Lovebooks Exchange: Charlie and Lola - I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato

As mentioned here, we participated in Love Books exchange organized by The Educator's Spin on It. We enjoyed it to the core.

For the exchange, we sent a package to A spoonfull of ideas and received one from Rashmi. Rashmi sent us a wonderful book from Charlie and Lola series - 'I will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato'. It is about a fussy eating little sister Lola and her brother Charlie who tricks her into eating everything that she doesn't like. I loved Charlie's imagination in calling carrots orange twiglets from Jupiter or green peas as raindrops from Greenland. The illustrations are simple but so attractive. A wonderful book for fussy eaters. Take a look ...

Thankfully Kuhu is not a fussy-eater or not at least when her mumma is around :) She loved the book as the story gave her ample thoughts to deal with her friends who refuse to eat veggies! I'm hearing all the wild things she is telling her friends at the daycare and pushing them to eat veggies !!

Rashmi put together two lovely activities for the book. See how wonderful they are -

One is the vegetable calender where Kuhu should paste a picture of veggies she ate that day. She jumped up to paste it even before reading the book. She ran to show me her empty lunch box. :) Every night she reminds me to help her paste the day's veggie on the calendar. For me, the calendar is a reminder of what has been eaten already in the week. We are loving this ongoing activity Rashmi. Kuhu is showing off the activity that Rashmi maushi and Swara sent her.

This is our routine these days... read the book, recollect what veggies we eat through the day, paste it and get a 'Smiley Sticker' if she ate it without adding Jam or ghee or butter. I'm loving this.

The 2nd activity is just awesome. Kuhu is excited to plant some seeds in her very own tiny pot. We are now waiting to see what would grow. Every morning she looks at the pot to see what's growing and reciting a Marathi poem 'Zhaad" on how a tree grows which goes like this -

Zhaad
written by La. Ma. Kadu

Ek pakshi udat aala,
chochitla bi takun gela.
Jaminina bi zhelun ghetla,
eka kappyat theun dila.

Kala Dhhaag dhhaun aala,
khup pani deun gela.
Suryana mag oon dila,
oobena bi khoosh zhala.
.......
.......

Attempting to translate the first stanza for my non-Marathi friends (with my non-existent poetry skills...)

Tree
One little birdie flying high,
Dropped a seed as it went by.
Mother Earth caught it around,
Kept it safe deep in the ground.
.......
.......

Thanks a lot Kim for organizing this in India.... we would love to do it again. Thanks a lot Rashmi... we have a gala time every night... I'll be making another calendar for fruits shortly.

We are ready...

.... to send our package to A Spoonfull of Ideas as a part of India Love Book Exchange.

Per the exchange schedule, we are supposed to send out the package to our partner by July 10th. I was worried if we will be able to make it in time. I was expecting it to be hard and so it was. Asking me why?? One... it is hard to select a book which you & your kid will like enough to assume that the partner kid would like it too. Two... you've to think / find at least one activity based on the story. Three.... you need gather all the material you need for the activity. And four.... you need to do the activity your kiddo...why do it? ... to write the instructions ya.... :-) Even if it was hard, it was enjoyable. We loved this process of preparing the package. I'm sure we'll have as much fun when we receive our package. Looking forward to that. So... what all did we do....

For once, I started early.... I looked for a book online (and ordered many except the one I'm sending !) but for books we liked, I couldn't think of an activity and for books where I could, we didn't like enough to send over ! Finally, in one of our trips to Crossword, I found this book... we read it a couple of times right there and liked it so much that I had to cajole Kuhu a lot to share it. :-) Once we had the book, I began thinking on the activities we could do. Everyday, I could think of a few to do but some days I didn't have material at hand to try how it turns out and on other days, the activity was not interesting enough for Kuhu to do it. After a few trials, I got the activities right and then began the hardest part... writing the instructions. Out of habit (of writing technical how-to's), I did a couple of drafts (not sure if these many drafts were really needed !!). When I was ready, I realized that instructions were just complicated for simple enough activities. So I started all over again and made it simple (or so I think!). And now we are ready with the package.

Why did we pick the book?
Kuhu and I loved it. As I read it to her, the book gave me a chance to talk about so many things to Kuhu. We talked about what is big... what is small, helping each other, sharing and how plants grow. So many things packed in one story !

What's the activity?
I drafted two main activities - one has cutting, lacing, scrambling all packed together and the other has coloring, cutting and glueing. One of them also opens up talking and learning about plants.

This is the package that just went out -

Are you asking me to show you the book and activities?? That's for A Spoonfull of Ideas to read, do the activities and let us know....... Got to wait till then....

INDIA LOVE BOOK EXCHANGE

Ever since Kuhu and I participated in 30-books-in-30-days-challenge, everyone has been asking me three things - are you still reading?, what are you two reading now? and how can I get my kid started on reading?

For the first... yes ... we are reading and reading and reading and we read every day at every opportunity that comes our way. I don't refuse if Kuhu comes up with a book almost anytime ...anywhere...

For the second.... we read whatever Kuhu lays her hand at... and also something that we've not read for a while or something that is relevant to her phase of life like starting school, a trip to the zoo, festivals, I-am-ill, Father's day... anything.

The third one deserves a separate post (too many people asking me this!) so more on that later. :-)


Kuhu and I enjoy our time with books and the 30-books-in-30-days-challenge was so much fun. We did participate in a couple of more online book activities and had good fun. (Yes... I didn't blog about those... :-( ). And we're now up for a new one - INDIA LOVE BOOK EXCHANGE by "The Educator's Spin on it". This is quite different from all that we've done so far and hence exciting. More details here.

We're not so good at doing activities based on a book. Activities and books are still disjoint for us. If we've read something related to the activity, we recollect it, talk about it and even re-read it but the other way round has never happened. We've never done an activity right after we read. Oh yes... I dont blog about what we read either. And I've been meaning to do it for long. "India Love Book Exchange" will be my starting point for it !

Let's see how it goes.... stay tuned....

30 books in 30 days challenge - Our take away....

It was a wonderful month of March for Kuhu and me. We spent so much more time together reading many many wonderful books ... all thanks to "30 books in 30 days challenge" that we took. And yaay..... we won it too... I captured what we read during the month here.

The Bubble Ink sent us this badge and a wonderful book "Inside your Outside" from Cat in Hat learning series and Kuhu is loving it.

