Happy Diwali

Wishing everyone out in blogosphere a very Happy Diwali!

Diwali is a festival of lights and as I write this, my home is all lit up. I've got diyas, tealight candles and some pretty lights on, along with normal tubelights.

There are a couple of mythological reasons behind Diwali. Mostly in North India, it is celebrated as the return of Lord Rama, back to Ayodhya after his 14 year banishment. Dusshera was the day he vanquished King Ravana and it took him the next two weeks or so to reach his home in Ayodhya. Hence the population of the city lit lamps all around their homes to welcome him. In the South, it is mostly celebrated as Naraka Chaturthi where Lord Krishna defeats the demon Narakasura. Wikipedia has some more details of how Diwali or Deepavali is celebrated across India and Nepal.

Usually we wake up before sunrise, and go to the prayer room. Then my mother (and now me) will put oil on everyone (minimum the hair, and maximum all over the body). Then bath and prayers where new clothes are given. After some coffee and breakfast, it's time to burst crackers. These crackers are supposed to dispel evil as well as let the Gods above us know that all is well in Earth. After this it's time go to the temple, take the blessings of the elders and followed by a scrumptious lunch. Then the oil bath in the morning along with waking up early makes you sleepy, so a siesta is in order. That pretty much sums up what we do in Diwali in our family.

Phew!! Finally…..All Ends Well.....

I guess the post heading says it all! We finally got our new home…

After looking high and low for about a month, we finally saw one last property on Saturday (October 03) and as soon as we were out of the place, DH decided this was it! I also liked the place, as did the kids and what sold it to us was the fact at 145 sq m (about 1560 sq feet), it was the largest Executive Apartment we had seen till date.

Then started all the fun! Once we were out, we went back home, got the chequebook and decided to pay them $1000 as a signing amount. Then while our agents were talking, we realized that while my seller (of the new home) wanted to move out only after Chinese New Year (Feb end), my buyer (of my current home) wanted to move in before Chinese New Year. There we were, stuff between these two! After going back and forth the whole day and me praying madly, on Sunday (October 04), this whole issue got resolved and we signed the Option to Purchase.

We also gotten our first appointment with HDB fixed on 19 Jan (my dad’s birthday and so hopefully a good day for us) and so the second appointment should be around 16 March. This will give us only around 10 days to renovate the place as we need to hand over the keys to the new owners on the second appointment.

Here’s my wish list of what I want to get done in the new place. Out of all these, what I will actually get done is to be seen.

• Make a new room where the dead space is there.
• Make a vanity and add a shower cubicle to the common toilet and change the toilet bidet.
• Add some storage space in the master toilet and change the toilet bidet.
• Replace all the veneers in the built-in furnitures and fixures
• Put my existing store room storage in the new store room
• Add ceiling fans in all rooms (hall, dining area, four bedrooms)
• Change the veneers in the kitchen and redo the drawers. I have not yet seen the drawers in the kitchen, but I want pull out drawers and also make a small pantry.
• Add some storage shelves in the balcony where I can keep the cleaning and laundry supplies.
• Buy a new bed and cupboards for the new bedroom
• Add electrical sockets in the new room.

Here are some pictures of the new place: 

This is the view from the front door. The small patch of green that you see at the very end is where the new guest bedroom is going to be.

This is a view of the Master Bedroom. The bed which is built in is a queen-sized bed. We now have to get used to sleeping in that after years in a King sized bed.

This is going to be the Pilot's room. He has chosen yellow as his room colour.  It does look like a boy's room. I'll try to get a better picture the next time I go to the place.






This is the bedroom that the Princess has chosen for herself. We want the kids to have a say in their rooms, down to the paint colour. She predictably has chosen pink as her room colour.

This space is where we intend to construct a guest room. This space meant that we did not have to sacrifice our dining area to make the guest room.

This is the kitchen with the common toilet just off the entrance. I liked the curved breakfast nook but am not too fond of the veneer colour scheme. If time permits, that's gonna go.

Last, this is the service balcony. I plan to make some storage space in the far wall near the washing machine to store laundry  and cleaning supplies. Maybe something from my current home could go there.

