Happy Vishu and Tamil New Year

Had a lovely Tamil New Year and Vishu celebration in Blore and in Cmani.

Some butterfly soap suds kolams by the girls and a diya by all three of us was the highlight apart from yummy festive food .

My MIL made this lovely breakfats item which is like an akki roti in kodvade format. One more Kannada tiffin item that is a must have.
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In case you have not heard, the awe-inspiring utbt has launched an exciting program for book lovers in Hyderabad. You must check it out.

And Praba of Saffron Tree fame is upto a lot at her Little Owl in Chennai.

Bangalore will have a Dhaatu show in Indra Nagar towards end of the month. Did any of you go for the parade last Sat?

And cupcakes are so popular now that in Indira Nagar Simply Chocolates is also into them.

Eggsotic Banana Fest

We witnessed a rath yatra like a Tomatina fest , devotees ( teenaged boys mostly) were pelting bananas at the chariot, some even managing to land them on the top umberella! Aditi said they are " naughty boys" to be flinging anything other than a ball. Some lessons are well learnt.

Our apt housekeeping does not disturb rangolis till i smudge them up a bit at least. So got to take this snap of Anuska's handiwork.

Does zero comments mean zero readers? Apparently not as per statcounter. But still a few comments would not hurt me. Are you LISTENING?

And a new chapter begins....

Took Aditi and attended Open House at Anush's school.
Was amazed by the eager Little Einsteins ( all around 6 yrs) and their experiments, bubbling volcanoes, magic writing ( Anush's), floating objects and so on....

Lovely to see all the colourful work on display done lovingly by the kids. Anushka's included a word wheel, a magic number square grid, a clay mountain range, her imaginary animal drawing and other stuff she had done over the year.

Anush (and I ) were mighty pleased that her work book was retained by the Montessori work room teacher as an illustrative sample.

I was slightly put off that even this school displays projects done very obviously by the parents! And the child had not even an inkling when other kids questioned her about this and that! Parental guidance is fine and needed, but to do it themselves is almost insulting to the child, in my opinion.

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Aditi's last day at playschool ended on a high with a party and so on. She received an excellent rating and Anush was a very proud sister who could not resist asking Aditi: " Aditi, very good! You are excellent in school. Then why dont you behave that way at home?"
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The Ugadi weekend involved a Chintamani trip ( roads are being laid and really bad ) and a send off for a dear ST member who is moving cities. Also Anush attended PowWow's Chota Bheem do.

HoliDay!

No colours for spraying, only for the Rangoli ( coloured soap chips, discarded by my office).

For playing, we had aqua pure fun.

Kites, Kites!

Apart from new clothes, feasting and rangoli, Anush and Aditi flew kites and painted pots this Pongal.

It was my first real kite flying experience and I was hooked. Tugging at the string that seemed to be of steel the moment the kite reached a certain height- what a high!

Tidings

We are off on vacation and will see you next week. To a place we have been before. But this time with Aditi and some friends. Am sure it will be a different experience. Meanwhile a round up of the Christmas merriment at our place:

And I got to meet Ro of mammasaysso fame in Blore after over 2 yrs.

Nativity/ Manger Scene

I love this set. You can pick it up at VTI, Chennai or in Kodai at the Khadi shop.

Fine cross stitch done by Andhra ladies, I think Nellore.

And here are some more really cute ones- here, here and this DIY one

Lamps galore

Anush and her friend had a good time together and here is a pic from our Karthikai clebrations. The treats turned out truly yummy ( appam, sweet porri and adai). We also burst a few no-noise crackers and Aditi has really begun to enjoy them.

Aditi loves wearing dupattas on any attire and yesterday managed a click of hers in this cute outfit without one. The outfit is courtesy S's mother. Send in your orders to S if interested and also here is another organic cotton bag from the NGO they support which I really liked.

On a high

We got a Sabuda for a throw away price at the Strand festival. What are you waiting for?!

There is a Dhaatu Ramayan on Jan 1, 2012 for those who are interested.

Happy Karthikai- today or trow whenever decide it is. Have Anush's friend dropping in to celebrate it with her.

Colours

Nice that the colours of all religions come together this festive season.

While on colour, the flower laden trees in Bangalore and the flowers in Delhi are so inviting this season.

Anush got a fab review at school, except for her extreme intolerance towards noise! At home, she is one of the key noise makers...had a casual word with her on this.

A Happy Diwali Indeed!

We had a great Diwali though kids again had cough.

Went to Chintamani for a day trip and also celebrated with family and building friends in Blore.

Navy bought a larger plasma TV and he got me a Blackberry Bold as well. First time I recall us timing such purchases with Diwali.

