Back to college :))))

This is a delayed post..... just like all my other ones ;)

Last saturday was 'back to college' day for me :) It was fun, exciting and so good to connect with so many people. I joined many others for the 'Spread Your Wings' event by Sudha and Shobs. They made us play with colors and glue, sing (pathetic to listen but fun for the singers :)), do a funny skit(how do they do it in TV or stage performances.... we were continuously laughing... bet that is what would have made it funny :)) and also dance(no comments here.... i automatically smile when i think abt that). So in all it brought back wonderful memories of school and college. And the team works and brainstorming before each event reminded me of work too. Great job Sudha and Shobs.... all d best for all your future ventures :)

Not to mention the people i met.... everyone was lovely. I was meeting some for the first time and still it felt like i knew them for a long time.

Some of the wonderful moments of d day which i'm going to cherish..... in no particular order.

• Getting to know the kids and moms. Some were so amazing to talk too and connected so well within a short time. Preetha, Amirtha, Sowmi, Neela, Gayathri, Priya..... did i meet them all just then? Lali, Priya, Akhila, Vai, Pene, Amala.... were lovely as usual.
• Don't know how many of them laughed at our performances but the first laugh was on us. And that is what made it so beautiful. :)
• The rides, both to and fro. We talked about everything in our travel to and fro. And the return ride was just amazing.... no words to describe. Lets just say we were so happy to be back in one piece.
• The kids.. nirran, maghizh, rishi, adina, illakiyan, sree, anubhav, abhinav..... were just the few i talked to but i could see that they were also having a good time.
• Marrybrown.... the staff did a great job and they took care of everything. I especially liked how meticulous and polite the girl in formals was. Great job!
• Food.... esp. when followed by play becomes delicious :)
• Pene n Subha.... sorry for gettin u late to the event :( It was lovely to talk to u two. Hope we get to meet soon.
• Sugi.... my friend for 10 years and though we talk(that includes crib, cry, laugh, complain, sympathize etc) it is after very long that we are getting together for such an event. Hope she had a great time too :)
• Shobs n Sudha.... with the level of enthusiasm u both have, fun squared will reach heights. thank u for the event :)
• And a big sorry to rajula for not getting in touch with her before the event :(

That was a lovely day and what followed in fb is a different story :)

Join the caper :)

Long saturdays and sundays before the Tv.....

Responses in monosyllables...

Not really bothering about what is on plate.....

Snacks are always laid a red carpet.....

Any requests for errands outside the house (or should we restrict it to the living room alone) responded with utter shock.....

Price of televisions and radios slashed....

Dhoni, Sachin and Sehwag in every other advertisement.....

And yay! zoozoo is back!!! :)

So did u experience any of the above yet? I can hear u sigh :) but whether we like it or not cricket will be forced on us through TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, grocery store boy, the aunty opposite ur house etc. The ICC World Cup is here.... literally... as it is happening in India too. The World Cup kicked off colorfully on 19th and will go on till 2nd April. As the days progress the matches will get interesting. And people will get interesting too. Everyone will become an expert of cricket. When the second batting teams looses 2 or 3 wickets successively, even i can quip in with a 'they should have batted first'.... How profound?? :)

But yes that's how this game is. It just grows on us. Even if u don't understand the entire cricketing language it is still interesting to watch. And in our country it is a religion and as in every religion everyone has an opinion of it. That is agreeable. So don't feel left out.... join the fun.... soon u would be saying..... 'this young fellow is the future captain of the team'. :) All is fair in sports too...... :)

I would be playing...err....praying for India to win.... for Dhoni :) and Sachin..... one of the best long time players of Indian Cricket.... sad if we cannot win a World Cup with him in the team :(

So do u think that the Third Umpire Referrals are needed?? :))

An evening at Semmozhi poonga :)

So now Chennai can boast of a good tourist spot right at the middle of the city..... beaches are always an exception :) They are to me Chennai's most important landmarks :) I can just keep talking about the beaches but coming to the newest attraction..... it is situated in the same place which housed Woodlands Drive inn for a long time. Its spacious and the park is really beautiful.