Happy Dusshera!

Here’s wishing everyone a very Happy Dusshera! Navratri and Dushhera is celebrated all over India, Nepal and the Hindu parts of Bangladesh with great festivity and gusto! This festival, which comes at the end of the nine nights of Navratri is a day where good triumphs over evil. Navratri is celebrated all over India and is a celebration of the Mother Goddess. This celebration takes the form of keeping Kollu in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, dancing the Garba and Dandiya in Gujarat and Durga Puja in West Bengal.

The ninth day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati who is the Goddess of Learning. On this day, you would keep your books and other implements of work (like plough for a farmer, needles for a tailor etc) and pray over them. You could also not use them on that day. On Dusshera, you had to take out the books and implements from the altar and use them. When we were in school, Saraswati Puja would invariably come during exams, which meant we could not study on that day. I would always ponder on the irony of the situation – on the one day of the year, when my parents would not want me to be near books would be the day I actually needed to study!!

Dusshera is also called Vijay Dashami, which literally means victory on the tenth day. There are many legends for Dusshera – the most popular one is from Hindu Mythology which concers Lord Rama, his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. The nine days of navratri is supposed to be the days when he fought the evil king Ravana of Lanka who had kidnapped Sita and kept her in his kingdom of what is today known as Sri Lanka. On the tenth day, Lord Rama finally defeats and kills King Ravana. In the northern part of India, there are huge communal Ram Leelas which enact the battle with the culmination on Dusshera of the victory of Lord Rama over King Ravana. You can read more about this story as well as other mythological tales attributed to Navratri and Dusshera here. These include stories about Durga and the demon Mahisasura and the Pandavas and the Kauravas. This link will also let you know how different states in India celebrate this festival.

Dusshera or Vijaya Dashimi is also traditionally the day for starting formal studies and/or any new course. This day is called Vidyarambham and when my kids were around two years old, we did this in Mumbai so that they could start formal schooling when they came back to Singapore and turned 2.5 years. I also remember starting music lessons when I was young on this day. I did think of starting carnatic music for the Princess today, but decided to leave it for another year.

Home Hunting Updates

Ah well, what do I write - we still have not managed to seal the deal for our new home. We're two weeks down of the four weeks plus 2 weeks deal that we have with our buyer to buy a new home.

We've seen some - ones we like are either too over priced (the cash over valuation component) or else we don't like something about the house. We did see one that we both liked - everything seemed perfect - location, floor, condition of the house etc. But the seller's agent (the seller is supposed to be in Australia) didn't have the valuation of the house and says that he has gotten offers for it. Now this is a risk we do not want to take as we will get a loan only for a maximum of 90% of the valuation of the house. If we agree to the rate and the valuation turns out to be much less than the price, then we would have to fork out all that extra money in cash - which is not the most prudent thing to do in this economy.

Please, please pray for us that we can buy the home we like and not have to settle for something just because we need to close a deal!

Happy Birthday Sweeties!!

Today the Pilot and the Princess turn 6! I can't believe how time has flown - I can still see them as new borns! The only thing I wish for my darlings is that they have a life that is extremely fulfilling and that they achieve happiness in whatever they do.

Home Hunt Update

I'm writing this post at home, while the Princess and the Pilot finish their Kumon homework. The reason for this sudden leave is that hubby's aunt last nite developed some pain in her side and the doctor they saw at around 11:30 pm advised her to be moved to a hospital immediately. We thought the hospital will run some tests on the heart and leave her by this afternoon, but it looks like she will be in hospital till Saturday!

Last Sunday we had an 'Open House' for our current home. This is something that works like this - you choose a day and time when you would have people traipsing through your home for a few hours while you stay at home or choose to be out. Since we didn't know what to do, we decided to be at home. And I regretted this! We were sitting around like fools while people looked the house over - opening cupboards and peering inside the bathrooms. I had decided that if we were going throgh this once more, we will not be inside the house while the Open House was going on. Luckily for us, there was someone who liked our home so much that he quoted the highest buying price and as of Tuesday we signed the papers to sell the property! By the calculations of the agents, since the buyer can start the buying process only after he finishes selling his current property, we are looking at a first appointment at HDB (Housing and Development Board) sometime in early Jan with closing the sale and the second appointment sometime in late February or early March 2010.

