Thursday, September 01, 2005
August Update from Bangalore
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Badri and I were married eight years ago today, in Hampton Falls, a seacoast town in New Hampshire. In 1997, we had a lovely gathering of friends and family and a blend of western and Indian cultural traditions to celebrate that day. Hard to believe that it's been eight years already!
Thursday, August 4, 2005
Amma and Appa headed back to Chennai today. If all goes well, we'll see them next week when we go there for a few days. We actually have booked a seaside cottage at Fisherman's Cove, where Badri had his office's holiday party. But at the moment, Molly has a fever and cough, and Maya a cough. Maya had a fever on Monday, but didn't seem to today. We'll have to see how our health is by next week. It's a 5-6 hour car or train ride, so we plan to go by train. We've learned from experience that train rides are more pleasant than a car ride that long.
Went to my third Hindi lesson today. My teacher's name is Miriam and she lives five minutes walk from our house. I'm going three times a week, an hour a class. She reminds me of some of my first piano teachers--older woman, lives in an old house with lots of character, and has infinite patience. She said she'd be happy to take on Maya as a student, also, and when I mentioned it to Maya, she said she'd like to come with me (of course, Maya's pronunciation will put mine to shame--just ask Badri).
Friday, August 5, 2005
Badri and I met Tod, a colleague of his from work, at the Library Bar at Leela Palace tonight. Tod's moving back to the U.S. tomorrow. Also met a new friend there, Laura, from Argentina. She's been living in India for about a year working for Sun Microsystems.I really hit it off with Laura, and she lives right around the corner from us. Very small world. Badri had run into an elderly gentleman in the neighborhood months ago, and he'd told him that he was renting out part of his bungalow (house). Well, it turns out that it eventually was rented out to Laura. She lives a block from us, in between us and Sangeeta and Tutu (our journalist friends).
After a beer at the Library, the four of us went out to dinner and had some terrific Indian food. Laura has lived in many places, including Boulder, Colorado, where she studied and did some competitive skiing. She's from Argentina but has a barely discernible accent when speaking English.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Another 24 hour escape for me to Leela Palace. This a gift to me from Badri garnered from accrued credit card points. Normally, the price of the rooms is about $350 US, more than we'd even spend on a hotel anywhere. Leela Palace is less than 10 minutes drive from us house, and across the street from Badri's office.
The weather was pretty gray, but I got one swim in anyway. Enjoyed a dinner out with tenderloin and a glass of red wine. Watched two movies ("Ray" and "Antwone Fisher") and did a little shopping (went to Oxford Bookstore and bought "The Inscrutable Americans" by Anurag Mathur and "Cuba and the Night" by Pico Iyer for Badri, who loves Cuba.
Badri came with Maya and Molly to help me check out on Sunday. They looked so adorable after not seeing them for a whole day. And Molly looks downright skinny compared to her chubby little toddler days.
Monday, August 8, 2005
Today I came home from an errand to see a Toyota Land Cruiser in front of our house. Turns out it's our new neighbor's car. They're renovating their house. The woman, Deepa, saw me and came out to visit. She anticipates the house will be move in ready by November. She has two children, a four year old daughter and eight year old son. Built in play buddy for Maya! We were talking about me being a stay home mom, and she mentioned that when she started going stir crazy, she opened a shop. Just so happens to be a place called "Hey Ho Village", a store Badri and I bought a couple cute things for the kids from, very near their new school.
On that note, today Maya had a playdate with her best buddy, Grace. The sad news is that Grace and her family will be moving back to England in a month or two. They've known each other for nearly a year now, starting together at the Canadian School in the fall of 2005, and continuing together at the Neev school. Grace's family has been here for two years total, and their cook/nanny is Vanilla, sister of Vani, our cook who will be leaving soon to have her baby. It's been interesting to see how their friendship has grown and how they've both grown and matured. They're both dying to have a sleepover or two before Grace leaves the country. Grace's parents, Nicola and Tom, are very nice and actually lived for a year or two very close to where I'm from, in Newburyport, Massachusetts (about an hour south of the Maine border).
