Daag Ache Hain - Blue

Surf Excel has had very innovative Ads for a long time now.  Their 'Daag ache hain' (Dirt/Stains are good) concept is loved by all. Be it the young brother getting his dress dirty trying to get the dirty water on the road say sorry to his sister or the young boy getting a ball of yarn for the old lady or the ad where the boy gets his dress stained earning to tie the lace, all of them are classy. The Rosy Miss Ad where the boy tries to cheer his teacher by acting like a dog and in the process gets his dress stained is the icing on the cake. It has been a favorite amongst the kids; kids who can't even talk enact the boy acting as a dog. :)

Has anyone watched the most recent Surf Excel ad that features Kishori Ballal and a young boy? The ad is about how the boy helps his grandma (Kishori) to shoo away the crows from the front yard. The boy dresses up as a scarecrow in his father's shirt after coloring himself and the shirt in some shade of blue. When the grandma calls the boy, he keeps replying 'Ek Minute' (1 minute). You should watch the ad that is on You tube

Mickey has been so much influenced by this ad that she colors herself in the same shade of blue. I don't know how she got this color on the palate. Also, she keeps saying 'Ek Minute' just as in the ad. Display of Mickey's imitation of the Ad in still pictures is as below.

A Top view of the colored feet (below)

 Close up of the leg (I found it interesting) (below)

Dressed up in her Dad's T Shirt (Below)

There are, I am sure, greater influence of the small screen in her life that I am yet to see.

Small screen and its influence

Television, whether it is soaps, reality shows, movies, music, ads or cartoons, is what Mickey is hooked on to. It need not be Television, it can even be a Laptop. All things get done when she is watching Television, be it eating, drinking milk or even trimming nails. It is very difficult to move her away from it. It all began with watching Rhymes and Cartoon movies.  She would be glued to the sofa. So when she had to be taken to another room, I would say, let me pause the CD/DVD and the work would be done. Now, when she watches shows on TV and she has to go to the loo, she says Pause Ampu!!! Shri and I have a smile on our faces when we say 'Sure'.

Here are a few pics of her concentrating and watching TV. 

Mickey after her breakfast without even washing her mouth.

Mickey & Dad. Please note: Shri hasn't washed his hands either. :)

School and the First Day

Do you remember the "Big Day" in which we were the proud parents of a kid who got admission to BGS NPS? This is a sequel. Its 4 days since she started (May 18th) her school. Thought, this is the best time, if not too late, to write about the Mickey's first day at school and the prep behind it.

As parents, we were excited to get her Uniform, books, pay her fees, get her bag, shoes and the likes. The preparations began with the purchase of Uniform. We got her Uniform from Chauhan and Sons, the official vendors for BGS, who had put up a stall in the school. The uniform consisted of 3 Frocks in gray and in white, 2 Shirts and 2 T Shirts all in white, 4 pairs of socks, gray and white, 2 each. 2 bloomers in gray and 1 Blazer. The total cost was Rs 2500 plus a few hundreds . That was probably my fees for a year during my B'com. :)  

The uniform was typical, not very impressive kinds but what struck us the most was the Blazer which was to be worn every Monday. Both of us were speechless, all we did was picked up the smallest available blazer and returned home.  The first reaction that I got when I spoke about the Blazer to the rest of the world (which I had to say as I couldn't hold on to such a shock) was "Makkalige chaddi haaklikke kalisuva modalu Blazer haakuva kaala bandide!", "Chaddi haakikoLLalikke barada makaalige Blazer anthe!", "Chaddi paadare barpujji, Blazer ge!!!!".

 

The next big thing was books. There was a big bag that was handed over to me, in exchange for Rs 2150. I was terrified looking at the size of the bag. I looked in it, there were 3 books, 1 art book and a plastic roll with a sheet of label stickers. I was like "Is this all for Rs 2150!!!", then I saw a list of stationery that was supposed to be supplied in class. I was relieved that I am getting my money's worth at least. Then my eyes fell on the title of the books, one read 'English Alphabets', the other read 'Numbers - 1 to 100 - Writing', the last one read 'ABC writing'. I was petrified and the fear remains. God knows, how kids will cope with this.

We had to attend the Invocation session one day before Mickey's first day at school. Reverend Father Dr. Divya Paul, a child Psychologist, spoke about the right way to bring up a child. After getting this gyan session, where parents who brought their kids couldn't hear much beyond the screaming and shouting which could be attributed to boredom or heat, we came back home to prepare Mickey to go to school. 

As the day was nearing, Mickey was being prepared to go to school. She was explained how wonderful it was to go to school, how much fun it was to travel by bus, how she could color as much as she wanted, how she could play with other kids in the class, so on. One week in advance, she was woken up between 7 or 7.30 am so that she could could be habituated to this routine. Mom was here so that she could warm her up to go to school and it really helped. 

Finally the day had come for her to go to school. Shri and I got up quite early and Mickey was ready to go to school at 8.15 am as Shri had to drop and pick her up on the first day. All of us including Mickey were so excited. The one feeling that we had that Mickey didn't was, tension. What if she could take it, what if she cried in the school, what if she didn't like it, many more questions were running in the back of my head. 

Another of those proud moments was when I saw Mickey in her Uniform for the first time. Everyone - Mom, Rams, Shri, I and Mickey were very proud. You can see how happy she is in her new uniform.

That's Mickey on her first day to School. 

Just a Trivia, the scribbling and the color in the background is her work of creativity. Will write about it some other time (if I find the time, I am saying that as I have written so many 'some other time' and never have written :))

Not diverging too much from the topic, contrary to all our fears, Mickey has taken a liking to her school. The best part about the school, for her, is the school bus. She doesn't want to get out the bus at all. The aaya or my mom drag her down the bus when she returns from school. Oh! yesterday (May 21st) was the easiest to get her out of the bus, she was sleeping :)