Thursday, April 07, 2005
April Update from Bangalore
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Went to our neighbor, Koyal's, 7th birthday party. She's the daughter of two long-time friends of Badri's older brother, Ravi. We really enjoy their company but haven't had the chance to get together much lately except for birthday parties. Ate bhel puri for the first time, a yummy dish that's made with potatoes, fresh coriander,
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Invited over Sangeeta and Tutu and their two girls, Koyal and Ghazel, for brunch. Our ritual every Saturday and Sunday is to have dosas (sugarless pancakes made from rice and dal [lentils]).
Arranged with a few of the families to meet at the Embassy Riding School so the kids could go horseback riding. What we thought would take 45 minutes turned out to be a two hour ride. It was worth it in the end though--Maya had a great time with her friend, Karishma, and made a new friend, Hope. Maya loves riding, but Molly, at 2 1/2, is still afraid to get on, let alone Charlie.
Monday, April 4, 2005
Charlie had been cranky for the last few days so I took him to see Dr. Chinnappa. Sure enough, he has enough ear infection in both ears. He said a couple more of these and we'll go for the ear tubes. Maya had those in when she was about 10 months, and Charlie's almost 15 months now. We have an ENT we really like here who has seen both Charlie and Maya several times. He's put ear tubes in the child of a friend, so we'd trust him to do Charlie's, too, if it comes to that.
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Charlie's officially taking off walking (15 months old now). I shouldn't say this, for fear it will change, but it seems like his nap and sleep schedule have improved alongside this newly acquired skill.
Wed., April 13, 2005
Met a couple at Koyal's birthday party a couple weeks ago who put me in touch with a friend of theirs, Tazaiyun Oomer, who runs an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Humane Touch. We arranged to meet today so that I could go to one of the project sites, a school built by Humane Touch. It was the year-end ceremony where students gave performances and awards were handed out for academics and attendance. Much to my surprise, I was seated at the front of the school next to the guest of honor, the president from another education and welfare trust. At the end of the performances, first he, then I, were asked to address the student body.
The school is in a very poor Muslim section of town, about a half an hour drive from where we live. I was very impressed with the school building--very light and airy. It is located right in the neighborhood where the children live. Mr. Mirza Mohd Mehdi, the guest of honor, commented on how difficult it was to reach the school, down narrow, unpaved roads. But that's one of the things I liked about the school--it was set back far enough from the main road that the students can work in peace, unlike the schools I've looked at around our neighborhood for our kids, where the cacophony of traffic and horns can be heard throughout the day.
The families pay 500 rupees (apx. $12 U.S.) for admission, then 65 rupees (apx. $1.50) monthly for tuition. Roughly 25-30% of the families can't pay, and the trust pays for them, providing uniforms as well. The students' first language is Urdu, followed by Kannada, then English. When Mr. Mirazo Mohd Mehdi asked them what language they'd prefer he speak in when he spoke to the audience, the students all shouted out, "English!"
Having taught elementary school in California for two years, I was amazed by the good behavior of the 250+ students (ranging from about 4 to 11 years old, or lower kindergarten to 7th standard). During most of the one hour program they sat quietly and attentively, something I'd never witnessed in my San Diego elementary school. I was wowed by the performance of the 5th standard students, who did a mime depicting Hindu, Muslim, and Christian religions, and concluded with one of the students portraying a living statue of Mahatma Gandhi, then held up a sign saying "Unity in Diversity".
April 15, 2005
Today there was an article in one of the local papers about foreigners living in India, Bangalore specifically. I was one of the four people interviewed. My yoga teacher rents out part of his house to a journalist and he put her in touch with me. Originally, they wanted to interview working mothers, so the journalist called me and I put her in touch with a couple of my friends. She ended up calling me back to interview me, too. It was a pretty nice piece. Here's the link. http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr152005/living1026232005414.asp. There was a picture of me making a dosa in a salwar kameez in the newspaper, but it's not in the electronic version.
Went over to Nicola's for dinner along with Aarti and had a great evening of chatting. Aarti may be moving back to England soon, far sooner than she'd anticipated, and none of us are too happy about that. Maya will be unhappy, too, because Aarti's daughter, Karishma, and she have become great buddies. Aarti asks Karishma if she wants to do something, and she says, "Only if Maya is going, too!"
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Today Badri and I went on a tour of the local vineyard, Grover's. They make our favorite Indian wine, a cabernet sauvignon. Met some very nice people on the bus (about 15 people total), all of whom were Indian but had lived in some part of the U.S. at some time or another (most in Silicon Valley, California).
Maya had a playdate with her friend, Karishma, and Molly and Charlie were in the able hands of Celine, Savithri (our new helper/nanny), and Vani (our cook). Vani's baby is due in Sept., so I was thinking we'd have Celine and Savithri split the cooking and nanny duties once Vani left. But now it looks like Celine's health is not too good--she'll go to the doctors this week to get her blood pressure checked and see if she needs her medicine adjusted. She has told us she may need to take a medical leave. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Had a few families over for Sunday dosas--Aarthi and Nicola and their families, and Marion, Phil and Benedict. Marion's family is from England, and we've bumped into them on vacation in Goa. She was one of the other foreigners interviewed in the newspaper article about expats living in India.
The kids had a great time: seven kids, all under 5. Probably a record set for most diapers changed under one roof in a four hour time period.