While I keep thinking of what a wonderful month it was, I realized that there was so much that this challenge taught us. Penning it down here -

1. We read and read and read.... despite being a busy month at work, I and Kuhu kept thinking and finding ways to read every single day.
2. This challenge introduced us to so many wonderful books, publishers and blogs that review children's books and lots of parents who read to their kids.
3. Before the challenge, I never looked for a theme in any book, we read a book just as a story. But now, we pick a book, look for the theme and try to read the next ones based on that.
4. Many of our older books came back in action because they fit in some theme... we were happy to read them again and I'm sure books felt the same :-)
5. We need to better arrange Kuhu's library to make it easy to find... and given the rate we keep adding, we should think ahead to accommodate the new ones !

Keeping in the spirit of reading and books, we're now attending "Blow a Book Bubble" - A picture book exchange party. Details here.

30 Books in 30 Days Challenge

With Feb being a super hectic month, I was nearing frustration of not being able to spend as much time I want to with Kuhu. Just then I saw this "30 books in 30 days" challenge by "The Bubble Ink" on FB and I decided to use it as a force to ensure I get down to sit with Kuhu and read and do anything she is up for.

The challenge started Mar 1st and until today Kuhu and I've managed to read every day. Both of us are super happy... she gets Mumma without any distraction and Mumma gets the much needed time with Kuhu !

Although the challenge has a reading prompt every day, we havent been able to read by it... Hopefully we'll be able to do that over the next 26 days ....

Here is what the prompt was and what we read so far -

• Day #1 : For the first prompt "Hugs and Kisses", we couldn't find a better read than Monkey Puzzle. This is a beautiful story of a baby monkey who has lost his Mumma and how butterfly tries to help him. The mystery is will he every find his mum?
• Day #2 : "Dr. Suess" was the reading prompt and we started with "Fox in Socks". But Kuhu couldn't catch the fun and did't let me read beyond the first 3 pages. So we moved over to read "Don't be so nosy Posy". This is a story about a Posy the pig who just has to ask question and his adventures with that. This is very beautifully written and illustrated.
• Day #3 : The reading prompt was 'Jungle / Zoo' but Kuhu picked "Hic !" so it had to be so. A funny story about a piglet .. perfect to prepare for the April Fool's day !
• Day #4 : Fix-it Duck. A story about how a duck on fixing things and oh yes.. breaking. Although the prompt was '123 / Numbers' and we have "the very hungry caterpillar" to go well with it, Kuhu wanted Fix-it Duck to be repeated over and over and over....
• Day #5 : Blue Chameleon. This one is for wordless Wednesday. Though not wordless but with minimal words.
• Day #6 : "Books -Love" was the reading prompt and I realized that we dont have a single book on 'book'. :( So we read 'The runaway wheel'.
• Day #7 : The Great Goat Chase. This went well with the theme / reading prompt - Barnyard.
• Day #8 : Reading prompt was 'Mummy & me' and we had three books on that !! Yay ! We read 'Parnsip' - a story about Mama sheep and her baby and how baby finds her on one snowy night. Next was 'Aai' - a cute little book from the series 'Radha cha ghar' where Radha talks about her mother. And 'Monkey Puzzle' had to be read :-)
• Day #9 : This being a Sunday and the prompt being "Daddy and me", Kuhu wanted to read with daddy dearest. But she wasn't up for any daddy-themed book. All day (yes... all day) daddy-daughter read "Khadaad Raja" - marathi story by Madhuri Purandare about a foodie king who learns good habits.
• Day #10 : Prompt was "Toy" and Kuhu decided to give it a twist.... she didn't read toy themed books but read these to her toy Minnie - "Bhintinvarle taare", The silly little rabit, Zhaad, Bruno - the artist, and Better bath times !
• Day #11 : The prompt was "ABC" and we don't have a single book on it ! We read "Scooby Doo - You everyday Hero" and "Tuby & Speedy" from Drive-along tales.
• Day #12 : Honoring "Girls Scout day", the prompt was 'Acts of Kindness and Sharing'. It was as-if the theme was whispered into Kuhu's ears last night. Here is what happened today -
  Last night :
  Mumma - baccha.. I've a long day at work tomorrow so I'll be home by your bedtime or may be even later. Play well, sleep well, Enjoy.
  This morning :
  Kuhu - Good morning mumma... can we read a book now? (anticipating a no from me...) You'll be late home today na.. and you'll be tired then how will we read?
  I was speechless... and I just had to drop everything and read to her. We read two wonderful stories about kindness and sharing - "Policeman bear gets a day-off" where teddy bear works out a way to give Policeman bear a break from his routine and "Grandpa's Christmas gift" where Grandpa bear opens his holly garden for entire teddy town for Christmas. Both are from "Now I can read 15 2-minute tales".
• Day #13 : "Little blue truck", "the runaway wheel " and "Thomas, Bertie and the bumpy line" were our reads for the prompt "Wonder Wheels - Things that go."
• Day #14 : For the day's theme - "I am I", we read "Sylvester the singing sheep" a beautiful story about being you, "I am special" and "sshh" for world sleeping day.
• Day #15 : Today's prompt was - "Lift the flap, Pull the tab, Play I Spy"."Who's hiding? Ocean animals", "peek-a-boo", and "does a sheep wear mittens?" were our picks for today's theme. We loved reading through these after a long time.
• Day #16 : These were our reads today - "shrinking Sam", "pepper is jealous", "pepper throws a tantrum", "pahuni", "kantala" (both by Madhuri Purandare ), and "the watermelon route" for the theme "I feel".
• Day #17 : It is Holi today... and that's the prompt too... Kuhu is past the color board books now and I was afraid we might not have anything on the theme to read but we did ! yay ! We found "I see colors" from baby Einstein series and "Blue Chameleon" by Emily Gravett. Couldn't have had a better Holi than this... 
• Day #18 : Today's theme is "Tuck Me In" and I thought it was best to read at bedtime. But Kuhu had planned it otherwise. She pulled out "I'm so sleepy" while heading to bath and said, " Can we read this after bath, Mumma?" I didn't have a reason to say 'No' so I added one of my choice to it as we read two - "I'm so sleepy" and "Sleepy Sam".   
• Day #19 : "Monsters and Dragons" is the theme today and we read -'monsters munch lunch','dancing dinos' and 'the great goat chase'.
• Day #20 : "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is the prompt. Mar 20, 2014 happens to the 45 anniversary of the classic "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". So thats what we read and did a couple of caterpillar themed crafts too.
• Day #21 : What a prompt this is - 'Sing along' !! We love singing poems and we read
  "a magical morning", "old McDonald had a farm", "a kiss good night", "you are my little star" along with actions !
• Day #22 : "What I wear?" is the prompt and we just don't have anything to go with it. So we read "three little pigs", "a friend of Ella", and "How many sleeps till my birthday!"
• Day #23 : The prompt is "My Best Friend" and I was scratching my head if we had any book on this. Just then my sis reminded me of what I have ... it is so easy to forget things when there are many !! Here is what we read - "the watermelon route", "Pahuni", "Mukhavate".
  "Pahuni", "Mukhavate" are wonderful books by Madhuri Purandare about a preschooler Yash and his friends and fun at school.
• Day #24: Today's prompt is "Inside your outside" and we read "Minu and her Hair", "I'm Special" and "Where did it go?". The challenge is getting tough now... we now need to post our reads within 36 hours. We've been on track so far. Lets see how it goes.
• Day #25 : A perfect prompt for us in the month of March - "Food". This is a month to hog on cakes for us and so were our reads today - "What does baby Mickey find?" - a book where baby Mickey goes thru the process of baking a cake, "Food for a party" - All the bears in Teddy town prepare food for a party and have it with fellows bears and share it other animals too, "Monsters munch Lunch" and "The very hungry caterpillar".  
• Day #26 : "Garden" was the theme for today. So we read "Zhaad" - a book abt how one seed grows into a thousand trees and become a garden. Then we read 'Teddy and magic trick' and 'a rainy day adventure'.
• Day #27 : Today's prompt of "Birthday" is bang on day for Uju aaji's birthday and Kuhu was more than happy to read "How many sleeps till my birthday" and "Hic !".
• Day #28 : We did have a couple of books for "Grandparents" prompt but Kuhu didnt want to read any those. She just read and re-read "Minu and her Hair" and ran to hug her "Appupaa" (grandfather) just like Minu.
• Day #29: 'Read in vernacular language' is an interesting prompt. Although we love reading Marathi books, we are seriously short on those.  
• Day #30 : I thought we would miss to read a book today but Kuhu just got 2 books and said, "We didn't read anything today. Can we read 'Hic!' And 'Thomas, Bertie and the bumpy line'?" And so we did. Today's was the toughest prompt - "My favorite book". 

