K and I went shopping for a Black witch hat and then I stitched sleeves on a little black cocktail dress which once belonged to Aditi. We tied a Black satin ribbon all along the length of our old broom handle and voila - we had a student ready for Hogwarts!
We couldn't really get onto Platform 9 3/4 but we managed to get Arya into Jyothi's car to get her to the Witches and Wizards party at Mehek's place. She was looking really cute. Atul and gang saw her on video conference. She didn't look evil (with that face, who would?) or spooky. She really just looked like your regular Hogwarts first year student, would have given Hermoine Granger a run for her money.
K and I went to see Don Saturday night with Jo and Shantanu. Kids were happy to have a sleepover at Diya's place. I really liked the movie - but I am biased. Don was my favourite movie when it released.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Old Habits die hard
I almost let K go to a drinks and dinner with his work friends - Alone! I thought I could do it. And then at the very last minute, I said, oh, I think I will join you.
Can't I ever ever ever give up an opportunity to go out? I wasn't feeling too well. This freaky cold which started like a haze allergy just keeps coming back to me. I think I must have sneezed a hundred times - enough for K to carry 4 panadols (in case I needed them) and to enquire about the state of my health twice.
It was a fun evening. But then I had a coffee before we started out and I couldn't sleep, so when we got back, I watched a movie - it had J.Aniston in it so K wouldn't watch it for the world, and what did I do cos I was watching the movie alone? Made myself 3 more cups of coffee, that's what I did. It's Stupid with the Capital S.
And now I am up all night while the rest of the house is in deep slumber. Still miserable with my cold, part of me hating the fact that I can't get sleep, part of me enjoying this alone time where I can do what I do best - write!
Pages and pages of inspiration.
Seriously, I better get started on that book I have left half done. Since my job change, I haven't had a moment to think abt the book.
Anyway - just for the record. The hot coffee didn't offer me any relief from my runny nose. I think I should just have some cognac!
Can't I ever ever ever give up an opportunity to go out? I wasn't feeling too well. This freaky cold which started like a haze allergy just keeps coming back to me. I think I must have sneezed a hundred times - enough for K to carry 4 panadols (in case I needed them) and to enquire about the state of my health twice.
It was a fun evening. But then I had a coffee before we started out and I couldn't sleep, so when we got back, I watched a movie - it had J.Aniston in it so K wouldn't watch it for the world, and what did I do cos I was watching the movie alone? Made myself 3 more cups of coffee, that's what I did. It's Stupid with the Capital S.
And now I am up all night while the rest of the house is in deep slumber. Still miserable with my cold, part of me hating the fact that I can't get sleep, part of me enjoying this alone time where I can do what I do best - write!
Pages and pages of inspiration.
Seriously, I better get started on that book I have left half done. Since my job change, I haven't had a moment to think abt the book.
Anyway - just for the record. The hot coffee didn't offer me any relief from my runny nose. I think I should just have some cognac!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Parents are cast in the Same Mould
Arya's Annual Day Function Today. Their bus came to pick them up early. The parents are supposed to go later in the evening for the show.
I was preparing Diwali faral. Proud to say that I completed narlipak and shankarpali, and also made gajar halwa (not really for Diwali but for today). What I am trying to say is that I was very dishevelled, my hair was a complete mess and I don't think I even got a chance to wash my face, as I hurriedly changed and went down to look at the kids. I wanted to see all of them in their costumes.
First I met Rosa Ana with a videocamera and then Shantanu and Jyothi with their camera and then Nandu and Tulika. It seems as if all the parents wanted to see all the kids. It's heartening to know that parents are cast in the same mould all over the world. J commented that after this grand send-off today, we might hear them expecting the same treatment everyday :-)
They were all looking so adorable!
I was preparing Diwali faral. Proud to say that I completed narlipak and shankarpali, and also made gajar halwa (not really for Diwali but for today). What I am trying to say is that I was very dishevelled, my hair was a complete mess and I don't think I even got a chance to wash my face, as I hurriedly changed and went down to look at the kids. I wanted to see all of them in their costumes.
First I met Rosa Ana with a videocamera and then Shantanu and Jyothi with their camera and then Nandu and Tulika. It seems as if all the parents wanted to see all the kids. It's heartening to know that parents are cast in the same mould all over the world. J commented that after this grand send-off today, we might hear them expecting the same treatment everyday :-)
They were all looking so adorable!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Kahaan gaye woh din…sigh!
