Paino Lessons

I want to learn piano someday. I know how to play basic notes and some rhymes :) yes! rhymes. My son started taking keyboard lessons when he was 5. He went to a group lesson where you get a 5-10min instruction for a song. You need to practice at home and come back, the teacher reviews the song and teaches another song just once as she has to move on to the next kid.

I used to learn how to play that song at home when my son was at school and once he came back I used to teach him the song. He got pretty good at piano and the teacher suggested we start private lessons for him on real piano. We bought a decent upright piano after doing tons of research.

I learned Alfred's both books 1A and 1B. I can play all the songs from those books. But then once he moved to level 2 I did not get time to practice. But I did sit through all his classes and understood the theory so that I can make him practice at home. Even now, I can recognize notes better than him (not sure if that is in my favor or that he still has tough time in identifying some notes :)

Anyways, I always wanted to learn piano. It has been my fantasy since I was a kid. I always admired music from Hindi and Telugu movies. Mostly I love Bollywood songs. Watching movie actors play piano, I always dreamed of me playing the piano and singing a melodious song. Now that we have one at home, I want to take serious piano lessons and play some of my favorites.

Recently I watched one totally bakwaas movie "Thank You". Yes, I do watch such junk :) But I am glad I watched the movie.There is one beautiful tune Akshay Kumar plays on the flute. It is really melodious. At the end of the movie they show Vidya Balan singing the song "Han Har Ghadi, Har Pehar.." song. This is a very lovely melodious song.

I heard this song Today more than a thousand times. Now my wish to learn piano grew even stronger. One day I am going to learn and play this song to my husband!

I am reading the book “Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mom”. My idea is to make my mom read this book and then write an article on how she raised us. According to me we grew up fine just not super accomplished but again that is relative. I am happy and surprised at how well she raised us both. It seemed completely effortless and smooth parenting.

I just finished the chapter “Teeth Marks and Bubbles” from the book. It brought tears into my eyes. I took after both my mom & dad. My dad was super strict. Both of them used to teach private tuitions. I never saw my mom yelling at any kid. My dad on the other side used to think that if I teach you a concept you better get it. If not a) you were not listening which makes you totally unworthy to be his student b) you are not intelligent which is even worse because you are not worthy to study math at all. Umm, I did not like his concept. I used to think he was too harsh.

But call it genes or whatever, I teach my son both like my mom and dad. I yell at him during piano practices but not as much. I never make him feel unworthy of anything but then I yell and shout at him when he just gives up without even trying or lowballs himself that he just can’t do it. Somehow I hold him at a very high position. He is a very smart kid. His dad, me and my bro he is supposed to be smart J

I am not bragging but what I mean to say is that he has what it takes to shine in him. And he proved it several times. I was awestruck and inspired at his intelligence. So it really tears me apart when he says he can’t do something.

I performed on stage several times when I was growing up. I come out as a very confident person. In fact I am. I am not scared to raise my voice and express my opinion. I am not scared to be the leader and bring a change in the system. I can preach/counsel/convince people around me and bring a change into their lives.

People who know me will be surprised if I tell them that I get very nervous when I go up on stage. I shake and shiver. I do complete the whole performance and come down but I hate that part about me.

My son is a lot like me when it comes to confidence. In the sense he does not hesitate to say what he thinks. He is the first one to raise his hand in the class room for anything and everything. He is not scared to be a leader, to suggest things etc… He participates in some of our language enrichment cultural activities on our Indian/Telugu New Year. He is very much into all the cultural things. He loves knowing and learning all about our culture and language.

He knows lot of Sanskrit slokas by heart now and can recite them with great diction. He does not have an accent when is saying those though he does not know the language very well. I make sure to explain him the meaning of each and every word and the overall concept of the poems I teach him.

So he recites them on stage in a competition within his age group in our cultural festivals. I teach him while making him sleep; feeding him breakfast etc… he learns them pretty quickly. I don’t have to tell him to practice; he just keeps chanting them whatever he does till he gets them right J I love that about him.

On the day before the event I make sure he gets enough rest, eats well, sleeps early etc. He wakes up in the morning practices just couple of times more and he is all set. I never saw him fret or fear about the performance. You might say he is too young to understand fear of performing on stage but I have seen kids who come on stage and get scared and forget what they have to say.