I'll keep updating this post for our list.

Kuhu and I are loving this ....

Flow

Thoughts are just flowing in my mind..... too many of them... not all are connected or even relevant....

Back with a Drawing

It has been a long long time that I wrote something here... almost 2 years... so where was I and what was I up to for so long ....

I was just caught up with my baby, work, bro-in-law's wedding, my in-laws trip to the US and all this added with tons of inertia is what kept me away... not that I wasn't writing anything but it was more of my daughter's journal and that is not public.


Now things seem to have gotten into a routine and I'm able to manage it all. So I'm back. Since this was a really big break, I thought of doing something different... I'm going to draw more ... expect more drawings and slightly less words :-) Here is the first one -

Do let me know how it is...

-Prajakta

Private Banking and Senior Citizens

Last weekend I visited my parents and spent some time with my grandfather. As I was about to leave, he handed me a few envelopes and said, " Let me know if these make any sense to you.". One look at the envelope, I knew it was a welcome kit for a savings account from a private bank. I was taken aback that he (at the age of 81) opened a new account. Knowing that I would ask this, he explained, "This guy from the bank came home and said he was referred to me by my friends in the laughter club. They all have opened accounts with the bank and blabbered something about what the bank had to offer. He spoke with such speed that I did not fathom even a single word. Then he asked me to sign at some hundred places on a form and asked for a cheque of 5K. Given that my friends had already done it, I gave in. "

"But ... ok.. so whats the problem now?"

"I dont have anything that says that this account belongs to me and how much money I've in there."

"hmm... ok. So what do I do with these envelopes ?"
"See if it is written any where of how much balance I've and get me to close the account."
"Fine."

Two days later, he called me - "Send the envelopes back asap. I need them."
"Ok. But what happened?"
"I got a call from the bank and the guy is going to come today to collect money."
"Collect money for what?"
"One lady from the bank called me today and said that I've not made any transaction for 30 days so they are going to charge me Rs. 150 and deduct that from my account. $###### ... they never told me this and if they did, are they expecting me to remember this at this age?? Cant they write it in all those crappy papers that they sent? I read every single line in there and it is not written anywhere. Moreover, this lady tells me today that their bank does not give any passbook ! What kind of a bank is this?? How on earth am I supposed to know how much money I've and is the bank even giving me any interest?? And you know what she said? ... Sir, you can get all this information via Net banking or Mobile banking or at any nearest ATM.... now these are even more alien to me ! "

His questions got me thinking. All of them are genuine from his perspective. He always had a passbook that not only told him his balance but also gave him all the rules and regulations of operating the account. No banking transaction ever happened orally or on phone .. forget net ! His insecurity for this hard-earned money is understandable. Can they not take care of these at least in case of "Senior Citizen" accounts? With all banks harping on being customer-friendly, are they forgetting / failing to understand the psychology of their target customers?

It is agreed that India has a huge penetration of mobile and to a great extent that of internet but the consumers using these heavily are not 81 yr olds. Don't we need to get the basics right while we come up with plans like "senior citizen account" and all that?

Closing on 2010

I was pretty upset over the fact that Amit and I didn't make a road trip all throughout 2010. Of course, we did do it while we were in the US but that was just one. So when I got that last chance, I was more than happy to grab it. On the 31st, Amit had an off, I decided to take one, Amit's cousin Gaurav didn't have any placement talks / tests and Aai-Baba had a free day without any class or doctor's appointment - making it a perfect day for a road trip. I was expecting this and was thinking of places we could go. Though we all agreed and jumped on the idea of the trip, it took us 8 am on the 31st to decide the place - Kaas plateau and lake.

