Side effects of ahvin a toddler at home:

1. Your room is suddenly full of diaper packets, funny looking squeaky toys, dolls with hair torn apart and did i mention that wierd damp smell...dont even ask!

2. Your deo starts to smell like johnson's baby powder

3. You have to bite your tongue to stop from starting a phone conversation with 'Cheechu kutty' in a voice that sounds you were trying to mimick moonram pirai sridevi

4. Dosai becomes chochai, chicken becomes chia, 1's are called wee wee, 2's are potty, messy 2's are called 'mommyyyy help!'

5. Stray paper lying around is nibbled off with immediate effect. No, credit card statements, electricity bills, train tickets and rental agreements are no exceptions!

6. Everyone suddenly wants to know how a dog barks, a crow 'crows??', a bus honks...that too from a one year old!

7. You fall asleep singing god awful lullabys with the baby sitting wide awake on your lap

8. Left over mashed dal rice, wheat 'kanjee', apple pulp, paalak and daal 'kanjee' find a way into your daily diet

9. Your mobile has random calls going out to bewildered people (thanks to speed dial!), new entries in phone book that go 888, 6, *79 et al

10. You become primary entertainment channel and expected to deliver everytime that it's breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, supper dinner time...do baby talk (even if you are 25 years old), run around and use a dumb doll as creatively as possible

11. And if you sleep walk, beware...the little soft mound you are about to step over is not a swell in the pillow or the blanket!

P.S: My one year old niece nishu has been staying at my house of late...and she's trying her best to pull the laptop charger from the socket as i am typing this

P.S.S: i think i am going to have to replace my charger!....btw, the pic above is the kind of company i get when i'm on net