Ganpati Bappa Morya!!

The only God I have often heard being called CUTE is Ganpati or Ganesha if you will. With his round belly, the twisting trunk and the kind and smiling eyes (I hate it when idol makers screw up the eyes and make em angry and all), you cannot help but trust Him with your heart and soul. Add to that the stories of his very cool wit, his penchant for good food and lightening speed of thinking AND writing, Ganpati does come across as a lovable person errr... God! :D

The Arrival

For me Ganeshotsav has always meant a cartload of happy memories. Our family Ganpati used to be at my Dad's uncle's place every year. It was a small house with gray stone flooring and a constant roar of traffic under the windows. A place was designated for the visiting Lord. The previous evening some of us would go and get the statue whose face would be still covered with a silk cloth. There would be decorations made of thermocol. The next day morning all of us would go there again for the "sthapana". A long pooja ensued followed by arati sung in a particular tune with "zhanja" and bell as accompaniments.

After all this, all the women sat in a room to make delicious Modaks (they are like Momos filled with coconut and jaggery mix). All young girls who wanted to try their hand at it were allowed to mess up a few as well. Yours truly kept being a part of messing up gang till she got married and never made Modaks again! ;)



Then garam garam modaks with ghee poured onto them were devoured along with rest of the basic khaana. Talkathon amongst the whole family catching up on what's been happening would reach cacophony levels! All in all total dhamaal.

The fond farewells

The Visarajan - the day we say Good Bye to Lord Ganesha asking him to come again next year, is always tinged with certain sadness. We would all again go to uncle's house and the idol would be taken to Dadar Chowpatty. A last aarti would be sung on the beach among masses of people all doing the same, in their big and small groups.

The Prelude

Even more fun used to be Ganeshotsav in the building. I grew up in a chawl and we have a common Ganpati, more popularly known as Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav. The preparations would start months in advance for the celebrations to go off smoothly.


Someone would be working on the pandal and someone else on collecting the money from entire building. Some of us would be participating in a whole 3 act marathi play and others would be practicing their dance performance. Singing skills used to be brushed up and ideas for new competitions worked out!


The play practice went on every night for almost 2months. The dance practice happened in our terrace every evening. Music players were begged for and so was space to do the play practice. Towards last 15 days everyday one family would volunteer to give snacks and coffee to the team. Day before the ganpati came, we would all be cleaning the chowk with jhaadoos and mild acid that would burn out the dirt. The previous night everyone would be working hard on decoration and all that jazz! The whole atmosphere would be charged with excitement of next few days. Those were really the days!!

And not to forget late night jaunts at 2am to have bhurji paav and cutting chai with the whole gang!! For quite a few years, the guys would get parcel for the girls till i insisted and then begged these guys to take us too! what fun! bhurji never tasted that good before or after!

The Celebrations

And then those days went by in a flurry of activity. Fancy Dress and dance competition for kids where they outdid themselves every year. Anatkshari and dumb charades for adults that lead to major leg-pulling and happy camaraderie. The arati was sung everyday with gusto. Ours was one of the few Ganpatis where the arati was not just put up on recorder. A live dholak played by someone in the building played the beats of arati that went on for at least 45mins with volumes never going low. If some of us didn't know the arati we made up by clapping harder! :p


One room would get transformed into make-up room on the day of play and dances. We would all be white faced with amateur make-up done by fellow residents. But we were proud of it nonetheless because we never paid a single paisa to get some orchestra come and play for us or just show movies on projector. We worked hard for every event and its success and failure was our own to embrace.


Through all this arguments happened and sentiments got hurt too, mostly due silly egos. But at the end of the day it was our pride as a group at stake and we would make up and go ahead and do our best.


Last year I was on Mumbai post delivery and I made 40day old Cubby participate in Fancy Dress competition as a body builder! :p This year I will miss being a part of it, but I know like every year I will get nostalgic and smile at all those very special memories.


I have declared to M that I am gonna try and make Modaks tomorrow. Now M is someone who takes food very seriously and I better at least attempt them. So wish me luck, people!! I will tell you how they turned out!


