Pictures from Mira's Birthday

I know....  It is well over a month late...

Sorry....  I suppose after a year and a half of blog-ing, I am turning into a slack-er!!!  OK, keep the jokes aside, some of you may argue that I was already a slacker!!!

Reminder had 2 parties, one at the house with a bunch of the neighbors, and the second party was with her friends from school at a pottery place.

OMG.... Over 2 weeks!!

I can't believe it....  I have not posted in over 2 weeks!!  I think that this is a record....

A lot has been going on....

We traveled to Mumbai this past weekend.

We left on Friday morning, and came back on Sunday evening.  We all had a mission...  ok, most of us had a mission.

My mission...  Shop, shop, and shop.....  Mission accomplished!!
Vim's mission...  See the city for all that it has to offer....  especially the slums.....  which are everywhere!!  Mission accomplished!
Mira's mission...  OK. Maybe she did not have a mission.
Milan's mission....  His is a little complicated...  Let me take you to the beginning....

Milan has been watching the Pink Panther Movies with Steve Martin.  He particularly likes the Pink Panther 2, that has the character, Sonia Solandre.  Does anyone know who the actress is that plays Sonia?  Let me give you a hint....  think Bollywood....  Yep, Aishwarya.  So, little Milan has taken a fancy to Aishwarya.  So, the weekend before we left for Bombay he kept asking about her.  We told he that she has a house in Bombay.  That made his eyes light up, he then starting dreaming about meeting her.  He also had dreams of getting a pink diamond, just like they had in the movie.  So, Milan's Mission......  Meeting Aishwarya and getting a pink diamond.....  Guess what.....  one of those missions was successful....  any guesses?????

No, he did not get to meet his dream girl, but he did get his pink diamond!!

It is cute to see Milan's fascination with Aishwarya....  but how ironic is it that he had to 'discover' her thru watching an American movie (Pink Panther) instead of thru a Hindi movie.....

Back to the trip.  Trip overall was good....  Mumbai is really a cosmopolitan city.....  I never realized it with my previous trips.

The people are really progressive.  The way the women dress, you don't feel like you are in India.  The women dress very western.....  Even the men are pretty stylish...  this is a big difference from what you see in Bangalore and many other smaller towns.  There is evidence of the wealth in India.  People are very progressive....  maybe a bit to progressive.  Quite frankly....  I prefer the simple, basic approach that the is seen in the smaller towns and villages.  This conservative lifestyle is what I associate with India....

More posts comings soon....  Mira's B-day and Kerala trip....

Yes.... I did have to go there....

It has been a long time since I have posted about the weather....

So here goes....

Need I say more????  OK, I won't rub it in....    BUT, the other morning it was 60's outside and the kids were complaining that it was freezing!!!

I will post pictures from Mira's B-day as well as a summary from our trip....

A Weekend Get-Away....

Yes, we are off again...  I know.... we just got back from a trip!!!

But, in efforts to make the most out our stint in India, we feel compelled to take advantage of any long weekend and head out....  This weekend is not technically a long weekend.  Tue, Jan 26 is a holiday for Republic Day, and Monday is a normal work/school day, however, we decided it was worth it to take off Monday and head out of town....We are off to the wonderful state of Kerala.  This will now be our 3 trip to Kerala!!  First was Nov 2008, Second was Sept 2009 (or somewhere around there), and now we are heading back again.  Yes, there is something special about the 'Keralites'! 

We will be in Cochin for 3 nights and part of the trip we will visit one of our favorite hotels....  Kumarkom Lake Resort.  It has been by far our favorite hotel so far in all of our travels...  Yes, it even beats the 'Butler service' in Jodhpur.  There is something really charming about the hotel.  It is quaint, and charming....  ah, I could go on....  but maybe it is best if you check it out...  : )

Enjoy your weekend!!

Hindi....

Hindi is the main language of India.  It is quite close to Gujarati, which is the language that we grew up speaking.

Now since being here, we all have been working on improving our Hindi.  Mostly because it is the main way to communicate with many of the shop owners and drivers, as they do not speak English.  In most cases, my Hindi is enough to get by.....