Maya won't be the only disappointed one. Charlie has started seeing Grace's little sister, Molly, at the park every morning. Vanilla goes with Molly and Rita or I go with Charlie, and the two of them play together for at least an hour every morning. Molly is about 14 months old, and Charlie 19 months.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Classic meltdown for Molly today this a.m. What caused it? Hmmmm, now let me see? I really can't remember. We rarely can. But it was so bad that at 8:15 I packed Charlie and Maya in the double stroller and took Maya to school. Several of the teachers at school said, "Hi Molly!" to Charlie as we pulled up, before they realized it was her little brother. Badri was with her at home, and by the time I came back near 9 am, Molly had calmed down and I took her to school in the car.
Went to playgroup with Charlie in Whitefield at Palm Meadows. It took over 30 minutes, so by the time we got there, we had barely 30 minutes to play then had to come back. Charlie was ready anyway. Kept pulling my arm, walking me to the door and saying "Car!" Molly had a fine day at school, in the end.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
We went out to the front of the house to see a beautiful kolom (sidewalk painting in white powder) drawn this morning by Ratnama, our kolom designer. Whenever there's a particularly ornate design I know there's a festival of some kind, often one I hadn't been aware of. Today is Naga Panchami, festival of the snake. Because of its cyclical moulting, the serpent is believed to be immortal by Hindus.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Maya came to us in the night with a high fever. She stayed out of school today with 103 temperature, stomacheache, and headache. Badri cancelled the long weekend plans.
Brought Molly to the doctor (Mahesh Babu, children's pulmonologist) because her cough is getting worse (4 or 5 months now). He's putting her on steroids for five days. If the cough goes away, he'll figure it's allergies or asthma and we'll go from there. We'll definitely not keep her on steroids, but try to go the homeopathic route, which people here swear by for allergies and asthma.
Had Kevin Brunner over for dinner tonight. He had gone home to Canada to accompany Laura and the two children, and will be here for another month wrapping up work with his company. Their baby is due in early October, so he'll be home in plenty of time for the delivery. Kevin brought back lots of goodies for us--the Muzzy Spanish language learning program for the kids, a digital camera with all the bells and whistles, and wet wipes, Cheerios, raisins, etc. People always ask me what I miss from the states, and there really isn't much I can't live without. In fact, you can get wipes and raisins here, but they're just not quite the same. Cheerios are impossible to find. Even in Spain, we could only find the sweetened Cheerios.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Unfortunately, Maya stayed home from school today, where they're celebrating India's 58th year of independence. Monday is the actual holiday, but there will be no school then. Dressed Molly in a beautiful orange salwar kameez given by Kamala Chitti (Amuma to the kids, and Badri's maternal aunt). India's colors are orange (saffron), green, and white.
Badri cancelled our hotel reservations at Fisherman's Cove, as well as our flight and train reservations (we were going to take the train there and fly home). Oh well, I guess there will be another chance to go sometime.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Badri and I went to the Renaissance Art Gallery off Brigade Road which had been recommended to us by Kavita, the head of Neev, the girls' school. Bought three paintings by two contemporary Indian artists. Anand Panchal is a Maharashtra born artist (the state of Maya's birth, also) and S. G. Vasudev was born in Mysore and grew up in Bangalore. Badri and my tastes generally diverge but we happily agreed on these three pieces.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Shreen Malini, the Renaissance gallery manager, invited us to a fundraiser at the Taj West End. Got all gussied up and went. Most of the paintings we'd seen at her gallery the day before were on exhibit. The highlight was music by a jazz percussionist who, on a couple numbers, reminded us of Bobby McFerrin. The final song was a phenomenal duel with him and his sidekick, both on jemba drums and cymbals.
Badri and I had a lovely dinner at Blue Ginger, the Vietnamese restaurant that's also part of Taj West End. Split three heavenly dishes: a pork with garlic, a vegetable dish of bok choy, mushrooms and chili pepper, and a chicken and prawn noodle dish.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Another beautiful kolom by Ratnama in celebration of Independence Day. I went for a walk with Molly and Charlie in the double stroller. Stopped off at my favorite subzi walla (vegetable seller) stand and bought bindi (also known as lady finger, or okra) and onions. I didn't have cash on me, but he's letting me owe him 16 rupees (about 40 cents). He always has big smiles for the kids.
