the pehla wehla phoren trip! :p

A lot has happened and yet not much! The Bub turned two, two months ago and I have STILL not written a post! Bwwwaaaaah! :( But it is there in my drafts and I intend to finish it one of these days. Enough whining and to the post I intend to write now! :p


This was my Facebook update a couple of days ago;

"We are back with bags full of dirty clothes, hearts full of happy memories and memory cards full of fun photus and of course wallets that are very empty! :) One week in Singapore was perfect to say the least! The weather gods played truant only after we had done major sightseeing! Cub got his wish of getting pics clicked with his favourite Shrek and Alex. There were animals, birds, roller coasters and boat rides. And most of all Cub and Bub got to know one more of their Buas and Uncles better! :) Thank you Kittu Bua and V uncle for being brilliant hosts and making out trip that much more memorable! We cannot wait to have you in Bengaluru now! Hugs!"


So, now you know we went to Singapore on a holiday. Couple of fellow bloggers on my friends list said that I should do a proper blog post and it was that push I needed. I do hope i finish writing this in a day or so!


We flew with Tiger Airways (the only airline we could afford) and were worried about the whole low cost experience, but we had a really good and comfortable flight - to and fro. Since we had a cousin living in Singapore, we spent a couple of days at hotel and stayed with family another few days who indulged us with some seriously good hospitality! :)


We tried to keep our schedules fairly easy considering we had two kids and one senior citizen with us and we are not great on stamina either. Since we were five us out of whom four needed tickets everywhere, we stuck to using cabs for most part. Cost us almost the same and saved us fair bit of time.


A friend asked me how was Singapore? Well, Singapore is Singapore i said! It is neat, clean, child and differently able friendly and full of surcharges and taxes of every kind! It is also hot and humid and bright sun makes for gorgeous photos, if you are looking for that weather silver line! :p


We managed to visit Jurong Bird park, Night Safari and Universal Studios in detail and did bit of Sentosa and some small shopping at the fun China Town and boating at Clarke Quay / Boat Quay.


The day we reached we stepped out only by late afternoon and had to skip the zoo and went straight for the Night Safari. It was a fabulous experience starting from getting to see some animals right outside (with their care takers) to the tram ride taking us through the whole gamut of nocturnal animals to the short walks one can take within the safari. 


Day 2 was Jurong Bird Park and we had a great time yet again. Cub fed the birds, we managed to catch some interesting shows about Birds of Prey, Penguins and birds trained to perform, like macaws and cockatoos. I loved the stunning colours on so many of these winged wonders and it is something to see over 50 flamingos together. 


Day 3 was the day Cub was excited about the whole Singapore trip - Universal Studios! :) He was looking forward to meeting Shrek and got the whole cast of Madagascar as a bonus as well. He did his first roller coaster ride and surprised us by not being scared of pretty much anything! :) That boy has some genes of mine then. Yayyy for that! I am a big roller coaster type thrills junkie and it is good to have company! :) The Shrek 4D show was good fun and so was Donkey Live. We were lucky to find very little wait time at almost all the rides and performances and could make most of the time we had there.


At Sentosa, we just went to the Underwater World and saw the Songs of the Sea show. And yeah! Did the cable car ride. There was an evening spent with friends at Marina Bay Sands' shopping mall and the lovely open area outside. I was meeting these M's friends for the first time and it just did not feel like that. Add to that some fabulous Italian food and we were very happy people. 

We also did the short boat ride at Clarke Quay and it was a pleasant way of spending 40mins. Relaxing and smooth and you get to see all the lovely sights of Singapore. Clarke Quay is also known for its clubbing scene, but with kids on tow we skipped that. The other side has a long line of restaurants that serve you every kind of food available. Seeing the huge, live crabs and lobsters in tanks all around is not for the fainthearted! :p Almost all the eateries offer some sort of discount or welcome drink etc. You can see folks from all over the world converge and enjoy their meals by the bay side. 


What we missed doing and wish could have was go on the Flyer and see the zoo. We also wanted to take kids to a big water park, but the last two days were pretty much washed out with constant rains. We did go to China Town - a market place for all things sasta, pretty, souvenirs and probably not very teekau. Actually not very sasta considering the exchange rate! :( But it is a really cool place and you should make a trip there if you go to Singapore. We just bought chhota chhota things to give Cub's and Ally's friends and some clothes. 


