Down memory lane

This clock in numbered using only 9-enlarge to view

Over 15 years of friends and memories - tried to relive them in 5 crammed days and as the flight took off over Mumbai my heart sank to see a chapter come to an end.

My parents are moving base to Chennai to support me and take care of Anushka. We all went to Mumbai to spend some time as one family before the big shift in April.

When i got married almost a decade ago and moved to Chennai, i was not this low since I knew I could always go back to Mumbai to my folks and our home there. Now when I go on work , I will have to stay at a hotel!!

The Mumbai flat, so fondly designed and done up by my mother, will be rented out till such time that my parents decide to stay on here ( which would be at least till my ILs decide to join us here)

Anyway, here is to new beginnings !! With better poppadams and worse milk, more auto fights and less traffic jams....

Chalo Champaner

Anushka the explorer decided to rediscover the charm of Champaner with her amma and her grand parents in tow . . .

Be it the interesting narration of Mr Joshi or the Jodha Akbar type armour rock formation or the jewel/ ‘concrete’ grinder the place was not a let down

Jama Masjid proved why Champaner deserved its World Heritage status with its imposing minars, lovely entrance and the jharokha style carvings and extensive pillars

The beautiful jali screen with no motif repeated, the Hindu workmen introducing the lotus and kalash into the muslim architecture slyly, the romantic “paheli” type water tank, the arches with their balancing act, the Hawa Mahal, the catapult cannons. . . Still so much to discover

Happy Holi-days

Came into Mumbai on Friday, enjoyed Holika with Anush - the huge bonfire in our building and the fireworks. Escaped the dubious though delightful colours of Holi and spent the weekend in Baroda - Vadodra, after almost a decade. Met and stayed with family friends, in a large multi floor house in the heart of the city.

Pic courtesy net
Culturally- very enriching. Caught up with the museums and found that the royalty- Sayaji and clan have done a great job both with patronising the arts and that too sharing them with the public. Raja Ravi Verma's rarer paintings from a time long ago - I particularly liked Menaka and Vishwamitra. An Italian painter had rendered a very well built dark Italian type man looking Brahmin from Deccan centuries ago. Found that amusing. A shepherdess by some European artist was truly mesmerising. BTW the lizards in the museum also are a spectacle.We also got to see the cricket ground where most legends - old and new had played and a small train near it used by the royalty in the past.

A very interesting amalgam of 5 religious architectural styles, we saw a very futuristic looking metal Shiva temple in the Military area which has been opened to the public. The funds that have poured in have got into displays of old sculptures and a rather garish ice shiva in a mock cave.

The zoo was badly labelled but was engaging enough for Anushka. She's getting to be a good story teller- after getting back home and when asked by my grandma, she said she also saw elephants and ostrich apart from the animals she really did see. Squirrels have taken room in almost all the non carnivore enclosures. We saw the turtles eating channa and green brinjals!!

We also visited the now gaining popularity UNESCO site- Champaner. More about that in a dedicated post

Gastronomically picked up the famous eats- a chocolate brown coloured "peda", peanuts and farsaan- chivda and bakar wadi from Jagdish, ate at a roadside place - tomato sev curry old times sake and enjoyed it an also had a Gujju thali at Suryas diner. Was exposed to Poona misal in an old Coffee house in Baroda.

Is it possible for artnavy to go anywhere and not shop? of course I picked up gorgeous ghagra cholis for Anush and her cousins and some casual salwar kameezes for myself. Loved some of the saris but retsrained myself from buying them!!

And yes realised that Anush was EXTREMELY fond of her grandpa.

Muppet Tales

I have always liked muppets- or hand puppets- or whatever they are called. ( Remember Fraggle Rock)
I have a horse ( from Sri Lanka) and a tiger ( from Navy)

Anush has added one more to the collection - A frog.

It was gifted by a very well know ( prob best known RJ) in Chennai. And she also got this elephant pillow- cute huh?

Nallis- Pothys- Kumarans- Sundaris- Anushka's

Paavadais galore

I thought i would do a post on this but trust this pic will suffice...

Re-registration

For anyone who cares/ needs to know, here is the vehicle re-registration procedure:
- NOC from source state
- NOC from Destination state - be shocked by how the 20 Rs form fee multiplies 10 fold
- Commercial/ Sales tax to be paid at destination state ( varies with age and type of vehicle)- excellent staff interaction here - pay the tax at a nominated bank
- Lifetime Road tax to be paid yet again ( varies with age and type of vehicle)- Be prepared to be appalled by officials who tell you" Why did you not sell off before coming here? Sentiment-aaaa?"
- Get an agent to do the rest- some 3 -4 forms and trips later and a little less bank balance you will in all probability have the new registration in place.