Ended up at the park and was happy to see Grace (Maya's best buddy) and Molly with their mom and dad Nicola and Tom (moving back to England Sept. 6). Grace took Charlie by the hand and started doing the loop with him. Soon after we got there Aruni and Siegfried (the Sri Lankan/German couple) came with Kumali (also in Maya's class) and Sohalia, so the kids had a great time. I called Maya and she and Badri showed up at the park. Badri's been missing these walks because Maya's such a champion sleeper. Charlie and Molly wake up at 6 and 6:30, so by 8:30 are chomping at the bit to get out of the house. When it's not a school day Maya's usually still sleeping, so I end up going off with the two little ones.
At 10 am I headed off to yoga and Maya went home with Grace to play for a while. Most people were taking Independence Day off, so I had a private yoga lesson. It felt good to stretch out all the kinks after a less than full night of sleep (6 hours, thank you Charlie).
What a trip it is to watch Molly and Charlie play together in the morning. Charlie generally is afraid of Molly these days, because she can be a bit of a bully one minute, then hugging and kissing him the next (usually does the latter when we're looking). One of their favorite things to do is climb in the closet in the spare bedroom [note to cautious parents and grandparents--it can't be locked from the inside] and sit on the pillow side by side. Charlie gets tired of being in there (he's generally more of a mover than Molly) and Molly will ask him, and eventually scream at him, to come back inside. "I gave it to Chah-lay" is one of Molly's oft repeated phrases, trying to get on our good side, when she decides to give back to him something she's taken from him (sippy cup, car, book, whatever).
Heading up to see what state of sleep the four are in (Badri had even less sleep than I did last night because he had a conference call until 1:30 in the morning, so he's probably napping with Maya). We're supposed to go to Janaki Auntie and Babu Uncle's house this afternoon, and it's about an hour drive. Charlie's been sleeping for almost two hours now, which thrills me. I think I mentioned that when he conks out by 10:30 am he rarely sleeps for even an hour, but when we can keep him up until noon and have him fed and changed, he naps longer. Yesterday Badri and I were beside ourselves when he slept for 3 1/4 hours! Little pleasures for tired parents.
...
Had a great time at Janaki Auntie and Babu Uncle's house. They live about 30 minutes south in a fairly new apartment complex with a nice children's playground. The kids were happy playing there, and when the rain came pouring down we took the elevator (lift) up to the 9th floor. They have a heavenly view from two balconies facing out to different directions.
Janaki Auntie had visited us before and knew exactly what the children liked--she'd prepared dosas, lots of sliced fruit, and chocolate pastries. It's always interesting to see how the kids will do at a house with no children in residence, and Badri noted that they were so [relatively] well-behaved, we shouldn't push our luck and count on having it go so smoothly every time.
Babu Uncle told us an interesting story about meeting T.S. Eliot when he (Babu) was studying at Oxford nearly 50 years ago. He had prepared questions he wanted to ask the great poet, but unfortunately Eliot was too engrossed in the cricket match that was going on (I believe they were listening to it on the radio) to participate much in the conversation.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Went to our friend Shilu's house for what they call here "afternoon tea". She'd prepared macaroni and cheese, chocolate cake, and ice cream. The kids were very excited about all the goodies, and I figured once in a while won't hurt (kind of like going to McDonald's once every few months). Shilu is a woman I see walking daily in the park across the street. The kids call her Shilu Auntie (auntie is a term of respect used to refer to women older than oneself, and uncle for men).
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Molly was very whiny and clingy this morning, and as soon as Badri held her in his lap she threw up all over herself and him, poor things. Kept her home from school, but her mood seemed to be fine hours later so I brought her to get her haircut at the M&W salon at the Leela Palace. The first time we went there she was hysterical, and now this, the third time, she was very excited to go and see Stella auntie and have her cut her hair. In fact, she sat on her own for the first time and I didn't have to bribe her once with M&Ms.