For khaana, we ate some local food, some ghar ka khaana and some Indian food outside as well esp since ma in law got kinda sick of the seafood smell from everywhere! The kids survived on chips, biscuits, juice and an occasional nutritional meal. Bub had a few yogurt dinners as well! :p


The Cub and Bub were quite well behaved unless hunger or fatigue hit them! The Cub enjoyed most of the stuff and after ages we got some really cute photos! :) The Bub on the other hand spent most of her time greying our hair by running amok all over in crowded places. It was one person's full time duty to just keep track where she was. Phew! Oh and must mention how she kept taking off her shoes just about a thousand times a day and sitting on the ground pretty much everywhere! Oh well!


Here are some photos! :)

well past bed time! At Bengaluru Airport! :)

The Croc-Hunter?! :p

My tail who refused to leave my side! I am talking about the Bub! :p

Yes! That Owl is real! :)

We are same same but different! :) (Idea credit to M)

The very tired Bub after a late night flight, a full day and a night safari!

Errr... self explanatory?! :p

At the Jurong bird park! :)

in the Tram that takes you around the Bird Park.

Cub feeding the birds. He was little scared but soon quite amazed! :)

Then it was the Bub's turn!

But no birds came along!

Till one came and sat next to her to finish off the worms! :)

The Cub and the Flamingos! :)

Some jumping around is always good! :)

Who knew that Karate was a water sport?! :p  (Thanks Richa for the water park tip!)

At the Marina Bay Sands shopping arcade!

Kids loved running around the huge open space! :)

The yogurt dinner!

The tired Cub pretending to sleep Bub style with a Tauiya! :)



Phew! I am tired of adding so many photos. So, the rest of the pics in next post! :) 

Hope you guys are having a fabulous new year. Cheers!

Her Bub-ness! :)

I keep saying that a Bub update is pending and ab toh paani sar ke upar se jaa chuka hai! The title is so because The Bub thinks she is some kinda princess / Queen Bee and expects to be treated so much to her disappointment most of the times! ;) But she also does get a lot of attention in general is quite happy with it as long as you don't try to pick her up or touch her in any way till She lets you! :)

What? I thought you wear new White clothes and then roll on the floor! No. you say?!



It will be almost 2 years since Bub came into our lives and one thing I can say without thinking twice - it has been interesting! (One of our friends' told me recently that Interesting can mean many things, when I pointed out that he uses the word way too often!;) So, going by that definition/s here folks.

Run baby, run! :)



We have not even been paying too much attention to her physical milestones. Call it the second born syndrome, if you will. She has been walking and running for a while now. She is also adept at going up and down the steps - both feet on the same step stage right now. She refuses to take our help if there is a railing / wall that she can hold on to and seems to be gaining mastery in getting on to escalators now!

Pretending to eat the Onam sadya! 



She is talking nineteen to a dozen and then some more. Tries to repeat pretty much everything we say. Is forming her own short sentences and is pretty much able to tell what she wants. Of course not everyone understands what she is saying (even though as proud parents we think she speaks quite clearly;), but we get it mostly.

The biker girl! ;)



Unlike Cub, who always spoke very clearly, Bub does not get quite a few sounds right - typically K and L etc. So her best friend Paakhi is Paathi! :D It is cute and am sure she will be crystal clear within no time, so might as well enjoy this phase.


Having been to fair amount of birthday parties already, she loves singing Happy Birthday in her own tune. She recognizes a birthday scene in any book she sees. She loves balloons though she was quite traumatized when she had to see three of them burst within a span of few minutes one of the days. For the longest time she would look at one - real / printed and go - "Baoon - Phoott gaya! Dhamm!" Need I say it was hilarious. She seems to have gotten over that bit now.


She has started recognizing fair number of animals from books she has and the zoo trip was fun. With Cub, we showed him stuff and sang rhymes to him etc ever so often. Poor Bub just does not get that kind of obsessive attention, but still keeps learning whatever she is told.


As she approaches the terrible twos, she is already doing practice runs. The worst bit is eating of course. She still LOVES junk and getting normal khaana in is a major task! Every time she sees my face, she says "Mumma Bitti de do, chottet de do" and when she gets none of these she says "Chyanpaash de do" which is Bub speak for Chyavanprash! Yes, it is quite a favourite with her. She has this horrid habit of stuffing her mouth and refusing to chew her food. The healthy variety obviously. She loves to ruminate like a cow. Sigh! It is very annoying to say the least.

