Happy Birthday Darling!

Today is the last day of the Blog-a-thon and what better way to end than by wishing my darling neice a very Happy 1st Birthday.

I did venture to complete a blog-a-thon seriously for the first time. 31 posts in 31 days, week-ends included. I did not complain even once, just stuck to the task and made it happen. I wrote about some topics which were in my mind always but did not get down to pen it. I documented my India trip week-wise and will go on to remember it always.
I could not do more picture and food posts as my memory card is missing but that can be rectified soon.

Thank you Maya for initiating this.

Kids and Tv-Time

If it were up to me I would not have TV in the house. I rather prefer reading books or playing games, talking, bonding with family.

But that is not the case in our house as we do have a TV which hubby watches very eagerly. I do watch TV when it is only me and hubby but I do not like my 4 yr old watching TV.

The problem is that my hubby watches a lot of TV and allows my baby to watch them too.
If it was only me and baby at home there is absolutely no TV-time.

What we do is a reading, I read books or we just lie on the sofa and cuddle each other, talking, kicking, hugging, teasing each other.
I give him some home-work now that he is growing and he will take so much time to write that that there is no potential for TV during that time.

Luckily my baby goes to the day-care and hence I do not have to worry much about TV time during the day but even if I were at home there is so much activities on the Internet to keep the kid busy.

Also I am dead against giving cell phones to kids, I don't understand why parents do that.
I go to parties and instead of playing I see all these kids sitting and playing games on their parent's phones.
I am not sure how much time I can keep my kid away from such peer pressure.

Week-end Re-capture

For a long time I wanted to make mutton fry but never bothered because I cannot dry grind in my blender.
This time while travelling back from India we got a mixie and now I can dry grind any ingredients that I need.
So this Saturday I decided to make my normal mutton curry and mutton fry.
Morning hubby had to go for Kick Boxing and so he made Poha for all of us.


I had taken pictures of the food but cannot find the memory card anywhere. For night I had dinner at a friend's place.

Next day being Sunday I made puttu for breakfast and lunch we had left-overs from the day before.
I went boot shopping for 2 hours and finally managed to get a brown boots for myself.
The other normal 3 yr old shoes that I had was pretty bad to walk over ice. I kept slipping all the time and had to get new ones.

Also got shorts for hubby and a shirt for R(which he wore immediately when I returned home)

Then evening I cleaned the kitchen counter, feels great to see a cleaned house but sadly ours does not stay like that for long as it gets messed up with toys, books and other stuff.

I wanted to get a hair-cut but the lady whom I wanted to get it done from was not available on Sunday and so I will have to go on Monday to get that done.

Saturday after a long time I slept for 3 hrs in the noon and also saw a Malu movie - "Mumbai Police"

How was your week-end?

Fun times @Stamford, CT

I strongly believe that the most fun you can have is when you have great friends with you, the place the time all that just does not matter.
I had a great time when I stayed at Stamford, CT for 1 year.
Initially when I moved I had 1 friend S with whom I spend most of my time, we both were lukkas and had great fun together. She loved non-veg and on week-ends we would buy crab/chicken , cook and have them on the balcony.
I also got friendly to her neighbours (bachelors), they would play poker on week-ends and me being a card person would spend the week-ends playing cards.
We all stayed in the same apartment complex so spending late nights was not a problem.
I also got my parents to US for the first time for 2 months and had a great time showing them around, when they left by October end it was the onset of winter.
Now by Dec end we or the office mgmt decided to do a cultural get-together. me and one other guy decided to take initiative for dancing (Truth is neither of us knew how to teach any steps) only thinking was we both loved dancing.
A week later we were still to decide on anything concrete when some friends informed that one girl J was coming onsite and she was a great dancer.
So we eagerly waited for her to come and hand over the reins to her.

She came and within no time got friendly to everyone spreading her cheerfulness around.
We had only 2 weeks to practice and we used to spend late nights practising, most of the times we used to be just laughing crazy at each other's jokes. We also decided to do a Fashion Show with various themes and so used to participate with everyone. This way we got friendly with everyone around us.

The function was a huge hit and after that everyone got so friendly that for 2 months (every week-end) we used to have get-together's at one friend's place or another. 90% of them were bachelors and even the married ones behaved like bachelors, so we all got along very well.

Then some other group wanted us to perform for thier function, so again we used to hang out late-nights, celebrate birthday's together, eat drink and have fun.
During this time somehow everyone got interested in casinos, every week-end and even week-days sometimes we would hang out in casinos. We would leave our palce at midnite, drive 2-3 hrs and then return next day noon. It was one jam packed fun filled life. Like everything that phase too had to come to an end. It came when I left Stamford to return back to India.

Those are beautiful memories to be cherished forever.

The Languages We Speak

No, there is no hidden spiritual message behind this post, it is literally the languages we speak at home. Having an inter-caste marriage means a mix of languages.
I strongly believe my kid should understand and talk in his mother -tongue or in this case talk in father tongue fluently. I am not very keen on talking to my kid in English bcoz that is something that they very easily learn in schools and will be using their whole life.

