Happy Birthday my dear darling daughter

Dec 14 - Tara turned a year old today.

Vinay and sang the Happy Birthday song in bed, she stared at us with a quizzical look and then blurted out "Hae Paa". Vinay actually cheated a little - he was up at 4:30am for a leak and thats when he kissed Tara and wished her - so he was first - so what! Soon Nana and Didu came to the room to wish her. Didu complained of an incredibly 'smelly room' - obviously Tara had done her morning thingie and we had been too lazy to change her diaper. Achhan and Nana took Tara to the nearby Ganesha temple and Didu cooked some Bengali Payeesh. Acchamma called to wish Tara during the day and her gift also arrived from Kerala - 3 new pajama-tshirts - yipee!! Mashimoni-Velu - Didibhai and Dadabhai wished Tara on . Dadabhai played the Happy Birthday song on his keyboard - nice boy :). Tara managed the day without getting a wack from me and slept off promptly at 9pm.

We celebrated Tara's birthday with big josh shosh a day prior - Sunday, Dec 13. Invited loads of folks from Vinod-Dhanya to the hotel school group, the old HYD gang, Spiderman n family n extended family and few close friends/ex-colleagues from work - in all about 48 people turned up - 100% per estimate (our MS excel sheet can do all the talking!!). Catering was done by FAME and the food was definitly the winner- everyone raved about it!! The spread included Clear Chicken-Coriander Soup, FAME Special Salad, Mexican Meatball, The Classic Spinach Lasagna, Penne in Tomato Creme Sauce and Coffee at the end. Tara got a star shaped Fresh Cream Pineapple cake. Here are some pictures (sorry the pictures are way up and just refuse to come down for some weird reason)

How wonderful to have a baby girl!

T made me feel that it is really SO WONDERFUL to have a baby girl at home! A couple of days back while 'dressing' her up for her night nap I had kept the bodycream jar open in front of her. T gracefully dipped her lil finger (the index finger yet again!) into the jar and bent forward towards my face to apply the cream - getting mommy ready for the night I guessed :)

When handed over her comb T likes to re-style her hair!

Now a not so 'girly' trait - T loves chewing on to Vinay's (and most likely anyones) shorts/pajama strings. Few evenings back I asked V to keep an eye on her while I was getting the kitchen in order. After hearing nothing for 10 whole minutes (no chatting, blabbering or whining) I peeped into the living room and saw V lying down on the sofa watching a really really old rerun of a cricket match and T ambly chewing his pajama strings and feeling very content- that too very quietly.

I can see V's selfish motive in posing with T wearing his golf cap - he dreams of her taking on to the game at an early age, win a multi-million dollar tournament so that V can quit his job and live an easy life - FATHERS!!!

Other than the selfish motive father and daughter keep posing for pictures and I am their official photographer - one would RARELY see T and me in any picture and its been nearly 5 months since we got her home. Here's one with her happily flapping her hands !!

Funny things T does

My 10 month old little kitten popped out her index finger and grunted a 'nooooo-nooooooo" kind of sound - she was imitating me - as I go around the house telling her "no Tara not this", " no Tara dont touch"...

Just yesterday Tara placed my mobile phone between her temple and ears and blabbered some stuff for 40 sec or so - it sounded like a serious phone conversation.

Life these days is faster than a super fast train

Just didn’t realise that it has been over a month and a half since Tara came home. In between I got detected of stones in my sweet lil kidneys, Vinay battled a severe case of broncitis for over 4 weeks, Tara and I made a trip to Delhi to meet my parents/her Nana & Didu, Swine Flu is eating us Bangaloreans alive, our 2 bedroom home is getting filled with baby accessories like no ones business, we are looking out for a 3 bedroom apartment these days, this morning YSR (Andra’s Chief Minister) died in a chopper crash (very sad) and in the midst of all this Tara is growing at a super fast pace AND someone at work told me that I have lost weight (bless her!!!!!!). Don’t think I have the creative juices or for that matter any life force left in me to blog all of this but can write a few lines next to each picture...

One of my favourites - Tara standing inside her crib & chatting away with me while I clean up our bedroom each morning. Some nights (which is nearly daily) Tara wails at around 3 in the morning and wants to sleep with me on the bed. The doc explained it as bonding time ( 3am - I think I decided to be born around the same time - now I know what my mum went through!!!!)

Tara can now effortlessly stand with support. As a matter of fact she likes to stand most of the time she is awake - NOW thats a lot of effort on our part as we have keep watching her lest she tumbles

Sometimes the wicked witch in me wants to hear Tara wail and the best & easiest way to do it is to vanish from the room she is in. In no time will be let out her dramatic wail...

This is Vijaya - Tara's babysitter and her third best pal (after mummy & daddy ofcourse). Vijaya is great with kids and Tara enjoys her company a lot. Vijaya was planning to leave her job with us, thankfully I managed to strike a decent retention deal with her, so for the time being she continues to work for us (YIPEEE!!!)

Tara has learnt how to clap - she starts with it slowly and finds it facinating that her hands make a funny noise when she puts them together

Across the last 6-7 weeks many came over from far and wild to meet our lil one. Here are some pictures of people from work.

