7th March, 2002

Asmaani's trips to Sundervan and the zoo are definitely paying off. She can now distinguish between a cougar, a lion, a tiger and a cheetah. If u ask her she actually points out. She calls out 'shake' on seeing a snake pic, 'buibui' on seeing a bulbul and 'cokage' on seeing a cockroach. She watches national geographic and discovery with much more interest than cartoon network.
She misses people. Especially three of them- Abba, dede and kakhee. Believe it or not but even now she misses kakhee especially around seven o'clock! How can the timing be so fixed in her mind I am amazed.
She has a great memory. Like today while she was doing galigali to ( her gali gali is now pretty delicate), out of the blue I asked her "gali nu ghar kyan che?" She instantly pointed out at her neck. Then I casually asked her "biju galli nu ghar kyan che? At this she pointed out under her arm! I had never taught her this. It is something mama or bhabhi must be playing with her. But the best part is she remembers all that u played with her and said to her. Likewise the other when I was cooking she comes to me and demands for 'shaas". I was completely taken aback.
Oh yah, I completely forgot to tell Mama, everyday after bath, Mana stands in front of the mandir and says Baaaphaa and bends as low as she can. It's another thing that after that she bullies the gods too. Today as I was doing pooja, she started saying "shaantaa.." When I started narrating the prayer she joined her hands in unison!

By the way Asmaani has taken to a couple of new things. The world cup's sparing no one, not even little Asmaani. She is now learning to 'baat and bo' with the plastic bat that Abba's got 4 her. She swings the bat with finesse (I think all the 'jhau' traning helped!) but when it comes to bowling the ball fails to fall with the same excitement as the "Po!" she screams.
The second attraction is the blocks that Neeti bhabhi had sent on her b'day. She can stack the blocks and is currently an architect in the making. I frankly feel she's got colour sense. She stacks alternate colours or mainly makes structures out of two colours. It's fun to see her doing all that thoughtfully. The best part is it keeps her busy for at least 15 minutes!