Lately, Arya has been different.
She’s no longer shy or reticent. She seems very poised and confident. She makes humorous dinner-time conversation. Like yesterday at the dinner table, Baby aji pointed out that she’s become naughtier than before. She said she hadn’t and went on to say that earlier when Baby Aji asked her to do something she’d refuse by saying “No” and nowadays she doesn’t say “No”. So I asked her, slyly, “So when Baby aji asks you to do something, do you do it?” She said, “YES!” and then sheepishly said, “Sometimes” and we all laughed and laughed till our sides ached.
But going back to all the things she used to do that she doesn’t.
She no longer wants to come and sleep in our room, even when we call her. There was a time when not only did she insist in sleeping in our room, but she also wanted to sleep in the middle. She pronounced it MEEDEEL. It was so sweet. At night, when she was fast asleep, we would smile at each other, and slowly move her to one side. She had this uncanny radar sense as well. She’d realize if there’s no one on the bed and she’d wake up and go look for us immediately. All of this wanting to sleep with us waned to “Sleep with me until I fall asleep” and then “tell me a story to help me sleep by myself” to “Sleep with me for 5 minutes and then you can go to your own room” But now the biggul (big girl) no longer wants to sleep in our room, even if we invite her to. So much so that even when Kushal is on a business trip, and I tell her to come to my bed, she says, you can sleep in my room if you want!
She used to call everyone and everything “naughty” when things didn’t go her way. So when she fell down, the ground was naughty, if her pencil point broke when she was writing, then the pencil was proclaimed naughty, if the alarm clock woke her up from slumber land, it was sleepily pronounced naughty, and if I yelled at her and made her cry, I was (you guessed it) naughty. So that’s gone, infact, quite a few years ago.
She had these nasty allergies, which made her breathless and she had to be rushed to the hospital a few times. Thank God that’s gone!
Due to the allergies, we didn’t let her play with soft toys. There were a lot of tears that day, when we threw out each and every one of her cuddly soft toys. But when we realized years later that the allergies were gone, we consented guiltily into buying her one and then another and then another. The first one which we bought, a humungous dog, which Kushal christened Mangala, was a constant companion. Arya carried Mangala every where she went, including her trips to Mumbai. Everywhere that Arya went, Mangala was sure to go, like the proverbial Mary’s little lamb. However, all of a sudden, we find Mangala cast away in a stock pile of other cuddlies. Her sad, sad, hush puppy eyes look even sadder these days. Arya has moved on meanwhile to Lord of the Ring swords and rubber dart machine guns.
Yesterday, I played a game of snakes and ladders with her and to my delight I discovered, that she doesn’t cry anymore when she gets eaten up by a “snake” and has to go back to somewhere at the bottom of the board. She also cheers for the winner even if it’s not her.
She has done some funny things in her life. Like the day we discovered her jumping up and down on her bed, actually our bed, screaming “Naynaynay Gravity” over and over again like some sort of chant. Wonder if Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated in a similar fashion, his immense pleasure when the apple fell on his head! But yesterday when I told her a fairy story about a rainbow called Happy, she cut me short saying – “Well, then Happy is really a sunbeam that’s all.”
More and more it seems like her childhood is the sand slipping through my fingers and tightening my fist doesn’t seem to help at all. Sigh! Maybe I am ready for another baby now.
She’s no longer shy or reticent. She seems very poised and confident. She makes humorous dinner-time conversation. Like yesterday at the dinner table, Baby aji pointed out that she’s become naughtier than before. She said she hadn’t and went on to say that earlier when Baby Aji asked her to do something she’d refuse by saying “No” and nowadays she doesn’t say “No”. So I asked her, slyly, “So when Baby aji asks you to do something, do you do it?” She said, “YES!” and then sheepishly said, “Sometimes” and we all laughed and laughed till our sides ached.
But going back to all the things she used to do that she doesn’t.
She no longer wants to come and sleep in our room, even when we call her. There was a time when not only did she insist in sleeping in our room, but she also wanted to sleep in the middle. She pronounced it MEEDEEL. It was so sweet. At night, when she was fast asleep, we would smile at each other, and slowly move her to one side. She had this uncanny radar sense as well. She’d realize if there’s no one on the bed and she’d wake up and go look for us immediately. All of this wanting to sleep with us waned to “Sleep with me until I fall asleep” and then “tell me a story to help me sleep by myself” to “Sleep with me for 5 minutes and then you can go to your own room” But now the biggul (big girl) no longer wants to sleep in our room, even if we invite her to. So much so that even when Kushal is on a business trip, and I tell her to come to my bed, she says, you can sleep in my room if you want!