Now for us comes the hard part - buying a home. We still haven't seen any homes - we plan to see one tomorrow and hopefully some more by the end of the week. I have a picture in my head of my perfect home - lets hope the picture turns to reality very soon!

Since this is an update of selling a house, I'll do an update of buying a house once we start looking at properties.

Weekends

Weekends - What does this work evoke in you? For most people, weekends mean lazing around, getting up late and having long afternoon siestas. In our home, weekends are probably the most hurried day. A typical weekend looks something like us....

Saturday - During term time the Piolet and the Princess have Hindi classes from 9 am to 1 pm. This means that mom has to wake up atleast by 6 am so that I have some sense on the day's meals before the mad scramble starts at 7 am when I wake them up. If hubby is around, he will drop the kids to school and I have some time to finish my chores, otherwise I try to complete my cooking and bathe and start the machine before we leave the house at around 8:30 am.

Once I am back from dropping them, I start tackling the week's ironing and then cleaning the house. This keeps me busy till around noon when I have lunch and then go and bring them back.

After they are back and are done with lunch, at this point, there are no more classes till evening, but there was a time not so long ago when we used to go to art classes at 3 pm. Now there is just the Princess's ballet - which should also end in November 2009 as this class is her exam class. Ballet ends around 8 pm when it's time to get home, have dinner and go to bed exhausted.

On Sunday the pace is slightly slower as there is only the Princess's ballet class from 10 am till 10:45 am. Once that is done, we're home for lunch followed by some lazing around. Although this Sunday, we did anything but laze around - I'll talk about it tomorrow.

So what do you do on your weekends?

Update on our Home

Here the latest update on our home hunt! I thought that instead of giving an update on a daily basis, I'll do it one or maximum twice a week (if something comes up)

Our housing agent came home yesterday with the Valuation report as well a contract for us to sign. This is an 'Exclusive Contract' meaning that she will be the only person we appoint to market this house. She also said she was willing to co-broke, meaning that she would not just restrict the buyers to her clients, but share the commission with another broker. This will ensure that we get the best rate for our home. Also she is planning to put the selling price above the Valuation price. Here, in Singapore this is called Cash Over Valuation. This is essentially the rate the market forces put on your home based on various factors - like location, floor, decor, renovation etc. We have a superb location in our area - just minutes from the public transport interchanges, the mall which houses a supermarket, library etc. The first viewings should be this Sunday. Gosh, I better clean up the house by then.....Now we also need to start looking at houses to buy so that we can do what is called a 'Contra' deal. This means we sell our current home and at the same time and place, sign the papers to buy a new one. I have so many ideas to do up the place that I am real excited. I also am praying that both the deals get done quickly and we are settled in the new home as soon as possible so that the kids transition to Primary School is as smooth as possible.

I doubt I will be posting over the weekend, but then given my new-found enthusiasm, you never know. So have a great weekend and see you soon. What are your plans for the weekend?

Home is where the heart is....

Hubby has been transferred to a new work place within his organization. He works in what is called a 'Stat Board' - a sort of semi-government organization. His new office is literally a 5-7 minute walk from our home. He started on September 01 and we (me and the kids) were quite happy initially since we thought he would be home for dinner each night. Well he is home for dinner, but his version differs from ours. He reaches home just in time to tell 'goodnite' to the children and tuck them into bed. Ah well! What would this country without workaholics like hubby!!

On another note, here is a tip! If you are wearing a dress/skirt/blouse which is clinging to your body due to static electricity, then to avoid it, just use a safety pin and pin it in a discrete place in the inside of your dress/skirt/blouse and the static will disappear. If you can't find a safety pin (like me today), then use a paper clip! Open it up and use it the same way you would use a pin. It works!!

Our housing agent is going to come home tonight to talk about what we want in a new home and what will be process of selling our current one. We're going to sign contracts also - if she doesn't brting it up, I will be insisting on it. So more details on it the next time I log in. Till then....