On the evening of the 1st of Jan.... we decided to visit this place. The brilliant me, decided that beaches and other restaurants will be crowded owing to new year and opted for this beautiful place. Well as you can guess it was way to crowded and the sun had also set so we couldn't see all those wonderful plants properly. but still managed to have a good time and am sure Adhya enjoyed it. Planning to visit the place during day time. Maybe I can write more about it then. And as for now, here are a few pics that we took.......

Aren't they all very artistic and beautiful ??? I liked the last pic very much.... found it very innovative.

So altogether had a great start to the new year..... and enjoyed the day :) Hope we get to experience many such wonderful moments this year......

wishing everyone a very happy new year..... :)

Blue Colored People and Red Colored Eyes!

So on 21st, Sunday, we took Adhya to the theatre for the very first time to watch 'Avatar'. For quite some time this film has been played in theaters as a special edition. I've been wanting to watch this 3D film. I was so exicted about the 3D galsses :P

Since Shankar had already watched the film, he had offered to take Adhya out if she started to get uncomfortable. But the sweet li'l one was first very surprised, then excited, a li'l grumpy and then slept off. She woke up only when the credits rolled. So altogether, it was a good first time experience :) :) :)

As for the film... it was excellent and left me in awe about how a person can think so much. What must be running in his head? Hats off to Cameron. Wish I had 5% of his creativity. And yes, the rest of the technicians and the cast have all done a great job. A very neat film and I thoroughly enjoyed the 3D effect.

My favorite was ofcourse Neytiri. She reminded me so much of Adhya's actvities. Running around, climbing everywhere with complete ease and speaking a language that we could hardly follow :) They even resemble in the ever brimming energy levels that they posses. :)

Waiting to see her performances in the sequel.....

And yes, there is a downside to the whole experience. The 3D glasses were very irritating :(. And in the evening, I had a mild tingling sensation in the eye and before I knew it developed into 'Madras Eye'. Whoever coined that term.... hmmmm!

Though I don't think it was mainly due to the glasses, next time I'll make sure that I wipe them with Adhya's wipes before I use them :P. See.... nothing has deterred me from watching the next 3D film. HP7 is next :)))

On a funnier note... check out the blue eyes :)

Surprised! And again surprised!

Adhya is my bundle of surprises... I'm sure every kid is so! She never fails to leave me with a question, 'is this possible?'

First surprise... Last thursday....

She has rolled of the cot a few times :( and so we are extra careful when we leave her to sleep alone. As far as possible I don't do anything when she sleeps and j

ust sit besides her with a book or laptop. Ok... so now you know how constructive I am ;)

But on thursday morning I

had work in kitchen. I had checked her sleeping just a few minutes before and then I could hear some voices. It was Adhya's but I was sure I couldn't hear it so clearly from the bedroom. I turned to check and there she was ... walking towards me with her favorite toy! She had got down from the bed on her own! Believe me every time I catch her at the edge of the cot I wished that she learnt soon to get down on her own. But then when it happened, I was so shocked to even respond properly. The moment is so clearly etched in my mind. I can still replay it.

And no... after that day she never attempted to get down on her own. Maybe my reaction shocked her too ;)

Second surprise....

Went to mylapore and wow...how colorful it was! The streets were all full of toys for navarathiri... clay, wodden, plastic... u name it and they have it in every color and size. Wanted to get some toy for Adhya before hitting saravanabhavan (that was the actual destination :)) ). And we stopped near a toy shop and she started pointing to a pink(???) ducky and getting very excited about it. It was a small toy and not something she would play with... at least thats what I thought. So bargained and got her a mickey mouse which was bigger and better(well... to me :( )than that horrendous pink ducky(again... pink duck?). But I soon realized how wrong I was. She gave the

mickey mouse a disapproving look and never bothered to touch it. All our attempts to make her like the mickey were in vain. Little did I know that she was ready to choose for herself. I was amazed that she is making decisions about her toys. I now feel sad about not getting her the pink duck but the plight of the mickey is sadder. Hope she takes a little liking towards him soon :)

Time does fly!