Thurs., April 21, 2005
We've found what seems to be a promising new school in the neighborhood. I heard about it from our pediatrician, Dr. Chinnappa. Last month I'd told him how Molly was having tantrums and he said she just sounds bored. Suggested we think about putting her in nursery school. We discussed schools in the area, and I lamented how we drive so far to Maya's Canadian School. He told me a friend of his is opening a new school in our neighborhood. Lo and behold, the following week I went to Thursday's OWC (Overseas Women's Club) 10-12 coffee time, and happened to meet the curriculum director for the new school.
A few days later Badri and I dropped by the school (10 minutes walk from our house!) and spoke with Kavitha, Dr. Chinnappa's friend who's starting the school. The materials and classrooms look beautiful. Almost too good to be true. We'll have to see how it goes. Both Maya and Molly are officially enrolled for a June start (the school follows the Indian calendar, with the hottest months of April and May off for holiday). Molly will go from 9-11 am Mon.-Fri., and Maya can go from 8:30-12:30 or 8:30-3, with art, performing art, and other extracurricular activities in the afternoon.
Maya went to a classmate's, Hanna, for a playdate after school. I brought Charlie, Molly, and the new nanny, Savithri, to pick her up in the afternoon. We all went swimming (except for Savithri) in the kiddie pool. Had a close call with Molly. She tripped and I had to pull her up by her bathing suit. Really tough to watch the three of them in the water at the same time, and they're all such water rats.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Badri had today off so he picked up Maya from school. After getting her at the school, they drove farther north and picked up a wine barrel from the vineyard we had toured the weekend before. These beautiful oak barrels are there for the asking, for anyone who has a tank big enough to bring it home in, which we do (for better or for worse).
Had a great three day weekend. On Thursday I went out with the women for "old ladies night out" and on Friday Badri went out with the fathers for guys night out. We women had been going out pretty regularly, and a couple months ago when all the families got together the guys started wondering why they couldn't have their night out. We couldn't think of a good reason, so there you go.
On Saturday we hooked up with the usual suspects (Aarti, Nicola, Marion and families, plus Debbie from England, a recent arrival, and her family) and went to the local aerospace museum. It's about 20 minutes from our house, and I think we'll be going there a lot, at least with Charlie. He was the most excited about it, and now when we're at home, whenever he hears a jet or plane overhead he starts yelling up at the sky and putting heavenward. Maybe we have a future space cowboy on our hands.
Now that Charlie's walking he takes a header (I love it when Molly repeats that now, after having heard it once: "Charlie took a header")--meaning, he falls down--more or less every other day and has battle wounds to show for it. Usually on the forehead, but better than the teeth, I suppose.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Well, we are officially living next door to a demolition site. The neighbor's house was sold months ago, and as of two weeks ago they've been taking sledgehammers to the walls to tear the place down, piece by piece. Thank goodness the kids bedrooms aren't on the wall right next to that neighbor. Molly and Charlie are napping pretty well despite the noise (cross fingers). Maya rarely naps any more, except occasionally on the weekends.
Charlie's completely weaned (15 months), Molly's negotiating the stairs by herself now (2 1/2 yrs), and Maya's in school from 8:30-2:30(!). What happened to my babies?!
Last night the rain came down very heavily and the power was cut by 7:30. Our UPS (backup) system worked well, so we didn't have to go completely without. Put the kids to bed by 8 and we called it a night by 8:30. When the power goes out and we're using the backup system, we try to conserve and leave on only a light or two, and the fan in each bedroom. So that's a good excuse to not get on the computer, watch a movie--just go to bed early!
Took Molly on a couple errands yesterday. She loves going for a car ride so much! As we were leaving one shop where I was looking for sandals for Charlie, there was a popcorn vendor outside. I bought her a bag and we sat on the sidewalk for a bit while she had her snack.
Today Charlie and I took a little walk in the park across the street. At midday the sun's pretty strong, but there are big beautiful trees in the park, so it's nice to get out of the yard and have him just wandering around, looking at the butterflies and taking swipes at the plants and bushes.
Badri booked our tickets for Spain yesterday. As of now, it looks like we'll be going May 18-31. Many of his grad school buddies are Spaniards and it will be fun to go to Barcelona and Madrid to visit them.
May 1, 2005
Busy week of playdates. On Wed., as usual, Sarah came over with three of her kids (Sammy, Daniel, an Katie), on Thurs., a French classmate of Maya's came over (Lucie, her mom Juliette, and little sister Emma), on Fri., we were invited over to a Turkish friend's house (Nil and her 4 year old daughter Mellike), and then on Sun. we had Ani (Sri Lankan), her husband Kim (Indian), and their two children Isha (6) and Gaya (3). The kids all had a great time, except at Nil's they had a cat from hell who was pretty nasty and we had to stay on top of the kids all the time (I never got around to asking Nil if we could just lock the cat in a different room while we were visiting).
My goodness--just opened an email from a friend and that's how I realized May is already here. So I'll send this off, hoping spring is going well for you all. For those in New England, please enjoy the lilacs for me. That's the one flower I really miss!
Here, we're in the hottest month of the year. You'll see our splash pool out below--one of the ways we beat the heat. By June, the monsoon rains will come and Molly will finally get to make good use of the rain boots she loves to wear around the house.