Yesterday was the 5th and final day of trying the steroids for her cough to determine whether it's allergies or asthma. Her cough had subsided during those 5 days, and now it's coming back. I guess we'll have to go back to Mahesh Babu and figure out what comes next. I'll ask him about homeopathy treatment and also try to figure out whether it is allergies or asthma.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Went to Neev, the girls' school, with Charlie from 9:30-10:40. There's a new informal program for younger siblings of enrolled children, a playgroup of sorts. Charlie's friend, Molly, also goes. He's the only boy, and has a great time climbing the soft play equipment and crawling through the tunnel. I'm thrilled to bits with his new nap schedule (down at noon for at least a couple hours--just knock on wood that he sticks to it for awhile).
Friday, August 19, 2005
Maya had her first sleepover today. Stayed at her buddy Grace's house. Yet another milestone in my big little girl's life.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Went to our friends, Marion and Phil, for "tea" in the afternoon. They have a great apartment (flat) in Embassy Woods on Cunningham Road. The highlight of their place is the rooftop terrace, fully covered with grass! They set up a splash pool with the kiddie slide going into it and the kids had a great time.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Hosted playgroup and had a great turnout.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Brother Ski's 45th birthday.
Picked up my friend, Sue Lotke, from the airport. She's in India accompanying her husband Paul while he gives talks in Goa (he's an orthopedic surgeon). I met Sue about 14 years ago when she and Paul came to Bolivia to visit their daughter, Pam, who I had become friends with. Pam and I both volunteered with the same non-governmental organization, Project Concern.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Brought Sue to playgroup for Charlie at Neev, then we went to see the Bull Temple and City Market. She's doing remarkably well considering she just flew halfway around the world yesterday. We went out to dinner tonight at Citrus restaurant in Leela after I brought her shopping for clothes at Anokhi and a pashmina shawl at a Kashmiri shop.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Picked Molly up from school and we brought Sue to the airport so she could fly on to Goa. Super short, but terrific visit.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Badri and I took my sister, Mary's recommendation and rented "Motorcycle Diaries" which chronicles Che Guevara's ride through South America. Terrific movie. Interesting to see how he got to where he was politically. Also cool to see places in Peru that I traveled to eons ago (1987?)--Machu Picchu, Lima, Pucallpa, some parts of the Amazon.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Eventful day. Brought Maya to the dentist for her first real cleaning (she'd had a checkup up of sorts in San Diego about a year and a half ago). She was a champ, holding up to the ultrasonic cleaning equipment. Trouble was, she was given a fluoride treatment that she hated the taste of, and threw up soon after she got home. To make matters worse, we came home to Charlie having such a high fever that he was laying on the guest bed, the most lethargic I'd ever seen him.
Tuesday, August 30
Badri and I brought Molly to a homeopathic doctor (Ramesh) who lots of people had recommended. He asked about her history and gave us 3 bottles of what looks like tiny sugar balls, and one bottle of homeopathic cough syrup. Met some really nice people there, whose son has the same complaint as Molly--long-term coughing, probably asthma brought on by allergies (at least, that's Molly's has been diagnosed as and seemed to be the problem with this other child, as well).
Very late getting out the update this month. Hope this finds you well. Hugs from Bangalore.
Hangin' out, Charlie in baby Krishna t-shirt
Molly with Brutus, our ex-financial advisor's Harlequin Great Dane
Charlie, 18 months, Molly 2 years 9 months
Molly and Bunny, ready for Monsoon Fashion Show
Special kolom for Naga Pooja (snake prayer)
Maya home "sick" (really!) on Indian Independence Day
Maya and Molly decked out for Indian Independence Day
Of course we don't catch on film when they're at each other's throat
Our friend Sue Lotke visiting from Pennsylvania
Maya with best buddy Grace
Vani's (our cook) last week before having her baby
Mala (housecleaner), Patricia (cook), Vani (soon to be leaving cook), Rita (nanny)
Family photo--no one crying and no eyes closed!
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Badri and I were married eight years ago today, in Hampton Falls, a seacoast town in New Hampshire. In 1997, we had a lovely gathering of friends and family and a blend of western and Indian cultural traditions to celebrate that day. Hard to believe that it's been eight years already!
