The whole world in her hand. . .

Sure does look like that does it not?
Here she says Egypt and points to the Mediterranean Sea

Anush loves to point to Africa and Australia, everyplace else is just one big renaming ceremony. It is great fun to watch an dlistent o her and of course we do not correct her.

I think love for geography, singing and jig saw puzzles has been passed on from me to her.
And yes, she sings the complete Jana Gana mana and most of Vande Mataram now.

Where do they go?

Have you wondered what happens to the sometimes glorious stuff we see in the movies?
The home decor- that is what I am most interested in- the sheer curtains in Jodha Akbar were fabulous, some of the props in Dil chaahta hai were really cool, some of the paintings in Taare Zameen par. . .

Jewelry I suppose goes to the creator in case it is genuine- say like Tanishq in Paheli or in Jodha Akbar. What about costume jewelry then?

Clothes: I have heard of auctions abroad but in India? Especially the casual wear? I am not referring to the jazzy stuff that you see replicas of like the white kurta of Maina pyar kiya or some Tamil letters sari in a bright yellow that was doing the rounds a couple of years ago.....

Any knowledgeable souls out there who wish to enlighten me?

Chance encounter of the Blog kind

Anush and me were at the Nilgiris supermarket , near home. As usual Anush was heading to the chocolate rack while I was busy with the billing and I was admonishing her" ANUSH!!"

A very pleasant looking lady turned to me and said" Anush as in Anushka?"

I said yes. And Lo & behold, it turned out to be MINKA ! I was talking to!

I must say though it was a very brief and very very chance meeting, I am sure i will see her soon with her Bubbles in tow.

Second thoughts

Anushka is bonding so well with her cousin who is visiting us that I wonder if we should go ahead and have a second child. But the cousin is older and her sibling ( if at all) would be younger. Hmmmmmm.......

Meet the alphabet

We are getting good at these blink and you miss blogger meets at Chennai. Vivacious Sue was here from Kolkotta and Itchy, Sue and I ( with Anush in tow) met up at a coffee shop last evening. Anush missed Ojas Tejas but had a ball drinking her "frapper/ frappaid/ frappee" and eyed Sue's chocolate cake as well. I am proud to proclaim I have met up with at least 6 bloggers in the last one year.

I also realised i have not been on a series of mails post the Tharini Bday ones. :-((
But also that I did not miss much:-))

Tagged again by my only regular reader and commentator- choxbox
The A to Z one:
A -Available? Taken hearta nd soul -loooong ago
B-Best friend- Hubby
C-Cake or Pie? Cake pref without cream
D-Drink of choice: Light filter coffee, ginger tea and sugarcane juice
E-Essential thing used everyday: lens
F-Favourite colour: Black
G-Gummi bears or worms: Neither
H-Hometown: Bombay.
I-Indulgence: Waffles with maple and movenpic ice cream
J-January or February: Jan- new beginnings
K-Kids and names: anushka
L-Life is worth living
M-Marriage date: mid year
N-Number of siblings: none
O-Oranges or apples: both are good
P-Phobias: lizards and frogs
Q-Quote: Making the decision to have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body
R-Reason to smile: No need of a reason
S-Season: Rains in Mumbai
T-Tag three people: Itchy, Lavs, Fuzzy
U-Unknown fact about me:
V-Vegetable you do not like: Brinjal
W-Worst habit: None :-))
X-x-rays you have had: at annual health check ups
Y-Your favorite food: Food is a favourite. Needs to be veg without garlic and too much spice
Z-Zodiac: All bull ****

Cats and all

Anush turned 2 yrs and 6 months this Saturday. Here are two and a half bits about her-

Usually when she dresses herself smartly I exclaim" Wow Cool cat"
And when she imitates her father ( which is quite a bit) i say" Copy cat"
She came up to me after dressing herself and kept shouting"Amma! Anushka Copy Cat "

Since we do not appreciate sugar without spice, she managed to climb her little plastic drum and break it. So I got her this ethnic wooden one from Allepy. She calls it the surprise drum since I go it from Allepy and I had promised to get her a surprise from there.

She sings the following non kiddy songs- parts of Jana gana mana and Vande mataram apart from the first stanza of Scarbarrough Fair and Doli taaro

She is able to roll rotis!!! Even though misshapen- she has daily practice - churning out at least one a day with my mom

She loves to " choose" her father's clothes/ accessories each morning and still does not know that he steers her to his choice

She often tells me not to go to office but does not miss me at all once I am gone

She wants to visit the beach and zoo and property each weekend and now also itchy Aunty's house since last weekend

On the new house front, we were exploring a small area with pergo flooring and discovered that it had a wonderful website. When the sales rep visited with samples, Anush pointed to one of them and said sincerely " Amma I like this one- shall we buy this?" How could I refuse? ( given that her choice had been the same as mine)

On the weekend, we saw a movie - Sadhu Marandal. The reviews were exceptionally good but the movie was a bit of a let down - predictable after a while and the songs were completely unnecessary. Rather gory as well in parts. But the hero Prasanna has evolved and looks & performs much better than before and dances well too. And some of the house sets were mind blowing in the use of color and curios.

