Toodaloo 2022

 This time of the year comes around so quickly doesn't it? Literally seems like yesterday I was penning this for 2021. And we are about to draw the curtains on 2022. 

I have savoured many things in 2021. Since I am typing this from a hotel room it makes sense to highlight the best thing to happen this year. It was the trip to Iceland. It was to be a trip of dreams..something we could only imagine  given the fact that Iceland is quite an expensive place. But an of the cuff discussion led to prices being checked, with plans being made, with holidays being booked and a trip being made. It was the best place I have been to. It was tiring, rejuvenating, unique and spiritual. I have written many posts about it and I could keep waxing eloquent still. I had not experienced anything like Iceland and I am grateful to God to have brought it to me. The amazing trip came with its dark cloud too. The kids didn't like it as much as we would have wanted them to. :( Especially Pumpki who simply hated it. She is not yet game for the long tours that are a part of covering such exotic places.

We were able to make a trip to the Jersey islands which were another unique place to have been. It was deeply educative to be through the numerous museums and forts. And we managed to ring in Pumpki's birthday with a trip to London's natural history museum. The wannabe paleantologist deserved this as her birthday gift. It was every bit fun for Chiyaa and the adults. 

Talking about trips, the one I hated was those to my work place which had been made mandatory twice a week from March. When lockdown hit in 2020, working  from home became a part of life. Going back to working at actual desks in formal attire seemed like a thing that happened to other people  by late 2021. But 2022 saw the 'opening' up of places and the return of normalcy as defined pre-pandemic. I was not game for returning to office  and had to start looking for places which had a flexible attitude towards it. I was not very keen on carpet  bombing my resume through job sites either because I loved the place where I worked, loved the people I worked with, loved the stuff I worked on and also loved the pay I got for doing the stuff I loved. Looking for another place satisfying all these criteria was going to be hard. So I took the delicate approach of sending my resume across to ex-collleagues who were more or less friends. And one shot clicked and I ended up getting a new job in July! 

Anything new comes with a ton of re-adjustment. On the surface most things were hunky dory. But I had too many good stuff  happening at my previous work place. It would have been impossible for any new job to match up to it all. At the moment, I am quite dissatisfied with a lot of things and harbour a keen desire to move on. But the work from home is too luscious a carrot to forsake, so for the near future I am sticking with that as incentive. 

Talking of incentives, K and I bought a pair of adjustable dumbbells as an incentive to workout. And somehow they have been the best thing ever! We have encouraged each other to carry on stenght training. But I must confess we have neglected the cardio aspect of fitness. The new year we both plan on coming back to running and improving on stats there. New year comes with many more plans too. There are plans for the house. There are plans for a few more trips. There are plans with family. There are plans with friends. 2022 had taught me, not everything every time goes to plan. But hoping for the best and mentally preparing for any consequence helps. Here is hoping to anyone passing by this post that 2023 brings to fruition all the pleasant plans. And if some plans don't work out, may it just be a pleasant learning exercise. Happy New Year! 

Its the most wonderful time of the year

 Or so the song goes. Its not the most wonderful, but it is relaxed for sure. The girls are on their Christmas break and the house is filled with their howls and giggles :) There is enough fighting and just enough peace making. Since the weather is quite bleak and murky they do not get enough outdoor activity. To remediate this, in steps Cruel Mom Mwahahaha! 

I mandate a walk in the evening. So yesterday we went on a walk around 1630 in the evening. It was pitch black by then, but thank God for street lighting and the jolly Christmas lights that people tend to put up around this time :) To incentivise the walk, I give one ear pod each to a child and act as the DJ dishing out songs. Now poor Pumpki has much smaller ears. The ear pods keep popping out. We had walked only a few metres and they had come off twice *facepalm* Then there was a brilliant idea by yours truly! Hat! We ran home and got a hat to secure the ear pod! Wow! The joys of cold, murky weather :P

