Randomness! :)

The festive season is on and I am loving it. There is a slight nip in the air, people are smiling, there are kandeels in the balconies and lights put up in every other home. M is traveling and not around for either Diwali or our anniversary. 7th to be precise. That kind of sucks, but other than that it is difficult to mope when there is so much fun in the air. Today Cub and me made small paper lanterns... the ones i am sure most of us have made in school. We hope to make some more and then put them in our balcony as Diwali decor. Cub also made a Toran in school with the help of his teachers. Since we did not have one in any case, we immediately put it up on our door. It quite lovely really.

That said I was just reading this blog post the other day and started to wonder. It is indeed true that we are very kanjoos with our praise and appreciation. How many of us ask for a feedback form, when we get excellent service? Yet, we are the first ones to look for the complaint book when we have even the slightest trouble.

While it is great to expect and demand good service, isn't positive feedback a part of this? I read somewhere that truly successful don't just learn from their failures, but also the success. WE all crave appreciation - from our boss, colleagues, friends and family. Then what makes us forget that other people want it too?

I Love M for this. He is always very respectful in his dealings with folks at every level. We go buy something, he always makes sure he finds out the name of the person and uses it to thank him / her. He shakes hands and smiles without an iota of self consciousnesses or ego. And I have been learning from him.

These days if I enjoy the service at any place, I make sure I get their names. I mention it specifically if feedback form is given. If there is none offered voluntarily (like in retail industry), I ask for it and quickly fill it out mentioning the name of the person who delighted me with their efficiency and practical approach. Trust me, it is not an easy quality to find in lot of places.

It is amazing and saddening at the same time to see their happy and surprised expression. They are just not used to get even a polite thank you on most days. The last time i asked someone else for the name of a sales girl who helped  me find the right churidaar because that girl had gone out for lunch by the time i got to the billing counter. The manager came rushing and his question was "Is there a problem, Ma'am?!" Sigh!

So next time you are happy with some work someone has done for you will you say a heartfelt thank you and then take out two minutes and put it in writing too?

Toh iss Diwali, aap kisse khush karenge?! :)

happy diwali folks! have a great time!

another quick get-away!

and because the photos of this one are so darn cute, I need to get this post done before I get lazy yet again! :)

So it is Thursday night, more like midnight, and then suddenly M comes into the room after finishing his con-calls and asks me the ultimate question "Are you sleeping?!" Errrr...Now I am not! :) We are getting a great deal at Taj Kuteeram for this weekend, should I book it. And we do.

The day we are leaving our live-in nanny Lalita falls sick in the morning and Lalita and illness = PANIC! Anyway, doctor visit done, we waited till she felt better and finally left only a little behind our schedule.

Finally we reach there around lunch hour and kids go crazy.


In a good way!

They see all the open space and it is like a dam has broken. Cub is running all over and Bub is trying to catch up as fast as she can. We go to our room and kids are even more kicked. They love the bed. Bub is rubbing her cheek against the soft linen as often as she could! :) Then we open the back door. Yes! It is one of those cottages. There is beautiful little swing in there and all of us are trying to get a spot on it.

Rest of the day and half of next day goes in lazing around doing pretty much nothing. We watch a magic show arranged, get our hands a little dirty while pretending to work on the potter's wheel making small pots to bring home as souvenirs. Or memories actually.


Kids get to look at ducks swimming in the pond nearby, try avoiding the sprinkler from getting them wet head to toe and just enjoy listening to little birds sing. Cub was more open to climbing trees this time and kept trying his hand at it every now and then. He actually went up to the magician when called up on and told his name clearly which in itself is an awesome improvement. He was being super helpful pushing Bub's stroller all around and playing with her, making sure she does not hurt herself. he is one rock star brother. Touchwood!


Bub on the other hand was just soaking up all the new experiences. It was so much fun seeing her play in the sand, feel little pebbles, then the rough stone and the soft green grass. And she achieve a milestone there! Learned to climb steps! :) Of course she kept giving us the scares by trying to get down head first. Oh well!


Anyhoo, here's the photos that say it so much better than my words can!

Bub and me posing on the swing!

The father and the kids! didn't i say we kept taking turns?!

I just LOVE this photo. For some reason it makes me smile every time i see it!

Bub and me again!

First you pin me down!

Then I will pin you down

Bub obviously does not want to be left out of all the fun!

Because Cub is looking soooooooooo handsome! :)

So this is how sand with little pebbles feels! :)

And crawling on red stones feels like this, eh?! :)

Ze bed in ze room!

Fooling around! :)

He finished that big glass of milk in a jiffy just because he was on a different chair! Kids!

Some TV watching when there is nothing else to do!

