Boo boo again

I realise my last post was due day before yesterday. My mistake may be excused in the light of the event that I was to get back to work after 2 weeks and 2 days. 

The morning looked promising with yours truly being able to wake up before the alarm went off . It was an incredible feat in itself. Though that was the end of the good part. I was totally bleary eyed at work . It was very daunting to keep my eyes open. The developments over 2 weeks seemed more phenomenal than those over my year's maternity leave. Team members I was  comfortable with had tendered their resignations. There was some changes on the applications landscape. Maybe after a year I was prepared got a lot of changes hence they did not matter much. But I was off for only a couple of weeks out of which most of the days I was in town. It seemed a bit excessive to have upheavals at the end of it. Anyways that is all part of a day's work. 

The good part was yet to come.When I reached home Chiyaa was elated to see me. She came running and hugged me and started jumping :) I was filled with boundless joy. You can be so important to a little one! Seriously.Who cares about bank balance or promotions or what ever label the world tries to weigh you by? A little kid's love is enough to make all wrongs right.

K popped over since work was a bit light for him. Being his typical self, he suggested a plan for going to Chennai Express. Mil and I were a bit skeptical. Our last movie experience with Chiyaa was not so cool. We had gone for the Superman movie and she was a proper nightingale. One hour into the movie we had to make our way home . We were not sure how she would react to another theatre experience . We decided to take a call depending on how she took her dinner. She seemed fine after dinner and we opted taking our chances. K offered that he would take care of her outside in case she became unmanageable . We were like neki aur pooch pooch? 

I am a TOTAL SRK fan. To top it I am a Rohit Shetty fan as well. I lovedddddd the movie. I was literally rolling on the floor laughing in the first. What a re-invention of SRK. He was spoofing himself . He did not seem ill at ease at all(which he seemed in the last couple of movies) He also did some good ol dhishoom dhishoom which reminded me of the SRK of Darr and Anjaam. Boy was the movie a lot of fun. K and mil also enjoyed it. The icing on the cake was chiyaa watched very calmly for 1.25 hours. And then drifted off to peaceful sleep. Another SRK fan in the making??? Hmmmm maybe :)

Day1 at work after vacatin done and day 15 of the mini blog-athon done :) au revoir :)

Sunday highlight post

This is the last day of my vacation and the penultimate day of the mini blog-athon. I am happy for one and sad for another hmmm :)

So let me post the customary high fours of Sabbath day.

• Mil made the most amazinggggg pepper saalan. With parathas it was to die for.
• Gave the kid a luxurious bath in recently arrived haldi powder from India . She smelled like a Kerala Ayurved shala ;)
• Was able to catch up on the book 'And the mountains echoed'
• As chiyaa played with her dad and granny in the park I got time for some tlc for my self. I applied a face pack in like 100 years:) even though I am terribly irregular it feels nice to do something good for oneself in the blue moon :D

An open question

Yesterday the Facebook update of a friend of mine read - A chilled glass of wine, with her favourite music playing and her kid dancing to it made her day. Some weeks back another friends status read - Warm sunshine and relaxing time with her hubby and kid made her day. Yet another one posted pictures of vacation  with her children in some amusement park. The one thing common to all of them - apart from all the updates being upbeat was - they were based out of India.

Which set me pondering. Why were the frequencies of such updates not so common from my friends in India? I know day to day life is a bit tougher in India but then are there no small joys? Is'nt having family within reach a pleasure? Is'nt visiting the length and breadth of India equally spell binding? Is'nt having a cuppa tea with pakoras on a road side stall on over cast evenings delightful. 

Of course there are inconveniences. There are the frequent power cuts.There are mosquitoes and ants. There is the slow internet connection. There is the constant haggling with auto rickshaw drivers. But I am not talking the big issues of corruption, infrastructure, basic education, medical facilities. I know these big issues are way better taken care of in the developed societies. I am talking about the small things, the little niceties, the sweet nothings. I am talking about the beauty of the Durga Puja pandals, the pani puri stalls, the peanuts on the beach, the carnage during the sale in Bata ,enjoying and catching up on MTV Roadies. 

