A surprise party on New Year's eve

I have been to plenty of parties - both young and old, but it was my first surprise party. The plan was made in a movie theatre where we met another group of friends. It was on new year's eve, so we were to have a double celebration. We had 3 days from planning to execution and it went like clockwork. The surprised birthday boy did not guess a thing which was a pure bonus. The party was at a neighbour's - conveniently for me and I only took the responsibility for the cooking and keeping the birthday boy occupied until the decorations got underway. and a phone call later we were off to their place and much fun was had. The kids were too excited and our attempts to put them to sleep simply did not work. Some lessons were learnt in the process with respect to kids' priorities. All in all a good start to the new year.

A Happy new year to you

Wishing all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. And a great decade ahead.

Happy Deepavali

This time Deepavali was special as I was on holiday and could enjoy the festival in its true spirit. It also coincided with bonfire night, so we witnessed some truly spectacular fireworks that night. We had prepared Aditi enough the previous days and told her of the special early morning oil head bath ritual, so she was actually looking forward to it. We had shopped for Diwali the previous weekend, but Aditi always wants to wear new clothes the following monday to school. But we managed to stretch that to friday and wanted to go to school to shoe off her new dress! Typical girl she is. Prashanth was doing nights, so Aditi & I decorated the pooja room and placed our new clothes and fruits. My plan was to make microwave badam halwa, which turned out to be really nice and thengoyal - which never came out of the presser. So a disaster was reverted by making the same mix into thathais and seedais instead of the planned thengoyal. MIL says that the mix must have been too tight and hence never came out of the presser. Next time I'll probably try much in advance and have plan B & C in place rather than decide something at 11PM all alone. The next morning we were ready and waiting for daddy, called family and friends and generally had fun. Dropped Aditi at arnd 11 AM and picked some fireworks on the way back. Aditi was super excited, and finished her tea in less than 10 minutes. Fireworks and much squeaking in delite followed, and then we went over to a stadium where a huge display of fireworks was arranged. There were plenty of rides, which Aditi enjoyed, as she always does and returned home by 10PM. The next morning Aditi was up early to attend a dear friend's birthday party. A lovely long weekend indeed. So how was your Diwali weekend?

Post Golu 2010

We had plenty of visitors this year at the Golu and we prepared snacks of different varieties everyday. We are probably the only household in Sheffield that hosts a Golu, so we've not visited Golu and collected Sundal as we do back home. I got a 6year old and an aunty to sing Carnatic songs. The young girl is learning music and was very shy, so her mom and I gave her company. She sang so sweetly that I was touched.

Aditi enjoyed wearing all her pattu pavadais and salwar suits and playing a happy host to the kids who came home. This year's Ayudha pooja had a new addition and we visited the local temple on vijayadasami day. As the Golu drew to a close, I was worried about dismantling and repacking the dolls. But Aditi actually helped me bubble wrap and cover them with newspaper and Prashanth helped us load it all up into the attic.

We got Aditi a little kitchen set and she seems attached to it so much. She can be found preparing soup and teas and coffees all the time in her kitchen. She also claims that hers is a 'lovely pink and purple' kitchen while mine is 'gray(silver) and black'!

Looking forward to Halloween and Diwali.

Golu in Sheffield - 2010

Over the last 4 years, the only thing I have been regular at is updating with Golu pcitures.This year I had plenty of new toys thanks to my parents who filled their bags with golu bommias and arrived earlier this year. I think I was laid back this year, brought the toys down on thursday night and by friday morning 2 am the dolls were up. The most idfficult part was the steps, which would get done in less than 20 minutes back home, with all the steel steps and nuts and bolts, while my dolls rest on cardboard boxes and books and journals and what not. This year, Aditi is trying to mimic me as I recite aigiri nandhini. Leaving you with some pcitures from this years' Golu.

Happy Navrathri folks.

Golu starts today

And I can hardly call myself ready. For a start, I have no handmade toys to decorate this time. this time last year, I was ready with the guest list, gift bags, sundal choices, and even what dolls would sit on which steps. I think I'll go with the flow this year. I'll keep you posted on how the Golu was set up and this time I have an eager pair of hands waiting to help me with the golu.

Life is a...

drama. Enact it!

We had a routine that I looked forward to every night. After putting Aditi to sleep, I'd go downstairs and prepare half cups of Horlicks or Ovaltine. Depositing one of the cups with Prashanth who'd either be browsing the Net or watching TV, I'd climb upstairs to what we called tata-pati's bedroom. The night lamp would have already come on and my parents will be under the duvets, but waiting for their cup of hot drink. Handing a cup each to my parents I'd settle myself by the window at the feet of my parents and discuss random stuff for a while - well actually until we all finished our drink. Dad would be the most enthusiastic and talk about everything he saw on his daily walks and the subject would invariably be turned towards Aditi. It was a special time and my exclusive time meant for them. That 20 minutes or so would pass by quickly and mom in her half-asleep state would tell me to go and get some rest. And relcutantly we'd say good nights and I'll collect the cups and take them to be cleaned downstairs. It was a ritual I followed for the four weeks they stayed here.

On the night before they left, I climbed up the stairs with a heavy heart. I felt like the end of an era approaching(Actually the end of their 4 week stay). They spent a good amount of time playing and chatting with Aditi. She had lots of attention thrown her way and was extremely happy to be in their company.She enjoyed the evening walks with them to the sweet shop as she was sure her tata would buy her whatever she asked for. Even now, her tata tells me to buy her everything under the sun. Their earlier visit was one filled with duties to take care of me and baby Aditi. This time we all enjoyed. And we look forward to more such visits and pampering from the grandparents.