She used to call everyone and everything “naughty” when things didn’t go her way. So when she fell down, the ground was naughty, if her pencil point broke when she was writing, then the pencil was proclaimed naughty, if the alarm clock woke her up from slumber land, it was sleepily pronounced naughty, and if I yelled at her and made her cry, I was (you guessed it) naughty. So that’s gone, infact, quite a few years ago.
She had these nasty allergies, which made her breathless and she had to be rushed to the hospital a few times. Thank God that’s gone!
Due to the allergies, we didn’t let her play with soft toys. There were a lot of tears that day, when we threw out each and every one of her cuddly soft toys. But when we realized years later that the allergies were gone, we consented guiltily into buying her one and then another and then another. The first one which we bought, a humungous dog, which Kushal christened Mangala, was a constant companion. Arya carried Mangala every where she went, including her trips to Mumbai. Everywhere that Arya went, Mangala was sure to go, like the proverbial Mary’s little lamb. However, all of a sudden, we find Mangala cast away in a stock pile of other cuddlies. Her sad, sad, hush puppy eyes look even sadder these days. Arya has moved on meanwhile to Lord of the Ring swords and rubber dart machine guns.
Yesterday, I played a game of snakes and ladders with her and to my delight I discovered, that she doesn’t cry anymore when she gets eaten up by a “snake” and has to go back to somewhere at the bottom of the board. She also cheers for the winner even if it’s not her.
She has done some funny things in her life. Like the day we discovered her jumping up and down on her bed, actually our bed, screaming “Naynaynay Gravity” over and over again like some sort of chant. Wonder if Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated in a similar fashion, his immense pleasure when the apple fell on his head! But yesterday when I told her a fairy story about a rainbow called Happy, she cut me short saying – “Well, then Happy is really a sunbeam that’s all.”
More and more it seems like her childhood is the sand slipping through my fingers and tightening my fist doesn’t seem to help at all. Sigh! Maybe I am ready for another baby now.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Everything that Men know about Women
One of my colleagues is very excited. His wife has lived away from him for 3 years due to her job and she's now joining our company. She's going to be in the same team, so while we were talking about when exactly she's going to join and he was telling me of how thrilled he is, he also mentioned that he hopes that the two of us (me and his wife) hit it off well. I said there wasn't any doubt of that happening as two married women usually do, since they have a lot in common. You know, the usual conversations about how inept men are and what would they ever do without their oh-so competent wives. I got a laugh out of him, so I said I'd done my Good Deed for the Day.
This brings to mind a book that Vani showed me. She said it was given to her by someone from the H Company's Boeblingen office. The title was "Everything that Men know about Women" and inside it was just that - totally blank!
This brings to mind a book that Vani showed me. She said it was given to her by someone from the H Company's Boeblingen office. The title was "Everything that Men know about Women" and inside it was just that - totally blank!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Dandiya Dhamaka
This weekend was really something else!!
On Saturday we had the Lantern festival in our condo. There was a Lion Dance and the kids had put up a song and a dance. I had choreographed the dance, and believe it or not, I had the same butterflies in my stomach as I have before every one of my own performances. At 33, I think I should have got over such things. Of course, whatever could go wrong did. At first the speakers weren't working and then the CD player wasn't. So we had to stall the proceedings until we could arrange replacements. Jyothi went to get her system, she was wearing a sari, she tripped and fell and had to wear a different sari. Diya fell during the dance. Shiva hurt his shoulder. Oh the list goes on!
But all in all, the kids were really good and made me proud. Arya won a consolation prize for the lantern making competition (although she had a lot of people's popular vote - mine, too;-) Now I sound like a neurotic mom who's deepest darkest secret is that HER BABY IS SECRETLY THE BEST AT EVERYTHING.