He goes onto the stage, with poise and confidence; he is an expert in holding/adjusting the mike. He recites the poem loud and clear and comes back.  His dad and I feel so proud. Of course he never won a prize in any contest but we are okay with it. For the effort we put in, that is more than expected from him. This time we thought he was quite good and would win a prize but it is okay.

When I read the book in which Amy says she was never a good performer and that Sophia her daughter was not at all scared and performed with utmost expertise my eyes were filled with tears. I could relate to what she says with my son. I hope and wish he grows up with this fearless confidence.

To be continued...

Telugu Lessons

My son is taking Telugu lessons in Chinmaya Mission. He goes to class every Sunday. I did not get a chance to sit with him and see what he is being taught and make him practice at home. Since there is no official home work I am taking it easy I guess. Today I had some time and he was in super nice kid mood. He blamed me for not teaching him Telugu at home. Obviously I got offended :) and I took out his book.

I saw some Telugu words and English meanings and when he is eating dinner started asking him translations. Here is our conversation:

Me: I will say a word. If I say a Telugu word you must tell me what it means in English and if I say a English word you must give me the Telugu word for it. Got it?
Son: Wow! I love this game. My teacher always plays this game with us :)

(Wow! I am smart :D)

Me: Store
Son: I don't know.
Me: Okay. It is called Angadi (My son wrote this word in the book)

Seriously? Who calls a store Angadi these days? My grand parents never used this word I guess and I am taking their standard because my grand father was a Telugu Pundit. He used to say Dukanam I guess. They really need to update the syllabus. They might have taken the words from pedda balasiksha. They need to teach words used in the current real world so that kids can communicate when they visit India. Hmm. I decided to escalate this issue to the concerned person to get the syllabus changed :-D

Son: Ask me more mom.
Me: Okay okay.Pen.
Son: I don't know
Me: it is called Kalamu.

Son: Then what do you call a pencil amma?
Me: Umm. I don't know it is just called pencil.

Son: How come? When pen is called Kalamu pencil must have some word too. Kids in Hyderabad don't use pencil to write or do light saber fight? (he is too much into star wars these days)
Me: Of course they do.

Son: Then how come they don't know how to say the word which means pencil?
Me: For some words they use English words.

Son: Amma, it would be so funny if in Hyderabad people use English words instead of all Telugu words when they speak right?
I laughed and said: then it would be English not Telugu.
Son: Ya... you are right. Then why do people in Hyderabad need to learn Telugu at all?
Me: Hmm...... Okay we are getting distracted.

(He has been to Hyderabad and my grandparents village. So he thinks Hyderabad is the only place in India where they speak Telugu :)

Son: Oh I know - They should call it - Pencilu with a "u" at the end. In Telugu every word ends with "u". Even Telug(u). Haha.. I discovered something amma. Did you realize that Telugu ends with a U :)))) (giggles)
Me: Great discovery son. Let's move on.

Arrow - Banamu.

He is writing these words in Telugu. I remembered last year when he first learnt to write the letter - na in the word banamu. He said this is how you DRAW the letter ana - you draw the number 6 and another reverse 6 next to it. Then on top of 6 you need to make a letter C and a reverse C on top of the other 6 and remember to join the 2 C's on top. The C's must look like clouds :)

He is enjoying learning Telugu sooooo much. He says Telugu letters are artsy :) Anyways coming back to word translations:

Me: Okay now what is eggplant in Telugu?
Son: Chittakaya.
Me: Do you mean Chikkudi Kaya?
Son: What is Chikkudi kaya?
Me: It is a vegetable - it looks like a pea pod, the one we have in our backyard.
Son: Uh uh! You said a bad word.
Me: What did I say?
Son: You said pee...
Me: No, the word I said is PEA as in Green Peas. Not Pee Pee.
Son: Giggles....Ohhhhh now I get it. (he is just messing with me. He knew what pea pods were)

Since it was the week of Diwali they taught him the word Fire crackers.

Me: What is a Fire Cracker in Telugu?
Son: Chittakaya
Me: What?
Son: Chittakaya.
The way in which he sounded it out was so cute :)

Me: Lol. No think again. Okay let me help you. You used chittakaya once already. How can two different words in English have the same Telugu word?
(I thought I was smart to give this hint :)

Son: Why not? In English HERE and HEAR sound the same. But they mean different things. So when I say chittakaya for both eggplant and fire cracker it sounds the same but when you write it it is different :)

Smart!

Me: Okay, firstly there is no word chittakaya. So think of something else.
Son: I know. I just made it up in my head. I like the sound of this word. So I am going to use it for everything.

