Science Girl and Visvesvaraya Museum

Our favorite hangout in Bangalore is the Visvesvaraya Museum. More precisely it's my daughter YoungMM's favorite place than mine. This time we went after a gap of more than a year. It is by far our 7th or 8th visit to the museum. Every time YoungMM gets inside the museum she enjoys each exhibit as though it is the first time she is seeing that. She is excited about the humans and the machines alike and the science behind them. 

We spend a lot of time with each exhibit, analyze, understand the principle. I call her "Sheldon" (from The Big Bang Theory). Like Sheldon in Young Sheldon, she also watched the live telecast of all the Nobel Prize announcement and the award ceremony! 

The museum has made a 2020 Nobel Prize winners gallery. YoungMM happily posed next to the poster of Andrea Ghez, who won Nobel Prize for Physics. She adores her! 

It takes about 3-4 hours to see the museum completely. I particularly like the automation that is done to demonstrate science concepts. It's a great place for all science lovers.

After the museum, a walk near Cubbon park will be relaxing and cool. Truly a treasure in Namma Bengaluru.

                                 

Growing Younger with YoungMM - Finding Sweet Spot with Karate

We started with basketball very early for my daughter as she was taller than her aged kids. She had the classes on Saturday evening and Sunday mornings. She is very diligent and obedient went to practice every week without missing and without a bit of complaining. She was also going for the summer and Dasara camps every year for about 3 years in a row.

Though she went so many years she was always in the Junior group. Kids who started much later and much shorter were moving to the next category but she continued in the same category. I observed this and but this did not bother me as we considered it as a form of exercise. I was really surprised when she did not even try to join the basketball team at school. This made me think and I had an open discussion on why is it so. Then only I got to know that she does not like basketball and she is not able to play wholeheartedly. This is when we stopped Basketball.

LittleMM now Young, did not go to any sports for a while. She dabbled with swimming, explored classes for Table Tennis but nothing actually stuck with her. She also joined a Bollywood dance class with her neighboring friends. She enjoyed it a bit for the people who were running it, but not really as a pastime.

One evening as we were passing through a park very near our house we saw a group of children practicing a few Karate moves. Then we stood there for a while and saw them practice. There was a small lean girl who was fighting with zeal. This impressed us a lot. So casually my husband asked if my daughter wants to join Karate. We were surprised when she said Yes, as she has always been a very mild and soft person and I could not imagine her in Karate fights.

As she started with Karate she went to each class with enthusiasm and energy. Since the class was closer to home I picked her from the class and my father-in-law dropped her. So I never got to see how she was doing in the classes. After about 6 months, YoungMM said she wants to go to a Karate Tournament that was upcoming. I was shocked. I tried to persuade her not to go to the tournament as I believed that it is too early to get into competitions and if she gets hurt and she may discontinue it. But she was very firm about this. Also, her Karate Sensei said she is very good with Kata. At this time I had no idea of Karate techniques. 

We went for her first Tournament. It was amazing to see so many small kids geared up for the competition very early in the morning. School ground where these tournaments are held turn festive with many Karate rings, trophies, and medals.

My daughter's turn came after a long time and she displayed Kumite in several rounds. Me not able to grasp much was pleasantly surprised when she reached finals and won first place! This was just the beginning of her long and lovely association with Karate.

I learned that, whenever we are bored with something, it always helps to take a break, step back, and see if we can start with something else which can be our sweet spot.