Gottu rush back to Madame' Tara as she lets out her infamous wail - waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh

Bungee Jumping

Tara pulled a smart one on her father and me on Saturday night. So, while she slept we were blissfully watching the 'idot box' - THEN out of nowhere we heard a THUD. No worries...it was Tara and she had successfully cleared her first bungee jumping live demo - YAYYYY!! While Vinay and I freaked out (Vinay nearly fainted with the trauma of his daughter falling off the bed), Tara just brushed the dust off her clothes, was cranky for a minor moment, straightened up in a jiffy and stared at her terribly traumitized mom & pop.

Well the result of this very successful bungee jumping (OUR HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS TARA) was that next morning Vinay re-fixed the crib to the lowest level and loudly declared (just short of etching on my kitchen marble counter) that "from hitherto Tara Menon will only sleep inside the crib and not/NEVER on the bed...is that clear Mom??!!"

Welcome home Tara :)

Vinay and I welcomed home our 8 month old lil devil Tara Menon on the Friday, July 17. The rest is history - managing days without shower (2.5 days to be precise), green potty or yellow potty and WHY??, nestum or cerelac, sterilizing bottles and every toy she touches (Vinay's gone insane!), move from measuring a 30/60ml drink t0 7 ounce fluid milk, and worst awful-smelly-GAS and the whining accompanied by it :), Nevertheless Tara's homecoming has toppled our lives and is teaching us loads of life lessons (details in another blog...some other time).


Here are some initial pictures with descriptions. This one is at the convent the day we went to get Tara - the sisters said that she has been very quiet the entire morning, they said that it is a common phenomenon with the children here; they understand that they are going to leave the convent.
This one is the morning after - post a very cranky first day, she woke up with a big smile next morning. Vinay was absolutely besotted by Tara
Amma trying to put Tara to sleep
Making a face at our 15 grand purchase from Mothercare. Tara seems to have no plans whatsoever to sleep in the crib-cot, she prefers making both of us sleep like logs without blankets (in the fear of suffocation) sleeping right next to her on the same bed.

WISH US LUCK and HAPPINESS :)

Her smell...

I bulldozed myself to Sr. Reji's this morning. After calling her nearly every other day enquiring about when our baby will 'arrive', her second in command Sr. Jackqueline very excitedly gave my lil one in my arms today. It was Friday July 10!!!.
Big bright eyes, pretty eyelashes and afro lips (like Vinays) - it was mixed emotions - happiness & blankness alternating....as I got to smell her 'baby smell' and she snuggled onto me... love started to develop. I was told by the sisters that she is referred to as the 'sound box' in the nursery as she is very chatty and always needs someone to keep her entertained. Attention seeking...hmmm....looks like Vinay and I have some healthy competetion coming our way- HUH! Fingers crossed for her health check up tomorrow!!!!!

May 19, 2010:
10 months after Tara's homecoming dug out some pic of ours when we first met her . The pic are not too clear as they were taken from V's mobile phone, but nevertheless priceless

Golf & Art

While my other half (of my soul I mean!) is very passionately pursuing the game of Golf and proudly calls it the ‘love of his life’ I decided to pick up my easel and paintbrush and head towards painting ceramics at this quaint studio called Claytopia. I attempted two colourful 'masterpieces' during by last couple of visits. I enjoy bright colours and bold forms - subtlity is not ma cuppa tea :). The best thing about Claytopia is that one can paint to ones hearts content while munching a chicken n cheese grilled sandwich and cold coffee which is served right on your work table. The studio has a bistro attached to it which serves yummy stuff for ultimate foodies like me. When I mentioned to Vinay that “what could be more blissful than munching a grilled sandwich along with dabbling in colours” – he promptly said “Golf ofcourse”

One quick picture that I should have uploaded a couple of weeks back is this one. Vinay's Mumbai 'roomies' came over to meet us after 7 long years. Salil and Mallik were college kids those days and Vinay was Salil's local guardian - God bless them all :). It was wonderful to catch up and hear them all talk about 'Flashback Mumbai 1997-2002'

A phone call

Got a call from the convent at thirty-four minutes past noon today. It was Sr. Reji and she informed that the 'home study' is scheduled for tomorrow - Wednesday June 3, 2009. I am so nervous/excited that I feel my heart along with my lungs, rib cage and what not are all going to come out through my mouth.

Reunion in Goa

On the 12th year anniv of the IHM Kovalam batch, Goa beckoned us for a quick n fun weekend at the 'very Portuguese white n blue combo' resort - Dona Sylvia. This time I wont write much, instead will let these pictures give a flavour of our trip; which was easy, laid back and kinda fun (somehow Vinay was terribly grumpy post the trip), maybe it's the theory of evolution working on him...things that you enjoyed most starts to wear off while new experiences takes its place...
Cherio!

Ooty with Ma-Bapi

We, the utter nin-compooz invited Ma-Bapi over to Bangalore after nearly 1.5 years of our marriage. Prior to that we decided that we were too busy and caught up in our respective boardroom wars. Other than really trying hard to be polite to each other most of the time their trip hasn't been a challenge so far.