Family photo taken by friend Sriram
Maya at Embassy Riding School (2 hour car ride from home)
Maya with friends Karishma, Dilan (Aarti's kids) and Hope (Debbie's girl) at Embassy Riding School
Molly and Charlie in front yard splash pool
Maya in her favorite new dress
Sir and Madam
with Sriram, visiting from California
Maya and Molly with Sangeeta (we had her and her family for dosas one Sunday)
yoga gone wild
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Went to our neighbor, Koyal's, 7th birthday party. She's the daughter of two long-time friends of Badri's older brother, Ravi. We really enjoy their company but haven't had the chance to get together much lately except for birthday parties. Ate bhel puri for the first time, a yummy dish that's made with potatoes, fresh coriander,
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Invited over Sangeeta and Tutu and their two girls, Koyal and Ghazel, for brunch. Our ritual every Saturday and Sunday is to have dosas (sugarless pancakes made from rice and dal [lentils]).
Arranged with a few of the families to meet at the Embassy Riding School so the kids could go horseback riding. What we thought would take 45 minutes turned out to be a two hour ride. It was worth it in the end though--Maya had a great time with her friend, Karishma, and made a new friend, Hope. Maya loves riding, but Molly, at 2 1/2, is still afraid to get on, let alone Charlie.
Monday, April 4, 2005
Charlie had been cranky for the last few days so I took him to see Dr. Chinnappa. Sure enough, he has enough ear infection in both ears. He said a couple more of these and we'll go for the ear tubes. Maya had those in when she was about 10 months, and Charlie's almost 15 months now. We have an ENT we really like here who has seen both Charlie and Maya several times. He's put ear tubes in the child of a friend, so we'd trust him to do Charlie's, too, if it comes to that.
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Charlie's officially taking off walking (15 months old now). I shouldn't say this, for fear it will change, but it seems like his nap and sleep schedule have improved alongside this newly acquired skill.
Wed., April 13, 2005
Met a couple at Koyal's birthday party a couple weeks ago who put me in touch with a friend of theirs, Tazaiyun Oomer, who runs an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Humane Touch. We arranged to meet today so that I could go to one of the project sites, a school built by Humane Touch. It was the year-end ceremony where students gave performances and awards were handed out for academics and attendance. Much to my surprise, I was seated at the front of the school next to the guest of honor, the president from another education and welfare trust. At the end of the performances, first he, then I, were asked to address the student body.
The school is in a very poor Muslim section of town, about a half an hour drive from where we live. I was very impressed with the school building--very light and airy. It is located right in the neighborhood where the children live. Mr. Mirza Mohd Mehdi, the guest of honor, commented on how difficult it was to reach the school, down narrow, unpaved roads. But that's one of the things I liked about the school--it was set back far enough from the main road that the students can work in peace, unlike the schools I've looked at around our neighborhood for our kids, where the cacophony of traffic and horns can be heard throughout the day.
The families pay 500 rupees (apx. $12 U.S.) for admission, then 65 rupees (apx. $1.50) monthly for tuition. Roughly 25-30% of the families can't pay, and the trust pays for them, providing uniforms as well. The students' first language is Urdu, followed by Kannada, then English. When Mr. Mirazo Mohd Mehdi asked them what language they'd prefer he speak in when he spoke to the audience, the students all shouted out, "English!"
Having taught elementary school in California for two years, I was amazed by the good behavior of the 250+ students (ranging from about 4 to 11 years old, or lower kindergarten to 7th standard). During most of the one hour program they sat quietly and attentively, something I'd never witnessed in my San Diego elementary school. I was wowed by the performance of the 5th standard students, who did a mime depicting Hindu, Muslim, and Christian religions, and concluded with one of the students portraying a living statue of Mahatma Gandhi, then held up a sign saying "Unity in Diversity".
April 15, 2005
Today there was an article in one of the local papers about foreigners living in India, Bangalore specifically. I was one of the four people interviewed. My yoga teacher rents out part of his house to a journalist and he put her in touch with me. Originally, they wanted to interview working mothers, so the journalist called me and I put her in touch with a couple of my friends. She ended up calling me back to interview me, too. It was a pretty nice piece. Here's the link. http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr152005/living1026232005414.asp. There was a picture of me making a dosa in a salwar kameez in the newspaper, but it's not in the electronic version.
Went over to Nicola's for dinner along with Aarti and had a great evening of chatting. Aarti may be moving back to England soon, far sooner than she'd anticipated, and none of us are too happy about that. Maya will be unhappy, too, because Aarti's daughter, Karishma, and she have become great buddies. Aarti asks Karishma if she wants to do something, and she says, "Only if Maya is going, too!"
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Today Badri and I went on a tour of the local vineyard, Grover's. They make our favorite Indian wine, a cabernet sauvignon. Met some very nice people on the bus (about 15 people total), all of whom were Indian but had lived in some part of the U.S. at some time or another (most in Silicon Valley, California).
Maya had a playdate with her friend, Karishma, and Molly and Charlie were in the able hands of Celine, Savithri (our new helper/nanny), and Vani (our cook). Vani's baby is due in Sept., so I was thinking we'd have Celine and Savithri split the cooking and nanny duties once Vani left. But now it looks like Celine's health is not too good--she'll go to the doctors this week to get her blood pressure checked and see if she needs her medicine adjusted. She has told us she may need to take a medical leave. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Had a few families over for Sunday dosas--Aarthi and Nicola and their families, and Marion, Phil and Benedict. Marion's family is from England, and we've bumped into them on vacation in Goa. She was one of the other foreigners interviewed in the newspaper article about expats living in India.