Since all websites told me that there aren't any good eateries enroute and I've to keep away from unhygienic places, packing up lunch was the first thing that started Aai's & my day. Bean-sprout veggie, curd rice and chapatis was the menu. As you can imgaine, it was 10.45am by the time we left home. Just as we left, Baba remembered that the grocery delivery fellow may drop by later in the day, so we made a detour to the grocery store to inform him. Finally we set out via Warje to NH-4 at around 11 am. Without stopping anywhere except for confirming the route, we headed straight to Kaas. As expected, it took us around 2.30 hrs to reach Kaas plateau. The plateau was fairly barren but the weather was awesome. The wind was just-enough chilly, extremely fresh and there was no noise / chaos. Such a peaceful environment. We did miss the Kaas valley flowers but the serenity and peace made it up. The lunch by the lake tasted better than ever. with a few exceptions, the lake was clean. At around 3pm, we started back. Gaurav wanted to visit Thoseghar waterfalls but Baba wanted to be back home just to be sure that the trip does not become and overload for his already aching joints. Gaurav was visibly disappointed.

As we hit NH-4, I had this urge of having the strawberry ice-cream at Mapro Garden in Mahabaleshwar. Now that it was my wish, there was no reason for consensus ! Amit took the 2nd exit to Mahabaleshwar. 20 kms crossing the ghat, we were at mapro and ordered the day's special Strawberry creme with fresh strawberries and icecream. Gaurav's expression said it all! The ice-cream was just too good ... worth the drive (at least for me, Amit and Gaurav!).

We left Mahabaleshwar at around 7 and were home by 9. Aai and I cooked mutter curry and corn pulav to welcome the new year. Amit was too exhausted.. understandably he was constantly behind the wheel with no one to relieve him and he has been out-of-touch of these long drives!!


All I could dream of was more n more road trips in 2011 !

A refreshingly different weekend

After a wait of 6 months, this weekend was truly different. It was not completely off routine but had just enough change to rejuvinate me.

Saturday began with usual household chores, followed by a chat with my dietician and then came the get-together with my best friends... It was pending for 6 yrs ... Missed the two from our gang ...but we finally re-lived our college days.. with constant chitter-chatter and juice and snacks and all the confusion over the route to get back home !! As it was 6 yrs ago, we spent more than 30 mins on where to sit down to talk and what juice to have. Like always, she talked the most... some laughs, some tears, some cheering, some consoling, some advise, some argument...  It was truly a "Thoda aur chalega..." kind.

Sunday started out to be a regular one but changed the course towards the afternoon when we decided to watch a movie - "Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai". CityPride, Kothrud welcomed us with a "housefull" board. It was a complete surprise to see this board for a Marathi movie running in the 2nd week. Disappointed, we were contemplating watching 'Ravaan' when Amit went up to the counter to check that the movie was indeed 'housefull'. To our surprise, there were last two ticktes left from the first row and Amit picked those! I wasnt happy with this... I didnt want my better half to doze off just the way he did while we were gazing the night sky at Carnegie Science Museum at Pittsburgh ! But I had no choice :-(

With 2 hours in hand before the movie and no really close place to go (other than home or my mom's place !!) and nothing to do , we actually sat down on the roadside pavement and chatted our hearts out like college couple :-)... I must say it was so much fun!

The movie actually turned out to be cool ! Such a young and refreshing one ! Only 2 characters, one trademark kinetic honda, one song sequence, no costume / getup change for either of the two, all happening spots of Pune shot beautifully ! Ok... asking for a story.. there wasnt any but there was one ... that of every couple who has dated / is dating in Pune. They connected with the stones, rocks, lakes, streets, tables and everything :-)

All thru the movie, we were nostalgic... we too remembered the rocks, the lake, the shopping, the coffee, the mandir... we have been there ...done it all :-) All in all,  a refreshing movie with a pinch of comedy, a pinch of romance, good dialogues, good cinematography, good direction and awesome acting by the cast (Swapnil Joshi and Mukta Barve)!

What a weekend it was... I hope I dont have to wait another 6 months for a 'once more'!!

Surprise

This birthday in fact began with a surprise.

Amit woke me up at midnight to wish. We headed off to the gym as usual and were back to see all the missed calls from my dear ones. While I just finishing my conversation with them, Amit came up with his gift - a beautiful necklace set. I don't know when he got it !! Also the candlelight dinner at "Little Italy" added spice to the day.

The next was Ameya (who claims to never forget anyone's birthdays and anniversary!! ) not calling all through the day !

In office, I caught up my (new) team mates. It being Friday, Raj suggested going out for lunch and all (Raj, Amit, Manju and myself ) agreed. While on our way, Raj happened to asked everyone their birthdays. To everyone's excitement, ithe lunch turned to be a party from me at Chandni Chowk in Koramangala. It was a pleasant surprise to treat someone for my birthday. What more, they made me bake a cake as my birthday resolution and gifted me a book in the next team meeting !

All-in-all a very off-routine, fun-filled Birthday !

p.s.: the only sad part was losing the earring from set that Amit gifted :-(

For that one dollop !

"Oh my God ! Not again!", my wise man screamed (almost) when I got the cream bowl out from the fridge. He knew it was time for me to process this cream into butter; something that he just hates to the core ! "With so much ghee available in the market or even with my mom sending you all those dubbas of ghee, don't know why you do this!!", began his monologue.

I got wondering, why do I do this, month-on-month. I must admit that this process calls for a lot of time, effort and electricity and the RoI is really miniscule (given the mess I make).


Guess, this process takes me back in time (which wont be back!) to the memories of my sweet home "Chaitanya" in Kalas (a village at the outskirts of Pune); that big courtyard where I enjoyed my childhood with my sis' playing "bhatukli" (my home-my kitchen kinda game that girls play) ; Lakshmi our cow, her shed that hosted her family of a 2 and maintained sparkling clean by Maushibai; those cycle trips my sis' & I used to make to fetch Lakshmi's fodder in the summers; my Ma, Papa and Babu (Grandpa) caring for Lakshmi and Lakshmi returning all the "seva" that they did with loads of milk.

The most vivid memory of those days is that of my Aaji (grandma) carefully boiling the milk; setting aside that really really thick cream and settling to whip it for butter every sunday. My sis' and I would loiter around her kitchen; only to settle in front of Aaji when she was ready with the butter (obviously with all that hope in our eyes :-) ). Aaji knew it all along and would say "haan... haat pudhe kar" ("yes... spread open your hand") and drop that dollop of butter !