On Monday I went to Alleppy on work and took a small trip to the Ambalapuzha Temple, about 10 kms away. It is a typical Kerala style temple, lots of lamps on the walls, beautiful roofs, large courtyard, big tank, even a hall for performances - folk drama and Kathakali included. Built in 800 A.D, the main idol is made of granite stone. It is also said that the Guruvayoor idol resided here before it moved to Guravayoor. Dedicated to Krishna this place is equally known for its prasadam- paayasam.

The payaasam ( kheer) is also sold in the shops on the street leading to the temple but it is supposedly diluted with milk and then sold. Even this "diluted' paayasam is a mild red/ pink colour and is truly yummy. Next time I will have to be there on time to have a taste of the real thing inside the temple premises.

Tagged again

The Instructions:
Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

Choxbox- you know not how generous I am. Here goes...

Family: So many to choose from - here is one, another , a third and one last one

Friend: I was never too good at staying in touch but here is one - Friend revisisted

Myself: Here is a rather large helping - Questions to myself

My Lowe: How-art-became-artnavy

Anything I like: Travel, clothes , handicrafts , food-OTBT and so many more

I suppose that is more than enough. I pass it on to rohini, itchy, sunitha, fuzzy and hiphopgmom and anyone else who may wish to do it..

Where flowers bloom

While I am not a keen follower of Valentine's Day, for those of you in Chennai, who wish to say it with flowers here is a very interesting place which offers truly exotic & rather long lasting ones.

Called amazonblooms they have really unusual plants/ flowers. The title is a portion of their tag line.

I particularly fancy their arrangements with quirky names such as Mother in law's kisses

While they are expenive, most florists are over priced this week in any case. As well make the most of it.

Moms & Us

Edited to add

A few of the mummas and to be mummas of the blogging world in Chennai decided to meet last Saturday. All thanks to Kodi's mom who was visiting Chennai.

Itchy hosted the do and did not mind the mess left behind at her place by the little kiddos. This was despite the fact that only a few finally turned up- Kodi's mom and Kodi, Hastobeme and her son, itchy and the twins and Anush and yours truly.

The kids had a good time and Anush was talking about her new friends to her father much after the event.

Hopefully there will be better attendance next time ensuring an even more gala time. I shall post some pics post editing since some of the moms and kids would prefer anonymity.

Other than that spent the weekend- kitchen furniture hunting, another round of polio vaccine, typhoid vaccine etc. More on the visit to the doc next time.

Also had a great evening at the beach on Sunday with Anush who seems to love omlette frankies!!

Tag Here

It is probably the longest break I have had from blogging.

All thanks to a cable cut in the Mediterranean and a work overload at office
I see the traffic to my blog has also dwindled

Anyway here are 2 pending tags...

God bless ..... from lavs
All the little kids I have got to know through their mother's / father's blogs
Lavs herself and Kodi's mom - who are going to be moms soon,
Choxbox- who is like a soul sister - i always scoffed at the concept till i heard from her
All those bloggers missing in action- sts/ apu of alongway - i guess i may soon be counted among them myself !

Yaadein
Purani jeans aur guitar.... I used to love that song)

I am a born collector- no not the IAS kinds. I have books even one that was a prize in my first standard, cards, stones, feathers, from all over

But here I would like to talk about my bed, A solid teak,, no frills type.

Made when I was born , it sat alongside my parents bed for the first few years.

As I grew older and we shifted to Vijayawada it had its legs shortened so that it could roll under the larger double bed. This was before sofa cum beds made an entry

Then we moved to Mumbai and with hardly any bult in storage, this bed doubled up as storage and it was boxed in to accommodate sheets and spare pillows and occupied prime space in front of the TV in the drawing room.

Soon enough I was a teenager and had a room of my own and who followed me in- yes the oh so cool- low level bed

After a brief separation for a two year period to Ahmedabad, it made its way back to Tamil Nadu post my marriage. It began its innings as a Diwan for the first few years and now is the bed in the guest room.

Very adaptable & versatile, it has stood by me and will make its way to our new home as well later this year

Oh yes, one small detail- it still has the same coir mattress it came with!! That I am going to replace though.