The kids had a great time: seven kids, all under 5. Probably a record set for most diapers changed under one roof in a four hour time period.
Thurs., April 21, 2005
We've found what seems to be a promising new school in the neighborhood. I heard about it from our pediatrician, Dr. Chinnappa. Last month I'd told him how Molly was having tantrums and he said she just sounds bored. Suggested we think about putting her in nursery school. We discussed schools in the area, and I lamented how we drive so far to Maya's Canadian School. He told me a friend of his is opening a new school in our neighborhood. Lo and behold, the following week I went to Thursday's OWC (Overseas Women's Club) 10-12 coffee time, and happened to meet the curriculum director for the new school.
A few days later Badri and I dropped by the school (10 minutes walk from our house!) and spoke with Kavitha, Dr. Chinnappa's friend who's starting the school. The materials and classrooms look beautiful. Almost too good to be true. We'll have to see how it goes. Both Maya and Molly are officially enrolled for a June start (the school follows the Indian calendar, with the hottest months of April and May off for holiday). Molly will go from 9-11 am Mon.-Fri., and Maya can go from 8:30-12:30 or 8:30-3, with art, performing art, and other extracurricular activities in the afternoon.
Maya went to a classmate's, Hanna, for a playdate after school. I brought Charlie, Molly, and the new nanny, Savithri, to pick her up in the afternoon. We all went swimming (except for Savithri) in the kiddie pool. Had a close call with Molly. She tripped and I had to pull her up by her bathing suit. Really tough to watch the three of them in the water at the same time, and they're all such water rats.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Badri had today off so he picked up Maya from school. After getting her at the school, they drove farther north and picked up a wine barrel from the vineyard we had toured the weekend before. These beautiful oak barrels are there for the asking, for anyone who has a tank big enough to bring it home in, which we do (for better or for worse).
Had a great three day weekend. On Thursday I went out with the women for "old ladies night out" and on Friday Badri went out with the fathers for guys night out. We women had been going out pretty regularly, and a couple months ago when all the families got together the guys started wondering why they couldn't have their night out. We couldn't think of a good reason, so there you go.
On Saturday we hooked up with the usual suspects (Aarti, Nicola, Marion and families, plus Debbie from England, a recent arrival, and her family) and went to the local aerospace museum. It's about 20 minutes from our house, and I think we'll be going there a lot, at least with Charlie. He was the most excited about it, and now when we're at home, whenever he hears a jet or plane overhead he starts yelling up at the sky and putting heavenward. Maybe we have a future space cowboy on our hands.
Now that Charlie's walking he takes a header (I love it when Molly repeats that now, after having heard it once: "Charlie took a header")--meaning, he falls down--more or less every other day and has battle wounds to show for it. Usually on the forehead, but better than the teeth, I suppose.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Well, we are officially living next door to a demolition site. The neighbor's house was sold months ago, and as of two weeks ago they've been taking sledgehammers to the walls to tear the place down, piece by piece. Thank goodness the kids bedrooms aren't on the wall right next to that neighbor. Molly and Charlie are napping pretty well despite the noise (cross fingers). Maya rarely naps any more, except occasionally on the weekends.
Charlie's completely weaned (15 months), Molly's negotiating the stairs by herself now (2 1/2 yrs), and Maya's in school from 8:30-2:30(!). What happened to my babies?!
Last night the rain came down very heavily and the power was cut by 7:30. Our UPS (backup) system worked well, so we didn't have to go completely without. Put the kids to bed by 8 and we called it a night by 8:30. When the power goes out and we're using the backup system, we try to conserve and leave on only a light or two, and the fan in each bedroom. So that's a good excuse to not get on the computer, watch a movie--just go to bed early!
Took Molly on a couple errands yesterday. She loves going for a car ride so much! As we were leaving one shop where I was looking for sandals for Charlie, there was a popcorn vendor outside. I bought her a bag and we sat on the sidewalk for a bit while she had her snack.
Today Charlie and I took a little walk in the park across the street. At midday the sun's pretty strong, but there are big beautiful trees in the park, so it's nice to get out of the yard and have him just wandering around, looking at the butterflies and taking swipes at the plants and bushes.
Badri booked our tickets for Spain yesterday. As of now, it looks like we'll be going May 18-31. Many of his grad school buddies are Spaniards and it will be fun to go to Barcelona and Madrid to visit them.
May 1, 2005
Busy week of playdates. On Wed., as usual, Sarah came over with three of her kids (Sammy, Daniel, an Katie), on Thurs., a French classmate of Maya's came over (Lucie, her mom Juliette, and little sister Emma), on Fri., we were invited over to a Turkish friend's house (Nil and her 4 year old daughter Mellike), and then on Sun. we had Ani (Sri Lankan), her husband Kim (Indian), and their two children Isha (6) and Gaya (3). The kids all had a great time, except at Nil's they had a cat from hell who was pretty nasty and we had to stay on top of the kids all the time (I never got around to asking Nil if we could just lock the cat in a different room while we were visiting).