Every time I get to whip that cream, I wish Lakshmi was still around and so was Aaji... wish the time could rewind and I go back to the time I enjoyed the most !

International Airports in India

This year has been a year to go around towns and cities for personal / business trips. I believe, Amit and I are a little too hooked to air travel and hence prefer that for personal trips even if it is expensive. Old habits don't go away easily !!

First airport that I used was to HAL Airport, Bangalore. A typical old time airport that needed a make-over! Nothing more to write here (and now not relevant either since it is closed down for civil operations).

The next one was Pune Airport. This is small and cramped one. It stands by its "military aiport" status. Though there are a couple of international flights operating from this airport (and many more starting soon), Pune airport lacks the infrastructure to handle the operations on passenger front. Guess it is the same for flight operations.

The third one I went to was Nagpur airport. While being positioned as a cargo hub, this needs to move faster towards completion. Construction was on at all places, no arrangements for security of passengers and other people on the airport. On a positive note, it is very neat just like the city. Since there are not many flights coming and going, all formalities are quick and smooth. Hope it remains this way even after there is an increase in the traffic.

From Nagpur, I traveled over to the Shamsabad Airport in Hyderabad - an artistically built airport giving a good first-impression. However, the impression did not remain all that good once we entered in. A huge check-in hall followed by failed security check equipment, followed by good waiting hall and walk-way that led to a departure hall that was incomplete, leaking water (from god-knows-where!!). Since I was there on its first day of operations, I would discount these unpleasant scenes as starting-blues and hope it is now all set. Any reviews?

Mumbai airport is one of the best that I've been to so far. It is small (for the crowd that comes there) but beautiful. It has a hell lot of crowd but is managed well. There is construction going on but security of the people taken care of.

And returning from a business trip, I landed on the Bengaluru International Airport. Considering the urge to start it asap and the push to open without connectivity to the city ready, I was hoping it to a fantastic one (what a fool I was !). It turned out to be just better than HAL Airport ! The arrival lounge is too cramped, no improvement at immigration counters except that there were more counters (though closed). Baggage handling was bad and worst were the rest rooms! What an impression we give to tourists! Keeping my optimism on, I was hoping that this was just another case of teething trouble (I landed on this airport on the day it became operational) and things would line up for better soon. But alas, situation is still the same.

When I started this post (it has taken me almost 6 months to complete this one), I was wondering if our airports can get better. But now I think, is it worth traveling by air given the increased cost?

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Aayushyavar Bolu Kahi ... Let's talk about life!

It was a usual path that I got there... I heard people talk about him and his poems... "A new face on the horizon of Marathi kavita... young but vibrant.. he kind of revived the interest in Marathi poetry..." Well... yes.. I am talking about Sandeep Khare.... not just about him but his poems, his programmes, his companion Saleel Kulkarni and all.

I must admit that I am not avid lover of Marathi poetry. I've never been deeply involved in reading or writing poems but some have touched my heart and I've always been fascinated to read / listen to them more. So, when a lot of people around started talking about Sandeep's poems, I got his poems to listen (His poems tuned in music by Saleel albumed as "Sari var Sar" was released by then.) And I liked them. But Sandeep did not strike me as a poet until I read his poem in Madhura (Sakal's Women supplement). I was stunned by his observation. Since then I have been listening / reading his poems. What triggered this blog is a recent programme we attended.

This year, Mitramandal Indiranagar organized a fantastic programme on the Sankranti day, "Aayushyavar Bolu Kahi". This is a damn popular programme staged by Sandeep Khare and Saleel Kulkarni. We had missed listening / watching it during all our visits to Pune (Most of the 300-odd shows have been houseful !!). When the news of this programme came off on the Maharashtra mandal group, we decided to go for it and got the tickets. Getting to Ravindra Kalakshetra on a Sunday morning 10am was difficult but we managed to get there JIT to find the crowd waiting and we wondered if double tickets were sold ! As with most cultural programmes, this one too started around 15 mins late. Everyone was excited to have Sandeep and Saleel on stage and the music finally began after exchanging a few pleasantries with Mandal officials. As with all their shows, this one was hugely liked by most.

Once again I was taken aback by Sandeep's observation. We could relate to most of what he has written. The collection that the duo presented was a mix of poems Sandeep has written - published as albums (3 are out so far), or in films or just something that is not available through any medium. The programme was in accordance with the young crowd - starting with poems on rain, then "her", "wife", and maturing to the society and issues and situations and occasions. Some were comments on situations in a comic way... some were making the crowd think... people were applauding at every moment when they could relate to the Sandeep's words. Well... there were a few for whom his words were way above understanding heights !

300+ successful shows, albums in the best-selling lists and all this is definitely not without Saleel's contribution. Saleel has composed quite a few of Sandeep's poems. It is a pleasant surprise to have a melodious tune to such meaningful poems. Saleel indeed has a sweet voice.. and he sings most of the poems for us (with Sandeep supporting and singing a few). What was more fascinating was that every tune was different. Not one same as another... all tempos were there... tunes befitting the emotions... In "Aayushyavar Bolu Kahi", Saleel comperes most of the show with scenes those happened when the poems were being composed, briefing the audience with the context of the poems, making witty remarks and sharing their experiences from their performances... Surely some of it was pre-decided.. but spontaneity must be mentioned.

What amazed me was Sandeep-Saleel's stamina to present around 30 songs/ poems with a break of just 20 mins.... I almost fell off-the-chair realising that Saleel did not carry any paper with the poems written ...everything was memorized... (Dont know if Sandeep was helping him and how!! )

All in all, it was a great Sunday morning show... captivating the audience for well over three-n-half hours and that too with Marathi poems ... an awesome experience !

Wishing Sandeep and Saleel heartiest congratulations for reviving Marathi poetry especially getting it closer to the younger crowd... This is a must see (rather must listen) programme.

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

This was my second trip to Australia. Last time it was Gold Coast, the golden beach. This time it is Canberra, the National Capital of Australia.

This trip was again an official one. Don't know when we (Amit and self) would go around for leisure ! Anyway, this time it was a very short trip. Monday to Monday. Since the time this request came in, there were hurdles to welcome. There was congestion with dates, then official mail loops, then visa, then tickets and oh.. hotel too !! There was not even a single vacant room in the whole of this town !! Forget a starred one even a roof over the head was not available ! Why? Parliament was sitting in Canberra. So everything was booked up. Not sure if this would be the same during parliament sessions in New Delhi. In fact I remember of staying in Hyatt even when Mr. Bush was visiting India !!!