We walked a decent stretch and were a few paces from home when the girls kept fiddling with their ear pods. I asked them to hand it over to me. They did. In my enthusiasm to secure them , my cold, numb fingers dropped one of them! On the road! With traffic buzzing past! Good Gawd!!!! The ear pods are a blessing for me. They keep me company with audio books when I do the most soul zapping tasks like folding clothes or cleaning the house. Even for interesting tasks like cooking, they are good company ;) And now I would have one :( The tragedy! And the over thinker me, already charted how one ear would be more impacted than the other and then it would lead to all sorts of issues.  When the traffic was clear, I kept crossing the road to look. Thankfully being a residential area, the cars were not zipping past to kill me. The kids were equally distraught. Then suddenly Pumpki shouted, I found it. It was just a few paces from here. Being closer to the ground due to her shorter height she could see it. (This totally reminded me of a physics problem we used to do in school, about what would be the height of a person if he can see the sun across a sand dune, or something like that. Also not sure if it was Physics or Mathematics. ) This was the reversal of that situation of what distance a person can look down :D 

With Pumpki having saved day, a lot of praise was bestowed on her. Even by Chiyaa who is not so generous with praise for her younger sister. She was patting Pumpki's back and thumping her shoulders as if Pumpki has scored the winning World Cup penalty shot! All is well that ends well and to end it even better, the trio marched to the nearest store to get some chocolates to celebrate!

PS. I think it was a Mathematics problem in trigonometry :D

Yours thankfully :)

 I turned a year older. Not that it matters. But the day is made so special by people who love me that I can only thank God.

It started with Chiyaa taking the responsibility to bake a cake. As I have said, we love the channel Bake with Shivesh and his Devil's food Cake. She took the full ownership to check the recipe and mix the ingredients while taking minor guidance from me. It was amazing to see her so committed to the effort. Pumpki was not so keen on it initially. But then enthusiasm like all emotions is contagious. She too joined in and the end result was an amazing, luscious cake! On my birthday, breakfast was cake! What can be more awesome than that for a child 

K and I had the day off. We have realised that the city centre is a 5.5 km walk from our home. For his birthday we had walked the distance and rewarded ourselves with a Japanese buffet. We decided to do a repeat this year. It was a bit hard to walk in the 0 degrees temperature, loaded with heavy jacket and scarves and hats and what not. But we still managed it.  The buffet was super satisfying and I must say I am so so in love with Japanese food!

Food done, we did some window shopping and took in the sights of the Christmas decorations. There were a lot of tempting options, but then we moved on with promises to come back and shop at leisure some other day. Because school pick ups beckoned. 

We had plans to go for an ice skating session at a nearby mall. We went all geared up. And my God! were we awful at it. The kids fell and I had to control my laughter and pick them up, all the while making sure that I did not fall! There were some tears of frustration from the kids for sure, but I will applaud them for taking it on their chin and trying their best. They even managed to stand and take a few steps without help. For the first attempt I would say it was amazing! I on the contrary was determined not to FALL on my birthday. So I clung on to the side railings as if my dear life depended on it. I kept going sssssslide quite some time and on the verge of falling on my backside, but then my arm strength worked. And I was able to cling to the side walls without a fall. After a bitter sweet experience, we have decided to go for skating lessons nearby :) 

End of session, we re-fuelled ourselves and then called it a day. A day of sweet nothings. A day full of love from family and a lovely set of friends who keep me in their thoughts. I could not be more thankful. 

Stupid Distances

 Last Saturday my sister went to India for the winter holidays. She was with me for a little over a year. It is funny how time flies. Reminds me of a quote "The days are long years are short". It seems like a blink of an eye that she came here. There was the initial adjustment. Then she got used to stuff. And then she started pitching in to some house tasks being a life saver. Especially cooking the lunch on a Saturday (Saturday mornings are madness because of the girls' swimming. There is utter chaos getting both of them out for their lessons. Then its an even tiring routine of getting them showered and drying their long hair) She used to take the very important task of getting hot meals ready on a Saturday morning. So much so that when last Saturday when the girls came back, the first thing they said was "We are so used to having her at home :) "

She used to play with the girls especially Pumpki who loved bullying her and playing with her in equal measure :D It is seamless how someone new comes over and then becomes an integral part of things. She has been here through two Diwalis. She has been here when I used to goto work in my last place for the 2 days. She has been here when I was preparing for a new role and was isolating myself to prepare. She has been here when I got the new role and had the first months of realignment. She has been here on family holidays. She has had fights with me! Like all siblings, we too have our fare share of fights :) But like most siblings, we patch up quite quickly too :) 

I miss the emptiness that she has left. I miss sitting beside her and working. I miss sharing memes with her and chuckling. I miss her cups of tea. There is some solace, she will be back in 6 weeks and she is with our parents who miss her too! The distances are just so stupid :( 

A weird Diwali

 What should follow a different Dussera, a weird Diwali of course :) 

Diwali is a private affair for us. Well, everything is a private affair for you :) K and I are supremely un-social individuals and it goes without saying that we both enjoy keeping stuff within the four walls of the house. 

