Thursday, January 16, 2020

Oracle r12 AP Query to determine if the Discount is being calculated properly

Hello,
We had an issue where the Discount on an Invoice was not being calculated properly.

For example, we had two lines - first line was a regular Item (Discountable) and the second line was Freight (not discountable).

Oracle was for some reason reducing the Freight amount from the Item instead of the Invoice Total, thus returning a reduced discount.

I wrote this query to find out all the lines where the "Discountable amount" was not equal to the Item total.

select i.invoice_id, i.invoice_num, i.invoice_date, i.invoice_amount,i.amount_paid,i.amount_applicable_to_discount,
il.item_total, il.other_total, t.name, i.source,i.creation_date--, trunc(sysdate) -700--, i.discount_amount_taken
from ap_invoices_all i, ( select * from
        (
            select 
                case 
                    when upper(line_type_lookup_code)= 'ITEM' then 'Item'
                    else 'Other'
                end line_type,
                invoice_id,
                amount
            from      ap_invoice_lines_all
            where  1=1
        ) t
        pivot
        (
            sum(amount)
         for (line_type )
         in ( 'Item' as Item_total,
               'Other' as Other_total 
              )
         ) 
         ) il, -- group by line_type_lookup_code
 ap_terms_tl t
where 1=1
and i.invoice_id =  il.invoice_id
and i.exclude_freight_from_discount = 'Y'
and i.disc_is_inv_less_tax_flag = 'N'
and trunc(i.creation_date) >= to_date('12/23/2019','mm/dd/yyyy') -- trunc(sysdate) -700
and nvl(i.amount_paid,0) <> 0
and i.amount_applicable_to_discount <> il.item_total
and i.terms_id = t.term_id
and il.other_total > 0
order by i.creation_date

Please feel free to share your code or if you have any suggestions to make it better.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Eager for the next fight

There is a malayalam song from an album which goes somewhat like this:

“Aadhymaayi kanda naal ormayundo?
Aar adhyam kandathu ormayundo?
……."
(Do you remember the day when we first met? Do you remember, who saw first…)

Thinking on those lines, I tried to recollect when we had our first fight. It was too often that I could not remember the first time or who started the fight or why we had a fight or how we reconciled. Having a fight was not fun …. but reconciliation was definitely fun.

After a fight, we would not talk to each other for sometime. Then after a good 10 minutes or so, I would start singing some songs like – ‘Root na jana tumse kahun tho…’ and after singing the same line around 10 times, she would relax her shoulder and facial muscles and slowly stop staring outside the window and a glare at me would mean things are good… and life would proceed. As our marriage aged, she understood my tricks and would not easily budge on songs…. at least not if I just repeated the same line or if I repeated the same song… and I had to recollect other songs…. ‘bade aache lagthe hein….’ usually worked if nothing else worked.

As time went, our fights took different turns and became more complicated and the songs did not help at all. Not even ‘bade aache lagthe hein’, most of them resolved only because of ‘time’ or when some god-sent phone call or a when god-sent visitor comes. I still remember one of the fights… it was three years back….. though I do not recollect the reason of the fight, I recollect the reconciliation process. Trying to appease her, I first sang one of her favorite songs and the way she looked at me uff... if the song was a piece of paper, she would crushed it and put to trash. Then, I slowly went close by her…. expecting a fist to come close to my face…. I kept my nose guarded. No reaction! Took the next step…. lied down next to her…. Still no reaction…. Acted as if going to sleep…. And slowly put my hand near her palm…. No reaction yet…. Slowly touched her palm at the same time acting it was an accident…yes… there was a slight reaction, she pulled her hand away and turned with her back facing me now…… sang one more song …. She quipped… ‘I am trying to sleep… do not talk and disturb me’. Her hand, was no where visible, so I moved my leg and slowly touched her leg…. the lioness in her woke up…. and warned me of dire consequences if I tried to touch her again….. “o o! accident… sorry… I did not do it intentionally…” I meowed like a cat. I scooted closer to her after around 5 minutes…she warned me again …. and I said, “this is also my bed… and I have not touched you yet. Tell me if I touch you”. Then I put my hand across her still not touching her…. and told her, if you move and my hand touches you, it is not my mistake… after sometime I slowly kept my arms over her hips…. She did not complain….then slowly scooted closer to her… she turned and pushed me back…and I said…

’What? I can’t even touch you or what?’
She said –‘No! You can’t until you behave.’