Creating her own messy art out of rangoli! :p



She still has a delightfully wicked and naughty smile and it is difficult to stay angry with her - esp for the father who find pretty much everything she does very funny and amusing! :p She loves dancing and does hand and hip shaking routine at any fun music she gets to hear.

Rockstar - one shoe (brother's), no pajamas and cheap guitar! What else do you need?!



We have not even started potty training her. I have been seriously wondering what happens if you do not train them? They will figure it out once they reach a certain age, isn't it? Any theories? Yes, I am obviously feeling very lazy and bored with this whole business. But, when she does agree to sit on the pot, it is for a book and expects to be shown pictures for the entire duration.

The BFFs! :)


This update possibly cannot be complete without mentioning her absolute love for her BFF Paakhi! :) She lives right next door and is just 2 months older than Bub. Right now they want to spend every waking hour with each other. It starts from 8am and goes on till 8pm. They spend hours at each others' homes and still cry and throw tantrums when they are taken to their own homes. Every single day. It is crazy. They raise hell and wreak havoc with double the mischief and M thinks he has lost a few years since! ;) But seriously, knock on the wood! It is lovely to see them together and Bub starting to make friends at such young age. Cub has no avenues when he was at this age.

Turning the charm on!


She is also VERY loud! God! That girl can shout a house down. She is also a major drama queen and is extremely quick on take when you are doing something funny or silly. She gets the joke quickly and will try to turn it on you pretty much immediately.


Just yesterday she actually tried to have a proper conversation on phone with her grand parents and what a delight that was. Not that they could understand much, but it was priceless anyway.

eating a little bit of black poster colour is all you need to get a perfect Goth look!



She is also very naughty and if you do not hear her for a while you can safely assume that something bad is happening in some corner of the house. She has been known to flood the kitchen, draw on walls and eat paint and crayons when not paid attention to for few minutes!

So that is the Bub for you! A little bit of everything and huge dollops of cuteness! And a very smart little mind of her own. 


God bless you our darling little girl. You are an absolute delight! :)

sometimes we are sooo sleepy

that we sleep midway between trying to get off the bed to stop Mamma from going to the bathroom! :p

or we find even the mother's bony knees and ankle comfortable! :)

OMG! Almost 5 years! :)

There is a reason why Time flies is SUCH a cliched expression. You just cannot help marveling at the passage of time every now and then. It is always amazing to see how far one has come, how much life has changed and how everything around has made you a different person. Perhaps not in pure essence, but new roles and responsibilities bring out facets of your personality you have never known. The dynamics of relationships make you evaluate and reevaluate what you always believed to be right. You keep discovering the shades of grey in pretty much every situation.


Okay! I have no idea why I started getting philosophical here! :) I had decided to sleep on time for a change, but I guess I am on a blogging high right now and I might as well make the most of it! :)


Cub turns 5 in two weeks and it is so hard to believe it. I mean he is regular little boy now leaving behind pretty much every trace of babyness behind. I will write about the year gone by in another post. This is my attempt at getting our photos - His and Mine - in one post for a walk down the memory lane. For my sake.

This is when I could actually sit up and hold Cub two days after his birth! :)

Cub's first taste of chocolate at probably around 4months! :)

And first shaadi attended at around the same time!

This used to be our favourite position to enjoy each other's company! :)

And that is how he slept quite often! :)

Completely painless at that age. We would take him everywhere and he would eben sleep on tabletops! :) This is at one hole-in-the-wall kinda Subway! :)

His first taste of coffee at around 5months! :D

By month six there were smiles galore! :)

I had forgotten I used to this sometimes!

We had a maalishwaali and I would this occasionally as well! 

Making conversation that he had started understanding! 



I just realized that after spending over an hour, I have managed to scan just year one! :) I guess there are going to multiple parts of this kinda thing! :D


You were quite the cutiepie, my darling Cub! :)

because she deserves a LOT of posts for herself

but since that does not happen as often as I would like, I MUST sit and finish this post in one go and give up on Facebook's instant gratification for a bit. Sigh!


