2008 in the life of V

This is what 2008 has been for V....

-Turned three and had his birthday party

-Went on his first boating trip on the sea, and went thrice after that...

-Had his first vacation spent with grandparents, and did not miss mama and papa

-Made friends with half the town. And indulges all of them:-)

-Discovered his creative side

-Entered the magical world of books,and loved it.

-Was turned into a "ladybug" by Dad and Mom:-)

-Discovered X box and how to play "Burnout 2" all by himself.

-Got himself a spanky new red Bicycle

-Became choosy of what he wears

-Started writing , and learnt all his alphabets

-Took a roadtrip with mom and dad and tried his hand at driving

Here is hoping 2009 brings us more happiness and love . And many more happy milestones in our life.

The weekend that was

So went our christmas extended to anniversary weekend....It was totally fun, except for the return journey. Ahem! We'll come to the bad parts later...

We drove( figuratively of course, i am addicted to the passenger seat. Wouldn't trade that for anything) about six hours, including the one hour we spend chasing V to make him eat breakfast.

Till we were about 20 km from Mahabaleshwar, we were pretty convinced that it could not be as cold as we were told. The sun was blazing, the car Ac was full on, and we were hoping for a winter break?? But lo behold, it.was. cold. The temp suddenly dropped, and Mahabaleshwar was everything that we were told it would be. And yes, it was teeming with people. Half of mumbai seemed to have descended there.

Nevertheless, it was worth the travel. We had two good days roaming, including the famed temples, the breathtaking( heartstopping, is more like it) views from the various points, went boating, and horsing(as V says it), ate all sundry stuff and bought a lot of stuff from the MAPRO farm- like three months worth of jams, crushes, jellies etc.

Personal highs-

- Having TB feed V three times a day, for two days straight. I loooved it. I could totally do another trip to see that. He was completely papa's boy.
- Watching a strawberry garden, and real strawberries( please pardon if i sound completely over the top here- i grew up pretty convinced that strawberry picking was some exotic thing that only children outside india did). I took pictures of strawberries- red , green and all shades. I have hereby gotten oven strawberry madness. And yes, we also has strawberries and cream, like every faithful who comes here.
- Admiring the baby radishes and baby carrots that lines every road. I was sooo tempted to buy all of them.
- Singing along with the car radio, and teaching V the lyrics of " We will, we will rock you"
- Complete lack of mobile network. Ha ha....there was not even one signal bar where we stayed. And there was peace.

Some revelations over the weekend

- I am completely out of form, half a day to all the points , and i was panting like a dog!
- V has inherited a lot of habits from my dad, inclusing a very irritating one of not using the pot when outside his home. He waited till we got back home to do his thing!
- V has motion sickness. He thereby joins the ranks of his mother and grandmother who consider antihistamines among world greatest discoveries.
- I still remain incapable of riding a horse, or rowing a boat, or driving a car. Hmmm! Maybe i should include this into a new year list?
- If ever one needs a romantic holiday, one should find alternate accomodation plans for child.
Child+ Romantic destination= Not happening. Am glad we figured this one out before we plan on a romantic escapade.


The anniversary itself was very eventful, where my stomach and my intestines gave up and had a field day. I was up from 4 AM, emptying the contents of my stomach. Considering the long drive, i had a ' lomotil' and did not have a single drop of water. Despite that,we stopped several times and i threw up( or tried to, rather).
V joined the club and threw up all over his dress. We changed his dress, cleaned up, started,and he threw up again!. Between me and V, poor TB made several stops,i was pretty convinced he would stop and ask " Ok, whose turn is it now?" after some time. He held his fort and got us home very quickly.

We managed to go to the temple and thank god for making sure we have not killed each other by now, and making a petition that it stays that way for the next 50 years.

Then we went to the hospital and and told the doctor all about my stomach and intestines giving up on me. Went home feeling better courtesy one injection and several medicines. The doc called it hyper acidity, and lectured me on skipping meals. TB calls it stupidity- all it needed was one Omez, he says.
Anyways, i now have 3 days worth of disgusting medicines to have, that should put my digestive system back on track.

All in all, a very memorable anniversary, and a weekend that we totally enjoyed. Some pictures from the trip are here.....


V at our place of stay....they had lovely gardens all around..

Father and son walking in the cold night( bad lighting, i know..)

Yay..strawberries!!

And some more strawberries....

Presenting--- Mr Ladybug

We did our first craft project last week, and how!


V had a school fancy dress wher he had to go as an insect of a flower. We had got the information about this long ago, but in my usual procrastinationg mode, i just let it be.

Having done this last year, i decided to chicken out and take the same route- hire a costume. In mumbai, you can get anything, for a price. So there i was, ready to face this event, all mentally prepared.


What i did not anticipate though, was a healthy overdone of parental guilt!. The weekend before last, i started getting guilt pangs about my non participativeness. I had a horrible feeling that i was turning into one of those moms who have all the money and material pleasures , but no time for their children. Aaaarrrgh!!
So i went to office, and took advice from my colleagues at office of what i could do. And man, i did get tons of advice. Experienced, practical advise.


Armed with all that, i asked V what he wanted to be "flower" or "insect"? Of Course..he wanted to be an insect. Good- what if i had turned him into a flower and he disowns me 15 years later because of what i did?
Then we took his insect book and looked at all the pictures...and decided on Ladybug. So ladybug it is..Errr..is there a Mr. ladybug? Never mind.


I spent two evenings after work collecting the things i needed for the costume. I decided to make him wear black from top to bottom and make a wing( bump??) on his back ,coloured red with black dots on it. The plan sounded perfect to me.


The show was on Saturday and friday evening, back from work, i started on the costume. For the wing, i made the frame with thin wire and made the antennae with a metal hair band and red balls , that was available everywhere for christmas decorations.Just when i hit a mental block on how to cover the frame with paper, TB walked in. Wonderful!