So, I very strongly DO NOT converse with my kid in English, even when he asks in English I will tell I do not understand pls repeat in local language.

I am a Malayali married to a Tamilian

in bullet points: languages we speak
Me and G(hubby) -- Hindi
Me and R(son) --Malayalam
G and R - Tamil
ME and in-laws - Tamil
G and my parents - Hindi, English
R and in-laws --Tamil
R and my parents - Malayalam and Tamil, they talk in Malu, he replies in Tamil

Note: The idea to write this post came from a comment I saw on this blog.
http://weourlife.wordpress.com/

Yet Another Meme

So today I am doing yet another meme because I love doing them.
Pls do take them up if you too like meme's.
Again from my favorite site: http://sundaystealing.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-generic-meme.html

The Generic Meme

From Remember the Stars

1. What did you want to be when you were little? Teacher, so that I too would have a cane and could hit kids.

2. Would you prefer to have a large group of friends, or a small group of friends? Why? A small group of very good friends.

3. What is your fashion “style”? Or what type of clothes do you wear on a daily basis? t-shirts/trousers

4. If you could live anywhere where would you live? Italy because I have heard it's quite a beautiful place.

5. What is your biggest hope for the next year? To loose weight and look stunning

6. When you pass by reflective surfaces do you check yourself out? Nope, have acne and so stopped doing that a long time back.

7. Favorite genre of movie as well as TV show? Comedy

8. Top favorite books? (limit of 5)
Diary of a young girl by Ann Frank
Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
BloodLine by Sidney Sheldon
The Inscrutable Americans
To Kill a Mocking Bird

9. Have you ever taken a cooking class? Nope, would love to

10. What three words would you use to describe yourself? Confident, Smart, Style

11. Favorite animal? Horse

12. What is your dream job? Teaching in an NGO or needy kids.

13. If you could go back in history to any moment that you did not live, what would it be and why? To the era of Shivaji and the Mughals. I love how bravely they fought against the Mughals, it would be great to be apart of that History.

14. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why? It would be to travel anywhere any time.

15. What is your favorite movie? Thalavatam(Malu flick)

16. What is your best childhood memory? Every memory is great, especially the travles we had with parents.

17. What is your favorite part about blogging? Getting comments

18. What is your favorite quote? Everything happens for the Best.

19. What song do you feel like describes your life the best? Why?  hanste hanste kat jaye raste...................because i belive Whatever happens in life happens for the Best.

20. Would you describe yourself as shy or outgoing? Outgoing

Saturday's Post

Why did I miss Saturday's post?
Sitting in front of a laptop on week-ends has always been a hard task for me.
I made lunch comprising of mutton curry and mutton fry and promptly clicked photos thinking I wood do a food blog for the day.
Noon I happened to sleep till 6 and then forgot about the post. Went for walking but unfortunately there was a party in the party hall and so returned after half hour. Now this was the time to write my post but I started watching a Malu movie: "Mumbai Police"

Night had dinner at a friend's place and came back and again  started watching the  movie.
By the time I was done it was 12:30 and when I crashed in bed was when I realized that I had not done a post for the day, but it was already the next day and I could not get the day back.

About the movie, sadly to say that Malayalam films have lost their 80-90's charm where each cinema was a visual and complete treat to watch. Nowadays it is very few movies that catches ones interest and this is definitely one of them, a suspense thriller always keeping you guessing and an ending you would never expect.

Go watch it if you have not yet done so...............

Brrrrrrrrrrr---I hate Winters

I hate Winters, the cold, the snow, the ice.
Basically I am hot, whichever way you intend to take that. I am a heat loving person. I love to be in the heat all the time.
Winters with a pleasant wind or mild chilliness is fine but not the crazy temperatures we get around this place.

It is freezing, infact below freezing here in MN. Temperatures go up to -40degree F...can't even imagine the number in Celcius.

It is so cold and chilly that schools have given 3 days off and we have not yet completed the month of January.

The other day I had to clean my car before driving to ofc at 9 in the morning, somehow I have misplaced my one gloves and hand it only on one, I hardly stood out for 5 mins that my bare hand was freezing, even after getting inside the car and putting the heat on full force it retunred to normal only after 15-20 mins. It was so difficult to drive during that time.

 I am trying to put a picture of the craziness we encounter but blogspot is not co-operating
So tada...have a great week-end folks.

Meme

For today's post I am doing a meme that I picked from here:-http://sundaystealing.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-last-night-meme.html


It is called The Last Night's Meme

The Last Night Meme

Did anyone call you last night?  --No
How late were you on the computer last night?  -Dont use computer much on week-days
What did you have to eat last night?  Beetroot Pulav
Did you watch any good TV shows or movies last night?  TV Show was Ninjago for my son while I read Crichton's : The Venom Business"
Did any news items stand out to you last night?  The Cold Weather
Did you go out last night?  For a walk as usual.
What was the weather like last night?  Brrrrrrrrr..Freezing Cold
What was the last thing you said last night?  Sleep baby, goodnight.
What time did you go to bed last night?10:30 pm

Prompt Post

I am picking today's post from the prompt
Cooking – How much is cooking a part of your routine? Is it a nasty chore or an enjoyable one?