The fastest 12 months of my life has just sped by and Adhya is one. I’m already missing the tiny li’l one wrapped in a blanket and who just oohed and aahed to convey her needs. But its amazing to see what she is up to these days. My little colombus is exploring and learning new things. Though expected it still leaves us in awe most of the times. All the milestones were so awesome. The first smile, the first direct eye contact, shaking hands and legs, turning over, crawling on tummy, crawling on fours, sitting, standing and now walking n trying to run – all the transitions were amazing.

And suddenly now she is one year old. Have been conceptualizing her first birthday in my mind and talking about it since the beginning of my second trimester. Then I didn’t even know if it was going to be a boy or girl. Her first birthday turned out better than what we had expected.

The D Day: Wished her happy birthday at 12 though she was sleeping J and could hardly find any sleep for myself. The excitement was just too much. And in the morning, prepared all her things for the day before she woke up and made some payasam for her or should I say for us on her bday ;). And how did it turn out? Well that’s another story. It would suffice if I say that it did taste like payasam and she liked it. Yay!

She was dressed in a gaghra-choli which was very big for her. With 2 safety pins it was still loose on her. We then went to the temple and she was as usual folding her hands and praying with so much sincerity. But she didn’t like the garland that they made her wear. Came home and she slept off. We hoped to cut a cake at 11.20 am but she woke up only by one and she then cut her first cake. And she liked it too!

Couldn’t get her to sleep in the afternoon. L Was worried that she would become very cranky but later she slept in auto on the way to the hotel and for some more time in the hotel. She woke up and became happy on discovering balloons, her first time with balloons. They were so handful for her. She loved chasing them and was not scared even when they burst. She immediately went for the next one.

Somehow dressed her up though all she wanted to do was play with the balloons :)

She was ok with the cake and even let us give her the first bite. She also didn’t mind posing for the photos or trying to pick the tags from the gifts J but was very choosy about the people she went too. To sum it up, she was not very crankier and seemed to enjoy the day. She had all her favorite things in the hall – people she is familiar with, balloons, chairs and mirrors. And yes she ate a little food in between too. Such simple are a child’s needs. Wish we were all like them and wish I had her enthusiasm and energy. And I wish and pray that she remains the same.

And yes, to Shankar and me – it was our first party that we are throwing J We really enjoyed the planning, shopping, the numerous phone calls, mails etc etc. We are so happy that so many had actually made it and for all those wishes and greetings she received from people who couldn’t make it. Thanks to one and all!

Happy first birthday Adhya J

P. S. A mail from babycenter on Friday had the tag ‘Your toddler this week’ instead of the usual ‘Your baby this week’….. It just left me wondering ‘Why didn’t I notice this baby to toddler change? L ’

The messages!!

Adhya just loves my mobile . From the day she has learnt to hold things with her tiny hands, my mobile has been her favorite toy... needless to say, it is in a very pitiable state

She keeps fiddling with it and when we play a song, she can press the middle button to 'pause' n 'play' with so much of joy.

On wednesday she was playing with the mobile as usual and after sometime i realized that it wasn't locked and took it from her and locked it. Later I received a smiley from one of my previous colleague and I was like...'wat happened to him?' . The next day, I received a message from one of friends in b'lore asking why I had sent her a smiley? It then stuck me that nothing was wrong with my colleague (poor guy ) and it must have been one of adhya's shenanigans. After talking to my friend, i got the full picture. Adhya has first sent an empty message and then a smiley.... i guess she tried a few buttons and it worked . Then in the evening an other person called to ask why had i sent a smiley.

Now i've decided to configure my 'sent messages'(shankar says....."at last" ) and try to keep my phone away from her . The latter is a bit difficult... let me see!

Good luck to me.... for the days to come!