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Today is my birthday and I turn...well I wont say it! I just realised that I've not blogged in like...forever. Hopefully this will change...

Invariably my birthday brings to my mind my birthday six years ago. I was heavily pregnant then - around 32 weeks - with my kids and the night before I could not feel their kicks. I waited till morning and called the gynae who told me to get to the hospital asap. Once there they ran tests on me and put me on a fetal monitor. Turned out the kids were probably asleep when I checked on them but with the monitor on, we could tell they were kicking merrily! In fact the nurse had to come and change the position of the monitors a couple of times as they were moving around so much! I was never so scared in my life. They were born two weeks later.

On another note, I am going to start writing more frequently as I blog my way to a new home! Yes we plan to move soon to a bigger home. Our current home was perfect for the two of us and adequate when the ids were babies. Now that they are growing up and will start formal school come January, we feel that this is the perfect time to make the transition. One of the main criteria to the housing agent is to find us a place with a minimum of four bedrooms. We plan to stay in the same area - for school and other enrichment activities. A piece of good news is that our current home has been valued at a price slightly higher than I was expecting. But the flip side to this is that our buying price will also be higher! Ah, well, you can win everywhere! I have loads of plans for the new place. Hopefully all information I've gotten from the design and organization blogs and websites that I have been reading over the years will pay off. I'll post pictures and detail what we've done. But at the moment, that's putting the horse before the cart. We'vce not seen anything yet. I'm praying both the selling as well as the buying goes on smoothly as well as fast. So wish me luck!

Here's a picture for you. This was taken at the Hongkong Disneyland at the start of the fireworks which marks the end of a wonderful day!!

Take care and see you real soon....

Classes, Children and Movie Review

The children have also started Hindi classes from saturday - so that's another pressure cooker day to add to all the others! Classes are from 9 am till 1 pm, even for the Kindergarteners! So this means that we have to leave the house latest by 8:30 am (even tough the class is just four bus stops away, there is a good 5 minute walk from the bus stop to the school where the classes are being held) to reach on time. Although the children have a break, by the time they get home, they are tired, hungry and cranky! This means a totally frazzled mummy too...Last saturday I finished all my work by 8 so that we could reach on time, but the teachers do not encourage parents to stay on, so this week I will leave them and come back home to finish my chores.

The past two-three days the Princess has been super cranky while getting up! Well this is one girl who loves her sleep and won't mind sleeping all day, but then she does have to get up to go to school. Since it's just us in the mornings, time is extremely hectic and even a few minutes trying to get her to wake up is enough to put everything out of control! (sigh!)

I also saw Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par. It's a very good movie and a must-see for any parent or anyone who plans to be a parent soon. I won't give away the plot of the movie, but it deals with a dylexic child Ishaan and how everyone - his parents, teachers, friends, brother don't understand him and call him names for not doing well in school. He is also sent to a boarding school and according to Ishaan, it's because he is punished he is sent there. It's only when a new temporary art teacher (Aamir) comes to the school and tries to understand the boy he realises he is dylexic and uses art (which Ishaan is very good at and which he does not do anymore in the boarding school) to give him confidence and makes him come out of the shell.

As a parent, I was very touched with the movie, especially with the tag line "Every child is special". All parents want the best for their child and this obviously translates to good education leading to good marks, which we feel will give the child that edge in life. We equate success with becoming a successful professional in life. Now although I would want my kids to be successful, I would not want that to be at the cost of their happiness.

Chalo, got to get ready to leave....See you tomorrow!

First Day in the new school year

Today the Pilot and the Princess are Kindergarteners!

Yes their school started two days later than other schools here and today they finally left Nursery life behind and went to K1 (Kindergarten 1)! Also their school has decided that a 12 noon dismissal time didn't give the teachers and the students enough time to work, so dismissal has now been pushed to 12:30 pm. This means the children come home 30 minutes later and so everything else gets pushed likewise....

More about the first day later - maybe tomorrow - as I still haven't spoken to them about it. They also have the first day of their Hindi class tomorrow. Like I earlier mentioned, I plan to teach them both Hindi and Mandarin in Kindergarten so that they can choose their Mother Tongue language when they go to Primary school....