Till date I enjoy cooking. I never cooked much until I had to stay away from home, infact I never cooked at home, all I did was 1-2 exotic dishes at that time like veg spring rolls, some shahi curry, the normal dal - sambhar was never for me.
When I joined TCS_Mumbai I used to stay with rommies who did all the cooking, I either ate at ofc, week-ends I would be at home so no tension.
Even when I went onsite and we had this turns of cooking, I just did the normal dal or okra fry/cabbage fry etc, normally I would be eating at other ppl's place.

After marriage it was different, I had my own kitchen, my own oven, I always knew I was interested in cooking but never took interest till then.
I would read cooking blogs and try various dishes, till date I cannot cook sambhar.

I have tried all kinds of stuff from simple soups, starters, fish fries, pulav's, biryani, desert.

Even now when I know I have an ingredient at home I search for some new recipes that can be tried. That way even I am interested and even my family gets a change.

So again to re-iterate till date I love cooking, what about you?

Fifty Shades of Grey

It is considered to be the erotic novel of the year last year I guess but I had not heard about it until I went to India last month. I entered a cousin's room and my eyes fell on the books kept in her shelf. Right on top was a book "Fifty Shades of Grey" and she immediately asked me if I had read it, it was one of the most famous novels(according to her). I was hearing the name of the book for the first time and she went to explain to what lengths she went to get the book.

On return back to US and blog hopping I came across this article http://keepcalmandjustwrite.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/that-shady-book/
A good info of the book if you are planning to read it.

Now my curiosity was heightened and I downloaded the book and started reading.
Just like Arya mentioned it has all types of kinky sex and on every other page but I liked reading the book, after some time you just skip the sex scenes because they are repeated so often but the flow of the story was smooth, you can feel the insecurity of a girl just fallen in love, her jealousy, her reactions, her eagerness to please and at the same time be loved for the person that she is.

Loved every part of it. Looking forward to read Book2 and 3.

Happy Bday Parthu

Yesterday (Jan 19th) was my nephew's birthday. You can see the first post that I wrote about him here :- http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-baby-nephew.html

Post about his first birthday here:-
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2009/01/jan19th-2009-year-later-after-paarth.html.

This year we called and wished him in the mornings, there was not much celebrations for him due to recent death's in the family. He is 6 yrs old and is growing up fast.

He is smart, intelligent, quick to give a smart reply, hates sharing and wants everything for himself :)

Here is wishing him many more years to celebrate.

Brocolli Paratha

I once made Brocolli paratha and we loved it so much that we have stopped buying cauliflower and have switched totally to brocolli. Infact one of our favorite dishes is brocolli paratha , so easy and so simple to make and so tasty.

Ingredients:-
1 Brocolli Floret
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Red Chilly Powder
Pinch of Coriander

Mix every thing and heat on low flame for 2 mins.

Make the wheat flour dough and then roll a little dough, stuff the brocolli, roll and heat on tawa. Tasty delicious brocolli paratha is ready to be eaten with raitha and pickle.

Long Week-end and Work

So, we have a long week-end this week as Monday is a holiday but unfortunately due to my lack of time management I have wot work on the week-ends. There was some work that I was supposed to complete by Monday and I am not yet halfway through and it is all my fault.
I procastinated so much on that work even when I knew I should be working I kept reading some blogs or novels and now it is over my head to complete it.
I myself commited the date of Monday so I have to ensure that I take it to completion.

I hate having to work on week-ends. I hate having to open my laptop and concentrating and working. I hate it so very much.

I should utilize my time better, always I keep things for the last minute.

Like our morning rush to office, every day morning I spend 10 mins packing our tiffin when in fact I could have done it the previous night and save those precious 10 mins and get to office early but No! always the last minute Rush!

God help me!

Remembrance

Today I was going to post another message but just received news in the morning that my Grandpa passed away on the 15th Jan 2014.

We happen to visit him on our recent trip to India and that is the last I will see of him.
I remember seeing him right from my childhood, whenever we visited nativ he would always be there, a thin lean man, not much of a talker but a very keen observer.
In his initial days he was a tailor but due to some unfortunate circumstances he had to give up his shop. From when I remember he used to wake up early in the morning to milk his cows, they were his pets, he would bathe them, feed them, milk them.
His early morning ritual consisted of taking bath and praying (every day) then break-fast and then his daily chores.

Whenever we visited Kerala he would make banana chips for us, himself buy the bananas, peel them, cut them, fry them and pack them.
He would also fry rice flour, grind coconuts and get everything ready and packe din cardboard boxes for us to take home.
Even though he was lean he would carry those heavy boxes all the way to the bus-stop.