:) man! my son is good looking! :)

On the magician's table! :)

Finally and the only family photu! 

Cub waiting for his turn at the wheel!

While Bub watches on. She made use of this time by eating small pebbles and mud around her!

He was giving sermon to the ducks from a height! ;)

Tree huger! :)

day 2 and still crazy about the swing!

Saying our good-byes by posing with the gorgeous wall! :)

One with ze Mumma!

Getting her last feed before leaving on the steps!

which she promptly went up once the eating was done!

And waved Ta-Ta! :)


Ps. It obvious how much Cub was enjoying himself because we rarely had a "no-picture" moment and we got some gorgeous photos of him! :)

Have you checked out this blog, btw? Howlarious to say the least!

http://crappypictures.typepad.com/

Hope you guys are enjoying the festive season! Haffun all of ya!

a quick getaway with grandparents!

I was just sifting through old blog posts to find a post I had written on our Masinagudi trip for JLT. I obviously meandered and realized there are so many things I have forgotten and the only record is my blog posts. I instantly felt terrible about not being as regular. There are hardly any Bub posts in here. And so many new things Cub keeps doing too have found no mention and are now lost forever! :(


So here's a catch up post of a short getaway we did to Jungle Lodge's, Bannerghatta National Park. Yes, right within the city and yet once you enter, it is like you have left it far behind. Much fun was had and you can read my official guide HERE for the more practical aspects! Thank you Art for the recco!


We loved pretty much everything about the place - the accommodation in the tents, the hammocks strung around everywhere, deer walking in unexpectedly and the open space. The food and the service were a tad disappointing, but nothing you cannot live with for one night.


Here are the photos! The kids were especially thrilled to have their Aaji-Ajoba around! :)

Cub trying to save the Bub from falling into the gap! :)

Getting the hang of the hammock! No pun intended! ;)

The Girl with the Red Umbrella! :)

The brother in green joins her! :)

I LOVED the tyre swing! what is there not to like, eh?! 

With the bada baby at the zoo! :p

The brats with the grandies! :)

everyone trying to save the food from Bub the Bhukkad! :p

Cub at the front of the Safari bus. The driver let him change the gears later. Holding his hand ofcos!

Near the Butterfly park! :)

The entrance to the Butterfly park. While the number of butterflies were few, its a gorgeous place. And do NOT miss the museum.

In the Butterfly park!

The Bub relaxing in the hammock!

Just sitting around enjoying the place! :)

i LOVE this photo! Just like that! :)

Hanging out together! :)

And we found some friends to kick the ball with! :)


We were back by next day lunch time. It was a short and sweet break and Cub was quite upset that we did not stay another night. All in all, much fun was had. Thank god for such mini-breaks, eh?! :)

some sunday mornings

or errr... noons turn out to be like this also. Most of the times are weekends end up being busier than the entire week. There is an endless stream of people to meet and things to do. M keeps teasing me about how he never gets to actually relax over a weekend. And then comes along a Sunday, when you have no plans really. You wake up late, breakfast turns into brunch and lunch is probably going to be Maggi with ThumsUp at 330pm. An essential part of such a morning is the tel maalish session. M doing it for Cub and me and then me doing it for M.


And you know you have done a good job of it when this is the result of that head massage!

When M goes off into a deep slumber about 5mins later in the balcony itself where the tel maalish was happening!

Cub tries to wake him up. Does not work really.

So Cub decides to monkey around on his own for a while!

till he too gives in and goes off to sleep right next to his Papa on a cloudy yet a slightly warm rainy noon.


Me, I cannot help but just smile and take pictures so that I can record it here at some point in time after I have filed it away in my memory bank already.  

:)

FOUR years of Cubiness! :)

I am more than a week late doing this birthday post. But then we got a bot ambitious and did two birthday parties for the boy and he promptly decided to fall ill post those. So, here I am finally!


This year saw the good, the bad and the ugly of His Cubiness! We have had (and continue to) to have some really tough times with him. He is as my brother calls it a Baby Teenager and I call him Rebel without a Cause AND a Pause! We say no for pretty much everything for the heck of it and same goes for the whining as well. Of course his parents do not show the much needed maturity to deal with such behaviour and often that is the recipe for disaster. But then again, because we tend to focus so much on his crying and whining we often forget to appreciate what a great kid he is otherwise and I have been guilt tripping myself over it often. Time to make some changes. Send positive ideas, thoughts and vibes our way folks! :)


Now for the good parts!


Cub is becoming more and more independent by the day. Just this morning I went to drop him to school because he was still not too well. The way he walked into the school and just waved goodbye without even looking back, I suddenly got teary eyed. When did he grow up so much?! He now sleeps in his own room and all he expects is about 10mins of cuddling time before he dozes off. When in a good mood, he keeps his stuff back in its place. Be it school bag in the cupboard or shoes on the shoe rack.