This year coincidentally we planned a lunch with a family friend of ours. We were to have them over on the day preceding Diwali. She and her husband are vegans and we really had to rake our heads to come up with a decent menu. We finally zeroed in on courgette koftas, jeera rice, carrot halwa made with oat milk and vadas for starters. Coming up with the menu was the biggest task. They were to come over on Sunday and we started prepping on Saturday evening. I had the carrot halwa and the kofta curry ready. The carrot halwa tasted like a pure disaster which had us thinking about the alternatives. The only thing that could salvage it was condensed milk. I had seen cans of vegan condensed and evaporated milk in the supermarkets. K had to make a quick trip to get things. But as it turned out, there were none to be found - guess all Indians had hoarded them to get the 'alternative' desserts right :) Disappointed K came back with vegan custard, vegan Horlicks!! And 2 cans of 'normal' condensed milk. All of them would be of no use to me.

There was an even bigger problem. Pumpki was sick. She had vomitted nearly 4 times in the interim and complained of a bad tummy ache. We thought it would settle down and continued with the plans. But around 11 at night, she was still unsettled and I had to tell our friend that we wouldnt be able to go ahead with the next day's plans. She was very understanding and totally empathised that such things were part of daily life. 

We made some calls to the medical services and they gave us an appointment for the next day to have Pumpki checked out by a doctor. She was quite poorly through out the day. The doctor reassured us that it seemed like an acute gastroenteritis infection. We were asked to continue fluids and she would be better in a couple of days. The poor girl had a lot of stomach ache and was very restless. Her vomitting had lessened but she was still not fit enough. That night she was way better which was such a welcome relief from the previous two nights where would get up either to puke or complain of a bad stomach ache. She was in pure distress. 

On the morning of Diwali, she woke up way more cheerful. She was in no position to eat or drink much but had small quantities of milk. I quickly whipped some savouries and sweets for Diwali. When Pumpki was a bit better we decided to step out to the city centre so that she would get some fresh air. Also a trip to the Lego shop was a big incentive to cheer her up. We made our way to the city centre and spent much of the day strolling through the shops. Once back, she seemed much better though tired. She had her first meal of a bowl of pasta after two days which was really a big relief to us all. 

We had managed some fireworks and ended Diwali on a happy note.

 

A different Dussera

 We are not the conventional family. We don't do most festivals in the conventional way. We don't have a prayer room. For occasions the children make cards wishing the Gods a happy birthday and we cook some special food. Et voila!

Navratri /Durga puja is quite popular where my husband and I hail from. But we don't celebrate it with  much  furore. The local temple is too crowded and showy for our liking. But every year something special tends to happen around this time of the year.

This year K ended up eating some cakes meant for the kids. ( A grave offence indeed!)😃 As compensation he promised cakes from a bakery which makes the most amazing fresh cream cakes. The bakery boasts of some fabulous Indian sweets too. And K couldn't resist the temptation to buy some. It was  brilliant  to have the sweets along with some samosas which got devoured in a jiff. A wonderful, unexpected Durga puja.

Wishing you all the very best of festive times 🤗

Garden grown

 My mother is a keen gardener. When we used to live in rented houses in our childhood, she used to always have pots of plants adorning our balcony and veranda. 

Once we moved into a government quarters it gave her the opportunity and space to add some more greenlings to the house As my father got transferred and we moved houses, so did most of the plants.🪴

When we finally owned a house, my mother could officially go crazy. She had place all around the house, the balcony, the terrace - the world was her oyster. She would invest in kitchen scraps, maintain a steady deposit of water from washing grains and vegetables in the kitchen and trade in seeds, saplings and cuttings. 🍅🫑🥕

This disease to see things grow is quite infectious. My sister and I are both sufferers 🙈😁. The kitchen scraps we put in the garden give a good output of potatoes and tomatoes. It's very enjoyable to see the cycle of plants ❤️💚

I have enjoyed the fruits of, well I wouldnt say labour, but repotting many times. I have been too lazy or forgetful to ever take a click. But this time  I  managed one ! 

