October 31, 2011

Lovely Weekend!

The Saffron Tree fest- CROCUS 2011 - comes to a close today. Do visit a review and interview I did with a very interesting illustrator from the UK.



Went for the Airforce Warriors' performance and got drenched in the rains and in the patriotic fervour as well. The girls loved it. Will positively go again whenever they play next.

Navy and I saw Velayudhan, a typical Vijay movie, time pass though a bit gory. But it was nice to go to a movie alone, without kids, after almost a year.

Medici, an Italian restaurant in I Nagar, live up to what we had heard.



Will again give the Hindu November Music fest a miss but those who do go- pl update me.



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Aditi picks up my office phone and asks into it" Boss uncle, Boss uncle how you?"



Luckily she does not know to dial yet.



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Aditi finds Navy's tee rough and asks him to shave it!



October 28, 2011

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?

October 25, 2011

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.

October 24, 2011

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.

October 22, 2011

Therapy

The Retail kind


Went to Samarkand a few days back. Good kebabs, but most of the unique items such as Baklava were not available. Khyber in Mumbai and Kabab Factory at Chennai get my vote over this.


Mc flurry our favourite dessert on our tight budget Europe trip had come to India but is not as good as the memory.


Maiyas has opened a snack branch in Indira Nagar


Went and got some cool traditioal outfits for the kids and did I mention T To teens in Ulsoor. A good place to shop.


Anush made some lovely greeting cards for school from some stuff from etsy and her own ideas.


And Music Therapy


The Airforce Orchestra will perforn at Manekshaw grounds on 29th again.

October 20, 2011

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!!

October 19, 2011

Challenges and Contests



Anush has learnt to cycle without the safety/ side wheels. All thanks to her Thaathu. And her own persistence. I feel immensely relieved since I never learnt to cycle.

As per her worksheets, Anush did extremely well in Hindi as well this time.
She did miserably at a quiz in school but was not miserable about it. Thank God.

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I usually stay away from contests if I even remotely feel the need to win. I participate if I know I am not going to win but I will have fun at it. Absurd? Go figure.

There is a new contest up on Women's Web specifically for parenting bloggers : http://www.womensweb.in/articles/passport-healthy-pregnancy-contest/

Here is another one at Karadi on a different note-http://karadionline.blogspot.com/2011/10/read-review-blog.html

October 18, 2011

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.....

October 17, 2011

Waiting to Bloom




The Saffron Tree annual fest- CROCUS is just around the corner. Being ST's fifth birthday, we chose elements as the theme. Am sure you will love the selection of books on review.



Do encourage us by visiting us more and leaving behind comments as well. And feel free to spread the word around....

October 13, 2011

Bangalore and Chennai Times

In Chennai on work. Met zestful Uma of Adya fame and again amazed at how much she can fill into her day and life. She indulged me with craft material for Anushka and golu dolls for the coming year!!

If you are in Chennai, do check out Lets do something at Velachary for the activities they do.

Dhaatu Golu is on for those in Blore.
There are two cool plays for kids theatre on the anvil in early November.

And watch this space for updates on the annual ST fest- CROCUS 2011.

October 11, 2011

Card for all seasons

Anushka, like a lot of kids her age, makes cards for all occasions and people.

There are many get well soon, welcome home cards that keep happening at home.



Here are some that I wish to share for Shruti's Arsty Craftsy:



She did these as farewell cards in her Montessori school

She made this one on paintbrush and wanted to print it


She sketched and coloured this herself for Krishnashtami ( inspired by Ghee happy)




She made this for her school for the Ganesh festival




She used blocks we bought outside Bull temple for this



Will post more as I click them.

October 10, 2011

T(w)o Greats!

Jagjit Singh and Pataudi, rather nice looking, illustrious gentlemen.


They were indeed talented, and they also had their not so great moments.


They will be missed.

Rainy Mondays



Peacock using leaves from our garden


The Golu dolls went into the store room.
Did a lot of decluttering of wardrobes/ store.



The kids went back to school today.


Office work is at a high.


I have begun exercising. ... yet again.



Yet I felt a strange emptiness - and no it was not due to hunger.


Carpenters nailed it in Rainy Days and Mondays.

October 07, 2011

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 .

October 06, 2011

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.

October 05, 2011

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.

October 04, 2011

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.

October 03, 2011

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.

October 01, 2011

Bring in prosperity



In keeping with this year's decision to cover various aspects of Golu here is another set of dolls - Chettiar Bommais- Prosperous elderly couple ( note the man is rather like a Laughing Buddha), we place 5 types of grains in front of them. Not sure what the usual composition of offerings is.


We cherished the visits of all who made it and foremost among them that of S of ST fame and her charming daughter A.