My goodness--just opened an email from a friend and that's how I realized May is already here. So I'll send this off, hoping spring is going well for you all. For those in New England, please enjoy the lilacs for me. That's the one flower I really miss!
Here, we're in the hottest month of the year. You'll see our splash pool out below--one of the ways we beat the heat. By June, the monsoon rains will come and Molly will finally get to make good use of the rain boots she loves to wear around the house.
Family photo taken by friend Sriram
Maya at Embassy Riding School (2 hour car ride from home)
Maya with friends Karishma, Dilan (Aarti's kids) and Hope (Debbie's girl) at Embassy Riding School
Molly and Charlie in front yard splash pool
Maya in her favorite new dress
Sir and Madam
with Sriram, visiting from California
Maya and Molly with Sangeeta (we had her and her family for dosas one Sunday)
yoga gone wild
Friday, April 01, 2005
March 2005 update
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Charlie took ten steps today with a big ball in his hands. He's thrilled to bits with himself, especially when he stands on his own, not so much when he takes the steps. He's starting to crawl up the steps after Molly these days.
Thursday, March 3, 2005
Went out for a much needed girls' night out with Nicola, Aarti, and Laura. Ate at Mainland China, a great spot off Brigade Road. Each talked about their recent travels: Nicola to Australia with her mum and daughter, Aarti to Coorg and then to London for her brother's engagement party, and Laura to a place called Chickmagalur here in Karnataka (the state that Bangalore's in).
Sat., March 5, 2005
Went to a birthday party at Kumali's, a friend of Maya's. Kumali's mom is Sri Lankan and her dad is German. They live right down the street from us. We ran into a couple we'd met at least twice before. Somehow, we met them only briefly the first two times, but this time we put two and two together and realized that they're among the people who our friend Sriram had given us the contact numbers for before we left the U.S. Sriram and this couple were all at Stanford together. They have two kids around Maya and Molly's age and Sriram thought we'd hit it off. There were also a few other people from the neighborhood at the party who had also been to Charlie's birthday party two months ago.
Sun., March 6, 2005
Went to brunch at Taj West End with Nicola, Aarti and Laura's families. Aarti's daughter, Karishma, and Maya adore each other and love to get together. It's always dicey going to a mid-day brunch with Charlie and Molly (1 and 2 years old), because you know at least one of them is going to melt down and need a nap. Our nanny Celine has Sundays off, so Vani, our cook, came along with us. When Molly got tired, Vani took her for a walk and she fell asleep, taking a nap in the lobby for at least an hour. Charlie got cranky and Badri put him in the baby carrier on his back.
Sunday, March 13
Today is Shivaratri. Shivaratri means "the night of Shiva" It is a festival observed in honor of Lord Shiva (Shiva is one of the main deities of Hinduism). Shiva was married to Parvati on this day. I think I would have been unaware of the festival if it hadn't been for Ratnama: she'd made a beautiful kolom (also known as rangoli--the art of painting designs in powder in front of homes) on our driveway entry.
Amma and Appa arrived from Chennai last night to help hold down the fort while Badri and I take a little trip to Delhi. It's actually a business trip for Badri. Maya loves doing puzzles and reading with Amma (Patti--grandma--to Maya) and Charlie pushes his little bike all around the ground floor looking for Thatha (grandpa).
Went out for ice cream and pizza (in that order) to celebrate Appa's 69th birthday at the neighborhood Pizza Corner, which has one of those bins with balls that kids can jump around in.
Maya loved jumping around in the ball bin with all the kids who were celebrating one boy's 5th birthday, Molly went in the bin once in a while, but preferred walking back and forth on the wooden arched walkway leading to the bin. Charlie was a little cranky until the ice cream came, them that made him happy.
Monday, March 14
Badri left for Delhi in the a.m. and I in the afternoon on the 2 1/2 hour flight. This my first time leaving the kids, other than the overnighter I spent in Bangalore at the Sheraton for my birthday four months ago. I must say I was very excited. Read magazines and wrote in my journal on the airplane for the first time in four years. Sat next to two very interesting women from Paris, both biologists studying human genetics and doing research in Pondicherry and Bangalore for a couple weeks.
Badri met me at the airport and our driver, Mr. Singh, brought us to Sakura, the most wonderful sushi restaurant I've been to in a long time. We were the only non-Japanese diners there. It's so funny having a cell phone on you at all times, when nobody knows where you might be at any given moment. After ordering dinner, I got a call from Mary Louise, a friend in Bangalore I hadn't seen in a while, but who I knew had had a baby at the end of the year. Turns out, she was calling to find out what formula we used on Charlie (expats are never sure whether what they can get here is anything at all like what we use in the states).
Tuesday
Slept in until 7 am! Soaked in a hot bubble bath and read while Badri slept in. Classy bathroom, like the one at the Maurya Sheraton also in Delhi, where there's some kind of heater built in behind the bathroom mirror so it doesn't get fogged up after a bath. After Badri awoke, I opened the curtains to a beautiful view of gardens behind the Taj Mahal Hotel, with a mist hanging around the trees and a view of the city.
Read the paper and had coffee in the room, then went to breakfast at 9:30. This is luxury, because we're usually eating by 6:30 or 7 when with the kids. Beautiful dining room looking out to the gardens and pool. Evidently, it's been one of the most popular cafes for the last 30 years. Badri says it's partly because it was the only thing open at night for young people to come to.