The Tours - IV

 The last day in Iceland was the most relaxed day. The start was at 1030 in the morning which gave us 2 additional hours to relax in the hotel. All our earlier days had started around the 0830 mark.On this day we had to visit quite popular and close by places. The first stop was the Thingvellier National Park which is a valley that lies in the middle of the Eurasian and American continental plates. It was amazing to walk in the midst of the valley. Our next stop was the Gulfoss water fall. It was beautiful, but nothing matched the beauty of Hraunfossar which we had viewed the previous day. After a few more waterfalls and scenic locations, we made our way to the creme de la creme. The geothermal pool called Secret Lagoon! Icelanders are avid swimmers. And all swimming pools in Iceland are open, open air and heated by the geothermal sources! Apparently it is quite easy to find little pools of perfectly heated water across the country and anyone can have a swim. But we are not the adventurous kind, so we had to book in a few hours at the pool. 

The pool was a unique experience. People take a shower before they step into the pool. They do not want to chlorinate the water too much and make it loose its natural goodness, so rather they make clean people get into the pool. It is imperative for people to shower properly with soap in their birthday suits and not the swim suits. It was something I felt might be a bit too weird for me, but didn't turn out to be so because everyone just went about their business quite mechanically and methodically. Showers done, we had to just put one foot in the water to feel the luxurious warmth of it! It was an amazing experience to soak in the warm, tending towards hot water. The hot springs that heated this water bubbled nearby. The sun was shining and nearly roasting us. It was amazing letting out bodies soak away the tiredness of the previous 3 days.

It was difficult to relinquish the warm hug of the swimming pool. But all good things come to an end don't they.  We had to give it up to an evening of packing. We bid adieu to Iceland through a very scenic drive to the airport in Keflavik. 

It was an amazing 4 days and 5 nights. An amazing time that left me very tired. I had enjoyed to the fullest. And I am definitely going back for more. Some day! 

The Tours - III

Our third day in Iceland was some more parts of the South Iceland. We saw a splendid waterfall called Hraunfoss. This waterfall has no river. It is an underground stream of water which suddenly comes up to a. gorge and falls down creating the most spectacular view. Nature is the best artist. And the creations of nature are just mind boggling and so awe inspiring. The water that tumbles down through the layers of lava is pristine and blue. Our guide informed us that the water is pure enough to be had straight off. We saw a few more water falls before heading off to a lava cave. 

The guide took us through a lot of details. It was marvellous to learn about the formation of the cave. It was also amazing to learn how one day, the cave might not remain any more because of natural erosion! Again the glory of nature, the creator and destroyer was humbling. At the end of the tour, the guide asked us hold the hand of a person next to us. Then he requested us to switch off the lights on our helmets. Following this he turned off the lights within the cave. He then asked us to listen to the cave. We heard the dripping of water from the ceiling, we felt the chill in the air a bit more and I of course felt the proximity of my family a bit more. It was such a deep meditative state. It was my first encounter with total darkness. I felt as if I could touch, hear and feel a bit more with one sensation removed. 

After that amazing experience it was time to head back to the hotel. That night we felt mild tremors in our hotel room. At first when K said he felt the tremors, I dismissed them to be the wind. But I felt the rattle again! It was as if a train went over a really bumpy track. It was an experience we had not signed up for. Iceland was making everything well worth it!

The Tours - II

 The second day of the tour was that of the South Coast of Iceland. Now this was entirely an ode to SRK and Kajol and their famous Gerua song which brought Iceland to the tourism fore front for many Indians. The views were amazing from the word go. We saw many locations that the song was shot in. It is a very popular site for Hollywood films as well.

 There was a small waterfall our tour guide stopped by. This waterfall was entirely supplied by rain water, since in the area it rained 360 days of a year. The water fall was quite big in the morning but since it was a dry day, we noticed that when we passed it in the evening, it was much smaller. We went to numerous other falls which were simply breath taking. The most pleasant one was the Seljalandsfoss which had a natural walk way behind it on which we could walk. Walking behind a water fall was an other worldly experience, one that I have never experienced before and am not sure if I ever will. 

