Aanya Goes to School

Well, Aanya has been going to school for almost 2 years now but her what is called "formal education" has begun 3 days back.

This was her first week at kindergarten. I had mixed emotions regarding her schooling....anxious, excited and completely confused as the systems are completely different from what we are used too. But, finally, on August 31st 2011, Aanya went to school for the first day and after a lot of running around and last minute confusions regarding her section, she is with the teacher I wanted her to be with and she has most of her friends from her playschool in her class now. So both Mommy and baby happy. 

This gives me time to relax my nerves (hehe) and to do many things which I could not do while she is home coz I am busy keeping her busy.

It is such a nice feeling when I drop her at school in the mornings- kids with backpacks running towards their class rooms, parents walking their kids to school-reminds me of my school years.

I wish Aanya lots of luck and success for her school years and I also want her to have all the fun she can during these fantastic years of life.

Rohan

Rohan came to this world on May 10th. And has made the world an even better place to live for Nishet and me.

I wanted to write so much about him but life with two kids is super busy. I must say that anxiety levels with the second baby are rock bottom and its actually more fun with the second one as everything is already sorted. But dealing with the first kid after the arrival of the second.....hmm...that needs another website dedicated to the topic. I know Aanys is very excited and proud to have Rohan as her baby brother. She wants to flaunt him around but she is going through a lot emotionally which is the biggest challenge at hand right now. As her teacher says, "her world has turned upside down. Everything was hers and now there is someone else claiming equal rights over that everything." So true!!
Anyways, I can go endlessly about Aanya. But this one is for Rohan.

Rohan has been a very quiet boy so far. (yes, you read it right....boy and quiet). Initial days were difficult for all of us but now he is letting us sleep for major part of the night. Is healthy and moreover, reacts awesomely to his sister. He starts cooing and smiling wide as soon as he sees Aanya. It is a delightful sight.
I felt bonded with him as soon as I saw him. It was love at first sight. Whereas, with Aanya, I fell in love with her slowly. uff....I am again starting off about Aanya.

As for now, I am enjoying every bit of being a mother of two(gulp).

And I am looking forward to a lovely life with my babies and their loving papa. Love all three of you!

Dear Baby....With Love

Dear Baby,
We are going to meet very soon now. As our face to face time is getting closer, I am getting all sorts of mixed emotions. I am very excited and looking forward to seeing you and hold you in my arms and cuddle you, but I am also anxious, scared, nervous and what not.
While our meeting time is shrinking, I also wanted to let you know that I have a big and beautiful and adorable present ready for you- your Big Sis-Aanya. She is an amazing little girl and is so looking forward to meeting you. And you are the best present I could ever give to her.
Our journey so far has been a mixed bag of activities and emotions. But believe me, I loved every bit of it!!

Hoping for many many wonderful years of love, family, fun and togetherness with you,

Your Mum...with lots of love!

Companion

I know I have been off blogging for a long time now. Life has been just too busy or let me call it 'happening' since we left Bangalore. We reached here, Bay Area, CA in June mid. House hunting took 2 months, moving, etc. took forever. And settling...well we are still trying to reach there.

Honestly, I didn't have anything specific to write about also.
Nishet has been away for a week now and keeping Aanya from missing him too much is my job right now. So, I took her out for a little drive and on our way, I noticed an old couple, a really aged couple, may be 78-ish...may be more,crossing one of the streets. I stopped for them. And I dont know why, I kept looking at them. They were so "together". The man had his hand around the old lady's waist and she held him the same way as they went past. It seemed as if they were the reason for each other's mobility. As if they could not walk without eachother. As if they will fall if they didn't hold each other the way they were.

I went into deep thinking mode and realized.....how many like them had a companion...a real companion at that stage of life?

When we are young, we don't care much about companionship and the presence of our partners, loved ones or even friends is taken for granted. But at that age....I am not sure how many of those we would have when we will be 80. Seeing the loved ones go one by one must be the mode of life for people of that age. And they must be really thankful for having the ones around them. And how much they must be chrishing the presence of the remaining few.
But the love I felt on seeing the walking with each other, made me feel very nice. I do not know a word for that feeling, but it felt nice...very nice.
Co-incidently, came home and ordered a pay-per-view - Letters to Juliette. An even more beautiful story about companionship and love in old age. A must watch if you like love stories.

Till I write next time, ciao!

Little Hearts

It is trully amazing how children live in the present, cry while saying bye, remember for a few days or months and then just move on.

Six months back, I remember my baby crying while saying bye to Maya. It was heart breaking.

Now as we are packing our bags again, we are carrying with us lots of love and memories of  wonderful friends, relatives and new people that we met here in Bangalore. While meeting everyone we became selfish and forgot that Aanya too has some connections and would like to meet her friends.

This morning her new best friend, Jessica's, grandmother called up and asked us if Aanya can spend a few hours with jessica to play with her new toys. We had to meet Tanveer and Sadiya for lunch, so we dropped Aanya at Jessica's place for a few hours. 

By the time we reached there, it has started pouring heavily and it was so very touching to see Jessica and her Grandpa standing in heavy rain with their umbrellas waiting for us.

And how the girls reacted on seeing each other after a gap of 45 days is very very difficult to say in words. It was one of the most beautiful things to see them scream out of excitement and hug and kiss each other. They did not care about the rain or the traffic or anything else in the world. They just screamed and hugged.

They spent some quality hours together and naturally, parting had to come with a lot of tears and tantrums. But, I am feeling so happy that Aanya could meet Jessica one last time before leaving.

This one is for Aanya and Jessica's friendship.

Incredible India!

I have to thank my friend Ritu for these eye opening facts.

India is a nation where Rice is Rs.40/- per kg and Sim Card is free
 
Pizza reaches home faster than Ambulance and Police.  
 
Car loan @ 5% but education loan @ 12%.
 
Students with 45% get in elite institutions through quota system and those with 90% get out because of merit.

 
2 IPL teams are auctioned at 3300 crores and we are still a poor country where people starve for 2 square meals per day
 
Assembly complex buildings are getting ready within one year while public transport bridges alone takes several years to be completed.

INCREDIBLE INDIA !!!

Sach's Toothpaste! next what....

You may call me old fashioned or whatever, but I was not very excited or pleased when I saw the Big Bazaar Launch of Sachin Tendulkar's Toothpaste "Sach" in yesterday's news paper. I do not see a connection.  Neither do I see any marketing genius in involving Tendulkar as a co-creator of the product along with Pantaloon group. May be it's just me.

J.Lo, Britney, Amitabh Bacchan branded perfume was OK because it is an accessory. But Sachin Brand "Dant manjan" aka toothpaste doesn't seem appropriate.

Next is what....Mahi Amla hairoil? or May be Kumble range of detergents? Or even Sania nail paint remover?