WHAT?

Me: That's not going to work. If you want to learn Telugu, you need to take this seriously.
Son: Okay! Okay!
Me: Fire cracker is called Tapakaya.
Son: See chittakaya is close :)
Me: Okay, let's move on.

What is Curry?
Son: Rice
Me: What? You are giving me a English word. Give me Telugu word for Curry.
He says Annam :)
Me: Okay Curry is not Annam. What are you eating now?
Son: Kura Annam.
Me: Yeah, that means?
Son: I don't know. Hmm.
Me: Okay Curry = Kura.
Son: Ohhhhhhhhh now I get it.

Me: Cool!

Me: Bag is Sanchi
Son: Amma, burglars take big "sanchis" with them when they go to rob a house :)

The lesson ends with this. That was enough Telugu for a day :)

Tell me why?

My son is a question bank. He has these millions of questions brewing in his head and of course he asks me all of them and I have to answer. He does not take a ‘No’ for an answer. He thinks I am a knowledgeable super mom. From the past 4 years I tried to live up to his expectations.

Here are some of the funny things he asked and I managed to answer:

Animal School

Why does whale burp so loudly and then say pardon me in the slippery fish song?

Because burping loudly is bad manners.

Why does whale have bad manners?

Because it did not go to school and nobody taught him good manners.

Why dinn't the whale go to school?

Because it is not human and only humans go to school like you do.

For that my husband comes saying, animals go to school. Nemo (The clown fish from the movie “Finding Nemo” went to school ;-)

Grrrrrrrrr! I am bugged up with my son’s questions already and trying my best to answer them in a sane manner. And this guy makes my life difficult.

Why Dad?

Dad why are we not going on the bridge?

Because the bridge is not coming to us

My husband answers in such a way that my son never has a counter question. Poor me I create inquisitiveness in him and try to increase his knowledgebase!

Cow Boy

I showed him a man wearing a cowboy hat and here is our conversation:

Hey, look at that man. He is wearing a cowboy hat.

Yes, he is. Is he searching for his horse?

(Smiling) yes he is.

But where can he find a horse on the road?

OK! He is not searching for a horse. He is just walking

He is not wearing the right shoes.

What do you mean?

Cowboys don’t wear that kind of shoes. And he is wearing shorts. Ask him to wear the right jeans and shoes mommy.

Yeah right! I will go now and tell him, you are entitled to wear that hat only if you wear the whole package :-)

You are not turning the car to go tell him mommy :-)

Next day he sees a man in a convertible car wearing a cow boy hat..

Why is the man in the convertible car wearing a cow boy hat?

Because he thought the car was a horse;-) (I tried a smart answer this time and he didn't get the joke :-(

Am I newer?

He called me by my name. To that I told him he cannot call me by my name.

Son: Why should I not call you by name?

Me: Because I am older than you are.

Son: Am I newer than you?

A kid’s interpretation of our divine stories

The way in which my son implements the knowledge gained by listening to stories is quite amazing (at least for me). I tried reading some mythology books like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Hanuman, and Ganesha to him even before he turned 2, but he was never interested. Once he crossed 2 he started talking fluently and was in a position to express his views on things. At that point of time I read him Ramayana. The books were really good; written in simple English and lots of pictures. He paid attention to the complete story and asked me lots of questions through out. At the end when I showed him the picture of Rama killing Ravana he asked me:

Son: Mom, why is Rama killing Ravana?
Me: Because he is an evil person and Rama wants to save the lives of many people by killing him.

Son: But Rama is a bad boy. Because he hit Ravana with an arrow and blood is coming from Ravana’s belly.
Me: Ummm, Rama is not bad. Ravana is bad as he took away Rama’s wife and started a fight with Rama and killed many of his people

Son: But Rama is killing many people too. There is blood coming out in the book. Rama is a bad boy. I don’t like him
Me: (searching for words, no munna…it is not like that)

He cries and goes away. And after that when ever I wanted to read him Ramayana he says I don’t like that book.

Well, I thought may be he is not old enough. So I waited till he turned 3 and then told him a few stories in Mahabharata. That did not go well either. Every story had some kind of violence, politics, and strategy. I could not think of a single story where there is a moral with out any side effects. Then I bought him a DVD of Hanuman (Animation). It has become quite popular in India. I got that one and he liked the scene where baby Hanuman flies into the sky when he is hungry to eat the Sun thinking it is a mango. Yeahhhhhhh I was happy.