It is still worthwhile to have your papers in order but you will really wonder if TN and MH are in the same country

Weakend

We were at Mathura on Saturday, trying to pep up an elderly relative couple's life. I should clarify I mean Mathura Restaurant, at Tarapore Towers on Mount Road. Each time I go there, the lighting to me is reminiscent of a very shady bar ideal for some hanky panky. But the old Thanjavur paintings and the highly decorative pooja space alters that perception. Anush loved the corn(y) soup which was only a few healthy steps away from the Rajdhani excuse of a soup. The food was decent and the service extremely good. The noise levels were deafening though.

Soon after, we visited the quietest and most forlorn looking Rasi Silks ( they have a discount sale on) and found a beautiful pattu paavadai for Anush. She was very vocal in her choice" Amma Anushka doesn't want red paavadai - only silver grey" I could not convince her otherwise.

Poompuhar has an exhibition of paintings and we procured a lovely ethnic mirror with a painted frame and a Ravi Varma print- Milkmaid. I like this style called Kerala Mural but I want a painting not a reprint. Should check with an art school in Kerala maybe....and that is why the post title- completely weakened with desire for these paintings.

Sunday we went for a vallakaapu ceremony in the building and Anush and another kid managed to scratch themselves, in no time, with the glass bangles given to them. I hope better sense prevails and children are given metal or plastic bangles instead. ( which is what I had done)

Visited Noodle House and French loaf also over the weekend ( the new Velachery branch ) Heavy non veg smell in the soup but they were very prompt in replacing it. Another bowl of soup relished by Anushka. Darsaan was excellent.

As a veggie mom , I wonder if we should let her try some non veg. Navy is against it but I wonder, why not? Atleast fish, since it is supposed to be so good for health.

Choxbox's surprise

Pic courtesy web

Handa's surprise and her lost Hen turned out to be a delightful surprise for Anush and her amma ( your truly)

The book has replaced The Perfect Pony as Anush's favourite and the DVD has replaced the most syruppy Tellytubbies (much to Anush's parent's delight.)

Very thoughtful of you Namvor to catch Anush's school trustee on her fleeting trip to the UK and send this through her.

b ftdejegjuregbivehgkjkhgmb- read " Thank you N aunty" in Anush font

Word Power- Anush speak

Anush sees her grandma taking insulin daily.

Yesterday she looked at her and said" You are taking oosi( injection) medicine?"

Then wisely nodded her head and said" You are a patient?"

None of the three adults in the house have used or explained that word- wonder where she picked it up and the meaning as well.....

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This morning the power was cut.

Anush said," Amma - want fan" I said" No baby, current has gone"

And I was corrected by her " Power will come, it has got cut."

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Today is "nombu"- a Tamil festival. There were some fruits placed before the idols at home.

The little fruit lover at home questioned me- " Amma , why you keep there? Anushka will eat."

Viva Pondy II

Was in Pondicherry yesterday on work
The weather was fantastic - all cloudy and drizzling through out

Saw Villianur and finally made it to Anglo French textiles, a century-old fabric shop.
Apart from furnishing, shirts and bed sheets , they also make fabrics for defence & the Paramilitary !!

On to civilian stuff- not a very huge range of bed spreads but some of the self striped sheets were exquisite. They also had that kapda for cross stich and pretty hand kerchiefs.
You can choose between the factory outlet soon after the railway crossing and a shop on Mission road. ( closed for a few hours each afternoon)

Happionaire in Erode

Was in Erode for a fleeting client visit- social do in fact. My first time in Erode, I was really surprised at the lavish scale of celebration.

Mammoth decorations- only real orchids and carnations, a stage background of peacock feathers ( hopefully obtained without hurting the birds) and a really innovative welcome arch made of sugarcane/ jackfruits, banana stems, palm leaves and cannon ball fruits .

Entertainment was in the form of a live performance by Anuradha Sriram and Unnikrishnan. I am amazed at the high scale she is able to take and her charm makes her endearing to the audience. Unni looked and sounded gorgeous but kept forgetting cues and lines. Possibly he is more comfortable with classical recitals

The food was fantastic and there were stalls for everything from kebabs to puttu and pizza to chaats and jigardanda to fruit salads ( more like a playground dimension). They also had sit-in dining as well for those who wish to eat less and/ or also for the elderly.

Anyway I guess some people are millionaires and some are Happyonaires and a select few are both and another few are neither. I sure know what I am.

Sore point- being a Sunday, with time to spare only post 10 pm- I could not shop for the famous fabrics of Erode. The one shop I found open had kids clothes from Mumbai!!

And yes, I noticed a really "punny" name for a hotel- Hotel Live Inn. . .

And I am on the 50,000 mark in terms of visitors!