Let me see what you will do if I touch you and held her hands down and hugged her… she tried to free herself up.... for sometime … and then resorted to biting…. I held her face with my face forcibly, then she started to tickle me… and I too started to tickle her and we both started to laugh… and laughs turned to smiles and smiles to …… and in a few minutes we could start feeling the wind blow to our legs first, then to our arms and then to our backs….. and ... the result of our reconciliation was felt after around 2-3 weeks when she started to vomit…..and 9 months later… we had a handsome and cheerful baby boy.

Our child, has been keeping us busy and it is he who helps resolve most of our fights, either he would cry for a diaper change or for milk, or he would flip over and cause joy, or he would have taken his first step or he would have broken our favorite vase or he would have spilled the glass of milk or he would quit eating etc etc…. Its long time since we got an opportunity to have a fight and reconcile. The only songs I sing now are the lullabies…. And I guess, it is time for the next fight now…. need to pick up a fight with her so that we can have one more reconciliation…..and time to learn new songs... nah... may skip the songs this time ;-)

Few New York Photos

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Ohmkaram Skit 2007 for Vishu




This Skit's story, lyrics for the parody and dialouges were written by me. Hope it was ok.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Cheese abhisegham .... swamikyu

Sabarimala season is about to start and our temple here is having Ayyappa puja every other Saturday. Our Hindu Temple like all other Hindu temple in US is unique. (What? 'Unique' and 'same like others'?) What I meant when I said 'like other Hindu temples' was that the main god worshipped is 'Lord Balaji'. What I meant when I said 'unique' was nothing - I was wrong - there is nothing unique in this temple. It does exactly what all other temples here do. Same pujas, same festivals, same everything. (I know if it is a Hindu temple, everything has to be same).

Anyway, I liked going to the temples in Kerala, always felt divine and holy after coming out... though I used to look at girls while praying, that did not take the feeling of godliness. In fact, the girls too looked divine. Most of the girls wore a red pavadai (long skirt) and green top with golden shiny border. They would have a little sandal wood paste in the forehead and below it or over it red bindi - kunkumam. Eyes beautiful with the kajal (kan mashi), small golden ear rings, thick golden necklace on their chest, silver colored padaswaram (anklets)... black oily hair separated from the center... little mulla-poo (jasmine flower) ....their back (above the hips) wet with the water from the hair...a smile in the face... anyways... I miss that in the temples here.

In spite of missing all that here, I still go to the temple, at least every Saturday.... at 11:30 sharp..... Why? No! I don’t have 'shani dasha' (or Saturn problem). Its just that I like the food, the prasadam, that is served on those days. Though my wife is an excellent cook, there is nothing like food cooked by somebody else.... lot of ghee and cashews and grapes and etc... All the things that my wife thinks have cholesterol. I usually have the prasadam first before going to the temple... who knows if there would be any left when I return.... (Need to beat the college students/bachelors around...). Darshan of the big idol of Lord Venkateswara brings immense peace in me... it also helps me digest the food that I just had. I keep praying until... the pujari brings the 'dry-fruits tray'. Our temple is small and pujas are conducted every 30 minutes or so. If I time it wrong, I may have to sometimes wait for 30 minutes until the tray comes back. On such occasions, I go visit the smaller gods - Ganesha, Rama, Krishna and Shiva. If I see the pujari start the puja, I skip either Krishna or Shiva and go back to the main deity. I pray with all my heart and devotion for the puja to finish fast so that the pujari brings the tray. It takes more time if somebody has to do an aarthi. If it is a telgu family, it takes even more time.... long names and multi-gothras. My last stop is at the nava-grahas. Going around it makes me a bit giddy....and then I rest for sometime. That is when I think and compare of my kerala days to the US days. Though I miss the girls whom I used to see... this is better.... I have never got such fruits for prasadam in Kerala... wow... Cashews, almonds, raisins, walnuts, pista, sometimes real fruits like apples, bananas and grapes... mmmm... nobody can beat that. (Wish they had pizza and pasta too)

I asked the temple manager why they serve such things as prasadam? He gave me the common answer - 'That's what we get here....' I wonder..... Since they do not get 'ghee' here... will they use cheese instead for the nei (ghee) abhishegam for Ayyappa???

Swamiye saranam ayappa !!!!
Cheese(nei) abhisegham swamikyu,
kalpura deepam swamikyu....

do they get camphor here??? Is it not banned???