When we would have dinner he would silently stand and watch making sure we had everything we wanted. If anything was missing he would immediately rush to the shop to get it for us.

Missed by all his kids and grand-children and great grand children.
May his soul rest in peace in wichever world he is.

Woh college ke din

The most fun I had in college was my last year of graduation. So much so that I wanted to do my PG's just so that I don't miss out on college life for 2 years but sadly those 2 years were a big duh.

Anyway in the last year's I had my 2 great school friends with me. We also got introduced to our juniors and formed a big gang. Together we had a lot of fun.
1 of the games we used to play was "Stop", so the minute whoever saw the person first would go "Stop" and that person had to freeze there at whatever position he/she was in. Then you could keep them like that for whatever time you wanted and then give them a time-out till next day noon, so only after next day noon can you Stop each other once again.

Now in that time the person is freezed you are free to do whatever you want! Oh, it was great fun!.

Another game we all liked to play was dumb-charades, we used to spend hours playing the game and eventually we got so good at it that the other person would just make one action and we would get the movie name, then followed a series of hi-fi's and hugs.

One of the guy from that group had a crush on me and one of them on my friend, so I got a lot of attention from these two as he wanted to know what would please my friend and we ended up being good friends.

We would reach college early in the morning by 7 am and be there till 5-6 pm, the minute we reached home we could not wait to get back to college.

We used to have lots of Chai and Wada-Pav's at the roadside tapri's and also we used to have Chicken Biryani at Zamu's(which was very famous at that time).
We got very limited pocket money and we used to just order 1 plate for say 4 of us and share the food.

Oh! Those Wonderful days and yaadein.

On Bumble Bee's Swimming

Like all kids our loved water very much, he loves playing in the bath-tub, loves running on the beach and so like all eager parents we enrolled him for Swimming Lessons. I expected him to be scared/nervous the first day but he went straight ahead and got into the pool.
There were other kids who were reluctant and one teacher spend her whole time with that kid. I was impressed that she spend so much time making him comfortable.

Seeing R's enthusiasm we got new swimming googles and hat for him.

2nd lesson was fine, 3rd lesson he started getting cold at the end and wanted to come out immediately, 4th lesson R did not want to go in the water and I had to literally push and coax him into going, he would keep coming back to where I was sitting, it was getting irritating after a point. He would start maoning form home itself that he did not want to go for swimming classes and as I was the one taking him I started getting very irritated and could not wait for the classes to get over. Moreover the teachers were not very co-operative like they were with the other child, that made me more mad. He got cold and so did not send him for the last 2 classes. Thus ended his first swimming lessons.

I asked G to teach him 2 days a week in our apartment swimming pool, but he does not have time.

We have now enrolled him at a new place (bit costly) but supposed to be good. Let's see how this work out.

India Vacation Week 4

Dec 18th - Dec 24th

For Week 3 go here:-http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/india-vacation-week-3.html

Dec18th: Me and mom slept upstairs, Mom got up at 6:30 and went to help MIl while I was still in sleepland. Woke up at 8:30, had breakfast, then took bath and got ready. Mom was leaving to Kerala and her train was at 1:15. We all got ready and left home by 12:30 pm. There was construction going on and hence there was a huge traffic jam, we were anxiously looking at the watch and the road. Finally we made it to the railway station at 1:13pm and we took her luggage and ran to the platform, thankfully the train was 10 mins late and we heaved a breath of relief. After she boarded the train R started crying that he also wants to go with Ammu, we consoled him and took him from there.

We then went to buy mixie/cooker/chappals for me/shopping for tops(but I did not buy any) and reached home at 6:30pm.
We decided to go to other relatives house but they all had gone out so we went to a cousin's place. R was happy to go there and play with his cousin's. We had dinner and left by 9pm.

Dec 19th: Morning we were at home and evening we did a trip of all the remaining relatives house.

Dec20th: Today me and R were going to Kerala by the same train that mom left. G came to leave us at the railway station. Due to last times incident we reached the station half hour early. The train was late by 1 hr and R got bored waiting at the station. As soon as we entered the train he slept for 1 hr and then he woke up and did some sight seeing. On reaching our station my cousin had come with his bike and R even though seeing him for the first time gladly went to him and sat upfront on his bike. We went and purchased fish and reached home by 6pm. R was happy to see "Ammu" and readily mixed with all others at home. Had dinner of yummy fish and prawns and slept soundly.   Dec 21st: Next day we were invited to lunch at a friend's place, after eating there and leaving R tells them, Now tomorrow you come to our house for lunch.(we hardly know those ppl, they are friends of my cousin's). Evening G was driving to meet us and after meeting at a pre-arranged spot we went to I'jalakuda to visit my G'pa in hospital.From there we left for my uncle's house where all my other cousins and relatives had come. R instantly mixed up with cousins playing their game. Night we went to a park and got ice-creams for all the kids, there were some rides which the kids played on, returned home , had dinner of crab, prawns, more fish and slept. R slept with his cousins.   Dec22nd: We woke up at 6, got ready and left for home(Cbe). R very reluctantly agreed to come with us. On the way we stopped for break-fast(food was not all that great). As we left the restaurant and travelled a few mins we heard a loud sound thud noise(like a puncture) and halted our car, we checked but there was no puncture though a very heavy metal banging like sound kept coming when we drove a little. Thankfully even though it was a Sunday we found a garage just 2 mins away, we took the car there and they fixed the front wheel which bended on hitting a pothole.
We reached home by 12 pm and then went for lunch at an aunt's place.
That night we all cousins went to see another Tamil movie and returned by 1.