For the kids, they both had language options, and I picked Hindi for them.  Yes, I forced (maybe coerced is a better word) them into taking Hindi.  Now this did not go off without any resistance.  There were weeks after weeks that I was fielding the complaints.  'I don't like it!'  'I hate it'  'It is too hard'  'I want to take Spanish'.....  my response....  'Too bad....  Suck it up... You will thank me later'....  OK, maybe not verbaitim....  but essentially that is what I told them....  I am certain that they will infact thank me later when they are able to reference back to what they have learned.  I suppose, the challenge will be to keep the learning going when we come home!!

Already I am seeing the fruits of their labor.....  Mira is actually reading Hindi.... very well!!  I was really impressed.  She is a little shy when speaking it....  I suppose that is b/c she is 10 now!!  Milan on the other hand is learning not progressing in the reading, but he is definitely more confident in speaking it (unfortunately it is not that well).  He can turn on his Hindi with the full on Indian accent, coupled with the head bobble.  And when he does not know the Hindi word, he adds in the English word and makes it work.

Some funny phrases by Milan (Mostly when he is talking to Manjula)

'Manjula, humko tv eating he'  Translated:  Manjula, I am eating in front of the TV.
'Manjula, humko outside going he'  Translated:  Manjula, I am going outside.

It is really cute!!  Milan and Manjula have a really special bond.  She gets the kids off the bus, and with Milan, she will take off his socks, massages his feet, pull/crack his toes (yes, Milan like this), rubs his back....  Milan will miss Manjula's pampering when we come home!!

Summing it up....

This post will sum up a few things....  the trip..  Yes, believe it or not, I still have more to say.  And I will sum up the b-day festivities!!

OK, the trip first.......  will keep it brief

• Seeing all that we saw was quiet amazing....  from the engineering marvel of the pyramids which are 4000 years old to the engineering marvel of the man-made islands and the tallest bldg in the world that are brand-spanking new...  so different in so many ways....  the question is, will people flock to Dubai to see the Burj..  or the man made islands 4000 years from now??? hmmm???  Will they even be standing 4000 years from now???
• Egypt is a lot like India...  the cars are old and a little beat up....  but then you go to Dubai....  the cars here are the 'cream of the crop'.....  Leaving the mall one evening we saw a Mazaratti, a Ferrari, several Porches, a Bentely, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Maybach...  there were Beamers and Mercs on the road everywhere....  as well as but they were so much the norm that they did not stick out....  Again, a lot of money floating around here in Dubai
• Talking about cars.... in all places we saw a very familiar name badge...  one that was close to my heart...  Yes in all countries there was a presence of the Chevrolet cars....  I can tell you that it made me feel good that they had penetrated into these markets.  No, they are not a majority player, but they are in the game!!  Even in Dubai amongst all the 'fancy' cars, there were GM cars....  it was heart-warming....
• Another trip to Turkey is needed...  there is so much that we did not see...  Another day....  
• Traveling with the Patel's of ATL was fantastic...  the kids had company, the adults had company...  it was great.  From the first hotel in Egypt, we had adjoining rooms and the kids were together from the minute they woke up to the time they slept.  In Cairo, Sharm and Dubai we had a separate room where all the kids bunked up.  They got so attached for the 2 weeks.  For the first whole week that we got back, Mira cried every night because she missed the girls....
• Oh...  something else that we learned on this trip....  If you are not happy with your hotel room.... complain...  believe it or not...  it works....  In Egypt and Sharm we were kinda unhappy with our initial rooms so we complained and we got upgraded....  now keep in mind, we were not just complaining about 'nothing', we had valid points and they 'took care of it'.....
• On this trip we had a few things that were coincidental...  or somewhat bizarre....  our friends from ATL had some other friends of theirs what were in Egypt at the same time as we were.  We had no idea of their plans or dates....  ironically - we ran into them at the Egypt Museum....  Also, we had friends that were in Dubai at the same time as us...  same thing...  we did not know their plans, nor had we made arrangements to meet up...  we ran into them at the Mall of Emriates when we were getting ready to go to the snow park....  Ironic, eh....
• On this trip.... the common denominator for all the places we visited was that they were primarily Muslim countries.  That being said, we had heard more namaaz prayers in the 2 weeks than we had heard in our whole life.  From the wake up prayer that we could hear from the hotel in the morning, to the afternoon ones that we caught in the middle of the day.  In many cases we would here them in unison if we were in areas where there were several mosques (Istanbul). 
• Another observation.....  the way the turban is worn varied from place to place.  In Dubai we saw primarily the 'Sheik' look.  The long white robe with the long white head piece that was held in position with a black halo type ring - clearly a more polished look.  In Egypt, it was more the 'rough' look.  The turban was tied with twists and turns to sit firmly on the head.  In all places we saw many (many) women in the burka (the full black cover).  Despite the full covering, the women (particularly in Dubai) would still express their fashion by carrying fancy designer bags and wearing nice shoes.  I suppose that is the only way that they could express their sense of 'fashion'.  Vim claims that he saw some women just before they put on their burkas on New Years Eve that were wearing some flashy-skimpy clothes....  Yes, only Vim would notice things like that!!