Love at first absence

They say that it takes about 30 seconds to fall in love at first sight. It took less than that to miss her when she stepped away. We were together (married) for over 2 years and not a single day did we stay away from each other since then. We would wake up seeing each other, eat together, go-out together, sleep together and there was no activity or moment we were away (of course, we were away when I went to work). We were no longer couples, we were one, sharing our life and thoughts and I had not realized that her absence would be so hurting.

When she was with me, we would scream and shout almost everyday. Sometimes our conversations turned into quarrels, discussion turned into arguments but at the end of the day we were happy and smiling. Our life was nothing but a smooth sailing boat with occasional currents, well, who does not have it? Then, her brother’s marriage got fixed and she was asked to come home early to help in preparation. Both of us were excited... another marriage at home.... time for another celebration... wow ...and we eagerly started preparing for her travel. Shopping and looking for deals on everything from Airline tickets to Candies.

When it was time for her to leave, we started picking up fights more often; I guess it was our insecurity. She would want me to come home early from work and I would want her to sit with me whole night and do nothing. There were times I felt that she leave earlier than later.....

But when she crossed the security gate.... man ... I was devastated. It was like falling in love knowing sure that there would be no reciprocating feeling; it seemed like a tragedy and the end of the world. The next moment was equally cruel. They say, time heals.... but time was not healing at all, but was making it worse, it was making me miserable. Everything I saw reminded me of her. A couple around corner reminded me of our time we spent together, every word spoken reminded me of her tone, every gesture reminded me of her action, every look reminded me of her eyes. Everything reminded me of her and haunted the loneliness in me like a ghost. Telling myself not to think about her led to more thoughts about her. I could not stop thinking of anything with out associating it with her. She stayed in my mind when I was working, spending time with friends, jogging in the morning or browsing in evening. I was looking around and was trying to find out if any of the things would be useful or interesting for her. Back home, I was afraid to leave the phone for a moment because I was sure that the moment I step away, she would call. Things that never worried me started to worry me. I would rather stay by myself than going out anywhere without her. I felt the world did not exist without her and nobody expected me to go anywhere alone. When we walked together we did not even let go each others hands even for a second and here I was now not even a shadow of hers with me. The Pankaj Udhas song - "naye kapade pehen kar jahun kahan aur baal banavu kis ke liye, woh shaks to shaher hi chod chala, mein bahar jaaun kiskeliye?" kept running in my mind.

My friends almost got bored of me as I had nothing to talk to them about other than her. They started thinking I am bit crazy and started to avoid me. My friend’s wives looked at me with a mix of envy and compassion. If I knew separation could be so miserable, I would never have let her go. If I knew her absence would make me fall in love with her, I would wish I never fall in love again.

Ok folks, I am going to show the above note to my wife, will it make her happy and prompt her take another trip to India. Its 12 months now since she went to India. I want her to feel happy when she goes home; I want her to feel that I will miss her terribly when she is away. Do you think the above one is good enough? I have a blog ready with what I did last time when she was away- the title is 'Loved her first absence'. Will post that soon, but tell me is the above note fine. I have to make plans and invite my friends and have party when she is gone.....!!!! Hurry up!!!

American breakfast - Desi style

Saturday morning as I was getting ready to go out wearing my slippers, my wife suggested that I should wear the shoes instead of the chappal. She said, 'Have you ever seen a 'gora' go out in sandals?' I said - 'I am not a American.... I am a desi... why should I wear shoes?' For that she said, 'When you are in Amreica, do what the amreicans do.'

My argument:
If somebody served you Jilebi, Mysore-pavu, Laddu and Burfi along with Payasam(Kheer), would you have it for breakfast?
Why not? The Americans eat Doughnuts, Danishes and Bagels with double egg ommellete and Orange juice, then why don't you? When they can have their Cereals with sugar and milk and other sweet fruits added to the breakfast, why can't you eat? Why don't you have the American breakfast - Desi style?

She: No answer!

Verdict - I won.

Result: I still had to wear the shoes.....

Wishing her all the bad things….

No. Its not regarding my ex-crush or girl friend. How can I wish bad things for them? I am after a normal human being who can not hate anybody. Anyway, my bad wishes are for that lady police officer who gave me a hefty ticket for a driving violation. Here it goes…..