23rd Dec: Morning went to other relatives place which we missed, went to bank and some last minute stuff, I went to the Beauty Parlour and did everything from Pedicure, Waxing, Eyebrows, Facial to hair cut.Evening all cousins went to restaurant and had a great dinner.

24thDec: Day for us to leave to Bangalore. G and FIL went in car in the afternoon. Me & R were to fly at night, so I slept in the noon , while MIL made chapatis and chutney while R went out with some uncle, woke up, some relatives stopped by, got ready and left for airport at 6:30, flight was at 8. R was very reluctant to come and wanted to stay there. We reached Bangalore airport by 8:50pm and waited for G, they came half hr later, we all had dinner and then at 10 we decided to enter the airport, again R wanted to stay and clung to FIL but we went inside and started the ticketing process.

Thus ended our wonderful India vacation .

On teaching Kids

Since R turned 3.5 yrs that is this summer I decided to teach him to read and write the basic alphabets. He learnt the phonics on his own (which I am very proud of) , so everyday I decided to just get him to write A-Z(capital/small) etc.
I strongly believe in not sending my kids to tuition as I think I can teach him at home. It is all about spending quality time with your kids blah blah were my thoughts initially....until the below happened...

So we started with basic alphabets each day till he can write everything.
Now since kids have this really ugly handwriting i wanted him to practise his writing to get him to do it neatly and there started the pain and frustration.

I would ask him to write A-Z and then we can go out to play. In my mind it is just a matter of minutes before he completes this and we are all set.
But ah-haa everything is not as easy as it looks, he will write 2 letters then fidget with the pencil, then walk around the house, ask some irrelevant questions, all the while I am fuming from inside.
Already half hour is passed, his play time is 7:30 - 9 pm(outside), the clock is nearly advancing 7:30 pm, I coax him to write fast as else all his friends will leave for home soon, but nothing gets into his head, he will then ask me for help, I will reluctantly help with 1-2 letters and ask him to complete the rest but again he will not sit still in 1 place and start playing with some toy or just not write, finally my patience runs out and I whack him hard, he cries, I feel bad, it is nearing 8, then I coax him some more and finally he manages to finish everything in his shitty handwriting which I choose to ignore.

If A-Z is so difficult how do I teach him as he grows up, now I understand why parents spend their kids to Tuition's :(

Any advice??

My family

As I post this picture here and end with my week adventures at parent's place I must share some aspects of my stay there, how we have evolved as a family.

Like all other households we have the TV in the hall with a big dining area in the kitchen, you will always find us in the dining area (mom cooking, sis doing some chore, me sitting on the table drinking tea/juice/water(as appropriate at that time), dad doing something outside(watering the plants/cleaning). There will always be constant chit-chat in our house, lots of teasing, lots of arguments and lots of love.

Leaving you all with a picture of my Heart.

Shanivar Wada

Shaniwarwada, is a palace fort in the city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. Built in 1746,it was the seat of the Peshwa rulers of the Maratha Empire until 1818 when the Peshwas surrendered to the British. The fort itself was largely destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire, but the surviving structures are now maintained as a tourist site.


Following the rise of the Maratha Empire, the palace became the centre of Indian politics in 18th century.

Peshwa Baji Rao I, prime minister to Chattrapati Shahu, king of the Maratha empire, laid the ceremonial foundation of his own residence on Saturday, January 10, 1730. It was named Shaniwarwada from the Marathi words Shaniwar (Saturday) and Wada (a general term for any residence complex). Teak was imported from the jungles of Junnar, stone was brought from the nearby quarries of Chinchwad, and Lime (mineral) was brought from the lime-belts of Jejuri. Shaniwarwada was completed in 1732, at a total cost of Rs. 16,110, a very large sum at the time.


The opening ceremony was performed according to Hindu religious customs, on January 22, 1732, another Saturday chosen for being a particularly auspicious day.

Many of it is burned down and all that is left is the fort in ruins.

Some pics:-

Aga Khan Palace

The Aga Khan Palace was built by Sultan Muhammed Shah Aga Khan III in Pune, India. Built in 1892, it is one of the biggest landmarks in Indian history. The palace was an act of charity by the Sultan who wanted to help the poor in the neighbouring areas of Pune, who were drastically hit by famine.

Aga Khan Palace is a majestic building and is considered to be one of the greatest marvels of India.The palace is closely linked to the Indian freedom movement as it served as a prison for Mahatma Gandhi, his wife Kasturba Gandhi, his secretary Mahadev Desai and Sarojini Naidu. It is also the place where Kasturba Gandhi and Mahadev Desai died. In 2003, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) declared the place as a monument of national importance.