The drive through Bandipur, Mudhumalai forests and 36 hairpin curves was manageable and V made us reach Glyengarth Villa a little before lunch time; straight six & a half hours - NICE job V! The sky was a beautiful blue and sunny and set up for a great vacation...until the Rain God appeared from nowhere. It poured the latter part of the afternoon accompanied by high velocity winds - brrrrr it was like being in Beijing (bah snooty me), actually more like being in a Delhi January cold afternoon. The rooms were old world, wooden flooring and period furniture and the bathrooms had been renovated since our last trip (with Joy and Naveena - Apr 2004 or 05), But who needs to visit the bathroom in this cold weather, which by the way was pretty impressive with a shower cubicle and jacuzzi.

Next morning V booked himself at the golf course. Maa and I walked along the golf course and chatted to our hearts content. V looked good playing golf from afar - smarty pants!! Bapi seemed to enjoy the garden and took some weirdo pictures. All of us had to listen to V's golf banter all afternoon as we drove down to have lunch at another quaint resort called The Kings Cliff. This place was more touristy and had many Punju tourists talking and laughing loudly. Mithun-da's hotel The Monarch was right next door as was Bappa's hotel school - Merit Swiss. While having lunch Maa greedily tried to take a bite from Vinay's beef curry...one should have seen Bapi's tense face..I could hear a song playing in my ear "loosing my religion". After lunch we went for a drive towards Lovedale and passed some absolutely stunning tea plantations and a charming railway station. The road to Lovedale ended at the famous Lawrence School. With 8foot high walls around the school is seemed more like a fort for the creme-de-la-creme. On our way back to Ooty we had to maneuver through some very strong winds and lashing mountain rains - brrr it became colder and we poor little urban mortals wanted to return to our plains.

Next morning post breakfast we headed downhill towards Mudhumala, Bandipur forest-Mysore and back to Bangalore. Maa strategically threw up right next to some beautiful tea plantations. We did one stop for lunch at a coastal dhaba in Mysore and reached home sweet home by 6pm.

Sometime the home potty feels like a resort :)

My composter made babies...

Listen up......I bought my eco garbage bin back in Jan 2007 and it gave its first litter TODAY!!!

What I mean to say is that for the last 2 years I have been bravely insisting to everyone around (including hubby dearie) that someday....ahem...someday my composter will start to process the daily garbage that my cook, maid and I religiuosly post inside it and it will transform (magically) to a top quality compost for my garden (I mean my 4 potted plants). That day arrived today - one of my most proud moments when I happily declared to myself (no one around at home today :(...Vinay is in Hyderabad) that I am doing SOMETHING RELEVANT for the enviroment. YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Daily Dump I love you...

Brr...in Beijing

Finally I landed on the Great Wall of China! YESSSSS Vinay was going to Beijing to meet his team and I tagged along. Pretty last minute, but managed to get my visa & ticket done in time to touch down in -4 degree Celsius at Capital International Airport, Beijing on a misty afternoon of Feb 14. We fought like mad dogs over a smoking vs. non-smoking room the balance of the day - what a unique way to celebrate St. Valentine's birthday. Going back to trip on the The Great Wall it started snowing heavily the minute I decided to step on it and voila on my way back I slipped off few stairs and the landed on my fat ridden rear. I quickly got up, dusted the snow from my coat and walked around as if all was well. From an experience perspective the GWC was 6700 kms of splendour winding up the China-Mongolia border like a dragon - very impressive!! Sunday was spent doing the rounds of the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square and ofcourse Vinay insisted that we visit the Beijing Zoo to see the Giant Pandas. The magnificent Forbidden City is the largest and the best-preserved Imperial Palace complex in the world. It has some 8000 odd rooms and has been the residence of the Ming & Quing dynasties(1300 to early 1900's) for five centuries. I loved the beautiful blue and green workmanship on the roof which I understand signifies the sky and the earth (or the Ying & Yang). Our next stop was the Tiananmen Square - a salute to modern China and end to the feudal kingdom. Lunch was at McDonalds and then we trotted along to see the Giant Pandas. Vinay keeps teasing me that Pandas are my ancestors and they'd be thrilled to see me!! Late evening we explore some nightlife at the Hou Hai Bars - a quaint lit up street, next to a frozen lake with restaurants and bars filled with happy, chirpy and at times loud people.

Day two I was on my own as Vinay went with to work. I made a trip to the Temple of Heaven - this temple was built specifically for worship of heaven and prayers for good harvests. The entire complex is a treasure trove of ancient Chinese architectural designs and arts - extremely pretty. I think I have seen a picture of Lal Bahadur Shastry or some other Indian leader with this temple as the backdrop.

It snowed heavily next couple of days and I went on a tour to see the Ming Tombs , got to peek at a Jade Museum and a Hospital for TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and had a lavish dinner with Vinay's China team - a bunch of giggly girls, very warm, polite and so hospitable. The highlight of the evening was the Peking Duck along with other dishes - it turned out to be a nice evening.