Heavenly breakfast buffet. Met a very interesting woman from Texas at breakfast. I saw her taking notes at the buffet, so when she walked by our table I asked if she was a travel writer. Turns out, she's a food writer, writing a piece for TALL Magazine, profiling hotels which have amenities which cater to tall people, like longer beds, for example. I asked her how she got into her line of work, because, for me, that would be a dream job--traveling and writing about new places and food. She suggested I start with technical writing and go from there.
Also had a nice chat with one of the food servers, Astrid, who is a student of hotel/restaurant management. She's from Mexico City and is spending a year in India, between Delhi and Rajasthan, for practical experience.
Went to Khan Market and browsed around a stationers and wonderful bookstore. Khan Market is a square block of cafes, tailors, pharmacies, bookstores, etc., where Badri spent time as a kid. In fact, his tailor from boyhood is still in business there. It's at a photoshop here that we had Maya's first professional photo taken in May of 2001, so this place has some history for us. Picked up several books, among them Five Point Someone, a book about one guy's experience at IIT Delhi (Indian Institute of Technology). I thought I'd read it to get an idea of what Badri's life was like at IIT Kanpur way back when.
After Khan Market, Badri went back to the hotel for a call, and I took a swim, followed by a massage and sauna. I know--decadence, decadence. I feel very lucky and spoiled at times.
I really enjoyed Delhi. The pollution has decreased since they outlawed two-stroke engines three or four years ago (when I was last there) and all buses and taxis are running on natural gas.
Wed., March 16, 2005
Just back from a few days in Delhi--actually, one whole day and two nights. The kids were fine without us, of course.
Weaning Charlie. I'm having a tougher time of it than he is.
Saturday, March 19
An old buddy of Badri's, Shankar, stopped by tonight with his three sons (10 and 6 year old twins). Maya was in heaven learning checkers from the older boy. Charlie, who was about to fall asleep in his dinner only just before they arrived, perked up and was happy playing on his own(!) in the midst of all the socializing. Molly was feeling a little under the weather, so sat cozied up to me for at least half an hour, which I thoroughly enjoyed (calm amidst the frequent storms). Badri and Shankar have known each other for nearly 30 years. They met in 5th standard, when they were about 10 years old, and were inseparable for about 10 years. Now, all these years later, they work in the same office building, Shankar at AOL one floor above Badri. What a small world.
Sunday, March 20
Amma and Appa returned to Chennai today on the 2:10 train. The children thoroughly enjoyed their visit.
Monday, March 21
Tonight at dinner I mentioned to Celine that my time in Delhi made me think more about going back to work. Molly said, "Don't go to work Mama," and Maya said, "You can't go back to work Mommy. You have to stay and raise the children." I said, "But Celine Auntie's here," and Maya replied, "but you have to be here, too." It really cracked me up.
Maya stays home most of the week with unexplained fever and cough.
Wed., March 23, 2005
Today's a relatively good day, compared to yesterday, anyway. I was in hormonal tears over weaning Charlie yesterday (he's 14 months now). I know there are different schools of thought out there: on one hand, why wean him at all, if he's still into it? on the other hand, he's 14 months--do it now or else he's want to nurse until he's 4. The deciding factor (for all of you who are just dying to know about this:) was that I'm feeling particularly sucked dry--literally and figuratively.
Tonight I'll be going to my friend Nicola's house for dinner, along with our friend Laura. Nicola's from the UK and is married to a Kashmiri (Kashmir is a disputed region to the north of India and Pakistan). Her guy, Bilal, has been out of town for a long time (how many months I'm not sure) and she's in need of some fem support.
On Friday night we leave for Kuantan, an island in Malaysia. We'll be going for six days and, again, Celine has agreed to come along with us to help out. As so often happens, we're waiting to see whether at least half of the six of us are healthy before we leave. Two weeks ago I had a sore throat and passed it on to Charlie, who also got an ear infection, then last week Maya was out of school most of the week (fever, cough, stomachache). She passed it on to Badri, who is still sick and has passed it on to Molly. Molly's minimalist appetite has dwindled yet further--it was all I could do to have her eat a few pistachio nuts (she likes to call them cashews) and a few bites of pear. She's becoming thin compared to what she used to be, but then I suppose that happens to toddlers.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Newsflash: no trip to Kuantan. We'd postponed and planned to leave March 30 instead of the 25th, but then Charlie's getting a cold again, and Badri's still under the weather, so we ended up canceling the whole thing. There will be some penalties, but we didn't want to risk a long overnight trip with a couple of us feeling iffy. And to delay it would have meant the weather would be hotter the later we went.
This afternoon I noticed that Molly had an abcess where I suppose there was an ingrown fingernail. Gave Dr. Chinnappa a call and took her over to his office (12 minutes with no traffic, luckily; sometimes it can take 45 minutes to get there). He sprayed some local anaesthetic then poked it and drained it. Of course, Molly got hysterical. Cost us 250Rs (about $6) for the office visit. I tried to ask him why the kids and Badri were constantly playing "tag, you're it" with colds, fevers, etc. but Molly was screaming too much.
Came home to our friends Sarah and her four children, Martha, Sammy, Daniel, and Katie, playing here with Maya and Charlie.