We visited the famous black sand and black pebble beaches in the village of Vik. Our guide was a teacher so a 'guide' in the literal sense of the word as well :). And I must say he was a very knowledgable person who made our trip a lot of fun and very informative. 

The most inspiring moment on day 2 was a visit to a glacier. I had thought we would just see a glacier and come back. But we actually went near the glacier, in fact on top of it. It was covered with ash since it was sitting in between two active volcanoes which spew ash, one of them being the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano which brought air travel to its knees with the ash in 2010. Under the black blanket of ash was the pristine bluish white glacier. It was massive. Seeing and standing on top of it was the most magnificent and humbling experience for me. It made me realise the power and the supremacy of nature. How big yet how benevolent mother nature is! Watching the water drip, feeding nearby rivers and water falls and sustaining an entire eco system, an entire nation was something awe inspiring. 

The Tours - I

 The first tour was to a the Snaefellsness Peninsula. It was a very long drive. Since Pumpki and K suffer from travel sickness, they both took some pills to reduce it. The pills made Pumpki extremely groggy. She kept drifting in and out of sleep. She felt annoyed to get down from the car when the tourist spots came up. The driver revelled us with stories about the Northern Lights. He show cased how unpredictable nature can be. He had been on a 7 day long tour chasing Northern Lights. And his entourage has not managed to get any. But then one evening when he was going to drop a group of tourists at the airport, the lights were flashing like disco lights. 

The tour included food. The food I must say was simply amazing! It was wonderfully seasoned with the right amount of spices. My sis and I gorged on the food. K and the kids suffered a bit since they are not so attuned to eating fish. That is why I keep chanting the mantra, eat everything, you never know when you might need to eat what. A dialogue that always reminds me of the book "The life of Pi" where Pi Patel, a lifelong vegeterian had to eat fish. Not that I insist if it is ones religious practice. But if it is not, it is good to have an open palette. I had managed to sneak in some food from the breakfast buffet. The sandwiches really helped. Ah and another thing that helped was my carrying over food from the UK. I had read how famously expensive Iceland was. Also I was not sure of what foods would be available. Especially for the kids. So I had packed a ton of snacks. There was a bag loaded with all sorts of knick knacks which made the day bearable and sustained the kids :) 

 The most endearing factor of day 1 was Pumpki being held closely by Chiyaa as she kept drifting off. Chiyaa was supremely caring as usual of her little sis :) They both are such a joy to behold. 

The departure and arrival

 As it was the school summer holiday season, there was rampant news about the mayhem in airports. There was news of baggage loss, of flights being late or cancelled and all other sorts of madness. We were filled with trepidation regarding our travel. 

We booked our airport drop to get us there 3 hours prior to the check in start time. We reached 40 minutes ahead of schedule. We were not allowed to enter the airport till the desks opened. There were various other groups of passengers who were corralled to wait for their time to enter the airport. It was a bit annoying for the kids to stand there doing nothing but observing other passengers. But it was a very interesting occupation for me :) I simply loved it, noticing the expressions, clothes, luggage of other air travellers :) 

Finally we were called in to enter the airport. And I must say, there was absolutely no sign of crowd or chaos. People went in in an orderly fashion to their respective airline desks and got check-in done. The security check-in was supremely smooth as well. The kids were running down the lanes and the check-in was done well in advance. We had time to buy coffee, buy books and even read them! 

We were to fly with Iceland Air. And I must recommend them especially if travelling with kids. They treated kids like royalty. They were given a welcome bag, meals and earphone to watch the in flight entertainment ( adults had to buy earphones!) The kids had an amazing time on the flight and the time just flew. 

