VAZZ: Member of the Week 07/10/05 - Page 5

Fabulous Answers Vazz....👏 Keep them coming!!!

You lived in Bangalore for a long time. But, you say, your parents and inlaws are based at Andhra. So I want to know what your mother tongue is? Kannada or Telugu?

Do u like to cook? If so, what is your best made dish so far?

What does your hubby like in you the most, any quality?

Are your kids naughty? If so, what has been their funniest prank?

Do you have friends from IF?

Among the posters in AStitva Section, who do you think posts very well? Have you appreciated a members' writing ?

If we ask you to suggest a member's name for the Next Member of the Week, whose name will u call out?

What do you think about Education to kids in India when compared to US? What do you prefer?

Do you own an apartment in US?

Do you have Indian community nearby, or do you miss seeing Indians?

What have you been doing for Navrathri now? What sweets did you make?

These are some of my qs...😃

Originally posted by: principessa

Hi again Vazz.. 😊

I'm sure that when you were chosen as "member of the week" you had your expectations, so, What is the question that you expected but haven't been asked yet?

Seriously, I did not think about it much... I saw the questions that were asked of you and figured they would pretty much be on the same lines.

I cannot of anything that has not been asked. I am glad though, the questions were not too personal. Questions on my own character are a little tough 'coz I have not asked myself those kind of questions and those were something that I had not expected. Normally it would be what do others think of you, but not what I think of myself.

I have not seen questions of the working mother genre like career or children, balance, full time mom etc.

Originally posted by: sree_20

Fabulous Answers Vazz....👏 Keep them coming!!!

You lived in Bangalore for a long time. But, you say, your parents and inlaws are based at Andhra. So I want to know what your mother tongue is? Kannada or Telugu?

Telugu is my mother tongue.

Do u like to cook? If so, what is your best made dish so far?

I do like to cook... but get bored to do the daily cooking sometimes. I guess since I like eggplant sooooo much, I put more jaan into eggplant recipies. Stuffed Brinjal comes out pretty good, consistently.

What does your hubby like in you the most, any quality?

I had to ask him this... 😆...

My frankness. I do not hide my displeasure on things. It is not that I start behaving like Astha, but it is difficult for me to carry on things that I do not believe in.

Are your kids naughty? If so, what has been their funniest prank?

They are naughty... but not totally. They do some funny things. Like they were watching a movie where a guy and a girl got married by going around the fire. They promptly went downstairs, held hands and went around the center table and said that they were getting married. I laughed my guts out. This happened recently.. so I remember..

Do you have friends from IF?

I have not really made any attempts...😔.. I did exchange some PMs but nothing more than that. Through the posts, I can see who has the same kind of ideas... hopefully I will get to making friends.

Among the posters in AStitva Section, who do you think posts very well? Have you appreciated a members' writing ?

Everybody writes so well and I could see the poetry sections.. Gosh, people are too good. That is where I saw a great deal of talent. I cannot really pinpoint. Everybody has their own style and express their thoughts in the manner in which they are comfortable.

If we ask you to suggest a member's name for the Next Member of the Week, whose name will u call out?

That is hard... I would leave that to more capable hands....😊

What do you think about Education to kids in India when compared to US? What do you prefer?

I like the education system in US. Their fundamentals are drilled in pretty good. In India we give a lot of importance to memorizing, and here they try to get the creative think flowing early. The find answers yourself gets the them thinking. Everybody aims to get 100% all the time, in India and we cannot blame them, because that is how it was built over the years and the system is not going to change that easily.

Do you own an apartment in US?

We have a house here.

Do you have Indian community nearby, or do you miss seeing Indians?

I do not miss Indians.... we have tons of them here. We have a few in our subdivision itself. My work place has Indians in every aisle..... so I do not miss Indians... I only miss India...😊

What have you been doing for Navrathri now? What sweets did you make?

Nothing much.... am not very good at religious ceremonies. I did go for a dandiya on saturday

These are some of my qs...😃

Originally posted by: vazz

Thanks for the compliment in my thoroughness:-) Sometimes I just wonder though;-) I can get quite disorganized and irritated at times. But I rarely see you lose your cool or answer questions sharply or lose your patience. Have to learn that bit from you:-)

I completely agree with you on the confidence and communication skills people have here. They are good speakers for the most part and the schools focus on that. I find though that these days children in India also do masti, etc..(I think schools there are becoming more aware now and there are schools in Madras and Bangalore and maybe other places too where there are no exams till fifth grade). I was pleasantly surprised at that because when growing up ours was one of the few schools schools like that without exams till fifth grade and come to think of it that was something I did not appreciate much then. But schools there are learning that and I am happy to see that amongst some of the friends' kids who have returned..I guess what I have been trying to say and you too implied was that technical knowledge is taught in plenty and is really good in India but more focus needs to be made on presentatin skills and confidence. What I find is even those who work in Shop Rite, etc. and may not be the most educated here are so confident and eloquent, while in India that is restricted to the good English Medium Schools or convent schools..