May a deadly and poisonous snake bite her on her left leg while she is sleeping and having a terrible nightmare about a dog biting her nose off. May she fall from the bed due to the snake bite and break her left arm and may she trip and fall on her face when trying to get up and run away from the snake. May she fracture her right leg on that fall. May she then fall on the open and un-flushed toilet with her head first and may her arm accidentally hit the flush lever and may her hair get stuck in the toilet bowl. May all her hair come off when she finally gets her head out. May lightning then strike her on her head and then may her house also catch fire. May a tree fall on her car when she tries to go the hospital. May her husband get a heart-attack listening to the news and get all of his right side paralyzed. May she gets AIDS in the blood transfusion and then cough and vomit blood. May her intestine come out of her nose due to the cough. May the syringe poke her left eye and may the doctor operate her right eye by mistake. May she bite her own tongue off when trying to eat some food. May her eyebrows melt and stick to her lips like a moustache. May she look like a devil who has just seen a cross.

May she live long and ………..

Boy or a girl

Our conversation ended when my wife said … ‘you should have sisters to know and understand. Hope you son also has a sister and he won’t be like you.’

I have always lost arguments when somebody brings that up. It makes me feel that I have sinned, at the same time I do not understand what is the big thing about having a sister? Are people with no sisters heartless and people with sisters ‘gentlemen’? I had grown up in a family where most of us were boys/men and as such did not understand what it is to have a sister. The little I knew about girls was when my cousin sisters came over during summer vacations. Did not miss having sisters when with them but when they left… I always wanted them to stay back. There were times I hated them when it took hours for them to get ready but there was also moments where I would sit besides them watching the way they would knot/oil their hair or put the nail polish.

Anyways, I had few friends who had sisters… and these guys did not have two horns on their head. But I had noticed that they would not invite any guys to their homes especially if those guys did not have any sisters. Their friendship would end at the corner of the street. Regarding guys who had sisters, I have noticed the following things (exceptions exist):

1) All liked their sisters only after they got married and went away. Until then, they cursed them and hated them.

2) These guys would return home even before sunset.

3) Would not bunk classes and go for movies

4) Would not watch ‘rated’ movies

5) Were mean as not to invite good people (like me) to their homes. (The closest I have gotten to is to the door. Never gone inside)

6) Would not wait in bus-stops or tea-shops after school/college to sit and chatter.

7) Would not give away phone numbers

The list is long…..

Regarding guys who did not have sister:

1) Would never go home until the moon was above their head

2) Would not feel guilty bunking classes for movies

3) Had ‘time-pass’ girl friends

4) Would watch all sort of movies and talk about them too

5) Sit at bus-stops and theater, watching and commenting girls

6) Invite all friends home.

7) Would freely give phone numbers and not mind blank phone calls or such nuisance.

Coming back to the actual topic in mind, my wife is in the 4th month of pregnancy and it already seems like a very long month. Our first one was a boy and we are yet to know the sex of the new baby and that could be another reason for the 4th month being so long. I want the second one to be a boy too after all he will have a company and can play similar games, discuss and talk similar topics …but she wants a girl. We have our own reasons; in fact, I have more reasons on why I want a boy, she too has many reasons… and her last reason is – ‘you won’t understand since you don’t have sisters’. Few of her other reasons were, girls are more attached to their parents and will take care of them when old, and girls like their father more, so I should be happy to have a girl etc. I asked if Lord Rama had sisters and see how much he loved his father and mother that he did not think twice to obey their wishes. Even the Pandavas did not have sisters. They too obeyed their mother. That’s how boys are!!!! On the other hand, Ravana had a sister, look what he did. If there is a girl in the house, there will never be peace. For this, she asked me not to tell stories. Then, I took examples from Mahatma Gandhi to Sachin Tendulkar.

Anyways, we won’t know the sex of the baby for sometime to come… until then we will keep arguing amongst us which is better. I would like to have a girl baby as long as she is kind like my mother and beautiful like my wife, else I need a boy.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Ohmkaram 2006 Part of Thiruvathira kalli

Ohmkaram 2006 Part of Thiruvathira kalli.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Why Disha is better than my wife.....

I disliked it when my wife gave me driving directions. I could take all her attitude but could not take it when she gave me directions. When we slowed down at an intersection, wondering to take a right or left…. She would, without even being asked would tell – ‘Take right’ and I would take a left, just to prove her wrong and we would end up wasting at-least half-an-hour going around and finally stop at the gas station asking for direction. Yes. She was right, we should have taken the right at that intersection. No! Its not always like that… she gives wrong directions too but that goes un-noticed during arguments.