Till then, Ganpati Bappa Morya!!
Ek, don, teen, chaar, Ganpaticha jayjaykar!
aani Pudchya Varshi Laukar ya in advance!

ps: On an important note, do try and buy small clay idols with natural colours instead of PoP ones commonly available which harm the environment since they don't dissolve completely when submerged. It's the least we can do in our human capacity for this divine occasion.

pps: the order is kinda awry, but Ganpati brings so many memories, it seemed almost impossible to even put them down, forget doing it in an order! So, pls to excuse! :)

heart became garden garden! :D

When I moved from Bombay to Bangalore, I was often asked the typical question "How do you like Bangalore? Are you missing Bombay?". I always replied saying I like this city and am not mulling over what I left behind. It could also have to do with the fact that life seems nicer when you are newly married wherever you go. (That we had our worst fights in the first 6months is actually a fond memory laughed on today!)

What made me fall in love with this city was the shades of green you could see everywhere you turned and the cool weather which is like heaven for someone coming from Bombay. Couple that with the lazy pace of life, it's a stark contrast to the city that never sleeps.

Even now we have close to 5 parks within a 4km radius which have well maintained lawns, a tiled walkers' track and a kids play area with swings and slides. Every time I go to one of them, I say a prayer that may these last the onslaught of concrete and glass.

Apart from these small parks in older areas of the city, two HUGE parks that are lungs of this place, are Lalbagh and Cubbon Park. You can easily find the history and how many acres they are spread over etc on the internet (Jai Google Baba ki!).

I remember going to Lalbagh, during my first trip to Bangalore as a tourist, many years ago! Then, I was just fascinated with the big floral clock with Snow White and Seven Dwarfs adorning it. Then next was when we went for a picnic with entire khandaan post shaadi and we had so much fun. We kept wanting to go there for the Flower Show that happens every year for about a week, concluding on Independence Day.

the first look

This year we decided we HAVE to make it to the show come what may. First attempt was made one evening when there wasn't any better plan. We were shooed away by the cop saying no entry after 530pm because it was alreadytoo crowded. So then we decided to go on 15th Aug itself. When we reached we were in for a pleasant surprise when there were cops helping the vehicles find the right parking etc. We were also shocked by Rs.200 entrance charge! ;)

and you thought Petunia was just Harry's aunt's name

Anyhow. We started moving towards the glass house where the show happens. There was a looong queue to get in and soon enough we were a part of it. It was really fascinating to see the burst of colours in form of flowers big and small. From special decorations to some just put together flowers, everyone was trying hard to capture the beauty with their cameras, mostly on phone, while cops tried to make people move asap. It was lot like going to these famous temples where you stand for hours and then get pushed out within 2 secs. We also like complete bozos, forgot to take our camera.

fool khile hai gulshan gulshan! :p

ek phool do mali! ;)

Apart from flowers, people formed another colourful collage of sights and sounds that cannot be captured on a phone camera. The atmosphere was totally like a mela.

the wine baron.... err barrel?! :p

There were stalls selling some handicrafts and mostly gardening related stuff. The Amul ice cream carts were there every 500mtrs and people were indulging having Icecreams and Ice Lollies that aren't so common anymore. We bought a lemon grass plant for M's mausi and a Tulsi plant for ourselves which was pending forever! There were people selling baloons and bubble maker sellers were blowing bubbles incessantly giving the whole place a very dreamy and fairytale like appearance.

harit vahini - Go Green! Chk out the dog resting inside!

Cubby had a ball trying to walk all over the place holding our hands. All in all it was coupla hours well spent and I am sure to go back soon. Esp now that Cubby will soon walk comfily on his own and he will LOVE the wide open spaces to run on even more! :)

And you remember I said they shooed us away from Lalbagh in the evening. We decided to make a trip to Cubbon Park. This park has lots of separate gardens and a road going through it. We had taken the road often but never stopped by at the park.

So we parked the car opposite a garden and walked in on to the lush green lawns. We had a short walk with Cubby saying our hellos to all the little kids out there (there were MANY). It was fun to see kids of every age and size doing so many different things. One had just learnt to walk, so insisted to perfecting the skill while other who couldn't was content just lolling on the grass! :)

It was one of the windiest days in Bangalore (as per the newspaper next day) and the guy selling this contraption that starts spinning in wind (I have no idea what its called. Picture below. Pls help) did a brisk business. When M said lets buy it, I told him Cubby was too young to enjoy it. M coolly replied "It's for you!" So yours truly was quite busy seeing it spin in a dizzy with every round of breeze!

