On Boots and Vadai Maalais
Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 9:57AM Last week saw us visiting the Livermore temple on our wedding day. The little one, who is now asking approximately 20 questions per conversation, started:
LO : Daddy, what ummaachi(god) is this?
Me : That is Krishna ummachi
LO : Daddy, what ummaachi is this?
Me : This is Ramar, Lakshmanar, Sita and Aanjaneyar Ummachi?
LO : This ummachi look like Boots the Monkey daddy! (and she puffed up her cheeks to make a monkey face)
Me : Yes, he is a monkey god Kuttyma. He does look like a monkey.
LO : (a few seconds later we are standing in a dedicated shrine for the Monkey god) Daddy, this Ummaachi also look a like monkey! (it was the same god, except in the previous shrine the idol was made of white marble and this idol was made of black stone!).
Me : It is the same ummaachi, kannamma!
LO : Why have they put all white stuff on him and put all cheries and nuts on him? and what is all those things?
Me : They have decorated him, to make him look nice. And he has a maalai(garland) of vadai's!
LO : Why didn't they give him a banana?
Me : He likes "vadai maalais"!
LO : Monkeys like only bananas. Not Vadais! Boots favorite food is Bananas, daddy!
I have never associated Hanuman aka aanjaneyar ummaachi exclusively as a Banana head!
Can someone tell me why a monkey god should prefer vadai maalais over bananas? Could come in handy to explain to the Little one.
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Reader Comments (7)
One can eat only so many bananas and they are healthy. But Vadais.. One can eat a lot and they are yummy. And we are sure Hanu is not going to eat those..So what do you think humans will pick?
all that is fine.. you know it , I know it..
how will you convince a 2 1/2 year old of the logic here?
:)
Its difficult to string as many Bananas together. Vadas have a hole for stringing...
Plausible ?
yaadayaada and Kavi,
current excuse is that Boots is an american monkey. Desi monkeys like spicy food and so love vadais.
American monkeys like Boots prefer bananas.
:)
Good thing the little one didn't see Durgai with a lemon malai, that certainly would've put you in a pickle. I think the whole Desi vs.American logic is very good. Another way would be to show case individuality. I think she is generalizing and trying to use the logic that if Boots likes banana's all Monkey's(even god's) must also like Bananas. It goes back to the whole Piaget thing that I posted a link a while ago.
I would just say well doesn't you ackka like e.g idli and you like dosa, doesn't mean everybody has to like idli. Another thing I might try is mommy and daddy make you things hoping you would like them, so maybe someone else thought Hanuman would like spicy vadai's and then you pair that with if you want to offer Hanuman banana you can do so deal...
Good luck Sundar annah :)
hahaha!!! very smart ... I think you will have to have a heart to heart talk with Anjaneyar to understand!!
..rotfl..
..when i asked these kind of questions..the standard reply was...ippadi lam keta ummachi kanna kuthidum.. but it won't work for this gen..