As an instance, I have noticed that catch up between friends is so few and far between in India even though accessible but in a foreign land people go through hell and high water to meet up! Of course there is a plethora of delectable dishes uploaded and smiling faces in social networking sites again with the location being CA, Manama, NJ or Singapore City. I long to see such updates from Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Bhubaneswar. Of course they are not absent. But wish they were more,lots more. On our recent trip back to India, we invited some of K's friends over to our home. They could not all come at the same time given their own commitments. What surprised us was one of them asked K if he knew what another pal was up to. K did know - but the incident did not fail to amaze me. Is it because the bigger things take up so much of our time and energy that we lack the zeal to pursue the God of small things? Or is it the case of ghar ki murgi? Or (no offense) the residents of developed nations are more flamboyant because it is cool to show case those exotic pictures? Just an open question, I would love to be enlightened.

The trip is over already

It is unbelievable how quickly vacations get over. I had a whole lot of things planned - nothing phenomenal just the usual list of chores to be done properly. Utilize the 'sale' season and get some new clothes for Chiyaa, wash and iron K's work clothes (properly ;) ), get the fridge re-stocked, try some new recipes (Chinese and a little bit of baking), rest a bit, read a lot and of course take those long walks with Chiyaa. I even had a list stuck to the refrigerator. 

The first half of the time was taken up in preparing for the trip  to Paris. The second half has been taken up in getting recuperating from the trip. In the middle sits The Blur. A whirlwind trip. 

Like with any trip, the end always fills one up with nostalgia. There are so many pictures to be uploaded, comments on the pictures fly back and forth, memories are shared, and exclusively in my case blog posts are written. I end up reliving the entire trip again and again. The first Monday after the trip, K had to head back to work. I did feel very sorry for him. Even though I was to be busy with the kid, I would not have deadlines and schedules and meetings and propriety  to maintain. That in itself was relaxing. In spite of having the grind of work, K missed us a lot. He could help come home for a sneak peak at the kid. 

The cleaning and unpacking and the baby kept me busy. I could help miss K. Having him all  the time for the past 3 days had made me so used to him. I wished he would come back from work soon. As luck would have it, the backlogs at work delayed him. Once he was back, we savoured some home made chaat, hooked on to some random tv show and watched some random shows. Chiyaa was dead tired and slept like a little kumbhakaran  ;) 

I did manage to bake a banana walnut cake too:) 

We are kids again

I am not a Disney fan.I prefer Pixar cartoons. But you cannot go to a place with Disney land and not visit it. Day2 was for Disney land. There is something seriously hypnotic about the place. The place is filled with a lively zesty music. One cannot help but get a hop in ones feet. It feels silly yes, but I saw every single person, have a smile on their face and skip in their gait. The crowd went on open to be enchanted. 

What hit me first was the way the whole area had been set up. It took me back to some other time, some other place. It had an old wordly charm about it. Seemed like I was transported to the America in the 50s(my knowledge of how America might be looking in the 50s comes entirely from novels and movies so  I may be excused in making this judgement). We walked on and we spotted Eeyore. Aww he looked so cute with his sad little eyes. K was totally smitten and wanted a picture taken. Here too as with the Eiffel Tower there was the 'queue' price to be paid. We anyways stood in the queue in the blistering sun. I would have loved to go away and enjoy some more sights, but then I had to look at K's enthusiasm to get convinced to stand in the queue. We were closing on, but then they said that Eeyore would need a break and would come back in 30 minutes. :( Were we disappointed :( K would have loved to wait on, but somehow my patience was at its brink. We decided to move on. 