I got my room back......

After more than four years, I finally got back control of my room and more important, my bed!

Yes, that's right, the Princess and the Pilot are finally sleeping on their own. The day my parents left, we told the kids that it was time they started to sleep on their own and the Princess was very excited about the whole thing! The Pilot didn't like the idea very much but he really doesn't have a choice - what with his sister and me...

I also put in a new bed sheet for them (from the movie Cars, obviously with the Pilot in mind) and stuck some new stickers (Disney Princesses and Spiderman 3) on the wall directly behind them. I also got them a cork board to put pictures of their favourite things.

All in all, it seems to be going on well, with the Princess being fiercely independent. The Pilot asks me daily if he can sleep with me and failing a positive reply, if I can sleep with him in his room! Well I don't - call me cruel if you will - but I felt that they needed to be independent and so after a story and a kiss, they both go to sleep alone.

I do go to their room many times at night and it is so sweet to see them both hugging each other while sleeping...Aww.......

Happy New Year

A very Happy New Year to everyone at blogoshere!

I know I haven't been posting in a while, but that is gonna change this year. Have you made your resolutions for the year? Here are mine (hopefully this year will be the year I actually stick to them :-()

The first is a perennial favourite - lose weight! I want 2008 to be the year when I finally shed this layer of fat and come out as the person I was meant to be. I also have oher ulterior motives for this - the ones that come to the mind immediately are to be a better role model for my children and to look more professional in my work. If I want to get a better job (more pay and a better profile), I know I better become thin pronto - coz this is Singapore we are talking about - where women routinely wear clothes with single digit sizes...

The second one is to write more - even if it is a couple of sentences. I started this blog mainly to chronicle my children's growing up days and by not writing, I feel I am failing in my task....

The third is not be negative (or failing that to avoid negativity) and be more positive in life. I want to do whatever that I am supposed to do with enthusiasm and a joi de vivre!

I'll write more tomorrow about the kids - today was for me - a lot has happened in their lives in the past month or so and I'll write all about it tomorrow.

Here is something that was in my inbox today. I get on a daily basis small notes from a service called The Daily Om. I liked what it said today and so here it is....

Starting New

A Moment Of Choice

There are times in our lives that lend themselves to starting something new. The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes-these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts. Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline. But we can choose to start anew anytime. In any moment we can decide that a bad day or a relationship that's gotten off on the wrong foot can be started again. It is a mental shift that allows us to clean the slate and approach anything with fresh eyes, and we can make that choice at any time.

Starting new is most powerful when we focus our attention to what we are choosing to create. Giving all of our attention to the unwanted aspects of our lives allows what we resist to persist. We need to remember to leave enough room in the process of new beginnings to be kind to ourselves, because it takes time to become accustomed to anything new, no matter how much we like it. There is no need to get down on ourselves if we don't reach our new goals instantly. Instead, we acknowledge the forward motion and choose to reset and start again, knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward.

Making the choice to start anew has its own energy-it's a promise made to you. The forward momentum creates a sort of vacuum behind it, pulling toward you all you need to help you continue moving in your chosen direction. Once the journey has begun, it may take unexpected turns, but it never really ends. Like cycles in nature, there are periods of obvious growth and periods of dormancy that signal a time of waiting for the right moment to burst forth. Each time we choose to start anew we dedicate ourselves to becoming the best we are able to be.

Happy reading...

Mobile Woes

This post was supposed to be written almost two weeks back, but I was so caught up in work and family, that as usual it got postponed!

Since the last time I posted, my mobile phone was spoilt and I learnt the hard way to back up again! Since then I have been getting back almost a year's worth of contacts in my new phone (dh's old phone) and this time making sure that all numbers have been saved to my SIM card....

A couple of months back I accidently dropped my phone in water and then it appeared to work alright after a days's worth of drying. But it seems that the insides were corroded and so one day it just stopped working! This is a bad year for me in terms of phone and the current one I am using is dh's old one - which makes it number 4 for the year...(Sigh) I wish the year was over already so I can put this bad luck behind me...

I also saw OSO and Saawariya and will review them tomorrow....