Once we landed, as usual the baggage collection was very smooth too. We had booked an airport transfer to take us from the airport to the hotel. But before that food! K stumbled upon a shop which did gorgeous pizzas! The pizzas were delectable! And so was the coffee! The salads seemed amazingly tempting, but we decided to give them a miss for a later day. Our travel to Kopavagur to the hotel was super scenic. Iceland just spread out like a wonder in front of our eyes. As we reached our hotel, we just plopped on bed and enjoyed the comfort of our beautiful room while looking forward to the days ahead :) 

The alterations

 Our hotel in Iceland was not in the capital city of Reykjavik. The tour operators started reaching out to us regarding our pickups. Some claimed that they wouldnt be able to pick from the hotel though during the initial conversations they claimed that they would! Taxis were not so easy to come by. And the distances which were 10 minutes drive according to Google maps would entail that we start 10 minutes earlier from the hotel. With kids everything can be up in the air. Plus an extra leg to the journey would add further unknowns. What if the taxis were late, what if we didnt manage one on a given day, what if, what if, what if. We deliberated a lot and finally decided that we had no other go but to cancel the tours and book ones which would definitely pick us from the hotel. Thankfully all the tours were cancellable and that is exactly what we did. We got in touch with the tour desk at the hotel and a whole ton of rework started.

The lady who was in touch with us was Katrina Anna and I must say she was remarkably helpful. She even helped us to plan and recommended that one of the tours we were opting for was nearly a duplicate of another and we might be better off going for some different ones. We spoke to her back and forth via emails. We had a ton of permutations to go through. Initially cost was a consideration, but then we realised that to get the best out of our time, we had to throw that variable out of the window. 

I am a pen and paper person. I kept jotting down stuff as we were moving along. There were a lot of changes on the way. 

Till finally this image emerged!! We had all the days planned! It did not leave us any time to marvel at Reykjavik. All the days were packed with long duration trips except for the last one which was 8 hours long. We hoped we would survive it. More importantly we hoped that the kids would be ok through it. But this was the plunge we had to take. We were ready to dive full on to experience Iceland!

The tours

 Booking the flights and the tickets was only the first step. The challenge of what to do there once we have landed and parked our belongings was the bigger question. 

K had the blue lagoon in his bucket list as a must visit place. So before we got anything sorted we booked the blue lagoon. We were very excited that we had one definite thing pencilled in. As the days got closer our research intensified. There were a bunch of stuff we needed to do which are kind of the must-be-dones for visitors. If one wanted one could go with a quick tour of the capital city and the geothermal lagoon, but then to have a look at all the wonders, there was much more to be done. We had to book tours since we werent game on driving through a new country. The tours were quite long, approximating around 10-14 hours. We had to be mindful that the kids would be quite restless on the long journeys. It was quite tricky balancing the duration of tours with the things we wanted to see. It was a lottttt of Googling. 

Once we had zeroed in on the stuff we wanted to do, one thing was sure. Blue lagoon had to be out. It was quite out of the way and would take up a good portion of the day. Taxis were not easy to come by and they were super expensive! It was better teamed up with some tour which other operators were doing. And the last nail in the coffin was that it was a man made pool heated by a geo-thermal plant nearby! That kind of ruined it for us. We researched some more and found that there were plenty of natural pools albeit smaller than the blue lagoon. We opted for one of them in our tours.

So we booked 3 day tours and kept the 4th day free to savour the sights and sounds of the capital city of Reykjavik.

The planning

 We were not going to make a trip to India owing to all the fluctuations happening with respect to Covid rules. Also K has a ton of upcoming financial tasks to do in India in the coming year. So we needed to zero in on a holiday for the summers. Mainland Europe was pretty wrecked with the war in Ukraine. Things seemed quite volatile there too. 

Iceland was a destination in K's mind ever since he saw the movie "The secret life of Walter Mitty". But it has quite the reputation for being an expensive place too. Would we be able to afford a family holiday there? This involved a lot of research. The flights and the hotels seemed a bit above a standard conventional European destination. But then for a unique place like Iceland there has to be a premium is'nt it? The premium was affordable for us even given the current ridiculousness of prices. 

Destination zeroed in. The flights were relatively straight forward since there are not a lot of options to choose from.The hotels were researched with alarming diligence. The names of places were un-pronouncable and we had a tough time ascertaining which place might be best suited. We always got in touch with the hotel staff to find out about distances and they were all supremely helpful. There was not one instance where we didn't go "Aww they are just so kind" at the responses we received. We finally opted for a hotel away from the capital Reykjavik in a town called Kopavagur. 

This was just the tip of the iceberg and there was a whole lot more to be done!

Done and dusted

 I have started my new job. It has been a bit of a whizz. The settling in process has been really smooth touchwood. The people are nice and I feel at home. The office is quite high tech and located in an ultra central place which I love. 