Thursday, August 4, 2005
Amma and Appa headed back to Chennai today. If all goes well, we'll see them next week when we go there for a few days. We actually have booked a seaside cottage at Fisherman's Cove, where Badri had his office's holiday party. But at the moment, Molly has a fever and cough, and Maya a cough. Maya had a fever on Monday, but didn't seem to today. We'll have to see how our health is by next week. It's a 5-6 hour car or train ride, so we plan to go by train. We've learned from experience that train rides are more pleasant than a car ride that long.
Went to my third Hindi lesson today. My teacher's name is Miriam and she lives five minutes walk from our house. I'm going three times a week, an hour a class. She reminds me of some of my first piano teachers--older woman, lives in an old house with lots of character, and has infinite patience. She said she'd be happy to take on Maya as a student, also, and when I mentioned it to Maya, she said she'd like to come with me (of course, Maya's pronunciation will put mine to shame--just ask Badri).
Friday, August 5, 2005
Badri and I met Tod, a colleague of his from work, at the Library Bar at Leela Palace tonight. Tod's moving back to the U.S. tomorrow. Also met a new friend there, Laura, from Argentina. She's been living in India for about a year working for Sun Microsystems.I really hit it off with Laura, and she lives right around the corner from us. Very small world. Badri had run into an elderly gentleman in the neighborhood months ago, and he'd told him that he was renting out part of his bungalow (house). Well, it turns out that it eventually was rented out to Laura. She lives a block from us, in between us and Sangeeta and Tutu (our journalist friends).
After a beer at the Library, the four of us went out to dinner and had some terrific Indian food. Laura has lived in many places, including Boulder, Colorado, where she studied and did some competitive skiing. She's from Argentina but has a barely discernible accent when speaking English.
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Another 24 hour escape for me to Leela Palace. This a gift to me from Badri garnered from accrued credit card points. Normally, the price of the rooms is about $350 US, more than we'd even spend on a hotel anywhere. Leela Palace is less than 10 minutes drive from us house, and across the street from Badri's office.
The weather was pretty gray, but I got one swim in anyway. Enjoyed a dinner out with tenderloin and a glass of red wine. Watched two movies ("Ray" and "Antwone Fisher") and did a little shopping (went to Oxford Bookstore and bought "The Inscrutable Americans" by Anurag Mathur and "Cuba and the Night" by Pico Iyer for Badri, who loves Cuba.
Badri came with Maya and Molly to help me check out on Sunday. They looked so adorable after not seeing them for a whole day. And Molly looks downright skinny compared to her chubby little toddler days.
Monday, August 8, 2005
Today I came home from an errand to see a Toyota Land Cruiser in front of our house. Turns out it's our new neighbor's car. They're renovating their house. The woman, Deepa, saw me and came out to visit. She anticipates the house will be move in ready by November. She has two children, a four year old daughter and eight year old son. Built in play buddy for Maya! We were talking about me being a stay home mom, and she mentioned that when she started going stir crazy, she opened a shop. Just so happens to be a place called "Hey Ho Village", a store Badri and I bought a couple cute things for the kids from, very near their new school.
On that note, today Maya had a playdate with her best buddy, Grace. The sad news is that Grace and her family will be moving back to England in a month or two. They've known each other for nearly a year now, starting together at the Canadian School in the fall of 2005, and continuing together at the Neev school. Grace's family has been here for two years total, and their cook/nanny is Vanilla, sister of Vani, our cook who will be leaving soon to have her baby. It's been interesting to see how their friendship has grown and how they've both grown and matured. They're both dying to have a sleepover or two before Grace leaves the country. Grace's parents, Nicola and Tom, are very nice and actually lived for a year or two very close to where I'm from, in Newburyport, Massachusetts (about an hour south of the Maine border).
