From the Mind of Manyu

Dec. 8 - I am about 40 days old today. This week I went and met my future play-mate who was born exactly 30 days after I was. Looking at this 5 day old baby, I was reminded of my own youth, when I was almost half as heavy, and used to sleep throughout the day. Happy memories...

I am presently able to make out the intonation in all languages - english, kannada, mandarin, swahili, etc. I can also decipher people's faces from individual body parts. In other words, if the features of a face - nose, eyes, eye brows, etc are scrambled, I can still figure out who the person is. You people cannot do this....

But I will soon lose this ability to follow different languages and will specialize in only those that I hear often - English, Kannada, and French. Also I will be better able to recognize small variations in faces and lose my ability to identify a face by its individual features. So when I am 3 months old I am almost like a computer that is pre-loaded with all kinds of programs, abilities and features, and with time, many of these programs will be erased from memory. But then I will become better at using the few programs that I will be left with.

So why then, if I am the most advanced and evolved piece of nature's technology....

... do I have this primitive user-interface? This is the face I make and the sound I make to communicate on every subject. Even Windows 95 has a much more advanced user interface.

Also did I mention that at 2 months I have the same ability to tell two human faces apart as I do telling two monkey faces apart. Over time though, given the exposure to only human faces I will only specialize at telling humans apart, while simultaneously losing my ability to tell monkeys apart. Making monkey faces at me, I understand, is my dad's way of preventing me from losing that ability.

What is that?

Noooo... not the monkey face again!

See what I mean?

I am Stuck

Dec. 7 - First I am placed vertically against the wall and made to stick to it.

This enables me to "stick" to this surface as if by magic. By the way, check out my Ali G outfit, replete with scull cap.

I still have a tenuous grasp of physics, but I believe its called gravity.

OK, that is kiss number 270,882,229 and counting.

Dec 6 - Check out my yellow shoes...

Dec 5 - Mommy using me as a 10 pound weight to do barbell curls, while I closely inspect her bulging biceps.

My 3 Best Service Providers

Dec 4 - If I am really cranky the best person to put me to bed is Oni. She puts me on her shoulder, rocks me on her lap and says sweet things to me in Kannada.

If I am hungry the best person in the world is mommy. She mostly kisses me on my face, gives me food, and kisses me even more.

If I want to see the world I go to daddy...

My Family

Dec 3 - Mommy retires to bed at around 11 pm soon after feeding me and putting me to bed. I wake her up 3-4 times at night for about 1 hour, which, if my math is correct, gives her 8 hours of sleep by 11 am. If I am awake at this time, then I am immediately whisked off to the basement to be looked at by my international family. Thatha, Lalitha, and Seema all have stared admiringly at me gawking at the wall, yawning, drooling, or in most cases toppled over asleep as below.

Mommy and I on webcam, and speakerphone chatting with Lalitha.

My grandmamas sorting through a collection of old photos of Mommy when she was a baby. On the table is a crouching elephant with a mohawk haircut. There is a cute well-dressed brown bear in the red bag, and both were presents from Aunt Govindini and Uncle Jason.

30 day Video

Nov. 28 - Unedited footage on day-28. This is a video weekly update made in the basement. Seema, Lalitha, and Thatha regularly watch me on webcam, but this is higher quality video with some unflattering closeups of my head bruise, large ears, acne, and general baldness.