Now for the side effects I was talking about - There is a scene where they show Hanuman doing penance when he is small and he becomes big while doing so. And my son sat on the couch in that penance style and started shouting:

Son: Mom! I am not growing bigger. Make me grow bigger like Hanuman
Me: Why do you want to grow bigger?

Son: I can touch the fan if I become big
Me: Oh for that I can happily lift you. Don’t try to become big for that

Then he saw scenes where Hanuman goes to Lanka and makes a mess.

Son: Mom, why is Hanuman jumping all over?
Me: Because he is a monkey

Son: Why is he hitting everybody with his mace?
Me: Because he is punishing the bad people

Now he starts hitting me with what ever he has in his hand when I shout at him for spilling water or milk on the couch. When I try to tell him he cannot do that he says he is punishing the bad people (yeah that is me) like Hanuman did. How should I explain him that no matter what I do or say I won’t become a bad person?

This is the best interpretation of all. Recently I told him how Ganesha was born. How Parvathi made an idol of a baby using some bath powder and gave life to it. I usually tell the story with a lot of enthusiasm with sound effects and acting all the scenes. I make him sit on the couch and stand in front of him and tell the stories. (I think I should consider acting in theaters)

So I made this swooooooooosh sound when telling him how Parvathi did some magic and put life into the baby she made and that is how Ganesha was born. My son liked that story and would ask me several times how Parvathi put life into Ganesha. Cute kid!

Now the problem is with the interpretation. The other day he came into the garage when I was doing laundry and saw his old shoes. He wanted to wear those. But they don’t fit him anymore. He insisted on wearing those and I thought let me show him why they don’t fit him. I tried to adjust one shoe to his foot and it did not fit and then here goes our very intelligent conversation:

Son: I want to make this shoe fit.
Me: You are too big for it now. It won’t fit you.

Son: Why am I too big?
Me: Because kids grow and you have grown bigger in the last one month.

Son: OK! Make the shoe big.
Me: (What???????) You cannot make it big

Son: Why?
Me: Becauuuuuuuuse (I always want to give the best answers to all his questions so that he can learn some thing out of it…so here I go) it is a non living thing.

Son: What is a non living thing?
Me: (cursing myself for coming up with that word) Ummm a non living thing does not grow. You are a living thing and you grow big. This shoe is a non living thing and it cannot grow.

Son: Ohhhh! (I was so glad he understood the concept) put some life into it mom. (smiles)
Me; What?? You cannot put life into non living things

Son: (Crying). Yes you can. Put some life into the shoe as Parvathi put life into the baby to make Ganesha

He thinks that all moms’ can put life into things (like Parvathi).

Why are you a man?

My son is 3yrs 7mths old now. He started asking why for every word we say, every sound we make, and every thing he sees around. It is so difficult to answer (correctly that is) to all his questions. I am very particular to answer his questions to precision as my point is that he is learning every second. But my husband takes it easy.

He gives him all weird answers which I do not like but you know I try to ignore them not to start a fight :-)I think I can write a book on the questions he asks. They are so interesting. I mean I am surprised by his curiosity and his memory power. He remembers every answer I give him and uses them later when time comes. So I better be careful in answering his questions.

Yesterday (Friday) my husband was having breakfast and my son jumps to sit on his lap and looks at his face closely. My husband does not shave on Friday and the weekend. So he saw traces of moustache and beard on his dad's face and started his interrogation. Here is their conversation:

Son: Dad! What is this on your lips? (He touches it and asks him)
Dad: It is hair (I thought why he can’t say moustache - I usually give him a look, why can’t you answer properly :-) To that he says, will you relax, I am having fun with him. Shouldn’t I ever have fun with my Son?

Son: Hair? No it is not hair. They are whiskers.
Dad: He smiles heartily, gives him a kiss and says no they are not whiskers, it is called moustache.

Son: Why do you have hair on your lips? Hair should be on your head
Dad: Ok hair that grows on lips is called moustache. You want one?

Son: Moustache? Why do you have moustache?
Dad: Because I am a man

Son: You are a man? Why do you have hair on your chin too?
Dad: Hair that grows on the chin is called beard.

Son: Beard? Why do you have a beard?
Dad: Because I am a man

Son: You have moustache and beard because you are a man?
Dad: That’s rightSon: Why are you a man?(I loved this question.....I was waiting to see how he answers it)

Dad: Puzzled look smiles and says if you ask me more questions you will get whiskers and beard like me. You want them now?