Maya won't be the only disappointed one. Charlie has started seeing Grace's little sister, Molly, at the park every morning. Vanilla goes with Molly and Rita or I go with Charlie, and the two of them play together for at least an hour every morning. Molly is about 14 months old, and Charlie 19 months.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Classic meltdown for Molly today this a.m. What caused it? Hmmmm, now let me see? I really can't remember. We rarely can. But it was so bad that at 8:15 I packed Charlie and Maya in the double stroller and took Maya to school. Several of the teachers at school said, "Hi Molly!" to Charlie as we pulled up, before they realized it was her little brother. Badri was with her at home, and by the time I came back near 9 am, Molly had calmed down and I took her to school in the car.
Went to playgroup with Charlie in Whitefield at Palm Meadows. It took over 30 minutes, so by the time we got there, we had barely 30 minutes to play then had to come back. Charlie was ready anyway. Kept pulling my arm, walking me to the door and saying "Car!" Molly had a fine day at school, in the end.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
We went out to the front of the house to see a beautiful kolom (sidewalk painting in white powder) drawn this morning by Ratnama, our kolom designer. Whenever there's a particularly ornate design I know there's a festival of some kind, often one I hadn't been aware of. Today is Naga Panchami, festival of the snake. Because of its cyclical moulting, the serpent is believed to be immortal by Hindus.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Maya came to us in the night with a high fever. She stayed out of school today with 103 temperature, stomacheache, and headache. Badri cancelled the long weekend plans.
Brought Molly to the doctor (Mahesh Babu, children's pulmonologist) because her cough is getting worse (4 or 5 months now). He's putting her on steroids for five days. If the cough goes away, he'll figure it's allergies or asthma and we'll go from there. We'll definitely not keep her on steroids, but try to go the homeopathic route, which people here swear by for allergies and asthma.
Had Kevin Brunner over for dinner tonight. He had gone home to Canada to accompany Laura and the two children, and will be here for another month wrapping up work with his company. Their baby is due in early October, so he'll be home in plenty of time for the delivery. Kevin brought back lots of goodies for us--the Muzzy Spanish language learning program for the kids, a digital camera with all the bells and whistles, and wet wipes, Cheerios, raisins, etc. People always ask me what I miss from the states, and there really isn't much I can't live without. In fact, you can get wipes and raisins here, but they're just not quite the same. Cheerios are impossible to find. Even in Spain, we could only find the sweetened Cheerios.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Unfortunately, Maya stayed home from school today, where they're celebrating India's 58th year of independence. Monday is the actual holiday, but there will be no school then. Dressed Molly in a beautiful orange salwar kameez given by Kamala Chitti (Amuma to the kids, and Badri's maternal aunt). India's colors are orange (saffron), green, and white.
Badri cancelled our hotel reservations at Fisherman's Cove, as well as our flight and train reservations (we were going to take the train there and fly home). Oh well, I guess there will be another chance to go sometime.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Badri and I went to the Renaissance Art Gallery off Brigade Road which had been recommended to us by Kavita, the head of Neev, the girls' school. Bought three paintings by two contemporary Indian artists. Anand Panchal is a Maharashtra born artist (the state of Maya's birth, also) and S. G. Vasudev was born in Mysore and grew up in Bangalore. Badri and my tastes generally diverge but we happily agreed on these three pieces.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Shreen Malini, the Renaissance gallery manager, invited us to a fundraiser at the Taj West End. Got all gussied up and went. Most of the paintings we'd seen at her gallery the day before were on exhibit. The highlight was music by a jazz percussionist who, on a couple numbers, reminded us of Bobby McFerrin. The final song was a phenomenal duel with him and his sidekick, both on jemba drums and cymbals.
Badri and I had a lovely dinner at Blue Ginger, the Vietnamese restaurant that's also part of Taj West End. Split three heavenly dishes: a pork with garlic, a vegetable dish of bok choy, mushrooms and chili pepper, and a chicken and prawn noodle dish.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Another beautiful kolom by Ratnama in celebration of Independence Day. I went for a walk with Molly and Charlie in the double stroller. Stopped off at my favorite subzi walla (vegetable seller) stand and bought bindi (also known as lady finger, or okra) and onions. I didn't have cash on me, but he's letting me owe him 16 rupees (about 40 cents). He always has big smiles for the kids.