He covered the entire frame with paper and covered the top with red felt paper. By the time we were done , it was much past midnight. We crashed after leaving it out to dry. The highlight of the night being V slicing off a part of my finger along with the cellotape, and wailing because he hurt me:-)


In the morning, i added the spots on it with black felt circles, attached strings to tie the wings around his shoulder and did the finishing touches. And we were ready to roll.
The fancy dress was nothing spectacular..
-Parents sauntering in at their wish, holding up the event.
- Most kids refusing to pose and clinging onto their parents.
- The principal asking the parents to stop talking to each other so all of us could hear what the kids had to say..
- As usual, chaos.




V went in second, enjoyed every moment of the attention and said his lines. He went around telling his teacher that his mama and papa made the costume * heart swells with pride*.
So we have figured out that we are not so bad at this fancy dress thingie after all. I have been asked to safekeep the costume by all my colleagues, so they can use it sometime.
Recognition!makes you feel good and want to do stuff all over again. Maybe not! my finger is still sore and painful. I'll give it a while.


Attaching some pictures of V in his costumes. The honey bee was the last years costume, the hired one-*smiles sheepishly*. The other one , behold - is the in house creation.

Now again....He does look a little impoverished, doesn't he?...Impoverished ladybug!!

Still getting over Goa!

The congratulations on a well managed and wonderfully planned and executed conference are still pouring in. The entire office is thrilled and still trying to get over it.
Meanwhile,some more of the fabulous pictures from there....I am definitely going back to Goa..with TB and V of course, hopefully soon.

Back from Goa

The hardest part of having a weekend all by oneself is the fact that you end up feeling guilty leaving your loved one's behind. Does that thought occur only to me, or...
Anyway..i am getting over it. Trip by trip. Over the last few trips, my level of guilt has been diminishing, so much that i actually enjoyed this one. And missed the calls from loved ones(Aaarghhh..lets leave out the not so nice feeling).
Goa was fun!!!there is no other word . It was a great experience to meet like minded( read- mad, completely bonkers) people from other side of the globe. Even better when they turn out as crazy as the team you work with. Total fun!.So much that the lady from press , who was covering the event, left saying she felt deprived not being a part of out team.
The theme night i was organizing went off well, we were truly demented grown up kids and exhibited all possible levels of kiddie behavior.It was hilarious.
I am relieved, and quite thrilled with the way things went.
I also found time for some spectacular sunsets on the beach, margharitas, a bit of old goa, port wine and bebinca and made loads of friends. Loved it!!

And here are some of the sights that i loved.

5.30AM moonset at the beach

Loved this bridge

Sunset at the beach

Swaying palms, gentle breeze, perfect vacation( but no loved one's nearby)

Basilica of Bom Jesus

My pookkalams

Some pictures of my floral creations..

This is the pookkalam i made on Onam today.

Please note the very demure and coy looking son sitting next to it. I am not so sure what to make out of that expression. I am definitely not liking the 'demure and coy' look.


C'mon buddy, snap out!



This is what i made last year. It lasted exactly 3/4 th of the day till the housekeeper decided to clean it up thinking it was some kids prank.

The subsequent tongue lashing and neck wringing is still very clear in his mind. This year, he's not even stepping on this side of the floor, leave alone clean it. He better not. I am very stuck up about grudges. I take them very personally. Especially when it comes to pookkalams.


Happy Onam!!!!Just ignore me and my grudges.

I am very shallow...

I force my son to dress up as a cow herd and make him work cattle!



Hell No! The only manual labour he is doing playing that hideous flute(!) and wreaking havoc on our poor
ear drums!
It was hidden under the sofa so we could get some much needed sleep, by his scheming mother...

And he is not going cow herding. He's off to celebrate janmashtami( lord krishna's birthday) at playschool.

He went to school with a bus full of boys dressed like him and girls dressed as radha. They looked soooo cute!!

Foot note: TB took one look at the costume and asked me.....

"we'll be doing this every year???..for how long?'.

Rest assured TB, not very long. Either his shallow mother will grow wiser or the son will, protesting to do this anymore. Then we stop. For now, go ahead and enjoy that smile.

Cheering up self

What better than pictures of V to cheer me up...

There he is, with his trademark laugh...now he does this whenever he tries to be participative in others conversation. He just joins in and starts laughing at inane things till you acknowledge his presence.

The saint look.. how i wish those chubby cheeks would come back

One of the first pictures of V on my phone. He is as small as TB's lap and loved to smile at everything. He always does.

He's less that 6 months old, and the "evil eye" black spot is firmly in place above the right eyebrow. He might just disown me for these pictures when he grows up.

They grow up sooo fast, he will be four in another six months!! and has a very clear sense 0f dressing, unlike his mom. Has hair that has to be cut every third week, unlike his mom. Is obsessed about keeping things back in the correct place, and picking up after dad...just like his mom.

I love both the men in my life....and wish they stay as they are.

Please note...

This is what happens when you let 3.5 year olds take pictures on your mobile.

Self portrait: Notice that snub nose...That, is purely my contribution. TB has no hand in that.

Still haven't figured out what this is.....

That thing on top..its a tubelight holder, just FYI

Welcome to the artistic world of V

V in his favourite corner of the house

There he is...looking out at the world go by. Actually..not the world. Its only the fitness enthusiasts in our building and the cars...plus a cat family, which loves to sleep under the cars parked right below. Shoo kitty..run. There's a car coming ....




There he is again..not looking very interested now. Guess the Kitten finally crossed the road ...

The bigger red bicycle with triiing bell

The older yellow cycle and the new one......The photo above was taken on V's request. Guess he wanted to pay tribute to the cycle before throwing it out:-)