Son: Mom, why is daddy a man? (Now it's my turn to impart knowledge to my son)
Me: Ummmmmm because he is a grown up boy and when you grow up you will be a man

Son: I will be a man? Why will I be a man?
Me: Boys when they grow up they become men

Son: When I grow up will I get whiskers too?
Me: They are not called whiskers. It is a moustache. You will get both a moustache and a beard

Son: Starts crying. I don’t want to be a man. I want to be a boy. I don’t want whiskers, I don’t like dad.
Me: Why don’t you like him? You love him and he loves you so much.

Son: He says that I will get whiskers and beard. I don’t want to be like him.

From then on I tease my husband asking him why is he a man :-)

Having fun while waiting to be served in a restaurant

We dine out a lot. Some restaurants are very quick in serving the food and some are not. In a busy restaurant you might need to wait some time for a free table then some time for a waiter to attend you and some more time for the food to be prepared. So what do you do while waiting for the food to be served especially when you are starving? I came up with a nice game that my husband and I usually play at restaurants to make the wait time interesting.

I am an Indian living in Silicon Valley. Needless to say we dine most of the time in Indian restaurants. And the people who come to dine mostly fall into the following categories: couples, who are newly married, married for few years, with kids, visiting parents, and singles that come for some onsite assignments. The age group of Indians dining out more or less ranges from 22-40. So it is fun watching them eat. Each category has its own trait.

A little about the game I invented, one of us have to pick a table and guess the category the people of that table belong to. We do not have judges in this game. Usually I observe some one and ask my husband his opinion. We defend each of our answers and discuss the possibilities. It is lot of fun doing that. It works out very well for us because the categories are limited and you see a definite pattern among each category.

My process of categorizing people goes like this. Let me start with newly weds, the most interesting category of all. They can be sub divided into couples who had love marriage or arranged marriage. We often see the later versions. With the arranged marriage couples, most of the time it is the guy who has been living here and for the wife it is the first time in US. So the guy has a predominant role here. He tries to explain her with great enthusiasm that you get all these cool authentic Indian cuisine to start with. Then he helps her in choosing some thing to eat. They keep looking at each other, the girl blushing, the guy admiring his wife when she is struggling to decide some thing on the menu. It is like watching a romantic movie. And they both sacrifice so much when it comes to ordering food trying to order the other person’s choice even if they don’t like it. So sweet!

Some times you miss the opening credits but do not worry as every thing going on between them tells you they are newly wed as if love is in the air. They never get frustrated of waiting for the food to be served and chat very lovingly about every possible topic on earth. You can tell some thing by looking at the way they sit. The guy is more relaxed and the girl is a little conservative trying to be conscious of her surroundings. Of course some times if the guy is too conservative the scene can be other way too! Once the food arrives, they do not dig in like others. They take time to talk about each of their choice, first taste the food on other’s plate and then slowly eat sharing every small bite. They don’t have time to look at other tables like we do!

The next category is couples who had known each other for a few years and got married. They already know each other, their likes and dislike what to order and all that. So they do not waste much time in ordering food. Once the order is placed they start chatting on some topic enjoying the conversation, playfully touching each other, laughing etc. They both look very relaxed and comfortable and have fun while waiting. In this category usually the girl’s role is predominant as the guy is still trying to please her and do whatever she likes! Once the food comes they share but sparingly and then go and finish their food. They do look at other tables and wave happily at the kids sitting around them. They are happy people.

Moving to the couples married for few years with kids, if the kid is an infant it is still OK. They try to give the baby milk or some Gerber food before their order arrives so that they can eat in peace. They give a rattler to the baby and eat happily discussing only about the baby or about their friends with babies. They do not have time to look around to see who else are in the restaurant, if they do they envy the couples who do not have kids and feel sad for the couples with older kids. We can actually guess what they are talking by just looking at them. Most of them have their parents visiting them to help them with the baby. So they try to help their parents with the menu and how to eat with a fork and a knife etc. I enjoy watching other’s parents especially when the guy marries a Chinese girl or an American.