THE Contraption (name pls!)

Cubby was busy soaking it all in and was quite fascinated with green grass and crows that were flying around. It was just so much fun seeing him enjoy it all.

While Bangalore has very little to offer in terms of things you can do without spending money at a mall or multiplex, these parks can offer a pleasant change. It's so refreshing and invigorating to just enjoy the cleaner air and feel at peace even with so many people around you.

Here's some of Cubby's latest pics taken by our very cool chacha who has a golden hand at shooting of another kind! Yeah! We can now call him our Abhinav Bindra! :p

a Brilliant week and Cubby's lucky friday at 13th!

This post comes almost a week late! Cubby completed 13months of existence on 20th Aug and whoever said 13 is unlucky must be kidding. Its looking like by far the most promising month of his l'il life till date! :D

So here goes what transpired in the last 31 days!

You have taken your first baby steps!!! YESSSSSS!! While mommy sat in office, getting bored, she called Papa to check whats happening. Papa asked me, "did you see the video", and i said "what happened?" There you were on walking online, (You can watch the video and say verrry cute) taking your first unsure steps with SUCH a proud look in your eyes! Before I knew i was crying! My colleague came running wondering whats making me break into tears in the middle of afternoon. You keep trying to repeat the cat every now and then and seems more confident with every step. Way to go sweetheart! :)

You are saying some intelligible words now, sweetest of which is still Papa! I love the way, you go "papa" and then your papa fondly replies saying "Bolo beta". All of this is said in a sing song tone with both of you using your softest voice. (Papa has been threatened with divorce if you don't learn to say Mamma in 15 days) You have taken to repeating some words. The favourite is pussycat which is said like pussycada or something. Apple which is called Appue. You say Pappu when mommy is singing Pappu Can't Dance Saala. And Bookk. It's all so darn CUTE!

You love applause. You hate to perform without audience. Even now when you are taking your l'il steps, you fall down and wait for us to clap for effort made. If we don't, you start clapping yourself, looking at us to make sure we follow suite!

You have officially and totally given up on toys which keep languishing in their box. You would much rather play with all the bartans. The empty plastic dabbas, my kadchis and kadhais. You try putting one dabba into other or spoon in the katori (i wonder why i spend a good 125bucks on buying those stacking buckets!). Every morning and evening our kitchen looks like it has been hit with tornado.

You love showing that you recognise stuff (or maybe i just like seeing you know!). So when i say Mask Uncle and Mask Aunty you look at the masks hung at the entrance. Or the butterfly on the door. Mickey, Pluto and Winnie who adorn the bathroom tiles are also given a wide smile of recognition. Nose, ear etc are still being resolutely ignored.

You have become a little too aggressive for our comfort. Throwing toys from a height, banging things, answering back in your own baby sounds when scolded. We are hoping this too shall pass!

You resist EVERYTHING new. You don't wanna drink from glass. WE tried for a week to feed you with glass and you tshirt had more than you. Now we are taking it easy and trying to teach you to have water with Sipper. You create a major ruckus while being fed and mommy daddy have a tough time trying to figure out something NEW to distract you at every meal.

Of course that doesn't stop you from eating what we are eating. Nothing is too spicy for you. You eat a kadak onion pakoda, but you try to throw out small pieces of cooked carrot in your khichdi! You love eating biscuit etc with your hand and making a complete mess of the house while you are it. Yet again, healthy stuff like raw carrot is given a cold shoulder.

Potty training is being attempted. On lucky days we might see coupla peeing sessions and an actual potty too. But most times its a big dud and you are still to understand su su = potty. We live in hope of course.

You have started taking bribes to give smiles. You don't need shiny gift wrapped packages. You only need a chocolate chip biscuit. If not that, even Parle G will do. On rare occasion that you cry on seeing new people at home, we quickly handover a biscuit to said guest. Soon you are, literally eating out out of their hands!

You can REALLY cling now when you in the mood. Papa can even cook with you in one hand now! Mommy is still l'il more heartless and lets you cry while she finishes job at hand.