*********************
One of the days we decided to visit Aga Khan palace, initially only myself, Daddy,G and R was supposed to go but later on even Mom joined.
We reached by 11am, since parents had just been there 2 weeks back only we 3 went it. It was great to see the historical pieces used by our founding fathers.

India Vacation Week 3

Dec 11th - Dec 17th:
For week 1 & 2 go here:-
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/india-vacation-week-1.html
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/india-vacation-week-2.html

On Dec11th morning we woke up, brushed our teeth, had breakfast from the railway caterers(chole /batura and idli). Finally at 11:00 am we reached Pune station. Sis was waiting for us at the station. We had booked a car that took us home.
R was happy to see his grandparents, we took bath and then had lunch.
Evening 3:00 nephew P came and then he and R were busy opening up toys and playing. Evening G, myself and Daddy went for a walk, reached home had nite, had dinner and slept.
One incident took place, R&P were running all around the house and playing when suddenly P started crying loudly, he had banged his head against the wall, blood started oozing out and we immediately took him to the nearby clinic, thankfully he did not have to put stitches and just got a bandage that he had to clean everyday.

Next day woke up had bfast and then just idled away our time, evening after P came we went to a family friend's home , from there we went shopping, R got new clothes and me too.

Dec 13th: In the evening we decided to go to a nearby park, went to Aundh, had pani-poori's, did some more shopping for kids, was to go to a frnd's place but they were not at home, was getting late so we returned home, had dinner and slept

Dec 14th : We did the 1 day trip to Sinhagad. Details here:-
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/india-vacation-week-2.html
Initially Daddy said he is not coming, when R heard this, he immediately said,"Why, Appu is not coming, I will ask him to come" and this convinced my dad to go out with us.

Dec 15th: Evening we visited Sis in'laws place and then had dinner at my uncle's place.

Dec 16th: Monday we went for another trip to Aga Khan Palace and Shanivar wada(details to follow) , had lunch at Bamboo House and returned home.

Dec 1 7th" Time for us to leave Pune. Our flight to Cbe was at 2 pm. We got lunch in-flight which was not good, had a 3 hr halt at Blr and reached Cbe nite at 7:30pm.

R immediately bonded with grand-parents, relatives and other friends.
He even learnt few Hindi sentences in his 5 day stay.
It was great to eat Mom's home made food and be with family.

The day I lost my passport

This incident took place with me on Aug 2nd 2008. G was in US and I had also landed a project in Wisconsin. I was to fly on 3rd early morning from Mumbai. At that time we were staying in a small rented apt in Kandivali, my parents came with my luggage packed from Pune. Till evening I was at office collecting my tickets/forex and tons of other documents. I returned by rick at 8pm. It was raining and I just gathered all my docs/papers/plastic bag , paid the rick driver and rushed home.

It was at this point that I dropped my passport at the building entrance, the watchman picked it up and not knowing whose it was he passed it to some girls who were returning home. One of them took the passport with her and went home(Borivali) whereas the other stayed in our building and was going to meet her after sometime.

I, oblivious to all this had dinner with my parents and went for some last minute shopping to the nearby supermarket.

Doors were open and luggage was kept outside, now it so happened that this girl was going out and when she saw the huge suitcase she asked my cousin who was at home if were were travelling and we had lost our passport. He immediately called me and asked if I had my passport. I was still at the supermarket and told him I'll come home and check.
When I came home and checked all my bags, my passport was no where to be found. Thankfully by that time we knew it was with this girl who had left after giving her phone number, so we called her and she said she was out and would return only by midnight, she did mention that the passport was at her friend's place in Borivali. We took her friend's contact no and called her home, her parents informed us that they indeed had the passport and gave directions to reach home.

Immediately Dad and I took a rick and went to Borivali , their whole family was standing by the roadside, I just took my passport, gave a lot of Thanks and returned home by the same rick.
I had called G before leaving and he was tensed and angry and nervous.

As for me I was pretty cool throughout the whole incident, even if I would have lost my passport I would have applied for new (what else to do), no use crying or getting tensed over what already happened.

Anyway due to God's blessings I managed to get my passport on time, in  2 hrs I reached Mumbai airport to board my flight to US.

Visit to Sinhagad

G keeps pestering me that I have not shown him around Pune, so this visit I had to rectify it. We decided to go on a one day trip to Sinhagad fort. I have gone there trekking during my college days but not recently.
For more details regarding the fort you can visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhagad

We left home by 11 am, on the way we got held up in traffic as the Vice-President was travelling and our side of the road was blocked, we entered the gate to travel uphill, here the roads were very bad as construction is going on, finally at about 2pm we reached the top. There was a huge crowd there with small restaurants owners asking us to come and have lunch, we decided to walk and go on top before having lunch.