Now with parents with kids, toddlers to say six years old, the first thing they do once they get a table is to impatiently wait for the waiter to come and take the order. They decide what to eat on their way to the restaurant. They hate waiting and expect the food to arrive in record time. They start complaining about the waiter. They struggle to stop the kid from pulling others hair, hitting other babies, running away from the table, and pouring water all over themselves. The kids become very imaginative at restaurants and come up with highly unpredictable pranks. Father expects the mother to take care of the kid and vice versa and they both decide never to come to a restaurant again and order the food to go. Once the food arrives, both of them try to make sure that the kid likes it and eats it. Meanwhile they forget to even look at what is on the other’s plate and just gulp in and swallow their food. The kid ends up playing with the food and not eating anything leaving the parents more frustrated and the waiter poor guy never gets good tip as the parents think that it is his entire fault for not getting the food in time!

I am a mother of 3 year old. We went through all the phases mentioned above and came up with great tricks to make our life peaceful and enjoy our trip to a restaurant. We take one of my son’s favorite toys so that he can be busy playing with it till the food comes. We try to ask for a table which is away from the trouble making zone. We let him play with the sugar packets and make some nice sugary water so that he does not pour the water on the table or some where else. We play our game of guessing the age of the marriage of the couples sitting around our table and have some fun till the food arrives. We also try to look at what others have ordered and if it looks good so that we can try it out by ourselves. Once the food arrives, we share our food, have fun, and make sure he eats some thing to fill himself. I prefer going to restaurants where I can play this game!

A priest’s rather expensive advice

It was my Son’s 3rd birthday. My in-laws suggested performing Aksharabhayasam to him before he started Pre School. It is a ceremony performed before a kid starts his/her formal education to get blessings from the Gods. So we went to a Hindu temple in Livermore, Silicon Valley. The location holds significance here as the priest’s demands change according to the location

Usually we call the Temple office and they allot the Priest who is available on the day. We were allotted a priest who might be in his early 30’s who was originally from Andhra Pradesh. The Pooja was done to our satisfaction and we were happy that my son got enough blessings. After the Pooja, I was helping the Priest clean up the Manadapam (the place where the Pooja was perfoemed) as I spoke to the Priest. I was not keeping good health and my husband wanted to know if he can perform any Pooja to help me get better.

The Priest was very excited that we started this topic. Here is our conversation:

Priest: Read Aditya Hrudayam (a prayer to Sun god) 16 times for 8 Sunday’s and then give some Dakshina (offerings) to a Brahmin.

I should confess that I am a little slow in understanding the underlying meaning of certain statements or conversations.

Me: I will definitely do that. Thank you for your suggestion. Really appreciate it.

I was very happy that he gave me the advice free of cost and was already thinking very highly of him.

Priest: It would be good if you can donate some form of gold to a Brahmin along with the Dakshina at the end of 8 weeks. It will keep your health intact.

Anyways, by now, any sane person would have realized that the Brahmin in the dialogue can be the Priest himself and he is waiting for me to say that I will come to him and give the gold to him. But I never get such things

It did not end there.

Priest: The gold offering can be in any form. It is better if you can give a gold coin with the carving of a Son God on it.

Me: Oh! Ok. But do we get such coins in the gold shops here?

My husband was surprised at my dumb question. He tried to signal me to stop talking but did I tell you that I am not good at picking up those signals either.

Priest: You can check all the stores in the Bay Area. I am not sure if they are available. You can get it from India if some body you know is visiting this place. In case you cannot find a gold coin like that you can also give a finger ring with a coral in it. You know Sun god likes Corals.

Me: Oh is it? OK. I think that is more likely to get in the stores here. I started thinking how will I know the size of the Brahmin to whom I am going to donate the ring
I looked at my husband eagerly to get his permission to say yes to the Priest. He was thankful that I looked at him at last and questioned me what was I doing. So I stood up and went close to him and he asked me to keep quiet. At this point I realized that may be the Priest is getting greedy. I tried to wrap it up with him and move but he continued:

Priest: Actually with a finger ring there are chances that we may take it out some times and put it aside. This way we can lose it and you don’t want us to lose it right. So I think the ideal thing would be to donate a gold chain of this height (he put his hand almost touching his belly to show the height of the chain) and a locket of a dollar size. That would be the best thing to do as we will never take out the chain and you won’t have the fear of losing it.

He continued saying that you should not worry about the cost of the offering as you both are software engineers earning here. (There he said it. This is a dialogue we some times hear from Priests in the temples here.)

That’s it now I understood his intentions. I smiled at him, gave him a heavy Dakshina and walked out of the temple. On our drive back home my husband was laughing at me for being so dumb.

PS: I dont mean to hurt the sentiments of anyone here, I simply wanted to narrate my experience