Early this morning Niki and I woke up and we sat in her bedroom chatting in hushed tones so the rest of the house would not wake up. During the one hour chat, the topic came up about a livecam set up by Berry College in an eagle’s nest that she saw. (You can show your kids, it is very cute : www.berry.edu/eaglecam).
In any case, she was excitedly telling me about the egg hatching and the mom taking care of the baby eagle, feeding it and all that. Then, she mentioned that in the evening, the “husband” eagle flew in.

Barely concealing my amusement, I asked her how did she conclude that it was the “husband” eagle?

Niki just shrugged her shoulders and said “Oh! It was constantly fighting the mother eagle”!!!!

I conceded that no further proof is required 🙂

So, there is a Miley Cyrus show coming up. And I asked my usual question to the girls (by SMS) if they wanted to go. (I never go but many times they show up for all these concerts). I was anyways wary of exposing any of the girls (including Sharmila 😉 ) to “twerking” (I think that is the word, right?). So I asked the question in a negative way.

Again, Niki’s response was hilarious. I so wish this firecracker would remain 10 years old for ever!!!!

Here, see her response for yourself…

After two very tiring days in Dallas and then rushing back for a customer dinner yesterday, I was dog tired and late to bed last night. Decided to change up my routine this morning – slept in till 6 am and then had a leisurely coffee at home instead of going for a run and all that. And since I had missed Nikita’s birthday day before (I was on the road), offered to accompany her to school today.

While driving there, I opened with an ice breaker – “Can you think of some
English words that have three consecutive vowels?”. She gave me one long look, answered “Aaaaaaah”and “Wheeeeee” and then closed her eyes!!!! But not before reminding me “No more academic questions before school hours”!!!

Needless to say, the rest of the trip was very quiet and decidedly vowel-less!!!!

I was having my daily call with mom this morning. We were just chatting about how the day went for her when she suddenly asked “Badambhaja kachchis?” (“Are you having roasted peanuts?” – this, by the way, is a very common snack for Bengalis). Completely taken aback (after all, I was just having my first cup of coffee in the the morning that time), I replied “Na. Keno bolo to?”. (“Nope. Why?”). To which she responded “Naah. Hotat badambhajar gondho pelam monay holo”. (“Oh! I thought I just smelt some roasted peanuts”).

And I am like “What? I am talking to you on the phone” 🙂 🙂

A similar incident had happened a long time back. I was talking to her from my mobile phone near my cubicle in office. I was talking a little softly (unlike other days where I would have stepped out of the office and called her). She asked me if I was sick. (BTW, my mom  jumps straight to the conclusion that I am sick if I do anything different from what I did the previous day 🙂 ). I, of course, said No and asked her why. She said that my voice was very muffled. So, I explained to her that there were other people around me who did not understand Bengali and I was trying not to be rude – so I was speaking softly. She immediately hushed her voice and said “Oh! that is a good point”.

And I am like “Why are YOU hushing your voice?” 🙂 🙂

We still talk about that incident once in a while….

Last night after coming back home, I was teasing Sharmila about something. She was putting up a spirited fight but clearly was not winning the battle of wits. (That is my story and I am sticking to it 🙂 ). So the two girls immediately jumped in to bolster support for mom. But, I think what Niki did next bordered on the extreme 🙂