Ended up at the park and was happy to see Grace (Maya's best buddy) and Molly with their mom and dad Nicola and Tom (moving back to England Sept. 6). Grace took Charlie by the hand and started doing the loop with him. Soon after we got there Aruni and Siegfried (the Sri Lankan/German couple) came with Kumali (also in Maya's class) and Sohalia, so the kids had a great time. I called Maya and she and Badri showed up at the park. Badri's been missing these walks because Maya's such a champion sleeper. Charlie and Molly wake up at 6 and 6:30, so by 8:30 are chomping at the bit to get out of the house. When it's not a school day Maya's usually still sleeping, so I end up going off with the two little ones.
At 10 am I headed off to yoga and Maya went home with Grace to play for a while. Most people were taking Independence Day off, so I had a private yoga lesson. It felt good to stretch out all the kinks after a less than full night of sleep (6 hours, thank you Charlie).
What a trip it is to watch Molly and Charlie play together in the morning. Charlie generally is afraid of Molly these days, because she can be a bit of a bully one minute, then hugging and kissing him the next (usually does the latter when we're looking). One of their favorite things to do is climb in the closet in the spare bedroom [note to cautious parents and grandparents--it can't be locked from the inside] and sit on the pillow side by side. Charlie gets tired of being in there (he's generally more of a mover than Molly) and Molly will ask him, and eventually scream at him, to come back inside. "I gave it to Chah-lay" is one of Molly's oft repeated phrases, trying to get on our good side, when she decides to give back to him something she's taken from him (sippy cup, car, book, whatever).
Heading up to see what state of sleep the four are in (Badri had even less sleep than I did last night because he had a conference call until 1:30 in the morning, so he's probably napping with Maya). We're supposed to go to Janaki Auntie and Babu Uncle's house this afternoon, and it's about an hour drive. Charlie's been sleeping for almost two hours now, which thrills me. I think I mentioned that when he conks out by 10:30 am he rarely sleeps for even an hour, but when we can keep him up until noon and have him fed and changed, he naps longer. Yesterday Badri and I were beside ourselves when he slept for 3 1/4 hours! Little pleasures for tired parents.
...
Had a great time at Janaki Auntie and Babu Uncle's house. They live about 30 minutes south in a fairly new apartment complex with a nice children's playground. The kids were happy playing there, and when the rain came pouring down we took the elevator (lift) up to the 9th floor. They have a heavenly view from two balconies facing out to different directions.
Janaki Auntie had visited us before and knew exactly what the children liked--she'd prepared dosas, lots of sliced fruit, and chocolate pastries. It's always interesting to see how the kids will do at a house with no children in residence, and Badri noted that they were so [relatively] well-behaved, we shouldn't push our luck and count on having it go so smoothly every time.
Babu Uncle told us an interesting story about meeting T.S. Eliot when he (Babu) was studying at Oxford nearly 50 years ago. He had prepared questions he wanted to ask the great poet, but unfortunately Eliot was too engrossed in the cricket match that was going on (I believe they were listening to it on the radio) to participate much in the conversation.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Went to our friend Shilu's house for what they call here "afternoon tea". She'd prepared macaroni and cheese, chocolate cake, and ice cream. The kids were very excited about all the goodies, and I figured once in a while won't hurt (kind of like going to McDonald's once every few months). Shilu is a woman I see walking daily in the park across the street. The kids call her Shilu Auntie (auntie is a term of respect used to refer to women older than oneself, and uncle for men).
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Molly was very whiny and clingy this morning, and as soon as Badri held her in his lap she threw up all over herself and him, poor things. Kept her home from school, but her mood seemed to be fine hours later so I brought her to get her haircut at the M&W salon at the Leela Palace. The first time we went there she was hysterical, and now this, the third time, she was very excited to go and see Stella auntie and have her cut her hair. In fact, she sat on her own for the first time and I didn't have to bribe her once with M&Ms.