How could I forget? We can now say Teeth and not just tooth when you open your mouth. FOUR in all and it makes you look all grown up. Thanks to homeopathic dawai being administered all the time, teething has been a smooth sail.

You enjoy playing in water in your own little tub! We put some toys and you enjoy splashing around and we enjoy spending those minutes with you. It gets difficult at times to get you out, but it's not impossible, as yet.

There is so much more you do and watching you everyday, I just keep counting my blessings and say a little prayer for you! :)

Here's something a very dear friend did for Cubby's birthday. He sent it to us only now and am quite kicked that someone can take so much effort to do something so creative and personal.

Amen! ;)

Last week, I got my first opportunity to give an acceptance speech when Quirky Indian thought my blog was Brilliant while calling me a high octane Mum! That's that then. My identity is indeed Cubby ki Maa and I am not complaining.

In all my modesty I ofcos accept and it being my first award and all, I am thrilled! Here goes the rules for this award;

This award is for blogs whose content and design are brilliant as well as creative.

The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogosphere.

1. When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back

2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.

3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’

4. Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).

5. And then we pass it on!

So here goes my list of favs many of whom must have already got it more than once!

Swati - who speaks her heart and mind with equal ease.

~nm - whose creativity keeps giving me serious complex ALL the time! She even made my blog header!

Vidooshak - aka M whose blogs give you a slice of life with a dose of cynicsm and humour - a true gemini trademark

Grimescene - another v.v. brainy Gemini whose posts have you thinking, awwwwing or ROTFLing if such an expression exists.

Mamma-Mia - I call her my namesake, but she is leagues ahead in terms of creativity and sheer imagery she can create with her magical words. Must read!

Mampi - her tongue in cheek humour and her innate sensitivity when she writes her serious posts have me hooked.

Tazeen - her witty and satirical commentary of whats happening in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world will make you think furiously

Preethi - her cheeky tales will have you in splits! she really WRITES!

Preeti - The spunky Dentist with very cool attitude. Wish she would write more often.

Aren't ya all winners very very kicked?! :D So like the QI said, spread the cheer! :)

bhaichaara, bhaigiri and behena!

Rakhi is gone already. The lazy bum that I am, i didn't bother sending rakhi to a dozen brothers that I have (all except one are cousins least you have been wondering just how busy my parents have been!;). On the other had you can also wonder, "She must be getting whole lot of gifts!"

Cubby ka Raksha Bandhan - Picture Story! :p

Kabir had his first proper rakhi this year. He REFUSED to get it tied and created quite a scene! But do check out his bright kurta pajama! :p

Oho! Kya pareshaani hai! :p

Ofcos all was well once the ceremonies were done with! And the scene was something like this!

fav anta didi with Vedu Bhaiyaa and Diti didi and Cubby

Mere bachpan ka Raksha bandhan! ;)

Raksha Bandhan meant buying whole lot of rakhis a week before because so many of them had to be posted. I diligently sat and wrote letters to each one (which were never replied to) and then put the rakhi, stick a stamp and go to the post office. Thatday all the guys in the school would be in hiding! Moonh bola bhai was a rage then! :p I used to tie rakhi all the dudes in the building too. Being the regular plain Jane, nobody ran from my rakhi wielding hand

When i offcially became bhena!

I still remember wanting a brother just so that I could have someone to tie rakhi to every year ekdum hak se! And then it happened! My brother was born after almost 7 years of my existence on this planet! I don't really remember much of those days. I really have no angst ridden stories about being ignored or having been a sacrificing elder sibling. I do remember being terribly excited about the lift in the hospital where he was born. Yeah! My priorities were indeed little warped then. I have Ahem! grown up now! ;)

The hospital was just opposite our building so I would go to meet mom and the baby before going to school and on my way back home. I would take all my friends too. I used to call him 'sasulya' an endearing term for rabbit because he was so small, fair and soft.

The aftermath of bhaichaara sapna

After the initial euphoria I really started getting bugged. I mean he was just too small. WE had absolutely nothing in common and it just wasn't fun the way I hoped it will be. After a point I bullied him mercilessly (am really sorry bro! i was just a kid too!). But at the same time, I would be very protective about someone from outside bothering him.

