Raising Ira - Post 3

Ira is growing up real fast. And with her the pile of stories is mounting too – the silly kinds, the funny ones, the touchy ones, the high energy ones, the milestones, the anecdotes that I would like to look back fondly upon. Therefore I have decided to document these little incidents as and when they happen, for posterity lest my memory fails me. 

 

Date: November 14, 2013 – Thursday, Pune

Our Ira believes in a clear desk policy. We arrived at this judgment after consistently noticing her pull down things from the table onto the floor and being extremely happy about it. Also, the fact that she invariably gets drawn to any object that is placed on the table within fraction of seconds of it being placed and then actively endeavors to dump the object  ‘not-so-neatly’ onto the floor – only corroborated our theory.

Therefore, we avoid keeping anything that is fragile on the table. This is the unsaid rule between Vikram and me in the house. Now being humans, we do tend to forget these rules every now and then especially after a hard day’s work at office, sometimes even a harder after work hours at home amusing Ira - only to see her giggle and smile and forget our tiredness and worries.

Anyway, in one such occurrence of tiredness and forgetfulness – Vikram had laid out his mobile phone on the center table which was well within the little devil’s reach. And before Vikram or I could blink she was right there grabbing the mobile, while I stood squinting expecting to hear a loud thud on the ground any second with the battery and back cover disintegrating and no surprises there , she did just the expected - picked up the phone in all her excitement flinging it around once and then twice AND there it was next to her ear as though she is answering a call and looking at Vikram expectantly to say something, say ‘hello’ perhaps…!

Vikram and I stood there speechless, at 9 months how did she know that it was a talking device meant to be placed next to the ear to listen in.  I guess, this was a milestone – for Vikram and for me!  

Raising Ira - Post 2

Ira is growing up real fast. And with her the pile of stories is mounting too – the silly kinds, the funny ones, the touchy ones, the high energy ones, the milestones, the anecdotes that I would like to look back fondly upon. Therefore I have decided to document these little incidents as and when they happen, for posterity lest my memory fails me. 

Date: October 29, 2013 – Tuesday, Pune       7.00 pm

I had barely managed to reach home after picking up Ira from the day care when my phone buzzed. I somehow accomplished to seat myself up on the sofa with the little one on my lap but only to realize that I had missed the call. I checked my phone and saw three missed calls and a couple of messages all pointing to a meeting which had started 20 minutes back for which I was to be the speaker.

I gave out a long sigh but smiled immediately to see Ira fast asleep – that meant that I could attend the call without getting worried about her. So I prepped up and dialed into the call with all enthusiasm, apologized for my delay and got immersed into the discussion. I was talking on and off therefore I hadn’t put myself on mute. Suddenly, in between all the chatter on the phone I heard a soft snore – sounded like that of a child’s. I smiled to myself and thought lovingly of a child who would have fallen asleep in their parent’s lap, parent being one of the participants on the call. With all these thoughts going on in my mind I tenderly turned my view to watch Ira fast asleep in my own lap  and lo behold  SNORING softly and in sync with the one on the call !!!!

The moment the call ended, I dialed in to check with one with of my colleagues if she had noticed the snore on the call – and she said, as a matter of fact she did, but apparently there was also some other baby noises in the background before I joined the call. I heaved a sigh of relief for not being the only one in the circle of suspicion!

Raising Ira - Post 1

Ira is growing up real fast. And with her, also mounting is my pile of stories – the silly kinds, the funny ones, the touchy ones, the high energy ones, the milestones, the anecdotes that I would like to look back fondly upon. Therefore I have decided to document these little incidents as and when they happen, for posterity lest my memory fails me.  

Date: October 30, 2013 – Wednesday, Pune

I had a call scheduled for 9.00 pm. Having known this engagement well in advance I was prepared with the works – such as print out of the document in question (lest I am not able log on if Ira refuses to sleep and there was not a doubt in my mind about not having the laptop near Ira because of the way she attempts to pull out the keys from the keyboard) and my writing instruments. Well my planning paid up as Ira indeed refused to sleep and was quite playful and active at the time my call started.

I sincerely logged in at 9, thanking my foresight and planning, with the confidence that I would just have to listen in with no participation required from my side, whatsoever. I was so bloody wrong – and at that minute I thought of Murphy and his abused law!

Anyway, I unmuted myself carefully – after being relieved to see little Ira (9 months) playing peacefully by herself. I started participating and jotting down notes. And then suddenly something was mentioned on the call l for which I couldn’t find the supporting document. I looked frantically through my print outs. I know I couldn’t have missed it. And then I see my little Ira – little little tiny Ira waving at me with a half torn , quarter crumbled and another quarter chewed paper and grinning ear to ear!!!

I laughed to myself, grabbed the paper and blew her a kiss.  In no time I finished the call and then it was play time with Ira.

P.S: Come to think of it – why didn’t I ask Vikram to watch her while I attended the call, well this was the time when Vikram was away for two weeks to Mumbai attending his induction for a new job.

Ink Review - Diamine Asa Blue

This is the first time I am writing a fountain pen ink review. After having spent a lot of time on the net searching for and a lot of money experimenting with various shades of blue – I finally came across the shade ‘Asa Blue’ within Diamine range of blue shades.

To my mind, this is one the loveliest blues that I have seen as far as fountain pen inks are concerned. The color is just about right on the brightness quotient – not too bright like the turquoise blue. And the price, well I won’t call it inexpensive at INR725/- for an 80 ml ink bottle, is definitely reasonable when compared to some of the other brands available in the market such the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki which costs approximately $35, roughly about INR 2100 at the current rupee-dollar exchange rate.

I received the parcel along with some other stationary items from Pens Avenue. As usual their service, packaging, delivery and confirmation was excellent this time around too. After I received the parcel, I simply couldn’t wait to fill up my brand new Sheaffer fountain pen to full capacity to get started. And since then I have been using this pen-ink combination for all my writing activities and I must confess I still haven’t gotten tired of it. I have always believed that for the complete writing experience one needs to have the right combination of ink color and the writing instrument – sometimes it just happens, accidentally. While there are times when a certain amount of trial and error is required to get to the right amalgamation.  This time around, I can safely assume in having found the right combination just by fluke.

The writing is buttery smooth and the color is very pleasing to the eye. It is bright and catchy and makes the writing stand out. And the beauty is that it does so with subtlety. The ink lays down consistently on the paper giving a uniform shade all over to my writing. I haven’t noticed any feathering or bleeding – I find it quite a performer for long and fast sessions of writing.  As for the pen, the first thought that comes to my mind when I hold this writing instrument is its weight – This is really heavy. Almost feels like a vintage grandfather’s pen. I love it! It is nice to hold and is pretty big – although it feels a tad too heavy after some time if the cap is placed on the rear end. The nib is of ‘medium’ grade which allows a certain depth to the writing – I find it right for my taste, not a big fan of very bold or very thin writing.

Here’s scanned image to get a real glimpse of the color and texture:

 

My score for Asa Blue ink - 5/5

My score for Asa Blue ink and Sheaffer 300 M grade combination – 4/5

(The only reason I am rating it at 4 is because of the weight, which to me is a good as well as a not too good thing , depending on the period of writing involved)

Until my next review, happy writing!!