Peace....and Quiet

I am writing this post on a Friday morning, after the kids have gone to school and the house is quiet. I guess this is one the last few times when I will be allowed this luxury. My mom is finishing up the chores in the kitchen before she takes a bath and then we both start preparing to make the Diwali sweets and savories. I have taken leave from office so that I can document what my mom does and then hope to replicate it in my kitchen on my own maybe next year if not before.

I am also listening to music one of my favourite sites online - MusicIndiaOnline. I am listening to something called Top 20 in Hindi, which is the top 20 songs which have been listened by viewers in the last 24 hours. Predictably they are the songs of Saawariya, Bhool Bhulaiya and Om Shanti Om. The songs of all three are very good and worth a listen. Saawariya and Om Shanti Om are the next eagerly awaited movies due for a Diwali release, so I guess next week the audience will decide if the new debutants' are to be the successes they feel they deserve. Both movies have been over hyped and their cast and crew have appeared on practically all the reality shows on all the Indian channels till date.

Sanjay Leela Bansali's Saawariya stars the progeny of two of Indian cinema's successful actors - Rishi Kapoor (Ranbir Kapoor) and Anil Kapoor (Sonam Kapoor) and so these two star-children will be looked over with a critical eye.

Deepika Padukone making her Hindi film debut in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om is a former model as well as being the daughter of India's most prolific badminton player - Prakash Padukone. Shahrukh Khan also stars as the male lead in this movie.

Ok, mom's out and so this post gets wrapped up. This week, I managed three posts, so lets hope the next week, I at least maintain a status quo, if not more posts....

Have a great weekend everyone and to end here is a nice photograph I clicked at our recent visit to Sentosa's show titled "Songs of the Sea".

Book Review

Sometimes I wonder how some of the bloggers are able to take care of their children, work full time and at the same time blog on a daily basis! I guess they are much better managers of their time than me :-(

These days I am absolutely fascinated by some of the food blogs that are there. I keep going to one after the other and bookmarking them for a look through later. Some of them are absolutely amazing - with detailed receipes and pictures and some of them are well, not so good. Since I fancy myself a darn good cook, I am all the time tempted to post my receipes and pictures of the dishes on the blog, but don't do so - because duh, I don't manage my time well! I take pictures of the dishes, but don't upload them everyday. I am thinking one of the things I plan to work on in 2008 will be this - plan menus for the week (a month if possible) and then try to put in atleast one dish a week (complete with photographs and instructions).

I just finished reading Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra and at nearly 1000 pages, it is a very hefty and satisfying read. The language, violence and sex in the book seem too much at times, but then what else could you expect from a book where the protagnists are 'Ganesh Gaitonde', a big bhai or underworld don and 'Sartaj Singh' a dashing inspector in Mumbai Police. While reading the book, I felt some of the characters were very recognizable in real life.

The book also reminded me a lot of Suketu Mehta's Maximum City which is another book I loved a lot. This book is highly recommended by Mumbaikars (especially those like me who are away from the city and miss it a lot) and to those who want to learn about the real and unadultrated city.

Languages

Start as you mean to go on.....

Yesterday I talked about posting regularly, so here I am with today's edition. I just hope this time it doesn't fizzle out in the next two three days.

The past few months have been hectic for me in terms of thinking about the kids education! I have just signed the Princess and the Pilot up for Hindi classes starting from January. Now in addition to learning English and Mandarin in school they will go for a weekly Hindi class (lessons which run every Saturday, from 9am till 1pm) at a school not very far from home. Everyone thinks I am putting too much pressure on them at the tender age of four, but what they don't understand is that I am making sure the children have the choice of choosing a second language (or Mother Tongue - MT, as it is called here) when they start school. Since they are doing Mandarin in school and Hindi in the class, they can take either of the two languages for their MT.

But this will come at a price - me trying to get them to write/study/read in three languages and probably speak in four! Also now Saturdays and Sundays as I know will cease to exist! Since we will have to be at the class by 9 am, we will need to get out of the house by 8:30am, which means I need to wake them up latest by 7 am and which means I need to finish all my work for the morning by that time (and yes this includes cooking and cleaning atleast the kitchen as there won't be any time to do it once we come back from class). So effectively it means I need to wake up as usual at 5 (or 4 if I can swing it) even on Saturdays and Sundays!! Yuck! I guess this means less sleep for me. I turn into this irritable and angry woman when I don't get my seven hours of sleep a night. God give me the serenity to deal with this and more....