K was crest fallen. Not for long though.There awaited the Disney castle which had been recreated as the castle for Sleeping Beauty. The walk through it evoked so many childhood memories. We had lots of stop overs at adventure land where the Pirates of the Caribbean island was our favourite. I was prepared for the long queues and waits for the rides. One thing that  heckled me was the pram 'unfriendliness' of the place. We have been to amusement parks and theme parks within England, and were amazed by how child friendly they were. In Disney land there were more places that were inaccessible by pram. There were elaborate and big -guess what - queues of prams parked in many  places. Wish they were a bit more considerate to parents with younger kids. 

The plethora of merchandise also baffled me.At the drop of a hat there was a glittering shop with lots and lots of wares. One would need the self control of a sage to not get pulled into the commercial whirlpool. We too bit the bait and ended up buying a huge coffee mug (I have a fancy for coffee mugs ) and a little bag for Chiyaa. 

We were not bogged down by the number of places we were not able to go to because of the pram. We randomly went into a cafe area and saw the live dance performance by a group. It was very well executed. I am not much of a dancer (I have 2 left foot ) and I am very shy of it. I do not enjoy seeing dance much as well. Somehow the performance reminded me of the footloose and fancy free graduation days. Hmm... those times without a care in the world. I literally got tears in my eyes at one point.Now how ludricious is that! 

We took a train ride around the park. Randomly we went off to a steak house. The fact that drew us was the decor. It was set like an old western bar. The details were superb with rugs, guns, hoes, saddles. Luckily they served some vegetarian burgers, but we would not have minded sipping coke just to savour the decor. Out of no where I spotted Pluto. K spotted Donald Duck. We literally ran out of the restaurant for the photo op. Chiyaa was totally scared of Pluto.No matter how much he tried to cheer her, she was totally wary. She was all right with Donald. Lo and Behold we had Chip and Dale too! I think there is something intrinsically cute about squirrels.She was more than happy posing for the pictures with them. K noted how animated I was around the characters. He mentioned that I was literally jumping up and down (something I was completely unaware of). The hypnotic effect of Disney had smitten me.

Totally over whelmed by the sights and sounds we dragged our tired bodies back. We were to be treated to the Paris by night tour after which we were in no position for any more thrill. A good nights sleep was what we yearned for!

And we landed

The next day was a real early start.We were at the pick up point at 0500. The crowd in the bus was a medley. There were elderly couples travelling alone, there was one big family, groups of friends, there was even a couple who were clearly in their honeymoon phase (oh how obnoxious they seemed! I am quite averse to PDA . Imagine there is a wiki link to PDA!! Cool!! )

We were to cross the Channel through a ferry. We let Chiyaa play on the deck and boy did she go crazy.That kid has some secret source of energy (I believe all parents think so about their wards :D ) Ferry ride done, it was again a long-ish drive from the port Calais to Paris. As soon as we entered Paris, the kids in bus started chanting Eiffel Tower- Eiffel Tower. It was hilarious. Their enthusiasm was so endearing :) Even the tour manager could not help contain his giggles. He decided to make the first stop at the tower. 

The Tower was visible from afar. As all good things come at a price, the price for this were long queues. Queue to get in, queue to get into the lifts, queue to get a good spot for a photo, queue to get souvenirs. But then that's a small price.

The first sight of the building did not evoke any thoughts in me. I had hope to be awestruck with wonder. As had happened to me with the Taj. When I had had the first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, I was open mouthed. It was really poetry in marble. It was the most peaceful yet imposing structure I had ever seen. I did not have that goose flesh feeling with the Eiffel. I was to be surprised. When we reached the second landing, and I had a view of the city - was I blown away. The city looked marvellous! The view was breath taking! We proceeded to the summit and by that time I was head over heels in love with the place. Once we were back on the ground, I could not help looking at the daunting structure. It is one that needs to be admired from a distance. It is something like a rainbow I feel - beautiful from a distance , from close up maybe just a giant prism(I know I know me and my horrible similes ). The Eiffel was over whelming from a distance. The gardens in front of it with the well tended lawns and trees just added to the glory of it. We decided to grab an ice cream. I don't know whether I was seeing everything with Eiffel tinted err ...rose tinted glasses or was  it a fact - but that ice cream was the best ice cream I have had in a long time. It was one HUGE dollop of chocolate ice cream in a BIG cone. It was delicious. I could not keep up with the melting of the ice cream - because I was so distracted snatching glances at the tower and of course my kid who was going berserk in the garden. I was like a child all slobbered with ice cream. It was ridiculously silly.