Today, its exactly been a week since I left my last job and it does seem such a change, so long ago. Last Monday was to be my final day in work while I took the Tuesday off to unwind before joining. When I went in to work on the Monday, I realised that my credentials were not working any more. I waited for IT to come in. And they figured out at once, that my credentials had been removed from the organisation over the weekend. It was like a blessing I did not ask for. I did not have a lot of work to do, but my manager was kind of one who surreptitiously noted people's working hours. So I did not expect her to be benevolent and let me have an early finish. But then the Gods of Fate decided for me to have an early finish by making the IT department action my account early. I had to bid farewell to my team through another colleagues chat and that was it. It was a bit unceremonious. I did not have any last email drafted nor did I want to make a big deal, but I was definitely not prepared for what happened :) I gave my i-card at the reception where a kind, elderly gentleman sits. He in his usual calm voice asked "Oh you are leaving? Bye and good luck!" That was me done at my previous place!

It was the first day of the heat wave in the UK. And coincidentally, Pumpki was under the weather since she had had her Covid vaccine booster shot the previous day. She was at home. It seemed as if the stars had aligned for me to be at home with my sickly kid on one of the hottest days in the UK of the year. It was an amazing feeling to drive back home on the motorway for one last time. I strangely did not feel nostalgic. I just felt amazing. I felt awesome at having an extra day off. When I came back home, the curtains were drawn to keep the sun out. It felt like a hot day in India and gave proper summer vacation vibes. I was over the moon to just sit with Pumpki and do Lego. Since I was home, K was alleviated of his child care duties. I chatted with Mummy over Facetime and played and watched TV with Pumpki. Once Chiyaa was back from school, it was more or less the same relaxed day and a preparation for the next hot day :) 

Though next day was blazing, I got some exercise in. And then post cooking did a bit of studying for my new job. It was just to give me a sense of security. A false sense of security to be honest :) The day was super relaxed, but sadly the night was so hot and humid we all had difficulty sleeping. The houses in this country are not helpful if the weather turns too warm. I was also anxious about joining the new place which added to the turbulence. Somehow the raat's subah (morning in plain speak :D ) came and I was ready for my new job!

Morning shows the day?

This is my last week at my current work place. The time has flown so swiftly. There is never a dull moment when it comes to work here. The days are packed choc-o-block with something or other to do. Along with it, I have an impending holiday to plan as well. I join in the next job and within a week I am off for a week. So there is technically speaking no room to breathe. So in the midst of break neck work, there is all the juggling and planning of the holiday too.

My notice period has been quite eventful. I have done a lot of work, it has been crazy busy. But with some portions of work, I have deliberately taken it relaxed as well. I have not immersed myself in a lot of critical tasks. I had plans to study a lot and do minimal work 😉 but that did not happen around here. As I have a week to join the new place, I intend to catch up on some studying! I will be coming in to work one more day. So rather than procrastinating the pack up, I tidied up my desk today. I packed up all the accumulated debris over the past 3.5 years. There were documents, pens, post it notes and some weird and wonderful things like a tub of salt and shoes! I have packed them all and kept them ready to go! And I reminisce that when I joined this place, my biggest qualm was with coming in to work every day. I was more attuned to the culture of working from home. And that has been the last nail in the coffin which prompted me to quit the job! Morning shows the day indeed.

Butterflies

 

My family would love a pet. A cat, a dog, a bird, anything would do. The kids wouldn’t even mind a gecko! There was a stroke of luck when my elder daughter started learning about metamorphosis in school. To depict it practically, their teacher had a setup of caterpillars. The caterpillars were in a container, and they slowly grew into chrysalis and became butterflies. She was very keen on having a set up at home too. We  were fine with it since we thought the kids could see the process first hand.

Little did we realise this was their attempt at having a pet. Even if for a short time. They looked at the caterpillars with the diligence of a scientist but with the love of a parent. They made notes, kept count of the number of days to the next phase and even gave them names. The chrysalis hatched and the butterflies remained in the station for a few days being fed sugar water, flowers and juicy fruits. After 4-5 days we released them. And it was such a pleasure to see the kids enjoy the experience. We thought they might be sad at seeing the butterflies go, but kids always see the happy picture. My daughter said, “Now the butterfly can have fresh nectar”. Seeing the brighter side, such an amazing but simple skill 😊