There is so much to see outside of the USA...  take the time to explore.....

NEXT....  The 10 year old B-Day Party....

The festivities began on Friday.  The day off school, and the solar eclipse...  we saw the solar eclipse and it was really cool.  As part of the superstitions, the maid and the driver had to go home and shower and pray after the eclipse.  They were not supposed to eat anything that was made before the eclipse.  Only fresh post-eclipse food was allowed.  We kinda broke the rule in our house b/c some of the preparations for the party food began earlier in the day...  pre-eclipse.

In the evening we had some of our neighbors and their kids over for dinner.  It was a nice evening...  very relaxing....

Saturday the festivities continued...  Mira took some of her friends from school to this pottery place where they painted ceramics.  It was fun.  Of course Milan was taking full advantage of his role of the b-day girl's younger (and very annoying) brother very seriously.  He made sure that he annoyed is sister to the fullest extent, and her friends....  in the end...  he was annoying his parents too....  Can anyone relate???  Maybe there are some 'annoying-brothers' out there....  Or some sisters that have been on the receiving end..... 

The day ended up with many of the girls coming back to the house to play and then Mira had a sleep over at one of the girls house.  All in all a good party.

Oh, so for Mira's present, she got her i-pod nano.  She was soooooo happy.  Unfortunately, Milan is still waiting for his Zune to work again.  Yes, it is still dead.  Milan is really upset.  He thinks that we sabotaged the Zune purposely so that he would not have one and Mira would...  Seriously...  this is what he said.  We told him that the Zune needs to go to the Zune doctor....  he is buying it for now....  unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Zune doctor... I am the Zune Doctor!!....and I have searched the web for all kinds of fixes...  hard reset, soft reset... nothing is working!!!  I think that now we just have to hope the Apple Fairy visits the house with a nano and a touch.  Yes, thinking ahead....I am sure that if Milan gets one...  Vim will want one too....

That sums it all up......

My Baby is growing up!!!!

Today, my Little Mira is now in the double digits!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, she is 10.... a full decade.


I am not really able to describe my emotions.....

Sad.... At how fast time is going by.
Proud.... At the lovely lady that she is becoming.
Amazed..... That she is part of me.

It was 10 years ago today that my life changed forever.... I became a mom - the most challenging and rewarding experience, that keeps continuing!!!! If I had to do it all over again, I would not change a thing!

Happy 10th Anniversary to Motherhood!!!

By the way.... Mother Nature has decided to give Mira a present on her b-day too.... the Longest Solar Eclipse of the Millennium..... Today - Jan 15. And to add to it, Indus International (the kids school) decided to give the kids the day off as a result of the Eclipse.

There is a lot of superstition that surrounds the Eclipse.

One of Mira's teachers told her that the reason that she was born with 6 fingers was b/c her mom went outside during an eclipse. Yeah... really.....
So today as I was going to work, Milan walked outside to say goodbye with his hands over his eyes b/c he was told that he would become blind if he goes out in an eclipse. He further said that he would not go out at all today until the eclipse was over because he did not want to go blind. He told me to make sure that I had my eyes closed if I went outside. I reassured him that I would close my eyes (which is not a problem since the driver is driving). But then the litte guy took it further and he asked 'what about Devraj (the driver), won't he go blind?' Amazing at what there thought process is!!

Check out this link about the eclipse.  And this link for supersitions around eclipses......