lucknow in pictures! :)

There was a lot of discussion (by my standards) about whether we should go to Lucknow for the shaadi. For one all this recession talk has made everyone very wary of taking chhuttis. Plus there was the cost factor. Since there are no direct flights, BLR - LCK, the fares are perennially quite high. We thought there are only as many occasions we can miss because of money and time issue and booked our tickets to Lucknow for Ooi Bua's shaadi (Cubby speak ofcos, lest you think we have someone called ooi!).

Cubby remembers this Bua and her fiance well enough (they had given their "hemmets" to Cubby to play with when they visited us, making them demi-gods!) and we kept telling him we will be going for their shaadi. The excitement was all there, the trip to the airport, sitting in the aeopane and the biggest thing, the chance to meet Daadu! :D

Turned out to be quite a trip eventually. Cubby did do his fair share of whining and being a pain, yet lots of fun was had too! Vedu bhaiyya was there and he would keep an eye out for Cubby and try and play with him, which wasn't responded to by Cubby much to my chagrin! But when they did get along, it was total dhamaal. Everyone thought they were saga bhais, even twins by few myopic aunties! :p

Our camera Jinx in Lucknow continued and we forgot to take the camera on the shaadi day. Thank God for grainy cellphone camera pics! Ooi Bua married a Gujju/Kannada boy and they didn't have to many dancers in their baraat. So we all joined in. Ofcos, we just needed a bahaana to dance and ladke - ladki waale didnt matter.



I might do it in parts, the Lucknow pictures considering there are just so many! Lets see how it goes!

Waiting for his coffee and sandwich at BLR Airport CCD! :)

"Chotta Saamaan" Enjoying the trolley ride at Lucknow airport while we wait for our baggage to appear!

The haldi ceremony on wedding eve!



I quite enjoyed being the "bahu" and jazz and being a part of all the ceremonies! Made me feel all grown up and even more a part of the family! :)

Waiting in line to get the "Mehendi" done!

And just to avoid feeling too old, hung out with kids most of the time. M had won them over completely and these were kids he was meeting for the first time and they weren't l'il babies either! And since he looks "enger" (as an ex colleague had once told me), they all called him bhaiyya and me, by that virtue, "didi"! Yipppeee!

Finally my turn! :) The dude was maha quick!

I just love mehendi! Me thinks this was just about the 2nd time I was getting mehendi done post shaadi. Ofcos, that time I was waited on hand and foot and had the mehendi on for a whole night with nimbu ras and laung sek happening for colour. This time it was off within an hour and hands got wet cleaning potty pretty soon afta that! Hehe! Fun thing was I fed Ooi bua (the bride), her sister M bua and another cousin S Bua simultaneously since they all had mehendi on both hands. They all sat around me and i kept feeding them spoonfuls turn by turn! :D

Cubby in his chikan kurta and dhoti on wedding morning! isn't daadi's choice really good?




Nagaada! Nagaada! Nagaada Baja!

Bhaago! They were a blur like this photo with all the running around that happened!

With so much bhag-daud, dhoti got adjusted often! :p

Moms might be wearing pretty sarees, but still will sit on the floor and feed the baccha while the father is working on the distraction bit! :)

Frog prince, anyone?! :p With so much masti and shaadi ka khaana, neend toh aayegi hi naah?! :)

There are Uggies (Hugs)! :) Thats vedu bhaiyya!

And THEN there are HUGS! :) Chhota netas wearing the left over garlands meant for the baraatis and having total fun!

Thats that then for this post! The recption and daadu's birthday pics in the next one! :)

21 months at 80 clicks! :)

So IHM, Monika and my namesake have tagged me to put down 5 points that make motherhood special for me! I have read some seriously amazing stuff out there and I am feeling like a bit of a doofus among all these amazing mums!


Ofcos there are a lot of things I can whine about too, but we shall leave it for another day! Or actually maybe it will be a part Cubby's 21 month update that I plan to club with this post.


The tag is: 5 things that you love about being a mom. Next, find someone to link to and tag - someone from your own country, if you like, but definitely someone from another country (let them know that you've tagged them!) - and link back here and HBM and leave a comment.