Finally, things fell in place and I flew Qantas from Mumbai to Sydney. The closest international airport to Canberra. Yes.. believe me.. the national capital of a continent country does not fly international flights !! People fly into Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and then connect to Canberra. This is because the business is concentrated around these cities and not Canberra. The Canberra airport is just the size that of Pune's!! I just cannot dream of New Delhi airport of that size !

There is a peculiar thing about Canberra roads. Each road turns almost every 200 meters except for the state highways. Every road is circular. Someone with a poor direction sense like me cannot drive in this city! In fact on our way to the hotel on the first day, we just went around the same road thrice! Having said that there were no hotels available in Canberra, the local team found a room for me at around an hour's drive from office and that too in another state. Never mind, there was at least some place to put the bags and sleep off. Second day we managed to grab one room in a city hotel. This was in the city center. As in most of Australia, most things here close by 5.30-6.00pm except the hotels which close down by 10pm.

When I went around the city, one thing that was not in the air was the soul. Everything is beautiful, but artificial not with a character to the city. Nothing that peculiarly describes the city. Something that can occupy your thoughts. It is crisp as a new shirt not worn ever ! There is not historical stuff like in India, no kings and queens as Bangkok, no ancient harbors and canal of Amsterdam.. everything is new .. not even a century old ! People tell me that this is an artificial city. A city that was built. No no... not because storm destroyed or fire burnt it down. Not even because some one destroyed it in any war. It was built just because they could not decide if their capital should be Sydney or Melbourne. So decided to form a state "Australian Capital Territory" between Sydney and Melbourne and built a Parliament house in Canberra. "Commonwealth Australian Federal Capital Competition" was organized to get the best design for this city. Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Griffin won the contest and the city is much to how they had sketched and water-painted. A lake in the middle of the city (Lake Burley Griffin named after the city's creator), small, self contained residential areas, and circular roads. When we look down from the sky, this city is like small pocket of buildings, then a big dry mountains (rather plateaus) and land and all circular roads.

Today this city has a population of about 320000, 80% of that are government servants (Information Courtesy : my taxi driver !!). You see most of the working class in formals wearing tie and coats. This is a scene not-so-familiar to Indians. An Indian government employee does not go to office this way. One thing that is strikingly different from the rest of the cities in the world is the dwarfness of the city. In this age, when every city dreams of sky-scrappers, Canberra has a restriction on how tall a building can be. There is hardly any building that is six stored high! The highest monument is the mobile tower known as Telstra tower. This tower has a deck to see Canberra from top and a revolving cafe. What fasinated me was that even the flag post on the parliament was built such that it was not tall but noticable. When I talked to locals about this, they told me that Burley Griffin, while constructing this city, had this philosophy in mind that nothing is taller than humans and their well-being. And fortunately the constructors and developers in Canberra honor this philosophy to date. People are opposing the idea of constructing a tall building.

This city has a lot of Kangaroos around and it seems kinda difficult to control them. People say kangaroos move around offices and houses as though it is their habitat. We see a lot (actually a lot) of them lying dead by the highway. This is because, fences by the highway cannot contain the Kangaroos and they jump over those to get on the highway and are hit by the speedy cars. These accidents happen generally during the evenings / nights (since this is the time Kangaroos are active.) My colleague took me to Golf course.. not the play golf but to see Kangaroos !! They are just everywhere in Canberra and come down to the residential areas. That is the place where people have lawns and they get grass for Australia is experiencing worst drought in the century this time. It hasnt rained for quiet sometime here. Government is working on recycling water to supply to the farms and houses.

This is a very good season in Canberra. It is Spring with flowers blooming up, spreading a mild fragrance around. The flowers actually fall out in the parks as we see in the post cards. The trees and roads are much like those captured in the film "Mohabatein" (ya ya .. that same.. with Amitabh, Shahrukh and Aishwarya! .. oh I forgot .. the movie we also call Mount baten!!). It is quite dry though and air has quite high pollen content. So asthma patients keep away from Canberra in these days. The weather is very pleasant for Indian folks with temperature ranging from 8 deg C to 30 deg C. The parks are full with red leaved trees and flowers... but alas.. there is hardly anyone in the park. Friday night I was the lone soul out there. Guess the whole of the Australian continent is alone... standing alone in the sea ...

Prajakta

Thai and I

I had start off for my Bangkok assignment. With the Stewardess and flight attendant giving the instructions about in-flight safety and introduction to Thai culture, I was busy figuring out similarities in the language if any. To my surprise, there were some though not many (rather a few in what I could understand.)

The first one to strike me was 'Suvarnabhoomi ', pronounced a little differently but meaning the same as in Sanskrit / Marathi / Hindi .."the golden land". This is the name Thais have selected for the new airport being built in Bangkok. This was followed by "Rama". All I could figure out at that moment was it related to their king. I was puzzled when I saw 'Rama ' followed by "I", "II",..."IX". My colleague solved this,"Kund Prajakta, this is a family of kings in Thailand. Another one is 'Asoka '. The statue in front of your hotel is that of Rama IV and hence the road is known as RAMA IV Road. The present king is a decendent of this family and is the ninth generation so Rama IX. " Oh! this is quite similar to our very own "Ram" which is in a way synonymous to a king!

Well well well.. so that word did catch your attention... you guessed it right. It is an adjective of respect to anyone and everyone used by Thais.... it is irrespective of the gender / age /caste / creed / Thai / anyone else. Thais speak and write this and it is considered disrespectful to address anyone without being prefixed by 'kund '.