The Kavad Katha

I had mentioned I had bought this multi-door painted mini puja cupboard from Chittor, during the Craft fair at Kalakshetra. Here is a very exhaustive article on it that appeared in The Hindu today.

Mobility

I have got my 4 wheel driving licence. The test was fairly simple but meant waiting in the hot sun by the Tiruvanmiyur beach side for over an hour. ( There exists a very good opportunity to open an AC juice outlet) The RTO inspector was a kind soul and i drove confidently. I struggled with reverse though, but, he let me do it at my pace. Then a mugshot and verification of details followed and I was told I would get the license by end of day. Pretty simple. And hopefully this time i will put it to good use. Next on the line up I need to be able to move in water- time for swimming lessons. . .I have till year end going by my 2008 resolutions.

Anush drew something that looked like a crayon - so i said " You drew a crayon?"
She retored " No Amma- Anushka draw rocket"

The Maths in Cricket

Pic Courtesy Hindu website

Much against the famed Tam Brahm inclination, I find numbers intimidating and when it comes to cricket I am certainly even more lost.

Granted, we did extremely well in Australia and some of our players must feel vindicated after all the doubts and aspersions cast on them. Winning the tri series, Sachin's great performance, Dhoni's captaincy, the rise of the young ones like Praveen and Ishant etc etc- all definitely add to national pride.

And then I heard that Sharad Pawar gifted 10 crores to the Indian team for this win.

Does even a fraction of this happen to the other games' players?
In a land when outstanding bravery awards get you a measly lakh or so, a death due to natural calamity gets a family lakh or so in compensation, does a victory in cricket justify almost a crore to a player?

I am sure a lot of you will disagree- but as I said it beats me- the maths in cricket.

One more thing- as Indians settled in Australia, would you cheer India or Australia? And you could extrapolate this question to any other country.... I am sure it is a tricky decision.

Filmfare awards 2007

Saw the 53rd Filmfare awards, hosted once again by Shah Rukh and Saif Khan. Witty and irreverent , bordering on rude, as they were, they kept mentioning it too often ( almost like an apology)

The Na-real awards were cute but got tiring after a point. Also Sajid Khan had hosted with great gusto some other award function recently, thereby making a few of the jokes unoriginal. The Bachans were missing as were Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukerjee and the Anil Kapoor clan. Karan Johar had a sore throat. Bipasha and John looked completely uninvolved

Rishi kapoor was fantastic in his acceptance speech for lifetime achievement , especially in his praise for wife Neetu Singh who is getting younger by the day
Tabu was refreshingly elegant and Vidya Balan looked like she needed help holding up in more senses than one. Vivek Oberoi looked like Tarzan with clothes and Akhsay Kumar behaved like pre -Jane- Tarzan.

Pity Deepika Padukone got both the female debut and the fresh face awards- one could have gone to Sonam Kapoor or all the Chak de girls. I wish Neil Mukesh had got some recognition- he is one guy to look out for apart from Kunal Kapoor.

And on a completely different track- Does anyone know where to find the "floating parachute lamps" that you see in the Phillips lighting ad with the father and the little girl?

Craft(y) Issues

Kalakshetra had become a Dilli Haat of sorts all of last week. It was hosting a Craft Mela/ bazaar. I understand Dakshin Chitra had been the venue for smaller scale exhibition of this nature.

Craft maps detailing what is native to a state had been put up with some illustrative handicrafts - pretty informative, provided you have the time and are not distracted by purchases and a certain curious little monster who is running off by herself, handling fragile curios, much to others' delight and her mother's dismay.

I was keen to buy the ultra intricate work of Durga Bai - Gond paintings on paper and cloth- but I found it rather expensive. But art is difficult to value is it not? I was too embarrassed to bargain. Had I gone alone, I am sure i would have picked it up but my mom threw in a word of much needed caution . Also interesting was that this artist had illustrated a Tara publication Children's book by Anushka Ravishankar. I can at least buy that !

I bought a little black kettle from Manipur made of some (langpi if I recollect right) stone and a colourful wooden building like thing with multiple doors adorned with stories of Krishna and Ram from Chittor

And towards evening a large group of youth( Kalakshetra students - ex and present) in traditional attire gathered under the shade of a tree and began singing devotional Carnatic songs. They were seated cross legged and near them was the hugest kalamkari sheet/ curtain on the wall that i have ever seen. Anush very enthusiastically ran up to them, all by herself and sat behind. A couple of girls in the last row kind of adopted her and placed her between them - this pic was taken before that. She accompanied with thaalam( manual rhythm- beat) for an entire 2 songs.

I could not help but wonder if I should include Kalakshetra on the prospective school list a few years from now, when we are ready to put Anush in a regular school.