1) I love the way how I can be surprised all the time. I mean you know all kids walk some day, but the day I saw Cubby take his first steps, I just could not hold my tears back. And then I get surprised when he is suddenly trying to jump and next I know he is going up and down the steps (all of 3 floors) on his own needing very little help! I mean everything they do is just so new and fascinating, its a source of endless wonderment and joy! :)


2) I love seeing M as a father. I mean he was always brilliant with kids, but seeing him being able to keep at it 24/7 if need be, makes me happier than ever before. And sometimes, when I seem to stand back and look at three of us together, it is indeed a happy picture. Touchwood.


3) I love it when someone tells me that Cubby's smile is like mine. I like to hear guessing games between people about whom does he actually look like, though I myself still can't make any statement because I have no idea! Yet, when someone says that he is right mix of both of us, it makes me feel strangely emotional that he is OUR creation in every sense of the term.


4) I love how I love shopping for him. Be it books, clothes, shoes or socks or even decorating his room, I can spend hours doing it or take the decision within minutes. I love dressing him up in well co-ordinated clothes (not expensive though) and how I am obsessed with buying him matching socks. He must own least 2 dozen pairs of those things. I go through kiddie section of books forever trying to find the right stuff he might enjoy. Books that will help his fledgling love for books grow!


5) I love the smiles, hugs, kisses and baby talk. I don't think I can get enough of those! Ever! :)


Most Mom's I read have already been tagged and even done their tag. So leme just tag some whom I think haven't done it as yet. They might all be in Bengaluru itself tho!


Puja who enjoys just looking at daughter so much that she forgets to take pictures!


JLT whose tongue in cheek look at motherhood and all that comes with it and because she should be writing a lot more often!


Usha who has been through diapers and baby talk ages ago, but once a mother, always a mother they say!


Magicalsummer - a great friend and an amazing mom of two teens from Chennai.


Mampi because I love reading about her sensitive kids (when she rarely chooses to share them with us) and would love to read her take on this!


and why not add Fatherhood to this too! We have our own Bill Cosbys too! :) (though they never till date have written about it, I hope they do!)


~uh~ a proud and experienced Dad in Mumbai


ROFL Indian - the funniest dad around who is in jaipur!


And now to move on Cubby's 21 months! Just 3 months shy of 2 years and time is flying faster than it ever did. This ones gonna be a quickie for sure. For one I have coupla other longish posts in my head and for another I am too zonked out from Lucknow trip to make a lot of sense right now.


You are learning to jump on your own now. I don't know where you saw it that you suddenly want to do it all the time. You bend your knees as much as you can and then come up saying JUMP! At first it was just one foot that went in air a bit. Then both which is when you would fall on l'il bum and say "Cubby gi gaya" and come to us saying "Chhot lag gayi". Now every now and then you manage to get both feet l'il off the ground and NOT fall too! Ofcos a round of applause is demanded saying "Taai Taai!"


While potty training has been almost successful since last month, you can now sit on the normal pot with a potty seat kept on it. That's how we managed to keep the potty training on even at Lucknow. I would have never thought I would be carrying a potty seat with me! :p Things parenting makes us experience. It was M's idea and all credit goes to him! :)


You parody us constantly! It's so weird to hear you repeat the stuff we say in the same tone and you KNOW we find it funny! You will call your papa exactly the way I do or say O Re Baabbaa the way his Bua does 9whom he has met just recently!). It's just hilarious and is to be heard to be believed.


You have suddenly taken a 360 degree turn from being the sunshine kid to the whiny kind and I am finding it reallllly difficult to come to terms with it. You wake up crying and in general cry a lot more than you ever have in all these months! You have stranger anxiety to add to it and actually cling to us when around other people. It's giving me a lot more grief than I thought it would and I am quite upset with myself for that! I want the puraana Cubby back, please! God, you listening?!


Your vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds and when I actually sit back and think I cannot remember what new stuff has been added because it's like you have been talking forever. And now it's not just us talking that you remember. The other day at Lucknow, when Daadu put on the fan you actually said "its making noise!" When the heck did you learn that now?!