Yesterday was the 5th and final day of trying the steroids for her cough to determine whether it's allergies or asthma. Her cough had subsided during those 5 days, and now it's coming back. I guess we'll have to go back to Mahesh Babu and figure out what comes next. I'll ask him about homeopathy treatment and also try to figure out whether it is allergies or asthma.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Went to Neev, the girls' school, with Charlie from 9:30-10:40. There's a new informal program for younger siblings of enrolled children, a playgroup of sorts. Charlie's friend, Molly, also goes. He's the only boy, and has a great time climbing the soft play equipment and crawling through the tunnel. I'm thrilled to bits with his new nap schedule (down at noon for at least a couple hours--just knock on wood that he sticks to it for awhile).
Friday, August 19, 2005
Maya had her first sleepover today. Stayed at her buddy Grace's house. Yet another milestone in my big little girl's life.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Went to our friends, Marion and Phil, for "tea" in the afternoon. They have a great apartment (flat) in Embassy Woods on Cunningham Road. The highlight of their place is the rooftop terrace, fully covered with grass! They set up a splash pool with the kiddie slide going into it and the kids had a great time.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Hosted playgroup and had a great turnout.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Brother Ski's 45th birthday.
Picked up my friend, Sue Lotke, from the airport. She's in India accompanying her husband Paul while he gives talks in Goa (he's an orthopedic surgeon). I met Sue about 14 years ago when she and Paul came to Bolivia to visit their daughter, Pam, who I had become friends with. Pam and I both volunteered with the same non-governmental organization, Project Concern.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Brought Sue to playgroup for Charlie at Neev, then we went to see the Bull Temple and City Market. She's doing remarkably well considering she just flew halfway around the world yesterday. We went out to dinner tonight at Citrus restaurant in Leela after I brought her shopping for clothes at Anokhi and a pashmina shawl at a Kashmiri shop.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Picked Molly up from school and we brought Sue to the airport so she could fly on to Goa. Super short, but terrific visit.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Badri and I took my sister, Mary's recommendation and rented "Motorcycle Diaries" which chronicles Che Guevara's ride through South America. Terrific movie. Interesting to see how he got to where he was politically. Also cool to see places in Peru that I traveled to eons ago (1987?)--Machu Picchu, Lima, Pucallpa, some parts of the Amazon.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Eventful day. Brought Maya to the dentist for her first real cleaning (she'd had a checkup up of sorts in San Diego about a year and a half ago). She was a champ, holding up to the ultrasonic cleaning equipment. Trouble was, she was given a fluoride treatment that she hated the taste of, and threw up soon after she got home. To make matters worse, we came home to Charlie having such a high fever that he was laying on the guest bed, the most lethargic I'd ever seen him.
Tuesday, August 30
Badri and I brought Molly to a homeopathic doctor (Ramesh) who lots of people had recommended. He asked about her history and gave us 3 bottles of what looks like tiny sugar balls, and one bottle of homeopathic cough syrup. Met some really nice people there, whose son has the same complaint as Molly--long-term coughing, probably asthma brought on by allergies (at least, that's Molly's has been diagnosed as and seemed to be the problem with this other child, as well).
Very late getting out the update this month. Hope this finds you well. Hugs from Bangalore.
Hangin' out, Charlie in baby Krishna t-shirt
Molly with Brutus, our ex-financial advisor's Harlequin Great Dane
Charlie, 18 months, Molly 2 years 9 months
Molly and Bunny, ready for Monsoon Fashion Show
Special kolom for Naga Pooja (snake prayer)
Maya home "sick" (really!) on Indian Independence Day
Maya and Molly decked out for Indian Independence Day
Of course we don't catch on film when they're at each other's throat
Our friend Sue Lotke visiting from Pennsylvania
Maya with best buddy Grace
Vani's (our cook) last week before having her baby
Mala (housecleaner), Patricia (cook), Vani (soon to be leaving cook), Rita (nanny)
Family photo--no one crying and no eyes closed!
# posted by Kelly @ 8:25 AM 
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Hi,
I love your posts, so natural and lively. Also I would like to know about the homeopathy doc , is he good, and how effective are the medicines?
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I love your posts, so natural and lively. Also I would like to know about the homeopathy doc , is he good, and how effective are the medicines?
# posted by 
: Thursday, June 05, 2008
: Thursday, June 05, 2008 << Home