So the Bub is now little over 15months old and since she has crossed the one year mark, there have been milestones galore and so much more that I cannot even remember now. She is on a complete cuteness overdrive and has a flock of people going crazy about her wherever we go. If nothing else, I will ten different folks telling me how adorable she is. Yes Yes! We shall share photos as well! :)


She took her first steps exactly at the age Cub did - 14months - to the last day even. But that was just the trailer and the actual walking started about 2 weeks later on 1st Jan. So the new year started with new found independence for her and trouble for us. She was ofcourse crawling at super speeds before that and kept resorting back to it when in need for speed like almost every other child.


She is now saying a few words. Mumma, Papa, Bye, Heyo (hello), Dog (along with bhoo bhoo sound), water, bottle amd most recent Bathoo (bathroom). The lack of verbal skills does not stop her from telling us what exactly she wants or does not want. Oh! How can I forget that she has learned to say the magic word No which she uses liberally especially when being food normal healthy khaana. So now not just her whole body twist around and hands come up, but there is also a resounding NO! to go with all of it.


She is quite naughty and loves ripping books, throwing things and putting everything possible in her mouth. She plays with everything except her toys which she plays with only when she sees someone else using them!


She is a quick learner and wants to do everything her brother and we do. So if he jumps on to the beanbag, she has to try and join him too. She pretends to take body lotion from the bottle and applies it on her own hands or sometimes ours as well. Tell her "Maalish karo" and she might indulge you with some rubs as well. She thinks pulling off her own socks 75times a day is funny, goes and sits on the small chair next to the shoe rack when you say "Shoes pehnenge" and pretend talks on the phone every now and then.


She absolutely LOVES going out. Even if we just take her down to pick Cub up when he comes back from school, she does not want to come back home. Say Park in the evening and she has a big smile on her face. The moment we get into the car she goes ballistic! :)


We have finally started pointing to nose correctly and are supremely excited to recognize a dog and say Bhu-Bhu to everyone who would listen.


True to her genes she is a lazy bum. She is not the kid who you will say "She does not sit in one place for even a minute!" for. This does not make her any less destructive or dangerous, but she is more than happy sitting in one place and wrecking havoc in that limited area.


Unlike Cub who is an out and out his Papa's boy, the Bub is her Mamma's girl! I call her my Fevicol Ka Mazboot Jod for all the time she spends clinging to my pajama like an extra appendage. Thank god it is getting a little better now. She is a very friendly child - from a distance. Try and pick her up and she will scream murder. I always have people apologizing saying "She was smiling at me!" and I say it is OK. I know that is how she is.


That said she does not have major stranger anxiety as such and is quite happy basking in attention from everyone around as long as you do not want anything in return.


She adores Cub and the smiles he gets are something we can only dream of. Touchwood and anti-jinx. She loves being with kids her age and tries to make friends at times.


Considering she has an older brother, as of now she prefers cars and superheroes over dolls. She has a couple, but mostly she just throws them around. The other day she took Cub's small Superman action figure and was trying to make it fly the way Cub does with the requisite sounds. Cutest sight ever!


She LOVES eating... all the unhealthy stuff! I do not know how she recognizes healthy food and pushes it away without even giving it a chance. Even then she is much easier to deal with than Cub when it comes to eating. A BIG Anti-jinx. She enjoys biscuits, popcorn and icecream the most. Thankfully she will eat most fruits including banana, apple, papaya, chikoo and grapes.


Oh and must mention that the Bub is used to sleeping with a Turkish towel in her hand! Do not ask how and when we realized it, but just give her a towel when she is sleepy and she will doze off on her own without you having to take any effort. Of course, we have NO idea how we are going to get rid of the habit! Let's see.


All in all, she is at a super duper fun stage right now. Her smile can light up the whole room and absolute strangers keep coming up to tell us how cute and pretty she is. She gives the most gooey and wet kisses and it is a pleasure getting them. Her Bye is absolutely adorable and she really enjoys saying it for some reason. In short she is a true bundle of energy and joy to have around!



And here are the photus! :)

Didn't I say always happy to be out and about?! :)

:) Cub holding on to Bub carefully! :)

Please note she is picking up Mathri to eat! :D

Just one of those days! :)

Dancing queen!

Enjoying the train ride With Cub! :)

Yes! I can run around now! :)

Always ready to bother the Cub who is almost always indulgent! 

Dressed up for K Bua's shaadi! :)

The fevicol! :D

Dressed up for K Bua's sangeet!

Doesn't she look like a little girl already?! Sigh!

All set for summer except desperate need for a haircut!

Keeping the hairband on till i could take a coupla pictures! :)