You love airports! We have had quite a few trips in past coupla months either to pick up or drop people and traveling a coupla times. You go ballistic in the space you get, keep trying to look for "Aeopanes" (change from Aeopaya) of last month and generally run around giving us a good workout too! :)


You enjoy having your separate seat for yourself now. Be it in the bus or the car. It was so cute to see you sit comfy on your own seat on the bus ride to the airport. Ofcos a godi is demanded in sometime, but you are growing up very fast l'il guy! :)


You love physical masti of all kinds. Be it keep falling around on the gadda, or throwing yourself recklessly on the beanbag or being held ulta with your head down and legs around my waist and your hands in mine! We walk around the room talking to odds and ends on the way! :) You will come n say "Mummy! Ginna Hai!" (girna hai) which means I need to do the ulta thing! :)


You are trying to wear and take off your shoes and even trying to take off your shorts and pajamas! You almost manage the taking off bit every now and then. Aren't you just dying to be independent?! :)


Papa told me that you know I am home when you hear my bike coming in. You then go on to say, "mummy aa gayi, hemmet utarenge, jacket utarenge!" The moment you get a whiff that I am about to change my clothes you start pulling them saying "utarenge" and stand with my pajama or tee in your hand saying "yeh pehnenge!" When did you learn all this?! :)


While it's getting more n more difficult to get your smiling pictures, you sometimes see the camera and say "SMiille", but our camera, sadly is too slow to catch that quick moment! Ofcos in no time you want the "camena" and put it back in the pouch!


This month you have grown so much that it seems impossible! :) Your baby talk just got cuter, smiles brighter (tho sadly fewer too!) and crying a tad unbearable! But mostly it's still more fun than not! :)


Love ya lots my sweetheart! happy 21st! :)

see ya soon! :)

Work has been maddeningly hectic past few days. The weekend even more so! Buddy G came home with much awaited Pannu Bhaiyya of Goa fame (warning! cuteness overload in that post!) and taking care of two kids who ALWAYS want the same toy can drive you crazy!

In M's words in an email to pals "G was here from Goa and the kids spent 3 days gouging each others' eyes out. Of course, since she left he's been looking mournfully for "pannu bhaiyya". Just keeping them apart was so tiring. I felt like Henry Kissinger negotiating a Middle East truce."

The weekend deserves a whole post by itself with pictures thrown in for good measure!

Right now, this post is just to tell you peoples that am off to Lucknow for a chhutti. If you can call 3 days that! There is a wedding in the family and I hope the heat won't play spoilsport with the naach gaana that a northie shaadi is supposed to be!

Ma-in-law has bought some chikan kurta pajamas for Cubby and am dying to see the l'il guy all decked up in cute traditional stuff! :)

You guys have a great week ahead! See ya soon enough! There is so much reading I have to catch up too. Milenge break ke baad!

Cheers!

who comes up with these funny lines?!

Feeling too lazy to do tags and too sleepy to write something new. In that case comes rehash to the rescue! :D Remember I said in the saap-seedy post how I used to write another product review website?! This is one of them gems! ;)



At one of those corporate trainings which start with ice breakers, we were all asked which was our favourite T Shirt and why? People talked about old t shirts that made them feel comfy, branded ones that made them feel hep and then it was my turn. I said “I like this t shirt that has a cactus plant on it and says “Allergic to Pricks” because it’s totally me and my attitude”. The trainer was slightly shocked but very amused too, though he did avoid asking me too many questions during the course of next two days. Hehe!



I have always been fascinated by message T Shirts. Earlier they used to be not so common and happening either. It would say “Nobody is perfect. I am Nobody or My mother says no message T Shirts for me” and the likes. Then one day while browsing through a shop I came across a t shirt that said “God is too big to fit into any one religion” with signs of every religion put in row on it. I just fell in love with it and picked up for my boss.



Since then Tantra has been one of my favourite brands. I can spend hours just browsing through their t shirts and laughing away to glory. My brother is addicted to them and it is my standard gift to him, adding to his ever growing collection. I remember when last time, my parents came down to meet me, I thought of sending a Tantra for bro and I actually browsed for over hour and half! M had almost killed me then.



Tantra T Shirts tagline says India on a T Shirt! Of course it isn’t just India, but desi lingo plays or just twisting of your nursery rhymes. There is this one that simply says “Mary had a little lamb” with a small lamb on it and in brackets it says (it was very tasty)!!



The material used to make is cotton in its most comfortable form making wearing your attitude COOL in every sense of the term. The colours are usually standard in terms of black, blue, red, white, green and cream. They have 4 sizes available starting from small to the extra large. The styling is very simple round neck, no variation in that. I wish they made a few V necks too. The women’s tees are more fitted and shorter in length. Quite nice actually!



