Montage

My weekend that was.

A visit to Casa Piccola ( yes in Chennai now ) - lovely to relive old memories of the one near Residency road Blore, not as cosy as I recall, more posh and new age. With a good terrace sit out facility. It also resulted in an impulsive but much needed( is it not so always : - ) ) shopping spree at Clothes encounters and Cotton World on Khader Nawaz Khan road.

Then came a trip down Mount Road to VTI (Victoria Technical Institute). Do not let the name fool you. This is a great place for intricately done crochet and exquisite murals, artifacts, handbags, smocked stuff and jhoolas. Really good Indian carft place at affordable rates. Not a great ambience but you would not go there for that anyway. Also seems to attract a lot of foreigners here. The place to shop for Indian flavour in decor. Nothing new age or " fusion " like - mostly traditional stuff here.

Saw Autograph finally and was surprised to find it a lot like Mera Naam Joker with a hero who liked like a joke without his beard but looked groovy and sensitive with one. Also caught up with Irma Ladouce which rekindled fond memories of a movie called Manoranjan with Sanjeev Kumar (where are actor like him nowadays) and Zeenat at her sexiest best.

Read The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh set in the Sundarbans encompassing local deities, marine life and very real characters ranging from fisher folk to translators. A little too detailed at times, the book takes you on a journey with the main characters and has a stormy end. Over all a very interesting read.

We took Ansuh to the zoo or to be precise" Guindy Children's park" Avoided the snake park since Anush's mother is sacred of them. Saw otters, deer, monkeys, crocodiles, a lot of birds from Vandalur that have come in. Pretty decent and the entry fee is too low. If they hike it up then maybe they could maintain it better.

Seams Natural had announced a sale for a particular duration. Sounded like a less common Fab India.They mentioned open on Sundays. But they had forgotten to mention they are shut for 2 days during Pongal. I gave their contact person a piece of my mind on the phone. Surprise, surprise they sent me an sms apologizing and saying they would take care in future.Not bad. I had to stop ranting.

So went in to Surya Greens next door and bought some good veggies and pre cut avarakkai. Really time saving when you have guests. They have an assortment of differently chopped pre- cuts for poriyals, sambar, noodles, saagu & for salads. Best of all they have peeled small onions( shallots) as well.

Anush turned 17 months on 16th.

She runs, jumps ( actually thumps one foot), plays chuk chuk train and talks a lot.

She doodles with chalk ( only a designated wardrobe door or her book ) and takes great pains to rub off witha little shoeshine duster that I have given her.
She no longer says "baba" but hums "Jaidev Jaidev" when she means God.
Anush has been dreaming in her sleep these last few days, she speaks, sometimes cries. It is a little heart breaking. Hope it is just a phase.
She manages to eat things with her hand but loves to crush stuff that is squishy or crumbles.
She is a Diva in the making and sulks/ shouts if she wants something her way
She brings her shoes ( "eee" or "chapp")to you if she feels she wants to go "taata"
She complete the last word of a couple of rhymes and is so eager to do it she rushes the word before you complete the sentence.
She talks a lot to herself and hands over money to sales guys( pizza/ water/ dhobi etc) who come home and says "Take" and "Thankoo" once they take it. They do not know how to react but leave with a smile.