On Sunday, we had a dandiya party organized by Tulika and Nandu. They are really very good at this. Tulika had planned everything to the last detail. There was awesome Gujarati food (I had made Aloo Baingan) home-cooked. The theplas, Shrikhand and Kalakhand deserve special mention. I don't remember the last time I ate so much when all the food on offer was vegetarian :-)
It was fun all the way, helping with the decorations, which were these colorful saris and dupattas on the walls, taking photos of those moments which no one should miss and even helping out with the Operation Cleanup at the end. Fun, Fun, Fun! What I should not fail to mention here is that I danced for 5 hours straight, and that was the most I have danced in a long, long time. The Kajra Re solo came up by popular demand (and of course no one enjoys it more than me) and Rajani and I did some real fast dandiya moves. Prakash and Anjali were easily the best sports around, starting from dressing for the part to picking up the steps and actually dancing. They got quite good at it by the end. I was also teaching Jyothi, Nita and Ivy and everyone had a great time.
A bigger treat was to see Arya dancing. She was looking like a doll in her White lehenga choli. It's amazing that this shy little girl has blossomed into quite the social butterfly. So much so that yesterday I had this conversation with her where everyone seemed to be constantly directing all their queries to her at school. Asking her for GK answers, spellings and even her opinion on what they should be wearing at random parties. She confessed that she was quite irritated with all the attention. Her friend Anana was there as well and she told me that she would be really happy if SHE had been the object of all that attention. I so agree! Hoo boy, I'll have to drill some sense into my little girl's head now.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Birthdays and Celebrations
Just started thinking about birthdays all of a sudden today. I don't know why! My birthday this year was quite splendid. Kushal actually bought me a cake, the first time ever without an ounce of hinting, prodding and sheepish reminding. I didn't quite plan a party, but then Adu and Vinod came over and so did Tulika, Nandu and the kids and Jyothi came with her kids and Rajani, Mitesh came with Rani as well. So it turned into quite a party. We took pictures, we had dinner, I opened presents everything was so perfect.
Plus I was still getting some hangover effect from our lovely Europe vacation, so for once, I couldn't complain about a thing. And then the Dell written offer came in that day too. Arya forgot to wish me in the morning, but she made up for it by making me a card and several other things.
I actually went to work this year, just....! Older and wiser I guess. I don't ever remember working on my birthday prior to this.
And now, we are in the midst of festive season. We went to see the Durga Puja on Ashtami day. Got to see the Aarti. Kushal didn't come because he was suffering with his back ache. But Baby aji and Lorena came with me and Arya. We had a good time, I wore a sari - Adu's Kancheevaram (finally ghadi-modli). It was fun to see familiar faces and even more awesome to note that the hoi-polloi was actually performing the Dhunuchi naach.
We are having Dandiya-raas at our condo this Sunday. On Saturday we are celebrating the Lantern festival. I have choreographed a dance with the kids. Arya is taking part, I am so excited that she is. She is also taking part in a dance at school. Maybe, maybe, maybe she will actually start liking dancing. She was the only person who didn't dance at my birthday party (and at several other parties) and that made me sad!
Plus Diwali is just round the corner - and this time under Baby Aji's expert supervision, I am planning to cook a whole host of goodies. I guess we will need to go shopping at some point, because I am sure i don't even own most of the tools and ingredients. It's all very exciting. I can hardly wait for Oct 21.
Plus I was still getting some hangover effect from our lovely Europe vacation, so for once, I couldn't complain about a thing. And then the Dell written offer came in that day too. Arya forgot to wish me in the morning, but she made up for it by making me a card and several other things.
I actually went to work this year, just....! Older and wiser I guess. I don't ever remember working on my birthday prior to this.
And now, we are in the midst of festive season. We went to see the Durga Puja on Ashtami day. Got to see the Aarti. Kushal didn't come because he was suffering with his back ache. But Baby aji and Lorena came with me and Arya. We had a good time, I wore a sari - Adu's Kancheevaram (finally ghadi-modli). It was fun to see familiar faces and even more awesome to note that the hoi-polloi was actually performing the Dhunuchi naach.
We are having Dandiya-raas at our condo this Sunday. On Saturday we are celebrating the Lantern festival. I have choreographed a dance with the kids. Arya is taking part, I am so excited that she is. She is also taking part in a dance at school. Maybe, maybe, maybe she will actually start liking dancing. She was the only person who didn't dance at my birthday party (and at several other parties) and that made me sad!
Plus Diwali is just round the corner - and this time under Baby Aji's expert supervision, I am planning to cook a whole host of goodies. I guess we will need to go shopping at some point, because I am sure i don't even own most of the tools and ingredients. It's all very exciting. I can hardly wait for Oct 21.
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