The tee comes with a handmade paper tag with whacky instructions and doubles as a neat book mark Priced, till last I knew at a very reasonable 250 - 350 bucks, these tees are a total steal and fundu value for money! They make great gifts for pals and NRI rishtedaars and even for your young at heart uncle and aunty. Tantra is retailed through all major shopping chains like Shoppers’ Stop and your local guy selling a combo of branded and unbranded stuff.



Some of my favourite Tantra Tees are



Picture – Taj Mahal – The Tag –Via Agra – The greatest erection made by man

Picture – Crowded Railway Compartment – The Tag – Indian Railways – 150 years of bringing
people closer.

Picture – Lotsa Arab Sheikhs – The Tag – Aap Qatar mein hai.

Picture - Some allegedly Chinese alphabets – The Tag – The next guy who asks me what it means will get a punch on his nose.

Picture –Ganpati – The Tag – 50% Human 50% Elephant 100% Cute

Picture – Man on a potty – The Tag – Download



The list is endless actually. I haven’t checked em out in quite some time and I am sure there are lot more crazy additions to their repertoire! I did manage to see some really cool kiddie Tantra tees recently! Just picked up one for Cubby, though it’s a little big for his current size. The one I really wanted said “You pinch my cheeks, I pull your hair!”, but I didn’t get in the smallest size they have! Priced at 195 bucks they are quite cool!



And the one I saw in a shop in Mumbai and laughed till I cried had a picture of lazy looking cow and it read “Pampered cow = Spoilt milk”



Which is your fav message tee or the wackiest thing you have read on a tee?



ps: talking about creativity, here's a blog I came across just last month and I am awed and amazed that SO much can be done with crochet! For me it pretty much meant those TV covers and table cloths in white or pink. Then along comes this girl and shows a whole different world!


take a bow Crafty! :D

april seems like a good month to do this tag!

So OM's mommy tagged me to do this 4-4-4 tag and I am doing it about a mnth late, but hey I am doing it! The tag is pretty simple.

“Go into your photo archive,pick the 4th folder in the archive,select the 4th picture in the folder,and write about it.Then tag 4 other people to do the same."

Considering my expertise (Ahem!) in tags and photos, this is making best of both worlds! ;)

And guess what my fourth folder is called? Blog pics! Hyuk! I really need to get a life.

This was the fourth picture. Its Cubby's room (we all sleep there actually) and those are the rubber A,B,C,Ds which we bought just to add colour to his room. Its actually a jigsaw puzzle that turns into a small rubber mat! Now it surely wont! Yeh fevicol ka mazboot jod hai! ;)

Ofcos I have no intention to stop at one picture. Might as well turn it into a propah blog post about Cubby's room!

This is the most useful gift I got post baby. Given to me by my more experienced SIL. It a wall hanging with small shelves which are extremely handy to keep small clothes like hankies, bibs, nappies, vests and shorts! :D The Pluto on top is gift from Cubby's daadi and we get to hear "Goonite Puto" everyday. Oh! And there is the Fogg (cubby speak) too!

This blurred picture is the height of my creativity. Sadly I took the picture just before pulling it off so its in a sad shape. Thats all the booties Cubby got as gifts but never used 'coz they would keep falling off his feet. The red bits are cut from greeting card M ahd given me and some stuff off wrapping paper also! :D

This is what replaced it! These are greeting cards Cubby got on his birthday from grandparents and a few friends. Some stickers that were lying around in the house and that chhottu scooter we got as return gift from a birthday party. Even this one is shambles by now and I need something new! The small wall hangings you see have wooden birds and snimals on mat like material.

The close up! Just in case you missed some finer details of Ahem! My artwork! ;) And no, I didnt cut out the letters that say Cub Tale. They are bazaar bought!

The most prized posession. These are fish made out of leather, a speciality I believe from Andhra Pradesh. Ofcos getting them to stick on the wall was helluva job and took us forever till they stopped dropping off because of their weight. Eventually it became impossible! And yeah, the door doesnt close! :(

So then this gift from Aaji-Ajoba came handy. The wall was slightly damaged with all the feviqwik and jazz. And we needed something big enough to cover it. M and me obviously fought over the positioning of all the cute stuff and this was the final result! Cubby loves saying "Oney-Bee, Dog, Coow, Sunn, Birdy Birdd" and the works! I love how bright the whole thing is!