Every time someone harassed him, he would come crying to me saying Diiidddiii! So much so that my whole building still calls me Didi! :D He never went to my parents. My parents were also very cool type of people in general. I am sure all recent mommies will think we were a neglected lot if i tell them, I went for his PTA meetings! Yup Yup! I took half day from school with some lie and attend his meeting in the next building. I would buy his books and note down whatever teachers said and show it to my folks.

I went to pick up his results every year. I still remember when he stood 1st for the first time in 5th standard. He had gone out of town and the class was empty since I went after picking up my results. I saw his name on the board. My excitement knew NO bounds. No cell phones and all and i didn't know where to jump in joy and whom to tell! :)

We shed tears together when he didn't get scholarship in 4th standard when he was among the most consistent performers in the class. My brother is the regular genius while I am "could have done better, if she worked little hard" variety, which basically means i NEVER did well academically or otherwise! I was just lazy. Correction I am!

Over the years the gap reduced and we started getting along famously. We were a team against parents and anybody else who bugged us. We came up with our own weird languages that no one around us understood. WE had our own private jokes and we would break out into peals of uncontrollable laughter without knowing what exactly was so funny!

He got me introduced to cartoons like Dexter's Lab which was so similar to what we were as brother and sister and Dragon ball Z where i followed the adventures with equal fervour. One of us would take Dilbert or Calvin and Hobbes to read and we would keep on passing the book to other saying you have to read this and laugh like crazy.

Just before leaving for airport. Can't believe Cubby was sooo tiny! and ugly!

He said when I get married, it will be a good riddance and he will never cry when the bidaai happens. He wept like a baby. Of cos he blames it on a moment of insanity and all that jazz, but I have photographic evidence and have never stopped teasing him since! ;)

Today he has worked hard, done exceedingly well in his engineering studies and become a superbly confident person. I was amazed and very proud when i saw how much his seniors trusted him and his juniors looked up to him. He was president of god knows how many societies and working hard for every college fest.


Proud Mama after having successfully fed Cubby the first time!

Bhaigiri se mamugiri tak! :p

He is now studying in the US and doing his MS. I am glad he was there when Cubby was born and he was so good with him. Cubby listened carefully only to him. My brother would be talking to him about theory of relativity or giving him snippets of latest Jeffery Archer he was reading and Cubby would be listening with rapt attention and gurgling. He volunteered to feed him and changed him with finesse of an expert.

They got very little time with each other, but I hope they will make up for it someday.

last photograph taken on the airport Oct 2007

The Summary!

We don't share major secrets with each other, but we both know we are there for each other. I call him occasionally and update him on Cubby happenings and whatever else is there to talk about. He was among the first few to call and check on me when the Bangalore blasts happened. He is the reason i KNOW i HAVE to have a second baby to give Cubby the same chance at sharing roots with someone who will always be there.

Miss you brother! Keep rocking and being the nice guy that you are! :) And try and argue a little less, will ya?? When the urge gets too much, just study law! :p

(it's a Rakhi post. I HAVE to say nice things about ya!;)

jab main chhoti bacchi thi!

ITW did this tag about 'what are the 7 favourite things you enjoyed doing as a child?' I am picking it up because nostalgia is almost always nice! :)

I loved the walk to / from the school! (I liked school too, but the walk more!).

We were a gang of like 8 -10 kids (gender didn't matter at all then!) who went to the same school at the same time. So we would meet up every morning and walk to the school. There were times if we were 8 of us, we would take a cab simply because minimum fare was 8bucks and bus fare of Re.1. So if we pooled in we could go by cab!! Imagine cramming 8 people in ONE cab!! :D Then, there was a huge tree on the footpath outside our school.

We used to wait there in the evening for everyone to come and the leisurely walk back home would start. There would be again occasional pooling of money to buy 'golis' from the sweet shop. There was one type - really small red coloured pellet looking ones, which cost just 5ps per goli! And the yummy kala khatta flavoured one that cost a whole 25ps! My mouth waters thinking about it even now! Thankfully questionable hygiene and ingredients were, well, not questioned so much then! :p There was another bhaiyya outside school how sold imli (tamarind), kairi (raw mango), bora (I have no idea about the translation) which was sold with mix of salt and chilli powder! Drooooool!

