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Hello everybody, I am a bit late in this, but you know what they say about being "better late than never".

Even though this happened to be my first pregnancy and delivery, I have seen many babies and new mothers among my relatives and friends and therefore I was able to adjust to my new situation better than mallI. chikkammA used to come often, at first in a stealthy fashion, but more openly later on. She also used to give us homemade medicine good for nourishing mothers. Though we were sleepless we always tried to lull our babies to sleep. During this time we tried to exchange lullabies. mallI possessed a golden voice and she used to sing some English lullabies.

The marapaachi doll-decor contest results are out, and we are proud to announce that Ms Varchana has won the contest, scoring 2060 points.

Please visit here for full results:

If you want to win a Nobel Prize, the probability for it increases depending upon the particular branch you choose for your research studies. The one little branch of science where more people won the Nobel Prize is X-ray Crystallography. The chemistry prize for this year has gone to three outstanding and very deserving crystallographers - Yonath, Steitz and Ramakrishnan. Also this is a field where many women work.

The child was named SAradA (Sarada) after Chandru’s mother. In fact, Chandru began to boast that he was privileged to use the names of both his mothers (his real mother who is no more and after whom he named his daughter and me whom he always called by my name skipping the relationship of chikkammA)! As usual, being the obstinate self, my father did not attend the naming ceremony. But he was kind enough to send my chikkammA and Rama. chikkammA told us that he drew the child’s horoscope and made a prediction that she would be endowed with the qualities of bravery and fearlessness.

We have 10 contestants participating in the Marapaachi doll-decor contest. Voting poll should be open for five days.

I mentioned in my story (part IX) the solitaire played by seetAdEvi in aSOkavana. I am very fond of this and other similar games as there is lot of mathematical calculations in them. This game is very popular in south India, mainly played by women and children (like me) for pleasure and played by men as an aid to their gambling pursuits. It goes by the name of chenne maNe in kannaDa, vAmanaguMTalu in telugu and pallAMguzhi in tamizh. There are several ways of playing this. As many know, it is made up of wood and has seven hollows scooped out on either side.

Days of happiness and nights of contentment marked the calendar in our house. mallI is also an avid reader. She searched the books in our house and was glad to find a few that suited her interest. It looks like her subject is love, her object is love and her life is love. We felt a wave of joy pass over us whenever we glanced at Chandru and mallI. If I were a poet, I would have written a song on the moon and the jasmine. Unfortunately, only my heart sings a wordless and a tuneless song, yet resonant and melodious! How is it that many say east cannot meet west?

When we are happy, it seems time runs fast like wild horses. After a long time, conversations with Chandru were like sweet honey mixed with nectar. With mallI and Usha around and their father nodding in appreciation, I never knew when day dissolved into night and when night was reborn again as another day. New dimensions were added to our joy with the expectancy of the arrival of two new lives, flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood and image of our images. chikkammA, without my father's knowledge, used to peep in now and then.