This is a buddy stuck on the walls of the master bedroom. Cubby's Eyetaya now almost called Eyephant! :D There is similar dog, parrot and pig on other walls. He ripped off a couple.

So thats that then. I tag Dee, Swati, K3 & Puja. Share your picture with us!

And why April is a good month to do this tag? Its the 4th month sillies! :p

Ps: Considering we all have credit cards and/or loans, read this very interesting post by the pati about very own Desi credit rating society! What do YOU think?!

this is how i look

when I am about to have a good cry!

with all those lovely comments all you people leave talking about my smile, I ofcos feel very flattered! But then I am fairly normal and cry pretty easily! I remember most of my friends were clearly shocked when they saw me crying for the first time! "You cry??!" isn't the first question you expect when you are shedding tears. C'est la vie.

So here's once in a lifetime opportunity of seeing me cry. Till you meet me actually. Once you know me, then it won't be a rare occurrence.

This is in Lucknow. Had got out for sight seeing with M and mama and realized had forgotten to take the camera - one job M had given me! He got really upset and thats all it takes for me to start sniffling and then bawling! :p

Thankfully it was a bright and sunny day and the camera in M's N72 was almost as good.

The smile that was begged for. Still not sure if it was OK to smile!





A girl always needs some retail therapy!




And if its shoes all the more better! (totally cute miniature jootis i picked for everyone at work)





And the smile will definitely start coming back!




Add a fun tanga ride to the entire equation




and we are back to being the lovin couple!


How do you guys patao each other after a fight?! :D

20 mahine baad! :D

So Cubby turned 20months (1yr & 8mths if you please!) on 20th Mar 2009. And this time I am seriously lost. There are just so many things that he does now that it's becoming impossible to remember and classify anymore. I think I have to stop doing monthly updates and just keep making daily notes instead! :)

Here goes what you have been upto last month my darling son.

Your vocabulary is growing at an amazing speed. You now don't just repeat stuff, but also understand the context in which a word is being used and then use it again in just the right way. So if i tell you you will hurt your head if you don't lie down properly when I have to put on the diaper, you go down gingerly. And you say Sar Pe everytime you do that! :D


You remember the weirdest stuff and have a brilliant observation power. That day you shocked me completely by pointing to the lights in the park and saying "laaamp-post". I was seriously stunned! You were sitting in the balcony every morning with your daadu observing as the world goes by and making notes. Now rarely do the squirrel, crow (kauaa) or kabootam (pigeon) miss your sharp eyes. You even might notice Eagen (eagle) at time, though we are not sure whether its one or its one of similar ones like hawk or a kite.


Your father can never doubt my fidelity. You have inherited his funny bone is full measure. You keep doing crazy stuff KNOWING well that it will make us laugh. I mean you have already mastered toiler humour by making weird potty faces when trying to do the big job! Gross l'il fellow, you are! I really cannot put in words exactly what it is you do, but it's like we want to have you under cameras at all hours to capture the subtle stuff you keep doing. Here's how you keep driving us nuts! (partial nudity!:p)


You love your books, though sometimes, I have to keep reminding you not to stomp on them, That they are bhagwaaniji. More often than not you will pick it up and keep it saying "jagah pe!". You love pointing to stuff and telling us what it is. We also play this new game where either you or me pick one thing in the book and then look for it. So you might say "Camen" (camel) and then we will keep turning pages saying "camen aa jao" and you will point it to it with flourish when we reach the right page! And off we go looking for next object that catches your fancy! SEE HERE!


Your love for Hemme now called Hemmet which seemed to be in control is a full blown obsession again! It was cemented by your Daadu while he was here and who used its power on you in full measure to serve as distraction from any situation. You would wake up every morning and just walk to his room and wake him up saying "Hemmet dekhenge!'