When we got married, we had hardly any reason to fight or argue amongst us. We had similar interest, similar tastes etc. She never complained at my drinking or the vulgar jokes I cracked when with friends. We were perfect – made for each other. This remained until we took the long drive to Florida (from Atlanta). The drive went well. We were armed with ‘map-quest’ maps with turn-by-turn directions. Everything went fine until we reached a ‘de-tour’ sign. There was some road construction and the roads were blocked. I was completely out of all sense of direction. Not used to thinking if we are going North or South or East or West….. I was suddenly stuck and embarrassment flowing down as sweats from forehead… decided to drive by intuition. ‘Follow the car ahead of you’ was the policy I used. It did not work out well. It was then I started to see the true nature and color of my wife…. she became mean and started to give me directions. I would say – ‘What do you know…. You do not even know driving and you are giving me directions??? Huh?’ Yes! That was the last time I said that, since then, I have just said that in my mind, never dared to speak openly. Anyways, I always went the opposite side to what my wife said. Sometimes, it worked and she would say, ‘I intentionally told you the wrong way, so that you will take the right turn’. I would say – ‘Venda toa. Samartyam venda (Don’t try to act smart). All our arguments started here and the pain of insult remained in me and I carried it to everything else… I would find fault in her cooking…. ‘Is that sambar or rasam?’ She would prepare coffee and I would say the tea is not good, she would prepare chicken and I would say why is the fish like this….I can’t differentiate your cooking… all food tastes the same'. I would not miss an opportunity in praising my friend’s wife’s cooking. Our marital woes had started and from ‘made-for-each-other’ changed to ‘fate-for-each-other’… cursing our fate on whom we married. I would think, ‘Were my parents blind when they choose her for me? What were they thinking? Just to get rid of their responsibility they selected her or what!!! At least I should have taken some dowry.’ She too would say the same thing back to me altering the words here and there.

Well, everything is history now. After Disha came to our life, life is good. She has changed everything for me. She has stopped those fights between me any my wife. She is always with me when I go out. I prefer to go out with her rather than my wife. She looks good, thin and beautiful. She is good in directions too. Well behaved .. never hurts my ego, never argues, never insults, does not talk with that ‘tone’. No mood swings or attitude. She has never let me down... giving right directions always. She has affected my marriage with my wife too. The happiness Disha gives me outside my home, I carry it to inside my home and spread it across to my wife. My wife is happy too. And when time came to intoduce Disha to my wife, my heart skipped a beat .... and my wife.... she too was excited to see Disha - our new GPS Navigation system.

Why Triglycerides and Cholesterol are sometimes good for you …..

The doctor read my blood report – high cholesterol, high triglycerides, over weight, no physical activity, smoking, drinking etc. and tagged me ‘high risk’. Wow!!! Congratulations!! You have everything to have worried wife.

He was right. When my wife read the report, she became really concerned and worried. The first thing she told me was to take a ‘Life Insurance’. The doctor had also attached a few sheets, one had a three colored pyramid, other had some black and white images of people running, and other had some images of some food and drinks. The plan was to make me eat healthy food, stop all bad habits and do some exercise – Get me in shape!!! were the exact words that the doctor had used. I had to exercise, run/jog whatever for 45 minutes, three days a week, every week. No smoking or drinking! No red-meat and lot of fruits. Hold on! I said, I do not eat red-meat and I drink lot of fruit/vegetable juice.

Vegetable juice? Is it V8?

No! I drink barley water (beer, whisky etc.) and occasionally grape juice (wine). I also do breathing exercise.

Breathing exercise? Yoga?

No! Inhale and exhale – smoking.

Good! Way to go!!!

Being very warm outside, we decided to buy a Treadmill. Bought a ‘fully loaded’ one – it has a fan, connects to TV and also to the computer. There is this software that you can use to track your progress and it can be sent to experts for advice. Apart from that, it has the heart rate and pulse monitor and other useless things like – Carb and calories burnt etc. We went to the showroom and ordered one…shipping and installation was not free…. So decided to rent a van and with the help of a friend brought it home….and when we finally brought it home, I had a back sprain and could not stand straight. Was in bed for whole day, and after many Tylenols and Tiger balms, was ready to walk. Bad start!!! Loss of pay for a day and the cost of medicines.

My friend suggested that the Treadmill is best as cloth hanger and swimming is the best. Went to the local YMCA and they had deals for a year membership, month to month was expensive…. Guess what! took the 1 year membership. Went swimming one day… and realized that I had chlorine allergy. Back to the doctor office and Walgreens. Though I became fairer after the chlorine bath that is not what I wanted. Also, there was a fee for cancellation which was more than the membership itself.