Finally we had to bid a temporary good bye to the steel  giant and head to the hotel for sleepy time. There was lots more fun awaiting us the next day!

The preps

We had been looking at making a trip to Paris since  a long time. Somehow one thing or the other hindered us. It would either be the case of leaves not being there, weather not being ok, personal engagements or for that even finances keeping us down. I had plans to go with a chartered tour because of the kid. I wished for the nitty gritties to be taken care of already so that we could sit back and enjoy the ride.

We decided to go by the highly recommended Star Tours.Like most places, UK is also highly capital centric. So the tours start and end at London (with pick ups being available from other locations). The pick up  was at an odd hour of 0100 which would not have worked well with Chiyaa. We decided to go one day ahead and put up at London itself. 

It did end up being a very good decision. K loves London. He for the matter loves the tube in London. He feels like Indiana Jones, reading the maps, deciding which line to take and where to go. He could spend the whole day hopping from one train to another. We did get to London and then of course we got tube hopping. Finally we got to our hotel. It was awesome. There is something about hotel rooms - the initial cleanliness, the spic and span towels, the soaps and lotions, the tea and coffees, the tv, the way everything is there in that small space - a sofa, a coffee table, a working table, cupboards, hair dryers, iron boxes, laundry (seriously  is'nt literally a home fitted into the small space) . Even the budget hotels make K and me go all ooo aaaaa :) Or then maybe we are simple-tons who are easily impressed :) 

The first thing we did was hit the bed. We literally had to drag ourselves out of the bed at 1600. The area we were putting up at was an Indian dominated one. K started doing yet another of his favorite things - search for Indian restaurants! I somehow see no point in eating Indian food in a foreign place , is'nt that what we eat at home. To top it,in our house, we cook fares from all parts of India (ok maybe not from the west :D ) . We have the regular south Indian meals, and I cook stuff that are essentially northern or eastern. So I don't see much point in getting the same food in a hotel. I prefer going for a cuisine which we cant make at home. But K  of course thinks differently. He just likes having the same food in a hotel :| We finally we opted for - guess what - Chennai Dosa :| Huhhhhhhhhhh.

On the way to the place, literally every person we saw seemed from the Indian sub continent. The place was crowded and the shops had an ethnic Indian feel to it. K even spotted a shop with the name written in Tamil and did a woo hoo. To add to the authenticity the afternoon was hot and sweltering. It was literally like walking on Rangathan street in Chennai! 

We were flooded with nostalgia as we entered Chennai Dosa and started ordering like crazy. We ate like little piggies till a point we could move no more. That's when we decided to do our bellies a favour, stuffed a paan and headed out. To alleviate some guilt, we decided to take a walk. We spotted a park and of course we had to let Chiyaa have a go. She went berserk and we ended up being exhausted. I am sure we burnt more calories than we had consumed ;) 

We wrapped up the evening with some fresh juices and headed back to the hotel. We had a very early start and a really long day ahead of us. As we snuggled into the duvet, I could not help thinking - the afternoon made me miss my friends. Not Chennai, not BBSR, not my family, not my acquaintances, but my friends. I wished to see them - Sam, Ashu, Roomie dear, S. I missed them a lot somehow. I have no idea why. 

With my thoughts hovering around my lovely bunch of friends, I drifted off to a coma like sleep.

I apologise

I know I have not actually kept my promise of the mini blog-athon. But I was missing in action for a reason and this is it. 

Gives me lot of fodder for the next posts :)

Pots of gold anyone ?

There was an amazing rainbow yesterday  or shall we say rainbows ?