Summer Vacations at Kolhapur

Those were the days when vacation meant at least a month going to Kolhapur and surrounding cities where all my maternal cousins stayed! My mausi's daughter S is just 15 days elder to me, so meeting her was what I looked forward to the most! That is when I did yearly learning and forgetting of cycling. Going to circuit house opposite their apartment and trying to get 'english' imli off the trees with stones and crazy jumping! Talking late into the night, playing cards and name,place, animal, thing throughout the day to calling a cousin over just to tell us ghost stories really late! :)

Birthday Parties

How I Loved getting invited for friends' birthday parties. Of course they used to be simple affairs. Cake (Monginis was height of expensive cakes), wafers and Rasna! It would just be another floor and yet you wore your best clothes, matching clips and went with a little gift wrapped in shiny paper and had lotsa fun doing nothing super special!

Playing with friends

Be it playing house-house with the whole kitchen set and fake food (never would my Mom have thought i would NEVER want to cook) or pretending to be major career women walking on high heel making tic-toc noise (i have never understood why heels always considering i never wore them in real life when i had a job) to playing chain, catch and even dreaded langdi! Every evening as soon as you got home, you threw everything, had a glass of milk and ran to the gacchi (terrace) and played till your parents didn't holler!

Festivals

Be it holi or diwali, I loved being a part of the festivities! To get an oil bath early in the morning on diwali day to playing colours till you became unrecognisable during holi! There used to be Kojagiri (a particular full moon night) celebrated in the building. Thats the day they had the building committee meeting that was followed by snacks and coffee! Kids used to play in one corner of the terrace and rest of it was meeting. Soon we were too many to let sane adult conversation happen! So kids started having a separate Kojagiri party by contributing money. Yummy food and crazy games till late into the night. Those were indeed the days! I still love it all!

Shopping

Unlike now, shopping wasn't a can be done anytime kinda affair. One got new clothes only for birthday and Diwali. To go and shop for it was a HUGE thing! My parents let me choose my clothes from pretty early on. Now when I look back I cringe at my choice and wonder what must be going through my parents' mind when they threw their hard earned money to buy crappy clothes! Sorry mom and dad!

Sundays and television

Sunday meant watching cartoons and Rangoli! Mickey Mouse and Donald duck were preceded by best of bollywood gaanas. To accompany the gaanas we would get tea! Sunday was the only day bro and me got tea, which on other days was a glassful of bournvita! :) Sundays also meant buying khaari from the bhaiyya who went door to door and dunking it in chai and taking the soggy bit to your mouth without dropping it in the chai or somewhere midway! haven't you heard there is a many a slip between the cup and the lip?! :p

This was super fun to do!! Man! How life has changed?! I remember my mom telling us how much MORE fun their childhood was without TV and computer and no other forms of distraction really. Will i also be going "Hamare zamanein mein" with Kabir while he rolls his eyes in exasperation?!

Well, we can just wait and watch, can't we?!

I don't know if we can tag people when we have picked up the tag just like that. But then what the heck! It will be fun to read some other people's take on this!

I tag my namesake Mamma-Mia, Just Like That (she hasn't posted in AGES!), WIAN, Munchkin's mommy and Dee.

If you have done it already forget it! If you haven't and get time, do it!

It's a refreshing walk down the memory lane!

spot the difference!

can you spot the difference?!

Ok! Ok! This is just my way of showing what I think are Cubby's cutest pictures till date! :D

These were clicked by my school friend G's brother in law who is quite a shutterbug! It was G's son's 3rd birthday party and Cubby had such a blast chasing the older kids, just screaming his lungs out to make sure nobody missed his tiny presence! :D

I just read this post by my almost namesake Mamma-Mia about sensitive kids and how will they survive this cruel world.

I have no answers, but when i met G's son A, I prayed Cubby turns out to be like him. He was so giving and kind. Though Cubby was the youngest of the lot and this was the first time he was meeting him, A took to him like a big brother. He shared his toys readily and made sure he kept playing with him every now and then. He also made sure that the other kids (his regular friends of his age) didn't trample Cubby as he tried to join them with his baby antics! He even fed him his birthday cake after cutting it!

In the end when we were leaving he asked his mom "Aren't they staying for dinner?" and my heart melted then and there! Hats off to you G! A is such a precious kid. Touchwood!

