Fun with Accents

Reflections and recollections continue as we prepare to leave 2013 in the rear view mirror. In this post Carolyn remembers the slight Canadian accent Akshay had and the way he would roll his eyes.

Akshay used to come to the office with us, and the poor boy would be quite bored on the days we were packed with work. One day, he sauntered up to Raj's table, and asked him, "What are you working on?" Raj told him we had to do a card for some client. So he said, "Why don't you do a poem? You can get them online" " A what?" I asked, because our Canadian boy pronounced it pome. "POME", he said pronouncing the word clearly to this half deaf Carolyn Auntie. "Oh A poyem!" I exclaimed in my best South Indian English. The little boy instantly gave me a very teenage eye-roll and walked away. The rest of the day, he kept teasing me, talking to me in his version of a South Indian accent. At which I would reply in his Canadian accent... We had good times - Akshay and I.

Here are Akshay's friends in his room on his second anniversary.

This is Roshan,grown bigger now. He and Akshay were about the same height.

A Boxful of Wrappers!

We all have been recollecting times spent with Akshay. Carolyn recalls one such naughty little anecdote about our cute little man.

When Babli had left Akshay with us in Bangalore, she had bought him a big stock of candies - Mentos of different flavours and some minty candies as well. Our boy would go rummaging in the dabba in which they were kept, and when I caught him digging just before a meal I would yell out "No sweets before dinner!" At which he would laugh mischievously and scurry off. The dabba always looked full, and I used to tease him about some other secret stash because this dabba was full all the time. He would giggle in reply, till one day I lifted the dabba while dusting, the damn thing was so light, but full! I opened it- the naughty boy had been putting the wrappers right back after stuffing the candy in his mouth, so that no one would find out how many he had eaten! We all had a big laugh!

Guru Pooja at home

Heaven in our Hearts

It is said that when you see someone in your dreams, it is because that person misses you and not the other way round.

Two years on ... it is not how long it has been but how much we have missed and remembered you Akshay. They say,when someone we love is in heaven a little bit of heaven is in our hearts... along with the heartache, I must add.

Arithmetically Amusing

Today's date is special-a once in a lifetime date - 11.12.13 because the numbers come in a sequential order. Akshay would have found this so interesting. Many people are planning to do special things on this day as it is arithmetically amusing.In Dubai hotels will light up the sky with the numbers as the picture suggests. Why do people get excited over such dates - there was 11.11.11 two years back - it was kind of spooky and 12.12.12 had us all jittery with end of the world fears. But there is a sense of order and control with today's numbers as they come in a predictable sequence. I believe it will be the last date of this century to have sequential numbers. Tomorrow we mark Akshay's second anniversary.Wish 12.12.11 had never come.

Quick Response Code

Here is the QR Code for Akshay Sharma. QR code is the quick response code - a kind of barcode that can be read by a machine like a barcode reader or even a smartphone - there's an app available with which one can read this code. You can create the QR code for your own name too for free on the Internet. The QR code was invented by Toyota for tracking vehicles, but now it used everywhere in marketing. The most common is when you scan the QR code on a product for example, it converts it into the url of the website of that company, so that you don't have to type it into the web browser.

I am sure you love this Akshay!