It's now April 6, so I'll close here and send out March's update.
Our budding artist with self portrait
Appa's favorite position
Appa's little limpet
Two very good relaxers
Molly in the front yard jungle
Charlie on his favorite mode of transport
Mama's boy
Time for tea?
Charlie in kurta at Thatha's birthday
Mom and Maya at Thatha's birthday in pizza parlor
Our little leprechaun dressed in green for St. Paddy's Day
Happy grandparents
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Charlie took ten steps today with a big ball in his hands. He's thrilled to bits with himself, especially when he stands on his own, not so much when he takes the steps. He's starting to crawl up the steps after Molly these days.
Thursday, March 3, 2005
Went out for a much needed girls' night out with Nicola, Aarti, and Laura. Ate at Mainland China, a great spot off Brigade Road. Each talked about their recent travels: Nicola to Australia with her mum and daughter, Aarti to Coorg and then to London for her brother's engagement party, and Laura to a place called Chickmagalur here in Karnataka (the state that Bangalore's in).
Sat., March 5, 2005
Went to a birthday party at Kumali's, a friend of Maya's. Kumali's mom is Sri Lankan and her dad is German. They live right down the street from us. We ran into a couple we'd met at least twice before. Somehow, we met them only briefly the first two times, but this time we put two and two together and realized that they're among the people who our friend Sriram had given us the contact numbers for before we left the U.S. Sriram and this couple were all at Stanford together. They have two kids around Maya and Molly's age and Sriram thought we'd hit it off. There were also a few other people from the neighborhood at the party who had also been to Charlie's birthday party two months ago.
Sun., March 6, 2005
Went to brunch at Taj West End with Nicola, Aarti and Laura's families. Aarti's daughter, Karishma, and Maya adore each other and love to get together. It's always dicey going to a mid-day brunch with Charlie and Molly (1 and 2 years old), because you know at least one of them is going to melt down and need a nap. Our nanny Celine has Sundays off, so Vani, our cook, came along with us. When Molly got tired, Vani took her for a walk and she fell asleep, taking a nap in the lobby for at least an hour. Charlie got cranky and Badri put him in the baby carrier on his back.
Sunday, March 13
Today is Shivaratri. Shivaratri means "the night of Shiva" It is a festival observed in honor of Lord Shiva (Shiva is one of the main deities of Hinduism). Shiva was married to Parvati on this day. I think I would have been unaware of the festival if it hadn't been for Ratnama: she'd made a beautiful kolom (also known as rangoli--the art of painting designs in powder in front of homes) on our driveway entry.
Amma and Appa arrived from Chennai last night to help hold down the fort while Badri and I take a little trip to Delhi. It's actually a business trip for Badri. Maya loves doing puzzles and reading with Amma (Patti--grandma--to Maya) and Charlie pushes his little bike all around the ground floor looking for Thatha (grandpa).
Went out for ice cream and pizza (in that order) to celebrate Appa's 69th birthday at the neighborhood Pizza Corner, which has one of those bins with balls that kids can jump around in.
Maya loved jumping around in the ball bin with all the kids who were celebrating one boy's 5th birthday, Molly went in the bin once in a while, but preferred walking back and forth on the wooden arched walkway leading to the bin. Charlie was a little cranky until the ice cream came, them that made him happy.
Monday, March 14
Badri left for Delhi in the a.m. and I in the afternoon on the 2 1/2 hour flight. This my first time leaving the kids, other than the overnighter I spent in Bangalore at the Sheraton for my birthday four months ago. I must say I was very excited. Read magazines and wrote in my journal on the airplane for the first time in four years. Sat next to two very interesting women from Paris, both biologists studying human genetics and doing research in Pondicherry and Bangalore for a couple weeks.
Badri met me at the airport and our driver, Mr. Singh, brought us to Sakura, the most wonderful sushi restaurant I've been to in a long time. We were the only non-Japanese diners there. It's so funny having a cell phone on you at all times, when nobody knows where you might be at any given moment. After ordering dinner, I got a call from Mary Louise, a friend in Bangalore I hadn't seen in a while, but who I knew had had a baby at the end of the year. Turns out, she was calling to find out what formula we used on Charlie (expats are never sure whether what they can get here is anything at all like what we use in the states).
Tuesday
Slept in until 7 am! Soaked in a hot bubble bath and read while Badri slept in. Classy bathroom, like the one at the Maurya Sheraton also in Delhi, where there's some kind of heater built in behind the bathroom mirror so it doesn't get fogged up after a bath. After Badri awoke, I opened the curtains to a beautiful view of gardens behind the Taj Mahal Hotel, with a mist hanging around the trees and a view of the city.
Read the paper and had coffee in the room, then went to breakfast at 9:30. This is luxury, because we're usually eating by 6:30 or 7 when with the kids. Beautiful dining room looking out to the gardens and pool. Evidently, it's been one of the most popular cafes for the last 30 years. Badri says it's partly because it was the only thing open at night for young people to come to.
Heavenly breakfast buffet. Met a very interesting woman from Texas at breakfast. I saw her taking notes at the buffet, so when she walked by our table I asked if she was a travel writer. Turns out, she's a food writer, writing a piece for TALL Magazine, profiling hotels which have amenities which cater to tall people, like longer beds, for example. I asked her how she got into her line of work, because, for me, that would be a dream job--traveling and writing about new places and food. She suggested I start with technical writing and go from there.