While all this happened, the other kids were being loud and destructive in general and didn't even bother coming and saying hello to Cubby who was trying so hard to be part of the fun.

So what makes these kids so different from each other? How do the concepts of sharing and inclusion are understood by some at such a young age and not by others for years together?!

How do I make sure that Cubby grows up to be a kind and sensitive boy who can take care of himself when situation demands?!

Maybe as I see him grow each day, the answers will unravel and then it might not be as difficult as I think it is...

On a lighter not also MUST read is this post yet again by the lot more creative namesake. M was in complete awe of her writing and especially this post! It's quite difficult to write so perfectly on this errr.. touchy issue!!

And on an even happier not a looong weekend awaits!!! YYiipppppeee!!

AMATLOCUILOLITQUITCATLAZTLAHUILLI!!!

My parent's were here for Cubby's first birthday and i planned to take coupla days off so that I could spend some time with them (they wanted only Cubby time, but what the heck, they are MY parents!). Sadly I was unwell the day they arrived and couldn't go to work. So I took chhutti on Thursday the following week and we decided to go the newest attraction in Bangalore, Innovative Film City at Bidadi.

We still haven't checked out Wonder la but, we though we might as well do it when Cubby is l'il older so that he can also enjoy it!

So off we were by around 10am. Since it was week day and you need to go on the Mysore road, the drive wasn't too bad. It was sunny and cloudy in turns, but thankfully rains didn't play the spoil sport!

AS you reach, you are kinda VERY surprised by the fact that they don't have parking inside and you need to park on the edge of the road. I wonder how they manage weekend crowds?! But as you enter the main gate, you love looking at huge arches with beautiful Greek looking statues adorning them.

The Box-Office is the place that sells you your entry tickets and Main Hoon Naah is what their help desk is called! Filmy alright! :)

The Wall of Fame that shows all the attractions inside

The entrance fee is just 50 bucks per person and every attraction has separate charge of anywhere between 50 - 150bucks per person again. You have an option of buying all the tickets outside itself or inside outside every attraction! The only advantage of buying them outside is that they accept credit cards and inside it's just cash! So if you carrying enough cash, just take a pick inside!

Tiled pathway and statues at the entrance.

We walked in. The place is still being developed and lot of construction is in progress. Huge statues of handsome men, gorgeous women and chubby babies with big bellies welcome you in the complex! We tried to get Cubby's photo between two golu kids, but I guess he got l'il scared and the size overrode the cute factor! ;)


We went to Mirror Maze first. Now with my brilliant sense of direction I don't bother with mazes ever! But everyone was going, so I just told M you make sure you don't leave my hand! As if normal maze in gardens etc is not enough, that you have a room full of clear mirrors! It is one thing to have them in trial room to get a 360 degree view of your fat butt and quite another when you can't make which is the real butt and which is an image! :p As much as we tried to stay together, we ended up getting lost every now and then.


Cubby thankfully didn't get scared with eerie red light and mirrors all over along with screaming people looking for someone or the other all the time! Finally a staff had to come in and take us to the exit which took total of 43secs! But it was good fun trying to hold M's hand when I was actually bumping into his mirror image or vice versa to suddenly find an actual shoulder! ;) Worth the 50 bucks! :D

Oh yeah! they make you wear disposable plastic gloves so that you don't finger print the glass that is squeaky clean!

The artificial natural environment! A dino too in background somewhere!

Next we went to the Dinosaur Park. The dinosaurs don't exactly look very real, but they will do.

Cubby and me with the frail armed Dino

They seem cool in artificially created natural environment! :p They are there in every size giving you plenty of photo ops! There is info about every dino such as their name, weight, their food habits etc. Might be interesting for slightly older kids. 50 bucks almost vasool!

The Fossil Museum next to it is a complete waste! So save your 25bucks, more importantly time!

M outside Ripley's Museum

The Ripley's Believe it or Not museum was total dhamaal. Weird facts to interesting relics from past, you will end up spending most time here. From bloody survivor stories to painting made on a grain of rice to a beautiful ship made with 50000 household matchsticks, you will not get bored!

Ab bolo mujhe Mota! ;)

Some things gross you out completely!

Yeah! Thats what the title says too. It apparently means Postage Stamp in some country!

