for now (that's his hospital tag) - but we are looking for soemthing even better :)Wish you all a great new year ahead !

Cheers,
Parag
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When i was born...

I was born via C-section. It was awfully cold when i was out and I was'nt particularly happy. The first person I met from the outside world was Babu dada. He was the anaesthetist and is also mommy's cousin. After seeing me, he said that 'Ganpati Bappa has arrived'.

Babu dada is a great guy...he would come to see me everyday in the hospital. He usually keeps busy as he has to attend calls for surgeries every now and then, but no matter where he had to go, he made it a point to drop in and meet me at least once each day.
He is also an enthusiastic photographer. He took pictures of everyone in the hospital with me. All my initial pictures were taken by Babu Dada (including my first pic on this blog).

Then they cleaned me and wrapped in this red polka-dot cloth and gave me to daddy (Daddy and Granny/Gramps were waiting in the hospital) for an intro.

Daddy thought I was 'the best baby in the world' and he was glad to see me.I wanted to tell him that I too was happy to see him, but I havent learnt the language of the land yet. Daddy held me for a while and so did my grandparents (they loved me too). It looked great outside...I had so many new things to see. Then the nurse took me back to the recovery room and they had this heater there - they kept me under it with all the other babies.
I liked that heater thingie (will probably get one of those at home after I grow up)..I was feeling sleepy anyways so went off to sleep after that.

That's me, first from left

Daddy took permission from the doctor and came in and took a few pictures. Babu dada also accompanied him.
I just slept the entire night after that. Did not even miss my mommy. Mommy was sleeping too....she was on painkillers and sedatives after the surgery.

It was late in the night (past 1.30 AM on the 31st of Dec) so daddy and gramps went home and granny stayed back. Daddy wanted to stay back but was not allowed to, as we were yet to get our room and mommy was sharing a room with another female patient (Shraddha). (Which is why i wore the 'Number 8' tag until the next morning...they changed it to 'Number 10' after we got the #10 room in the morning).

With the "8" tag, under the heater 
Daddy called up everyone...my paternal grandparents were in hyderabad that day and he called them up too. Preeti aatya, Ajay Kaka and Athu dada were in touch since they took mommy into the operation theater and they were excited too. Anu maushi wanted to come to the hospital but was asked to remain at home until the next morning (poor thing...they still treat her like a kid). Milind kaka and Shilpa Maushi were the first to call daddy to congratulate. Daddy even called Sheu maushi in the US and she was pretty excited too...even a little sad that she was not there to see me in person.
I love you all, people !

About 10 hours old

Hello World !

Hi,
My name is Ganu Kale. I am a baby boy, born on 30th December 2004 in Mumbai, India. My mommy's name is Priya and my daddy's name is Parag.
Actually, I dont have a name yet...meaning I dont have a single name yet. My parents are still looking for the 'right' name for me, so everyone just calls me what they deem fit. You dont have to have one before you check into the hospital, in India.

My daddy calls me 'tiger', my mommy calls me 'damu anna'. My paternal granny calls me 'Ganu'.

They tell me that I was a well-behaved boy even when I was born. There was this girl who was born a few minutes after me, but she definitely wasnt pleased at what she saw around her. She kept crying out aloud under that heater. I liked the warmth there and slept peacefully (or so they tell me) despite all that noise.

Ganu, the good baby (pic by Babu Dada)

Daddy has promised to keep writing this blog for me, I hope he keeps his promise.