Why do people do that

I cannot fathom for the love of god how can people walk and read ! I know some people are very adept at multi tasking (though there is credible proof to the fact that human beings actually 'cannot ' multi task. We can only move from one task to another. Some can do it real fast giving the semblance of multi tasking ) 

Walking and reading takes it to a whole new level though. The pair of eyes are supposed to guide one on the road. If they are engrossed in reading - hmm - how do you walk in the right pace ? That's why I have seen such people being a major stumbling block for pedestrian traffic . They amble at their own leisurely pace forcing those behind them to reduce momentum. Or if they walk at a normal rate I cannot imagine how can they savour the delights of the book. Are they not neglecting some brilliant pieces by the author when they are concentrating on manoeuvring the road ? What is the need to read and walk? More importantly is it possible to do them both together ? I cannot even flip through pics of a glamour magazine while walking. People walking  with their e-readers and thick novels completely beats me. 

The joy luck club

Ever since I read The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan I wanted to gobble up all her books . She writes about her homeland China  with a love and nostalgia that is heart tugging. 

The joy luck club is her most famous book. It is a book which is for all mothers and daughters. (So says the advertising :)  ) My maternal granny has  3 daughters, my mom has 2 and I have 1. So this book was literally a must read for me. 

The book is about 4 mothers and their daughters . The paraphrase at the end of the book says that it like wind blowing from any of the four directions and the reader has to fathom where it is coming from. The story switches between the 4 daughters and their mothers. They all narrate it in first person so it gets really confusing as to who is who. Well it's fashionable to confuse maybe. Which reminds me of a short piece of fiction I wrote *ahem ahem* . It was nothing to be proud of at all. The feedback I got from the people I sent it across to was that it was confusing because of the usage of a lot of pronouns . I can see the joy luck club as an example which does precisely that.

Back to the book :) The book toggles between the life of the mothers  in China , their re-alignment to a life in the USA, the daughters' lives and the constant shuttle cork of judgement and misunderstanding that passes between the parents and children. All the families know each other and all is not hunky dory between them either. There is the usual bad mouthing, teenage squabbles that continue into adulthood, one up man ship and the works. 

The author is very vivid in her description. The struggles and strifes are very real. But the book is so confusing that after a point I stopped following what was happening to whom and concentrated on the events only. There were instances where the mothers were referring to their mothers *rolls eyes* I wish the author had been clear about the narrator at each juncture. 

Another angle that did not work for me was the utter disconnect between the mothers and the daughters. The Chinese philosophy as per the book is that mothers are in the bones of the daughters . But this deep connection did not come across in the book. The mothers seemed ruthless disciplinarians and the daughters seemed to be inhabiting parallel universe totally unaware of the feelings of the mother . I have read Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother and got the same feeling. The authoritative nature of the parents seems excessive and unjustified. I wish there is an author who could  show me the reasoning behind the dictatorial nature of Chinese mothers. The distancing of the daughters (children ) seems natural.

The climax of the book is a real tear jerker. The last 30 pages especially are very emotive. They redeem the author. It made me realise that the rest of the book does warrant a thorough and more engrossed read. 

Give the book a chance for a different story telling. 

Satisfying Saturday

• Cooked a scrumptious lunch which wowed K :)
• Went for a swim after a long time
• Took a long walk after that with K and the lil one (could not feel my legs after it though :( too much cardio in a day - not cool )
• Managed to watch The Karate Kid since our kid drifted off to sleep (Jaden Smith is sooooooo cuteeee!)

Fab Friday

Taking a cue from last blog -Athon the four amazing things of a day :)

• A bright sun was with us for the whole day 
• The little bank errand ended up being a long exuberant stroll which lasted 2 hours
• While listening to a street performer the kid ate a banana and boy was I happy! ( I am really paranoid about making her eat at least a fruit a day. Some days ate good some days very bad)
• Had pizza for dinner!!! Woo hoo!