You are indeed a creature of habit and routine. If last month the dialoguebaazi went on for bath, now it's for everything we do. I mean you repeat our dialogues even. So when I am making you wear shorts, you will first say shoulder and hold on to it, then you will put your leg in and then you rush the second one in and i say "ek second" and now you say that too! :p


You are turning out to be quite a helpful little fella. You bring our phones to us, throw your diaper in the dustbin, put clothes in the bucket as well as washing machine. You were even taking a plate with apple slices to daadu everyday and mostly without dropping anything. Seeing you get to the task with so much concentration was just too much. You help in clearing your books and toys and give me katori to pour milk into. You would help your daadu take biscuit dabbas everyday and even move the small table in front of the sofa where he sits to have his chai! You will do just about anything you CAN when requested to. Thanks sweets! :)


Like your mommy proudly declared few posts ago, you are potty trained for the day. Of course there are accidents and we are long way away from going ghummi diaperless, but no taking away credit from you. I think you learnt much faster than we ever expected and one wet pair of shorts during the day is totally cool! :)


You actually get hassled by big crowds now. There was a time you believed more the merrier and didn't care if we were around. But not anymore. Whenever we are in a big group you want one of us around you at all times. The smiles don't come as easily either. Guess it's a phase.


While you had started sharing stuff a bit, you again seem to be hesitant doing it. You are not used to being with other kids and that shows. You still don't know how to deal with aggression of other kids and mostly resort to crying! You Will learn it eventually i guess. So that you get to be with other kids at least sometime, we hope to start you off on play school this June! Hope you will have fun! :) That said, you share your chocolates easily giving them to everyone around when requested.


You have quite a temper dude! I know Papa is fan of the angry young man, but your tantrums... are they gonna get worse?! :p


You still prefer playing with stuff your way. Mummy enthusiastically bought you some play doh! First you decided to get scared of it, then throw it under the sofa the moment I rolled it into a ball and then just kept putting the smaller play doh containers in the bigger jar! Your papa made your fav dog with it and now you coolly handover the dabba to him and say "Bhoo banayenge!". You now like playing with car, aeroplane and motorcycle and like to see them zoom as you push them away.


Last month you used "what this is?" purely as a repetition exercise. Now you have started asking it as an actual question. So often we get to see you point to something and asking "What is this?" in your cute l'il way! :)


You love walking and rarely ask for godi unless really tired or just feel like getting carried. It's difficult to believe that it's the same kid who took his first doddering steps some 7months ago!


You understand the concept of ownership now. We ask you holding my book "Yeh book kiski hai?" and your voice pipes up saying "Mummy ka hai!" Or pick up a toy and he will say Cubby Ka hai.


The charm of TV is slowly getting there, but it's still very rare. We recently showed you a bit of tarzan and for a few days everytime I turned on the TV, you would demand "Gonilla" (gorilla). You like watching animated flicks with animals! :)


Oh yeah. You can say the 'L' sounds and say "N" instead. Same goes for R sound too sometimes. Its all adorable to hear anyway! :D


You love trying to say difficult words. Be it Pomegrenate (which only I undetstand when you say it) or staberry (strawberry), Pineapple (pine-eyepple), Rinoceras (Rhino) or repeating Diggly Bug Cub (Wriggly Bug Club) that is written on your tee.


Summer has finally seen you embrace water with gutso. You keep asking for it saying "Paani"and we give you about a sipful at a time in the small silver glass your daadi has given you. You hold it in two little hands and drink it up. If you want more you either say "Mo", "Oar chaaiyee" (aur chahiye) or "some mo". Ofcos I wish you had a better way of telling us you have had enough. You just pour the l'il water left in the glass wherever you are standing! Just say "bass" dude! :)


I have officially outsourced your khaana feeding to Amma and now feel no shame in accepting my defeat. That way both of us are happy. Since you like doodh, feeding that is pretty easy. On rare occasions that I need to feed, I use Amma's trick of making you stand in the balcony and feed as we differentiate between "good boy" and "bad boy" depending on whether they have worn helmet while riding ou non. The scuffles have come down drastically since this method has come in practice. Phew! and TOUCHWOOD!


If it was steps that you wanted to climb last month, now its every surface that can be climbed up on that you look to conquer. You finally climbed all the steps of the big slide too, though you did get scared to slide down and a kind hearted bhaiyya got you down with him!


All in all you are the official joker in the family! :D The amount of laughter that rings loud around the house thanks to you is unending. God bless you for that.

Thank you for being the sunshine kid! :)


Love ya lots! Uggie to you, my love!


Keep rocking!


ps: The GREEN phrases are links to his latest videos! To make up for lack of photos! :p