We had a nice lunch of pitla bhaat, vangi sabji, rice, curd, chaas

Then we decided to explore the are a little bit, saw the temples, the caves, the scenic views , had 4 kulfi worth 50/-(so xpensive) and then came back to our waiting car.

Finally we ended up eating some vada-pav/chai/corn chaat @Khadakwasla Dam while watching the beautiful sunset. Pictures of which I have posted here http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-beautiful-sunset-khadakwasla-dam.html

Evening we went to the new Kalyan Jewellery Shop which opened up, kids got gold chains from grandpa whereas I got a diamond earring for myself.

Night we reached home late and eat at a hotel (food was not at all great and they took a long time serving us ) with sleeping children it was not a good option , went home and had a good night's sleep

India Vacation Week 2

Dec (4th - 10th) 2013: For week 1 go here: http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2014/01/india-vacation-week-1.html

So after hardly sleeping a wink we got out of bed by 6 am, got ready, had breakfast and walked to the US Consulate. Our appt was at 9:30 am, we reached there by 8:45 am. There was a huge crowd waiting outside near the bus stop. G asked a guard waiting nearby and he said there were separate lines for each time slot. We waited in our 9:30 slot. By around 9:20 we were send inside, after the checking process we went in the Consulate building where we were given a token number. We took a seat in the waiting area and waited anxiously for our number to be displayed. Within 7-8 mins our no was displayed and we went to the counter. The officer there looked like a nice guy, he took our passports and then asked me questions followed by G and then the golden words "Our visa was issued"..that is when he heaved a sigh of relief and walked out of there.

We walked back to the hotel, took our luggage and went to Satyam cinemas to watch a tamil movie, by 2:30 we got in the cab and reached railway station and got in our train to return back to Cbe. We reached by night 11:30pm.

Dec 5th: We got up late and were having a late breakfast when we got a message that our passports were delivered. We immediately went to collect them. In the evening we went to a Ayyappa temple, since it was very crowded and no parking area G dropped me and R a little close to the temple and asked us to wait at the entrance. I did not hear him and waited at the spot he left us. After about 20 mins also there was no trace of him, I do not carry a cell phone, nor did I have any cash,  I was thinking how I will get back home if he does not turn up etc when after waiting for half hr G showed up asking us why we were not waiting at the temple entrance, a short argument followed after which we went to the temple for darshan. While returning we had dinner at a Chettinad restaurant(prawns fry/veg rice/parota/mutton curry)

Dec 6th: One of the cousins gave birth to a baby girl and we went to see her at the hospital. Night we all cousins went to see the movie Arambham(not good at all)

Dec 7th: We were invited to a cousin's place for lunch. They had prepared chicken biryani/deer meat/rice/rasam/fish fry. Before reaching their place we stopped at their shop and R gor one pair of Angry bird slippers and 1 Ben 10 bag.
Night was too full to eat anything, but had to go to another aunt's place for dinner.
Was too stuffed by bedtime.

Dec 8th: Packed our bags for our train trip to Pune.

Dec 9th: Went to Cbe station in the morning at 8:45 for our train, R was very excited to get in the train but after travelling about an hr he kept asking"When will we reach Pune" again and again and this went on for the whole journey. Noon mom had packed tomato rice , then we went to sleep for some time. Evening @Bangalore a 1 yr old kid got in with her parents, after that R got some company to play with till we all had dinner of lemon rice and slept off.

Next up is the adventures @Pune. Stay tuned.

Week-end Birthday Party

This Saturday we had a birthday party at our apartment complex. I have heard a lot about the host's cooking skills for previous birthday parties but this was the first one I am attending.

We went for decorating the party hall @ 11am and returned by 3pm. Me and R came back for a nap but neither slept. We got ready by 6:30 and reached the venue. We started on snacks immediately, snacks included Poli, Cashew Nut Pakoda, Bonda, Peanut Bhaji Chat, 3 types of chutney(Garlic/Tomato/Peanut) and Mango Juice.
This was followed by cake cutting after an hour and then a game of Pinata for the kids followed by dinner which had
Naan
Malai Kofta
Paneer Curry
Okra fry
Tindora bhaji
Rice
Sambhar
Curd Rice
Boiled egg
Chicken Biryani
Chicken fry
Mutton curry
Mutton Biryani

Desert
Boondi Ladoo
Fruit
Ice-Cream

I lost my appetite seeing so much of food on the table. We reached home by 11 pm.

I had worn my new pink dress with matching earrings that I got from India.