Totally self inflicted

Now I am no AB that people hang on to every word I say or every post I write (come to think about it my initials are also AB :D but the similarities end exactly there :)) ) But I am going to do something again that I tried last year - hmm well a blog-athon. Though this time let me go for the mini version for 15 days .

I am going to include yesterday 's post in this event. I know technically its cheating but in my defense the idea struck me after I had hit publish :P 

Anyhow :) Amma started back to India yesterday. Since we were booking a cab to and fro the airport (which is in another city) we decided to take Chiyaa along. Boy was she happy! She loved the long car ride inspite of waking at the unearthly hour of 0430 in the morning. She liked the bright lights, the big luggages, people and the general din of the airport. We dropped Amma and headed home. Ironically K was the most beat. He was'dead tired ' and needed to hit the bed immediately!!!!!!!!!! :O men and their aaraam farosh nature huh! 

The kitten was frolicking around the house. Once K started for work and the house was quiet did mademoiselle doze off. That was my chance to knock off some chores. Daddad gave us a pleasant surprise by popping over for lunch. After which just like old times Chiyaa and I headed off on a stroll . We went to the children's library. Since it is summer vacation time there was a fair in front of the library. Of course we did not miss a chance to get on some of the rides. 

We reached home pretty exhausted. While the kid napped and rejuvenated I got the dinner ready. 

Beginner's luck maybe but the first day alone with the kid was pretty I eventful. In fact everything she did seemed more special to me so much so I ended up taking some 4 videos in a single day. I felt that being away at work made me cherish her and gave me the patience. The experience yesterday changed my view. Kids are special no matter what :) They naturally evoke the best in us :) 

But the cherry on the cake was yet to come . I had received some awesome news from roomie dear :) I had intended to shout out to her as soon as soon as I  was privy  to the news but bid my time till she cleared an examination . Clear she did and that warranted a call. We spoke after maybe 6 months but we hit off as if we met everyday . Close to 60 mins just flew by and it was super duper brilliant !!!!! I could nt have asked for a better ending to the day :)

Of course I am a bit nervous

Amma finishes her 6 month stint in UK tomorrow . She will be going back to India for a couple of weeks and be back for 6 more months after that . 

I am on leave in the meanwhile. And to be honest I am a little nervous about things. It's been 6 months and we have been a 3 member tag team in handling Chiyaa. It was weird to have help initially but with time it has become the norm. I handled all the house hold chores and Chiyaa s tasks with K's help in the first year. With Amma  I went back to work and things slowly started falling into place. The first 7 hours of the day I would be away from her . Amma would be totally involved in her care. Once back I would take over her care and we would synchronously finish cooking, the dishes , the clothes, grocery shopping etc etc etc. 

Chiyaa has grown in the span of mil's stay. She has started walking , been totally weaned, adjusting to a lot of 'grown up' food. She has started expressing emotions like anger, frustration, glee, sense of achievement. She had all these emotions earlier but now as she is becoming a 'little person' her expressions are becoming more vivid and  discernible . It will be a bit over whelming for me to handle all of them on a day. 

As I gear up for these next two weeks I cannot help but reminisce about the blitz of last year. Handling a new born just by ourselves . Those cold dark days of constant struggle, the seeping of strength and confidence, the slow ventures to the outside world which lead to full blown outings and trips with the lil one, my battle with my bulge and finally reaching there. Those truly exhausting days when there was no succor, those made awesome by the mere return of K early from work, those swimming lessons when everything seemed so new and those transitions where everything was so flabbergasting. From tomorrow I shall have a new game plan. Maybe lots more time to read and catch up with my hobbies. Maybe lots more outings and trips to the parks. Maybe a rehash with my routine in sync with Chiyaa's (up when she's up and zzzzz when she hits the bed) .

I also think what if Chiyaa misses her paati a lot. I know being with me full time will be different experience for her. I hope she gets used to it. I have taken tips of the trade from Amma regarding her morning pattern (I know I miss a bit when I am at work, yea many times miss a lot :( But then somethings gotta give :) )

Things will be different , a lot will be happening . Lets wait and watch :)