Also had a nice chat with one of the food servers, Astrid, who is a student of hotel/restaurant management. She's from Mexico City and is spending a year in India, between Delhi and Rajasthan, for practical experience.
Went to Khan Market and browsed around a stationers and wonderful bookstore. Khan Market is a square block of cafes, tailors, pharmacies, bookstores, etc., where Badri spent time as a kid. In fact, his tailor from boyhood is still in business there. It's at a photoshop here that we had Maya's first professional photo taken in May of 2001, so this place has some history for us. Picked up several books, among them Five Point Someone, a book about one guy's experience at IIT Delhi (Indian Institute of Technology). I thought I'd read it to get an idea of what Badri's life was like at IIT Kanpur way back when.
After Khan Market, Badri went back to the hotel for a call, and I took a swim, followed by a massage and sauna. I know--decadence, decadence. I feel very lucky and spoiled at times.
I really enjoyed Delhi. The pollution has decreased since they outlawed two-stroke engines three or four years ago (when I was last there) and all buses and taxis are running on natural gas.
Wed., March 16, 2005
Just back from a few days in Delhi--actually, one whole day and two nights. The kids were fine without us, of course.
Weaning Charlie. I'm having a tougher time of it than he is.
Saturday, March 19
An old buddy of Badri's, Shankar, stopped by tonight with his three sons (10 and 6 year old twins). Maya was in heaven learning checkers from the older boy. Charlie, who was about to fall asleep in his dinner only just before they arrived, perked up and was happy playing on his own(!) in the midst of all the socializing. Molly was feeling a little under the weather, so sat cozied up to me for at least half an hour, which I thoroughly enjoyed (calm amidst the frequent storms). Badri and Shankar have known each other for nearly 30 years. They met in 5th standard, when they were about 10 years old, and were inseparable for about 10 years. Now, all these years later, they work in the same office building, Shankar at AOL one floor above Badri. What a small world.
Sunday, March 20
Amma and Appa returned to Chennai today on the 2:10 train. The children thoroughly enjoyed their visit.
Monday, March 21
Tonight at dinner I mentioned to Celine that my time in Delhi made me think more about going back to work. Molly said, "Don't go to work Mama," and Maya said, "You can't go back to work Mommy. You have to stay and raise the children." I said, "But Celine Auntie's here," and Maya replied, "but you have to be here, too." It really cracked me up.
Maya stays home most of the week with unexplained fever and cough.
Wed., March 23, 2005
Today's a relatively good day, compared to yesterday, anyway. I was in hormonal tears over weaning Charlie yesterday (he's 14 months now). I know there are different schools of thought out there: on one hand, why wean him at all, if he's still into it? on the other hand, he's 14 months--do it now or else he's want to nurse until he's 4. The deciding factor (for all of you who are just dying to know about this:) was that I'm feeling particularly sucked dry--literally and figuratively.
Tonight I'll be going to my friend Nicola's house for dinner, along with our friend Laura. Nicola's from the UK and is married to a Kashmiri (Kashmir is a disputed region to the north of India and Pakistan). Her guy, Bilal, has been out of town for a long time (how many months I'm not sure) and she's in need of some fem support.
On Friday night we leave for Kuantan, an island in Malaysia. We'll be going for six days and, again, Celine has agreed to come along with us to help out. As so often happens, we're waiting to see whether at least half of the six of us are healthy before we leave. Two weeks ago I had a sore throat and passed it on to Charlie, who also got an ear infection, then last week Maya was out of school most of the week (fever, cough, stomachache). She passed it on to Badri, who is still sick and has passed it on to Molly. Molly's minimalist appetite has dwindled yet further--it was all I could do to have her eat a few pistachio nuts (she likes to call them cashews) and a few bites of pear. She's becoming thin compared to what she used to be, but then I suppose that happens to toddlers.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Newsflash: no trip to Kuantan. We'd postponed and planned to leave March 30 instead of the 25th, but then Charlie's getting a cold again, and Badri's still under the weather, so we ended up canceling the whole thing. There will be some penalties, but we didn't want to risk a long overnight trip with a couple of us feeling iffy. And to delay it would have meant the weather would be hotter the later we went.
This afternoon I noticed that Molly had an abcess where I suppose there was an ingrown fingernail. Gave Dr. Chinnappa a call and took her over to his office (12 minutes with no traffic, luckily; sometimes it can take 45 minutes to get there). He sprayed some local anaesthetic then poked it and drained it. Of course, Molly got hysterical. Cost us 250Rs (about $6) for the office visit. I tried to ask him why the kids and Badri were constantly playing "tag, you're it" with colds, fevers, etc. but Molly was screaming too much.
Came home to our friends Sarah and her four children, Martha, Sammy, Daniel, and Katie, playing here with Maya and Charlie.
It's now April 6, so I'll close here and send out March's update.
Our budding artist with self portrait
Appa's favorite position
Appa's little limpet
Two very good relaxers
Molly in the front yard jungle
Charlie on his favorite mode of transport
Mama's boy
Time for tea?
Charlie in kurta at Thatha's birthday
Mom and Maya at Thatha's birthday in pizza parlor
Our little leprechaun dressed in green for St. Paddy's Day
Happy grandparents