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Aditi loves to say" Pataassss!!" She was fine handling sparklers.

Anush actually lit flower pots and chakras herself this time with me overseeing of course.

We enjoyed the terrace view of the fireworks in the city skyline.

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Kala tikka. My grandma with my kids.

Dressing up, rangoli, murukku, diyas, sweets all happened with much gusto.

Pink and Blue brand of ghagras for kids are nice. Easy on the pocket too.

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1100th post this one. Not bad huh?

Aditi at 25

Aditi has taken to singing to herself big time.

She is also an enthusiastic Happy Diwali 'wisher'

She has spontaneous bursts of affection where she half strangles you with her hugs and kisses and declarations

She is really manipulative with her well times sorrys and thanks

And the last two days she has asked to be taken to play school, contrary to the usual hell she raises to go there. ( though she does not even turn back once she is there)

She also has begun dressing up and preens in the mirror at times.

She is 25 months old today.

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Yesterday it showered water related stories and today it is fire that is sparking up tales at Saffron Tree.

Do visit and show us that you love stories and CROCUS.

A (no)cracker of a Diwali?

Standard fireworks have stalls in large grounds all over the place.
Went and picked up some non noisy crackers. Though it amounted to a lot of money

Am unable to imagine a cracker less Diwali though it might be the more eco friendly option.

Would you refrain from buying crackers completely?

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Anush and I enjoyed the Namma metro rides thanks to my father who got passes on time before the queues turned serpentine.

Diwali Streamers

Apart from coluring  a dozen diyas or more, this time Anushka and I worked on a lantern  streamer

And my father had managed to light each one up and it looks really gorgeous at night.
Drop in some evening to see it!!

The loveliest Golu ever

Went for the Dhaatu Golu and was completely mesmerised.

The collection is enormous in any case, but the details and the themes are wonderful. The Abhimanyu in the chakravyuh was the most enchanting in my opinion.

Wish they had a guide for novice collectors as to where to source dolls from .....

One pointer was the Govt marriage hall like place in Parry's - any of my Chennai friends pl go there and let me know.....

Golu 2011- The Finale

And so the festival draws to a close this year. We made a small beginning last year and took it to a larger scale this year. However it remained simple....

With a mix of kitschy dolls and also knick knacks from across the country which are part of our regular decor as well.

We had guests galore and some were generous with their time and some with their skills.

Next year, maybe we could do a theme and create one scene/set possibly. Completely inspired by this gentleman's work .

Akshar Abhyasam

We celebrated Saraswati puja yesterday and Anushka was proud to make her mother sing at some of the golus we visited.

Today is Vijayadasmi. A few years back on this occasion, we had Anush's Akshar Abhyasam. Given that the child is interested in writing and the written word, we plan to use the same attire on Aditi this time for her Akshar abhyasam ! ( not to mention I forgot to reserve any new outfit for today)

Aditi speaks a lot like most kids her age. She likes to pretend read and enjoys painting/ messing about. S will recall how she kept asking her to" Aditi read" (meaning Aditi wants to be read to)

Never seen her " write" so far though she loves to doodle.

As if she understood the significance of the event, my MIL found her "writing" something with her finger, on a paper, soon after her playing about in the rice grains.

As usual Anushka's typical question" Why can't Amma teach her to write? Why should only Appa do it?"

Here is to Aditi enjoying writing in future.

Jungles and Movement

Our building gardener gave us a patch of his lawn grass and we used it for our animal kingdom. This is one grassland where wild and domestic animals live together. Possibly because they are all the same size!!

Anushka's train set and Aditi's cars became a lively side piece. From my collection a vehicle mobile added a touch of Indian rustic.

Ram jaane

Ram- Sita- Lakshman- Hanuman. Had some trouble deciding how to place them. Instinctively felt that Hanuman would not be near Sita. Saw some calendar art on the web and decided to go with this placement. Though traditionally the wife stands to the husband's right.
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Please visit Saffron tree for an interview with Karadi Tales and do leave behind comments/ queries for them.

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Anushka was awarded by Shruti for her colourful Artsy Craftsy peacock.

She was pleased to hear that- " Aunty liked my work!"

Colours dekor has featured our Sea theme birthday.

Many thanks ladies.

A Starry Day

Had a people and fun filled weekend. Celebrated Golu and Aditi's star birthday yesterday with family and a few friends.

The cake followed a Dassera plus birthday theme- hence was festive with buntings and Krishna, Bheem and Chutki which Anushka decided was Aditi since Chutki would have been bigger.

Only downside, both kids have again got cold cough. We will need to recheck with the doc. And so our visits to others' Golus remain pending.

The other S and her kid A visited us from the blogsphere and we had a really good time.