He is a super helpful kid at home and outside. If we go out and come back with lots of bags he always makes sure he is carrying one. He helps us with little stuff around the house including cleaning the ghar or sorting the vegetables. He gets his own glass of water and keeps our coffee cups back in the kitchen if he is feeling especially happy! :p


Cub is an adorable and adoring big brother to the Bub. There are times when the attention she gets bothers him and I would think it is only natural, especially since she is going through an ultra cute phase. But more often than not, he is ready to play with her, soothe her with sweet words and generally just be nice and protective!


He is an extremely sensitive child not to just his feelings, but others' as well. I am still amazed when i see pained expressions on his face anytime the stories he is listening to have a sad tone. He readily shares his things and is rarely demanding. Even the times he is demanding, a decent explanation is usually enough or he tends to forget after some time.


He is learning so many things at school and tends to retain all of it much to our surprise. So other day M just throws the word Kimono at him for something they were talking about and the child pipes up "That is the dress of Japanese women!" We just kept staring at him in complete shock! Hehe! His drawing is improving a LOT! He actually draws recognisable images now and it is fun to see him take effort at it. Thank god he has M's artistic genes. The colouring has shown marked improvement as well.

He recently learned the whole honesty, lying and joking bits. Very often he says he wants something and when given says "I was just joking!" Grrrrrrrrrrr!! Or because he has changed his mind he says "I was lying." Huh?! The other day we had a blog meet in Boo's honour at Art's place. Artsy Crafty Shruti had got some colouring work for all the kids. After some time Cub got a coloured picture with his name on it. I was super surprised at how neat it was. I kept asking him "did you really do this?!" and he said Yes! But then after some time he came up to me and said, "This is not mine. It is someone else's!" I was so proud that he came clean. We found the picture he was colouring, got it home, coloured it and it is now stuck on his cupboard! :)


He still LOVES being read to and I enjoy reading to him. He now gets the funny parts and some word play as well. It is easier to explain the slightly complicated words. Of course he goes through phases where one needs to keep telling the same story over and over again. It can range from Cinderella (gah!) to Little Bird Learns to Fly to Samira goes shopping. I do hope he soon starts reading on his own and keeps this habit forever.


He is also in at a stage where he HATES being photographed! :( So, we have such few photos of him in over 6 months! I do hope he grows out of this soon. Sigh!


He is eating better now. It does not mean it is painless, getting the food down the throat, but it is definitely easier. He also very clearly told us that he can eat spicy food from outside but will find even mildly spicy stuff made at home inedible! :p No, no! He does eat regular khaana at home. Just not as easily! He does have taste for good food and always surprises us by eating most random stuff like salmon and fancy cheese.


While Cub is not naturally brave, he is ready to push his limits. To try something he has not and see how far he can go. It may not always be very far, but it is more than he thinks he can and that is good enough.


All in all, he is a really great kid who needs to realize just how nice he is. Someday soon, we hope. Meanwhile I hope he keeps being the kind and generous boy he is. Just today we were watching his old videos and I was struck by just how much he has grown up! He just does not seem like a little baby anymore, though at heart he so much is. Thank god for that! :)


We love you our first born! It may seem like we are being jerks at times, but we are learning too and it is good to have you with us! Hugs and kisses!


Here are few photos we manage to click when His Majesty lets us without running away or starting to bawl! Boys!!!

The ultimate fake smile! gah!

Enjoying his favourite Mango ice-cream at Naturals!

Isn't he a handsome fella?! :)

But then we get to see his hands far too often! :(

eating batatyaachi bhaaji and poli in the train en route to Kolhapur!

That is a panther out for a hunt! :)

Since he refused to show me his face, i clicked the picture of an umbrella and a pair of shoes!

At Papa's office on a Sunday afternoon! :)

Learning to befriend water in the colony pool!

Always happy with Vedu bhaiyya who is reading to him in all seriousness! :)

Discussing colour scheme? With colony friends at his chhota Birthday party!

At the Frisbee Tournament called the Ultimates

Dust-buster! Helping me get rid of the grime! :)

If I have no place to run, I will hide! :p

Agreeing to pose with his posse! :)

At Miggu's birthday - Cub's favouritest person in whole wide world! :)

With Miggu and other buddies at his own birthday pahty!

The first spellings learnt! :)

Trying out the new kinda swing at Jungle Lodges!

Taking his sister along to see the zoo! :)

The latest photo. he let me click if i agreed to let him cover half his face! *rolls eyes*