India Vacation Week 1

Nov 27th - Dec 3rd 2013:
So we left from Minneapolis with all our luggage packed for our vacation to India. We reached the airport on time and all the formalities were completed pretty soon. We waited 45 mins for the boarding and at 5:30 pm we boarded the Delta airlines to Paris.
We were offered some pasta in flight which really upset our stomachs. Thankfully Ritvik refused to eat much, after some time baby slept an I watched the movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani". Finally after 8hrs we reached Paris. Since the flight was delayed we just had time to get our boarding passes, pass through security and reach the boarding gate 10 mins prior to flight departure.
In this Air France flight to Bangalore we were again given some meals which gave me a bad taste in mouth and I puked everything after some time, after that we just stuck to eating fruits and drinking juices.
Finally we reached Bangalore on 29th Nov at 1:15 am. We completed the Immigration and Customs and came out by about 2:30 am.
FIL and cousin were waiting for us. Ritvik immediately jumped and went to them to get the car. From there started the long journey to Coimbatore.
Mid-way R asks cousin, "What is this sound..Honk Honk Honk, cousin explained it was the horn in the car. Poor baby was hearing it for the first time, not accustomed to it in US.
We reached home by 7:30 am , had breakfast and went to bed.
I got up by 2:00 pm, had lunch by 4 and then just idled time till dinner and bed time. Me and G woke up by 1:30 am and then were just chit-chatting till morning.
Next day we spent again after breakfast till noon, had lunch and again went to bed, woke up in the evening and went for a walk and again idled away time till dinner, again woke up by 2:30 am.
Sun : Dec 1st: Woke up in the morning, got ready and went to our farmland, from there we went to a cousin's place, had fresh fish fry and returned home in the evening. Some uncles visited home  and then after dinner again went to bed to wake up by 3:30 am.
Mon: Dec 2nd: Tonite we were travelling to Chennai for our visa stamping. Morning saw us packing all our documents and luggage, at night FIL dropped us to the train station. R stayed back with grandparents. We immediately went to our respective berths and went to sleep.
Tue: Dec 3rd: Reached Chennai at 6 am in the morning, took a rick to our hotel-Hotel Ranjith, had yummy breakfast, then got ready to go for our finger stamping and other formalities at noon. All that was done within half-hr. Returned to hotel, had lunch and then decided to go to a mall. Once we reached there G was not in a mood to watch any movies as he was sleepy and so we just idled our time, while returning we walked all the way to our hotel which was a 1+ hr walk. The weather was great in Chennai as it had just rained the previous day. Once we reached the hotel we rested for some time had dinner and then tried to sleep but could no as we were very anxious and nervous abut our visa interview the next day.

Did we get the visa? What did we do next? Stay tuned

A beautiful sunset @Khadakwasla Dam

A beautiful sunset as it happened at Khadakwasla dam(Pune).
We took these shots as we were returning from a day's outing @Singhad.

The Year That Was - 2013

2013 was a great year and got over pretty fast in my opinion.
January saw us losing one generation (G's grand-pa passed away) http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-generation-passed-away.html
and gaining one(had a niece born at the month-end). We celebrated the month with a baby shower for SIL.
February saw me starting the skipping exercise routine with friends, had get together at home, made and tried some new recipes.Won a copy of Preeti Shenoy's book.
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/02/won-copy-of-preeti-shenoys-book.html
March saw us celebrating 5 yrs of marital bliss. We went for lunch outside and I got gifted with a diamond  ring. http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-5th-wedding-anniversary.html
April saw us having lot of get-together, a couple of friends were moving back to India and some were leaving the apartment, so lot of farewell parties and night-outs.
May saw me celebrating my birthday by inviting all my friends over, did a lot of baking , details penned down here
http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/05/happy-birthday-to-me.html
Won again for a contest: http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/05/happy-mothers-day.html
June saw a lot of activity in terms of playing volleyball. We joined the Wednesday Co-Rec Volleyball League, also I stared my regular evening walk/jogs and the volleyball playing in the apartment complex. I also started writing for the Indifiction Workshop.
July saw us going for a YellowStone Trip: http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/08/yellowstone-trip-day-1.html. Ritvik also started his new daycare at Primrose Schools.
August saw us doing a lot of camping, I even hosted a charity event http://myendeavours.blogspot.com/2013/08/broadmoor-summer-fest-2013.html.
We also won the Volleyball Co-rec league.
September saw us going out for all the week-ends and also trying to grab as much outdoors we could for the year.
October started with the usual Diwali preparations, dance practises, organizing etc.
November we had the annual Diwali programmes followed by my baby's birthday and then getting ready to go to India.
December ended with a great trip to India. Went to Cbe/Pune/Kerala, met cousins/relatives, all in all had a gr8 time.

Hope the 2014 is as good or even better

Happy New Year 2014

So I decided to join the Blogathon 2014 along with Dreamy Mommy and others.
For more details visit her space here http://dreamymommy.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/blogathon-jan-2014/

First of all Wishing everyone a very very Happy New Year

New Year's time is synonyms to Resolutions, for me I have stopped keeping any New Year Resolutions long long time back and it is the same this year too. However I decided to join the Bloagathon i.e to post daily for 1 month, finger's crossed as to how well this goes.

I welcomed this year with sleepy and dreamy eyes as I was sleeping at a friend's place. Last year all friends had a get-together but this year nothing materialized. What with us just returning from our India vacation I did not get time to plan anything.

Will be definitely putting up a post "On the Year that Was" soon, till then all you folks take care and enjoy.