First few hours in Bangkok were enough for me to realise that this is not a place with people knowing a common language to interact with. Most know only Thai.... some understand English... and some can talk English... and a few have fluent English. The same evening was my first test / exam !! My team asked me if it was Ok for me to get back to the hotel without an escort since everyone lived in a different direction. Ahhh !! I had no option but to accept it. To make me more nervous, they told me that the safest mode to get back was the subway train!! I instantly remembered the local train of our own Mumbai. The striking similarity between the local train in Mumbai and the subway / sky train in Bangkok is that train is a very common mode of transport and is crowded at anytime of the day. With the station names written down for me, I came up.. rather down to the station. The ticket vending machine is not difficult to operate as long as you have the station name to reach and the direction. Yes yes... there are not ticket counters... it is a machine. You drop the coins / notes and select the station you want to get off at, the machine gives you the ticket (circular disk for subway and a card for sky train.), and the change, if any. Fortunately, the directions were mentioned in English and I could find the correct direction. Oh yes... I must tell you this. The trains here mostly travel only in two directions. There are stations to change the train to go in a different direction. There is nothing like Western line local / Dadar local / eastern line local... Things are quite simple there (as of now !!) . As I got in the train, I was worried about a new thing now. How will I know if I've reached the hotel? The subway train is the underground one so cant see and locate the place!! Just then I heard a sweet voice saying, " Sathani papay Sathani Lumphini ..... Next Station Lumphini ". Of the train has this announcement system which announces the next station once the train moves on. Fortunately it also translates in English. What surprised me the most was a sentence which I cant really remember.. but it translated to "Interchange station". This sentence was so long that I thought it was some special instruction regarding things on the coming station. All it meant was that the coming station was a joint station for subway and sky train.

A weekend came as a surprise to me... when I saw a gang of women folk in sarees & salwar kameez and kids screaming, " A Aai.. he bagh na... he kasa namaskar kartat. Haat jodun. ani chappal pan baher kadhtat mandirat jatana." or "O Baba.. tya guide la vichara na he sonyacha aahe" or " Aare Avi.. ithe massage changla kartat... Babanna karun ghaycha ka? tyanchya gudhgyala fayda hou shakel nahi?"

O my goodness... marathi people are on the move. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many of them in Bangkok. What astonished me was that our ladies didnot forget to bargain in the shops to get the things at almost half the price !!

Having had all the fun with the communication and of course doing some work, it was time for me to leave back home. After knowing the fact that the common man in Bangkok may not understand English, I requested a colleague of mine to fetch me a taxi. Bidding bye to all in the office, the taxt left and I was on the track to the Airport. In a while, it skipped off my mind that the taxi driver cannot understand English, I asked, "How long does it take to reach the Airport?". He looked back puzzled.
"Can we reach by 4.30 ... i.e. in an hour from now?", I asked again
"No English.... Thai........................You flight.. 4.30 ?.........ok", He said and.................... off rose the speedometer to go beyond 120 km speed!!
God what is this??? He just could not understand my words asking him to slow down! And in another 20 mins I was at the Airport, Terminal One. Oops !!! I've five more hours for the flight !

Over to Amsterdam

My first trip into the continent of Europe... This time it is only Amsterdam .... hopefully I will be back someday to be to other places as well...with my beloved.

It was indeed a pleasant journey... though half way. The reason... I travelled in Business class (though I'm entitled to economy class) from Chennai to Paris in Delta Airlines. This airlines cannot be compared to Singapore Airlines.. but business class made things better. It was a window seat with only 2 seats and hell lot of legroom (economy class has 3 seats together with much lesser legroom). I could almost flaten the seat and sleep as though in bed. Well... this comfort did not really make me sleep... but it was good with a well-focussed lamp and special attendant to serve drinks (I mean juices !! They would have served Champagne had I asked for !!) and food & tea/coffee. To add to my comfort ... the person supposed to be sitting besides me found his friend and the seat besides him was empty .. so he ended up sitting there and I was alone comfortable... Spent almost the whole 10 hrs journey reading the newspaper and the novel. Reached Paris at around 9.30am local time and went off for immigration. Well... in my case since Paris was the port of entry into European Union, immigration happened there and not at Amsterdam. Immigration was a little problem. Reason... I wasnt prepared for it. Thinking of it later in the hotel room, I realised that I wasnt prepared (mentally) for this trip at all. So didnt bother to see if I had carried everything along! Fortunately I had my laptop to show the immigration officer my hotel confirmation & stuff... but I was wondering.. what situation I would have landed up in had I not carried the laptop !!! There are some more things that I've forgotten to carry .. one of them being camera... so unfortunately no photos of this trip...

I'm feeling particularly sad of not having a camera ... since this country is really beautiful. When we are about to land... we see a cluster of buildings and what follows is a farm... it looks awesome from the sky... The roads are cool... houses are different in architecture... kinda olden European one... not so sure about it though.

The hotel I'm staying is a 4 star one [not a 5-start this time :-( ] It is much like our guesthouse in Gurgaon. The surroundings are too good..... quite peaceful.... outside the city... on the highway.. so nothing to shop around... kind of living in the country side of Amsterdam !! No means of transport available except for the hotel shuttle to the airport. There's a lake at 5 mins walk from the hotel ... went there yesterday... but was full with sun-bathers & boozers.. hope a weekday would be better... though this is just a hope... for the sun nearly doesnt set here !!! Yes yes yes... nothing to be surprised about.... it was as hot as an afternoon in India here at 8pm!! I just didnt realise it was half past 11 when I finally went off to bed after waiting long for the sun to set which it didnt until that time... Guess it set around half past midnight or so.. dont know exactly when... but was dark at 3 am and I was wake up to see the sun already up in the sky when my alarm rang at 6.15 am !!!!

Food is a little problem for me here..bcoz I'm a veggie.... though not a major one ... there's just one shop on the whole road which has bread & butter... learning from my previous experience... I am carrying some food items like ready-to-eat meals, maggi, instant soups packets, etc. Hope to survive on that. Fruit juices are pretty cheap .....around 2-2.5 Euros ...hey.. no conversions to Indian currency please... I can never eat anything if I do that !!!

Credit cards arent a popular thing here... so you got to have some cash in your pocket !! Amsterdam airport does have a counter to exchange currency and ther fortunately take visa & mastercards... no american express cards please! Hotels do have the facility of conversion but not from Indian currency (moreover it foolish to carry so much Indian currency along which will fetch very little Euros... currency rate will confirm this statement of mine!!) and they charge around 9% commission.

