Bangalore Roller Coaster

Today is one rainy day. It has been raining since morning and I am so glad my daughter doesn't have to go to school today. The traffic is worse than usual which is so very typical of Bangalore. But somehow I have a spring in my step. My maid number one has hurt her foot and won't be coming to work today. Who is going to do the pile of dishes I dumped in the sink when I made Gajar Halwa yesterday ? Ananya's maid has also not turned up. It is raining you see, so she has a ready excuse. But still I have a song on my lips. The chill has set in, and I am wrapped up in my shawl. There has been no sunshine since morning and people all around are cribbing about the clammy weather. But I have a smile on my face. I am taking a 2 week long vacation. I am going home, to be pampered. I am going home to late nights and late mornings. I am going to the north, where the winter chill has every one's teeth chattering and toes frozen. But the warmth in the cockles of my heart has me all c...

Christmas is a big thing in Bangalore and the festivities are much more apparent here than they are in Delhi. Of late, the malls in the metropolitan cities have taken it on themselves to celebrate each festival. As a result, the malls are all decked up for Christmas and the New Year. But those festivities cannot match the joyousness which is palpable in Bangalore. Last weekend, we went to the Forum Mall, and every shop had a Christmas tree, and that attracted Ananya so much so that she couldn't keep her hands off them. Last year, when we were in Dubai, she was very keen on the ornaments, that I had to actually buy a set of hanging bells for her so that she keep off the trees in the shops. Today was also Ananya's last day in school this year. She now has a 2 week break, and will go back to school only in the New Year. They also celebrated Christmas in her school today, but only a few parents were invited. Prior to this, Ananya was down with viral for one whole week, and when she...

Read this insightful article : http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/index_feature.html It covers the gradual demise of a native-Indian language and the efforts which are on to document it before it loses all it's speakers. It is sad to see a language die but dominant languages can do that to the other languages in the region. It reminds me of the reduced usage of Punjabi and how I find more and more people in Punjab preferring to talk in Hindi. The saddest part is when I see Punjabi people (especially who live outside Punjab) speak in Hindi to their kids but talk in Punjabi themselves. Pray why ? The children will learn Hindi/English when they interact with other kids and in the community, but they will not pick up their mother tongue elsewhere. I wish my daughter learns Punjabi, though I am not able to give her the environment to do so as I am married into a Hindi-speaking family. She is very good with Hindi and her vocabulary in English is also picking up since we moved to Bangalore....

Went for the Cadence year end party and after a number of years, burnt the danced floor all night . Initially when we were in Noida, we used to have a lot of parties and at good places, like the Hyatt or the Taj or better still one of the huge farmhouses, but not anymore. Noida now operates on a much lower budget, with very few low key, low involvement in house parties. Moreover, with the office expanding so much, the small dance floor is always crowded and we have tried dancing on the fringes of the same, but always ended up being pushed out by the younger , bachelor and more enthusiastic and energetic crowd. Earlier Diwali party used to be a party to be awaited, like an extended family get together, where everyone knew everyone.. but now we have to seek out the familiar faces and we used to feel lost in the crowd. I remember one Diwali party, held at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi, where I was the first person to enter the dance-floor and the last one to leave it. In fact, me ...

Post Diwali, things have been very hectic for me.. and no time to write anything let alone do much around in Bangalore. My fulltime help left for his annual 1 month long leave.. only this time it is going to be 1.25 month long as he has to travel further and it takes him almost 2 days to reach his hometown from Bangalore. The chill has also set in and my daily routine is so hectic that I do not even have the time to breathe. A typical working day looks like this. I snooze the alarm at 5:30 am and try to get some more sleep till it rings again. At the second ring, I drag myself out of bed watching with envy as my husband and daughter sleep on. I am in the kitchen by 5:50 and start preparing lunch and breakfast. By 6:30 I wake up my husband and daughter and ask them to start getting ready. Getting Ananya ready by 8:00 am is a challenge in itself as she wants to rest for five minutes after everything. So it is ... brush her teeth, rest for five minutes. Have a bath.. rest for five min...