Good luck with your son in First Grade. I am sure his transition to India will be smooth:-) In the case of my daughter, she already loves India so hopefully it will be easy for her to adjust. Only thing she will miss is her school and school friends but hopefully she will form new ones..

Originally posted by: vazz

Hi again Vazz😊

Even in a short period, you have done a brilliant job of answering everyone's questions with such nice answers👏

Cool! So you like shopping and going for walks, that sounds really fun. Do you take your kids along with you?

How often do you win at Pictionary? Can your draw well?😛

Oh, I'm sure your husband and in-laws would give you higher than a 7😊 You are being too modest😊

Okay one more question, if you could wish for only three things in the world, what would they be...in order of their importance to you😊

Originally posted by: Jen02

Hi again Vazz😊

Even in a short period, you have done a brilliant job of answering everyone's questions with such nice answers👏

Shukriya.

Cool! So you like shopping and going for walks, that sounds really fun. Do you take your kids along with you?

My son is crazy about fans and air conditioners. All of spring and summer when the weather is good, we normally go out for a 15 mt walk where in he will inspect the air conditioners and see which one is running and which is not. He even told me that my not so near neighbour has new air conditioners. All my neighbours know that he will see their air conditioners. I enjoy that walk with him. For long walks, I prefer to go by myself.

How often do you win at Pictionary? Can your draw well?😛

It has been a while.. may be a year now.. I do not draw well.. sometimes an apple looks like a mango.. but who cares.. I love guessing and have fun with it.

Okay one more question, if you could wish for only three things in the world, what would they be...in order of their importance to you😊

1. I am selfish.. and therefore would ask that my family remain as a family with no break ups. Family here includes grand parents and my husband's brother's family.

2. Peace. Is it too much to ask for? I do not watch movies which have violence that is not called for. I am fan of AB, but I cannot make myself watch Sarkaar.

3. I would like to be part of a charitable organization when I head home in 2 years. I would like to quit my job and help out child related charities.

Originally posted by: Minnie

Wow, I seem to miss a lot these days!!!

Congratulations Vazz for being the member of the week and for giving such lovely replies to all the quesrries so patiently. It really made such an interesting read.
Thanks Minnie. I always enjoy reading your posts.
I already see everything that I wanted to ask has already been covered.

I also liked your analysis about the education system being better here, inspite of the low level of standard. Teaching is more oriented towards getting a concept right rather than getting them to memorise 100s of things which they forget the moment their exams get over. For example, my friends kid learnt about Solar system in India (grade 1)and she memorised it without really getting the concept, while my son (Grade 1) can actually rattle off why there is day and night, why there is solar and lunar eclipse or what is summer or winter solstice, in Science the concept of matter is already clear to him......which is amazing for a kid of six (though he still sweats over writing a singe line straight 😆 ).... This is when we as parents actually have little idea what is being done in school as they get no home work, there is no book or copy that they carry over to home.

I agree. It is all about how good your basics are. Since the kids have access to a variety of books, meant for their ages, it gets easier to get them interested into things. My son loves the reptiles and spiders and he can go off on what kinds of spiders live where and what they do. All this is possible because he is not memorizing stuff that they do not need. I was talking to a friend of mine and she said that he child is in LKG now and has 12 books. My jaw dropped....

My question is, do your kids speak their mother tongue at home or do they have a tendency to lapse back to English for every second thing they say?

My son speaks good Telugu. The rule of the house is to speak in Telugu for everybody in the house and that includes conversations between parents too. The brother and sister also speak in Telugu amongst themselves. So far we have not had to force it on them to speak in Telugu at home.. I hope it remains the same. My son is now trying to learn Hindi. I firmly believe that kids are like sponges and can absorb so much and can easily learn languages and not get confused. If the child has a special problem, that is a different case. A few of my friends talk to their kids only in English because they do not want to confuse the child. I did not want to argue with them. It is their choice. I do not see anything wrong in learning langauges at an early age. I am not saying that by learning your language you have better touch with your culture, it is not necessarily so. In our case, it helps us all have the comfort level of the language since everybody in the family speaks it.

Originally posted by: vazz

A few of my friends talk to their kids only in English because they do not want to confuse the child. I did not want to argue with them. It is their choice. I do not see anything wrong in learning langauges at an early age. I am not saying that by learning your language you have better touch with your culture, it is not necessarily so. In our case, it helps us all have the comfort level of the language since everybody in the family speaks it.

I completely agree. Unfortunately I have not been as successful in making my kids learn our mother tongue, though we always speak in that at home......problem is, they keep lapsing back to English, and my younger one seems to pick up only English words which is so frustrating!!!

What has made you decide to go back to India two years from now? I hopw I am not being too personal....just ignore if it's so...