Having read some amount on Amsterdam, we land with an impression that Amsterdam is all about it world-famous RedLight District... it's pickpocketing, free gay society and stuff. Well... much of it is true...If you are good at sensing people's intentions... you will find pick-pocketers right on the airport.. So ought to be careful there and same is for the streets. Redlight district id the major attraction of Amsterdam but if known majorly due to the tourists. You can hardly find Dutch people visiting there (Bachelors excluded from this statement !). Drugs are sold in the coffee shops ... I was a couple asking for marijuana in the shop I mentioned earlier near my hotel... The hotel receptionist warned me about not moving around the lake far too long for Gay people just pop-up from bushes... "They wouldnt farm you... but why take risk...". Having learnt this, I had a talk with the local team in my office here... and what I found was that this is not something a Dutch person is proud about. This is not a kinda reputation they want there capital city to have. But they also dont deny the fact that these are the chief attractions of the city !

She is back

She is finally back... after her stunt for a year and a half. I'm not using the word "stunt" in its true meaning .. but her stay & work did attract a lot of attention (though unwanted!). She went there for good... with lots of hope to shape her career. By no way, this means that her career lost its track but it could have been in a fast moving mode (I feel so).

So it came up around two years back. I remember how happy she was to get through into this ocean of practical knowledge and work after years of formal education. What had added to she happiness was that her best buddies were with her to jump along! She was so delighted with the thought of earning her own bread (quite literally), taking the responsibility of her life & decisions, chilling out & enjoying life without much parental eye around with her friends. What sweetened this was her graduation result that placed her third in the university in her branch. Her buddies were in the toppers list too.

Then began her preparations of moving ahead. There were new clothes (formals needed for office!), cell phone(to stay in touch), other office accessories, kitchen & cook ware bought for her new venture. The buddies had loads of discussions and chats about making the arrangements. And came the day when she left home with tearful eyes to step into this big world.

Settling in that new town wasn't as easy as she thought. Numerous differences cropped between the friends (I took those as teething problems but she denies that till date.). The town was much smaller than hers, people, culture .. many things & aspects were different. Her home-sickness used to be reduced with her / her buddies parents' frequent visits.

Office was a different culture altogether.. something that she had never imagined. Working with people who were much more experienced but much less educated (formally) was a tough task. Not being appreciated for even the big (!!) achievements used to put her down (I say she's a pampered kid).

Days were passing with some satisfaction and some dissatisfaction, latter growing with each passing day! The work that she was doing was not what interested her & something that interested her was not coming her way. This was the same situation for her roomies (see the change... buddies to roomies) too (though not exactly). And finally, one of them decided to move ahead to another location. In the course of time the other one left too. And came the time for her to think of getting back home.

This was the thing that she took the most time to decide on. With all the pros & cons laid before her, she looked so confused and incapable to handle it (At times I felt like taking a decision and imposing it on her !!). After huge amount of bucks flowing away in the phone calls, all I was receiving was her frustrated voice and words.

Finally one day, things began to get on the roll... and she was firm on getting back home but... there was still a lot in store for her. Her workplace wasnt keen on letting her go and everyday arose with a new hurdle to clear. And to my surprise, she was determined to face it all and she did ! (though one more flood had already hit me with the phone bill !!).

At this moment, she is all at home relaxing with her parents and preparing for her future endeavour. I am sure these moments will give her immense strength to go far ahead and reach the heights she is aiming at.

Wish you all the luck! Be rest assured to see me with you much before the need for me to be around arises !

The psycho effect

It was an unusual night yesterday... waking up every hr or so to see what time it is? Why? I had missed my aerobics class yesterday as I slept even after the alarm screamed aloud! I was determined not to miss out on it today for any reason. So these wake ups. My determination was strong enough to make me work out rigorously today but it failed in the later part of the day to resist closing my eyes at work!!

This was at 10am.. a very odd time for anyone to close the eyes and indulge in (supposedly) deep thoughts. It was then that I decided to take a break... Not just any break ... but a coffee break! Why coffee? Nothing special.. I'm a tea-fan so thought of having a change.

Ah! What a surprise!! the sweet sleep in my eyes started to disappear with the very thought of coffee! Amazing!! I was wondering if I will skip my sleeps for another couple of days if I have this drink!! Let me check that... but the day is definite to go fine and awake ;-)

Out Pune - In Bangalore

It has been long that I wrote anything. My friend asked to read his blogs and write. It is today that my thoughts are clear enough to flow out easily and the afternoon is lazy to refrain me from preparing for the upcoming workshop.

Days have changed since I've come to this city. There came one day in my life which changed my status bringing loads of responsibilities and work (though it was not unplanned or sudden but the whole lot of preparation seemed to be in vain when this actually happened!).

This day also put me on move and changed my "location" to Bangalore. The fun in all this is that Bangalore is going no near to being our permanent residence ! It is just a place to touchbase with my hubby ! Asking me why?? Well... That's because this "one day" changed my work profile putting me literally on my toes. I move around the world (currently restricting my world to India !! ) wandering with my backpack. The most unfortunate thing here is I and my hubby have missed the timings ! He got into this relationship to keep his bags down and sit back .... not knowing that I would be so quick to pick those and get going !! I say we missed the timings as we weren't into a relationship to walk around the globe together.

So we now catch up with each other at Bangalore for a few cups of tea and a couple of dinners. Our dining table has witnessed our arguments over shifting this base to Pune and is waiting for a decision !!

Dont know how soon this decision will come or will it ever come. But our discussions and arguments will continue ... at least till we find something else to argue on !

Let me prepare myself for my next date with these arguments... I say Bangalore is similar to Pune in many ways and we neednt worry about moving out of this "City of Gardens". (This by no way means I would not like to be back in Pune but being the "Home Minister" I need to be practical.. hence this effort to get my husband agree to my point !) So here I go...

Both these cities are known for pleasant weathers. It is neither too hot nor too cold. It does not rain heavily at either places. (Please ignore last year's heavy rains ... this happens once in a while .. not always!!)

Infrastructurally, both are racing ahead. The state of roads is same in both cities. Pune doesnt have roads.. Bangalore has good main roads but equally pathetic connecting roads. The traffic is over-sized and mannerless in driving in both the cities. Property rates are at the same level now. Airports are smaller than needed and still take much heavier loads in both the cities. Commuting is a common thread again. Both municipal corporations race for the "Silicon Valley of India" title !

Kannadigas are as helpful as Punekars and same is observed with Bangaloreans and Puneites. Friends are closer in both Pune & Bangalore and in equal loads!

Huh... hope this suffices for dinner tonight... many more can be thought till the next meeting !!