If I can get through the next two years without becoming a zombie, then I would consider it a job well done!

Birthdays, Movies and Cakes

Phew! I feel so irritated with myself! When I let go, I really do let go.

Things have changed a lot over the two months or so that I have not blogged anything. For one my helper has gone back to India and my parents are here to help me. Well my mom does almost all the work at home, so the true test of my mettle will only come on December 22 when they head back home!

The Princess and the Pilot also turned four last month and we had a small party at home to celebrate. This was the first year that they enjoyed getting presents and were determined to open each and every one of them before they went to bed that night. As expected, most of the pilot's gifts were mechanical in nature (cars, aeroplanes etc) and the Princess got loads of dolls like Barbie and the paraphernalia that comes with it. Obviously they are extremely thrilled with the presents and we have to restrain them from opening them all at the same time.

I saw two bollywood movies over the last week and I must say I was might impressed with both of them. Sriram Raghavan's 'Johhny Gaddar' and Imtiaz Ali's 'Jab We Met' are movies worth watching atleast once!

Johhny Gaddar is an out and out whodunit, but with a difference - the audience knows who did it, but the other characters in the film don't know. Neil Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's grandson) plays the title role of Johhny Gaddar and looks pretty similar to Hrithik Roshan. So I am guessing he may be the next heartthrob of the nation. The fact that he is a decent actor also doesnt hurt his status.

Jab We Met is one of those cute movies that you leave the theatre with a smile. The chemistry between Sahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor is very good, just too bad about their recent split. I just wish they do work together more. Kareena acted very well in the movie but it was Sahid who was very restrained who will take all the honours. The characters of both the protagnists are so believeable and 'normal' that the movie just flows, especially in the first half. The second half looks like a set of a Rajshri movie, what with all the shaadi and stuff.

Another milestone for me personally is that I finally leart to BAKE!! I am so happy about this as baking (anything related to the oven bascially) was an alien territory for me. But on Friday evening I was suddenly seized by this desire to bake and as soon as I went home, baked this lovely Date Cake from Aayi's Receipes. It's a great and extremely easy receipe and if I as a total rank beginer got it right, then anyone can!

I also baked this yummy Carrot cake from Food, in the Main was the second thing I tried my hand at baking yesterday. It has a very Gajjar Halwa taste and so is very Indian in taste. Different, but extremely yummy! A definite try!

Okay....a long post today. Hopefully I have the same momentum to write atleast two to three posts a week!

Loong Time catch ups`

Woo, I just didn't realise it was so long since the time I last posted. Anyway so here goes on what happened in our lives the past one month.

Actually life has changed pretty much for all of us. For one, my maid has left us to go back to India so we are all on our own now. My parents have come over to help, but that is temporaray at best. The kids have now started coming home by school bus (which they love). Life is also very hectic for me - what with doing all the washing and cleaning at home (which used to be done by someone else). But I do have a Nepali girl coming in once a week to do the heavy cleaning and ironing (which I always seem to bebehind in) so that helps.

The kids have started Mandarin tutions once a week and now I realise how much effort it is to get them to sit in one place and write. The Pilot hates to write and I have to nag him all the time to do that. The Princess on the other hand is not so bad. The other blah news is that in addition to Mandarin, they will have to start Hindi classes once a week for three hours at a stretch (the horrors of it all....:-( ) starting from January. Combine all this to existing Ballet and Piano classes and forthcoming Kumon Maths class, I really now have to scramble for time!

The Pilot and the Princess also turn four on Sunday. They took their cakes and pressents to their classmates today. Cakes were Snow White's face for the Princess coupled with Snow White and Puss in Boots books for the girls and boys in her class and Superman cake and Jungle Book and Cinerella books for the kids in the Pilot's class. We are having a party at home on Sunday and that's fodder for another post!