While others just make you drop your jaw in amazement!

Mom with the 'magic' tap!

A laughing Buddha worth a million US dollars and a huge magic tap seemingly floating in air with water pouring into the barrel below is what greets you! The Buddha is made of some transparent material with shredded US bills filling it! Believe it or Not? 100bucks total vasool! Believe it!

Dad couldn't help but pose even with a wax Marylin! :p

The Louis Tussuad's Wax Museum is a TERRIBLY poor cousin of Mme. Tussuad's. So don't get fooled with the name! :) The statues are tacky to say the least and most!

Walt Disney with his creations and M with HIS creation! ;)

The ones where you don't have a definite image, like Sleeping Beauty or Hansel and Gretel or cartoon charachters, you wont be to disappointed. It's not that the likeness isn't there at all, it's just that you can make out they are fakes too easily.

Some chocolates for me too?!

They have done Tom Hanks of Forrest Gump with a cheap box of chocolates. 50rs to be spent purely for novelty factor. If you have done a better one abroad, skip it! :)

Cubby bored + tired = asleep

We WERE Hungry! :D

After this we headed to the Grub Hub feeling totally famished. The food court is passable. The chat at Rajsthani stall was the best you can hope to get in Bangalore. The Chinese at Red Wall was desi chinese khaana at its best. Reminded me of Mumbai's chinees / chinis gaadis. Dosa is obviously a safe bet. They have a stupid coupon system where the people at the counter are totally clueless about what costs how much. So if you go, make sure you calculate everything before you reach the counter which is too far for comfort! That day was apparently just Day 2 of coupons, that's why the confusion. But i doubt it will improve. Food shouldn't cost more than 100bucks per person. A McDs is expected to open shortly and there is a CCD too.

Cubby taking a walk as he waits for his Mom and AAji to get back!

We then went to Funplex which has rows and rows of video games for the young ones and the older young ones. They also have a 4D movie screening every 20mins or so. It's a short 15min movie which costs you 100bucks. As we entered the small, dark auditorium we took whatever seats we wanted since it was just Mum and me (M and dad having been to phorenland unlike us poor virgin passport people, gave it a pass!). We put the special goggles on and the show started. It was a film about evolution of earth. As comets hurtled towards us and lava flowed through our feet, our chair vibrated, went up and down had added to the fun! Jets of air blew on our face as dinosaurs roared(??) and drops of water came flying as the dolphins took a graceful jump in water. I covered my face when creepies and crawlies...well... creeped and crawled out of the screen and to our face! I hadn't had so much fun since I tried to grab chocolates while watching Chhota Chetan in the theatre! :)

Cubby and me @ Great Wall of China! It's miniature Dude! :D

We topped it up with Miniature City which has miniature versions of some famous sights in the world. Get on the Great Wall of China to get bird's eye view of the entire film city.

at Niagara Falls (??!!) - My mum and dad!

You of course cant recognise Niagara Falls, but Eiffel Tower is there for a photo op! There is a miniature airport with taxing aeroplanes and a stadium too.

Miniature Airport at Miniature City

By now we were too pooped to try anything more. There is some Aqua Kingdom and cartoon City too. Go karting and mini gold course are there too and lots of other things are still being made.

height of silly photos?!

It's not something earth shatteringly exceptional, but its a day well spent. There is lots of space to just walk and run around and there are benches everywhere to rest those tired feet. Prams and wheelchairs are available for a small fee of Rs.100 and a refundable deposit of Rs.1000.

As of now the park is open between 1030am to 0630pm and no entry is allowed post 530pm. They are planning to make a 21 screen multiplex, a shopping street with big brands retailing there and more restaurants. Then they say it will be open till late in the night and there will be hotels to stay over too a la theme parks abroad.

M, Cubby and Mom with Chubby Babies

Oh yeah! And it's open for film shooting too, so you might just bump into some stars! Taare Zameen Par indeed! ;)

Meri coffee kahan hai?! @ CCD

last photograph as we bid adieu to Innovative

All in all we had a fun day. As we wound up the day having a hot cafe mocha at Cafe Coffee Day, under an umbrella that had just seen some quick showers, we had a happy smile on our face that comes with a good time had! :)

Doesn't this photograph say it all?!