It was then, sombody told me about the cricket match tournament using tennis ball. I thought, after all it is not a cricket ball and I won’t get hurt, I should play. Waited for Saturday morning, woke up early in the morning, made a double omelet and drank the Boost that we had bought, carried a bottle of Gatorade. On Saturday, it rained and the game was cancelled, felt guilty of eating all that stuff thinking it would get burnt. The game was postponed to Sunday and this time, I skipped the egg and Boost. The game started an hour late…..it was fun playing especially after such a long time, approximately 10 years… I realized that I still had my thigh muscles….and soon that realization became a pain… by morning all my body parts were aching and I could not even lift my arms. Ouch!! By now, I had become a familiar face at the doctor’s office and at Walgreen’s. Another set of hot patches, ointments and taunts from my wife, was finally fit to lift my arm upwards.

You won’t believe what happened next, decided to play volleyball. Since it did not involve much running or sudden jerky actions, that was the game for me. Played safe for a week, next weekend, I was down again, this time with a broken finger and sprained wrist. It took three weeks until the doctors removed the plasters. Then when the soccer matches started, played soccer with group of friends, twisted my knees... missed work again, was in hospital and after getting discharged, was using the crutch for a week. Learnt in a hard way that outdoor activities were not good for me and decided to do yoga. The yoga book said that it should be done in comfortable clothes and most comfortable cloth for me as a ‘lungi’. I do not want to describe how my wife felt seeing me doing yoga in lungi. I am leaving it to the reader’s imagination. Yoga sessions too did not last long. My neck sprained and was walking like a robot for over a week.

That was the end of my physical activity. The doctor declared that it was better for me to have the high cholesterol and triglycerides rather than do exercises.

Now I can eat all I want, drink all I desire and live merrily, after all triglycerides and cholesterol are not bad for me....!!!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Penance that Yashoda took

My wife would wake-up early in the morning, not bothering to wake me up, she would hurry to the kitchen…..she had started on her daily chores. I sneaked by and watched her expression-less face as she was wiping off the damp plates from dishwasher and putting it in order. Upon seeing me she smiled from the corner of her lips and begged me to make a coffee for her.

She had lot of things to do. Every step she took, she would either stamp on a toy or crayon or some other thing which was not supposed to be lying there. She then slowly said, as if thinking very hard, ‘You are spoiling him. Can you not ask him to keep the toys in its place? See! his toys are inside the fridge too.’ As we were talking, we heard the small steps coming towards us. Yes! It was him. He was standing near me raising both his hands towards me and eyes-half closed. He knew it was not the right time to go to Mom. Smiling, I picked him forgetting about the coffee she wanted me to make. Trying to wake him up was my favorite thing to do. More I try to wake him up, more he would hug me hard and I loved it. By this time, my wife had heated the milk for him and put in the sipper cup, putting him in her lap…. cajoling him to drink the milk …..asking him to look at the imaginary deer that just ran away, the pigeon that was waiting to be fed, the bug that would sting if he did not drink and etc., but he did not want the milk, he wanted juice. Finally, leaving him and the cup with me, she proceeded for her next activity, murmuring ‘juice in the morning…gone after you’.

As the day progressed, my son’s demands increased….now, he did not want juice either, would chew the toothbrush instead of brushing, at breakfast, he did not want dosa, but idli, he wanted cheese only to put it down and play, he wanted boiled egg but not the yolk, at lunch, he wanted spoon to eat, then a fork and then glass of water so that he could put the rice in it and play, finally wanted cookies instead of rice….he was tireless and my wife was tired dancing to his ever changing tunes. He wanted to play in the sprinkler, draw in the wall using the crayons, tear the papers, sit close to the TV, jump from sofa…. ‘She would say, you will have to eat rice to get the cookies, you will have sit in your chair to watch TV else, no cartoon’. The word ‘no cartoon’ would break his heart and wail at the top of his voice as if he had lost his precious something. ‘Miss Melting heart’ would have no other option but switch the TV on again. At the end of the day when it was time for bed, he would not go to his mom at all… he would keep running away and she would have to beg and plead again… ‘kanna… onu va daa….ketti pidikyatte ’(darling, come once to me, let me hug you). All her pleading would be of no use. She would turn to me and tell…. ‘What have I done to get a son like this?’ Seeing his mother in tears, he would rush and hug her. And to answer her question, I would say – ‘The same thing(penance) that Yashoda did’.